Mainstream media talking heads try to sell inexperienced investors on Vampire Rally --> downplay and minimize the bad news and pump the good news

by Bill Baker, J.D.
Editor and Publisher, The San Bruno Beacon

The mainstream media was hard at work this morning spinning a December jobs report junk number in an attempt to manipulate investor sentiment to invite new sucker money into the equity markets. The real truth is that from an economic standpoint, things are very bad and getting much worse as the U.S. and world economies continue to contract as a result of being buried under a growing mountain of debt and interest.

The headline news being hyped is that nonfarm payrolls rose by 200,000 in December and that the unemployment rate dropped to 8.5% in December 2011. These U.S. Government Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) job reports are notoriously unreliable.

The main problem with the BLS unemployment number is that it measures unemployment claim data. A 12/08/2011 Smart Money article titled, Is the Real Unemployment Rate 22.6% points out that the BLS numbers do not include tens of millions of unemployed workers who are no longer receiving unemployment benefits.

The BLS nonfarm payroll numbers can also be misleading in that they don’t tell you if high paying or low paying jobs are being created. For all we know, the 200,000 nonfarm payroll increase number (which is not correct) could be reporting 200,000 new minimum wage jobs wrapping Christmas gifts or handling Christmas gift returns.

One Bureau of Labor Statistics report that hasn't seen a lot of play in the mainstream media is the12/22/2011 MASS LAYOFFS -- NOVEMBER 2011 report. In this report, the BLS reported:

“Employers took 1,331 mass layoff actions in November involving 129,887 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.”

That report didn’t make front page headlines.

Some other important stories buried in the news are:

 January 6, 2012 – Alcoa Falls After Announcing Capacity Cuts

January 6, 2012 – Best Buy December sales fall

January 6, 2012 – ECB Steps in as Italian Yields Hit 7%

January 6, 2012 – Euro-Zone Fears Grow on New Data

Once again, the mainstream media is buying into and headlining the same types of lies, half-truths and market manipulation being promoted by the vile Wall Street hype merchants looking for fresh sucker money and a failing, desperate President who will quite literally do or say anything he can to get re-elected. On the other hand, the mainstream media is burying the bad news. 

As long as inexperienced investors buy into Wall Street's big lies; the cycle of pain, suffering and retribution will never end. Perhaps, it is time to require all stock market investors to take a series of stock investment courses and be certified as investors before they are allowed to spend one penny of their money on a share of stock.

2012 ---> OFF THE CLIFF INTO THE FIRE?

by Bill Baker, J.D.
Editor and Publisher, The San Bruno Beacon

Always expect the unexpected. Those four words invite all options to the proverbial table when addressing any situation in life and make all things possible.

2012 is going to be a particularly tough year as we begin to experience the full catastrophic potential of the world’s lingering, festering problems that have defied solutions. It will be interesting to see what the world looks like on January 1, 2013.

Throughout the world, the political, social, economic and spiritual status quo is undergoing dramatic change. This change is occurring at the international, national and local levels in all countries. Change is usually the enemy of the status quo because change almost always requires that the current status quo be dismantled and replaced by a new status quo.

During 2012, the following 5 major events may create unexpected butterfly effect consequences around the world:

1). Revolutions. Right now, the growing revolution in Syria and the revolt against Putin in Russia show that government tyrants are an endangered species. The image of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi being dragged through the streets and executed in public like a rabid mad dog earlier this year shows that people's patience with and tolerance for arrogant, abusive government tyrants is wearing thin. Mr. Gaddafi met his horrific, untimely demise because, in the words of, President John F. Kennedy:

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable"

Failing, corrupt, broken status quo regimes cling to the stranglehold they have on the people they control by implementing ever stricter laws on personal freedoms and using increased levels of police state measures to suppress dissent, instill fear, control the population and turn opponents of the status quo regime against each other.  There is a direct correlation between regime fear and the use of police state mechanisms to control the population and more specifically, regime opponents. As the likelihood of regime change increases, the depth and degree of police state activities by the threatened regime, against the population it controls, increases. In most cases, this cause and effect relationship snowballs out of control resulting in a sometimes peaceful but usually violent revolution where the broken regime is replaced.

2). The U.S. and/or Israeli attack Iran? Both the U.S. and Israel have established “red lines” that will trigger military strikes against Iran when Iran’s nuclear program reaches a certain threshold. The red lines for triggering a military strike against Iran could be different. This could result in a unilateral military strike against Iran by Israel.

3). The European sovereign debt crisis continues. 2012 is going to be a make or break year for the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis. European banks have been hit hard by this crisis and in 2012 this debt crisis could ignite a deflationary spiral that will:

“.... that will hurt the sales and production of goods and services in the real economy, causing more lay-offs.”

4). $15.16 Trillion U.S. National Debt that will continue to increase in 2012. Obama wants to add another $1.2 trillion to the U.S. National Debt. When Obama was first elected President, the U.S. National Debt as a percentage of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product was 74.1%. In 2012, the U.S. National Debt will soar to approximately $16.4 trillion and exceed 100% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. During his term as President, Obama has turned the United States into a third world style police state debtor nation drowning in debt and interest payments.

5). The 2010 U.S. Election. The November 2012 U.S. Election will decide who becomes President and which ideological group(s) control(s) Congress.

San Bruno Park School District (SBPSD) Associate Superintendent Lynn Orong resigns. Orong leaving SBPSD on January 1, 2012.

by Bill Baker, J.D.
Editor and Publisher, The San Bruno Beacon

According to San Bruno Park School District (SBPSD) Superintendent Hutt, Assistant Superintendent Lynn Orong has submitted her resignation to Hutt and Orong's last day of employment with the SBPSD will be on January 1, 2012.

Oil prices increasing

by Bill Baker, J.D.
Editor and Publisher, The San Bruno Beacon

Middle East turmoil, eurozone crisis, U.S. economic decline, China slowdown. Oil prices rising again.

After hanging around in the sub $80/bbl neighborhood during October 2011, oil prices have recently been moving back up to the $100/bbl mark.

The reasons for the rise in the price of oil are numerous. A few of the reasons include, but are not limited to:

1). Oil embargo on tap. A November 29, 2011 Financial Times story by Javier Blas titled: Oil Prices surge ahead of EU embargo talks observed that oil prices are surging:

".....as traders and refiners take positions ahead of a meeting of EU foreign minister that is due to discuss a possible oil embargo against Tehran."

2).  Middle East turmoil. Other than Iran, supply disruptions could occur in other OPEC Member countries such as Libya, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

3). Further quantitative easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve System and its European counterparts will put more money into the U.S, and European economies, increasing demand for and the price of oil.

4). Supplies of oil to China are increasing and China is making moves to increase its share of Middle East oil.

Let's make a deal? The People's Republic of China (PRC) forgives all U.S. debt in return for a U.S. agreement to stop all military assistance, military equipment - military technology transfers to Taiwan and revoke the Taiwan Relations Act.

by Bill Baker, J.D.
Editor and Publisher, The San Bruno Beacon

Sometimes, we need to think outside of the proverbial box to solve complex problems.

There might be a relatively easy way to erase approximately 8% of the $15 trillion U.S. National Debt.

The People's Republic of China (PRC) currently holds about $1.2 trillion of U.S. debt. The PRC believes that there is only "One China" and Taiwan is an inalienable part of it. The PRC considers Taiwan to be a renegade province. Taiwan (the Republic of China) has refused to return to the PRC.

Taiwan, located off the coast of China, is a 13,902 square mile island inhabited by 23 million people. The PRC covers 3.7 million square miles and is inhabited by about 1.34 billion people. If Taiwan did not have U.S, military assistance, China's military machine could overrun Taiwan in a few days. Without U.S. military support, the likely scenario would be that Taiwan would negotiate an agreement to return to the PRC in order to avoid a war that would obliterate Taiwan.

On January 1, 1979, the United States changed its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. In the U.S.-P.R.C. Joint Communique that announced the change, the United States recognized the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and acknowledged the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China. Following de-recognition, the United States terminated its Mutual Defense Treaty with Taiwan. However, the United States has continued the sale of appropriate defensive military equipment to Taiwan in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act, which provides for such sales and which declares that peace and stability in the area are in U.S. interests. Sales of defensive military equipment are also consistent with the 1982 U.S.-P.R.C. Joint Communique.

On April 10, 1979, President Carter signed into law the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which created domestic legal authority for the conduct of unofficial relations with Taiwan. U.S. commercial, cultural, and other interaction with the people on Taiwan is facilitated through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), a private nonprofit corporation.

Because the United States has already recognized the PRC as the sole legal government of China and acknowledges that Taiwan is part of China, it is logical that the United States could facilitate the reunification of the PRC with its renegade province Taiwan by revoking the TRA, the Three Communiques of the TRA and stopping all transfers of U.S. military equipment and technology to Taiwan. This would motivate Taiwan to come to terms with the PRC so that Taiwan and the PRC could be reunited.

As consideration for expediting this "parent - child" reunification between the PRC and Taiwan, the PRC would forgive the $1.2 trillion debt that the U.S. owes to the PRC.