Can Putin Deliver?

Published: Fri, 09/13/13

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In This Issue:
Can Putin Deliver? By Richard C. Young
Poisonous Chicken from China? By Richard C. Young
The Destruction of Money By E.J. Smith
Bailouts, Sweat Shops, and I.O.U. Nation By E.J. Smith
A Room Clearing Presidential Speech By Richard C. Young

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Can Putin Deliver?

We do not have the answer yet. But given what we’ve seen to date, the odds-on bet is for the American Congress to work in a constructive fashion to make the Putin plan reality. There is considerable static on the Syrian diplomacy line. The likes of John McCain, Bill Kristol, and Daniel Pipes want war with both Syria and Iran. But have the neocons ever been right on anything? How did Korea work out? How about Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya? Losers all. The United States should have never gotten involved with any of these military debacles. Our national security was absolutely not at stake in any of these foreign adventures. And America’s national security today is not at stake, despite what the neocons would have you believe regarding Syria’s civil war.

President Barack Obama’s ill-advised red line comment has gotten him boxed in and upstaged by Russia’s Putin. Are you surprised? Barack Obama had zero credentials for the American presidency. His presidency has made a mockery of the Oval Office. Americans have watched as our AAA bond rating has been lost and our health system is about to be destroyed. The jobs picture in America is at a crisis point. My clients, America’s small business owners—you know, the guys who supply the jobs—will not hire. Why? Intrusive central government, that’s why.

President Obama is without either the foundation or the proper inclination required to lead a constitutionally based federal republic. Rather, what Americans face is a Marxist-influenced, income-redistribution-centered ideologue. It should come as no surprise to Americans that a quagmire has developed over the Syrian civil war issue. Now it is time for Congress to tell President Obama that Congress and not the president will decide whether or not America goes to war. The Constitution mandates such an approach, a fact conveniently overlooked by this president.

Here Pat Buchanan supplies cogent thought on the Syrian civil war and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Pat’s done a great job of covering all the bases.

The natural instinct of the American people — Keep us out! — is correct.

Yet the War Party, though temporarily routed, has not given up on its goal — war on Syria, followed by war on Iran.

Lindsay Graham is urging Obama to attack Syria even without Congress’s authorization. Bibi Netanyahu, after a call from Obama, is pushing Congress to back a U.S. strike on Syria. Republican leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor have saluted and signed on to war.

Neocon apparatchik William Kristol is urging Republicans to give Obama a blank check for war on Syria — and for war on Iran. Daniel Pipes of The Mideast Forum has an op-ed in the Washington Times and the title says it all: “Forget Syria, Target Iran.”

“We have scorched the snake, not killed it.” The War Party is not dead.

House Republicans who oppose a U.S. war on Syria speak for the people and should seize this moment to dump Obama conscripts Boehner and Cantor and replace them with leaders who will stand resolutely against Obama’s war, against Obamacare, and against amnesty.

The House should then pass a resolution instructing the president:

—Absent an attack on this country, you have no authority to take us to war against Syria, Iran, or any other nation.

—We are taking back from you the war powers the Fathers gave us.

—We are going to restore our constitutional republic.

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Poisonous Chicken from China?

I have long been writing to stick with local, cage-free chicken and eggs. And do not buy into eggs frequently labeled free range, when under close scrutiny the labeling is false. Now the U.S. government is going to allow processed chicken from that bastion of cleanliness China into the U.S. without labeling to indicate the source. Here NPR lays out the whole grizzly story. Stick with my #1 health security rule SHOP LOCAL and you will be on the right course to healthy eating.

Just before the start of the long holiday weekend last Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture quietly announced that it was ending a ban on processed chicken imports from China. The kicker: These products can now be sold in the U.S. without a country-of-origin label.

For starters, just four Chinese processing plants will be allowed to export cooked chicken products to the U.S., as first reported by Politico. The plants in question passed USDA inspection in March. Initially, these processors will only be allowed to export chicken products made from birds that were raised in the U.S. and Canada. Because of that, the poultry processors won’t be required to have a USDA inspector on site, as The New York Times notes, adding:

“And because the poultry will be processed, it will not require country-of-origin labeling. Nor will consumers eating chicken noodle soup from a can or chicken nuggets in a fast-food restaurant know if the chicken came from Chinese processing plants.”

That’s a pretty disturbing thought for anyone who’s followed the slew of stories regarding food safety failures in China in recent years. As we’ve previously reported on The Salt, this year alone, thousands of dead pigs turned up in the waters of Shanghai, rat meat was passed off as mutton and — perhaps most disconcerting for U.S. consumers — there was an outbreak of theH7N9 bird flu virus among live fowl in fresh meat markets.

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The Destruction of Money

If you think the Federal Reserve’s struggle with its tapering problem is bad, stay tuned because you ain’t seen nothing yet. Take a look at my chart series below and in a matter of seconds you get a feel for exactly what the Fed has done for the stock market. There isn’t a shade of doubt about the direct correlation between the advance in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet.

The advance in stocks undoubtedly provides investors with a false sense of security. But when I walk around downtown Newport, RI it doesn’t feel like a vibrant economy to me. I know my observation is anecdotal but when I talk to clients around the country they give me a similar response about their own businesses—about flat year-over-year. And yet one truism is that our expenses seem to always go up.

What’s truly unsettling about this next chart is that we’re dealing with record low velocity of money. Wait until velocity picks up. If you think the Fed has painted itself into a corner so far then you ain’t seen nothing yet. Make sure you have a plan in place to deal with the coming destruction of money. It doesn’t have to be your undoing.

The post Bailouts, Sweat Shops, and I.O.U. Nation appeared first on RichardCYoung.com.

On September 20^th the Dow Jones Industrial Average will shake-up its roster of names—the biggest change since 2004. The move says a lot about where the country stands today and also the casino mentality of the market. Let’s talk about the casino first.

The pit bosses at the Dow are basically timing the market to put the odds in their favor. The Dow is a price-weighted index meaning the higher priced stocks have a greater influence. Bank of America which closed at $14.64 yesterday is being replaced by Goldman Sachs which closed at $165.30. The financial sector was up 29% last year and is on another run this year. But this is a “horse out of the barn” move by the pit bosses and tells you that even after the bailouts Wall Street still runs America.

The replacement of Alcoa by Nike is truly breathtaking. In Nike, we’re talking about a company that runs sweat shops in Asia and sells the crap back in the U.S. It’s another sector bet by the Dow bosses with Alcoa closing at $8 and Nike at $66.55. And for a nation built on credit Visa will replace Hewlett-Packard.

All in all the new Dow names reflect the world we live in—a poster child for the Wall Street bailouts, low wage sweat shops in Asia, and I.O.U. Nation. What a waste of a storied franchise such as the Dow.

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A Room Clearing Presidential Speech

As I listened to President Obama’s Syrian message, I could almost sense the room being cleared out. No one is listening, Mr. President. After the speech, as a Fox guest, Rand Paul spoke of a 100-to-1 ratio of opposition among his constituents. President Obama has failed to demonstrate a shred of national security risk to America. That’s because there is zero national security risk to America. I do not remember an issue where so many Democrats and Republicans have joined hands in opposition. There are but two minority groups in America in favor of President Obama’s interventionist stance. Neocons, following the cheerleading bluster of John McCain and Bill Kristol, form one team. The other is formed by a weak-minded group of congressmen who choose not to read the incoming protest mail from their constituents, but instead defer like sheep to their party leader. It would be hard to come up with a single district in the U.S. that believes that President Obama and his cabal are on sound constitutional footing. If a president is looking to get impeached, it must be clear to a large percentage of the country that dismissing the will of the voters is a good way to begin the process.