[newdamage]

Bill Fleckenstein writes the Contrarian Chronicles on MSN Money, and it usually railing on the Fed in some form or another. This time week he just stopped screwing around and went into full blown doomer mode, it's interesting read.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P146055.asp

About the best I can figure about all you can really do these days is just stay debt free and hope for the best.

[TommyJefferson]

That's a good article. Thanks.

I trudged through these 17 pages of mind-numbingly dull analysis last week to learn what that article said much more clearly.

The US Government is cooking the books.

Cooked books are very, very bad for investors. We all have a very large personal investment in how the US performs. Our future comfort and safety will be determined by it.

[nth]

The difference with Corporate Executives cooking books versus US government is that US government releases all the data, so that you can compute your own numbers.

I do agree with the fact that the government is restating the rules of calculating numbers to show closer to reality- but some how all these changes are for the better of the government. Obviously, the people approving the rule changes are asking questions on how to get better numbers- better for government.

One thing this articles mistakenly stated that GDP is negative. In reality, negative GDP will be felt. If it is short term negative, then that can be masked, but not long term. When you look at increasing government income, it is hard to see how GDP can be negative.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nth', 'T')he difference with Corporate Executives cooking books versus US government is that US government releases all the data, so that you can compute your own numbers.

[The_Virginian]

Hey good post.

I was just on my way over here to post the same thing.

The REAL story is not the cooked Books, it's the fact that MAINSTREAM news sources are divulging what other sites have said for YEARS.

Now, why would MSN give permission NOW? Just in time to create a new World (currancy) Order on behalf of the Bank of International Settlement?

Oil Depletion is going to be a real Dog.

[JoeCoal]

All right! The ice is breaking on this one. I've heard from the shadows that unemployment and inflation had been grossly underreported for a long time. Maybe it's finally getting out in the sunshine.

My study of LATOC leads me to conclude that the real villain here is fiat money and fractional reserve banking. Bankers are all a bunch of F^H^H^H^H^H^H criminals.

The endless chase to repay the un-payable loan was a major force leading to the construction of the impossible-to-maintain machine we're all trapped in now. Gross expenditure of easy energy made the impossible loan appear to be in easy reach – heck you could even make it look like you'd paid it off, if you threw enough petroleum at it. So, what the hell, let's take out more impossible loans and keep the party rolling!

Fiat money is by definition doomed to fail. Cooking the books like this is a sure sign that failure is immanent. Our founding fathers knew this, and fought against it. The Constitution says we're supposed to use real gold and real silver for money, not paper or electrons. Many people believe that the Fed is unconstitutional, and I agree.

Perhaps Bernanke will actually get burned at the stake?