"When misguided public opinion honors what is despicable and despises what is honorable, punishes virtue and rewards vice, encourages what is harmful and discourages what is useful, applauds falsehood and smothers truth under indifference or insult, a nation turns its back on progress and can be restored only by the terrible lessons of catastrophe." … Frederic Bastiat


Evil talks about tolerance only when it’s weak. When it gains the upper hand, its vanity always requires the destruction of the good and the innocent, because the example of good and innocent lives is an ongoing witness against it. So it always has been. So it always will be. And America has no special immunity to becoming an enemy of its own founding beliefs about human freedom, human dignity, the limited power of the state, and the sovereignty of God. – Archbishop Chaput

Trader Dan's Work is NOW AVAILABLE AT WWW.TRADERDAN.NET



Saturday, November 17, 2012

A little Humor - from the Maxine Cartoons

Over five thousand years ago, Moses said to the children of Israel ,
"Pick up your shovels, mount your asses and camels, and I will lead
you to the Promised Land."

Nearly 75 years ago, (when Welfare was introduced) Roosevelt said,
"Lay down your shovels, sit on your asses, and light up a Camel, this
is the Promised Land."

Today, Congress has stolen your shovel, taxed your asses, raised the price of Camels and mortgaged the Promised Land!

I was so depressed last night thinking about Health Care Plans, the
economy, the wars, lost jobs, savings, Social Security, retirement
funds, etc .... I called a Suicide Hotline.

I had to press 1 for English.

I was connected to a call center in Pakistan . I told them I was suicidal.

They got excited and asked if I could drive a truck......

Folks, we're screwed!

Trader Dan on King World News Markets and Metals Wrap

Please click on the following link to listen in to my regular weekly radio interview with Eric King on the KWN Markets and Metals Wrap where we discuss the past week's market action.

http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2012/11/17_KWN_Weekly_Metals_Wrap.html

The Decline and Fall of America

Last week, the day after the election, I penned an article that I entitled, "America Votes for National Suicide". That article has received more views than anything I have ever written not only on this site, but on the other sites that I formerly wrote for. Apparently it has struck a chord, resonating with a large block of readers.

There was a small minority who attributed the article to nothing but a mere case of "sour grapes", the bemoaning of an election loss.  Disclaimer - I was not originally a fan of Governor Romney but compared to the current captain of the ship America the Titanic, he would have not pushed the speed level on the engine controls to warp speed as the current occupant of the White House is doing.

I said at the time that I make my living as a commodity trader which means by nature of that occupation I must be able to ascertain trends in ADVANCE of the wider public if I am to be successful. That sort of thing tends to color the world at which one looks. In other words, I cannot help but to see the society at large in terms of trends. My reason therefore for writing the article was that I see what I believe is an irreversible trend in this nation, a trend which will result in its death as a Constitutional Republic.

Those on the left will of course rejoice at such an occurence. Those of us who cherish the nation as it once was are left with but few options. I still maintain that the best option is a splitting of the nation. The bare minimum could be a loose confederacy of states whom, in a united fashion, standing upon 9th and 10th Amendment grounds, refuse to implement any legislation proceeding from Washington which oversteps the Constitutionally granted powers of the federal government. The term is "Nullification". This would of course apply to such out-of-control federal agencies such as the EPA, ATF, HHS, TSA, etc.

I will be writing more on this in the near future as time permits.

That being said, I recommend that you read the following article in its entirety.

http://townhall.com/columnists/marvinfolkertsma/2012/11/17/the_decline_and_fall_of_america/page/full/

It is entitled, "The Decline and Fall of America" ( History buffs will immediately be mindful of Gibbons classic, "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" ). The writer quotes from a Mancur Olson, an economist who published a book titled, "The Rise and Decline of Nations", in which he details the mechanisms involved in the decline in any great world power. It is frighteningly insightful. Once you understand this, the TREND in this nation will be easily discernible.

Here, in a nutshell, is the most powerful line in the article to remember:

This means nothing less than it says: a group will kill its host, the American republic in this case, before relinquishing even a modicum of benefits for itself.


If you want to see a microcosm of this principle in action, just look at what the unions did to the makers of Hostess Twinkies. They made sure it could not pull itself off the ground and now 18,000 of them are without a job.

On a local level just look at Detroit, Michigan. On a state level, watch California destroy itself within a decade. As they go, so too will our beloved country.

I do not know which is more tragic, the fact that the nation is now well down the road to permanent decline or the fact that so many, particularly those responsible for it, still remain completely blind to its ruin.