Inflation out of control

Fangdog · Feb 20, 2008

Quote from piezoe:

I don't think that is true, however if you could show some data supporting that assertion, i might be able to accept it as fact. The few studies i have seen, however, claim that the costs incurred due to illegal immigrants is virtually balanced by the benefits, i.e., lower prices, and that it's essentially a wash.

WHAT COSTS MORE PER YEAR THAN THE IRAQ WAR?

I have included the U RL's for verification of the following facts:

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year. http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English! http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is s pent to incarcerate illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare and Social Services by the American taxpayers. http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html

9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two-and-a-half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terr orist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report. http://tinyurl.com/t9sht

12. The National Policy Institute, 'estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.' http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin. http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm

Total cost is a whooping... $338.3 BILLION A YEAR!!!

Snopes is provided for doubters: http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/bankofamerica.asp

Social Security Change For 2008

The United States Senate voted to extend Social Security Benefits to Illegal Aliens beginning in 2008. The following are the senators who voted to give illegal aliens Social Security benefits. They are grouped by home state. If a state is not listed, there was no voting representative.

Alaska : Stevens (R)

Arizona : McCain (R)

Arkansas : Lincoln (D) Pryor (D)

California : Boxer (D) Feinstein (D)

Colorado : Salazar (D)

Connecticut : Dodd (D) Lieberman (D)

Delaware : Biden (D) Carper (D)

Florida : Martinez (R)

Hawaii : Akaka (D) Inouye (D)

Illinois : Durbin (D) Obama (D)

Indiana : Bayh (D) Lugar (R)

Iowa : Harkin (D)

Kansas : Brownback (R)

Louisiana : Landrieu (D)

Maryland : Mikulski (D) Sarbanes (D)

Massachusetts : Kennedy (D) Kerry (D)

Montana : Baucus (D)

Nebraska : Hagel (R)

Nevada : Reid (D)

New Jersey : Lautenberg (D) Menendez (D)

New Mexico : Bingaman (D)

New York : Clinton (D) Schumer (D)

North Dakota : Dorgan (D)

Ohio : DeWine (R) Voinovich(R)

Oregon : Wyden (D)

Pennsylvania : Specter (R)

Rhode Island : Chafee (R) Reed (D)

South Carolina : Graham (R)

South Dakota : Johnson (D)

Vermont : Jeffords (I) Leahy (D)

Washington : Cantwell (D) Murray (D)

West Virginia : Rockefeller (D), by Not Voting

Wisconsin : Feingold (D) Kohl (D)

OddTrader · Feb 20, 2008

Quote from jeffalvinson:

I have been saying this for decades and the test of time has always proven it to be true:
"eliminate the Fed's ability to cut interest rates and simply have the overnight lending rate auto adjust itself (electronically) to
mimic the exact value of the yield on the benchmark 10 year Treasury Note."
That would create a perfect equilibrium between
1: the bond market,
2: the stock market,
3: the housing market,
4: and inflation.

"Bubbles in those markets would be a thing of the past."

What are the best investments/ opportunities (property ?!) due to this inflation, assuming it's real and coming?

scriabinop23 · Feb 20, 2008

ET posters have a good record of making flawed assumptions and assuming correlation.

So for the sake of an interesting discussion ---

1) Besides the term auction facility (60B or 120B rolled over monthly, right? with a multiplier effect of 10x - 600B -> 1.2T net liquidity increase), is there any evidence the fed is pumping more money into the system? Same question goes for the EU... what are the net #s. Lets find out. I'm sure someone can datamine this. Furthermore, realize these TAF and similar facilities are mostly replacing lost reserves ... probably not acting as stimulus as much as stabilizer.

2) Even though $$ are being pumped in, just remember they are merely offsetting asset losses by banks, preventing insolvency. In other words, there is no CREDIT expansion from this -- thus little in the way of new *investment* going into the system.

3) same goes with lower interest rates. With all of these ratings downgrades and rising credit standards, how much will new credit at even lower rates (even approaching FF 1%) bear a stimulative effect if banks are in the process of reigning in risk, *reducing* operating leverage ???

In other words, is it a flawed assumption to equate lower FF and other CB rates in this loosening cycle with increased money supply, when banks are *done* taking risk [licking their wounds from losses and misratings]?

Is this last leg of the commodity boom instead merely dumb money chasing what is left to invest in - not a function of recent central bank actions? [err hedge funds that are afraid to sink $$$ into equities or bonds]

Just think about it... How many billions of $$$ have left the equity and bond markets this past few months. Where else is it to go?

Can anyone answer these questions without vagueness?

AK100 · Feb 20, 2008

Quote from OddTrader:

What are the best investments/ opportunities (property ?!) due to this inflation, assuming it's real and coming?

Good question, why doesn't everyone chip in with some ideas/strategies.

Can buy index linked bonds (but they're only indexed to the fake inflation figures)

Property should do well as will Gold, basically any sort of hard asset. Conversely any paper asset such as a bond or $100 bill won't do well.

One pretty easy way to counter inflation in your personal budgets is to cut say 5%-10% of your monthly spending.

detective · Feb 20, 2008

Quote from AK100:

Good question, why doesn't everyone chip in with some ideas/strategies.

Can buy index linked bonds (but they're only indexed to the fake inflation figures)

Property should do well as will Gold, basically any sort of hard asset. Conversely any paper asset such as a bond or $100 bill won't do well.

One pretty easy way to counter inflation in your personal budgets is to cut say 5%-10% of your monthly spending.

Buy hard assets. That's the easiest way. The bad thing is that everyone else is thinking the same and commodities have run up huge over the past few months. TIPs are for losers and idiots who believe in the CPI.

thesharpone · Feb 20, 2008

Quote from Vas62:

And the sad part of it is that NOTHING is going to be changed.
Soon another crock (or bunch of them) will be elected and all preelection talk about "changes" will be forgotten.
What a f^%#ing world we live in.

ya it's so funny, everywhere in the world the same people fall for the same shit year after year

one party comes promises freedom, everyone votes, they win, take away people's freedom, next round another party comes promises freedom, people vote, they take away their pathetic souls, and so on

how fucking dumb can people get? from what i have seen in life, really really fucking stupid, even a monkey wouldn't fall for the same type of shit twice

Vas62 · Feb 20, 2008

Quote from thesharpone:

ya it's so funny, everywhere in the world the same people fall for the same shit year after year

one party comes promises freedom, everyone votes, they win, take away people's freedom, next round another party comes promises freedom, people vote, they take away their pathetic souls, and so on

how fucking dumb can people get? from what i have seen in life, really really fucking stupid, even a monkey wouldn't fall for the same type of shit twice

All this election shit gives them feeling of being important.

" ...I'm involved in a process of choosing presidend.
I'm going to decide who this guy will be . "

Dumb asses gets what they deserve.
The problem is that other people suffer later on because of that.

thesharpone · Feb 20, 2008

Quote from eusdaiki:

It's a sad thing when a nation of immigrants forgets it's roots, and the sons of the immigrants blame immigrants for the problems of their nation.

This can only come from the worse kind of ignorance; ignorance of one's own roots. Forgetting that perhaps if one's fathers had stayed back home somewhere in Europe, your country would be a much wiser place today.

are you from pakistan or something?

no one blamed any immigrants, the term used is; illegal immigrants

there is a big difference between an immigrant and an illegal immigrant

thesharpone · Feb 20, 2008

Quote from Vas62:

All this election shit gives them feeling of being important.

" ...I'm involved in a process of choosing presidend.
I'm going to decide who this guy will be . "

Dumb asses gets what they deserve.
The problem is that other people suffer later on because of that.

good thinking

you are right

it is the same false feeling that drives many parts of the society

like in one of those cheap countries, almost everyone is like; my country, my country, i will fight for my country, i will die for my country

and when you really look at it, their country has done nothing but shit on them, on their pathetic lives, yet they will die for it, haha

that is one good thing about violent wars, those cheap lives who are willing to die for their country will most likely die

piezoe · Feb 20, 2008

Fangdog, My post had only to do with pointing out that according to economists: besides costs, there are benefits to the inexpensive labor that illegal immigrants provide. I am not taking a particular stance here, one way or the other. But what surprised me was how little cost was associated with some of these programs you have detailed. Almost trivial in terms of the Federal budget. The main cost is the 200 Billion estimate for supressed wages, which is of obvious concern, but iI suppose that is the cost that economists believe is offset by lower prices -- lower prices for all including for those whose wages have been supressed. I'm not arguing for open borders, but let's not forget the contributions of immigrants, even illegal immigrants!, to our country. The illegal ones wouldn't be here if it were not for jobs, and it seems there is now a heightened awareness among politicians that if you want to get a handle on this problem you can't do it with a chain link fence, you have to go after employers.

Quote from Fangdog:

WHAT COSTS MORE PER YEAR THAN THE IRAQ WAR?

I have included the U RL's for verification of the following facts:

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year. http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English! http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is s pent to incarcerate illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare and Social Services by the American taxpayers. http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html

9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two-and-a-half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terr orist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report. http://tinyurl.com/t9sht

12. The National Policy Institute, 'estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.' http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin. http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm

Total cost is a whooping... $338.3 BILLION A YEAR!!!

Snopes is provided for doubters: http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/bankofamerica.asp

Social Security Change For 2008

The United States Senate voted to extend Social Security Benefits to Illegal Aliens beginning in 2008. The following are the senators who voted to give illegal aliens Social Security benefits. They are grouped by home state. If a state is not listed, there was no voting representative......