Friday, November 30, 2012

Is US President Barack Obama a Psychopath?

We may know very little about the formative years of, and the inner life of, US President Barack Obama. But if the US President is a psychopath, it is likely that he is of the "high functioning" psychopathic variant.
It is only when a person takes a long and careful look at the full-blown psychopath - a sort of exaggerated Narcissist - that they are able to see the caricature of the traits that then make it easier for them to identify the "garden variety" psychopath - and/or the Narcissist. _The Mask of the Psychopath
The brief excerpt immediately below is taken from a web article "Psychopaths rule the world." It suggests that psychopaths can be distinguished from non-psychopaths medically, and that they often secretly work their way into high positions of leadership.
...science is now able to predict by brain scan and DNA tests if person is a psychopath. If this person has a happy childhood the chances that they will kill decrease, but if they aren’t happy they are at a very high risk of violent behaviour. But how does this applies to politicians and corporate leaders?

...“Part of the problem is that the very things we’re looking for in our leaders, the psychopath can easily mimic.[..]Their natural tendency is to be charming. Take that charm and couch it in the right business language and it sounds like charismatic leadership”. __ Leaders as Psychopaths
This "psychopathic brain type" is estimated to comprise as many as 4 million persons within the US population.

More here:
The high incidence of sociopathy in human society has a profound effect on the rest of us who must live on this planet, too, even those of us who have not been clinically traumatized. The individuals who constitute this 4 percent drain our relationships, our bank accounts, our accomplishments, our self-esteem, our very peace on earth.

..."Likeable," "Charming," "Intelligent," "Alert," "Impressive," "Confidence-inspiring," and "A great success with the ladies": These are the sorts of descriptions repeatedly used by Cleckley in his famous case-studies of psychopaths. They are also, of course, "irresponsible," "self-destructive," and the like. These descriptions highlight the great frustrations and puzzles that surround the study of psychopathy.

Psychopaths seem to have in abundance the very traits most desired by normal persons. The untroubled self-confidence of the psychopath seems almost like an impossible dream and is generally what "normal" people seek to acquire when they attend assertiveness training classes. In many instances, the magnetic attraction of the psychopath for members of the opposite sex seems almost supernatural.

...read Cleckley's speculations on what was "really wrong" with these people. He comes very close to suggesting that they are human in every respect - but that they lack a soul. This lack of "soul quality" makes them very efficient "machines." They can be brilliant, write scholarly works, imitate the words of emotion, but over time, it becomes clear that their words do not match their actions. They are the type of person who can claim that they are devastated by grief who then attend a party "to forget." The problem is: they really DO forget.

Being very efficient machines, like a computer, they are able to execute very complex routines designed to elicit from others support for what they want. In this way, many psychopaths are able to reach very high positions in life. It is only over time that their associates become aware of the fact that their climb up the ladder of success is predicated on violating the rights of others."Even when they are indifferent to the rights of their associates, they are often able to inspire feelings of trust and confidence." _Psychopath
More at the link above.

What would separate a charming and irresponsible rogue such as President Bill Clinton, from a psychopathic president such as -- perhaps -- Barack Obama? Both have the ability to charm, and to lie with a straight face.

Perhaps the difference between a quasi-psychopathic rogue and a true psychopath, would be that the rogue simply doesn't care about the bad results of his actions, whereas the psychopath takes pleasure in the misery that he causes.

It is unlikely that US President Obama will submit to the necessary tests which might determine whether he falls within the psychopathic mind type. I would not be surprised if he would score very close to the mean of that category, were he to be tested. But it is certain his zombied followers will never consider the idea, and that the US skankstream news and entertainment media will avoid the very idea as far as possible.

What is important is that intelligent persons of independent minds consider the possibility that high functioning psychopaths might easily work their ways into positions of power, and to develop contingency plans based upon the various risks that such individuals may pose.

Monday, November 26, 2012

The Collapse of the Russian Empire

This article was first published on Al Fin blog


Russia is haunted by the history of empire -- an empire that is rapidly slipping the grasp of a bleeding bear. The collapse of Russia's male population is related to alcohol abuse and drug abuse. Russia's politically connected wealthy are stashing tens of $billions in foreign bank accounts, her best and brightest youth vie for overseas jobs, and her beautiful young women seek husbands in Australia, North America, and Europe. Besides oil & gas, Russia's main asset is bluster.
Russian Men and Vodka


The mansions and gardens of old imperial Russia have faded or crumbled, as have many of the collective farms that fed communist Russia. Today, the hamlets dot a forsaken land of rampant poverty where men drink from morning to night. The interconnected crises of low fertility, high death rates and ragged infrastructure have left much of the nation barren.

... Even darker times may lie ahead.

A major study that the United Nations released in April, authored by leading Russian experts, projected that Russia would lose at least 11 million more people by 2025. Another U.N.-sponsored report said last year that the population could fall to as low as 100 million in 2050.

That report cited a recent improvement in fertility but cautioned that, "while these favorable trends may last another five or six years, all recent forecasts . . . predict that Russia's population decline will only intensify."

"There's a risk that in the most negative situation, Russia will stop existing as a state," said Olga Isupova, a senior demographic researcher at the Higher School of Economics, a leading private Russian university in Moscow.

...Russia as a whole lost 12.3 million people from 1992 to 2008. An influx of immigrants, mainly from former Soviet territories, helped hide the extent of the problem. The population is now 142 million, but it would have been 136.3 million without that surge from outside.

...— the decay in the heartland suggests that Russia isn't a resurgent superpower so much as a nation that's trying not to come apart at the seams._NewsTribune

In a worst-case scenario, the population drops from a peak of around 145 million at the turn of the century to about 60 million by 2100, a catastrophic loss of 85 million people at an average rate of 850 000 per year. Unless the government brings in hundreds of millions of foreign migrant workers to compensate, Russia’s productivity and GDP would shrink along with its population.

Strategically, Goldman (2010) points out that a potential problem for Russia is that the depopulation rate in its far east, near the border with China, is higher than the national average. By contrast, the Chinese population on that increasingly sparsely populated border is growing rapidly. Will trouble brew on this border as a result? _Russia's Future
How can Russia help but come apart at the seams? It is only a matter of time before the country no longer has the manpower to hold its vast land area -- particularly when neighboring population overflow has been slipping into Russia for decades, diluting Russia's core population and national spirit.
Despite the rhetorical bluster by Putin and others, critics say that Russia's leadership is largely at fault for not diversifying the economy and helping modernize companies.... During the past decade or so of booming oil and gas exports that brought wealth and prestige, very little was done to revamp a nation still largely stuck in Soviet-era practices. _NewsTribune
On the local level, the problem is poisoning by vodka, drugs, and despair. On the national level, the problem is rampant corruption -- with Russia's heritage being stolen by government officials and their cronies, and shipped overseas.

There is no reason to expect Russia to be any more careful with its huge nuclear arsenal than it has been with any other national assets that might be stolen by insiders and sold to the highest bidder.

With few exceptions, the entire nation is in decay and decline. Expect trouble ahead as a result.

Marc Faber's Jaded View of the Future




Marc Faber is popularly known as Doctor Doom, best known for his jaundiced outlook on US government deficit financing and the ballooning debt in the first world.

The video above is a 45 minute presentation on Faber's future outlook. In the scribd embed below, Faber presents a number of charts that illustrate various aspects of the problem.

50 Charts From Marc Faber

Ultimately, Faber is likely to be proven right in many or most of his views. In the short term, we are likely to see significant volatility in markets around the world.

Learn to be very light on your feet, when it comes to where you put your assets. Be prepared to move them quickly.

H/T Lew Rockwell

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Does Voter Fraud Explain 4 More Years of Obamanation?

take Philly out of Pennsylvania, the Big Apple out of New York, the Motor City out of Michigan, the Windy City out of Illinois, Cleveland out of Ohio, Milwaukee out of Wisconsin, St. Louis out of Missouri, etc., and a lot of blue states would instantly be red. What explains this pronounced and hugely significant partisan divide between urban and nonurban areas?

One obvious explanation for the overwhelming Democratic majorities in big cities is the Curley effect with the corresponding concentration of Democratic constituencies like welfare recipients and unions... The Curley effect has turned once-vibrant cities into economic basket cases . . . _Forbes
Election precincts that are controlled by unions and inner city activist groups are not likely to be open to neutral poll observers, and are more likely to generate curious results . . .

Consider the large number of precincts in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Detroit, and other Democratic Party controlled areas including Chicago, which returned vote tallies that are just short of statistically impossible.

Many precincts for Obama returned upward of 99% or greater numbers of votes compared to registered voters. Quite a handy feat. Other districts that had experienced actual population decline showed vote returns that did not reflect this decline in population. Dead voters on the prowl again, voting for Democrats just like in the old corrupt political machine days?
If anybody has been reading the news lately, there has been some gradually disturbing news coming out about voting fraud in the Presidential Election. In critical swing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois there are a lot of precincts in Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Chicago which reported 100% of their votes cast for Obama. These add up to many 10's of thousands of votes for Obama and 0 for Romney. I repeat, 0 for Romney. I have read a number of articles about this and people knowlegable in Political Science and Statistics are starting to take notice of this.Statistically, even if among 10's of thousands of voters all wanted to vote fo Obama, it would not be possible to receive 100% of the vote because at least a few would make a mistake and vote incorrectly for Romney. Not to mention the fact that a least a few of those 10's of thousands might actually disagree with Obama. These types of election returns are only seen in countries run by dictators. I do not understand why this is not getting more attention. _Comment at NBC Chicago
These are the days of the corrupt Chicago Outfit. A combination of violent union thugs, corrupt politicians, radical inner city activist groups, faux environmnetalist greens, far-leftist zombies, and allied bona fide organised crime groups.

The Chicago alliance represents a "win at all costs" ethic which has no concern for the underlying well being of the society or the citizens living in the society.

The most recent US national elections represented a significant solidifying of the Chicago Outfit's grip on US politics. Expect an already massive dysfunction and corruption to expand.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Massive Problems come with Massive Debt


Massive government debt is nothing to sneeze at. Particularly when the debt goes to pay off voters and political cronies -- with no possibility of ever paying off the debt. That is not merely "bad debt." It is catastrophic debt.

Here is a good look at central banks, and their pathetic attempts to deal with massive modern debt:
Because governments are in disagreement, bodies are taking their place that are turning into ersatz governments: the central banks. The ECB's decision to buy up unlimited amounts of the sovereign debt of European countries is a replacement for political solutions for which there are currently no majorities in the governments and parliaments of euro-zone countries. The decision by the American Federal Reserve Bank to inject hundreds of billions of dollars into the markets again to stimulate economic growth results for the inability of Democrats and Republicans to agree on a compromise between limiting debt and economic stimulus programs. Printing money -- or betting hundreds of billions once again -- is the last desperate response on both sides of the Atlantic.

What began four years ago with the bursting of a credit bubble in the mortgage market is being combated with more and more new debt in the trillions, thereby inflating the next, even bigger credit bubble.

The fresh trillions circle the world in the search for yield, but only a small part of the money flows into the real economy, where investments in new production plants produce lower returns. Instead, the trillions slosh back and forth, from one financial market to another, from the foreign currency market to the commodities market, and from the gold market to the stock market and back again.

Because these trillions are not reaching the real economy, the risk of inflation is currently smaller than Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, and its president would have us believe. But every saver and everyone with a life insurance policy pays for the central bank's low interest-rate policy with low interest rates. When central banks keep interest rates close to zero for long periods of time, which they have done for years, they disadvantage ordinary savers and favor major investors, gamblers and banks, which can borrow at low rates and invest the money elsewhere at a profit. _Spiegel

As seen in the image, it requires more and more debt to generate less and less growth, over time. Governments and central banks get caught up in a tangled web feedback loop of out of control debt spending, with no clear way out.

Government officials "play at the problem" with no real intention of addressing the central concern: Governments have grown to an all-encompassing size and degree of control over their now-subservient societies. How can societies be subservient to governments when governments run on the surplus production of societies? Because governments have grown to be parasitic upon their underlying societies.

This story does not have a happy ending. But it will have to have an ending, because better stories will not wait indefinitely to be told.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Obama et Hollande: Twin Freaks of Different Mothers?

There is a freakish resemblance between the national leaders of France and the US. Each is an ideologue, first and foremost. Neither are bright enough to understand how their respective nations could grow more prosperous, nor do they particularly care. Thuggish political mobsters at heart, they are only interested in leeching the wealth and accomplishments of others, to the acclaim of the popular media.
In France, Hollande’s class war approach has been disastrous for the French economy. His tax policies have prompted the start of a mass exodus of wealthy individuals, who are taking their money elsewhere in Europe, including to Britain and Switzerland. In the words of Laurence Parisot, head of the French Employers’ Federation: “Our country is, alas, becoming less and less attractive with every passing month whilst our neighbours are trying to become more and more attractive.”

Unsurprisingly, economic growth has taken a hit, with falling consumer spending and plummeting market confidence. France is slipping back into recession in the final quarter of 2012, with Europe’s second largest economy now projected to miss its deficit target and barely grow at all in 2013.

France’s economic failure is a sharp warning to the United States if it goes down the same path. Ominously for Barack Obama, Hollande’s approval rating has fallen to just 36 percent, making him the most unpopular French president in recent history (at the six month mark). _Twin Freaks of Doom
Obama simply doesn't care. In fact, one of his missions in life since childhood, has been to punish the US and Europe for their "oppression of third world peoples over the past few centuries." Obama's mother drilled that lesson into his head, and the only father-figure Obama knew as a child -- Frank -- made sure the lesson stuck.

France is probably doomed. Hollande has no idea how to pull the country out of the hole he continues to dig for France. Obama is, if anything, less intelligent than Hollande, and driven more by revenge than by ideology or simple thuggish greed -- both of which Obama possesses in abundance.

It will be an interesting few years for both unfortunate countries, France and the US. Try not to be too vulnerable to miscreants of this nature. Large scale damages are a certainty. Doom for their respective countries is not out of the realm of possibility. Take care of yourselves.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Is "The Death of White America Theme" Being Overdone in Regard to the 2012 US Elections?

Probably the best piece so far on "The Death of White America" was published recently in the UK Daily Mail.
For Republicans struggling to understand their defeat at the polls, the most chilling statistic in this week’s presidential election was this: Mitt Romney won the biggest share of the white vote that any Republican White House contender ever has — and he still lost.

In an election battle that was defined as much as anything by race, Mitt Romney won the support of 59 per cent of whites, but just 27 per cent of Latinos, 26 per cent of Asian-Americans and 6 per cent of African-Americans.

Thirty years ago, being unpopular with ethnic minorities would hardly have stopped a white establishment candidate like Romney from trouncing Barack Obama. But back then, whites accounted for almost 90 per cent of voters. Now they make up just 72 per cent of the electorate, and that figure is shrinking by the year. _DailyMail
Much more at the link.

In the future -- if demographic trends continue -- it will be impossible for white candidates to win election in most areas of North America, without large numbers of votes from blacks, hispanics, and other ethnic "minorities." But in 2012, that is not necessarily the case. It may be a bit early in the demographic evolution of the US to proclaim "the death of white America."

Only about 54% of eligible voters actually voted. And of the white voters who did vote, almost 40% voted for Obama -- and against their own economic future. It is one thing to proclaim "the death of white America" when white voters voted in large numbers and for their own future benefit -- and still lost. But that was not the case in 2012, when large numbers of white voters did not vote, or even voted against the futures of themselves and their progeny.

We should also not overlook voter fraud, which played a very large part in the final vote tallies brought in by Democratic Party controlled precincts. If you look at large Democrat controlled cities such as Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Miami, etc etc it is clear that more votes were registered than were actually cast in a valid manner.

As we mentioned here before, it is not clear whether fraudulent vote counts were high enough to tip the electoral college totals. But it is more than likely that fraudulent votes tipped the popular vote count in favour of Obama.

There are many reasons that Obama will be able to continue his corrupt and destructive reign over the US government for another 4 years. But it would be best not to draw exaggerated or premature conclusions from the election results.

For the near future, a better use of the time of US conservatives, centrists, and libertarians, would be to toughen up election laws to prevent future election fraud as much as possible.

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

So a Group of Arse-Heads Get Together and Decide to Put Another Arse-Head in Charge

So how is this year's US election different from earlier elections?

There have been other close elections that illustrate a deeply divided US electorate. But emotions have been higher this year than in most previous elections, with large numbers of black Americans promising to riot or assassinate Romney if the Republican were elected. The element of designed racial division on the part of the Obama campaign made this year's election a more dangerous battleground.

This year, a lot of problems were intentionally and successfully swept under the rug over a period of several months, to avoid getting voters upset with the ruling regime.

The news media were largely responsible for shaping the battlefield, and will have to bear final responsibility -- perhaps on a personal level, in some cases.

The US has been getting in deeper and deeper trouble, the longer that Obama has been in office, and too many arseheads appear determined to stay the course no matter where it leads.

US blacks are the biggest losers -- a fact made exquisitely poignant by the role that they themselves played in putting themselves in this position.

Putin's Russia has to be happy, since anything that weakens the US helps to strengthen Russia's relative position in the world.

China has to be ambivalent, at best. Four more years of Obama may put the US irrevocably on the road to default of its debt -- much of which is held by China.

Europe is another big loser, likewise poignantly so due to Europe's long unrequited love affair with the narcissistic US ruler.

Was the election rigged? That is the wrong question. The question is: How badly was the election rigged? No one will ever know the answer to that, although it is almost certain that Romney actually won the popular vote -- if one could remove all the dead voters, multiple voters, mentally incompetent voters, and general ballot stuffing and vote manipulation.

The electoral college reality will have to remain unknown due to the distributed and modular / cellular nature of the cheating that occurred across the battleground states.

The US is not quite as bad as Cuba or Venezuela. But it is well on the road.

Monday, November 05, 2012

Obama Drives a Stake Through the Hearts of Black Americans

Despite very high expectations from the outset, the Obama presidency has not been kind to African Americans.
The October employment numbers deepened the gloom among African Americans and those (including the Via Meadia team) who believe that the United States as a whole cannot progress as it should unless African Americans are getting ahead too. As a report from Think Progress reminds us, in October, African American unemployment rose almost a full percentage point to 14.3 percent.

...unemployment is only part of the story. America’s Black middle class is facing a crisis of historic proportions. African Americans were among the biggest losers in the housing bubble; well intentioned but ill advised policy changes intended to get more low income families and marginal households into home ownership kicked in just in time to lure African American families into the housing market at the peak of the bubble. The loss of wealth and savings has been nothing short of catastrophic; decades of progress in building net worth for middle class and lower middle class minority families have been wiped out since 2007.

... if President Obama wins reelection, his team will have to come to grips with the devastation the last four years have brought to his most loyal supporters and, one hopes, begin to think seriously and realistically about policy changes that might do some good. _Via Meadia

Black Americans are voting for Obama in droves -- although a few have woken up to the debilitating effects of the Obama vision since the 2008 hysteria. Those few are quietly hoping that Mr. Obama is removed from his Peter Principle Position, so that blacks can begin putting the pieces of their lives back together again.

At least American Blacks can be grateful that Obama has not done to them what he did to the US Libyan ambassador.

The Obama regime is a lesson in designed incompetence via ideology. There is much to be learned from a thorough dissection of the legions of missteps taken by Obama and his crony minions. But a wiser use of time would be to put Obama and his bamboozling shenanigans behind us -- all of us.

Sunday, November 04, 2012

Be Prepared for Obama Zombies to Riot if Obama Loses

Twitter supporters of President Obama have been threatening to riot if Obama loses this week's presidential election. Threats to assassinate Romney are also picking up, as the very tight election approaches.


A few weeks ago, Twitchy reported on Twitter users threatening to riot if President Obama loses to GOP rival Mitt Romney. With four days to go until Election Day, we decided this is a topic worth revisiting. The results of our Twitter searches are not pretty:

Those are just the riot threats posted today (Friday November 2nd). It is reasonable to assume that hundreds more were posted prior to today — all of them ignored by a complacent, biased mainstream media.

Interestingly, the threats made today were posted exclusively by supporters of President Obama. We weren’t able to find even one Republican threatening to riot if Mitt Romney loses.

Granted, most of these riot threats were probably made in jest, but a few may be serious. People who do not respect property rights and have little regard for the rules governing civil society have been known to riot over matters of less importance than a presidential election.

Our advice: Be prepared.

_Twitchy

Oh, yes. Best be prepared. Always hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

At least half of Obama supporters are several cards shy of a full deck of playing cards. It wouldn't take much to set them off like a load of old dynamite, with nitroglycerin bleeding all over the surface.

When traveling through the US, be careful where you go over the next several weeks -- regardless of who wins the election. Just as rabid sports fans will riot whether their teams win or lose, so with Obama zombies.