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Name:	water_watcher -	Reply
Subject:	The End of America as we know it
Date:	3/14/2011 8:08:21 AM

This is scary but makes total sense. It is long, but worth listening to.

http://www.stansberryresearch.com/pro/1011PSIENDVD/OPSIM313/PR

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	The End of America as we know it
Date:	3/14/2011 10:02:22 AM

Can't believe I sat and watched the entire thing, but sadly, I think there is a lot of truth to what his research shows. I don't know if there will be the riots of epic proportions that he describes, but I do think we are seeing the last days of the dollar as the world reserve currency. We are looking at the last days of America as we have known it. We're fooling ourselves if we think otherwise. And it has nothing to do with what political party is in power.

Name:	HARRY -	Reply
Subject:	The End of America as we know it
Date:	3/14/2011 10:08:08 AM

Let me guess. Is he selling something?

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	The End of America as we know it
Date:	3/14/2011 10:14:33 AM

Of course he is selling his newsletter subscription.

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	The End of America as we know it
Date:	3/14/2011 12:51:26 PM

I've been hearing a lot about this guy and listened to part of it before I needed to move on.

Let me address one issue he discussed and provide some perspective that should give you pause. He makes a big deal about the price of gasoline in the U.S. compared to other countries. The fact is the difference in gas prices paid in Europe is much higher than the U.S. for one reason only, taxes. Some examples: The range of base costs for gasoline is from $1.51 in the UK up to $2.23 in Norway (its $1.55 per gallon in the U.S.). Excise taxes on every gallon of gasoline ranges from $0.27 in Mexico to $3.90 per gallon in Turkey (its on average $0.37 in the U.S.). Then you add VAT taxes which ranges from $0 in countries like the U.S. and Mexico up to $1.27 in Norway. So the fact that the U.S. has the lowest gas prices is entirely related to lower taxes and not the base price of gasoline.

As you can see the range of base gasoline prices is pretty small ($0.72) when compared to the range of excise and VAT tax costs ($4.93) which contributes to overall gasoline prices. All those countries he mentioned regarding high gasoline prices are almost entirely a result of the taxes charged by their governments and not some huge imbalance in what we have to pay versus them. His thesis that oil being valued in dollars provides us with some advantage in having access to cheap gasoline just doesn't comport with the facts. We have lower taxes on gasoline.

I will try to listen to more of it and I don't deny that he rightly points out some very big problems we have from a structural financial perspective. But if on one issue he draws conclusions based on misleading information it makes me more likely to question everything.

I am much more optimistic about the future of the country. I remember all the same dire predictions under the worthless one, Jimmy Carter and yet four years later we were back on track. What we need to do is purge our country of the current leadership in the White House as we are doing in Congress. Only then can we recover..

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	The End of America as we know it
Date:	3/14/2011 4:27:45 PM

I'd like to think you are right, but I'm afraid it is not that easy. Frankly, the problems facing this country transcend a particular political party. It's not just a matter of getting the Dems out of the WH. Almost everything that is happening goes back well before Obama -- some of it Reagan, some of it Clinton, some of it Bush, some of it Obama. I believe I heard the Chinese allude to not using the dollar as the reserve currency, and I can't remember under what circumstances it was. Doesn't mean it is going to happen, but it could. I think we've all known for some time that a good portion of our debt is held by foreign countries and a lot of our currency is held by the Chinese. They did a segment on this (I want to say around 2005) on McNeil Leiher. The point at the time was that the Chinese could bankrupt our country by a massive sell off of the dollar. You are of course correct about the gas in other countries. It is heavily taxed. Fortunately for them, foreign countries have a much better public transport system than the US. In my mind, however, I don't think that makes everything in the video suspect. Overly dramatic? Perhaps... he's trying to scare people into taking a subscription to his service... but he's right in that it has happened before in other places and we are not exempt.

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	The End of America as we know it
Date:	3/14/2011 5:42:49 PM

Hound, the last part was definitely an opinion piece and while I agree getting rid of Obama will not be a perfect solution I can't imagine any GOP president that would have resided over trillion dollar plus deficits. And I know the current GOP controlled House would not either. Having said that, it is speculation on my part and something we will not know for sure until it happens. But its a chance I am willing to take and I hope the GOP puts forward a viable alternative to another four years of Obama. As it currently stands, absent some other cataclysmic event it appears that the GOP will also control the Senate after 2012. Obviously not a sure bet but the Cook Political Report and others have gone so far as to say it is nearly a done deal. I am not that brash but it certainly looks likely.

Just to be clear on my point, I did not intend to imply it was all wrong. But it does give me a lot of pause when I see one point in his presentation that I think is very deceptive. The fact is that the difference in the base price that we pay for gasoline is only slightly lower than in Europe which tells me the basic thesis of that point is just wrong and for a guy who reminds us what a financial genius he is on multiple occasions it is disturbing at least. Are other claims likewise off base? Maybe, maybe not. I downloaded the text of the message to a word file and will look at it more closely.

Of course, being my usual skeptical self I tend to have a jaded view toward anyone that is using fear to sell a product. Just my nature I guess......

Name:	water_watcher -	Reply
Subject:	The End of America as we know it
Date:	3/14/2011 5:50:08 PM

His predictions are all based on the dollar no longer being the reserve currency. If that happen, I think a lot of his predictions come true. If it doesn't we still have problems, but we may not have the collapse of the economy as he predicts (at least I hope not). The one thing we have going for us, is we are still the worlds largest economy and many other countries depend on us. If the understand the impact of changing the dollar from the reserve currency will have, not only on us, but them as well ... then it may not happen. But I do think other countries are scared by our debt level and us just printing money to devalue our curreny and make our debt problem more managable in the short term. They may do enough that should scare us in to realizing we need to address the our of control debt we have before we do lose the dollar as the reserve currency and the economy collapses. The only thing that scares the heck out of me, is I don't think Obama or many of the dems care if the economy collapses, since they can use it to throw out the constitution and chnage the country as we know it.

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	The End of America as we know it
Date:	3/14/2011 7:57:43 PM

You really must be kidding. I know you don't like Obama and disagree vehemently with his policies, but that is just silly. He's just a man, not the anti-Christ. I didn't like and vehemently disagreed with things that Bush did, but I never thought he was specifically out to ruin the country, although at times it seemed to me that's where we were headed.

Name:	water_watcher -	Reply
Subject:	The End of America as we know it
Date:	3/14/2011 9:08:26 PM (updated 3/14/2011 9:12:49 PM)

I believe it 100%. I think his ego and power mean more to him. I also believe he hates our constitution (he shows no regard for it) and would do anything to put his socialist policies and beliefs in to play. We were headed there before this past November.

Just like he found a way to force Obamacare down our throat when the country did not want it. He does not care what the people want ... he has strong convictions and they do not seem to align with capitalism.

I respect you do not agree ... but it does not make you right. And it does not make me right ... but it is what I believe and I do feel there are enough facts and actions by him to support my position much more than yours.

Name:	lotowner -	Reply
Subject:	The End of America as we know it
Date:	3/14/2011 10:21:36 PM

I never thought that Jimmy Carter was Anti USA.Being President was above his capability. Carter did not surround himself with the best minds in the country.

Obama is anti USA. Period!

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