Oldtent Archives 2007 - 2008

Well, it came in the mail today. My county property tax assesment. Take a wild guess. A really wild blue yonder guess. Do you think they increased my taxes again? (sigh)

Two years ago I got a 40 percent increase and fought it. Did not bathe or shave for three days, and drove my stinky self and mud covered pickup to the courthouse and got them to leave my taxes alone. Not sure if it was the smell, the cup of tobacco spit placed on his fine desk, or the muddy boot prints on his new carpet…but it worked. I think I will need to come up with something new this time.

I think I will pack a picnic lunch and arrive to the courthouse early that morning, just so I can park in the space next to the ‘Reserved for Tax Assessor’. Think this time, I will fill the pick up with a load of chicken droppings a few days ahead and water them real good, being sure to park it in a sunny location. Then with this ‘chicken tea’ dripping all over his parking spot, will await his arrival for work. With a dozen copies of how the real estate prices are dropping faster than Ms Jackson’s wardrobe, at a half time show, I will reach out with a not so clean hand and say, “Howdy Mr Tax Assessor, my name if Farmboy, and if you have a minute we need to talk.”
I will shove the papers into his hand, and follow him into his office. I hope he makes me wait. Im used to the smell, and wont bother me at all if he wants to keep me sitting outside the tiny room next to his office. With central Air conditioning, I give it about half an hour before half the courthouse wants to know ‘What is that smell?!!”

He will eventually get around to inviting me in to his office and probably ask about the brown paper bag at which time I will tell him, “Oh, thats just my lunch, I figure we will be here for a spell working this ‘adjustment’ out. Say, would you care for a pickeled egg?” I will pull out a pint mason jar about half full of tobacco spit, unscrew the lid, and deposit a healthy amount into the jar before placing it on his desk. ( I wonder if he will remember me at that point?)

And having ate a dozen or so pickeled eggs for breakfast that morning, and some refried beans, we can sit and discuss his figures. For as long as it takes, or until he passes out.

You know, these visits to the tax assessor is starting to be fun. Get to dress up like Halloween, dont have to take a bath for a couple days, course, I will have to clean out the bed of the pick up afterwards and brush my teeth with Chrolox to get em white again. Still, its about as much fun as going to the county fair. And they do tell me, all is fair in love and war, and this latest tax paper is a declaration of war if I ever seen one. I wonder if picking my nose would be a little too much?

Crude, Rude, Socially Unaccecptable, (at times) Farmboy who says, “When fighting in a den of thieves, there aint no rules or social graces”.

A conspicuous absences of the debate pole Drudge.

Guess he was told not to have one.

his loss out GT gain…his foolheartedness our GT integretrity…his greed our GT hospitality…his stupidity our GT kindness.
health and the prosperity of fine folks always.
wanka john

You have only one hour left to do it (till 12:30 am edt) and you must use your cell phone to vote:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2c2933%2c272493%2c00.html

You have been putting up some great reading material of late. Thank you.

Keep it up, we need all the information this Tent can provide to try and stay a step ahead of the Creature and his minions.

Zig Zag Farmboy, just trying to stay a little ahead and out of the path.

i believe the amount indicated by the cia is what is owed to foreign governments. think about all the liabilities in country. just the housing guarantees are enough to topple the economy. think about all the unfunded retirements, and the existing national debt through loans to the government by the fed. it’s inconceivable to me that this country could pay off 10% of the obligations. i think i see repudiation in some form, either by inflating to dollar to worthless or just telling the entire world “sorry” an wipe the slate clean and issue new currency. if there is another solution, it’s not my radar.

i try to talk to my family members about it and they seem to think the problem is something they will read about in the paper.

i drove to western oklahoma today to attend two funerals. observed some tornado damage and noticed lots of drilling rigs searching for natural gas. lots of seismographing and pipeline activity. cushing is still full of crude. the price difference between gasoline and diesel is .47. refining margins are at an all time high, oklahoma oil producers can’t sell their oil because cushing is full, and retail prices are still skyrocketing.

i don’t think i want to be in a position where i can become collateral damage when this thing unravels. the oklahoma teacher retirement fund sent out their newsletter stating their fund is the third worst funded in the country. would anyone really want to admit that kind of performance? the intent was to lobby the politicians to put more money into the system so they can buy more long term bonds. see the problem here? no amount of interest will keep up with the future payouts. there is no way this fund can survive moderate inflation, much less what is in store in the near future.

if alcohol is a crutch, i think i need a wheelchair about now. nite.

rno

…….a Rothschild on the board of a Microcap Gold explorer….amazing…..and quite the chart too….

look at those Spikes……wow..

www.stockwatch.com/swnet/charts/charts_histori.aspx?action=go&period=d&divisions=20&time=5&symbol=GML&region=C

I posed this same question about a week ago and to my knowledge got no response. I am thinking of opening an account with them also. I like Schiff and his candor. I also like the strategy of “cash flow” of dividends. Who knows what will happen if a world-wide collapse happens. But, his strategy makes sense for a portion of one’s net worth, IMO.

If you learn anything new, please post it.

Arch

Interesting reading. Even if the fly on the wall in that meeting took five years to reveal what goes on in the ‘inner chamber’.

As I read Greenspan’s comments about the press, I thought back to the Cramer video where he calls the press a ‘bunch of dummies’. No wonder we have such a difficult time understanding the events around us, the press are a bunch of mushrooms, at best.

Good find, good post FGC.

Best, Farmboy

You may have a point there. But at least in Belize I am trading #163 for #83. Per capita Belize is in the hole about 900 bucks for every man women and child compared to U.S at about 3000. And we haven’t even landed there to straighten things out for them Haaaaaa!

Your comment got me thinking. “If the amount shown is correct”? I think all the black budgets and off record budgets are NOT included in this figure, so easily tack on another half trillion would be my guess.

Finding it hard to understand how this can end in a happy way. I have a mental image of Uncle Sam standing with his pants pockets pulled out, and empty. Looking down at a group of children and young Americans with a sadly expression, saying, ‘Sorry’.

By the way, the tags on Uncle Sam’s clothes all read, ‘Made in China’. Another industry gutted and shipped overseas. We cannot even clothe ourselves any longer.

Think I will put my rose colored glasses back on, turn up the IPod music, and play a video game. And have a double Jack Daniels.

MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18661344/

That was one nice farewell for your last post at GE.  Good on ya. I can only imagine Dr. V. slowly twisting his right pinky ring as he tries to read every post for some clandestine reference to the tent.  He must be reaching right about now for his second bottle of Silly Puse’ Chatenuex du Poof. 

His planned extravaganza in ole Paree when gold hits whatever, may be very, very sparsly attended.  Ever get the feeling he had no clue as to who his core constituency was?  Me, I think I’ll just have a couple of margaritas down at the cantina and throw in a couple of tacos in honor of the ment. 

Wow, South America in general with Venezuela, Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia in particular are kickin’ azz in the current account area.

As an expat amateur economic observer, I caution fellow GT’ers that look towards Mexico and Central America as their haven as none show up on the correct side of the scale.

If none of these commodity dependent countries can show a positive this far into the commodity boom, that alone should be a warning.

WASHINGTON — Fed chairman Alan Greenspan told his colleagues back in 2001 that he had “cringed” every time Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin repeated his “mantra” during the Clinton administration that the White House supported a strong dollar.

“Bob Rubin used the mantra about the strong dollar to a point where all of us who had to sit and listen invariably cringed more and more as the weeks and months went on,” Greenspan said in a conference call with other Fed officials.

But Greenspan also conceded that he gradually became a fan of Rubin’s strong dollar comments because it paralyzed the press.

“It was boring, it was dull, it was repetitive, it was nonintellectual — and it worked like a charm,” Greenspan said.

“It turned out to be exactly the right policy approach because what happened was that by not varying the statement, an issue never arose about whether a comment involved a subtle change or not in the policy toward the dollar,” Greenspan said.

Greenspan’s comments became public as the Federal Reserve released on Tuesday the verbatim transcripts of its rate policy meetings from 2001. After congressional investigators uncovered that the Fed was recording its policy meetings, the central bank agreed to release transcripts of the meetings after a five-year lag.

The calendar year 2001 was certainly an eventful one for Fed policy-makers. They slashed rates by 50 basis points at a surprise Jan. 3 meeting as the economy showed signs of falling out of bed and continued to ease rates through August. The central bank was then severely tested by the challenge of restoring financial market stability following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Federal funds target rate started the year at 6 percent but ended at 1.75 percent.

Greenspan’s remarks about Rubin’s communication technique came at the first meeting of the year, the unscheduled conference call on Jan. 3 that took place amid signs that the economy was weakening swiftly.

William McDonough, the president of the New York Fed, reported to his colleagues that “the markets and the leaders of major firms in the world are at or near a point of psychological crisis.”

He said there was a deep sense of gloom about the outlook for the U.S. economy that was starting to feed upon itself, creating the risk of a dramatic slowdown in growth.

Greenspan noted that the rate of growth was declining, with no signs of stabilizing.

“We are in the position of the person falling off the 30-story building and still experiencing a state of tranquility at 10 floors above the street,” Greenspan said.

Fed officials quickly agreed to the 50-basis-point rate cut, but grappled with the issue of how much to tell the press.

McDonough informed his colleagues that the New York Fed would quickly push for another rate cut at the next FOMC meeting, set for Jan. 31.

But Greenspan told his colleagues not to talk with the press if reporters ask about the next meeting, or, if need be, imitate Rubin.

“I would suggest to you that your inclinations to be thoughtful, conceptual, and interesting be suppressed,” he said.