#if you think every single American is living the same well fed wealthy reality

[angelsaxis]

you really can't critique anything america does if youre going to leave out ant-Black racism lol

[ofmargos]

chicago’s very own margo rosas has been spotted on madison avenue driving a mercedes-AMG G65 , welcome ! your resemblance to camila mendes is unreal . according to tmz , you just had your twenty-third birthday bash  . your chance of surviving new york is uncertain because you’re distrusting , but being passionate might help you . i think being a scorpio explains that . 3 things that would paint  a  better picture of you would be lipstick stained kisses on mirrors , doing vocal warm-ups five minutes before top of show , popping bottles of bubbly to celebrate buying a new pair of shoes . ( my biological dad paid off my mom to keep my relation to him a secret ) & ( cis-female + she / her  ) +  (  lia , 20 , she / her , cst )

whAT is up my dudes ! i’m lia & i lowkey missed wealthy & writing for my bbygirl margo so i’m rlly excited to be here !!!! if you know her from before i’m sorry lmao i’ve tweaked her background a bit but everything else is p much the same ig ?? she’s fun , she’s a dumbitch , & she’s here to make things harder than they need to be probs . but if you wanna know more , i wrote a novel below so plz enjoy that . if you wanna plot then LIKE THIS & i’ll slide in your im’s.or if you prefer discord hmu @  𝐛𝐛𝐧𝐨$𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥#1904. i look forward to writing with y’all ! <3

S T A T S ↴

-- * FULL NAME : margaret lucia rosas -- NICKNAME(S) : margo ( preferred name , started introducing herself to people as “margo” back in like the 7th or 8th grade ??? who’s margaret ? we don’t know her ) , mar , mars -- * AGE : twenty-three -- * D.O.B : october 31 -- * ZODIAC : scorpio -- * GENDER : cis-female --* ORIENTATION : heterosexual heteroromantic -- * HEIGHT : 5′2″ -- * NATIONALITY : american -- * BIRTHPLACE : chicago , illinois -- * OCCUPATION : broadway performer -- * TRAITS : passionate , creative , dramatic , distrusting , outgoing , ambitious , fun-loving , loyal , daring , sarcastic , stubborn , overconfident , impulsive , hard-working , petty , secretive lowkey

B I O G R A P H Y ↴

( TW : BRIEF MENTIONS OF ABORTION, ALCOHOLISM, AND DRUG USE )

   first things first , i’m just going to say it-- margo was an accident . and her story begins with her mother , stassia , who was born and raised on the wrong side of the tracks in chicago , illinois . although she was born into poverty , she had big aspirations for herself and wanted a better lifestyle . her ambition and work ethic were unmatched , and that’s how she managed to get into columbia university ( thank you scholariship $$ ). stassia was in the middle of struggling through her college years when she met her future baby daddy . he was older , going through grad school , and the sole heir to a billion-dollar company . the sparks between them flew instantly despite their differences and they messed around for the better part of a year before the unexpected happened . stassia found herself taking a pregnancy test in the bathroom in between finals ( #justcollegethings , amirite ) and swore she was going to pass out when she noticed the double lines . and let’s just say that her baby daddy did NOT take the news well . a lot of horrible things were said that day . too many hurt feelings for the relationship ( that apparently was never that serious to homeboy ) to carry on . ( TRIGGER WARNING !!! ) so he cut all ties with stassia-- but not before giving her a crazy proposition : get an abortion and never talk to him again OR keep the baby but tell absolutely no one it’s his and never talk to him again . they both seemed like shitty options to stassia , who was actually tragically in love w him , but when he even offered to PAY HER a hefty sum ( i’m talking millions of dollars ) to keep the secret .. well-- it seemed like a blessing in disguise . she’d finally have the funds to live the life she always wanted . even if there was now a baby she didn’t plan for in the mix . so she took the hush money , had the baby in secret , and ran off to completely reinvented herself . ( TRIGGER WARNING END )

    although margo’s mother was born into poverty , margo certainly was not . by the time she was born , margo’s mom was ramping up to graduate college and join the high society in the heart of chicago . she got a good job , a lavish place to live , and never told margo about her past . margo grew up completely disconnected from her mother’s side of the family and had no idea of the lies she was being fed over the years . early on in margo’s childhood , her mother met a man through work who she would later go on to marry . that man is the only dad that margo has ever known . he and his daughter were a welcomed addition to their little family , making margo’s home life feel complete in some way . she was provided a good life with the dual income adding to the millions her mother kept . the life her mother always wished she had growing up . in a way , everything she did was for margo . she never wanted her babygirl to struggle like she had to .

   as she got older , margo went to all the best schools but only made average grades . she was never too concerned with academics and instead focused on her poppin’ social life and extracurriculars . during her middle school days , she developed an affinity for the performing arts . when everyone had to pick an elective , margo found herself in the theatre class and absolutely loving it . and she was good too . she had excellent stage presence and took every role she got in school productions in stride -- literally the best tree number 3 you’ve ever seen in your life . as she moved on to high school , she rose in the ranks of the theatre department until she was pretty much landing every single lead by the time she was an upperclassmen . acting was her passion , and she figured why not turn being dramatic and talking a lot ( her two most notable personality traits ) into a career . to really hone the craft , she trained herself to be a triple threat : actor , singer , and dancer ( sutton foster , eat your heart out ) . honestly truly had rachel berry in early seasons of glee vibes-- she knew she was the best around and wouldn’t stand to let anyone take the spotlight from her . her peers hated to love her talents because she acted like such a bitch to them offstage / out of character . not that margo really cared for what others thought of her anyway . self absorbed as ever , she told herself she didn’t need friends and generally pushed away any one that dared try to get close to her-- save for her sister . though somehow , someway she managed to get sucked into a small group of friends that would change her for the better ( s/o to ky and gio , sorry they had to put up w bitchy hs margo , rip )

   after graduating somewhere in the middle of her class , margo followed in her mother’s footsteps and went to columbia university . she was really only able to get in because she was a legacy and her parents made a considerable donation to the school , but we don’t talk about it . and to say that margo’s college years were transformative feels like an understatement . on one hand , they were some of the best years of her life : she got a true taste of independence , met some of her best friends ( s/o oliver and claudia ), and felt fulfilled to be in the city she had romanticized for so long-- new york baby ! but it was also a very low point for her . back in her high school years , she felt like a very big fish in a teeny tiny pond . she was hot shit , the top dog in her department , and all her hard work and effort to remain leading lady had paid off . however , at columbia she was just one in hundreds of talented people . some with more or less talent , or more or less connections , but they deserved a shot at fame just as much as she did . margo felt like she was fighting for her chance in the spotlight every single day and it was both parts exhausting and humbling for her . she had a amy march mentality “i want to be great, or nothing” and considered throwing in the towel . temporarily thrown off by the pressure to be successful , she took a small tumble from grace . ( TRIGGER WARNING !!! ) turning towards alcohol was her coping mechanism of choice . losing herself in the party scene and surrounding herself with other people that prioritized getting drunk or high over going to class and getting good grades had an obvious effect on her academic performance . ( END TRIGGER WARNING ) she almost lost her place in the BFA Theatre Program during her junior year due being on academic probation . it took a little bit of intervention on her close friends and family part to get margo clean and pull herself together . but by her senior year , she got back on track to graduate on time and participated in various shows at local theaters to build her resume . after almost losing everything she had ever worked for , a fire was lit under margo that had her determined to push herself hard than ever before and make a name for herself in the theatre world . 

   after she graduated from columbia she moved to new york permanently so that she could fully submerge herself in her work . not long after graduating , she was lucky enough to book several gigs including her big breakout role as lydia in beetlejuice the musical ! it really skyrocketed her into broadway stardom which is cool . a life long dream that once seemed unobtainable was suddenly a reality and she couldn’t have been more elated . with her sudden ( and well deserved ) success , she got a lot of media attention . soon she was getting verified on twitter , instagram , gaining a whole bunch of followers , and getting asked to be on talkshows and stuff to promote the show . honestly , truly a dream ! but her new-found fame gained the attention of another group of people .. her mom’s long lost family . one of her aunt’s ( that she previously didn’t know existed ) reached out to her through social media . and at first , margo honestly couldn’t believe that she had family that her mom never told her about . but after some thought it sort of made sense . in hindsight , her mom had always been evasive whenever margo asked about the other’s childhood or her side of the family .

   when margo told her mom about her aunt reaching out and how she wanted to meet her , her mom shut it down quick . stassia told her there were a lot of reasons that she didn’t talk to that side of the family and that was that-- PERIODT . but margo was #rebellious and went to meet with her aunt anyway . and that’s how she found out about her brazilian roots and her big ol’ loving and supportive extended family . that whole experience made margo reconsider what other things her mom was keeping from her . and boy oh boy was that a rabbit hole she shouldn’t have gone down . when margo started to demand her mother tell her the truth , it caused their relationship to grow tense . stassia eventually cracked and told her about her bio-dad and all the things she went through for margo . with the truth finally being exposed to her , margo started seeing things in a new light . like her whole life is kinda a lie and why didn’t her father want her ? where was he ? does he know who she is ? why did he never try to contact her ? has she ever walked past him in the streets and never knew ? it was all too much for her to think about so she just kinda ... shut it all out . she acted like nothing was different , even if her “ what if ” thoughts keep her up most nights . 

   if you just ignore the abandonment issues , insecurities , and her inability to handle emotions and focus solely on her success in material terms : margo’s doing really well ! she’s been living in new york full time for two (2) years now . she’s one of broadway’s most popular rising stars . having completed her run as the original lydia deetz on broadway , she’s moved on to take on the mantel of janis in mean girls on broadway . she’s learning , growing , and thriving . just trying to have a good time all the time with her friends and live the dream , baby !

P E R S O N A L I T Y  &  F U N  F A C T S ↴

margo is super fun-loving and down to clown 

will try anything once and it’s gotten her in trouble more times than she can count

also cannot stand to be bored , so she’s always looking for the next big adventure 

although she can be really ridiculous sometimes , she’s very serious when it comes to her work . she’s super hard-working and doesn’t let anything or anyone stand in the way of achieving her dreams : even herself

margo’s a very sociable girl and will talk to anyone and everyone . she’s the type that will hold a conversation for 2hrs with a stranger at a party and then when you ask her “who was that” she’s like “i don’t remember their name but i do know their entire life story so that’s cool”

has a way of making people feel like they know her really well when really she’s only letting them see 1/8th of her

keeps her personal life private normally unless you’re super good friends w her

i wouldn’t recommend pissing her off , bc she is petty as a mf and will lit rally never forget how one’s wronged her . this causes her to start fights sometimes . she’ll just bring up old shit out of no where and , since she’s nosy af , she makes everything her business and confronts people on their bs

she’s a whole liar bc she claims she’s a “retired party girl” but really party girl margo has never stopped , will never stop , can never be stopped

studied theatre in college but minored in mass communications just in case she needed a backup job

is v bad at being an adult !!!! like ... can’t cook , often forgets about her responsibilities until the last minute or needs to be reminded like 20 times , stills calls her parents to be like “how do u use a washing machine plz help” , y’know the drill . yet somehow she manages to act as a mom friend to the people that are closest to her ??? v much a “do as i say not as i do” type of hypocrite lol

she has a tiktok and posts dumb shit on there all the time w her friends and like vlogs her backstage experiences in the theater and does the stupid dances and all that stuff hehe

is learning portuguese after meeting the brazilian side of her family

self-proclaimed dancing queen and it’s not because she learned ballet , jazz , and tap whole dabbling in other styles but because when she’s drunk you will in fact catch her dancing on tables !!!!!

i cannot stress enough how bad she is at dealing with her own feelings . like ... instead of dealing with them head on she just ... shuts down . runs away . will ghost on someone she really likes just bc she’d rather leave first than get left and i hate her for it

have i mentioned how big her ego is ???? pHEW . she rides a v fine line between self confident and OVER confident . but tbh it’s just a cover up for how much she rlly hates herself , there i said it

loyalty is EVERYTHING to margo . if you got her back , she’s got your back . but if you screw her over or mess with anyone she loves then she’ll likely try to make your life a living hell IM SORRY

undiagnosed insomniac . nights she spends alone in her own bed are the hardest for her because it’s when all the bad scary thoughts creep up on her and no matter how much she wants to shut them out and just close her eyes and fall to sleep , she can’t . so she’ll often roam the city looking for a distraction or hit up her friends and bother them for some spare company

she’s doesn’t like to be alone ( not like in a romantic relationship sense -- she actually likes being single bc she’s afraid of letting ppl get close enough to hurt her ). hence why she’s always had a roommate even after she moved out of her parent’s house . if she’s not attached to her roommate / best friend kylie’s hip then she’s definitely hitting up her sister or her other friends to see if they want to hang out , even if hanging out is laying around doing nothing or running errands together . margo wants to tag along just for the company

notoriously known for coming up with terrible ideas or following through with other people’s terrible ideas without question bc #YOLO

she’s her pr agents worse nightmare simply bc she has no filter and will not change herself or what she posts just bc she has a big audience ( follow margo on social media and you’re gonna see the good , the bad , and the ugly she does not give a FUCK )

always has good intentions ! her execution / way of showing those intentions is just poor !

she is a rich girl that could not survive not being rich and doesn’t even realize how spoiled she is . spends money like it’s nothing

a mob boss ( this is a joke but also kinda not a joke )

WANTED CONNECTION PAGES HERE 

[drewgaither6]

Living in the American Dream

               Americans are sleeping. They lie deep in an anesthetised state, tailored to them by their phones, apps, and gross obsession with money and materialistic vices. Americans lie sleeping, dreaming of this zero-sum game between the two major American political parties, fed the fodder of media networks like MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, ABC, and the likes. These media networks are run by six major corporations: General Electric, News-Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner and CBS. These corporations are run by a handful of affluent shareholders whose sole purpose is to incur the most amount of profit as possible. They do that by selling ads, and so to keep their viewers engaged with the screen they create a narrative, specifically tailored for your worldview, specifically tailored to keep you asleep. These shareholders expand their power and influence well beyond these media corporations. They expand them into all aspects of the American corporate economy including real estate, banking, retail and manufacturing. They seek to maximise profit, and they thus take their power and wealth and influence the law-making body of America to ensure that they have laws written in their favour. Laws to lower their taxes and safety regulations. Laws to dissuade worker’s movements. They create faux “debate” between Republicans and Democrats as they quietly pass massive amounts of bipartisan disasters onto the American economy and our geopolitical empire.  

               Every time I see commentary on the morality of our country, or how this is because of a lack of God or something this Democrat did, etc, I get frustrated. That is the façade they have sold the American people. This false sense of “civil war,” this hyper-partisanship and fundamentalism. Rather than turn our eyes to the real enemies, these shareholders and wealthy oligarchs who are directly responsible for our positions in life today, we turn our sleeping eyes to each other and chew each other apart like it even matters. We believe these lies that have been spoon-fed to us most of our lives. We’ve been trained to put stock into reducing our worth as human beings, reducing our responsibility and our achievements, reducing our right to ask for more, and instead to surrender power. Surrender power to the corporations, to the government they own, and to this mythical being in the sky. Surrender our power and our voices. And at the end of the day, we suffer, but many Americans are so fast asleep they can’t even realise that they can have something better, that they can be awake and fight for something better.

               Here’s something no one wants you to know: you are God. You are a part of the human consciousness that compiles together with every single universal experience to create a “God force.” Within you is boundless amounts of power and realities and potential. You have enough within you to move mountains and walk on water. You alone are the executioner of your actions, of change. You sew the seeds and can change the hearts and minds. The actions you do on this Earth are yours, they are a reflection on you, and only you. Corporations don’t want you to get this. Parents don’t want their children to get this. The societal institutions that we’ve been raised in, that have taught us how to act and function don’t want you to get this. Because that takes away their power, that threatens their way of life. That’s what makes a statement like “I am God” powerful. It is a declaration of your understanding of the universe, it is revolutionary to the established way. Jesus Christ understood this, taking on the Jewish establishment of his day. He knew the power and potential of this mindset. Mohammad got this. So did the Buddha, and Confucius, and Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. They all understood that power comes from within. It is not given to you from someone of something, it is something you make.

               Most of what you know is just a series of thoughts created by other realities. What your parents taught you growing up is merely a cultivated lens of information passed down through generations, parroting the ones before them. But because they’re your parents, you’re more susceptible to their lens. And then they teach you about the religious doctrine that says you must listen to your parents, thus solidifying whatever the originator of that information wanted you to believe. If we want to get serious about power, about bettering our lives, we must get serious about information. There is only one kind of information that brings about power: original thought. Everyone has this little voice in their head when they read or listen to anything that guides whether they follow that information. It’s what causes people to eat shellfish or wear multi-blend fabrics but quote Leviticus about homosexuality. It is the “natural moral filter” of your brain that sifts through information. That is your power, use it. Be your own curator of truth, don’t rely on anyone else. Don’t just assume that these media outlets are honest actors. Ask what the motivation of this information is, and how does that motivation serve society. Be your own beacon of power.

               Years of our broken educational system, broken via the same policies that enrich shareholder wealth and the oligarchy, have created the largest mass of American idiots in American history. After the revolutionary periods of the Civil Rights era, the corporate elite sought to smoke out once and for all calls for change. The Eugene Debs that have existed throughout history. The Jesuses and the Gandhis and the MLKs. They waged a war on drugs, vilifying substances that woke Americans up like psychedelics. They offered the Boomers positions in corporate America, a promise of wealth and security. And thus, the generation sold out and the elite wrote laws into place to massively give away huge swaths of wealth and power to a small few while Americans bled out. They then wrote our education system, to belittle and depress the future generations, to ensure they could not adequately revolt as the Boomers did. And to ensure they would be good little consumers and buy useless crap in our economy. They stripped them of opportunity and then increased prisons to account for the increase in crimes of despair, crimes they created by limiting people’s power and writing new laws. They have been slowly crippling this economy, only wanting it to succeed for their immediate gratification, not caring what will happen when they’re gone. As a result, the youth, one of the largest and potentially politically devastating classes of America is one of the least participative, least awake groups in American history. They then use their media narratives to smear these groups, and besmirch them and call them lazy, and entitled, and that it’s their fault for their current plight, turning us against each other. Meanwhile, those who have systemically benefited remain silent, like useless imps.

               Do not cede YOUR POWER. Do not undermine your force as a god of the universe because the second you do, they win. The second you play into their hands and post about some rant about the morality of this nation is lost, the second you think that Obama was somehow this saviour or that Bush was somehow this saviour, or insert your liar here, you play into their hands. YOU are your saviour. YOU are God. You are the one that has power and that can wield that power to bring about change. But you can’t do it alone. You need to grow that power and you do that by growing people, and we can’t unite and take down these oligarchs if we’re too busy pointing fingers at each other and calling each other sinners, and going “ra-ra” for our political party winning. We cannot grow our power being asleep, not using original thought and not curating our own truth. We must overcome the obstacles and institutions that the corporations have set in place to keep us complacent, we must overcome the limitations and religious dogma that our parents have fed us, we must realise our infinity of power and wield it to destroy those who are currently putting us asunder. America needs to wake up and we need to do it now. We need a revolution.

[annoyingwerewolfwizard]

#LemmingsLeap 1

I am starting this blog to inform people of some interesting facts about our lives and the way we live. I hope I'll be able to keep it up but who knows?  I also hope it will be entertaining as well as instructive. So, here goes with my first piece.

I've been watching a TV program called, "What on Earth?" that takes photos from satellites and examines them for strange occurrences which they then try to explain. I noticed that several episodes have pictures from other countries that have blurred out areas. The good ol' USA has more than its fair share of blurred out areas as well. These are areas that the governments don't want us to see as they are high security sites. Some of these countries who have areas blurred out include China, N. Korea, Russia and the Ukraine.

Now, it's not unreasonable for a country to want to hide some of its more sensitive sites such as military bases or security construction sites, or is it? Time to ask some hopefully embarrassing questions. My first question is who owns the satellite the pictures were taken from? This is important because the person or persons who receive the first transmissions are able to see exactly what is in each image, unless that is somehow blocked from happening. Before we even get to distribution, the cat is out of the bag.

My second question is, “Who the hell are they keeping this information from?” All the governments that are party to receiving pictures from satellites have parts of their land blurred out so it remains secret. But secret from whom? Now that the area is unavailable to us through the photo, everyone who looks at the photo will know that something secret is here and will be able to figure out a few possibilities from surrounding areas or other clues not in the picture. Over and above this, since all of the governments have access to the information, either through the original photo or through photos taken by their satellites, what is the purpose of blacking it out? If you combine the two questions I have asked about this phenomena, you have your answer: every one out of the loop who doesn’t have clearance. That means the public. That means you. And don’t give me any crap about terrorists and we have to protect vital infrastructure against terrorist attacks. It’s all a load of BS. First of all, the CIA and Mossad are the major creators of terrorism in the world. Secondly, if a terrorist wanted to attack some place it would be easy to send a drone over it to check it out first and just a little more difficult to hack into the data base where the pictures are stored and get an unredacted copy.

What else is your government, the one that is by the people, for the people and owned by wealthy corporatists who, obviously have your welfare and mine in the forefront of their minds, have to hide? Keep your senses tuned. I can assure you there is a lot.

#LemmingsLeap

NOV 18, 2017, 10:18:01 AMEDITED

#LemmingsLeap 2

The Problem We Must Overcome

It’s not a Republican vs. Democrat struggle. If you think that either party is so different from the other, you would be wrong.

It’s not a liberal vs. conservative struggle. On one side we have those nasty liberals who, according to popular belief, are out to get your rights and make you politically correct. On the other we have those nasty conservatives who are out to take your rights. The truth is that we have no liberals nor conservatives left to speak of. But we do have neoliberals and neoconservatives who both have the same goal: make the US a corporate state that will rule the world.

The rich and powerful are meaning to consolidate their power and gain even more so they can be the ones to shape the world. What we see on a daily basis is what they want us to see. They own almost all of the media. That means that in subtle and also less subtle ways they can shape our thinking without us realizing it. They control what is on the media and how it’s presented. They control what is buried deep and what is not seen at all.

The government we have is not your government nor mine. If you want evidence of that, just look at popular opinion in comparison to what the Congress and other legislative bodies are doing. One recent example is our health care. About 65% of Americans wanted single payer but that was taken off the table by a man who was supposed to be a liberal and working for those who voted him in. Instead, we got Obamacare and now that is being cut to ribbons.

The plain fact is that we have been constantly lied to. From the Florida woman with a litter of kids using welfare to buy a Cadillac to the present tax cuts, we have been fed a line of bull and fed it so many times that too many of us believe it even when their lies are debunked. We know the debunking as “conspiracy theories.”

This psychological attack has us making opinions based on lies. Psychology has come a long way in the last couple of decades. It has been known for some time that when a person builds a system of belief, they look to find more evidence to support those beliefs rather than evidence that tears them down. It’s like our house. When it appears there is a leak in the roof or a wall that is falling down, we do everything we can to repair it. That’s why it’s so difficult to change a person’s mind about long held beliefs. The example above of the welfare queen buying a Cadillac was disproved shortly after it became common in public statements about the welfare system but if you bring it up today, you will find many still believe the lie. Tell a lie big enough and often enough and it will be believed and that belief will be difficult for the person to turn loose of.

These lies that we are supposed to believe are then used, along with wedge issues such as abortion, immigrants and sexual orientation or whatever they can grab hold of, to split the people into groups. The groups are then radicalized. At this point, the point where we are at now, control can be exerted in whatever direction and lies become abundant along with that negating phrase, conspiracy theories. This is how they break the people up and get them fighting among themselves while the rich and powerful take the money and power and run.

This is the problem we must overcome. Do not despair. There is no room for it nor time. It only takes 3% of the population to wake up and organize.

#LemmingsLeap 3: Surprise!

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

False flag. They lied to Congress about being attacked using the attack to justify millions of dollars spent, 50,000 American dead, 2 million or more Vietnamese and Cambodians and a couple million square miles of land deforested. They lied and many died. The banks and munitions dealers made a lot of money.

Trickle Down Theory of Economics

We were told that if the corporations and wealthy people had more money, they would invest it and the money would trickle down in the form of jobs and more business activity. Reality: biggest ongoing giveaway to the rich ever. The money was hoarded and continues to be hoarded in tax free accounts overseas and elsewhere. The tax break was not enough so they had to hide their assets offshore. People died for lack of money to get medical care, housing and food. Continuing lie that continues to damage our people. Now cuts to social services are proposed as well as more tax cuts for the wealthy in order to pay for the military budget. The corporations and wealthy made a lot of money.

WMD’s

We were told Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that he had to go because he was planning on using them on us. As it turns out, he had no intention of attacking the United States and no WMD’s to do it with. This war and the one in Afghanistan which is still going on, both have contributed to instability in the Middle East and have cost the US a couple of trillion dollars along with thousands of American deaths and disabilities. Not to be forgotten is the hundreds of thousands of innocent people who just happened to be living there and were killed or maimed because of our wars. Also, the chemicals, destroyed infrastructure and the spreading of depleted uranium have created a massive cancer cluster as well as an epidemic of cholera and hunger that’s killing many and poised to kill many more. It was all a lie. The munitions dealers and the banks made a lot of money.

A Lot More Lies

They told us nuclear power would be cheap and safe and claim it’s low carbon. Unfortunately for their claims, nuclear power is cheap only if you don’t count the amount that comes out of the budget for nuclear disasters that are more common than they would like us to believe, clean-up, or storing of the waste for 500,000 years. Also, it now costs more to maintain a nuclear plant than to put windmills or solar panels of the same production capability on line.

They told us in the ‘70’s that replacing broadcast media with cable would result in low costs and high satisfaction for consumers and no commercials. No comment needed.

They told us glyphosate was safe enough to drink and spread millions of gallons of it all over the planet. Now we find out it causes lymphoma, kidney failure and a host of other problems.

They told us a lot of things and, SURPRISE! Too many of those things were false. Now, we know all governments have secrets but our government has gone past the limit. The people need to know things to make an informed decision. Perhaps they don’t want an informed public voting their conscience. Perhaps our government is owned by the wealthy and multinational corporations. Another surprise to some of you. And the surprises keep on coming!

#LemmingsLeap #4

Thank You Senator Grassley!

Thank you Senator Chuck Grassley. Without you I would never have gotten it:

Every one knows that the rich NEVER buy booze or spend their money on women or men as the case may be. We have to understand how downtrodden the rich are with daily attacks on them and their lifestyle and how this hurts their self-esteem. It's difficult for someone in our economic class to realize how much strain it puts on the wealthy when, every time they want to go somewhere, they have to choose which car out of their fleet to drive today. Stress like this can be life changing...

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A Reality Check for Every Millennial Investor Regarding Bubble Bursts

Being an investor, one of the biggest worries you’ll ever have is that your success is short-lived – that you’re only making money because of a bubble.

You may feel bullish at the moment, but when you get to thinking about it, your confidence may rely on a momentary lapse in judgment by the entire investor community. That’s basically all a bubble is, and every single bubble bursts eventually.

As a millennial, you should be especially sensitive to bubbles. We just went through a huge one with the housing market and not too long before that; there was the dot-com bubble. Still, I hear from millennial investors all the time who are clearly setting themselves up to become a victim the next time a bubble bursts.

Here’s the reality check I believe a lot of you need before you invest another single solitary dollar.

The Stock Market May Fall – Hard

This is probably the biggest pill a lot of young investors need to swallow. It may not be a bubble that bursts soon, but an entire investment vehicle.

So while many savvy investors are trying to find the next hot stock or short those their research tells them is overrated, everyone will be standing on a house of cards – one that may be ready to fall very soon.

For a better explanation as to this bleak outlook, let’s turn to Bill Gross of Janus Capital. He recently went as far as to say, “The stellar returns experienced by both bond and stock investors over the last 40 years are an anomaly that will not be repeated.”

Gross’ analysis is, well, engrossing. However, for now, I’ll simply summarize his points with another quote: “For over 40 years, asset returns and alpha generation from penthouse investment managers have been materially aided by declines in interest rates, trade globalization and an enormous expansion of credit – that is debt.”

That doesn’t mean that some smaller version – which would still be devastating – isn’t possible or even impending. Gross is far from the only one who sees a bubble building at the moment and, again, every bubble bursts.

“There is an old investment rule-of-thumb called the Rule of 20 that uses combinations of headline inflation and the S&P 500 P/E to determine fair value,” says, Richard Bernstein, the CEO of Richard Bernstein Advisors.

“Our valuation models are, of course, more elaborate than the simple Rule of 20, but based on a more rigorous analysis of inflation and P/E ratios, the current equity market appears, at worse, to be fairly valued.

Investors forget that inflation was increasing leading up to the 2008 bear market. In fact, the CPI, which is a lagging indicator, peaked at 5.6% in July 2008. Today’s headline inflation is 1.0%.”

The financial blog First Rebuttal finds that Bernstein is reporting a bit of a half-truth, though that is certainly better than a lot of market analysts currently out there.  To be specific, the blog points to an evident inverse correlation occurring between inflation (the blue line on the chart below) and P/E (the red line below).

This finding would support Bernstein’s suggestion that times of low inflation bear greater P/E multiples.  Yet, back in 2000, P/E finally made it through a ceiling on the long-term P/E movement that lasted 120 years even though there were far lower historical inflation amounts across that time period than we are seeing right now.

This implies that although inflation is having some impact on today’s valuations (which are almost record setting), the P/E continues to be roughly 28% more than what it should be once you take inflation into account.  Therefore, they need to be a little more thorough than Mr. Bernstein was if they really hope to understand today’s multiples.

The 10-Year Treasury Yield vs. the Market Earning Yield

This one isn’t so much a bubble regarding the stock market, more in terms beliefs. At the moment, a lot of investors are incredibly bullish because the 10-year Treasury yield is so dwarfed by the current market’s earning yield.

The problem with this optimism – which has swept up so many traders in its grasp – is that there is absolutely no historical evidence that the relative nature of these two elements makes a single difference as far as the future of the market is concerned.

Go back over the last century and you’ll see that I’m right. The only correlation you’ll be able to find between these two elements is that the stock market’s average return actually tends to be pretty dismal following any times when the spread was anywhere near where it is now.

Bond Bubble

Despite the fact that the 10-year treasuries rate is at a historical low, it has room to go down further, even to the negative level. Currently, $13 trillion of global bonds, including 10-year German bonds, are traded with a negative yield.  You know that yield correlates inversely to the price.

This means that we are currently witnessing a historic high of 30 years in old bull market US Treasuries.

  There is also enormous potential for a corporate bond bubble, particularly in a speculative grade credit. Therefore, the risks of the structural downsides for high-yield loans and bonds are material, with risks for growth that are a non-negligible downside.

“We believe roughly 40% of all issuers are of the lowest quality, and roughly $1tn which will end up ‘distressed debt’ in this cycle,” UBS’ Matthew Mish wrote in a note to clients. “Much of the debt was bought to pick-up yield linearly, but the default risk is exponential.”

Fortunately, this one seems unlikely for now.  However, if the corporate credit bubble bursts anytime soon, it could be to the tune of some $1 trillion.

When the $1 trillion bubble finally pops, it may only happen in the speculative market. Nonetheless, it will have far-reaching effects on all corporate credit. It will also freeze issuance and widening spreads. In turn, this could then slow economic activity and even US growth at some point.

Download Free E-Book “Bond Investing Fundamentals”

Not Even Silicon Valley Is Safe

When most people think about Silicon Valley, they think of tech millionaires and billionaires, many of whom aren’t even 40 yet. Silicon Valley is as synonymous with wealth as it is with computers. From Facebook to Snapchat to countless other companies, this place launches companies into the stratosphere, right?

Well, yes and no. The majority of startups fail; we all know that. However, this isn’t the reason why there may be a startup bubble in the works. It’s because these private companies can court investors without the same types of disclosures. If you know anything about Silicon Valley – and startup culture in general – then you already know that bravado and confidence are not something that’s lacking. These companies have no problem using hyperbole to stack the deck of public opinion in their own favor.

As such, a lot of startups are able to pull in wealthy investors who are positive they’ve found the next Facebook. Most of them aren’t even close to being right. Unfortunately, many of these people are also in charge of other people’s money, which is why this bubble is especially scary. While no one wants to see an American staple of ingenuity and wealth get a black eye, if Silicon Valley implodes, a lot of investors – many of the Millennials – are going to feel the consequences.

Housing Bubble Is Brewing Up Again

Sadly, just about any market is vulnerable to bubbles. Whenever you have low-interest rates and money is cheap – which we’ve recently experienced as a part of the Fed’s quantitative easing – the likelihood of a bubble appearing increase greatly.

Look at the housing bubble; it’s a perfect example. The dot-com bubble was too. We’ve just covered a potential stock market bubble, though that has less to do with interest rates, and I’d also add that a student loan bubble is growing to the point of becoming dangerously close to bursting.

By the way, we might not be out of the woods where the housing market is concerned. A recent report that looked at U.S. home prices showed that the market is growing far ahead of the rate of inflation.

This is no small thing. The report, which was done by S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller, reviewed the status of the housing marketing in 20 cities. It reported that prices had gone up 5.2% over the past year.

Unfortunately, it gets worse. This increase in interest rates was part of a streak that had begun in September 2012 with the annual price appreciation on a home outpacing consumer prices. During that same year-long period, prices only went up 1%.

Clearly, this can’t continue. Either the economy needs to find a new gear – and quickly – or house prices are going to drop. Therefore, this could be the beginning of yet another housing bubble. Hopefully, we can avoid the kind of devastation we saw over the past decade, but anything is possible.

Student Debt Bubble Bursts to Look Out For

The Fed has just provided its quarterly update on both auto and student loans. Unfortunately, we have a new all-time high in the value of student loans, which just reached $1.4 trillion.

More and more people are enrolling in college – and taking out loans to do so – yet the unemployment rate remains high and the majority of college graduates never use their degree. Instead, graduates end up with the lowest paid jobs available, those in the “food services and drinking places” industry, also known as waiters and bartenders,

Below, the chart shows that there have been half-a-million bartender and waiter jobs added to the economy since 2014, yet not a single manufacturing job.

Still, student loans remain one of the few forms of debt you can’t shed, even if you declare bankruptcy.

In closing, no, I’m not saying don’t invest. What I want you to take from this article is simply not to be trigger happy and follow the crowd. This is how bubbles happen, and it’s also how they eventually burst wide open. The article has been initially published on the SeekingAlpha.

  A Reality Check for Every Millennial Investor Regarding Bubble Bursts was originally published on IncomeClub