Obama's Failure: S&P Downgrades US Debt Rating

Well it happened--after markets closed, S&P officially downgraded the credit rating of the US. This is a truly historic occurrence which will have far reaching impact on the economy and financial markets. The real question is: What will the stock market do? Will we swoon limit down or shrug off the news and dismiss S&P as a totally irrelevant entity?

A few facts to consider:

The US should have been downgraded years ago. Specifically, when the Federal Reserve decided to monetize US debt in late 2008-early 2009. This action should have been considered an unofficial default by all three major ratings agencies. Countries that print  money to pay their debts do not deserve an AAA rating.

The US has defaulted on its debt before. In 1933, war criminal and traitor Franklin Roosevelt took the US off the gold standard and devalued the dollar by over 60%. Why on earth the US was not downgraded for this goes to show just how worthless the ratings agencies are.

A debt downgrade is not the end of the world. Japan lost its coveted AAA rating in 2001. At first, pundits declared that bond yields would surge as investors flee. What happened? Take a look at the "fear and panic" in the JGB market. Oh--that's right nothing happened. People continued to buy JGBs and today Japan enjoys the lowest bond yields on the planet.

The real question is: What happens to the market? I believe this to be a very negative psychological event which comes at the worst possible time for an already fragile stock market. Numerous hedge funds have blown up this week leading to margin calls and liquidations. Investors are scared about the EU debt crisis, and we need a US debt downgrade like we need a bullet in the head. This downgrade could be the tipping point which leads to more selling.

Gold--If you are like me and own gold, you are in nirvana. The gold bugs have been proved correct. The dollar and US debt are no longer safe havens anymore. It is hard to say gold does not continue to surge as investors rush to the ultimate safe haven of gold.

The dollar and Treasuries may rally. I know it sounds absurd, even illogical to suggest the dollar and Treasuries could increase on news of the downgrade, but consider the following: The US is the world's reserve currency with the largest, most liquid debt market. There is simply no alternative for global investors to flee to. What, are they going to buy the euro when it is on the verge of collapse? I think not. As much as I like gold, there is not enough gold to handle trillions of dollar denominated assets. Furthermore, most Asian central banks (including China) will continue to buy US dollars and US debt to keep their currencies from appreciating against the dollar.

By the way, if you look at the chart below, you will see that quite a few bond investors knew in advance of the S&P downgrade (e.g. Bill Gross, etc). Someone wanted out of US bonds before the end of the day.

Obama will go down in history as an unmitigated failure, just like George W Bush. Obama will be the first President to preside over a US downgrade. I don't blame him for his incompetence and lack of leadership. I blame the dumbed down piece of filth Americans who voted this supercilious jackass into the White House. Everyone one of you who voted for him should be stripped of your constitutional rights immediately. You voted for a low-life community organizer from Chicago with no experience into the highest and most powerful job in the world. I remember watching the cheering fools, celebrating Obama's victory. People were running around claiming that the US would be saved and that they would not have to worry about their mortgage or gas bill anymore thanks to Obama. LMAO! Well, now you are stuck with a mental midget in the White House whose only concern is playing basketball with the secret service and vacationing at Martha's Vineyard. He does not give a damn that Rome is burning; he is too busy holding fundraisers and selling out the country.

America you got what you deserved! I hope you can live with the fall-out. I bet you will re-elect Obama in 2012 just to prove how stupid you really are.

Don't blame me, I voted for Ron Paul in 2008 (and will again in 2012).

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Obama's Failure: S&P Downgrades US Debt Rating

Market Massacre--- What Happens Next?

That little EU debt crisis we have been warning about for over a year is finally hitting the fan. The market has fallen over 10% percent in the last 9 trading days, which is similar to a mini-crash. Today the Dow was down 512 points with European bourses performing much worse. Why the dramatic decline?

The realization that the EU is on the verge of collapse is finally starting to dawn on investors. About fucking time in my opinion. More importantly the EURO finally got smacked hard after ECB president Trichet finally acknowledged that future rate increases will not happen. Furthermore, the ECB started to buy Italian and Spanish bonds in a desperate action to restore confidence (did not work). This action caused massive panic in Europe and dumping of the EURO in favor of gold--which was bid all the way up to $1680. The Europeans see the writing on the wall. Either the ECB monetizes all PIIG debt (inflationary) or the EU collapses into oblivion. Natural response is to buy gold.

But, a funny thing happened in the middle of New York trading--gold was deliberately taken down from $1680 to $1650. The rumor on the trading desks was that COMEX was going to increase margin requirements (didn't happen). It is days like today where you really know gold is manipulated by the US government and central banks. Why would gold suddenly go into a flash crash in the middle of trading on no news? I could see if gold fell in Europe along with the market. This would make some sense, but today's move was unjustifiable and clear evidence of market manipulation. The gold cartel did not want to see gold surge to new all-time highs during a market meltdown. Good news is that gold held its own.

Why was gold relatively strong today? Because QE 3 is guaranteed! It may not be called QE 3, but Bernanke and Co. will almost certainly start to print more money or begin Operation Twist 2.0 (manipulating Treasury yields). The market will continue to fall until the Fed injects more liquidity.

That being said the market is getting pretty oversold and could get a token bounce tomorrow with the NFP. The number may not be as bad as expected and that will give a reason for a short-term move higher.

As for how to protect yourself from further market losses? There is little you can do at this point when the vix is over 31 up 50% over the last three days. The time to protect your portfolio is when the vix is below 18 not at panic highs above 30.

From a trading perspective the easiest trade is to short volatility if it jumps to around 35-36. This would likely constitute a short term market bottom. The way to play is through VXX which is mathematically guaranteed to decline over time because of the term structure of volatility. About they only way this instrument could rise longer-term is if volatility became an appreciable asset (impossible). In the intermediate time frame it should be noted that super-investor Marc Faber thinks the SP 500 could fall to around 1100 before a QE 3 bounce.

Today I picked up NS--Nustar Energy MLP an oil storage company with steady earnings and a stable 7% yield. A lot of hedge funds have been flushed out of the name and it looks like a good opportunity.

Have a good day.

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Market Massacre--- What Happens Next?

Profit From the EU Debt Crisis--Short EUR/CAD

With Spain having crossed the thin red line into bankruptcy, with its 5 YR CDS surging above 400 bps and Italian 10 year yields rising over 6%, the next chapter in the EU debt crisis is rapidly playing out. I have been thinking of ways investors can profit from this almost certain EU calamity. While on the face of it, shorting EUR/USD looks like a no-brainer, but anyone who has put on this trade has been royally screwed over the last few months. The problem is that the US government along with the Fed is feverishly devaluing the dollar, which has led to a flat EUR/USD trading range between 1.40-1.45. Competitive devaluation at its finest.

I think the better trade is to short EUR/CAD at around 1.3630. The Canadian government is not actively devaluing its currency by printing money, which makes the Canadian loonie stand tall in a world of debased fiat currencies.

If you look at the chart below of EUR/CAD you can see the trend is definitely down (e.g Canadian strength). In addition to strong technicals, you have a favorable macro back drop as more and more market participants realize that the EU is doomed to collapse. I am looking for a EUR/CAD downside target of around 1.32-1.3250.

click chart for larger image

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Profit From the EU Debt Crisis--Short EUR/CAD

How I Cut $672 Billion From the Federal Budget

It always sickens me when corrupt politicians say we can't cut the federal budget. They say we have to keep spending our way into bankruptcy to save the economy. Here are 8 simple way to cut $672 billion from the federal budget:

1. End the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq--Cost savings $160 billion

2. Reduce Defense Department budget by $100 billion. In 2010 we spent $530 billion on Defense. And before people say I am weak on defense let me remind you that the majority of the US defense spending goes to private contractors, bureaucratic expenses, and soldier salaries (+medical, educational programs, day care,etc). I am all for purchasing next generation weapons and keeping the military strong. I just don't like squandering money on a giant bureaucracy, corrupt military contractors (Halliburton, etc), and maintaining a global military empire.

3. Close the Department of Housing and Urban Development--savings $48 billion. It is a complete waste of taxpayer money and completely unconstitutional. More importantly, it has failed in its mission of restoring urban cities. In fact it has made urban cities worse. You can thank the communist liberals for this department.

4. Close Department of Education--savings $47 billion. Federal government has no right to meddle in education or provide student loans. Since the Federalization of education the quality of education has consistently fallen. Our children have been reduced to the level of brain dead zombies who simply repeat government propaganda.

5. Close Department of Commerce--savings $14 billion. Talk about a complete waste of money. The only good this department does is assemble some useful statistics about the economy. I would transfer the statistics people to the Treasury department.

6. Close Department of Labor--savings of $13.3 billion. Another useless government agency.

7. Eliminate Corporate Welfare-- According to the CATO Institute, the US government hands out over $90 billion dollars a year to corporations through direct subsides, tax credits, and other schemes. This is egregious considering corporations never had it so good. They are making record profits while the American economy is trapped in a depression. These companies do not need any more taxpayer funded giveaways.

8. Reduce Government Fraud and Redundancy--The Government Accountability Office has identified approx $200 billion in government waste, fraud, and incorrect payments. If we simply implemented the GAO's recommendations we could save at least $200 billion. This should be easily accepted by both sides of the political spectrum because the GAO is independent and non-partisan. See here for more info. And here

Total Savings: $672 Billion

While $672 billion is a significant amount of money, it is only a portion of what we need to cut in order to balance the budget and restore America's dire financial outlook. 

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How I Cut $672 Billion From the Federal Budget

Why You Should Want A US Debt Default

With all the talk about what a disaster it would be if the US defaults, lets take a look at the benefits. I for one pray that the US defaults because it would force a government shutdown. Here's why:

No More IRS--The most nefarious and feared government agency would no longer be able to harass, extort, and steal your money. No more audits. The income tax is oppressive to the middle class, preventing them from accumulating wealth, while at the same time multinational corporations like GE and Google don't even pay taxes. Would ordinary citizen really miss the IRS and its threats?

No More Foreign Wars--Without money the troops would have to come home. This would save the US trillions of dollars over the next few years. Our troops would no longer have to fight and die for pointless wars in far away lands. The only losers would be the military industrial complex, which would lose hundreds of billions in military contracts---poor them.

No More Government Waste and Fraud---We hear the outrageous stories--how the government spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money researching shrimp on treadmills, jello wrestling in Antarctica, and other egregious frauds. If the US government was forced to shutdown, funding for such fraud and waste would end, saving taxpayers billions. Furthermore, the government would be unable to squander another $100-200 billion identified by the Government Accountability Office as wasteful and redundant (e.g. 15 federal agencies regulate food safety when only 1 is necessary). See here for full article

No More Illegal Government Gun Smuggling Operations--The ATF, through its Fast and Furious Operation has been caught selling guns to Mexican drug cartels and other members of organized crime units. Lets be very clear here--your government has sold weapons to criminals who killed US border patrol agent Brian Terry and thousands others along the US/Mexico border. Do we really want to give the ATF the funds necessary to continue these illegal operations? A government shutdown would stop it. This is just one example of what illegal acts your government is conducting. Does anyone remember Iran Contra? It never ends. I am not even going to mention ATF operations such as WACO and Ruby Ridge (e.g. you government executing American citizens with impunity).

No More Cruel Government Funded Health Experiments--From 1946-1948 the US government funded a health experiment which purposely infected 700 Guatemalans with the venereal disease syphilis. During the 1950s and into the 1960s the CIA through an operation codenamed MK Ultra went around forcibly drugging Americans with LSD and other narcotics in a failed effort to produce a mind control substance. At least one person died as a result of this operation. These are just a few examples of what your government is up to.

No More Government Luxuries For Obama--With the American economy in a perpetual depression, sky-high unemployment, and rising inflation it is unbelievable that Barry Obama gets to jet around like an imperial dictator. The President gets to fly around in Air Force One (which costs billions per year in maintenance and repairs) , dine in luxury (with the very best china), and travel around the world with an entourage ranging from 200-400 bodyguards--all at taxpayer expense. Even his dopey wife Michele gets to bleed the taxpayer to fund her vacations to Spain and the African continent when she has not even been elected to an official office. And to top it all off-Obama gets paid a salary to live like a King. Such actions when millions of Americans go hungry is evil plain and simple. Perhaps if the government shutdown, Barry Sotero Obama would be forced to cut back on his extravagant lifestyle and lower himself to live like the average American for a while.

I don't know about you, but I welcome a US default and a complete government shutdown. And guess what--life would still go on. True the dollar would fall, but most readers of this blog already own gold so who cares. The main point being that there would be no Armageddon scenario, just a little more economic and political freedom for the average American. Does this sound all that bad?  

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Why You Should Want A US Debt Default

$1700 Gold By Year End Says MF Global

With the Euro in full-blown collapse, money market funds in trouble and a feeble dollar--the only asset people can trust is gold. MF Global in a research note predicts $1700 dollar gold by December 2011  Dow Jones reports:

Gold is likely to reach a new record high and trade up to $1,700 a troy ounce in 2H, MF Global says in a report. The house expects the yellow metal to trade between $1,650/oz and $1,700/oz in the remainder of the year, and forecasts a 2011 average of $1,551/oz. Gold's current high is $1,576.52/oz, reached on May 2; spot gold is at $1,552.90/oz, down $1.50 from its close in New York. Gold will likely push higher later this year on stronger physical demand from China and India, the house says, while concerns over inflation will boost its safe-haven appeal. "Expectations of more People's Bank Of China purchases to increase China's gold holdings as a means to diversify reserves is another bullish argument supportive of fundamentals," it says, noting that a 1.0%-2.0% increase in mine supply will be offset by better physical demand.

Notice how gold was up during today's sell-off--along with the dollar. As the meltdown in Europe continues, gold will be the primary beneficiary.

ps.

And if you think MF Global is too bullish on gold try this on for size. Standard Chartered in a research report said gold could reach $4,869 by 2020 during a super-bull market scenario. This will likely prove a conservative target if the Bernank has it his way.
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$1700 Gold By Year End Says MF Global

Chinese Gobble Up Cheap Uranium Shares--Buyout Offer For Bannerman Resources

Big news in the uranium market. The Chinese company Hanlong Mining Investment Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate Sichuan Hanlong Group, made an unsolicited offer to buy 100% Bannerman Resources for A$0.612. For new readers, Black Swan Insights bought a basket of uranium shares 4 days after the Fukushima incident in Japan. We bought Bannerman at $0.38. The thesis was that the market was mispricing uranium shares based on the fundamental outlook for uranium. It is good to finally see our thesis be proven correct. The Chinese see the value and are trying to buy as much cheap uranium as the market will allow.

The company's board has not agreed to the terms of the acquisition because of the conditions required by Hanlong offer. The main problem was Hanlong's insistence on a 3-month exclusivity period. Management rightly rejected this. The major point is that the Chinese have put Bannerman in play. Management said in the PR that they plan to explore other options (e.g sell to someone else at a higher price). However, the significance of this announcement is that it proves that uranium deposits have significant strategic value to smart investors. This should be supportive of other uranium stocks.

The only major concern we have at this point is incompetent management. Will management do the right thing and sell the company, or will they follow the disastrous Yahoo policy of rejecting an offer and watching the stock decline dramatically? In the case of Bannerman, it is difficult to say. Management has not shown itself to be very shareholder friendly at all. The egregious amount of dilution has destroyed value for shareholders. The market has acted accordingly by sending the shares to new lows (before the Chinese offer). Furthermore, the company has failed to find a strategic partner (e.g. off-take/financing agreement) to help finance its Etango project. If they had been able to accomplish this, they would not be in the position of having to defend themselves from this low-ball acquisition from the Chinese.

One positive indication is that management did not flatly reject the idea of selling the company. Let's be very clear--the company should be sold at this point, but at a higher price in our opinion. Bannerman owns 80% of its Etango project and has 118 million pounds of uranium in the measured and indicated category (80% of the 148 million pounds for the total project). The Chinese offer is for A$0.612 a share. Bannerman has 275 million shares fully diluted (according to the May 2011 presentation), meaning the total value is only A$168 million or around $179 million. This equates to a value of only $1.51 per pound of M & I; I uranium in the ground. Totally unacceptable and significantly below fair value. The company should be able to get at least $2-3 dollar per pound, which implies a higher price of around A$0.81-A$1.22.

At this point, we are still holding our position in Bannerman, expecting more interest from other parties.

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Chinese Gobble Up Cheap Uranium Shares--Buyout Offer For Bannerman Resources

The Future Doesn't Need You

In April 2000, Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, wrote a fascinating yet disturbing article in Wired.com about the future of technological advancement and the dangers posed by robotics, AI, and genetic engineering. The general thesis of his article was that technology is advancing at such a rapid rate that it would (or could) eventually render humans obsolete. He predicted that by 2030 robot mental power will surpass the human brain. At this point, robots would likely be trusted with making many of the critical decisions  in society. In essence, the world would be planned and controlled by machines without human involvement. Bill Joy warned:

 If the machines are permitted to make all their own decisions, we can't make any conjectures as to the results, because it is impossible to guess how such machines might behave. We only point out that the fate of the human race would be at the mercy of the machines. It might be argued that the human race would never be foolish enough to hand over all the power to the machines. But we are suggesting neither that the human race would voluntarily turn power over to the machines nor that the machines would willfully seize power. What we do suggest is that the human race might easily permit itself to drift into a position of such dependence on the machines that it would have no practical choice but to accept all of the machines' decisions. As society and the problems that face it become more and more complex and machines become more and more intelligent, people will let machines make more of their decisions for them, simply because machine-made decisions will bring better results than man-made ones. Eventually, a stage may be reached at which the decisions necessary to keep the system running will be so complex that human beings will be incapable of making them intelligently. At that stage the machines will be in effective control. People won't be able to just turn the machines off, because they will be so dependent on them that turning them off would amount to suicide.

My question is: Have we already reached the point where machines can do the majority of tasks which used to be done by humans? I think the answer is increasingly yes. This would explain why the unemployment rate has remained egregiously high, despite a recovery in corporate earnings. The general consensus from economists is that corporations were forced to cut labor during the recession, which means that when the economy recovers and demand rebounds, corporations would be forced to rehire many of these unemployed workers. However, this thesis has not panned out. Despite being 3 years into an "economic recovery," the unemployment rate has remained stubbornly high with the official unemployment rate at 8.3%. The real number, referred to as U6, even when adjusted for seasonality is at a shocking 15.2%. Obviously, corporations have not had to hire new workers despite record S&P 500 earnings. Why?

Simply stated, during the Great Recession corporations realized that they could replace many workers with advanced technology which can automate complex human functions. The examples are all around us. Airlines used to have people check in passengers and issue boarding passes. Now, airlines have been able to completely replace people with electronic kiosks. If you walk into a Fresh and Easy market you notice that there are no more checkers; it has all been automated. I remember seeing a TV program about Campbell Soup that profiled the company's adaption of technology to increased productivity. The company bragged how they were able to run a soup manufacturing plant with 8 employees. In the past , this factory would have required 40-50 employees, but now they are no longer necessary. And the only reason there are still 8 employees is because the machines still require human support and maintenance. You can easily see a future where these machines make their own decisions and humans are reduced to only a minor support role.  These are just a few examples, but they illustrate the point that as machines advance, humans are becoming more and more redundant. The most troubling aspect of this technological shift is that these jobs will never come back despite improving economic conditions.

What all of this means is that as technology progresses, more and more people will become redundant and permanently unemployed. This is not only an issue for blue-collar workers who are  involved in manufacturing. As machines become more intelligent, they will likely replace many white-collar positions as well. We can clearly see this happening in the investment industry. It used to be a market made up of people--yes they were often irrational, greedy, and fearful--but they were human. Today, 70% of all trading is done by autonomous robots who make their own trading decisions with little or no human supervision. In essence, we have turned over the fate of the capital markets to high-frequency trading bots. Proponents will, of course, manufacture reasons why this is good for society. They claim that HFT reduces costs and increases liquidity since machines are faster and more efficient than people. All great arguments, but what are the consequences of having robots control financial markets?

We saw a terrifying example on May 6, 2010, when US markets suffered a flash crash. For no reason, the stock market fell 600 points in 5 minutes, only to partially recover minutes later. HFT bots were largely responsible for this bizarre market crash. While markets did rebound, what if they had not done so and instead had dropped another 30-40% in a matter of minutes? A fall of this magnitude could have easily cause a massive disruptions in the credit markets and precipitated a severe economic recession. All this because a few HFT bots went beserk?. With regards to the financial markets, we have now given machines complete control and voluntarily reduced humans to a subservient role..

I fear that we have reached the point where the US unemployment rate will never go down, despite a growing economy. The 2008 recession required companies to increase productivity and slash costs dramatically. They did. Now corporations can achieve higher profits with fewer people than they needed 5 years ago. This dynamic, along with outsourcing, means the US unemployment has moved into a new paradigm, which is unlikely to change anytime soon. Millions of Americans had better get used to the troubling reality: The future doesn't need you.
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The Future Doesn't Need You

It Begins: Italian, Spanish CDS Surge--Get Ready for More European Turmoil

The EU's ponzi scheme is running on tough times. Every time they bailout one country, another country seems to default, requiring more cash to kick the insolvent can down the road. With a second bailout for Portugal already guaranteed, the last thing the socialists in Brussels need is a collapse in Spain and more importantly Italy. It seems the market was not to happy about what Trichet said at today's news conference. Even though the ECB pretty much waived the white flag of surrender and dropped all measures of credibility regarding collateral requirements, the market was disappointed. And you would be too if you owned PIIG debt. What these unfortunate EU banks want is nothing short of a complete guarantee by the ECB that it will print money to support Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian bond markets. After all, this is PONZI 101.

Below is a chart of Spanish 5yr CDS, which is currently in the lift-off phase of 294bps. One important note: we generally consider anything above 400 bps as an early sign of an imminent EU bailout and gutting of the debtor country's sovereignty. So the Spanish people better get ready to bend over and take some hardcore austerity from the EU elite.

Below is Italian 5yr CDS, where concerns seem to be increasing with rumours circling of trouble with Italian banks. 5 Yr CDS for the basket case also known as Italy has surged from 171 bps on 6/30 to 218 bps today. Still low by most PIIG standards, but the trajectory is going in the wrong direction. When it comes to the EU debt crisis, an Italian default would an armageddon moment for the entire EU project. The only solution would be outright ECB monetization of all PIIGS debt forever. No wonder gold is making new highs in Euros.

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It Begins: Italian, Spanish CDS Surge--Get Ready for More European Turmoil

Mourning the 4th of July

From the US Code of Laws: (a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.

Considering the dire state of our country, I find it particularly appropriate to display the flag upside down on this 4th of July.

Americans have lost their country. We have a tyrannical elite who run this country for their own benefit. We have a Imperial President who starts wars without Congressional support, claiming that it is okay because dropping bombs and killing people constitutes a "kinetic military action," not war. Doublespeak at its very best. Does Congress care? No, they have been bought and paid for by so many special interests that their only concern is how they are going to spend their bribes.

The US economy has been outsourced by design. We are left with a service based economy where minimum wage is the norm. Unemployment is above 9% with the real number closer to 15%. Not that the government cares, but how are you supposed to have jobs when everything has been outsourced to China?But as long as the corporations are making record profits, who cares about average Americans who are struggling to survive?

The Federal Reserve is printing money and debasing the dollar, in order to bailout the banks and finance government spending. Inflation is rising, yet the government confidently claims inflation does not exist. The media of course, parrots the party line. Just remember, when you are out celebrating the 4th of July that your cookout will cost 12% more than last year. Your government is stealing your money day by day through inflation, and yet no one, except a very small minority protest.

Meanwhile, the government has completely ignored the Constitution, gradually eating away at our remaining freedoms. Do the American people care? Not really, after all most of them can't list the Bill of Rights anyway, thanks to our government-run educational/brainwashing system. Going to airports now mean being sexually groped by thuggish TSA agents. Naturally, the American people show little reaction. Their pathetic lives are consumed by video games, TV and other forms of distracting entertainment. As long as the cable still work,s the American sheep remain in their slumber. They are even willing to allow their children to be groped by the government. After all, those 1-year old kids in diapers could be potential terrorists, so the TSA claims.

Despite tough times and a declining standard of living, many Americans are more than willing to go out and celebrate the 4th of July by drinking themselves silly with cheap beer and chanting USA, USA. They proudly display their American flags on their lawns and flag poles without realizing that their precious flag was probably made in China by a 12-year old slave. The myth of America, promoted by the media, still lulls many Americans into a false reality where they still believe they live in a free country. I suppose, that believing a false myth is better than facing the harsh realities of our current state.

Since I became aware of the truth, I rarely celebrate the 4th of July. It would seem like an insult to the founding fathers of this country who risked their lives to ensure American independence. We have strayed so far from the Constitution and Bill of Rights that America--as the founding fathers would knew it--no longer exists. Instead, during this 4th of July I find myself reading biographies of the founding fathers, trying to understand what happened to the American dream they envisioned.

I further realize that at this moment I am likely committing a thought crime because I am speaking against the government and in support of the Constitution. According to our government this means that I could be a domestic terrorist. Imagine that!

I now consider leaving the US to escape burdensome taxation and the oppressive shackles of a technologically advanced police state. Who would of thought 200 years ago that people would be leaving the US to pursue freedom and opportunity? People ask me what I am "doing" for the 4th. I am mourning the loss of the USA.

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Mourning the 4th of July