"Ask yourself why totalitarian dictatorships find it necessary to pour money and effort into propaganda for their own helpless, chained, gagged slaves, who have no means of protest or defense. The answer is that even the humblest peasant or the lowest savage would rise in blind rebellion were he to realize that he is being immolated, not to some incomprehensible ‘noble purpose’, but to plain, naked, human evil." — Ayn Rand


Dear CIGAs,
Here are the rules of MOPE:
1. MOPE must be carefully timed:
a. The communication must reach the audience ahead of the competing truth. b. A MOPE campaign must begin at the optimum moment. c. A MOPE theme must be repeated, but not beyond some point of diminishing effectiveness
2. MOPE must label events and people with distinctive phrases or slogans such as "gold bugs" and "carry trade."
a. They must evoke desired responses which the audience previously possessed. b. They must be easily learned. c. They must be utilized again and again, but only in appropriate situations. d. They must be boomerang-proof.


Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Be realistic. Greece is not in as bad a shape as California is.
The scariest of all things is that there are 40 states in various conditions of financial collapse right behind California.
This situation alone could be the dollar’s Terminator. Sleep on Sheeple!
California Creditors Dread IOUs With Aid Plea Failing By Edwin Chen, John McCormick and Michael Marois
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) — California’s hopes are fading for federal help in closing a projected $19.9 billion deficit that has caused the lowest-rated state’s borrowing costs to rise 24 percent since September.
“We recognize they have enormous problems,” David Axelrod, senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said in an interview. “But we can’t solve all of those problems from Washington.”
Investors are growing more concerned that California, whose debt rating was cut today by Standard & Poor’s, will repeat last year’s fiscal crisis that forced it to use IOUs to pay bills. With Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger seeking $6.9 billion in federal assistance to narrow the deficit, the extra yield paid on the state’s 10-year bonds over AAA-rated municipal securities rose to 1.31 percentage points yesterday from 1.06 points on Sept. 11, according to Bloomberg fair market value index data.
Schwarzenegger’s plea for help for California, the world’s eighth-largest economy, may become a test case for Obama, who last year called the Republican governor “an outstanding partner with our administration.” Dozens of states face budget shortfalls amid the worst recession since the Great Depression, and at least 36 have already reduced fiscal 2010 expenditures, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers.
More…




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The latest from the White House: President Obama Signs Executive Order Establishing Council of Governors; Executive Order will Strengthen Further Partnership Between the Federal and State and Local Governments to Better Protect Our Nation. Hmmm... In Beltway speak "partnership" or "cooperation" often mean "control." This could considerably degrade our 10 Amendment protections!