Author Filter: Sean

A Tale of Two Cities & Its Lessons (Novel, 1859)

By Sean | Published: April 29, 2013

I recently finished reading the Charles Dickens’s classic, A Tale of Two Cities, a story of sacrifice and revenge before and during revolutionary France. Dickens was partially inspired to write the novel to to develop some of the themes he had addressed in previous novels, namely poverty. He insisted that if things did not change, [...]

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The Collapse of American Optimism and the Rise of Apocalyptica

By Sean | Published: April 19, 2013

Ask any American older than 30 what the country was like when they were growing up and with few exceptions, the answer will be uniformly positive, and certainly more positive than its perceived to be today. Indeed, even young adults in their 20s recognize that the tone of the nation has changed in recent years. [...]

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Five Months After Hurricane Sandy

By Sean | Published: April 9, 2013

It’s been almost 5 months since Hurricane Sandy devastated several towns and knocked out power to more than 8 million people across the east coast. The storm resulted in 72 deaths and thousands of destroyed homes and businesses. At $75 billion, it was the 2nd costliest hurricane in US history.
The lives of those directly in [...]

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US, UK, and Canada Have Plan To Allow Banks to Seize Depositor Accounts

By Sean | Published: April 4, 2013

In our last story, we noted how government backed loans in the housing market encourages rising home and rent prices throughout the nation, a transfer of wealth from almost every single American to various establishment organizations. Now we have another example of banks transferring risk to the taxpayer.
The term “Too Big To Fail” should have [...]

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Government Pushes For a New Housing Bubble; Backs Subprime Loans With Taxpayer Dollars

By Sean | Published: April 4, 2013

The divide between what the majority of people want verses what the establishment wants is never greater than it is when discussing property values. Those who have assets want them to rise in price, while the poor and those just starting out want lower prices they can afford. Of course, they have no political power. [...]

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Walmart and Other Retailers See Falling Sales

By Sean | Published: February 17, 2013

Bloomberg has a stunning story out about Walmart’s dropping sales figures. In it, they cite leaked internal emails between company executives where they describe in plain language how bad sales are. The emails are only a few days old. Here are some quotes:
On February 12, Jerry Murray, Walmart’s vice president of finance and logistics, wrote:
“In [...]

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James Howard Kunstler on PeakProsperity.com

By Sean | Published: February 16, 2013

This is a repost from Chris Martenson’s website PeakProsperity.com where he interviews author James Howard Kunstler on the state of the US society and economy. It’s a great interview and worth reposting here for posterity. Kunstler touches on a lot of themes, most notably the ongoing collapse of key infrastructure which amounts to an ongoing, [...]

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Rising Nationalism Pushes Nations to War

By Sean | Published: February 15, 2013

In early 1095 AD, Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos sent a letter to Pope Urban II warning that the Turks were about to overrun Constantinople. Hoping to reunite the Church, which had been in schism for 50 years,  the Pope gave an impassioned speech at the Council of Clermont decrying the atrocities being committed by the Turks in their westward [...]

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Superbowl Bullshit

By Sean | Published: February 5, 2013

It doesn’t take much to see the Superbowl as a parallel for our society. It is the ultimate display of consumerism, violence, nationalism and faux-Americana. Every year it gets a little worse. Equally unbearable are US families who decry the “edgy” advertisements as they try to “enjoy the game” with those spastic mental cases they [...]

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Hope Has Changed – It Died, By Monty Pelerin

By Sean | Published: January 28, 2013

This article is a reprint, posted here with permission and for posterity. It’s by an anonymous author using the name Monty Pelerin. It is originally available at EconomicNoise.com.
Hope is dying in the US.
The performance of financial markets affects everyone. For savers and investors, these markets represent the means to an improved life, at least as they [...]

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