Put on your Tin foil hat and come on in....

Started by Jims5543, May 25, 2016, 01:54:15 PM

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Jims5543

A few weeks ago I stumbled across this video, while it starts with Donald Trump it is in no way a pro Trump video, it is about something he slipped and said at a press conference. Basically the US of A will have no choice but default on it National Debt before we will be able to raise interests rates again. If we try to raise them default is inevitable.

I shared this with Dan when we met a couple of weeks ago. I will lie if I said it is not in the forefront of my mind on a daily basis.

What will that mean?  Will the dollar crash will there be another bubble, except this bubble will not be a Dot com bubble or a Real Estate Bubble, how about a complete economic collapse like Greece and Iceland.

So I started looking and reading on Greece, I remembered the banks closing and it was spun in our country as people over reacting and losing trust in the banks. I remember seeing lines to get money at ATM machines.  But why?

MiniGene - I want to ask you a question. Is it true that there is a limit in France as to how much cash can exchange in a transaction. It used to be 3000 euros and now it has been reduced to 1000.

Here is the video that made me stop and wonder, for the record, Peter Schiff saved my ass in 2008, he called for the RE crash as far out as 2006, in 2007 I took notice of him and listened to him, getting out of the market right as it crashed in around me. When Peter says something now, I listen.  When I was bailing on RE people I knew told me I was over reacting. They told me after 2008 that they wished they listened to me.

If you hate Trump, fine, that is not the point of this thread, it is about something he said and nothing more.




So that video caused some discussion between myself and some car friends. Which led me to this video.

If you can stomach through all the self fellatiating this guy does in this video the underlying message is scary, in 2008 the banks should have collapsed, but the fed bailed them out in the 11th hour. The real story here is the people closest to the negotiations were pulling cash out of the banks.

http://pro.bonnerandpartners.com/BBLFALLDWN49/PBBLS424?

So I signed up to some newsletters and this one came in, if for nothing else look at what happened in Greece and their BAIL IN, where they TOOK money out of citizens bank accounts in order to bail out the banks. THAT was why the banks were closed for a week and limits were put on withdrawals. If you had over 100K in the bank they took 40% of your money. Never to get it back. They locked down the banks to stop people from closing accounts.

QuoteLast time, we talked about how the government is debasing this country's currency and, under the influence of Big Banks, preparing to scrap the 100$ bill.

But why?

Just like I promised, today I'm going to tell you what they have in store for 2016. The truth...it's pretty damn disturbing. This is highly important information for anyone concerned about our economy.

Well, we're living in strange monetary times and by the looks of it, 2016 will be the year of the global war on cash. Policy makers in Europe and the U.S. want to make it harder for the masses to hold actual currency.

And there's a very dark reason for that. But first let's look at some of the moves that are being made:

Limits on cash transactions have been spreading in Europe since the 2008 financial panic, ostensibly to crack down on crime and tax avoidance. Italy has made it illegal to pay cash for anything worth more than €1,000 ($1,116), while France cut its limit to €1,000 from €3,000 last year. British merchants accepting more than €15,000 in cash per transaction must first register with the tax authorities. Fines for violators can run into the thousands of euros. Germany's Deputy Finance Minister Michael Meister recently proposed a €5,000 cap on cash transactions. Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan predicted last month that cash won't survive another decade.

But let's take a quick step back. To actually see how deeply disturbing this issue is, we first need to understand the benefits of having cash.

Cash allows legitimate transactions to be executed quickly, without either party paying fees to a bank or credit-card processor. Cash also lets millions of low-income people participate in the economy without maintaining a bank account, the costs of which are mounting as post-2008 regulations drop the ax on fee-free retail banking. While there's always a risk of being mugged on the way to the store, digital transactions are subject to hacking and computer theft.

Mario Draghi fired the latest salvo on Monday when he said the European Central Bank would like to ban €500 notes. A day later Harvard economist and Democratic Party favorite Larry Summers declared that it's time to kill the $100 bill, which would mean goodbye to Ben Franklin. Alexander Hamilton may soon—and shamefully—be replaced on the $10 bill, but at least the 10-spots would exist for a while longer.

They want you to use money it can easily control, tax, and confiscate. And paper currency is getting in its way.

They say that only crooks and cranks need large-denomination bills.

But what are the REAL reasons for the War on Cash?

The first reason is "bail-ins". In 2008 banks were saved by bailouts aka the government giving money to the banks... taxpayer money. "Bail-ins" are a much more devious form of bailouts. It happened in Cyprus in 2013. This is how it played out:

June 25, 2012: Cyprus formally requests a bailout from the EU.
November 24, 2012: Cyprus announces it has reached an agreement with the EU the bailout process once Cyprus banks are examined by EU officials (ballpark estimate of capital needed is €17.5 billion).
February 25, 2013: Democratic Rally candidate Nicos Anastasiades wins Cypriot election defeating his opponent, an anti-austerity Communist.
March 16 2013: Cyprus announces the terms of its bail-in: a 6.75% confiscation of accounts under €100,000 and 9.9% for accounts larger than €100,000... a bank holiday is announced.
March 17 2013: emergency session of Parliament to vote on bailout/bail-in is postponed.
March 18 2013: Bank holiday extended until March 21 2013.
March 19 2013: Cyprus parliament rejects bail-in bill.
March 20 2013: Bank holiday extended until March 26 2013.
March 24 2013: Cash limits of €100 in withdrawals begin for largest banks in Cyprus.
March 25 2013: Bail-in deal agreed upon. Those depositors with over €100,000 either lose 40% of their money (Bank of Cyprus) or lose 60% (Laiki).
Bottom line: if you had money in the two biggest banks in Cyprus you would have lost 40% to 60% of your account to prop up an insolvent bank. Without the power to do anything about it! The only ones that escaped this were the ones who cashed out early.

Eliminating cash means a lot fewer opportunities to cash out...

And don't think this can't happen again:

On the weekend of November 16th 2014, the G20 leaders whisked into Brisbane Australia and they rubber-stamped the Financial Stability Board's "Adequacy of Loss-Absorbing Capacity of Global Systemically Important Banks in Resolution," which completely changes the rules of banking.


Remember the derivatives casino?

Rather than reining in the massive and risky derivatives casino, the new rules prioritize the payment of banks' derivatives obligations to each other, ahead of everyone else. That includes not only depositors, public and private, but the pension funds that are the target market for the latest bail-in play, called "bail-inable" bonds.

"Bail in" has been sold as avoiding future government bailouts and eliminating too big to fail (TBTF). But it actually institutionalizes TBTF, since the big banks are kept in business by expropriating the funds of their creditors.

Make no mistake, when the Benjamin is gone, there will be no place to hide from derivative fueled bailed ins.

There is another reason for killing the 100$.

We will talk about that next time,

Giving you the right knowledge in the most dangerous times,
Charles Hayek

OK so at this point you are probably thinking, yup Jim has on a tin foil hat alright.

Not yet, but I am paying attention, mostly to Peter Schiff, he has never led me wrong.


So, tell me I am crazy, tell me I am delusional, I am living my life like normal but I would lie if I told you I am not taking steps to protect myself and my assets.  The last 16 years under the last two administrations has destroyed this country.  While we have someone campaigning they want to make America great again, I suspect in order for that to happen it is going to have to fail first.

I know I would not want to be the next president of this country. That is like taking the helm of the Titanic knowing it has a date with an iceberg.

I am curious what other folks think of all of this. So please chime in, even if to laugh at me. I can take it I have pretty thick skin and I am told scull too.



Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

John Gervais

So...  You haven't switched to Sanka brand decaffeinated coffee, have you.


(I'm not mocking you, I'm still digesting what you've written and comparing it to my own miserable existence.)



- Pave the Bay -

MiniGene

Hmmmm...I drink a lot of coffee at work.  Maybe if I switched to Sanka I wouldn't want to throat punch everybody all the time.

Jim, I'm not sure about the France exchange limit.  I mostly know about being forced to use a British bank to pay my rent.  Dumping my paycheck dollars into a British bank to see it converted to pounds is painful!  I won't ask you right out what steps you're taking to protect yourself and assets.....but what do you recommend somebody does?  Buy gold and silver, pull all the cash out of the bank and put it in a shoe-box under your mattress, buy lots and lots of guns and ammo??

Trump knows business, (I assume anyway--how else would he have gotten to where he is today?) but with any presidential election, I'm always a bit more concerned with what the new administration's foreign policy is going to be like.  I remember when Bush was elected, he immediately started giving the military folks pay raises and everybody was happy.  I swear I was the only one saying, "hang on guys, I gotta feeling he's got something else in store for us...."

Jims5543

Gene, I am really curious as to if there are laws in place in France that limit cash transactions for merchants to 1000EUR , asking any merchant you know if this is true should verify it.


To be clear, I am not a nut job Survivalist or Prepper is the term that they are called.

I do not have an arsenal, I do not have MRE's staked up all over my house.  I would like to think the USA is civilized enough that this is not mandatory.

Without getting too detailed, I am limiting my exposure financially. I met with my CPA again recently and he complimented me in keeping my business and personal life lean and mean. I do not have a lot of overhead, no loans, no CC debt just a mortgage, private school tuition and medical bills for my younger son due to his amino acid treatments he is on for ADD. Which would NEVER be covered by health Insurance. My limiting is not keeping a ton of cash in the bank. I keep it on hand.  I keep what I need in the bank and deposit only enough to cover my bills. I never used to do this, I used to keep it all in there.

I have retirement accounts / tax shelters in the form of standard IRA's.

Part of the reason I met with my CPA was to discuss limiting my liability. He suggested going to the bank that holds my IRA's and for now, converting them to cash holdings instead of stocks and other diversity. Until the smoke clears, once the crap hit the fan and the market plunges, convert them back into stock holdings as well as diversify them. While they will not grow on cash holding, maybe 0.1% they will not devalue a lot either. Time it right and get back in when the market is tanked and they will grow nicely.

I prefer to keep this from being an election thread, this is about the economy and what is in store. It is going to take a whole lot more than one person as president to fix this mess. Entire administrations and congress can be thanked for this mess.
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

MiniGene

I'm afraid I don't know anybody or merchants that would be able to verify the transaction limit info.

I am planning a career change in two years' time so hopefully nothing too drastic happens and the job opportunities are still out there then.

Jims5543

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

Jims5543

#6
Quote from: MiniGene on May 27, 2016, 09:00:43 AM

I won't ask you right out what steps you're taking to protect yourself and assets.....but what do you recommend somebody does?  Buy gold and silver, pull all the cash out of the bank and put it in a shoe-box under your mattress, buy lots and lots of guns and ammo??

I could not really answer this because I was unsure what my play was going to be this time around, last time I just got out of the RE game and circled my wagons, which in hindsight was dumb. There is always money to be made especially when the shit hits the fan.  Knowing what to do is the key. What I missed last time was gold, in 2007 when I was selling off Real estate I was tucking the money into my savings account blissfully unaware how close the banks were to actually collapsing. I was too conservative and it was a really stupid move to just tuck the money away.

Looking back gold was from $650 to $700 an ounce, by 2011 when things were their worst, it was over $1,800 an ounce, over 2X what you could buy in almost 3X.

If I was smart back then, I had $250K to invest, I would have made an easy $500K in 4 years doing nothing but buying gold and selling it. Even if I was conservative and only took 125K I could have turned it into 375K in 4 years, enough to counter my losses trying to keep my business open.

So gold is hovering in the $1,200 an ounce range and declining. How far? Well, Yellen just announced the Fed will raise the interest rate again in June, consumer confidence, contrary to all the pings I am seeing is at an all time high, lending is at an all time high, gold prices are dropping at a decent rate, I will start to really watch it when it hits $1,100 and once I see $1,000 getting close I am in.

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

Jims5543

The Spec home is back in style again.  What is a spec home? That is a brand new house you build with the intention of never actually owning it while it is being built. Once it is done you sell for more than the contract price to build was. House flipping at its worst.  When prices are rising fast enough this is viable then I know whats coming next.

Builders have signs all over town, $1000 in closing costs, or all closing costs paid.

It is 2006 all over again,  I feel like I am watching Groundhog Day on a 10 year loop.

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

Jims5543

Anyone see what is happening with gold?

I had planned on going to my seller tomorrow for 2 weeks now, I am pissed the market is already reacting to the Election.


Gold crested $1300 again. Silver is less volatile and may be the better move right now. Going to spread my bets over both equally for now.

Wednesday next week is going to be a VERY interesting day in the financial world.
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

Jims5543

While I may not have posted here in a while, I continuously monitor the events in Washington unfolding.

I say this article this morning and thought I would share. It is very insightful and interesting and hits on some of the points Jeff and I have hinted at in the past.

http://schiffgold.com/key-gold-news/successful-trump-plan-will-rude-awakening-americans/

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

MiniDave

#10
I read the article but I didn't really get a whole lot of fact out of it, but rather a long series of unanswered questions.

However, I'm not impressed with Mr. Trumps start so far - he claimed he was going to drain the swamp, but so far he's installed 5 rich buddies from Goldman Sachs (one of whom single handedly is most responsible for the 2008 housing implosion - and made 380 mill in one swoop from it - Mnuchin) in major cabinet positions, his secretary of education can't spell, and I see more cronyism in his administration than in any I've ever witnessed.

And I wonder how taking away cheap imported goods improves the lives of the middle class? How does putting a 20% tariff on all goods made in Mexico help poor working class people? So now an affordable Focus costs $6K more? That means no more cars will be built in Mexico, but instead moved to other plants in other countries? Maybe the next step down the central American coast?

I dunno, I've not seen anything concrete yet - lots of we're not going to's but no we are going to's......hope he can show us something positive that doesn't wind up screwing us worse - and soon. But I think he's either a clueless kid in a new candy store, or he's getting us set up for "corporate America".

Either that or Mike Pence will be pres in a few more months.......

But so far this administration has shown that it believes in "alternative facts", that the most public office in the nation does not have to publicly reveal it's financial background such as tax forms, and that it can simply muzzle the press when it wants to. I'm not encouraged.....

However I will say this, no administration since the 60's has galvanized Americans into getting involved in their government.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#11
And that pesky wall..... and.....well, you get the point. I don't care what's in his tax forms, I care about the fact that he thinks he can use his office to flaunt the law....everyone else has to show theirs, why is he exempt? I'm also concerned with his muzzling of the press, it's the only thing that keeps any of our public officials the tiniest bit of self control. Take that away and who knows what they'll do, it's bad enough what they can do behind our backs right now.

Income tax is no more a crock than any other arbitrarily imposed tax.

But I agree with the idea of a VAT, but how it will be implemented is what concerns me....seems simple enough on the face of it.... but what happens to all those other taxes we currently pay, are they going away too? State tax, city earnings tax, all those federal communications fees and taxes - the variety and scope of the taxes we pay in this country is staggering, property tax, car lic fees...I mean the list is endless!

The movie Popeye with Robin Williams had a character walking around taxing everything in sight.....it was funny in the movie but the more you think about it, the more it's true. We do pay taxes on every single thing we eat, drink, the air we breathe, everything we buy, everything we already own, everything we earn (more than once).....it's crazy to me.

So if you're saying eliminate ALL taxes except for a 10% VAT, I'm onboard 100%......then make our government live on it's income just like the rest of us have to do. But if we go to a VAT, what's to keep them from enacting hundreds of new taxes?

As for Mr. Trump keeping his campaign promises, one thing that is not being addressed is the fallout from those sweeping changes - for example, no more fed paid abortions - no matter where you stand on the religious or moral aspects - how will we deal with the thousands and thousands of new arrivals in 9 months?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Speaking of taxes, I paid a ridiculous amount this year.

MiniDave

That's supposed to mean that you made a ridiculous amount of money then, right?   ;D

It's a well known fact that it's not just the money you make that matters, but the money you're allowed to keep. an you can often earn more by paying less taxes than by making more money.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

I had a good year, but still was shocking to see how much I didn't keep.  The 401k did well though.  Stored away roughly 50% of what I saw lost in the taxes. 

MiniDave

Posted without comment.....

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the DOJ's Violence Against Women programs.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Minority Business Development Agency.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Economic Development Administration.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the International Trade Administration.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Legal Services Corporation.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the DOJ.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Electricity Deliverability and Energy Reliability.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Fossil Energy.
* On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered all regulatory powers of all federal agencies frozen.
* On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered the National Parks Service to stop using social media after RTing factual, side by side photos of the crowds for the 2009 and 2017 inaugurations.
* On January 20th, 2017, roughly 230 protestors were arrested in DC and face unprecedented felony riot charges. Among them were legal observers, journalists, and medics.
* On January 20th, 2017, a member of the International Workers of the World was shot in the stomach at an anti-fascist protest in Seattle. He remains in critical condition.
* On January 21st, 2017, DT brought a group of 40 cheerleaders to a meeting with the CIA to cheer for him during a speech that consisted almost entirely of framing himself as the victim of dishonest press.
* On January 21st, 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer held a press conference largely to attack the press for accurately reporting the size of attendance at the inaugural festivities, saying that the inauguration had the largest audience of any in history, "period."
* On January 22nd, 2017, White House advisor Kellyann Conway defended Spicer's lies as "alternative facts" on national television news.
* On January 22nd, 2017, DT appeared to blow a kiss to director James Comey during a meeting with the FBI, and then opened his arms in a gesture of strange, paternal affection, before hugging him with a pat on the back.
* On January 23rd, 2017, DT reinstated the global gag order, which defunds international organizations that even mention abortion as a medical option.
* On January 23rd, 2017, Spicer said that the US will not tolerate China's expansion onto islands in the South China Sea, essentially threatening war with China.
* On January 23rd, 2017, DT repeated the lie that 3-5 million people voted "illegally" thus costing him the popular vote.
* On January 23rd, 2017, it was announced that the man who shot the anti-fascist protester in Seattle was released without charges, despite turning himself in.
* On January 24th, 2017, Spicer reiterated the lie that 3-5 million people voted "illegally" thus costing DT the popular vote.
* On January 24th, 2017, DT tweeted a picture from his personal Twitter account of a photo he says depicts the crowd at his inauguration and will hang in the White House press room. The photo is curiously dated January 21st, 2017, the day AFTER the inauguration and the day of the Women's March, the largest inauguration related protest in history.
* On January 24th, 2017, the EPA was ordered to stop communicating with the public through social media or the press and to freeze all grants and contracts.
* On January 24th, 2017, the USDA was ordered to stop communicating with the public through social media or the press and to stop publishing any papers or research. All communication with the press would also have to be authorized and vetted by the White House.
* On January 24th, 2017, HR7, a bill that would prohibit federal funding not only to abortion service providers, but to any insurance coverage, including Medicaid, that provides abortion coverage, went to the floor of the House for a vote.
* On January 24th, 2017, Director of the Department of Health and Human Service nominee Tom Price characterized federal guidelines on transgender equality as "absurd."
* On January 24th, 2017, DT ordered the resumption of construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline, while the North Dakota state congress considers a bill that would legalize hitting and killing protestors with cars if they are on roadways.
* On January 24th, 2017, it was discovered that police officers had used confiscated cell phones to search the emails and messages of the 230 demonstrators now facing felony riot charges for protesting on January 20th, including lawyers and journalists whose email accounts contain privileged information of clients and sources.
And today: the wall and a Muslim ban.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

We pay another 300 Million a year so people in other countries can have free abortions.

What?

We do give away a LOT of money every year to other economies, we also spend trillions sending our military around the world to enforce "democracy" in other's. I would be very happy to see this stop too.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Jims5543

Quote from: MiniDave on January 27, 2017, 01:06:42 PM
We pay another 300 Million a year so people in other countries can have free abortions.

What?

We do give away a LOT of money every year to other economies, we also spend trillions sending our military around the world to enforce "democracy" in other's. I would be very happy to see this stop too.

Amen Brother.

We are bleeding money.


Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

BruceK

Quote from: MiniDave on January 27, 2017, 12:11:47 PM
Posted without comment.....


* On January 21st, 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer held a press conference largely to attack the press for accurately reporting the size of attendance at the inaugural festivities, saying that the inauguration had the largest audience of any in history, "period."


Not trying to get all into semantics here, but it seems like two different things.  1) Crowd "in attendance"  which is different than 2)  largest "audience" of any [inauguration] in history.


So #1 is relatively easy to determine by various methods (comparison photos, public transportation ridership, crowd density, etc.)  No doubt that there were less people watching in person than in 2009.

But #2 is a bit more difficult to determine, because it would include not only the local crowd, but also traditional television audience (networks, cable TV, etc.), PLUS those watching via other media (streaming new sites like BBC, CNN on cell phones, plus FaceBook, plus YouTube, and so on).   According to Nielson ratings for the traditional television audience in the US only, Trump had 30.6 million viewers, and Obama had 37.8 in 2009.  So a deficit of 7.2 million TV viewers in the US.   But again, that excludes the audience that watched on devices other than regular TVs - and those things didn't really exist as viable viewing methods 8 years ago.  Plus "audience" would also include those who watched the event in other countries by these various new methods.   

Once you consider how vast #2 could be, it may not be a stretch at all to declare the event had the largest audience of any inauguration in history.



1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

MiniDave

Yep, alternative facts indeed..... ;D ;D ;D ;D
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MPlayle

The CNN Interactive viewpoint is 180* from the side-by-side viewpoint.  The side-by-side is also from a much higher angle giving a much greater viewing area.

The CNN interactive viewing angle is much lower and will not give you the depth of view to see the big empty areas in the back.  If you zoom the CNN all the way to the back, you see the first of the empty areas (the furthest away in the side-by-side).  All of the further empty areas are blocked from view in the CNN interactive by the grandstand at the end of the first empty area.

Basic camera field of view issues.

The side-by-side is truly the best comparison.


94touring

Didn't the media use a photo of the ending of Obamas speech and the pre speech of Trump?  Then turned it into a news story that's pretty much pointless either way.  Trump won fair and square, so what if he didn't get crowds like the 1st black president.  Gotta love the rioters though. Protesting for peace while causing violence. 

MiniDave

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

John Gervais

True enough! 

They've got a real propaganda machine running on CNN, that's for sure.  I've seldom heard such inaccurate interpretation and analysis.  If President Trump had cornflakes for breakfast and one day had shredded wheat, they'd say he 'flipflopped', 'backpedaled' or was somehow unstable.  Unbelievable how much scrutiny he's endured.

I've been learning a lot recently; learning about decades old agreements and treaties which are incredibly biased against the U.S.. 

For example, Nato countries, including Denmark (who pays only 1.2% of it's GDP, yet have gov'mt healthcare, dental etc., free university to all - up to PHD level if you want it, 1 year maternity leave - daddy gets 6 months if mom takes only 6 months, etc. instead of the 2% it's supposed to pay - politician said on TV recently that Denmark couldn't afford to pay the full 2% because they've recently invested a bunch of money in making the Danish military more efficient.  Whaaat???)

Meanwhile, the U.S. pays 60% of the total NATO budget, if I'm not mistaken.

Around 10 years ago, I worked at UNICEF Supply Division - the branch of UN / UNICEF that sends stuff all over the world.  At that time, the U.S. payed 67% of the ENTIRE UN humanitarian aid budget (if I'm not mistaken - I'd have to check the numbers.)  Whaaatt?

Then, yesterday, I learned that Mexico receives foreign aid from the U.S. - yeah, they're a developing nation...  Ok, fine - and then I hear of the Mexico City agreement (birth control and abortions, etc..) for folks OUTSIDE the U.S. - right after I heard the Planned Parenthood folks marching and whining about possible cuts in gov'mt funding.  Well, no wonder - we're sending it all overseas!

Then, today I learned about the $60 billion trade deficit with Mexico.  And 120 other countries as well!

WHAAAT?  We're suckers! 

Thank God for someone - Donald Trump - for having the solid  brass cajones to point it out, pledge to 'fix it' and give us something to talk about, someone to hate.  I'm not talking about any particular race, color, creed, gender, sexual orientation or religion - I mean politicians and journalists! 

If he needs or wants help, I'm not working and could certainly chip in - our last ambassador was extraordinarily weak, thankfully he's gone.  I should swing by the American embassy and say "Howdy!  I'm deplorable, pleased to meet you!"
- Pave the Bay -

MiniDave

Why are you pointing the Obama comments at me?

BTW, weren't we at war with Iraq at the time Obama restricted Iraqi immigration?

My point all along is that this is an extremely contentious presidency, unlike any we've ever seen - and I do not like what's being done on either side of the fence, and I hope sane heads in congress and the house will steady the ship of state as we go along.....cause what's happening now isn't good for anyone.

Our country is being mocked, we have lost the respect of most of our allies, our trading partners are unhappy with us, and what I see happening is even more expensive day to day life for poor and middle class people and benefitting those who have it all already.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad