"You know what the news is-- in a minute, you're going to hear the rest of the story"- Paul Harvey

In a world of constant economic BS, yesterday we were told that retail sales (including food & energy sales) were up 0.2 percent in March.

Today the PPI numbers were released, and excluding food & energy, the core rate was up by just 0.2 percent, while the overall March PPI was up 1.1% vs. expectations of up 0.6%.

Clearly, inflation is out of control as a lower dollar and higher energy prices are causing prices for commodities to soar.

As one of my talented sources said yesterday, much of today's inflation problems can be blamed on a failed energy policy here in the US.

If you keep wondering why the bold heading at the top of the page says, "in a minute, you're going to hear the rest of the story", now you know. Basically, I am sick and tied of economic data, and misleading political statements that try to get us to believe one thing when often times what is being said isn't true.

Here are two examples from John Williams at the Shadow Government Statistics website. The first example shows how the unemployment rate reported to investors greatly understates the real numbers.

Politicians are more interested in painting a rosy picture instead of telling the truth. The government likes to massage the economic numbers by making gradual changes to economic data, and then try and report it as fact.

According to Williams, with the adjustments and spin, if the same method of measuring unemployment were used today as they were decades ago, the current rate of unemployment would be 13%, and not the 5.1% number currently reported.

Williams also estimates the current CPI at 12%, which is three times higher than the 4% figure being reported to investors.

Oddly, our politicians could care less what their constituents want or think. They are going to do what is best for themselves, and the people who tell them what to do.

On Easter Sunday, a reporter from ABC News told VP Dick Cheney that "two-thirds of Americans say it's not worth fighting." Cheney's answer was, "so?".

On The Political Front

The war in Iraq and Afghanistan (the constant chasing of Pink Elephants) has ruined our reputation in the world, and according to the Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz, has cost the US tax payers "between three and five trillion dollars".

As a result, the price of oil and gasoline has tripled, the price of gold has quadrupled, and the dollar has declined rapidly to wooden nickel status.

We need to understand that there are some very powerful lobbies in our nation that want us to not only continue the war in the Middle East, but escalate it as well.

Its clear to me that some of those very powerful lobbies are backing John McCain. Other lobbies such as the health care industry, have now made Barack Obama their second largest recipient of donations, while numero uno remains Hillary Clinton.

You folks who grew up in the 1940's, and 50's have seen the morals and principles that made our nation great be driven right into the toilet. Those who grew up in the 60's and 70"s are shaken by some of the changes, but have accepted them. People who grew up in the 80's, and 90's are too deep in debt to worry about anything else. And the people growing up today do not have a clue as to what's going on around them.

As I watch people interviewed on TV as to who their favorite candidates are, I quickly realize they don't have a clue about the "New World Order", the "North American Union", "NAFTA and CAFTA", the "NAFTA Super highway", "Bilderberg", and everything that surrounds these topics.

What a shame!