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

I've always been notoriously independent. One of my favorite lines comes from the movie, "The Godfather" when Don Corleone said;

I don't apologize to take care of my family. And I refused to be a fool dancing on the strings held by all of those big shots. That's my life I don't apologize for that.

Folks, I don't know if you've ever thought of this before, but we have all become fools, dancing on a string held by big shots.

Take for example the current price of gasoline. The big shots- not hedgers, but index speculators- are responsible for the soaring price energy.

Here is a MarketWatch article that you need to read.

In his testimony to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management said, "the price of oil would quickly drop closer to its marginal cost of around $65 to $75 a barrel, about half the current $135" if Index speculators were driven out of the energy markets.

The recent commodities craze has created a monster, even to the point where pension funds, hedge funds, and investment banks are piling billions into energy.

Of course our worthless public servants like Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman have dismissed the role speculators have had on the price of oil.

So, here we are, you and I, dancing on the strings held by all of those big shots.

Never forget the "Golden Rule" that I mentioned a few weeks ago. He who has the gold rules.

Freedom in America means free from tyranny. But tyranny is what we are all experiencing.

Tyranny is defined as;

The arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority.

A arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power leads us to believe Saddam Hussein has "weapons of mass destruction, or Iran is making a nuclear weapons, or Israel needs American protection from Iran, or NAFTA means more American jobs, or America has the best health care system in the world, or we have a "Goldilocks Economy", or we don't have an inflation problem. And lastly, that we get our news from a free press that is not controlled or swayed in any way .

I could go on and on, by you get the point. Knowing all this, you no longer have to ask why I am a contrarian. Warren Buffett did not become the richest man in America by listening, and believing all the garbage that most Americans believe to be fact from the news media.

Warren Buffett said "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful." In short he is telling us to stop believing most of what we hear because most of it is nothing but BS.

Today:

Today, the DJIA closed down 34.93 points as investors wait on the Feds announcement on interest rates tomorrow. No change in interest rates is expected.

UPS warned that second quarter earnings would disappoint, blaming higher fuel costs and a sluggish U.S. economy. Dow Chemical said it will raise prices by another 25% in July because of rising fuel costs.

Eastman Kodak shares rose after the company announced a $1 billion share buyback.

The June confidence index, released by the Conference Board, fell to a 16-year low. A private survey released this morning showed that home prices in 20 metropolitan areas fell 15.3% from a year ago, the biggest decrease since records were kept in 2001.

Now that most investment banks and analysts have thrown in the towel on the financial sector, investors went bargain hunting in the group today.

Crude Oil was up .43 to close at $137.17. Gasoline prices were up .0094 cents to close at $3.46/ gallon. For those of you who are paying over $4.00 a gallon, don't forget about the hefty federal, state, and local taxes you pay on gas.

You know what I mean? Its part of "Dancing on the Strings Held by Bigshots!