U.S. PRESIDENTS, THEIR PARTIES AND THE FAILURES OF TODAY'S PRESIDENTS

The first presidential election featuring at least two parties happened in 1792. George Washington, the winner of that election, returned Washington to the presidency not as a member of a political party. The losers were political party members, John Adams of the Federalist party and George Clinton of the original Republican party (wrongly called the Democratic-Republican Party today by historians).

U.S. Presidents from 1789 to 1901

After Washington, the Federalist Party gave us John Adams. The original Republicans gave us Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and John Quincy Adams.

The original Republican party of Jeffersonian democracy best exemplifies what many Americans would like to have today — republicanism. Among the Jeffersonian democracy core ideals are these:

• The Bill of Rights is supreme — The federal government must not violate the rights of individuals.
• The federal government must not violate the rights of the states.
• Freedom of speech and the press are the best methods to prevent tyranny.
• Separation of church and state
• All men had the right to be informed, and thus, to have a say in the government.
• The judiciary should be subservient to the elected branches.

Along the way, other political parties came and went. These parties produced national candidates for the presidency but with the exception of the Whig Party, never won: the National Republicans (not to be confused with today's Republican Party), the Nullifer Party, the Anti-Masonic Party, the Whig Party, the Liberty Party, the Free Soil Party, the American Party (aka "Know Nothing"), the Constitutional Union Party, the Liberal Republican Party, the Greenback Party, the Prohibition Party, the Union Labor Party, the Populist Party, the Socialist Party, the Progressive Party of 1912, the Progressive Party of 1924, the Union Party, the States' Rights Democrat Party ("Dixiecrats"), the Progressive Party of 1948, the American Labor Party, the American Independent Party. A few lesser parties still exist: the Libertarian Party, the Reform Party and the Green Party.

The Whig Party gave us William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore.

The original Democratic Party came into being in 1828. The original Democratic Party  advocated individual liberalism, the good kind of liberalism — the supremacy of freedom rather than regulation combined with representative democracy. The original Democratic Party of 1828 attempted to express British Enlightenment ideals.

Today, the Democratic Party advocates what they call social liberalism. What they support is merely socialism — the supremacy of law rather than freedom combined with universal voting rather than representative democracy, the supremacy of the community over the individual, wealth redistribution to equalize incomes regardless of effort, along with regulatory intervention to game outcomes.

I would have been a Democratic Party supporter had I lived in 1828. Never could I be a supporter of the post-16th Amendment Democratic Party. Their beliefs are unscientific and their agendas unenlightened.

The original Democratic Party gave us these: Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, James Polk, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson and Grover Cleveland.

Continuously operating party since 1854, there have been three versions of the anti-slavery Republican Party — the original anti-slavery radical version, the post-reconstruction version and the post-New Deal contemporary Republican version.

The anti-slavery Republican Party gave us these: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes.  The post-reconstruction Republican party gave us these: James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover.

U.S. Presidents from 1901 to 2016

Today's post-16th Amendment Democratic Party has given us these: Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Today's post-New Deal Republican party has given us these: Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush.

On the whole Republicans have produced bad presidents. Some of the worst presidents have been Republicans — Lincoln, Grant, Nixon, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush. Teddy Roosevelt and Eisenhower were so-so Republican presidents. Harrison, Taft, and Ford were mediocre at best. Hayes and Harding were bad. Garfield died in office too quickly to know if they would have been good or bad.

Before Reagan, the only great Republican president was Calvin Coolidge. The only other good Republican presidents were Chester Arthur and William McKinley. It should be noted that Arthur was not elected.

The post-New Deal Republicans mostly have been loser presidents.

• Nixon — closed the gold window pulling Americans off gold for international balance of payments; price controls; Watergate; saddled Americans with the EPA.
• Bush 1 — worked for the Saudis to oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait; we read his lips and then he raised taxes; started the Kinder Gentler NWO USA; accelerated immigration; established the globalization doctrine for Republicans.
• Bush 2 — idiot wars against Afghanistan and Iraq; let the Saudi Arabians murder 3,000 Americans and didn't attack the Saudis; nodded approval over the residential realty bubble; Bush's Iraq War led to a post-war civil war among vying tribes and the rise of ISIS; failed to support a sovereign Kurdistan in the aftermath of his stupidity; did little to stem the flow of illegals which came to build realty bubble houses many of which still remain empty; infamously said, "I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system," to justify bailing out bankrupt General Motors and bankrupt Chrysler; saddled Americans with the Department of Homeland Security

As well, all of the social liberal Democrats have been among the worst presidents.

• Woodrow Wilson — lied about keeping Americans out of World War (1), signed the Federal Reserve bill into law.
• Franklin Roosevelt — wickedly used welfare as a carrot to get votes; stuck Americans with a raw deal called the New Deal; lengthened a depression into a Great Depression; and sided with the Soviets over eastern Europe.
• Harry Truman — needlessly killed Japanese civilians with two atomic. bombs. He could have dropped those bombs away from civilians to prove a point.
• John Kennedy — almost had us all blown up in a nuclear war; started the shameful Vietnam War.
• Lyndon Johnson — escalated the shameful Vietnam War; stuck us with the Civil Rights Act and crappy Hart-Celler Act (pro-third world immigration law).
• Jimmy Carter — sold off the Panama Canal; failed to back the Shah, which led to a theocracy in Iran that fuels global terrorism; saddled Americans with the Department of Education, Department of Energy
• Obama — is a strong candidate for the worst president ever; stuck Americans with Obamacare; ISIS; works as Mohammadan apologist; presided over an economic depression lasting his entire presidency

Here is my take on the presidents.

• Best: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson
• Better: Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Calvin Coolidge, Ronald Reagan
• Good: Chester A. Arthur
• OK: John Tyler, Andrew Johnson, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bill Clinton
• Lame: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Rutherford B. Hayes, William Howard Taft, Gerald Ford
• Bad: James Monroe, James Buchanan, Ulysses S. Grant, Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter
• Worst: James Madison, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Barack Obama
• No opinion: William Henry Harrison, James A. Garfield

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JUNE 2015 MANUFACTURERS' SHIPMENTS, INVENTORIES, AND ORDERS — NEW ORDERS. IT'S ALMOST ALL DARK WITH A FEW RAYS OF HOPE.

So, the worker bees at the Bureau of the Census have released the April data for the June 2015 Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders report.

After putting the data in True Dollars™, for new orders, the change from the previous month looks bad along with the change from the previous year as well as from five years ago. Only the change from the previous quarter looks good.



There are a few bright spots, though. It is from here that a basis of true recovery likely is forming.

The industries that are showing consistent bettering are construction materials, electric components, industrial machinery, material handling, ferrous metal foundries, iron and steel mills.

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NEW RESIDENTIAL SALES FOR APRIL 2015 SHOWS FULL RECOVERY IS STILL A WAYS OFF. NEW HOUSES SELLING AT 34% DISCOUNT ON AVERAGE

Back on May 19, I showed how the trend in new residential construction looks good. However, I cautioned that Americans have a long way to go until we have a solid economy with most Americans standing upon sound footing. It's likely, residential construction is two to three years away from having recovered.



Today, the Bureau of the Census released the latest New Residential Sales report for April, 2015.







True prices continue to fall reflecting the true state of credit in the USA. Average true prices as calculated in True Dollars™ are now lower than the low true prices hit during the early Clinton years after Clinton inherited the mess from the elder George H.W. Bush.

New houses sell at a 34% discount to the average price calculated from 1963 through 2001.



True median prices are worse today than during the early days of Richard Nixon. New house prices sell at a 29% discount to the average median sales price.



Builders' confidence reveals mixed signals.



Yet, builders seem to be speculating wildly still.






The road to full recovery is a long, hard one.

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LATEST TRANSPORTATION DATA REVEALS AN ECONOMY STILL STRUGGLING TO LEAVE BEHIND THE GREATEST DEPRESSION

Each month the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the Department of Transportation releases data collected about movement of people and goods conveyed by airplanes, trains, ships and pipelines. By putting that data into context, we can catch a glimpse of what is happening in the economy.



These charts reveal that perhaps we're in the early stages of lift off from the bottom.






It's getting worse for rail carriers.


And it's getting worse for sellers of scheduled passenger flights for domestic and international travel.


And it is clear that water haulers slipped between 2011 and 2014 after the 2009 lows.


When the poor aren't working, they can't travel hardly anywhere.

And when people are poorer, they don't fly and drive, they ride subsidized Amtrak.


As well, airline enterprisers have cut their flights, though this seems to be bettering.

And now let's look at the good. Natural gas consumption is up. Likely, this is a result of fracking for oil.

And intermodal traffic is way up.

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EXISTING HOME SALES REVEALS OMINOUS BLACK CLOUD OVER THE U.S. ECONOMY. STILL THESE ARE THE BEST TIMES TO BUY RESIDENTIAL REALTY

While some await the Census Bureau workers' next release of New Residential Sales data on May 26, 2015, the National Assoication of Relators have released Existing Home Sales data. The story looks bleak.



Always, numbers without context lack meaning.

While Existing House Sales looked to be bettering from the low of Q4 2008, that bettering stopped August 2013. Since then the trend has been worsening.


In spite of the worsening state of existing house sales, if you have the income, likely these are among the best days to buy a house in decades.







However, far too many Americans cannot swing a mortgage to buy a house. That, my readers, is the biggest problem vexing the economy.



There are many could-be buyers, but few would-be buyers because so few have the means to swing a mortgage. And yet, True Dollar™ prices run near 50% off.




The inane policy of Quantitative Easing impaired extant capital. To restore returns to capital bought with credit, enterprisers had to cut labor.

After all, wages arise solely from capital. Absent capital, there can be no wages.

Not until all of the impaired capital has been written off, can enterprisers begin to undertake new capital on much lower interest rates. Yet, once enterprisers can, new capital formation will give rise to wages.

We're catching glimpses of this dynamic of capitalism expressed in the labor markets. First there was massive layoffs, unemployment and the need to collect SNAP food welfare from Congress. Of late, there has been a steady decline in True Unemployment in the working age population.

Enjoy one from one of my all-time faves, The Boys!

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FEWER MILES DRIVEN FOR EACH AMERICAN. THE ECONOMY IS DRIVING IN THE SLOW LANE WITH ITS FLASHERS ON.

Workers at the Federal Reserve give you this chart every month. If you relied on
this chart, you would think it reveals something positive. After all, it shows that vehicle miles driven are near an all-time high.



However, the chart lacks context. As I teach always, without context, explanation is meaningless.

It is not the total miles that count, but the total miles each American 16 and older that counts.





Driving peaked between 2001 and 2005.

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CHRISTIANS FOUNDED AMERICA, NOT ATHEISTS, NOR JEWS, NOR HINDUS, NOR BUDDHISTS, NOR MUSLIMS.

So, today, likely anti-Christian bigoted Forbes.com writer, Rick Ungar attacked Americans who believe that Christians founded America. Worse, Ungar attacked everyone who believes Jesus as a divine being.

To unleash his attack, Ungar first attacked U.S. Senator Ted Cruz because Cruz announced his candidacy to get nominated as the 2016 Republican Party candidate for the Office of the Presidency of the United States while giving a speech at an evangelical Christian university. Ungar wrote,

"After all, how could it when the majority of our Founders were not Christians at all?"

Ungar seems to be suffering from a slew of false beliefs. Ungar falsely believes the second Constitution of the United States is "our founding document." And because Ungar believes such silliness, Ungar believes American couldn't be Christian since the second Constitution fails to include the words, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible or Creator, the founders of the country were not Christian.

The first attempt at constitution was defined with the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. Clearly, since the second try at constitution, is not the first, the second try cannot be "our founding document."

More so, those of Constitutional Convention drafted a design for the union of States to establish permanent peace among Americans of the various states. To wit, the States delegated and relinquished their rights to lay taxes or duties on "articles exported from any State." As well, the designers agreed that "No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another."  They prohibited states from establishing alliances with other countries including entering "into any agreement or compact with another State or with a foreign power or engage in war unless actually invaded or in such imminent danger as will admit of no delay".

With a rather schoolboy, childish understanding of American and U.S. history, Ungar blathers about "the founders" committing the lame fallacy of appeal to authority for his fallacious argument.

One-time senator as well as president, Warren Harding coined the phrase founding fathers. Harding himself specifically connected spirituality and the founding fathers when he said, "...in the divine inspiration of the founding fathers."

Though Harding gave no definition of who constituted the founding fathers, in a speech to dedicate the unveiling of a statue of Simon Bolivar, a leader in the South American movement for independence, Harding compares Bolivar to George Washington while mentioning Founding Fathers. Again, in a October 19, 1921, speech at Yorktown, Harding says, "unfailing courage which made Washington truly the Father of his country". Further in the speech, Harding mentions Washington in the same sentence as "the founding fathers."

Further, Ungar blathers about "the diests" claiming "majority of the nation’s Founders were Deists, not Christians." Interestingly, key architect of the second constitution, "founder" James Madison, accepted Christian tenets generally and formed his outlook on life within a Christian world view according to a 1990 biographer.

As to the history of America, without doubt, mostly English protestants founded America.  To deny this highly-documented reality either is to express profound deficiency of intellect or to engage in a nefarious attempt at deception.

No one founded any aspect of America for the cause of Buddha, Brahma, Mohammad or Moses and Jewry. No colonies that became states were founded by the worshipers of these. The Jews didn't land at Plymouth Rock nor did the Mohammadans. There weren't a bunch of atheists who set up shop at Jamestown.

Christian Protestant puritans founded Massachusetts Bay colony. Christian Protestants for tolerance led by Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson founded the Rhode Island colony. Williams was known as a theologian and independent preacher. Puritans founded the Connecticut Colony, originally known as the River Colony.

William Penn, a Quaker, founded the Province of Pennsylvania specifically for Quakers. With his charter, Penn became the world's largest private landowner. 

Penn governed Pennsylvania from the Frame of Government of Pennsylvania,  which later provided key parts for the second constitution of the United States. With his Frame of Government, Penn sought to create a province of religious toleration and political freedom.

George Carteret and Lord Berkeley, the proprietors of the provinces of West Jersey and East Jersey, which would become New Jersey drafted the Concession and Agreement, a document granting religious freedom to all inhabitants of New Jersey. They did so to entice settlement. Eventually, Berkeley sold his share of New Jersey to the Quakers.

The Catholic province of Maryland was founded by Lord Baltimore who sought to create a haven for English Catholics in Colonial America. The first settlement and capital city had the name St. Marys City.

Christians founded America. No one else did.

As well, almost all of the Christians who founded America were English Christians. And while the Swedes, who lost their colony to the Dutch in war, along with the Dutch might have come to Colonial America strictly for trade, neither lasted. Those left standing were the English protestants and English Catholics. 

Christianity were the driving force in the history of America.  The Christian Protestant movement known as the First Great Awakening happened between 1730s through 1740s in Colonial America. Those of the movement preached an anti-religious trappings message along with a personal relationship message. 

And after the Constitution became the law of the land and the first Congress assembled (1789), the Second Great Awakening began (1790). The rejection of deism by Christian Americans gave rise to the Second Great Awakening.

Contrary to false belief or nefarious deception, one would be hard pressed to find a founding document of America that fails to mention Christian affinity, God, divine providence and Jesus.

The first colonial grant made to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 authorized Raleigh to enact statutes to govern a proposed colony provided that such statutes "be not against the true Christian faith now professed in the Church of England." 

The first charter of Virginia granted by King James I in 1606 had this, "We greatly commending and graciously accepting of their desires for the furtherance of so noble a work which may by the providence of Almighty God hereafter tend to the glory of His Divine Majesty in propagating the Christian religion to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God."

The Mayflower compact made by the Pilgrims in 1620 states, "Having undertaken for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith and the honor of our king and country a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia." 

The Massachusetts Bay charter granted by Charles I in 1629 states, Whereby our said people inhabitants there may be so religiously peaceably and civilly governed as their good life and orderly conversation may win and incite the natives of the country to their knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Saviour of mankind and the Christian faith which in our royal intention and the adventurers free profession is the principal end of this plantation.

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut of 1638-1639 state, "Forasmuch as it has pleased the Almighty God by the wise disposition of His divine providence so to order and dispose of things that we, the inhabitants and residents of Windsor,  Hartford and Wethersfield are now cohabitating and dwelling in and upon the River of Connecticut and the lands thereto adjoining; and well knowing where a people are gathered together the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people there should be an orderly and decent government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasion shall require; do therefore associate and conjoin ourselves to be as one public state or commonwealth; and do for ourselves and our successors and such as shall be adjoined to us at any time hereafter enter into combination and confederation together to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess, as also the discipline of the churches which according to the truth of the said gospel is now practiced amongst us."

The first settlers of Rhode Island agreed to this in 1638, "We whose names are underwritten do here solemnly in the presence of Jehovah incorporate ourselves into a Bodie Politick and as He shall help, will submit our persons lives and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of his given us in his holy word of truth to be guided and judged thereby."

The Rhode Island charter of 1663 stated, "pursuing, with peaceable and loyal minds,  their sober, serious and religious intentions, of godly edifying themselves and one another in the holy Christian faith and worship as they were persuaded; together with the gaining over and conversion of the poor, ignorant Indian natives, in these parts of America, to the sincere profession and obedience of the same faith and worship." 

The Carolina charter granted by Charles II in 1663 states, "being excited with a laudable and pious zeal for the propagation of the Christian faith."

In 1778, the Constitution of South Carolina declared "the Christian Protestant religion shall be deemed and is hereby constituted and declared to be the established religion of this State."

Part I Article 3 of the Constitution of Massachusetts of 1780 required "the legislature shall from time to time authorize and require the several towns parishes, precincts, and other bodies politic or religious societies to make suitable povision at their own expense for the institution of the public worship of God and for the support and maintenance of Protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily." 

Article 6 of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of New Hampshire of 1784 required "the legislature to authorize from time to time the several towns, parishes, bodies corporate, or religious societies within this State, to make adequate provision at their own expense for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality."

The famous philosopher John Locke wrote Article 96 for the Constitution of the Carolinas of 1769. Article 96 stated,  "As the country comes to be sufficiently planted and distributed into fit divisions, it shall belong to the parliament to take care for the building of churches, and the public maintenance of divines to be employed in the exercise of religion according to the Church of England, which being the only true and orthodox and the national religion of all the king's dominions is so also of Carolina, and therefore it alone shall be allowed to receive public maintenance by grant of parliament."


The North Carolina Constitution of 1776 stated, "That no person who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority either of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this State."

Justices of The New York Supreme Court in Lindenmuller vs The People decreed,  "Christianity is not the legal religion of the State as established by law. If it were, it would be a civil or political institution, which it is not but this is not inconsistent with the idea that it is in fact, and ever has been the religion of the people. This fact is everywhere prominent in all our civil and political history, and has been from the first recognized and acted upon by the people as well as by constitutional conventions, by legislatures and by courts of justice." 

In Updegraph vs The Commonwealth, justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court  ruled, "Christianity, general Christianity, is and always has been a part of the common law of Pennsylvania; Christianity, without the spiritual artillery of European countries; for this Christianity was one of the considerations of the royal charter, and the very basis of its great founder William Penn; not Christianity founded on any particular religious tenets; not Christianity with an established church, and tithes and spiritual courts; but Christianity with liberty of conscience to all men."

It is no wonder then, the U.S. Supreme Court justices declared the United States of America consisting of a Christian nation. In the case of Holy Trinity Church vs United States 143 US 471, the justices decreed "these and many other matters which might be noticed add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation."
If you are wondering about me, like Jesus, I am irreligious. And like Jesus, I know the saving force of the law of love.

Disclosure: I am neither a member of the Republican Party nor a donor to it.

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THE U.S. CONGRESS HAS WRECKED COMMERCIAL BANKING

For those who need a bit of intel about accounting, a balance sheet tells anyone what is owned and what is owed, that is, what are the assets and what are the liabilities. The third part of a balance sheet is the sum invested by shareholders, which all call shareholders' equity

The firm's operator pays for assets by either borrowing (liabilities) or paying for it from the shareholders' stake.

The name said of property, which can sell at street prices to pay off debt, is an asset. When this same property is put to production in pursuit of profit, the name said of property is capital.

Always, property is the right of ownership in something and not the actual thing itself. In the reality of commerce, all anyone ever does with another is buy and sell the right of ownership in something for the right of ownership in something else.

All too often, mistakenly, most believe they are buying milk when they buy milk from a supermarket. Rather they are buying property in some milk while at the same time taking possession of some milk in which they have the exclusive right  of ownership.

Every firm can have a balance sheet. If we look at all commercial banks as one entity, we can look at the balance sheet for commercial bankers. Conveniently, statisticians at the Federal Reserve do that for us.

Far too many believe that bankers are a risky lot, driven by never-a-care greed. However, because most don't know one whit about commercial banking, they don't how banking works at all.

Bankers structure their assets so they can make good on liabilities they have undertaken in doing business. Most of these liabilities are known as demand liabilities, which are payable in cash on demand. A typical demand liability is a checking account.

By keeping as low as likely the sum of cash on hand, bankers can engage in profit-seeking activities. So what bankers do is acquire assets with known maturities. Bankers stagger these maturities in such a way that liabilities can get met when such come due.

In short, rather than holding cash in vaults, investment assets of bankers become their primary reserve. Traditionally in banking, especially in the days of money — coined metal by weight and fineness, most often gold — the liquidating reserve assets were commercial paper.

In SEVEN YEARS LATER, WHO IS TO BLAME FOR THE CREDIT CRISIS CAUSED BY THE RESIDENTIAL REALTY BUBBLE? THE U.S. CONGRESS, I revealed how through the years, successive U.S. Congresses created Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) — Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) and Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac) — which bundle up mortgages into securities known as mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and hire investment bankers to broker those securities.

These Congress-authorized securities have ended up constituting an ever greater portion of bankers' primary reserve assets.

Between Q4 1972 and Q3 2014, Bankers' Full Risk grew at a yearly rate of less than one percent (0.4%). During the same period, Bankers' Reduced-Risk grew at a yearly rate of 3% and Bankers' Risk-Free grew at the yearly rate of 1.6%.





As you can see in the chart below, today, bankers' assets consist almost equally in thirds of Full Risk, Reduced Risk and Risk Free assets.




Since the 1970s, bankers have become far less risky precisely because U.S. Congresses have been subsidizing bankers' risk through a twisted process.

Bankers lend to individuals who buy houses on credit. Congress, through its agencies, buy those mortgages. These agencies create mortgage backed securities and hire investment bankers to sell those MBS.

Bankers then buy those MBS from the U.S. Congress, effectively buying back the mortgages they made. Now though, the sum of those mortgage payments become an income stream guaranteed by Congress.

In short, successive U.S. Congresses have so distorted the economy, spurring on excessive house building through buying mortgages from bankers and then backstopping bankers that two-thirds of bankers' assets more or less lack significant risk. A third of those assets have a direct U.S. Congress guarantee.

The members of successive U.S. Congresses could not get away with what they do without the current, flawed design, wrecked by the 71st Congress. For more on that, you can check out HATERS OF TEAM ELEPHANTS FOOLISHLY BLAME THE RICH FOR THE LOSS BY TEAM DONKEYS. OTHERS BLAME OBAMA. NONE HAVE IT RIGHT. HERE IS WHY.

The wrong story of what happened in the Banking Crisis of 2008 that led to the Long, Slow Collapse of 2009 to 2014 blames bankers for taking on too much risk precisely because of the. Even the members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission claimed the banking crisis arose from "widespread failures in financial regulation and supervision." 

But the balance sheet of bankers tells another story, the true story. The U.S. Congress alone is to blame.

Risk-Free assets consist of fully-guaranteed U.S. Treasury and U.S. Agency securities, cash and interbank loans fully-guaranteed by the Federal Reserve.

Reduced-Risk assets consist of realty loans and other collateral of physical assets.

Risk assets consist of other securities, trading assets, commercial and industrial loans, consumer loans and all other loans and leases.

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HEY "YIELD CURVE" WATCHERS. TRUE YIELD RATE CURVES LOOK NORMAL.

All too often, many get sloppy with the words of their language and thus confusion sets in. This seems to be true of those who work in the financial world.




There is a difference between the words yield and rate. A yield is a sum of payment. A rate is a ratio of a measured quantity over time.

When you hear someone talking about the "yield curve," what that one should say is rate curve or yield rate curve.

A curve is a line drawn from data, plotted as rise or fall over run.  A yield rate curve is drawn from bond yield rates of maturities arranged in sequence from short-term maturity to long-term maturity.

So why is the yield rate curve important? 

In the normal state of affairs, investors are less certain about the future than nearer to now. Investors are willing to pay for bonds only at much lower prices than par for bonds with longer maturity.

Said another way, investors buy higher yield rates for longer futures. In short, investors want to pay less for the yield offered since the longer the time, the greater the danger they will lose all they have put at risk.

In an abnormal state of affairs, many believe bad times are soon ahead. Since investors are less certain about the short-term relative to the long-term, investors are willing to pay for bonds much lower prices than par for bonds of short maturity.

Said another way, investors buy higher yield rates for shorter futures. Investors want to pay less for the yield offered since the shorter the time, the greater the danger they will lose all they have put at risk.

So what does the current True Yield Rate Curve look like, the curve plotted after removing the effects of inflation?



What did it look like six months ago?




How about a year ago, what did the true yield rate curve look like a year ago?




How about the curves leading up to Peak GDP of Q4 2007, what do those curves look like?




That is an inverted yield rate curve! As you can see, the rates for short maturities of six months and one year are much higher than those for longer maturities.



Yes, that is an inverted yield curve too.





And this curve above also is an inverted yield curve.

Before Greenspan and Bernanke kicked in the last phase of the biggest inflation in the history of mankind, then peak True GDP hit at the end of Q4 2000. What did the True Yield Rate Curve look like in the months preceding that peak?




There is an inverted yield curve yet again.




And here is one more inverted yield curve.

Some define the "yield curve" as the difference in yields between two-and 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds. Even with that limited segment of the yield rate curve, the 30 less 2 Popular Yield Curve has inverted 112 quarters from 454, which is 24.7% of the time over that almost 38 year span.

The last time the Popular Yield Curve inverted happened on February 1, 2007. The longest streak of inversion for the Popular Yield Curve ran between 2002 through 2006 through the last leg of the Greenspan-Bernanke Inflation.


Be sure to read THE USA ECONOMY ADVANCE LIKELY HAS BEGUN AT LONG LAST, which I published yesterday, if you desire to get in on the bottom on what could be booming USA economy ahead.

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THE USA ECONOMY ADVANCE LIKELY HAS BEGUN AT LONG LAST

Although blogging as all know it began around 1999, blogging didn't take off until 2004. With a growing economy, many jumped on the financial blogging bandwagon, including the pessimists and other associated cranks.

Since Banking crisis of 2008 caused by the massive inflation undertaken by former Federal Reserve central bankers Greenspan and Bernanke, these perpetual downers and cranks have earned their  their readership by bashing the Federal Reserve and its figureheads (Janet Yellen, William Dudley, Richard Fisher) as well as Wall Street, its major commercial banks, its major financial banks and their figureheads.




Along the way, bloggers have coined anti-establishment heroes, who, in truth, are part of the establishment such as Elizabeth Warren, the former egghead from academia and the current a senator from Massachusetts. As well, these bloggers stick together in an unwritten alliance, referencing each other's published works. For more on Elizabeth Warren, you can read all you ever need to know about her right here on Bizarro Theater: POOR-MINDED ELIZABETH WARREN NEEDS HELP WITH REALITY, THE REALITY OF TRADE, PROPERTY AND PROFIT.

Most amusingly, many of these cranks and perpetual downers have peddled buying gold, you know, in case the zombie apocalypse, or at least the banking version of that comes.

Like everything else, gold rose in price fueled by buyers flush with credit along with the massive inflation fueled economy.

Peak GDP hit Q4 2007. Gold buyers were slow to catch that signal, so slow in fact they kept buying until March of 2008. And then as deflation began of the Greenspan-Bernanke Bubble, the biggest credit bubble in the history of mankind, true gold fell right with it.



True gold didn't resume its price run until it became clear Americans were experiencing a banking crisis. That price run began in December 2008. True Gold continued to rise until hitting a true peak in September 2011.

Since then True Gold has fallen and has fallen hard. True Gold is down -50.2% having fallen at a rate of -19.8% a year.

With that performance, it should be clear that gold is a bad bet. If you have greater curiosity, check out my work right here on Bizarro Theater, IS THERE EVER REASON TO BUY GOLD?

All the same, here is what the True GDP picture looks like for the USA.



The most recent low in True GDP happened this year, in Q1 2014. From peak True GDP until the most recent low, True GDP fell -41.8%, falling at a yearly rate of -7.7%.

Since hitting that Q1 2014 low, True GDP has grown 2.52% growing at a yearly rate of 5.2%.

Only in four quarters — Q2 2008, Q4 2009, Q2 2010, and Q2 2013 — was there any growth in True GDP over the preceding quarter.

Looking at the next chart, you can see that Public Sector True GDP crossed over Private Sector True GDP in Q1 2009. That is never good for the economy.

In the great, long, slow deflation of the Greenspan-Bernanke Inflation, the longest decline stretch happened over the 11 quarters between Q3 2010 and Q1 2013.




Even more telling is this chart. The right end of the chart shows growing Private True GDP has lifted True GDP growth over the last two quarters.




It's looks like it is time to become optimistic about the economy. If I were a betting man, I would bet the reckoning is over. Enough individuals and firms have righted themselves. It is time for true growth, sustained growth.
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It should be noted by everyone the earth over that neither the U.S. Congress nor central bankers of the Federal Reserve did anything to cause the economy to recover. No one can take credit for fixing the economy after almost seven years.

Those who do are liars. Those who claim others have fixed the economy are little better than toadies.

If only the Federal Reserve would publish Commercial Clearings on a timely basis. Then we would have confirmation of sustained True GDP growth.

For more on the importance of Automated Clearings, check out THE SECRETS OF AUTOMATED CLEARINGS, GDP AND THE ECONOMY. RECOVERY? WHEN? right here on Bizarro Theater.

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POLITICIANS AND TV BLABBER HEADS HAVE LIED TO YOU FOR YEARS ABOUT THE ECONOMY. SEE THE TRUTH.

In THE SECRETS OF AUTOMATED CLEARINGS, GDP AND THE ECONOMY. RECOVERY? WHEN?, I showed you how bank clearings of checkable deposits between two parties strongly correlates with GDP once you remove the effects of inflation. As you know GDP is the measures the economy.



To further show you there hasn't been any recovery, I give you these confirming charts.

Bank credit comprises about 71% of all banking activity as measured by assets bankers declare on their books. Consumer activity comprises 11.1% of all banking activity. Residential realty of both  closed-end residential loans and  bortgage-backed securities comprises 20.6% of all banking activity. Producer activity comprises 22.2% of all banking activity.

Bank credit to Producers consists of Commercial and industrial loans as well as     Commercial real estate loans. Bank credit to Consumers consists of  Consumer loans as well as Revolving home equity loans.




The consumer pictures do not look so good. Since hitting a peak at the end of Q1 2010, true consumer loans have fallen -29.4%, falling at a rate of -5.6% a year.




True Home equity line of credit (HELOC) loans peaked at the end of Q3 2008. Since then, HELOCs have fallen -58.9%, falling at a rate of -13.8% a year.



Combined, true bank credit to consumers peaked at the end of Q4 2007. Since the peak, bank credit to consumers has fallen -43.6%, falling at rate of -12%.



The producer pictures do not look much better. True commercial and industrial loans peaked at the end of Q3 2008. Since then, true commercial and industrial loans have fallen -44.9%, falling at a rate of -9.4% a year.



True commercial real estate loans peaked at the end of Q4 2007. Since then, true commercial real estate loans have fallen -51.8%, falling at a rate of -10.2% a year.




Combined, true bank credit to producers peaked at the end of Q3 2008. Since the peak, true bank credit to producers has fallen -49.6%, falling at rate of -10.8%.

If there is a glimmer of hope, that can be found in true commercial and industrial loans. Since Q4 2011, true commercial and industrial loans have grown 0.6%, growing at an annual rate of 0.2%.

We're living in the 21st century. Politicians need to stop lying about obvious reality. Central bankers and others need to acknowledge their hubris.

Politicians and central bankers don't know what they're doing and they never did. If they did, it wouldn't take six years to fix the economy.

It's quite eye-opening when at long last one grows up only to discover almost all adults mostly lie about everything and many adults are too stupid to know they repeat lies willingly for those who hold power over them.

Fictional-character Gregory House is right. Everybody lies.

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SEVEN YEARS LATER, WHO IS TO BLAME FOR THE CREDIT CRISIS CAUSED BY THE RESIDENTIAL REALTY BUBBLE? THE U.S. CONGRESS.

Most chucklehead laugh-track TV-watching Americans would like to blame who they believe are evil commercial bankers for the credit crisis of 2008.

Most Americans are bamboozled by politicians. Politicians are too smart for Americans. Politicians easily trick Americans with speeches and TV performances.

The true culprits of the residential realty fueled credit crisis were the men and women of the U.S. Congress,  the Congressmen of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senators of the U.S. Senate.

Successive U.S. Congresses make all the rules through their law, directly and through their agencies, which they authorize. Successive U.S. Congresses caused the residential realty crisis and largest credit bubble in U.S. history through their agencies.

The U.S. Congress through its agencies bundled up mortgages into securities known as mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and hired investment bankers to broker those securities. Successive U.S. Congresses created Government Sponsored Enterprises, GSEs, which make MBS. These GSEs are the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) and Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac).

Another player for the U.S. Congress, the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) did not issue MBS. However, Ginnie Mae technocrats provided backing for MBS by guaranteeing investors the timely payment of principal and interest on MBS backed by federally insured or guaranteed loans — mainly loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

When all hit the fan, the U.S. Congress made for-profit Private Mortgage Conduits into their scapegoats. A PMC is a firm created to purchase and pool house loans and ready such for sale as securities. PMCs are the private sector equivalents of the GSEs. In the period of 2003 to 2007, PMCs were affiliates of major firms — GMAC Mortgage, Bear Stearns, Citimae of Citicorp, Countrywide, GE Capital Mortgage, Prudential, Ryland.

According to the Federal Reserve, from their own numbers on Mortgage Pools or Trusts, from 2003 to 2007, the outstanding principal balances of mortgage-backed securities insured or guaranteed by GSEs grew 48.1%, growing at a rate of 8.2% a year. In the same period, the outstanding principal balances of mortgage-backed securities of PMCs grew at an eye-poping 242%, growing at 27.9% a year!

It is from these figures that laying blame on PMCs seemed all too easy. What was a 79%-21% split at the start of Q1 2003 became a 60%-40% split by Q4 2007.

However, for every $1 of PMC MBS, there was $1.35 of GSE MBE. Total Congress involvement through GSE and direct agencies Ginnie Mae and the FHA came to $1.50 for every $1 of PMC MBS.

Said another way, Congress involvement was one-and-a-half times that of PMCs. Congress involvement in MBS and MBS guarantees between 2003 and 2007 was 50% bigger than all private involvement combined.

Of course, members of successive Congresses couldn't have done this without having enough voters put them into office. They could not have gotten those voters without first either giving them or appealing to their desire for welfare — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, Section 8, Pell and many more programs.

During the residential realty credit bubble, there were far too many who borrowed way too much, well beyond what their incomes could support, overpaying way too much for houses they could not afford at the selling prices they should not have paid. Far too many played the game of "getting rich quick" by flipping taking out even bigger mortgages using the proceeds of each flip to buy cars and luxury vacations.

Ah, greed — striving to get something without giving up something in trade — is a horrible error. Oh so many borrowers were greedy with their big eyes seeing dollar signs as they  became flipping realty for big profit geniuses. It's hard to have sympathy for people driven by greed.

Commercial bankers weren't greedy. Commercial bankers sold a product — their credit — and bought a right of action in a purchase and sale from those seeking mortgages. Bankers played by the rules.

People buying houses, taking out HELOCs to buy shiny new BMWs, Mercedes and Ford Expeditions, cars that were once priced beyond their incomes, reckoning they could pay off their HELOCs when they flipped their houses for higher prices, well, that's greedy.

Far too many borrowed too much, many of whom never should have borrowed ever based on their incomes and the potential for price rises in other necessities. As soon as gasoline prices hit highs, many couldn't pay mortgages and drive to work. A little thing like rising gasoline prices drove them to default and technical bankruptcy.

Investors buying mortgage-backed securities, which bundled mortgages based on faulty interpretation of statistics, suckered by blue-skies sales pitches, well, that was stupid. MBS investors were stupid.

And for the last seven years, Federal Reserve central bankers have been taking on these junk MBS, effectively bailing out the previous owners of MBS.



American borrowers were greedy. Blaming businessmen for engaging in business puts the blame where no one should.

Here is an interesting graphic published by the New York Times.

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YET ANOTHER EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES JOBS REPORT DURING THE GREATEST DEPRESSION OF ALL-TIME

Jared Bernstein, former Obama greenshooter Ph.D economist called it a "solid jobs report."

On November 1, 2007, near peak credit, Total Non-farm Payroll, which consists of about 80% of workers who contribute to GDP, tallied to 139,443,000 hired and working. The number of Americans hired and working plunged by almost 11 million to 128,692,000 by January 1, 2011. As of September 1, 2014, Total Nonfarm Payroll stood at 139,752,000




It has taken almost seven years, a whopping 80 months to gain a paltry 309,000 jobs.  

Total population has grown 12.89 million since January 2008. According to Wikipedia, 60% of Americans fall within the ages of 20 to 64. So, there are 7.73 million more working age Americans today than at peak credit and peak employment.

For every new job created for the economy, there are 24 new working-age Americans lacking jobs. Said another way, for every 25 new working-age Americans, only one gets lucky enough to land a job.

From the Obama Low to September 1, the jobs count has grown 8.59%, growing at a yearly rate of 2.22%. Yet, this rate is slower than the job loss rate from the Bush jobs peak of November 2007 to the Obama jobs low.

From the Bush jobs peak near the peak of the greatest credit bubble in world history to the Obama low of January 2011, jobs fell -7.71% falling at a rate of -2.44% a year.

Total job growth rings in at a bit more than two-tenths of one percent (0.22%) from November 1, 2007, to September 1, 2014. The yearly growth rate is a barely perceptible three-one hundredths of one percent (0.03%).

To give you more perspective, under the policies of Congress and Obama as well, rounded up, 3,862 jobs a month have been added since he Bush jobs peak of November 2007.

Who could claim this as a good jobs report but the dishonest or stupid?

Also, if you hear Obama or anyone else say there has been bla-bla months of uninterrupted job growth, either Obama or anyone else is lying. There have been seven months since the Obama jobs low, where Total Non-farm Payroll fell from the month before.

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STOP IN THE NAME EX POST FACTO!

Article 1 Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution states, "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed." Known as the Supremacy Clause, Article Six, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution states, 

"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding."

The latter establishes the U.S. Constitution, federal statutes, and U.S. treaties as "the supreme law of the land." The former establishes that no law can change the legal consequences of action committed or relationships established before the enactment of the law. 

Those of the financial media have been abuzz about bond exit fees being imposed on extant contracts held by  retail owners of bond mutual funds. Peter Schiff gave a decent write up on the bond exit fee chatter. Far too many believe regulators of the SEC or even the Federal Reserve can impose such ex post facto rules without knowing what ex post facto means much less having ever read any part of the U.S. Constitution, much less Article 1 Section 9.

Likely, there shall be jokers who will cite  Justice Samuel Chase and Calder v. Bull suggesting the U.S. Supremes claim the ex post facto provision of the Constitution applies solely to criminal cases, not civil cases, but to do so would be yet another undemocratic, wrong ruling by U.S. Supreme Court justices (e.g., Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, Wickard v. Filburn, Kelo v New London,  National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius). Heritage.org has a nice write up on the Supreme Court history regarding ex post facto.

Should those at the SEC feel brazen to rule such fees must exist and should the U.S. Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Roberts agree, because you know such an SEC ruling will make to the USSC, that shall be the last shred of proof anyone needs to see Americans have not been living by their Constitution for years upon years.

Americans need to see reality. The U.S. Supreme Court system is broken. That nine judges can impose their will upon Americans hardly is democratic, especially old sleeping judges and judges who never created life but yet rule on the sanctity of life.


There should be 50 justices, not nine, one appointed from each state. States' legislators should appoint U.S. Supreme Court justices, not the president. Appointees should at least be 50 in age and have fathered or mothered children. The term for any U.S. Court Justice should not exceed 10 years.

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U.S. CONGRESS HAS CROSSED THE RUBICON, DEBT 100% OF GDP, FOR REAL.

The country's debt, the national debt, America's debt — these are some of the trickster phrases politicians and their apologists say to disguise the true name, the United States Congress' debt.

Even the writers of the Constitution of the United States of America were quite clear as to who is responsible for taking on debt and paying off debt.

Interestingly, those who agreed to the Constitution never agreed that Congress has the power to borrow bank credits. Rather, they were quite explicit that Congresses only could borrow money, which is coined metal by weight and fineness.

Even clause 5 of Article 1, Section 8, fully clarifies what the writers of the Constitution believed. They believed money to be coined metal, which needed to be weighed and the metal content measured.

• The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts ... [Article 1. Section 8. Clause 1.]
• To borrow Money on the credit of the United States. [Article 1. Section 8. Clause 2.]
• To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; [Article 1. Section 8. Clause 5.]

So all of that debt the various Congresses have accumulated by selling bonds for bank credits well, all of that debt has been accumulated in violation of the Constitution various Congresses swore oaths to uphold.

In INFLATION REVEALED! "REAL GDP" AND FEDERAL RESERVE BANK UNITS, I explain the concept of Federal Reserve Banking Units (FRBUs). FRBUs give the best tool to measure inflation. Inflation arises from banking and nothing else. 

As can be seen, true spending of Congress in terms of buying power as measured by FRBUs is slightly above what the Congress of 1993 spent. Tax collection today is slightly above that 1993 Congress.

From 1992 through 2000, the Congresses during the Clinton years did a bang up job of pushing to cut deficits while increasing spending and tax collection.




Congress began their march to cross over the point of no return back in 2008 and at last crossing over by October 2012.







So which president signed into law congressional budgets from the most fiscally responsible congresses comparatively speaking?

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CASHING IN THE BILL OF RIGHTS. TRUTH, JUSTICE AND THE AMERICAN WAY.

The American way of life is the way of liberty. Said another way, it is the way of self-rule, of autonomy. At least it used to be. 

There were Americans long ago who had it right. Government is a creature of men and women living in society of property, a creature that must be controlled and contained. The creature never should never grow bigger and stronger than its creators. 

That is why those Americans gave us the Bill of Rights. All of the Bill of Rights deals with the duties the then newly formed federal government had with respect to any individual. 

However, since World War 1, successive Congresses have stripped Americans of the American way, little-by-little. Many Americans have been content to let this happen as long as they have gained income through subsidy, welfare or monopoly. 

The biggest failing in discourse over the Bill of Rights is the lack of talk emphasizing the duties of Congress and agents of government has to any American.

The Bill of Rights has nothing to do with the states in compact, which is what the rest of the Constitution details. The only mention of states within the Bill of Rights is in the 10th.

A reading of the Bill of Rights with the words of then-prevailing English explained reveals how far many Congresses have gone against the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. What most fail to see is how the U.S. Supreme Court works in favor of its employer, Congress.

Acts in the 20th Century and even more so in the 21st Century have been disastrous to Americans and our Bill of Rights.

There isn't a United States without full adherence to the Bill of Rights. The Constitution becomes null and void without full compliance by Congress and its executive in their duties to our rights and their prohibition from our liberties.

1st Amendment

Congress can't make laws and thus diminish liberty (autonomy, or self-rule) regarding religion, public speaking, public congregation, public petition.

2nd Amendment

Congress and its executive have a duty not to interfere in anyone's expressly stated right both to possess (keep) weapons of any kind (arms) — guns, knives, spears, axes, shields — and to bring forth (bear) those weapons whenever. 

3rd Amendment

Congress is denied the right and thus any individual lacks the duty to house any soldier during peace — when Congress has not declared war. Only owners of houses have the duty to house soldiers during times when Congress has declared war, but Congress can only exercise this right if describing the exact manner of such housing with law.

4th Amendment

Congress and its executive have a duty not to interfere in anyone's expressly stated right of possession (secure) over themselves, their houses and contents thereof, their documents and everything they have produced (effects). Only when an agent of the Federal Government has a warrant that specifically and in detail describes exactly where should be searched, exactly what should be taken in possession (seized), and exactly who should be taken in possession (seized), can such an agent act. 

5th Amendment

Congress and its executive have a right to assemble a Grand Jury but have a duty to present legal document containing a charge (indictment) against anyone for a capital crime. 

Anyone has the right to ignore any claims of having committed a capital crime, unless Congress exercises its right to assemble a Grand Jury and perform its duty of indictment. 

Congress and its executive have the right to ignore the foregoing involving military personnel during times when Congress has formally declared war or when there has been decree of public danger. 

Anyone has the right not to be tried twice for the same crime. Anyone has the right to not testify against himself. 

Thus, government has the duty to not attempt to try anyone twice. Anyone of government has the duty to not try to force someone to testify against himself. 

Therefore, government lacks authority for torture. Anyone of government has the duty not to try to trick anyone into testifying against himself.

Congress and its executive have the duty to establish law and then perform in adherence to that law before taking anyone's life or right of ownership (property) in anything or before restricting anyone's liberty (autonomy, self-rule).

When Congress and its executive have fulfilled their duty to establish law to take away anyone's right of ownership (property) in something so that all Americans can use it (public), Congress must pay that one the prevailing market price (just compensation; equitable weighing of one thing against another) and not merely any sum they feel like paying.

6th Amendment

Congress and its executive have the duty to prosecute anyone (liability) in open court (public) and to do so swiftly (speedy; without delay). Thus, anyone has the right to be prosecuted only in open court and in short time from when being charged with a crime.

Anyone accused has the right to be judged by an impartial jury. Congress and its executive have the duty to assemble an impartial jury.

Congress and its executive have the duty to define legal districts and prosecute anyone only in that district.

Anyone accused has the right to be judged only within the court district where the alleged crime has been committed. 

Anyone accused has the right to be told the reason for action (cause) and what supposedly happen (nature; course of things).

Congress and its executive have the duty to present witnesses.

Congress and its executive have the duty to create law which establishes the means for anyone accused to have supporting witnesses (witnesses in his favor). 

Congress and its executive have the duty to create law which establishes the means for anyone accused to have a lawyer (Assistance of Counsel for his defence).

Anyone has the right to have supporting witnesses (witnesses in his favor). Anyone has the right to have lawyer.

7th Amendment 

Anyone has the right to a jury at trial when facing a loss of more than twenty dollars as the outcome.

Anyone has the right to not face twice in subsequent court the same facts presented in a case when that one faces a loss of more than twenty dollars as the outcome.

8th Amendment 

Congress and its executive have the duty to not impose oppressive (excessive) bail. 

Congress and its executive have the duty to not impose oppressive (excessive) fines.

Congress and its executive have the duty to not impose neither rude, unfeeling, bloody (cruel) punishment nor not ordinary, not custom (unusual) punishment.

9th Amendment

Merely listing the foregoing rights does not give Congress the right to later define duty upon anyone in other matters not contained in the Constitution, stripping anyone of liberty and imposing duty upon them.

10th Amendment

Unless expressly stated in the Constitution, Congress and its executive lack the authority (power)  to override the capacity (power) anyone has in liberty (autonomy, self-rule). 

As well, when the Constitution prohibits the States' legislatures and their executives from having authority (power), anyone keeps his capacity (power) in liberty (autonomy, self-rule). 

Only when the Constitution fails to prohibit the States' legislatures and their executives from having authority (power), can the States' legislatures and their executives take it upon themselves to establish law and thus imposing duty and conferring right.

For a crash course in jurisprudence, read here:

LAW VS LIBERTY AND THE AMERICAN WAY.

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