Historian Russell Napier Predicts S&P at 400, Budget Deal Actually Increases Spending by $3 billion, McDonalds Add Computers, and Gingrich Gets Blasted

Check out this interview of stock market historian Russell Napier with the Financial Times where he predicts we are heading for a larger deflationary environment then we saw in the depths of 2008.  The movement would push the S&P down to 400 according to Napier.  Considering Bernanke's "QE" strategy (inflating our way out basically), a deflationary spell would be the next logical conclusion when QE2 ends and the excess reserves don't start making their way into the system.  I think the excess reserves will start making their way into the system after QE2 ends, so we may not see massive deflation for a while now.

Maybe what Bernanke is aiming for us to be like is the U.K.:

LONDON (MNI) - Consumer prices rose at their fastest pace on record in April as the timing of Easter saw airfares rise sharply, according to figures released by National Statistics Tuesday.

The consumer prices index rose 1% on the month in April, pushing annual inflation up to 4.5% from 4% in March. The monthly rise was the highest April increase on record and the joint highest increase for any month on record.

Bernanke, and Geithner, have gotta be happy about this though:

May 16 (Reuters) - A hard-won budget deal that was touted as the biggest domestic spending cut in U.S. history when it passed Congress last month will actually cause the government to spend $3.2 billion more in the short term, according to a new estimate released on Monday. 

It's a wonder we didn't reach the debt ceiling faster.  I love this pic from Zerohedge:

I just wrote an article on the debt ceiling today, I am hoping somebody picks it up.

Here is an interesting story from Fox Business:

The next "one billion served" may get their burgers without speaking a word. 

McDonald's is jumping on the technology bandwagon with a new system that will soon change the way European customers order food -- picture computers instead of humans asking whether customers prefer fries and supersizes.

The fast-food restaurant, known for its golden arches, Big Mac burgers and Happy Meals, will replace cashiers with touch-screen terminals and swipe cards at its 7,000 chain restaurants in Europe, according to the Financial Times. That would mean, in part, the end of cash payments.

I can hear the complaints now: "If only McDonald's was unionized, the workers could fight against being replaced!"  "Numerous people will be put out of a job because of this!"  These worries are of course b/s, the more money McDonald's saves, the more it can be used to expand its operations.  And it's not like McDonald's employees have received highly specialized for their job either.

I want to point out a few new developments in the IMF Head DSK sexual assault scandal.  After his lawyers claimed that he had an alibi for the time of the attack, now they are claiming that the maid consented to the assault.  You gotta wonder how far they will go to cover this up.  And here is another woman who is coming out complaining Strauss-Kahn had an affair with her and that he is under suicide watch.

Check out this hilarious video of some dude calling out Gingrich for criticizing Paul Ryan's weak plan:

Also check out this unbelievable ruling by the Indiana Supreme Court, Simon Black summarizes:

The second case of Barnes v. State of Indiana is far more startling. The case deals with one Richard Barnes, a regular Joe citizen of Indiana, who was in the midst of marital problems with his wife one evening in 2007. The couple was arguing when police arrived to the scene and attempted to enter the home.
Barnes made it very clear to the officers that they were not to enter his home. The officers did not have a warrant, and they did not have probably cause to believe that anything illegal was happening. But they entered regardless.
Barnes tried to block the door, and as the police officers muscled their way past him, he shoved one of them against the wall in defense of his property.  Barnes was choked and tasered in his own home, subsequently hospitalized, then charged with misdemeanor battery on a police officer.
The case went to court, and the Barnes defense team cited a private citizen’s right to resist unlawful entry into one’s home. They lost. The case was appealed, all the way up to the Indiana Supreme Court. Here’s where it gets interesting.
The Court agreed that the police officers entered the Barnes home illegally. The Court further agreed that one’s right to resist illegal entry has existed since the Magna Carta. The Court further agreed that the US Supreme Court has reaffirmed this right to resist unlawful entry in numerous court cases.
Seems pretty cut and dry, no?
Yet, in summarizing the court’s opinion, Justice Steven David writes, “We hold that there is -no right- to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers.”

The Supreme Court better overturn this, but I am not holding my breath.  The ruling is disgusting, plain and simple

I will end with this great graph from The Big Picture on the latest S&P credit ratings for all the major economic countries:

Update- Here we go with more Obamacare exemptions:

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney downplayed the significance of the administration’s approval of Obamacare waivers amid the uproar over 38 Obamacare waivers luxurious hotels, gourmet restaurants, hip nightclubs, day spas and four-star hotels received in April in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s district.

In the Tuesday press briefing, he said the administration has approved more than 1,300 waivers from the health care law’s requirements, and has rejected less than 100 waiver-applications. The total of approved waivers “is not that much,” he said, adding that the temporary waivers were granted to organizations that offer their employees relatively cheap insurance coverage, dubbed “mini-med” insurance.

But, of the 204 waivers the administration approved in April, 38 of them, or about 20 percent, were for businesses in Pelosi’s district.

Surprising?  Not in the least.