Survivalist or Survivor? Your choice...
The chief characteristics to personal stability are self-reliance and being prepared.
It seems to me that what many predicted is coming to pass and whether or not it's a "Double Dip" or a "long term slowdown in recovery" is mere semantics. What I think will really cause a collapse of the system is that the political and bureaucratic classes in DC - the Federal Reserve, the Administration and Congress - are playing with fire by making a game out of the debt ceiling, budget, quantitative easing and more. It is unnecessary roughness that serves only one real unintended purpose on their part and that is their own ultimate demise.
My belief is that is where we are heading. A economic crash and system collapse that is unlike any others in the past since we are in an entirely new era. Prior to the 1930s Recessions and Depressions were called Panics. Only history written down the road will name what we are going through but to my way of thinking the best I've heard is Disruption. We are indeed in a Great Disruption of the world as we knew it the past 100 years, since post-WWI, a turning point in history as big as the Reformation, Age of Enlightenment and American Revolution.
I believe America is going to be divided up regionally and not necessarily by contiguous geography but certainly confined to a certain extent by it, into segments of society who survive (and some will thrive) by taking responsibility for their own physical and mental health and working to maintain it. The amount of money, gold or supplies you have may or may not help you but your preparation, planning and wits will. Many of the survivalist camp think their moving off to the woods or for those who stay in towns and cities, growing your own and stockpiling will get them by. I understand that thinking and I do think that now is the time to preserve what you can, store as much as feasible and think of alternate ways to obtain goods in the future other than paper money. Therein lies material for an entire other blog that I'm still contemplating.
What is clear is that economically, therefore politically and socially, things are not improving and we are not "recovering." That is due to the fact that our recovery does not lie in restoring things the way they were and it's taking awhile to get that message through to the markets, people and institutions. This does not mean pending doom for everyone and there is no reason for gloom unless you are unprepared. I recognize some people are trapped in situations they feel they cannot get out of. My thought is "where there is a will there is a way" and it requires thinking through your situation to come up with the best possible solution.
No one promises that will be easy and it never has been in the history of America. Self reliance, mutual help, reinvention and rebuilding are inherent in the American character even if we seem to have lost that in the past 30-40 years. I have every faith it is still alive and well in this country and also in the inherent values of England and the British people.
Here is my video blog of a few weeks ago when the markets were still relatively stable, economic indicator reports had not come out and the debt situation in Europe and the US had not risen to the forefront again. I stand by what I said then.
http://youtu.be/H8GHuyngLZM
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
5/6/11
bin Laden Really is Dead
This is not a topic I intended to write about...
Somehow I feel I must write about this topic although it is really not where I want to go, especially lately, with this blog. I am officially burned out on economics, politics and social problems since they appear to be flat lined at best or getting worse. At this point I think my time, especially creatively, is better spent staying positive and motivating others to rise above and keep going no matter the odds.
However, I cannot ignore the issue of Osama bin Laden's death, the rise of conspiracy theories and the need for people to see pictures, as well as the emotions it is evoking in those directly affected by the events of 9-11-2001. I believe that Osama bin Laden is dead because I have more trust in the US military, their intelligence and capabilities and the CIA (a scary proposition to some I realize) than I do President Obama. I have every good reason to believe our military for reasons, not to be coy, that (even to prove my point) I cannot share. I believe they did carry out the mission, assassinated bin Laden and buried him at sea, in Davey Jone's Locker. The guy who tweeted it inadvertently, Sohaib Athar (@ReallyVirtual), corroborates it to a believable degree and I don't think the US Government or anyone can make people like him up.
What the conspiracy stories and theories are really telling us is about the incompetence of President Obama and his staff, the incapacity to make a sound decision, stick to it, keep a story straight and be honest with the American people. The sheer inability of Obama and his "people" to be consistent indicates their ineptitude but we knew that already. There is no point in reviewing all of the inconsistencies throughout his entire term, he's proven that over and over again, so why should this be any different?
I wouldn't mind seeing blood and guts pictures of Osama bin Laden myself as awful as that sounds. If a reader knew how much 9-11 disrupted my life personally in a very big way then they would understand. Something better in my nature tells me otherwise though.
There is one thing I don't think a lot of the American and European people have thought about. We have been on the verge of a Third World War for almost a year now, if not since 9-11-2001. The killing of bin Laden is probably the equivalent of the shooting of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Worse, this war unlike any previous wars has no real geographic boundaries making it a brand new game of combat. It is a war between Islamic extremist terrorists in a host of countries, who as nation-states may not necessarily be at war with the western world. It is also occurring after the "Arab Spring" of uprisings against oppressive regimes that in many respects refuted his terrorist machinations and making for a difficult summer in the Arab and Persian Muslim world.
Obama probably ought to have released some clear evidence of his death but it would only make things worse now. Doing so would probably inflame some terrorists but by their nature they are already agitated fanatics. We already know from this raid that al Qaeda was planning to attack the US rail network. This event has also already broadened a war on three fronts, Afghanistan, Libya and Pakistan and is likely to plunge the world into deeper global conflict. It's already begun; we're being shielded from it by our government and media, which is worse than releasing photos of a dead man. If there is a conspiracy, that is likely the real one.
My hope, as awful as this is to consider, is that we will not be solving our unemployment problem by working in munitions factories. We need to beware of "foreign entanglements" and engage in a policy of non-interventionism; otherwise we will truly find ourselves involved in a Third World War. More importantly, we must counter conspiracy theorists, despite the inept handling of bin Laden's assassination by the Obama administration. Now, more than ever we need to individually remain focused on maintaining ourselves in a healthy frame of mind, through self-reliance, mutual help and optimism, about our abilities to rise above any difficulties we are encountering. Our time is better spent improving our minds and well-being than focusing on spooks and conspiracies to overcome the barriers we are facing economically and socially in this country.
Somehow I feel I must write about this topic although it is really not where I want to go, especially lately, with this blog. I am officially burned out on economics, politics and social problems since they appear to be flat lined at best or getting worse. At this point I think my time, especially creatively, is better spent staying positive and motivating others to rise above and keep going no matter the odds.
However, I cannot ignore the issue of Osama bin Laden's death, the rise of conspiracy theories and the need for people to see pictures, as well as the emotions it is evoking in those directly affected by the events of 9-11-2001. I believe that Osama bin Laden is dead because I have more trust in the US military, their intelligence and capabilities and the CIA (a scary proposition to some I realize) than I do President Obama. I have every good reason to believe our military for reasons, not to be coy, that (even to prove my point) I cannot share. I believe they did carry out the mission, assassinated bin Laden and buried him at sea, in Davey Jone's Locker. The guy who tweeted it inadvertently, Sohaib Athar (@ReallyVirtual), corroborates it to a believable degree and I don't think the US Government or anyone can make people like him up.
What the conspiracy stories and theories are really telling us is about the incompetence of President Obama and his staff, the incapacity to make a sound decision, stick to it, keep a story straight and be honest with the American people. The sheer inability of Obama and his "people" to be consistent indicates their ineptitude but we knew that already. There is no point in reviewing all of the inconsistencies throughout his entire term, he's proven that over and over again, so why should this be any different?
I wouldn't mind seeing blood and guts pictures of Osama bin Laden myself as awful as that sounds. If a reader knew how much 9-11 disrupted my life personally in a very big way then they would understand. Something better in my nature tells me otherwise though.
There is one thing I don't think a lot of the American and European people have thought about. We have been on the verge of a Third World War for almost a year now, if not since 9-11-2001. The killing of bin Laden is probably the equivalent of the shooting of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Worse, this war unlike any previous wars has no real geographic boundaries making it a brand new game of combat. It is a war between Islamic extremist terrorists in a host of countries, who as nation-states may not necessarily be at war with the western world. It is also occurring after the "Arab Spring" of uprisings against oppressive regimes that in many respects refuted his terrorist machinations and making for a difficult summer in the Arab and Persian Muslim world.
Obama probably ought to have released some clear evidence of his death but it would only make things worse now. Doing so would probably inflame some terrorists but by their nature they are already agitated fanatics. We already know from this raid that al Qaeda was planning to attack the US rail network. This event has also already broadened a war on three fronts, Afghanistan, Libya and Pakistan and is likely to plunge the world into deeper global conflict. It's already begun; we're being shielded from it by our government and media, which is worse than releasing photos of a dead man. If there is a conspiracy, that is likely the real one.
My hope, as awful as this is to consider, is that we will not be solving our unemployment problem by working in munitions factories. We need to beware of "foreign entanglements" and engage in a policy of non-interventionism; otherwise we will truly find ourselves involved in a Third World War. More importantly, we must counter conspiracy theorists, despite the inept handling of bin Laden's assassination by the Obama administration. Now, more than ever we need to individually remain focused on maintaining ourselves in a healthy frame of mind, through self-reliance, mutual help and optimism, about our abilities to rise above any difficulties we are encountering. Our time is better spent improving our minds and well-being than focusing on spooks and conspiracies to overcome the barriers we are facing economically and socially in this country.
5/2/11
Anything Can Happen
And always does when you least expect it...
Osam bin Laden is dead.
Just as many Americans were pausing to wonder what has been going on in our country and how we were going to dig ourselves out of the economic hole we've created, something happens that changes the course of history. Ten long years after the events of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden is dead, killed by us and we are certain since we have his body. It is the symbolic end of an era when the American psyche, consciously or otherwise, doubted itself and ability to capture a criminal who was the mastermind of a tragic event. His death cannot be underestimated. Carried along with our doubt was a lot of other baggage about the American Spirit and ability to rise above and be...well, American. The impact of this event should cause us to reassure ourselves that we are capable of anything we set our minds to.
His death will do little for the economic predicament we find ourselves in but should reinforce our sense of being able to resolve it. The real estate/mortgage problem, currency crisis, unemployment and low GDP and productivity among other issues aren't going away. What this should do is restore Americans faith in themselves to rise above and in the long term eventually overcome any obstacle. Over the next few days and weeks much discussion will go on and it is certain the political class will have a field day regarding Bush and Obama and who was able to capture and kill Osama bin Laden. The people who thrive on the fear of terrorism for a living will continue to hyper warn us, in a sense they're reminiscent of anti-communists when the Cold War was over. Terrorism is still a threat and we need to remain vigilant, but what we need to learn from this is that fear mongering is not the best weapon, that believing in our own power to defeat evil is. When all the noise dies down is when the truth will come out and the result will be that everyday Americans will have renewed faith in our ability to restore ourselves to the country we should be.
The oddity of the situation is that the attacks of 9-11 were intended to destroy the financial capital of the world and America's preeminence in the global economy. In some measure it did so indirectly, although it didn't collapse our markets immediately, in the long view in many ways it did. We should have taken more notice at the time of the message that was being sent, a message not necessarily from Islamic terrorists but a note to ourselves. We ignored it after the sentimental pop and country songs and tributes ran their course and we went headlong into consuming everything in sight. We pumped up our economy to feel good and did very little reflection on what had happened and how it could. The time for blame and recriminations about who did and who didn't do what is over, now is the time to revive the American Spirit and undertake the long hard road back to economic health.
Osam bin Laden is dead.
Just as many Americans were pausing to wonder what has been going on in our country and how we were going to dig ourselves out of the economic hole we've created, something happens that changes the course of history. Ten long years after the events of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden is dead, killed by us and we are certain since we have his body. It is the symbolic end of an era when the American psyche, consciously or otherwise, doubted itself and ability to capture a criminal who was the mastermind of a tragic event. His death cannot be underestimated. Carried along with our doubt was a lot of other baggage about the American Spirit and ability to rise above and be...well, American. The impact of this event should cause us to reassure ourselves that we are capable of anything we set our minds to.
The oddity of the situation is that the attacks of 9-11 were intended to destroy the financial capital of the world and America's preeminence in the global economy. In some measure it did so indirectly, although it didn't collapse our markets immediately, in the long view in many ways it did. We should have taken more notice at the time of the message that was being sent, a message not necessarily from Islamic terrorists but a note to ourselves. We ignored it after the sentimental pop and country songs and tributes ran their course and we went headlong into consuming everything in sight. We pumped up our economy to feel good and did very little reflection on what had happened and how it could. The time for blame and recriminations about who did and who didn't do what is over, now is the time to revive the American Spirit and undertake the long hard road back to economic health.
4/12/11
You Can Quote Me On That
The next "Budget Crisis" won't be negotiable...
The Federal Government could learn from Arizona.
The deal-making-as-usual by the standard issue political class of posturing Republicans and Democrats in Washington DC, that held a "down to the last minute" showdown this past weekend, was a mockery to taxpayers. They tried once again to make fools of us. No one really caved and all that happened was a lot of shifting of money and budget figures.
The new State Legislature of Arizona that started this year after the last General Election inherited a budget fiasco due to the tomfoolery of the last Legislature. This month they created a real actual budget that was signed by the Governor. This budget slashes spending and cuts some agencies and services realistically and without sleight of hand shifting of dollars on paper. It also rejects borrowing and recognizes there is a huge shortfall in revenue that will be carried over to the next session of this Legislative Session (Arizona's legislative sessions are two year terms) next year that will have to be dealt with by more cuts. The reasoning is simple: "We ain't got no real money." State revenues are falling and there is no point in creating a budget that continues to spend money that is not coming in.
The next Federal Government budget, even if Bernanke keeps printing phony money, can no longer be a cat and mouse game replete with high drama, back door dealing and accounting gimmicks. That is because we really don't have the revenue to fund a lot of things that the government spends on and it will be worse by then. If tax revenues aren't high enough and since raising taxes only makes an already overtaxed population (yes, the "rich" also) that much poorer, what is there to budget maneuver? And yes again, there will be hue and cry over welfare programs for the "needy," Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, among other things. Repeat: "We ain't got no real money." Nothing adds up to nothing.
If however, the current political class tries those tricks again, as I suspect they might, we would get the government we deserve for voting the jackasses into office. The next budget is not up for high drama and should not be negotiable. If that is what occurs, we would be far better off voting the members of Congress up for reelection out, voting in inexperienced but pragmatic and realistic representatives that reflect us, the real people of America.
The Federal Government could learn from Arizona.
The deal-making-as-usual by the standard issue political class of posturing Republicans and Democrats in Washington DC, that held a "down to the last minute" showdown this past weekend, was a mockery to taxpayers. They tried once again to make fools of us. No one really caved and all that happened was a lot of shifting of money and budget figures.
The new State Legislature of Arizona that started this year after the last General Election inherited a budget fiasco due to the tomfoolery of the last Legislature. This month they created a real actual budget that was signed by the Governor. This budget slashes spending and cuts some agencies and services realistically and without sleight of hand shifting of dollars on paper. It also rejects borrowing and recognizes there is a huge shortfall in revenue that will be carried over to the next session of this Legislative Session (Arizona's legislative sessions are two year terms) next year that will have to be dealt with by more cuts. The reasoning is simple: "We ain't got no real money." State revenues are falling and there is no point in creating a budget that continues to spend money that is not coming in.
The next Federal Government budget, even if Bernanke keeps printing phony money, can no longer be a cat and mouse game replete with high drama, back door dealing and accounting gimmicks. That is because we really don't have the revenue to fund a lot of things that the government spends on and it will be worse by then. If tax revenues aren't high enough and since raising taxes only makes an already overtaxed population (yes, the "rich" also) that much poorer, what is there to budget maneuver? And yes again, there will be hue and cry over welfare programs for the "needy," Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, among other things. Repeat: "We ain't got no real money." Nothing adds up to nothing.
If however, the current political class tries those tricks again, as I suspect they might, we would get the government we deserve for voting the jackasses into office. The next budget is not up for high drama and should not be negotiable. If that is what occurs, we would be far better off voting the members of Congress up for reelection out, voting in inexperienced but pragmatic and realistic representatives that reflect us, the real people of America.
3/30/11
You Can Quote Me On That
Let the Federal Government shutdown...
Not only that, let's celebrate it, make it an extra long national holiday, a break from the political and bureaucratic classes who sharpen their wits with deal-making every day. "Oh NO!" you cry! "What about all the people who need their Social Security and Welfare checks?" "What about Medicare and Medicaid?"
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
I'm pretty confident that deep in the American soul there's enough people with a heart and ingenuity who will take care of people when they don't get the check. That is those who want help anyway. I'll bet it won't be bleeding heart liberals either but regular working people. The so-called progressives will be busy getting busted up by the people they've been "helping," who are angry the free ride isn't being conveniently direct deposited. There's a pretty good chance there are several million doctors and health providers who would love to be free of all the paperwork and provide health service at reasonable cost.
It's one way to sort out the wheat from the chaff.
Let's not talk about a week or two here but months, maybe even years. It will be a shakedown of what "vital services" really are and what the government should be involved in and facilitate solutions for. We would know after a period of time what institutional services really are important and needed versus those who are getting the gravy money and dispensable. For example the Coast Guard would qualify but I'm willing to bet that some of their agencies and people will be found as not necessary. My money is on that most students can be taught exceptionally well by competent teachers, let out of the corral and freed from administrators and unions, liberated to innovate without all the clutter of interference.
What about all the disruption it would cause?
Think of the disruption that's going to happen if we don't stop feeding the beast. The political class, bureaucrats and non-governmental organizations living off "grants" is trying to pirate away our money for a government that doesn't serve those of us paying for it very well. They're hijacking our government and we're the fools for voting them in. We need to get hold of the remote control again. Just as surely as the tech bubble, housing bubble and the stock bubble burst, so will the Big Government bubble burst. Now that will be real disruption.
The point is not entirely tongue in cheek. I seriously think we need to let the government stop, become immobile, cease and desist. Most of it anyway and I mean seriously paring it down to bare bones, not this phony baloney "shutdown" which is really government workers staying home and getting paid with all those accumulated personal days, vacation days, sick time. No, just S. T. O. P....Skid Tires On Pavement before smashing into the brick wall of no return. If bureaucrats, politicians and their staff don't have big savings accounts with their bloated paychecks, I don't feel sorry for them. They can help out at the food bank and get groceries.
What is really needed will still be carried out while we figure out what we need and can afford.
Truly vital communications, defense, electrical power, infrastructure and markets will still run without all the programs, grants, pencil and people pushers while we figure out what really is necessary that we can afford. We need to seriously look at our options now before it inevitably bursts all over us like an overcooked egg in a microwave.
Not only that, let's celebrate it, make it an extra long national holiday, a break from the political and bureaucratic classes who sharpen their wits with deal-making every day. "Oh NO!" you cry! "What about all the people who need their Social Security and Welfare checks?" "What about Medicare and Medicaid?"
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
I'm pretty confident that deep in the American soul there's enough people with a heart and ingenuity who will take care of people when they don't get the check. That is those who want help anyway. I'll bet it won't be bleeding heart liberals either but regular working people. The so-called progressives will be busy getting busted up by the people they've been "helping," who are angry the free ride isn't being conveniently direct deposited. There's a pretty good chance there are several million doctors and health providers who would love to be free of all the paperwork and provide health service at reasonable cost.
It's one way to sort out the wheat from the chaff.
Let's not talk about a week or two here but months, maybe even years. It will be a shakedown of what "vital services" really are and what the government should be involved in and facilitate solutions for. We would know after a period of time what institutional services really are important and needed versus those who are getting the gravy money and dispensable. For example the Coast Guard would qualify but I'm willing to bet that some of their agencies and people will be found as not necessary. My money is on that most students can be taught exceptionally well by competent teachers, let out of the corral and freed from administrators and unions, liberated to innovate without all the clutter of interference.
What about all the disruption it would cause?
Think of the disruption that's going to happen if we don't stop feeding the beast. The political class, bureaucrats and non-governmental organizations living off "grants" is trying to pirate away our money for a government that doesn't serve those of us paying for it very well. They're hijacking our government and we're the fools for voting them in. We need to get hold of the remote control again. Just as surely as the tech bubble, housing bubble and the stock bubble burst, so will the Big Government bubble burst. Now that will be real disruption.
The point is not entirely tongue in cheek. I seriously think we need to let the government stop, become immobile, cease and desist. Most of it anyway and I mean seriously paring it down to bare bones, not this phony baloney "shutdown" which is really government workers staying home and getting paid with all those accumulated personal days, vacation days, sick time. No, just S. T. O. P....Skid Tires On Pavement before smashing into the brick wall of no return. If bureaucrats, politicians and their staff don't have big savings accounts with their bloated paychecks, I don't feel sorry for them. They can help out at the food bank and get groceries.
What is really needed will still be carried out while we figure out what we need and can afford.
Truly vital communications, defense, electrical power, infrastructure and markets will still run without all the programs, grants, pencil and people pushers while we figure out what really is necessary that we can afford. We need to seriously look at our options now before it inevitably bursts all over us like an overcooked egg in a microwave.
3/10/11
Economic, Social and Geopolitical
A brief history of the Federal government and unionism run amuck...
Or how we got into this mess now and why the country is divisive.
America is a big country with wide opinions as large as the population. We are at a moment in our history where our judgment and reasoning is diverse and our opinions are also divisive. In my lifetime the last time we were at this point was in the late sixties and early seventies in the "love it or leave it" period. In it's simplest form today it takes on the debate of libertarian conservative versus progressive liberal ideals.
Progressive Liberalism (as opposed to Classical Liberalism) as a movement started to take hold over a hundred years ago before the First World War. Theodore Roosevelt was the first President to push Progressivism. The consumerism of today is a result of the shift, at that time, in emphasis of managing the national economy from free market business to the regulation of business in favor of the consumer. The idea was that the consumer was more important than the producer. Consumers were the driver of the economy rather than the producers of goods and their rights to products were more important than those who invented, created, manufactured and marketed them.
In 1927 a group of elite academics, unionists, peace activists and radical leftists took a cruise to the then unrecognized Soviet Union to meet Stalin and tour Russia. Their mission was to be self-appointed unofficial envoys of the United States to document the marvels of the collectivist economy of the Soviets. They were given lavish guided tours to selected places that were successful planned economic enterprises and shielded from anything else. They documented their experiences and wrote papers, books and newspaper and magazine articles extolling the virtues of the collectivist society they witnessed. The importance of the trip and passengers is that many of these people become prominent in Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal administrations.
When the legacy became entrenched.
FDR tired of these people and their experiments by 1937 when the second wave of Depression hit from 1937 to 1939. He had been re-elected in 1936 in a landslide but it was becoming clear that the collectivists and their programs had not solved the problems of the economy. In fact, they made it worse, but the damage was done. The established major institutions we are stuck with today including Social Security and liberalized unionism. After the Second World War, the answer to converting from a wartime economy to a peaceful one was in promoting mass produced cookie cutter housing and consumer goods. The remnants of both Roosevelts, regulated monopolies, Social Security, federal government economic planning and unionism were accepted and tolerated as necessary evils.
Those were the seeds planted that the federal government and programs, as we know it today, mushroomed out of control. President Johnson exacerbated the situation by his Great Society programs. Later the Justice Department in law suits started in his administration resulted in Affirmative Action quotas forced onto private employers by consent decree. Public employee unionism also dramatically increased in this era.
To fully understand the consumerism mindset and sense of entitlement many Americans hold today it is important to see how long it took us to get here and how. In order to unravel it, which we must if we are to recover from our current economic crisis, cannot take a hundred years but must be unwound relatively quickly. If we are to recover from it, otherwise we really will spiral downward, a proposition I don't think most Americans are willing to accept.
Why we're divided today.
Due to the current administration, the ineffective political class of both parties in Washington, the divisiveness we are seeing today is a result of a growing movement that is getting stronger. The loose coalition of the Tea Party is the tip of the iceberg. The sentiment they represent is growing stronger among average Americans who don't necessarily align themselves with any political party of movement. The reason the unionists and supporters resistance, especially in the public sector, is so virulently strong (witness Wisconsin as an example) is they recognize the threat to their status quo. Whether they publicly acknowledge this or not, the Progressive Liberals of today realize they are losing the hearts and minds of the American people. In one election three years ago they won their last major victory and gradually they are losing more and more battles.
Some states, Arizona and Montana among them, are taking steps to buck the Federal government and loosen the grip. The process is called "nullification" and refers to state legislatures and elected officials passing bills and declaring that certain federal government edicts are "null and void" because these mandates violate the limits of authority as stated in the US Constitution. Some of their actions seem extreme to a number of people but they don't realize that some of these actions are literal and others are symbolic. Regardless, the trend is there and it is growing.
In Montana a state legislator, Krayton Kerns, is proposing a bill that would nullify the federal Endangered Species Act "null and void" in his state. According to an article in the Great Falls Tribune he argues that the federal government is in serious debt and the opponents to his bill, countering that this legislation would cost the state federal dollars, are arguing over money that isn't there.
"We may as well be arguing over pixie dust. It has as much intrinsic value, the federal government is going down, and you know when a republic dies, it's kind of an ugly thing. There will be no money in the future. Whether we argue about it or not is a nonissue."
On the federal level, Congressman Ron Paul is making the same argument he has for years. Since the US ended the convertibility of the dollar to gold we are using fiat money. Fiat money only has value because the government has laws that say it does. In other words, we keep printing more and more money that has no real intrinsic value to dig ourselves out of debt. Instead we are digging ourselves into a deeper hole.
What is going to happen.
Fear is a powerful thing and many people operate out of fear. The divisiveness of opinion today is driven by the fear of those who depend on the federal government to continue printing money, versus those who recognize that money has no real value and is leading to the inevitable collapse of the monetary system. Sides are forming up and soon there will be no middle of the road dilly dallying around it. The debate revolves around a number of issues but a few serve as focal points.
On the one side, are those who want to see the federal government get its grip off state and local governments and on the other side are those that want more federal control. There are many who want to be free of government interference in our personal lives and some who want the security of entitlement. It is not easily divided up by political parties but each side has organized representation. They are symbolized by the Tea Party movement and organized labor because they are the most visible. They are by no means the only brokers in this divisive war of opinions but it is becoming clearer, as our economic and social fabric dissolves, that we cannot go on this way.
My thought is that we will survive the increasing fights over how much federal government interference people will allow. At the core will be those who are against the status quo of a so-called planned economy and those who are proponents of it. To me the resolution, which will be a revolution in itself, will come when the bottom line is finally tallied. The government really has no money and we may as well be arguing over pixie dust. The system will break and fall and we the people, will have to pick up the pieces and put it back together.
When it's all over and the dust settles, we will be stronger people less dependent on a consumer economy, achievement oriented where accomplishing something matters, knowing things that are important, such as reading, writing, history, geography and math, working hard results in real reward. Above all we will be proud of our country all over again and what it stands for and what we have done for it and ourselves.
Or how we got into this mess now and why the country is divisive.
America is a big country with wide opinions as large as the population. We are at a moment in our history where our judgment and reasoning is diverse and our opinions are also divisive. In my lifetime the last time we were at this point was in the late sixties and early seventies in the "love it or leave it" period. In it's simplest form today it takes on the debate of libertarian conservative versus progressive liberal ideals.
Progressive Liberalism (as opposed to Classical Liberalism) as a movement started to take hold over a hundred years ago before the First World War. Theodore Roosevelt was the first President to push Progressivism. The consumerism of today is a result of the shift, at that time, in emphasis of managing the national economy from free market business to the regulation of business in favor of the consumer. The idea was that the consumer was more important than the producer. Consumers were the driver of the economy rather than the producers of goods and their rights to products were more important than those who invented, created, manufactured and marketed them.
In 1927 a group of elite academics, unionists, peace activists and radical leftists took a cruise to the then unrecognized Soviet Union to meet Stalin and tour Russia. Their mission was to be self-appointed unofficial envoys of the United States to document the marvels of the collectivist economy of the Soviets. They were given lavish guided tours to selected places that were successful planned economic enterprises and shielded from anything else. They documented their experiences and wrote papers, books and newspaper and magazine articles extolling the virtues of the collectivist society they witnessed. The importance of the trip and passengers is that many of these people become prominent in Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal administrations.
When the legacy became entrenched.
FDR tired of these people and their experiments by 1937 when the second wave of Depression hit from 1937 to 1939. He had been re-elected in 1936 in a landslide but it was becoming clear that the collectivists and their programs had not solved the problems of the economy. In fact, they made it worse, but the damage was done. The established major institutions we are stuck with today including Social Security and liberalized unionism. After the Second World War, the answer to converting from a wartime economy to a peaceful one was in promoting mass produced cookie cutter housing and consumer goods. The remnants of both Roosevelts, regulated monopolies, Social Security, federal government economic planning and unionism were accepted and tolerated as necessary evils.
Those were the seeds planted that the federal government and programs, as we know it today, mushroomed out of control. President Johnson exacerbated the situation by his Great Society programs. Later the Justice Department in law suits started in his administration resulted in Affirmative Action quotas forced onto private employers by consent decree. Public employee unionism also dramatically increased in this era.
To fully understand the consumerism mindset and sense of entitlement many Americans hold today it is important to see how long it took us to get here and how. In order to unravel it, which we must if we are to recover from our current economic crisis, cannot take a hundred years but must be unwound relatively quickly. If we are to recover from it, otherwise we really will spiral downward, a proposition I don't think most Americans are willing to accept.
Why we're divided today.
Due to the current administration, the ineffective political class of both parties in Washington, the divisiveness we are seeing today is a result of a growing movement that is getting stronger. The loose coalition of the Tea Party is the tip of the iceberg. The sentiment they represent is growing stronger among average Americans who don't necessarily align themselves with any political party of movement. The reason the unionists and supporters resistance, especially in the public sector, is so virulently strong (witness Wisconsin as an example) is they recognize the threat to their status quo. Whether they publicly acknowledge this or not, the Progressive Liberals of today realize they are losing the hearts and minds of the American people. In one election three years ago they won their last major victory and gradually they are losing more and more battles.
Some states, Arizona and Montana among them, are taking steps to buck the Federal government and loosen the grip. The process is called "nullification" and refers to state legislatures and elected officials passing bills and declaring that certain federal government edicts are "null and void" because these mandates violate the limits of authority as stated in the US Constitution. Some of their actions seem extreme to a number of people but they don't realize that some of these actions are literal and others are symbolic. Regardless, the trend is there and it is growing.
In Montana a state legislator, Krayton Kerns, is proposing a bill that would nullify the federal Endangered Species Act "null and void" in his state. According to an article in the Great Falls Tribune he argues that the federal government is in serious debt and the opponents to his bill, countering that this legislation would cost the state federal dollars, are arguing over money that isn't there.
"We may as well be arguing over pixie dust. It has as much intrinsic value, the federal government is going down, and you know when a republic dies, it's kind of an ugly thing. There will be no money in the future. Whether we argue about it or not is a nonissue."
On the federal level, Congressman Ron Paul is making the same argument he has for years. Since the US ended the convertibility of the dollar to gold we are using fiat money. Fiat money only has value because the government has laws that say it does. In other words, we keep printing more and more money that has no real intrinsic value to dig ourselves out of debt. Instead we are digging ourselves into a deeper hole.
What is going to happen.
Fear is a powerful thing and many people operate out of fear. The divisiveness of opinion today is driven by the fear of those who depend on the federal government to continue printing money, versus those who recognize that money has no real value and is leading to the inevitable collapse of the monetary system. Sides are forming up and soon there will be no middle of the road dilly dallying around it. The debate revolves around a number of issues but a few serve as focal points.
On the one side, are those who want to see the federal government get its grip off state and local governments and on the other side are those that want more federal control. There are many who want to be free of government interference in our personal lives and some who want the security of entitlement. It is not easily divided up by political parties but each side has organized representation. They are symbolized by the Tea Party movement and organized labor because they are the most visible. They are by no means the only brokers in this divisive war of opinions but it is becoming clearer, as our economic and social fabric dissolves, that we cannot go on this way.
My thought is that we will survive the increasing fights over how much federal government interference people will allow. At the core will be those who are against the status quo of a so-called planned economy and those who are proponents of it. To me the resolution, which will be a revolution in itself, will come when the bottom line is finally tallied. The government really has no money and we may as well be arguing over pixie dust. The system will break and fall and we the people, will have to pick up the pieces and put it back together.
When it's all over and the dust settles, we will be stronger people less dependent on a consumer economy, achievement oriented where accomplishing something matters, knowing things that are important, such as reading, writing, history, geography and math, working hard results in real reward. Above all we will be proud of our country all over again and what it stands for and what we have done for it and ourselves.
2/28/11
Economic, Social and Geopolitical
We're in for a long, hot summer...
The forgotten man is preparing to say and do something though.
Those of the boomer generation who complain of "political correctness" in the rewriting of textbooks and education curriculum ought to study history themselves. We were also sold in schools a whitewashed history that was written to suit the purposes of the mood of the country facilitated by government, educational institutions and the private sector.
One of the biggest lies goes something like this: There was a stock market crash one day in 1929 and President Hoover was oblivious to it and did little about the economic condition the country was in. There was an election in 1932 and Franklin Roosevelt won and saved the country from the Great Depression by instituting work programs, allowing unions to bargain fairly for a fair wage and created Social Security and things got better. Except that it is all a big distortion of truth.
In fact almost everything FDR did made the Depression worse and created the "Depression Within A Depression" that caused another stock market crash in 1937 and what actually ended the Great Depression was the US entering WWII in 1941. There had been a brief respite for some people due to WPA, CCC, RA, TVA and other projects but when the work was done, those people were out of a job and angry enough about it that they went on strike. In other words they went on strike against a temporary welfare program. (This should remind people of the "99ers" demanding unemployment extensions.) Not only that, since FDR had the Wagner Act passed liberalizing union organization, people began striking against employers, inside their very place of employment by having 'sit ins.' (This should remind people of public employees, school teachers in particular, ranting in New Jersey and rallying in Wisconsin that they should be immune to the economic crisis, occurring today.)
What Roosevelt's war against business caused companies, since they had no idea what Roosevelt, the Fed, the Treasury and Congress over-regulating and arguing over taxation and budget restraint would do next, they hoarded cash and did not reinvest in the economy to create new industry, new business and real jobs. They also had passed retroactive tax laws, with the Justice Department then pursuing people and companies for doing what was perfectly legal at the time they did them, with criminal charges for acts that had been made illegal after the fact.
Does any of this sound familiar to what has been happening in recent years? It should. The Political Class would have you distracted by the big bonuses (that is not a good thing) corporate executives are getting, frightening you the government is going to shut down (maybe not a bad thing) and anything that will keep the mainstream media busy.
In Muncie, Indiana a newspaper editorialized in 1936:
"Who is the forgotten man in Muncie? I know him as intimately as my own undershirt. He is the fellow that is trying to get along without public relief...In the meantime the taxpayers go on supporting many that would not work if they had jobs." (excerpt from Amity Schlaes "The Forgotten Man")
The contagion had already spread from Wall Street prior to the 1937 crash to Main Street, just as this current economic crisis has.
Much like the respite from 1934-1936 during the Depression that things were getting a slightly better, we have experienced a similar respite from 2009-2010. The stock market has reached ridiculously inflationary highs that have nowhere to go but down. Meanwhile Main Street is still experiencing high unemployment, highly leveraged consumers, a financial institution and mortgage/foreclosure crisis with attendant real estate deflation, alongside consumer product inflation, higher gas and food prices being the prime examples. Additionally national and international problems are entering into the picture, affecting the average person. The Middle East problems will not be resolved quickly or easily, affecting our oil supply, our national and state governments are technically insolvent and for all practical purposes most of the European Union countries are bankrupt. A currency crisis looms of epic proportions, so complex even the experts really don't have solutions to offer for it.
The stage is set for stagflation as bad as, if not worse than the 1970s. Obama can do a fake out to becoming a centrist, but for all his trying he's not fooling the average person who still recognizes him for what he is, a collectivist. His regulatory policies are harming business and not helping consumers. The Republicans can bellow all they want and the tea party coalition can rant but most people have figured out they are in collusion and their tune hasn't really changed. We're in for a long hot summer of an economic Double Dip quake of high magnitude on the Richter Scale. A real good shaker and the powers that think they are in control will have no idea what to do about it.
The average person, the modern day "forgotten man" isn't without backbone and not finished yet. He (and she) are quietly standing by, saying little at the moment, my bet though is that will not be the case by the end of the year. Much like Bill Wilson, founder of AA and Dale Carnegie, founder of self improvement courses, started the mutual and self help movements during the Great Depression, many Americans are already following similar paths. They recognize government intervention and dependence has had little results of value to them. They still have faith in individual effort, being achievement oriented and believe in the American ideal of a strong work ethic and people pulling themselves out of difficult situation. They've figured out that the whitewashed history that has been sold is just as much a lie as collectivist politically correct revisionism is. Government and politics can do little for them.
Look out for a revival of the real American hero who still believes in the American Dream by no later than early 2012. Decide what you want to be and go do it.
The forgotten man is preparing to say and do something though.
Those of the boomer generation who complain of "political correctness" in the rewriting of textbooks and education curriculum ought to study history themselves. We were also sold in schools a whitewashed history that was written to suit the purposes of the mood of the country facilitated by government, educational institutions and the private sector.
One of the biggest lies goes something like this: There was a stock market crash one day in 1929 and President Hoover was oblivious to it and did little about the economic condition the country was in. There was an election in 1932 and Franklin Roosevelt won and saved the country from the Great Depression by instituting work programs, allowing unions to bargain fairly for a fair wage and created Social Security and things got better. Except that it is all a big distortion of truth.
In fact almost everything FDR did made the Depression worse and created the "Depression Within A Depression" that caused another stock market crash in 1937 and what actually ended the Great Depression was the US entering WWII in 1941. There had been a brief respite for some people due to WPA, CCC, RA, TVA and other projects but when the work was done, those people were out of a job and angry enough about it that they went on strike. In other words they went on strike against a temporary welfare program. (This should remind people of the "99ers" demanding unemployment extensions.) Not only that, since FDR had the Wagner Act passed liberalizing union organization, people began striking against employers, inside their very place of employment by having 'sit ins.' (This should remind people of public employees, school teachers in particular, ranting in New Jersey and rallying in Wisconsin that they should be immune to the economic crisis, occurring today.)
What Roosevelt's war against business caused companies, since they had no idea what Roosevelt, the Fed, the Treasury and Congress over-regulating and arguing over taxation and budget restraint would do next, they hoarded cash and did not reinvest in the economy to create new industry, new business and real jobs. They also had passed retroactive tax laws, with the Justice Department then pursuing people and companies for doing what was perfectly legal at the time they did them, with criminal charges for acts that had been made illegal after the fact.
Does any of this sound familiar to what has been happening in recent years? It should. The Political Class would have you distracted by the big bonuses (that is not a good thing) corporate executives are getting, frightening you the government is going to shut down (maybe not a bad thing) and anything that will keep the mainstream media busy.
In Muncie, Indiana a newspaper editorialized in 1936:
"Who is the forgotten man in Muncie? I know him as intimately as my own undershirt. He is the fellow that is trying to get along without public relief...In the meantime the taxpayers go on supporting many that would not work if they had jobs." (excerpt from Amity Schlaes "The Forgotten Man")
The contagion had already spread from Wall Street prior to the 1937 crash to Main Street, just as this current economic crisis has.
Much like the respite from 1934-1936 during the Depression that things were getting a slightly better, we have experienced a similar respite from 2009-2010. The stock market has reached ridiculously inflationary highs that have nowhere to go but down. Meanwhile Main Street is still experiencing high unemployment, highly leveraged consumers, a financial institution and mortgage/foreclosure crisis with attendant real estate deflation, alongside consumer product inflation, higher gas and food prices being the prime examples. Additionally national and international problems are entering into the picture, affecting the average person. The Middle East problems will not be resolved quickly or easily, affecting our oil supply, our national and state governments are technically insolvent and for all practical purposes most of the European Union countries are bankrupt. A currency crisis looms of epic proportions, so complex even the experts really don't have solutions to offer for it.
The stage is set for stagflation as bad as, if not worse than the 1970s. Obama can do a fake out to becoming a centrist, but for all his trying he's not fooling the average person who still recognizes him for what he is, a collectivist. His regulatory policies are harming business and not helping consumers. The Republicans can bellow all they want and the tea party coalition can rant but most people have figured out they are in collusion and their tune hasn't really changed. We're in for a long hot summer of an economic Double Dip quake of high magnitude on the Richter Scale. A real good shaker and the powers that think they are in control will have no idea what to do about it.
The average person, the modern day "forgotten man" isn't without backbone and not finished yet. He (and she) are quietly standing by, saying little at the moment, my bet though is that will not be the case by the end of the year. Much like Bill Wilson, founder of AA and Dale Carnegie, founder of self improvement courses, started the mutual and self help movements during the Great Depression, many Americans are already following similar paths. They recognize government intervention and dependence has had little results of value to them. They still have faith in individual effort, being achievement oriented and believe in the American ideal of a strong work ethic and people pulling themselves out of difficult situation. They've figured out that the whitewashed history that has been sold is just as much a lie as collectivist politically correct revisionism is. Government and politics can do little for them.
Look out for a revival of the real American hero who still believes in the American Dream by no later than early 2012. Decide what you want to be and go do it.
1/25/11
Economic, Social and Geopolitical
My State of the Union...
We have too much debt and printing more money is now beyond counter-productive; the government can't fund any more programs or do more bailouts.
While being cautiously optimistic, I am hoping that Obama's move more to the center, will make the next two years far better than his first two years as President. There is clearly trouble on the horizon in the form of a potentially hard hitting Double Dip to this long term economic crisis recession, which has the potential to make this another great depression. Perhaps he really has learned some things on the job. My desire is that he has also studied some history and drawn reasonable conclusions but I'm holding back judgment on that. Actions speak louder than words and we already know he is excellent at the latter.
My concern is that the economic State of the Union is tenuous and there is relatively recent history to be our guide, beginning with the post-WWI twenties and the Great Depression of the thirties, of the previous century. What we can learn from the 1920s is what led up to the Depression has striking similarities to what led up to this economic crisis. We can also learn that the actions Franklin Roosevelt took in the 1930s have been partially undertaken already and did not work, meanwhile more are being proposed. What America needs to know is that before the 1929 crash the government was less than two percent of the economy and Roosevelt drove it up over thirty three percent. Whereas Coolidge was the last President who believed the government was the "invisible hand" in the nations business and economy, his successor, Hoover started the idea of government as the "benevolent hand" and Roosevelt took it to the extreme of the "controlling hand."
His famous statement, repeatedly reinforced, was "The country needs, and unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: if it fails admit it frankly and try another. But above all try something."
In other words, do something even if it's not well thought out, untested and wrong. We can't afford that.
The problem was that he also coupled this with massive regulation and micro-management of every aspect of business, small to large. The private sector held onto cash and wouldn't invest to build new or keep open all types of industries and hire people because they neither knew what to expect next from FDR and the regulatory rules were so voluminous they were difficult to interpret. This included agriculture and farming. The result was production was low and unemployment remained high. The myth we were all taught that Roosevelt saved us from the Depression by creating public sector jobs, in reality was because his increased interference had failed and it was a method to enlarge the government as an employer. What ended the Depression was not the CCC or WPA or regulatory agencies but the entry of the US into WWII in 1941.
Do we want to repeat the same mistakes?
Today President Obama, according to his State of the Union Preview Video and press statements, is going to propose ways to job creation through open markets. What I hope he also proposes is scaling back the huge regulatory expansion that has occurred in his first two years. His administration has created more red tape and interference than any President since Carter and this is what killed productivity and job growth in the private sector during the last depression. If you need an example, look towards the FCC and the Health Care Reform legislation. On another front, the Republicans are wasting precious time trying to repeal HCR, when what they should be doing is coming up with viable alternatives to modify and improve that legislation, to make it less onerous. They also need to recognize that military and defense spending is Republican welfare they are hooked on, just as much as the welfare they castigate Democrats for. It's all government growth and spending.
The bottom line is this: the last Quantitative Easing (QE2) that Obama went along with Bernanke doing is not working. It is creating inflation and worse, putting us in danger of hyper-inflation, we cannot spend our way out of this problem. It's fair to say we have avoided deflation, which would have been devastating. We cannot print anymore money, bail out any businesses or segments of the private sector, state or local governments, nor go on any public works and job programs. We do not have the money and we owe too much already.
Obama and Democrats need to back off government intervention that is counterproductive; Republicans need to be productive and propose realistic alternative solutions.
If Obama proposes any more projects for infrastructure, job creation, etc. it will never get through Congress. If he chooses to go further centrist for the larger good of the country, by backing off spending programs and regulation, allowing the fear to go out of the private sector, we will see more investment and albeit slowly, real job creation.
For their part the Republicans need to stop focusing on all the wrong things and start proposing some original ideas of their own as alternatives if they don't like what they see. Currently they are whining and sniping, adding fuel to fire, which is just as counterproductive as government interference. Democrats need to recognize that in many ways they have failed to solve our economic problems and their anger should be directed back to themselves. They must stop pandering to their constituent unions, since that has done more harm than good.
This country has taken a huge fall and so have economies all around the globe. Everyone has too much debt, not enough income due to high unemployment, along with a currency crisis from printing too much money and bailouts. These problems will not be resolved quickly, there is pain involved, hard work and sacrifice is required and all Americans need to reconcile themselves to that.
We have too much debt and printing more money is now beyond counter-productive; the government can't fund any more programs or do more bailouts.
While being cautiously optimistic, I am hoping that Obama's move more to the center, will make the next two years far better than his first two years as President. There is clearly trouble on the horizon in the form of a potentially hard hitting Double Dip to this long term economic crisis recession, which has the potential to make this another great depression. Perhaps he really has learned some things on the job. My desire is that he has also studied some history and drawn reasonable conclusions but I'm holding back judgment on that. Actions speak louder than words and we already know he is excellent at the latter.
My concern is that the economic State of the Union is tenuous and there is relatively recent history to be our guide, beginning with the post-WWI twenties and the Great Depression of the thirties, of the previous century. What we can learn from the 1920s is what led up to the Depression has striking similarities to what led up to this economic crisis. We can also learn that the actions Franklin Roosevelt took in the 1930s have been partially undertaken already and did not work, meanwhile more are being proposed. What America needs to know is that before the 1929 crash the government was less than two percent of the economy and Roosevelt drove it up over thirty three percent. Whereas Coolidge was the last President who believed the government was the "invisible hand" in the nations business and economy, his successor, Hoover started the idea of government as the "benevolent hand" and Roosevelt took it to the extreme of the "controlling hand."
His famous statement, repeatedly reinforced, was "The country needs, and unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: if it fails admit it frankly and try another. But above all try something."
In other words, do something even if it's not well thought out, untested and wrong. We can't afford that.
The problem was that he also coupled this with massive regulation and micro-management of every aspect of business, small to large. The private sector held onto cash and wouldn't invest to build new or keep open all types of industries and hire people because they neither knew what to expect next from FDR and the regulatory rules were so voluminous they were difficult to interpret. This included agriculture and farming. The result was production was low and unemployment remained high. The myth we were all taught that Roosevelt saved us from the Depression by creating public sector jobs, in reality was because his increased interference had failed and it was a method to enlarge the government as an employer. What ended the Depression was not the CCC or WPA or regulatory agencies but the entry of the US into WWII in 1941.
Do we want to repeat the same mistakes?
Today President Obama, according to his State of the Union Preview Video and press statements, is going to propose ways to job creation through open markets. What I hope he also proposes is scaling back the huge regulatory expansion that has occurred in his first two years. His administration has created more red tape and interference than any President since Carter and this is what killed productivity and job growth in the private sector during the last depression. If you need an example, look towards the FCC and the Health Care Reform legislation. On another front, the Republicans are wasting precious time trying to repeal HCR, when what they should be doing is coming up with viable alternatives to modify and improve that legislation, to make it less onerous. They also need to recognize that military and defense spending is Republican welfare they are hooked on, just as much as the welfare they castigate Democrats for. It's all government growth and spending.
The bottom line is this: the last Quantitative Easing (QE2) that Obama went along with Bernanke doing is not working. It is creating inflation and worse, putting us in danger of hyper-inflation, we cannot spend our way out of this problem. It's fair to say we have avoided deflation, which would have been devastating. We cannot print anymore money, bail out any businesses or segments of the private sector, state or local governments, nor go on any public works and job programs. We do not have the money and we owe too much already.
Obama and Democrats need to back off government intervention that is counterproductive; Republicans need to be productive and propose realistic alternative solutions.
If Obama proposes any more projects for infrastructure, job creation, etc. it will never get through Congress. If he chooses to go further centrist for the larger good of the country, by backing off spending programs and regulation, allowing the fear to go out of the private sector, we will see more investment and albeit slowly, real job creation.
For their part the Republicans need to stop focusing on all the wrong things and start proposing some original ideas of their own as alternatives if they don't like what they see. Currently they are whining and sniping, adding fuel to fire, which is just as counterproductive as government interference. Democrats need to recognize that in many ways they have failed to solve our economic problems and their anger should be directed back to themselves. They must stop pandering to their constituent unions, since that has done more harm than good.
This country has taken a huge fall and so have economies all around the globe. Everyone has too much debt, not enough income due to high unemployment, along with a currency crisis from printing too much money and bailouts. These problems will not be resolved quickly, there is pain involved, hard work and sacrifice is required and all Americans need to reconcile themselves to that.
12/2/10
You Can Quote Me On That
We're tinkering with the steering wheel when the engine needs repair...
All of the printing of money with Quantitative Easing, Treasury Bond purchasing, tax schemes and budget cutting, extending unemployment benefits, mortgage work-out plans, social programs, ad nauseam, cannot resolve our overall economic problems unless two underlying factors are realistically addressed:
1. High unemployment due to mismatch of the skills of many job-seekers and what employers need now and will need in the future. This requires people becoming cutting-edge skilled, free-agents and/or self-employed. Eight million jobs aren't coming back because they aren't needed any more, we should be preparing for what is and will be needed. The economy can only be stimulated with significant earned income
2. The foreclosure and indebtedness problem of individuals, organizations and government. How the lenders reconcile what people owe and how much houses are worth and deal with uncollateralized debt and collect it, is still an open question that must be resolved, in order for any across-the-board financial restructuring to occur. If a large segment of the population has no earned income due to unemployment, how do they repay the debt?
All of the printing of money with Quantitative Easing, Treasury Bond purchasing, tax schemes and budget cutting, extending unemployment benefits, mortgage work-out plans, social programs, ad nauseam, cannot resolve our overall economic problems unless two underlying factors are realistically addressed:
1. High unemployment due to mismatch of the skills of many job-seekers and what employers need now and will need in the future. This requires people becoming cutting-edge skilled, free-agents and/or self-employed. Eight million jobs aren't coming back because they aren't needed any more, we should be preparing for what is and will be needed. The economy can only be stimulated with significant earned income
2. The foreclosure and indebtedness problem of individuals, organizations and government. How the lenders reconcile what people owe and how much houses are worth and deal with uncollateralized debt and collect it, is still an open question that must be resolved, in order for any across-the-board financial restructuring to occur. If a large segment of the population has no earned income due to unemployment, how do they repay the debt?
10/15/10
Urban Landscape
Deconstructing 7th Ave again...
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
AKA stimulating road contractors, construction and municipal worker unionists by reconstructing, tearing up and reconstructing a perfectly good Seventh Avenue multiple times. Meanwhile Camelback Road is full of dips and potholes. This same scenario is being played out all over the city.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
AKA stimulating road contractors, construction and municipal worker unionists by reconstructing, tearing up and reconstructing a perfectly good Seventh Avenue multiple times. Meanwhile Camelback Road is full of dips and potholes. This same scenario is being played out all over the city.
9/25/10
IMHO: Obama at CNBC Townhall: A Non-Response
He didn't answer the question...
Obama's response to the woman who challenged and questioned him by stating she "was exhausted" by him and wanted to know "is this my new reality?" was not an answer, much less even a response. It was at best a comeback, that in itself was exhausting and in reality didn't answer the question.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujwE-OYCjbw
Obama's response to the woman who challenged and questioned him by stating she "was exhausted" by him and wanted to know "is this my new reality?" was not an answer, much less even a response. It was at best a comeback, that in itself was exhausting and in reality didn't answer the question.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujwE-OYCjbw
9/14/10
IMHO: Leaders Lacking Imagination
We're being led by Duds and Clods...
You know what really terrorizes me? The enemy within.
They're the people of influence in the Northeast power corridor, especially in New York and the Beltway of DC, that really are not driven by any belief system they are smart enough to understand, even at the basest level. They truly are stupid, unimaginative dull thinkers, far more than we have recognized, and we have placed too much faith and given far too much credit and influence to them in the political class and corporate sector.
I'd rather have a smart enemy than self-interested cunning dullards at the helm. At least you know how to counter with a smarter defense, it's difficult to argue with minds comprised of muddy waters.
You know what really terrorizes me? The enemy within.
They're the people of influence in the Northeast power corridor, especially in New York and the Beltway of DC, that really are not driven by any belief system they are smart enough to understand, even at the basest level. They truly are stupid, unimaginative dull thinkers, far more than we have recognized, and we have placed too much faith and given far too much credit and influence to them in the political class and corporate sector.
I'd rather have a smart enemy than self-interested cunning dullards at the helm. At least you know how to counter with a smarter defense, it's difficult to argue with minds comprised of muddy waters.
9/13/10
Quote of the Day: Timothy Geithner
Thanks, but we tried you're idea and it hasn't worked...
Smart people learn from their mistakes, not stubbornly repeat them.
"If the government does nothing going forward, then the impact of policy in Washington will shift from supporting economic growth to hurting economic growth," Mr. Geithner said during an interview with the Wall Street Journal in the U.S. Treasury office, citing the example of countries who "shift too quickly to premature restraint" after a crisis, including the U.S in the 1930s.
Timothy Geithner
U.S Treasury Secretary
Geithner Warns On Inertia, Urges Action On Economy
Wall Street Journal 09/12/10
Smart people learn from their mistakes, not stubbornly repeat them.
"If the government does nothing going forward, then the impact of policy in Washington will shift from supporting economic growth to hurting economic growth," Mr. Geithner said during an interview with the Wall Street Journal in the U.S. Treasury office, citing the example of countries who "shift too quickly to premature restraint" after a crisis, including the U.S in the 1930s.
Timothy Geithner
U.S Treasury Secretary
Geithner Warns On Inertia, Urges Action On Economy
Wall Street Journal 09/12/10
IMHO: Lame Duck President
It's even worse than we thought...
There is now a whole new meaning to the word "lame" in the expression: "Lame Duck President."
The opinions expressed here are mine and stated in my personal original writing. You may choose to agree or disagree and you have the right to your own opinion. If you choose to express it on this website blog, I am open to civil discourse in the comment section.
There is now a whole new meaning to the word "lame" in the expression: "Lame Duck President."
The opinions expressed here are mine and stated in my personal original writing. You may choose to agree or disagree and you have the right to your own opinion. If you choose to express it on this website blog, I am open to civil discourse in the comment section.
9/10/10
Quote of the Day: Obama
It's like deja vu all over again...
If we're willing to choose hope over fear, to choose the future over the past, to come together once more around the great project of national renewal, then we will restore our economy, rebuild our middle class and reclaim the dream for the next generation.
President Barack Obama
Campaign Speech 09/09/10
Parma, Ohio
If we're willing to choose hope over fear, to choose the future over the past, to come together once more around the great project of national renewal, then we will restore our economy, rebuild our middle class and reclaim the dream for the next generation.
President Barack Obama
Campaign Speech 09/09/10
Parma, Ohio
Let It Crash
First we kill all the bureaucrats...
Stop with the government interference.
For all practical purposes our economy, as we once knew it, has stopped in its tracks. We're way past debating The Broken Window Fallacy economic theory of destruction, since the windows are smashed, the bricks have crumbled, the warehouse is bare, the merchant had a heart attack and customers are paralyzed. Jump starting an old carburetor car with a 20th century battery to resolve a 21st century automobile problem just won't do. Restarting requires imagination, innovation and forward 21st century thinking, when what exists has been destroyed at the clumsy hands of the so-called economic policy experts of the northeastern corridor. They live in an alternate universe of fantasy economic theory-land, far away from real America, where they've never experienced a real job or struggled to build a career or business. Vestiges of the old economy do remain and what is worth saving should be salvaged, the rest left for the junk heap of days gone by. Facing the reality of most people, this is where we are as a country.
Therefore, let it crash of it's own accord, instead of endlessly trying to prop up markets and employment in some morbid morality play. Tip toeing among the ruins with half baked plans to rebuild roads, airports, railroads and bridges, the infrastructure of an old economy, is whiffing at the vapor of leaded gasoline and like an old Plymouth, going nowhere and a real bad buzz. Far better to flint sparking the engines of a new economy. Fuel for high speed communications and information, water purification systems, energy efficient buildings and modes of transportation, health facilities and so on. Encourage scientific and technical innovations and medical research by returning to real education and academic endeavors. That will bring meaningful employment. Enough of this fluff and buff stuff.
We certainly have an infrastructure problem but public works projects of the old order won't fix it. The real infrastructure problem is the bureaucratic regulators of the economy and the infrastructure they've created around their fiefdoms of power. We must push aside anyone who is a stumbling block, hanging onto old facades and get on with it.
What infrastructure, economic and physical, that remains should be maintained in the most cost-effective, efficient and best possible way to function alongside as we rebuild our economy and build new systems. To waste money, time and energy restoring them to what they once were is sheer stupidity. They are now merely ropes and rails to hang onto, utilize and keep functioning until they fade into the background as new ones come into the foreground in the next 5-10-15 years.
This is going to be a long rebuilding process and it will be difficult. Nothing about it or life is fair, the challenge is great, but the other options are not acceptable, economies that are roads to nowhere. We won't burn, we won't die, we will suffer, we will have to work hard. We are after all, Americans, and enough of us have what it takes, even in spite of those who don't, to get to where we need to go. First, we need to own up that we've fallen in a deep hole and it will take gumption, not government programs and intervention, to get ourselves out of it.
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Bob Dylan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsHAW2fBHdQ
Stop with the government interference.
For all practical purposes our economy, as we once knew it, has stopped in its tracks. We're way past debating The Broken Window Fallacy economic theory of destruction, since the windows are smashed, the bricks have crumbled, the warehouse is bare, the merchant had a heart attack and customers are paralyzed. Jump starting an old carburetor car with a 20th century battery to resolve a 21st century automobile problem just won't do. Restarting requires imagination, innovation and forward 21st century thinking, when what exists has been destroyed at the clumsy hands of the so-called economic policy experts of the northeastern corridor. They live in an alternate universe of fantasy economic theory-land, far away from real America, where they've never experienced a real job or struggled to build a career or business. Vestiges of the old economy do remain and what is worth saving should be salvaged, the rest left for the junk heap of days gone by. Facing the reality of most people, this is where we are as a country.
Therefore, let it crash of it's own accord, instead of endlessly trying to prop up markets and employment in some morbid morality play. Tip toeing among the ruins with half baked plans to rebuild roads, airports, railroads and bridges, the infrastructure of an old economy, is whiffing at the vapor of leaded gasoline and like an old Plymouth, going nowhere and a real bad buzz. Far better to flint sparking the engines of a new economy. Fuel for high speed communications and information, water purification systems, energy efficient buildings and modes of transportation, health facilities and so on. Encourage scientific and technical innovations and medical research by returning to real education and academic endeavors. That will bring meaningful employment. Enough of this fluff and buff stuff.
We certainly have an infrastructure problem but public works projects of the old order won't fix it. The real infrastructure problem is the bureaucratic regulators of the economy and the infrastructure they've created around their fiefdoms of power. We must push aside anyone who is a stumbling block, hanging onto old facades and get on with it.
What infrastructure, economic and physical, that remains should be maintained in the most cost-effective, efficient and best possible way to function alongside as we rebuild our economy and build new systems. To waste money, time and energy restoring them to what they once were is sheer stupidity. They are now merely ropes and rails to hang onto, utilize and keep functioning until they fade into the background as new ones come into the foreground in the next 5-10-15 years.
This is going to be a long rebuilding process and it will be difficult. Nothing about it or life is fair, the challenge is great, but the other options are not acceptable, economies that are roads to nowhere. We won't burn, we won't die, we will suffer, we will have to work hard. We are after all, Americans, and enough of us have what it takes, even in spite of those who don't, to get to where we need to go. First, we need to own up that we've fallen in a deep hole and it will take gumption, not government programs and intervention, to get ourselves out of it.
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Bob Dylan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsHAW2fBHdQ
9/7/10
IMHO: Barack Hussein Obama
Oh yeah, I said it...
On Obama:
I never thought I'd see anyone of such a low caliber ascend to such a high office.
The opinions expressed here are mine and stated in my personal original writing. You may choose to agree or disagree and you have the right to your own opinion. If you choose to express it on this website blog, I am open to civil discourse in the comment section.
On Obama:
I never thought I'd see anyone of such a low caliber ascend to such a high office.
The opinions expressed here are mine and stated in my personal original writing. You may choose to agree or disagree and you have the right to your own opinion. If you choose to express it on this website blog, I am open to civil discourse in the comment section.
9/2/10
Quote of the Day: Michael Boskin
If we can keep it...
The Obama administration's "summer of recovery" has morphed into a summer of economic discontent and anxiety over a weakening economy.
[Not] surprisingly, the left is frantically calling for a second "stimulus" and demanding tax hikes for the "rich" - aka our most productive citizens and small businesses. The rehashed ideas include such nonsense as massive infrastructure financed by a national infrastructure bank, an old Carter idea; yet more aid to the states; and even that worst of ideas, "general revenue sharing," which would force citizens to pay future federal taxes to fund the debt used just to send revenue back to the states.
These ideas would do a lot more harm than good. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, we have the best economic system among the advanced economies, "if we can keep it." That will require fundamental policy changes, not doubling down on the failed big government experiment of recent years.
Michael Boskin
"Summer of Economic Discontent"
WSJ 09/01/10
The Obama administration's "summer of recovery" has morphed into a summer of economic discontent and anxiety over a weakening economy.
[Not] surprisingly, the left is frantically calling for a second "stimulus" and demanding tax hikes for the "rich" - aka our most productive citizens and small businesses. The rehashed ideas include such nonsense as massive infrastructure financed by a national infrastructure bank, an old Carter idea; yet more aid to the states; and even that worst of ideas, "general revenue sharing," which would force citizens to pay future federal taxes to fund the debt used just to send revenue back to the states.
These ideas would do a lot more harm than good. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, we have the best economic system among the advanced economies, "if we can keep it." That will require fundamental policy changes, not doubling down on the failed big government experiment of recent years.
Michael Boskin
"Summer of Economic Discontent"
WSJ 09/01/10
8/26/10
Barack Obama Is The Worst President In American History
What will a little scandalous gossip, name recognition and high dollar, quippy commercial get you?
In Arizona's Congressional District District 3, a Primary win...
Arizona's most recent carpetbagger wannabe politician (in the mold of McCain), Ben Quayle, himself was surprised at his primary win in a crowded and contentious race. He'd been publicly beaten up so much that everyone, including himself, thought he was toast. Maybe it was this commercial that pushed him over the edge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4jiqYcUoOk
In Arizona's Congressional District District 3, a Primary win...
Arizona's most recent carpetbagger wannabe politician (in the mold of McCain), Ben Quayle, himself was surprised at his primary win in a crowded and contentious race. He'd been publicly beaten up so much that everyone, including himself, thought he was toast. Maybe it was this commercial that pushed him over the edge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4jiqYcUoOk
8/12/10
Quote of the Day: Mish
On the lost momentum of the economy...
The key question, as always is "What Now?"
Geithner, Obama, Krugman all want more stimulus to keep the recovery going. However, as [Caroline] Baum explains, you can't keep something going, that was never going in the first place.
Michael "Mish" Shedlock
"Economist Cut Growth Estimates"
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis
The key question, as always is "What Now?"
Geithner, Obama, Krugman all want more stimulus to keep the recovery going. However, as [Caroline] Baum explains, you can't keep something going, that was never going in the first place.
Michael "Mish" Shedlock
"Economist Cut Growth Estimates"
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis
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