- philipat Says:
April 28th, 2011 at 9:05 pm - More completely:
- “A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
- From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage;From courage to liberty;From liberty to abundance;From abundance to selfishness;From selfishness to complacency;From complacency to apathy;From apathy to dependence;From dependence back into bondage.”
- Hmm, wonder where we are in the cycle?
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Democracy
Thursday, April 28, 2011
TEA PARTY
On Easter Sunday the Obama family attended a service at Shiloh Baptist church led by yet another radical preacher, Rev. Wallace Smith.
The Rev. Smith had this to say about what his Grandson would say if he could talk "I am here. ... They tried to write me off as three-fifths of a person in the Constitution, but I am here right now. ... I am not going to let anybody stop me from being what God wants me to be." The famous line from Obama’s mentor, Jeremiah Wright, “No, No, No not God bless America God d—n America,” would fit in nicely after that little bit.
My mom always told me “you can tell a lot about a man by the company he keeps,” and Obama has a consistent pattern of surrounding himself with radical American haters. Whether it is his personal life with the Reverends Wright and Smith and the terrorists, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorn, or his appointments Eric Holder, Van Jones, and the like, Obama has made it clear that he is comfortable in the company of radicals. Why would somebody so blessed by America associate himself with those who constantly seek to tear down America?
Our team here at TheTeaParty.net is unabashedly pro-American. We love our flag, our freedoms, and the Constitution. We hold our hands over our hearts during the Star Spangled Banner, and we will never apologize for American exceptionalism!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Fight the Corrupt Public Employee Unions
Western Representation PAC is committed to fighting government corruption in every form. Unfortunately, the most pervasive form of corruption involves public employee unions. Public employee unions negotiate with politicians for bloated contracts. Then they use the taxpayer money they receive in those negotiations to influence the elections of the very politicians who can give them even more money! In any other circumstance, this would be called extortion.
With federal, state, and municipal governments suffering record-level deficits, we can no longer afford to stand by and accept the status quo. With your support, we will stand with our leaders who make the tough decisions necessary to rein in spending and restore fiscal sanity. Please check out our blog, get involved, or even make a donation to help us fight the corrupt public employee unions
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Welfare Reform Tackles Debt Crisis and Unemployment
Welfare Reform Tackles Debt Crisis and Unemployment
by Emily Miller
04/20/2011
House Republicans have begun reforming welfare programs as part of their efforts to cut government spending to tackle the budget deficit and reduce unemployment. The House passed the Republican budget for Fiscal Year 2012 on Friday. It reduces government spending on the welfare programs and increases employment through mandatory work requirements.
Also, Rep. Jim Jordan (R.-Ohio) introduced the Welfare Reform Act of 2011, which is an overall restructuring of the entitlement program. Jordan’s bill would cut redundancy of the 77 federal welfare programs, cap overall spending on the programs, and mandate work requirements.
“This bill begins to treat all American families with the respect they deserve. We’re giving the taxpayers, who are supporting the system, the facts of where your dollars are actually going, and showing this is why it needs change. And for the families stuck in the system, we’re going to give them tough-love incentives they need for a better life,” Jordan said in an interview with HUMAN EVENTS.
The key provisions of the Welfare Reform Act are the following: Formulate the total amount that taxpayers are spending on all means-tested welfare at all government levels, require that the President’s annual budget include the total cost for federal, state, and local welfare spending for the next decade, require able-bodied adult beneficiaries of food stamps to work or prepare for a job, and after unemployment falls to 6.5%, then cap welfare spending at 2007 levels as adjusted for inflation.
Jordan said that welfare reform is needed now because of the debt crisis. The current national debt is $14.1 trillion, and is projected to hit the statutory debt ceiling in the next month. And this year’s projected budget deficit is $1.6 trillion.
“Reason one, welfare reform is going to help with the spending problem eventually. This is mandatory spending. And there are 77 different means-tested social welfare programs out there,” said Jordan. “When you factor in state tax dollars and federal tax dollars, it’s comparable to what is spent at the federal level for national defense.”
According to the House Republican Study Committee, which Jordan heads, the state and federal government are spending twice as much on welfare programs since reforms were instituted in 1996. The committee predicts that welfare spending will exceed $10 trillion over the next decade.
“We have 77 different programs, and you just ask the obvious question, ‘Do you think there is some redundancy there?’ There are probably some programs that we can get rid of, and combine resources,” said Jordan. “And actually if you combine resources, and you can combine programs, you can actually free up some dollars. Some of the savings can actually go to help the needy families out there.”
Also, Jordan said that with the slow economy and high rate of unemployment (8.8%), instituting work requirements is necessary to help get people back on the job.
“We want to do things that actually help families, not trap families,” Jordan told HUMAN EVENTS. “When they actively have to do the job search, or community work, or some kind of employment that supplements what they’re getting from the taxpayer, those are all things that help them with the kind of employment that they can get into long-term, and get away from any welfare program.”
In 1996, the Republican Congress worked with President Clinton to reform welfare by creating the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The TANF program required recipients to work or prepare to work. Jordan said that the 1996 reforms were successful in getting people back to work, but other social welfare programs have since expanded in scope and costs, while the culture has reverted back to old standards due to liberal policies under President Obama and a Democrat-controlled Congress.
“The last several years under Democrats, we’ve begun to move back to the old model of thinking of welfare as, the more people you sign up, the more successful the program is, versus what it should be,” said Jordan. “A successful social welfare program is one that would have fewer and fewer people, more and more people employed in the private sector, and more and more people who aren’t stuck in the old system.”
Jordan also pointed to Obama’s stimulus bill for contributing to the social welfare problems by incentivizing states to sign up more people onto welfare rolls in order to get more federal funds. “The incentive I think has moved in the wrong direction,” said Jordan. Welfare is up 54% on Obams’s Watch.
Jordan’s bill has 18 co-sponsors, including the original Republican co-sponsors, Representatives Tim Scott (S.C.), Scott Garrett (N.J.), Dan Burton (Ind.), Louie Gohmert (Tex.), and Jason Chaffetz (Utah). As the 77 welfare programs are spread out among so many federal departments and agencies, the bill was referred to five committees of jurisdiction: Ways and Means, Budget, Rules, Agriculture, and Energy and Commerce.
Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R.-Wis.) included two major provisions from the Welfare Reform Act in the House GOP budget for FY12. The Republican budget includes the new work requirement for food stamp recipients and puts a spending cap on all welfare programs at 2007 levels after unemployment falls below 6.5%.
The Republicans’ “Path to Prosperity” budget, which tackles entitlement reform of mandatory spending, passed the House last week along party lines, but is not expected to get a vote in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Jordan is pushing for a stand-alone vote in the House this year on the Welfare Reform Act.
“Work requirements, having limits, having an overall cap, we think all these things are going to be helpful as we move forward,” Jordan told HUMAN EVENTS. “And of course, there’s the other big issue that we talked about, and that is, we’re broke. We’ve got to change. And if we don’t begin to dramatically change things, the path we’re on fiscally is just not sustainable.”
Also, Rep. Jim Jordan (R.-Ohio) introduced the Welfare Reform Act of 2011, which is an overall restructuring of the entitlement program. Jordan’s bill would cut redundancy of the 77 federal welfare programs, cap overall spending on the programs, and mandate work requirements.
“This bill begins to treat all American families with the respect they deserve. We’re giving the taxpayers, who are supporting the system, the facts of where your dollars are actually going, and showing this is why it needs change. And for the families stuck in the system, we’re going to give them tough-love incentives they need for a better life,” Jordan said in an interview with HUMAN EVENTS.
The key provisions of the Welfare Reform Act are the following: Formulate the total amount that taxpayers are spending on all means-tested welfare at all government levels, require that the President’s annual budget include the total cost for federal, state, and local welfare spending for the next decade, require able-bodied adult beneficiaries of food stamps to work or prepare for a job, and after unemployment falls to 6.5%, then cap welfare spending at 2007 levels as adjusted for inflation.
Jordan said that welfare reform is needed now because of the debt crisis. The current national debt is $14.1 trillion, and is projected to hit the statutory debt ceiling in the next month. And this year’s projected budget deficit is $1.6 trillion.
“Reason one, welfare reform is going to help with the spending problem eventually. This is mandatory spending. And there are 77 different means-tested social welfare programs out there,” said Jordan. “When you factor in state tax dollars and federal tax dollars, it’s comparable to what is spent at the federal level for national defense.”
According to the House Republican Study Committee, which Jordan heads, the state and federal government are spending twice as much on welfare programs since reforms were instituted in 1996. The committee predicts that welfare spending will exceed $10 trillion over the next decade.
“We have 77 different programs, and you just ask the obvious question, ‘Do you think there is some redundancy there?’ There are probably some programs that we can get rid of, and combine resources,” said Jordan. “And actually if you combine resources, and you can combine programs, you can actually free up some dollars. Some of the savings can actually go to help the needy families out there.”
Also, Jordan said that with the slow economy and high rate of unemployment (8.8%), instituting work requirements is necessary to help get people back on the job.
“We want to do things that actually help families, not trap families,” Jordan told HUMAN EVENTS. “When they actively have to do the job search, or community work, or some kind of employment that supplements what they’re getting from the taxpayer, those are all things that help them with the kind of employment that they can get into long-term, and get away from any welfare program.”
In 1996, the Republican Congress worked with President Clinton to reform welfare by creating the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The TANF program required recipients to work or prepare to work. Jordan said that the 1996 reforms were successful in getting people back to work, but other social welfare programs have since expanded in scope and costs, while the culture has reverted back to old standards due to liberal policies under President Obama and a Democrat-controlled Congress.
“The last several years under Democrats, we’ve begun to move back to the old model of thinking of welfare as, the more people you sign up, the more successful the program is, versus what it should be,” said Jordan. “A successful social welfare program is one that would have fewer and fewer people, more and more people employed in the private sector, and more and more people who aren’t stuck in the old system.”
Jordan also pointed to Obama’s stimulus bill for contributing to the social welfare problems by incentivizing states to sign up more people onto welfare rolls in order to get more federal funds. “The incentive I think has moved in the wrong direction,” said Jordan. Welfare is up 54% on Obams’s Watch.
Jordan’s bill has 18 co-sponsors, including the original Republican co-sponsors, Representatives Tim Scott (S.C.), Scott Garrett (N.J.), Dan Burton (Ind.), Louie Gohmert (Tex.), and Jason Chaffetz (Utah). As the 77 welfare programs are spread out among so many federal departments and agencies, the bill was referred to five committees of jurisdiction: Ways and Means, Budget, Rules, Agriculture, and Energy and Commerce.
Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R.-Wis.) included two major provisions from the Welfare Reform Act in the House GOP budget for FY12. The Republican budget includes the new work requirement for food stamp recipients and puts a spending cap on all welfare programs at 2007 levels after unemployment falls below 6.5%.
The Republicans’ “Path to Prosperity” budget, which tackles entitlement reform of mandatory spending, passed the House last week along party lines, but is not expected to get a vote in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Jordan is pushing for a stand-alone vote in the House this year on the Welfare Reform Act.
“Work requirements, having limits, having an overall cap, we think all these things are going to be helpful as we move forward,” Jordan told HUMAN EVENTS. “And of course, there’s the other big issue that we talked about, and that is, we’re broke. We’ve got to change. And if we don’t begin to dramatically change things, the path we’re on fiscally is just not sustainable.”
Monday, April 18, 2011
A lesson in todays values
| Dear George, I also warned on several occasions that ... “The U.S. dollar was on the edge of the abyss.” And that ... “The only way to truly understand the U.S. economy — what’s happening, why, and where it’s headed — is to look at asset prices in terms of gold, the world’s only real form of money.” In fact, looking at asset values, even the country’s GDP, not just in nominal terms, but against gold — is the only way to “get real” these days. It is absolutely CRITICAL that you understand that last point, because I believe that concept is the most crucial information you need to know to financially survive and prosper — now and in the years ahead. And because the dollar is now so close to careening of a cliff, if you don’t understand how its value affects you, you’re almost certain to see your wealth get vaporized. But the simple fact of the matter is this: Ever since U.S. politicians severed the link between the dollar and gold, the only truly accurate way to analyze any asset price is to consider it in terms of gold. Before President Nixon dissolved the gold standard in 1971, anything and everything you did in your business, in investing, even in your personal finances — could be converted into or exchanged for physical gold by simply going to your bank and redeeming your dollars for gold. Don’t get me wrong. The gold standard had to go for a variety of reasons. For one thing, there was not enough gold in the world back then to support the growth of our economy, yet alone any other. There still isn’t. For another, the gold standard put central banks and politicians on the wrong path. Instead of taking appropriate measures to boost their economies when growth was slow or sinking, central banks and politicians engaged in deliberate warfare to protect their nations’ gold, no matter what the cost to the economy or to human life and suffering. So I understand why we do not have a gold standard today, and further, why putting the world back on a gold standard is not possible. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have your own gold standard so to speak — as I have often implored you to do, by owning gold in your portfolio! You must also, as I noted above, absolutely and unequivocally understand that in today’s world, the value of everything is relative! Consider the Dow Jones Industrials, again, in terms of GOLD — TRUE MONEY, or what I like to call REAL WEALTH. For instance, suppose you had $10,000 of paper dollars (or digital dollars in your brokerage account) to invest in the DJI at the beginning of 2001 ... That $8,341.64 meanwhile, would have bought you even less gold, 21.8 ounces, or 43.4% LESS gold. Put another way, in real terms, the DJI didn’t lose just 16.78%. It lost 43.4%! Yes, it is true that the Dow had fallen and gold had risen. But that’s my point. The paper dollars that you had invested in the Dow lost more than you realized. Let’s say that then, despite the loss, you stayed invested in the Dow ... In other words, against gold, REAL MONEY, your investment in the Dow lost an amazing 81.61% of its purchasing power, falling from 38.5 ounces of gold to only 7.08 ounces! Pretty amazing, eh? So where does the Dow stand now, in terms of gold? Today’s Dow buys the equivalent of roughly 8.48 ounces of gold. That means it has snapped back from its low of 7.08 ounces in March 2009, by roughly 19.6%. But think it through and you’ll notice that ... Answer: Because the price of gold has not only gone up, but it’s gone up faster than the Dow has. So, the “real gain” in the Dow since March 2009 is not 92.3%, but only 19.6%. You bet it is. Because you see, the value of paper money continues to lose purchasing power. Period. That’s also why — almost everywhere you turn today — everything costs you more money. Your dollars are deflating, while other asset prices are inflating. Deflation and inflation are two sides of the same coin. Your money is deflating — but just about everything that you use that money for, is, on the other hand, inflating. I don’t expect that to change. In fact, if you’ve read my April issue of Real Wealth Report that published this past Friday, you know exactly what I mean. In the months and years ahead, the purchasing power of your paper money is bound to go down, down and down. It’s the way Washington wants it. Washington wants to inflate away its debt problems by raising asset prices, artificially, via a dollar devaluation. I call it a “default on the sly” — because it’s terribly sneaky. It also robs you of your life savings and wealth ... Unless you understand it and take appropriate measures to protect yourself — with your own gold standard. Best wishes, Larry P.S. Assessing real estate values in terms of gold is another very interesting analysis. At the peak of the housing market in March 2007, the median U.S. home price was $262,600, equivalent to 346.4 ounces of gold. Today’s median home price is $156,100, or 109.2 ounces of gold. So in terms of nominal values, the U.S. median home price has shed 40.6%. But in terms of real money, gold, the median home price in the U.S. has lost a whopping 68.47% since 2007. At some point, housing prices will rebound and start to reflate. Just like the stock market is starting to do. But it won’t perform anywhere near as well as many other assets, especially tangible natural resources that the world depends upon and needs to consume on a daily basis. For more in-depth analysis of how today’s world really works, including all of my recommendations, I encourage you to join Real Wealth Report. Start with the April issue that just published. It’s an eye-opener. At $99 for one year, a membership costs less than one-fourteenth of an ounce of gold, a bargain in today’s money. Click here now to join. |
Friday, April 15, 2011
Cairo Messenger - Dear Editor
Dear Editor, you have finally done it: came out of the Obama closet. I knew you would. But, like all die-hard Democrat hacks, you just stuck your toe out, with typically no facts of real domestic interest. Since you are now an economist, I want to add a few facts that your readers can identify with. Medicare and social security is up 14% and 16% respectively on Obama's watch. Domestic spending is up 41%, Welfare is up 54%. I wonder how Grady County likes Obama now. He is the worst president in history. Even worse than Woodrow Wilson, FDR, and Jimmy.
Wilson and Obama are the only anti-Americans in our history. If I were you I would go back in the closet, so as to protect my image. There is nothing about Obama that is defensible.
George Bivins
dare you to print
Monday, April 11, 2011
Financial train wreck
U.S. Finances Are an Even Bigger Mess
Than is Generally Understood
Than is Generally Understood
Even before Obama took office, unfunded federal liabilities had blown past $500,000 per U.S. family of four. In fact, federal finances are in such shambles that David Walker, Comptroller of the Currency, resigned in disgust at the tail-end of the Bush administration.
Worse is what's happened since Walker resigned. As Rep. Ron Paul recently wrote, the trillions of dollars created to bail out banks have added the equivalent of a whole new federal establishment to Uncle Sam's bloated obligations.
Obama's new spending obligations stagger the imagination, amounting to...
- More spending than the socialistic New Deal...
- More spending than the Korean War...
- More spending than the 1980s savings and loan bailout...
- More spending than the entire Iraq War...
COMBINED!
And that was even before the Congressional Budget Office discovered that minor little $75 billion miscalculation I mentioned earlier in the Obama team's math.
Now another CBO report shows that rising unemployment and falling tax revenue will likely force the Social Security "Trust Fund" into the red as soon as this year – a full decade before the Comptroller General's office had previously warned it would happen.
Smart Money Stampede
The Smart Money Stampede Out of the
Dollar Has Already Begun
Dollar Has Already Begun
The Dow may once again fall to a
1:1 ratio with the gold price.
If you've already heard a little voice in your head warning you that Wall Street paper assets are highly manipulated certificates of financial folly, you got this letter just in time. While rampant money creation may force the DOW upward in nominal terms, the DOW index itself has been collapsing against the value of hard assets for some time.
For example, it currently takes barely 8 ounces of gold to buy a share of the DOW industrials. Yet as recently as 1999, it took 44.8 ounces of gold to buy a DOW share – that's a whopping 80% crash in the real value of the DOW.
The money magicians in Washington can fool millions of investors in the short-term, true. But they can't fool those who measure their wealth in terms of precious metals, which retain their value over time. Gold is the mortal enemy of big government borrow-and-spenders. When the gold price shoots up, it signals to the world that the currency upon which government Ponzi finances operate is losing value.
For five years now, my Independent Living newsletter has discreetly advised my subscribers to accumulate physical precious metals. The investor flight to precious metals I predicted would occur (back when gold was quietly trading in the $400s) has, since the onset of the financial crash of 2008, been global in scope and has resulted in physical gold and silver flying off the shelves everywhere.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Obama Will Lose in 2012
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Obama Will Lose in 2012
Predicting that Obama will be a one-term president is easy: Americans vote their pocketbooks.
There is nothing remotely ideological or personal in my prediction that President Obama will lose the 2012 election. Both parties are equally out of touch with reality in my view, and both suppport the same things: a global Empire, an increasingly intrusive Savior State, a shadow banking system which is no longer under the control of State institutions (rather, the banks control the institutions), and various crony-capitalist cartels which fund political campaigns and partner with the Central State's bloated, unaccountable fiefdoms. The only visible difference between the two parties is slight variations in the relative growth rates of the most-favored cartels and fiefdoms.
President Obama seems like a nice guy. Many people said the same thing about George W. Bush. While a likeable personality is a plus in a media-obsessed society, American elections boil down to this: Americans vote their pocketbook, and their pocketbooks will be a lot lighter by November 2012.
President Obama has several key flaws which have doomed his presidency.
1. His leadership style is one of consensus and compromise. This works OK in a caretaker setting in which there are no crises and no demands for bold changes of course. Unfortunately, this era is defined by structural crises, and a leadership based on gaining consensus and compromise is basically a rudderless one in this environment.
2. He does not understand economics or finance, nor is he secure about making decisions on financial topics. As a result he deferred to the "experts," who just happened to be Wall Street cronies and insiders who easily swayed the President with their hobgoblin stories of financial meltdown and ruin if we didn't "save the banking sector from losses."
3. His grasp of history is poor. The same can be said of most presidents, but Obama failed to grasp the historic opportunity to set a new sustainable course for the nation's banking and financial sectors, and thus for its economy. He opted instead to save and protect the corrupt and embezzlement-based banking sector from losses, and he continues to do so with "extend and pretend" policies.
In a similar fashion, he has allowed the National Security State and the Global Empire to expand without any limitations.
4. He has no visible core beliefs beyond a vague sense that the Federal government and its extension, the American Empire, are forces for good. His policies can be boiled down to: support and expand the Savior State and its many fiefdoms, support and expand the Global Empire and National Security State, and allow the banking system and its Power Elites to set the agenda and control the oversight agencies and institutions.
His signature accomplishment, the "Obama-care reform" of the nation's sickcare system, simply extends the power of existing cartels and fiefdoms and delivers an ever-larger slice of the national income to their coffers. In its basic parameters, the "reform" could easily have been supported and passed by socially liberal Republican presidents such as Richard Nixon. There is nothing remotely progressive or radical about "pooling" insurance cartels and wet-paper-bag bureaucratic tests of "the most effective treatments."
These are simply technocratic layers added to a bloated, corrupt, venal and destructive system that already costs twice as much as those of our advanced-economy competitors.
In addition to these flaws, he has made fatal policy errors which doom the economy to implosion by November 2012. All of his administration's policies can be distilled down to these three points:
1. The banking sector is the most important foundation of the economy. The Central State and its proxy, the Federal Reserve, pumped some $14 trillion (by some measures, $23 trillion) in cash, credit, guarantees and backstops into the banking sector and its cloaked twin, the Shadow banking System.
Meanwhile, little to nothing was done for the cash-strapped consumer or citizenry. Why?
2. The "problem" is lack of credit and "confidence." If the State and Fed flood the banking system with credit and "restore confidence" by goosing the stock market, then people will start borrowing and spending again, and everything will be "fixed."
This presumes demand is strong, and all that's needed is credit for people to satisfy their thirst for more goods and services.
Meanwhile, back in reality, people realized they didn't need a third car, fourth TV, 17th "cute blouse," 23rd pair of shoes, etc., and now that their home is worth less than their mortgage (or their remaining equity is minimal), they can't really afford the luxury travel, boats, etc. they enjoyed when they thought their house would keep rising in value forever and tapping that rising equity was painless.
Demand is slack because everyone who could afford more crap already owns more crap than they need or even want. The percentage of the populace who would like more stuff cannot afford more stuff. Their household incomes and wages are declining, and their expenses for essentials are rising.
The Fed's largesse to banks (free money in unlimited quantities) doesn't reach them; all it does is boost assets held by the top 10%.
3. Boosting the assets of this top 10% (or 20% if you include those who have equity of some sort beyond the $2,500 in their IRA) will cause a "wealth effect" that will "trickle down" to the lower 80% as the top 20% buy more Coach handbags, enjoy fine dining at tony upscale restaurants, etc.
Unfortunately, this may help boost Coach's profit margins, but the vast majority of the "trickle-down" consists of low-paying retail clerks and busboys.
In other words, the "wealth effect" is bogus, a charade deployed to defend the pillaging of the economy via financialization and Fed intervention.
4. Pushing the dollar lower in a "beggar thy neighbor" currency war is the best way to boost the U.S. economy. Apparently no one in the President's team looked at financial history to identify the nations which grew rich and powerful by debasing their currency.
In a perverse blowback to this misguided policy, corporate profits earned overseas were certainly goosed, but so were import prices, one of the reasons (along with the Fed's easy-money quantitative easing) for rising costs to consumers.
If you set out to design a policy that impoverished 80% of the citizenry and channeled a larger share of the national income to the top 10%, then this is precisely the set of policies you would pursue.
Nothing important has been fixed; nothing important has even been addressed. The institutions of governance are captured and corraled by the monied Elites to the point that the government has lost control of its own institutions, which now rule as quasi-independent fiefdoms. The citizenry, bought off on the cheap by stale Bread (rapacious student loans, food stamps which offer the veneer of normalcy, extended unemployment benefits so no angry mobs form, etc.) and dazed and distracted by the Media Circus, keep quiet in their complicity, while the Power Elites revel in the freedoms offered by a caretaker Administration.
If President Obama had fought for fundamental structural reforms and lost, he would still have support. Yes, Congress holds the pursestrings, but let's not forget the President appoints his own staff and advisors, and wields great power via Executive Orders. He could have submitted a 5-page Financial Reform Bill and promised to veto anything else. If the Power Elites watered it down, then he could have vetoed it and gone directly to the public. But he did none of these things.
Courtesy of correspondent George B., here is a chart of public and private debt over the past decade, from the St. Louis Federal Reserve. Notice that all the Administration and Congress have done is boost Federal debt to replace the "missing" private debt (missing because incomes are declining, housing equity has crashed and the consumer overborrowed for a decade).
This is mindless Keynesian policy on auto-pilot. As I have reported before, the Federal Government is borrowing and spending some $6 trillion in a mere four years, almost doubling the nation's debt, and all that's been accomplished is the Power Elites' share of the national income has risen and GDP has flatlined.
The structural dislocations and imbalances remain firmly in place; a financial sector dependent on fraud has been "saved," and an economy sick with an addiction to rampant financialization has been given plenty of smack to keep it from going through a desperately needed withdrawal.
The Keynesians have no answer as to when the economy will "recover" without the Central State borrowing 11% of GDP every year to prop up its various cartels and fiefdoms. They have no answer because they have no understanding of the imbalances, the fraud, the financialization or of the feudal partnership of the State and crony-capitalist cartels.
Obama has lost his "progressive" base, because he's done nothing remotely progressive. He has lost the middle because his Administration has overseen their gradual impoverishment at the hands of Financial Power Elites. He has offered them phony facsimiles of reform slicked down with the tiresome "soaring rhetoric" of a con artist so besotted with his own story that he actually believes the BS himself.
He can count on the public-union vote and a few of the State fiefdoms he's enriched and enlarged at the expense of the common good, but as the addict (the economy) goes downhill, slowly destroyed by the ever-larger doses of smack administered by the Fed and the Central State, then the consent of the governed will be irrevocably lost--not just by President Obama, but by the entire Status Quo.
The President is now a candidate hoping to scoop up a cool $1 billion to blow on another long, greasy media blitz, but I would be surprised if he rakes in much from the commoners and serfs straining to keep the wheels of their household finances turning. He will of course collect big bucks from various crony-cartels and contractors who have benefited from his bogus "reforms" and unstinting support of the banking sector, but his true-believer supporters will be thinned down to a few Elites, die-hard Democratic hacks and the delusional by mid-2012.
His opponents may fare little better unless they are willing to tackle the dominance of crony cartels, government fiefdoms and Financial Power Elites whose fat fingers remain firmly on the throat of the fast-expiring nation.
There is nothing remotely ideological or personal in my prediction that President Obama will lose the 2012 election. Both parties are equally out of touch with reality in my view, and both suppport the same things: a global Empire, an increasingly intrusive Savior State, a shadow banking system which is no longer under the control of State institutions (rather, the banks control the institutions), and various crony-capitalist cartels which fund political campaigns and partner with the Central State's bloated, unaccountable fiefdoms. The only visible difference between the two parties is slight variations in the relative growth rates of the most-favored cartels and fiefdoms.
President Obama seems like a nice guy. Many people said the same thing about George W. Bush. While a likeable personality is a plus in a media-obsessed society, American elections boil down to this: Americans vote their pocketbook, and their pocketbooks will be a lot lighter by November 2012.
President Obama has several key flaws which have doomed his presidency.
1. His leadership style is one of consensus and compromise. This works OK in a caretaker setting in which there are no crises and no demands for bold changes of course. Unfortunately, this era is defined by structural crises, and a leadership based on gaining consensus and compromise is basically a rudderless one in this environment.
2. He does not understand economics or finance, nor is he secure about making decisions on financial topics. As a result he deferred to the "experts," who just happened to be Wall Street cronies and insiders who easily swayed the President with their hobgoblin stories of financial meltdown and ruin if we didn't "save the banking sector from losses."
3. His grasp of history is poor. The same can be said of most presidents, but Obama failed to grasp the historic opportunity to set a new sustainable course for the nation's banking and financial sectors, and thus for its economy. He opted instead to save and protect the corrupt and embezzlement-based banking sector from losses, and he continues to do so with "extend and pretend" policies.
In a similar fashion, he has allowed the National Security State and the Global Empire to expand without any limitations.
4. He has no visible core beliefs beyond a vague sense that the Federal government and its extension, the American Empire, are forces for good. His policies can be boiled down to: support and expand the Savior State and its many fiefdoms, support and expand the Global Empire and National Security State, and allow the banking system and its Power Elites to set the agenda and control the oversight agencies and institutions.
His signature accomplishment, the "Obama-care reform" of the nation's sickcare system, simply extends the power of existing cartels and fiefdoms and delivers an ever-larger slice of the national income to their coffers. In its basic parameters, the "reform" could easily have been supported and passed by socially liberal Republican presidents such as Richard Nixon. There is nothing remotely progressive or radical about "pooling" insurance cartels and wet-paper-bag bureaucratic tests of "the most effective treatments."
These are simply technocratic layers added to a bloated, corrupt, venal and destructive system that already costs twice as much as those of our advanced-economy competitors.
In addition to these flaws, he has made fatal policy errors which doom the economy to implosion by November 2012. All of his administration's policies can be distilled down to these three points:
1. The banking sector is the most important foundation of the economy. The Central State and its proxy, the Federal Reserve, pumped some $14 trillion (by some measures, $23 trillion) in cash, credit, guarantees and backstops into the banking sector and its cloaked twin, the Shadow banking System.
Meanwhile, little to nothing was done for the cash-strapped consumer or citizenry. Why?
2. The "problem" is lack of credit and "confidence." If the State and Fed flood the banking system with credit and "restore confidence" by goosing the stock market, then people will start borrowing and spending again, and everything will be "fixed."
This presumes demand is strong, and all that's needed is credit for people to satisfy their thirst for more goods and services.
Meanwhile, back in reality, people realized they didn't need a third car, fourth TV, 17th "cute blouse," 23rd pair of shoes, etc., and now that their home is worth less than their mortgage (or their remaining equity is minimal), they can't really afford the luxury travel, boats, etc. they enjoyed when they thought their house would keep rising in value forever and tapping that rising equity was painless.
Demand is slack because everyone who could afford more crap already owns more crap than they need or even want. The percentage of the populace who would like more stuff cannot afford more stuff. Their household incomes and wages are declining, and their expenses for essentials are rising.
The Fed's largesse to banks (free money in unlimited quantities) doesn't reach them; all it does is boost assets held by the top 10%.
3. Boosting the assets of this top 10% (or 20% if you include those who have equity of some sort beyond the $2,500 in their IRA) will cause a "wealth effect" that will "trickle down" to the lower 80% as the top 20% buy more Coach handbags, enjoy fine dining at tony upscale restaurants, etc.
Unfortunately, this may help boost Coach's profit margins, but the vast majority of the "trickle-down" consists of low-paying retail clerks and busboys.
In other words, the "wealth effect" is bogus, a charade deployed to defend the pillaging of the economy via financialization and Fed intervention.
4. Pushing the dollar lower in a "beggar thy neighbor" currency war is the best way to boost the U.S. economy. Apparently no one in the President's team looked at financial history to identify the nations which grew rich and powerful by debasing their currency.
In a perverse blowback to this misguided policy, corporate profits earned overseas were certainly goosed, but so were import prices, one of the reasons (along with the Fed's easy-money quantitative easing) for rising costs to consumers.
If you set out to design a policy that impoverished 80% of the citizenry and channeled a larger share of the national income to the top 10%, then this is precisely the set of policies you would pursue.
Nothing important has been fixed; nothing important has even been addressed. The institutions of governance are captured and corraled by the monied Elites to the point that the government has lost control of its own institutions, which now rule as quasi-independent fiefdoms. The citizenry, bought off on the cheap by stale Bread (rapacious student loans, food stamps which offer the veneer of normalcy, extended unemployment benefits so no angry mobs form, etc.) and dazed and distracted by the Media Circus, keep quiet in their complicity, while the Power Elites revel in the freedoms offered by a caretaker Administration.
If President Obama had fought for fundamental structural reforms and lost, he would still have support. Yes, Congress holds the pursestrings, but let's not forget the President appoints his own staff and advisors, and wields great power via Executive Orders. He could have submitted a 5-page Financial Reform Bill and promised to veto anything else. If the Power Elites watered it down, then he could have vetoed it and gone directly to the public. But he did none of these things.
Courtesy of correspondent George B., here is a chart of public and private debt over the past decade, from the St. Louis Federal Reserve. Notice that all the Administration and Congress have done is boost Federal debt to replace the "missing" private debt (missing because incomes are declining, housing equity has crashed and the consumer overborrowed for a decade).
This is mindless Keynesian policy on auto-pilot. As I have reported before, the Federal Government is borrowing and spending some $6 trillion in a mere four years, almost doubling the nation's debt, and all that's been accomplished is the Power Elites' share of the national income has risen and GDP has flatlined.
The structural dislocations and imbalances remain firmly in place; a financial sector dependent on fraud has been "saved," and an economy sick with an addiction to rampant financialization has been given plenty of smack to keep it from going through a desperately needed withdrawal.
The Keynesians have no answer as to when the economy will "recover" without the Central State borrowing 11% of GDP every year to prop up its various cartels and fiefdoms. They have no answer because they have no understanding of the imbalances, the fraud, the financialization or of the feudal partnership of the State and crony-capitalist cartels.
Obama has lost his "progressive" base, because he's done nothing remotely progressive. He has lost the middle because his Administration has overseen their gradual impoverishment at the hands of Financial Power Elites. He has offered them phony facsimiles of reform slicked down with the tiresome "soaring rhetoric" of a con artist so besotted with his own story that he actually believes the BS himself.
He can count on the public-union vote and a few of the State fiefdoms he's enriched and enlarged at the expense of the common good, but as the addict (the economy) goes downhill, slowly destroyed by the ever-larger doses of smack administered by the Fed and the Central State, then the consent of the governed will be irrevocably lost--not just by President Obama, but by the entire Status Quo.
The President is now a candidate hoping to scoop up a cool $1 billion to blow on another long, greasy media blitz, but I would be surprised if he rakes in much from the commoners and serfs straining to keep the wheels of their household finances turning. He will of course collect big bucks from various crony-cartels and contractors who have benefited from his bogus "reforms" and unstinting support of the banking sector, but his true-believer supporters will be thinned down to a few Elites, die-hard Democratic hacks and the delusional by mid-2012.
His opponents may fare little better unless they are willing to tackle the dominance of crony cartels, government fiefdoms and Financial Power Elites whose fat fingers remain firmly on the throat of the fast-expiring nation.
Gangster Government, a book
“GANGSTER GOVERNMENT”
Columnist Michael Barone invented the phrase. President Obama has perfected the practice.
And in this new and stunning book, New York Times best-selling author David Freddoso (The Case Against Barack Obama) provides the much-needed exposé of an administration that has brought Chicago-style corruption and strong-arm politics to Washington, looking to reward its friends (the unions, federal workers, and other liberal interest groups) and punish its enemies (the private sector workers and taxpayers who foot the bill for Obama¹s massive expansion of the federal government).
In Gangster Government you'll learn, among other shocking revelations:
How the Obama administration has used “czars” and “recess appointments” to install powerful bureaucrats, some with extreme views and shady pasts, without congressional oversight
How the Obama administration ignored the Constitution and reversed 100 years of bankruptcy law to reward its friends (the United Autoworkers) in the GM and Chrysler bailout
Why even the pretense of “cutting costs” in Obamacare came second to rewarding the Democrat-supporting trial lawyers' lobby
Why, ignoring federal law, the Obama administration is trying to shield the TSA workers who search passengers at airports from private sector competition
How the trillion dollar "stimulus" was directed overwhelmingly at protecting government workers supported by the taxpayers
Why “green jobs” are all about shaking down the taxpayer for favored businesses—not about truly “sustainable” energy or jobs
How the Obama administration bullies private businesses and even state governments that don't cooperate with gangster government
Gangster Government is a devastating and revealing look at the momentous first two years of the Obama administration and its subversion of our Constitution and laws. It casts a hard look at a president whose training on Chicago’s political playground shines through every bent law and every broken promise.
Columnist Michael Barone invented the phrase. President Obama has perfected the practice.
And in this new and stunning book, New York Times best-selling author David Freddoso (The Case Against Barack Obama) provides the much-needed exposé of an administration that has brought Chicago-style corruption and strong-arm politics to Washington, looking to reward its friends (the unions, federal workers, and other liberal interest groups) and punish its enemies (the private sector workers and taxpayers who foot the bill for Obama¹s massive expansion of the federal government).
In Gangster Government you'll learn, among other shocking revelations:
How the Obama administration has used “czars” and “recess appointments” to install powerful bureaucrats, some with extreme views and shady pasts, without congressional oversight
How the Obama administration ignored the Constitution and reversed 100 years of bankruptcy law to reward its friends (the United Autoworkers) in the GM and Chrysler bailout
Why even the pretense of “cutting costs” in Obamacare came second to rewarding the Democrat-supporting trial lawyers' lobby
Why, ignoring federal law, the Obama administration is trying to shield the TSA workers who search passengers at airports from private sector competition
How the trillion dollar "stimulus" was directed overwhelmingly at protecting government workers supported by the taxpayers
Why “green jobs” are all about shaking down the taxpayer for favored businesses—not about truly “sustainable” energy or jobs
How the Obama administration bullies private businesses and even state governments that don't cooperate with gangster government
Gangster Government is a devastating and revealing look at the momentous first two years of the Obama administration and its subversion of our Constitution and laws. It casts a hard look at a president whose training on Chicago’s political playground shines through every bent law and every broken promise.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
CONVERSATIONS with CASEY
In point of fact, though, I generally feel more at risk at a traffic stop in the U.S. these days. It seems that U.S. cops have been brainwashed into thinking that any contact with the public may actually be with a terrorist, or rampaging militia member, or a heavily armed religious cultist. Things have definitely changed in the last ten years, and these guys all seem to be on a hair trigger. I really don't like getting near droopy-eyed teenage soldiers in the Congo, but I now consider U.S. cops almost as dangerous.
All those soldiers and police in Belarus were essentially average people – although I'm sure, like police everywhere, more than a few have extra Y chromosomes. The key is that when they put on uniforms, they do as they're told. They're no different from their U.S. counterparts. Always remember with cops and soldiers: their first loyalty is to each other. Their next loyalty is to their employer. They aren't there to "protect and serve" the people in the street. People are all potential criminals and rioters. The people are the last priority, contrary to the fairy tales.
L: Hm. You know, things didn't go over the edge that night I was on the streets in Minsk, but I was thinking about how quickly things can change. The blood the police shed, beating peaceful, unarmed people, including women, reminds me of the amazing speed with which the "thin veneer of civilization" can be stripped away. The former Yugoslavia comes to mind: a relatively wealthy European country turned into a bloody chaos of multiple warring factions, war crimes, and mass graves, all in a matter of weeks.
Doug: And as you point out in this month's edition of the International Speculator, no matter where you live, even in the United States, it's dangerous wishful thinking to tell yourself, "It can't happen here."
L: Maybe especially in the United States. I used the links you sent me of the videos showing the police joining the looting in New Orleans, and National Guardsmen confiscating guns from people who wanted to be able to defend themselves from looters, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
All those soldiers and police in Belarus were essentially average people – although I'm sure, like police everywhere, more than a few have extra Y chromosomes. The key is that when they put on uniforms, they do as they're told. They're no different from their U.S. counterparts. Always remember with cops and soldiers: their first loyalty is to each other. Their next loyalty is to their employer. They aren't there to "protect and serve" the people in the street. People are all potential criminals and rioters. The people are the last priority, contrary to the fairy tales.
L: Hm. You know, things didn't go over the edge that night I was on the streets in Minsk, but I was thinking about how quickly things can change. The blood the police shed, beating peaceful, unarmed people, including women, reminds me of the amazing speed with which the "thin veneer of civilization" can be stripped away. The former Yugoslavia comes to mind: a relatively wealthy European country turned into a bloody chaos of multiple warring factions, war crimes, and mass graves, all in a matter of weeks.
Doug: And as you point out in this month's edition of the International Speculator, no matter where you live, even in the United States, it's dangerous wishful thinking to tell yourself, "It can't happen here."
L: Maybe especially in the United States. I used the links you sent me of the videos showing the police joining the looting in New Orleans, and National Guardsmen confiscating guns from people who wanted to be able to defend themselves from looters, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Stansberry & ASSO. - Government employees
More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local governments is the $1 trillion-a-year tab for pay and benefits of state and local employees.
City of WHIGHAM, GEORGIA - time to give up the ghost of city government
The 25% decline in the city's population from 631 to 471 hardly calls for a city government with a million dollar budget. It is high time to sell off the water system to a private operator, and the electical system to Georgia Power, then roll these monies back to the city property owners. Then, go home. The problem is, of course, is that the city council would have to vote to give it up. This they will not do unless they vote themselves a hefty retirement package in the process.
Do you remember when in 1995 Augusta City Council members voted to give themselves a $37,000 per year pension? the vote was 6-4, thankfully the Mayor vetoed the measure. Some how the consolidation of Augusta and Richmond County occured. The next headline stated
"After 197 years, council holds final meeting. The city of Augusta held its first meeting in 1798, when John Adams was president. You can read this news by going to the Thomasville Library and pulling the Thomasville Times Enterprise December 19, 1995.
Contact my email - georgebi@windstream.net - See my blog - http:www.gradycountyenquirer.blogspot.com/
Do you remember when in 1995 Augusta City Council members voted to give themselves a $37,000 per year pension? the vote was 6-4, thankfully the Mayor vetoed the measure. Some how the consolidation of Augusta and Richmond County occured. The next headline stated
"After 197 years, council holds final meeting. The city of Augusta held its first meeting in 1798, when John Adams was president. You can read this news by going to the Thomasville Library and pulling the Thomasville Times Enterprise December 19, 1995.
Contact my email - georgebi@windstream.net - See my blog - http:www.gradycountyenquirer.blogspot.com/
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