Thoughts Aloud

Archive for the ‘Economics’ Category

My world is truly upside down. In my youth, we used to laugh at the notion that Pravda was a legitimate news source. It was considered nothing more than the propaganda wing of the Communist Party in the USSR. By the ’90s we were calling CNN the “Clinton News Network,” because of their blatant bias and advocacy for Progressive causes. Of late, I have regarded MSNBC as the propaganda wing of the Democrat Party and have likened them to Pravda.

That is probably an egregious libel against the Pravda of today. One is far more likely to find honest and accurate reporting in Pravda than MSNBC. Try to imagine, if your head is capable of such irrational flights of fantasy, MSNBC publishing this piece from Pravda, “American capitalism gone with a whimper“:

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their “right” to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our “democracy”. Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different “branches and denominations” were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the “winning” side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the “winning” side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America’s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.

Then came Barack Obama’s command that GM’s (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of “pure” free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a “bold” move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK’s Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our “wise” Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper…but a “freeman” whimper.

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set “fair” maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.

The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.

The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.

Stanislav Mishin

The article has been reprinted with the kind permission from the author and originally appears on his blog, Mat Rodina

Ouch! Does he nail it, or what? I went to his blog and found:

Thus, it is quite obvious that we, the Russian people are not, have never been, nor ever shall be, a part of the West.

Thank God – we are Russians!

We can well coexist with the West peacefully and profitably. We can even make friends with you, but please do neither lecture us, nor interfere with our affairs.

Fair enough!

As I said, my world is upside down. I spent most of my life despising the Russians and fearing a confrontation with them. Now, I would gladly trade half of my whimpering countrymen with them for an equal number of Stanislav Mishin’s. Alas, I get the distinct impression that he wouldn’t take a Green Card if we offered him one. I can’t say as I blame him… and that is the most profound insight of this mornings trip around the world. America is not what it once was, and the prognosis for it ever recovering from the insidious slide into Marxism is not good. â—„Daveâ–º

This is the chart Glenn mentioned on-air this morning, which is part of the American Thinker article, “Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis” by James Simpson published eight months ago today. It is one of the links I referenced in my “Obamacoup” post. He said Bill O’Reilly will be on his show tonight to discuss ACORN, which they have been discussing quite a bit off-air lately. He is begging a legitimate investigative journalist to go for the Pulitzer Prize that is waiting for anyone breaking this story wide open, who can’t be dismissed as partisan kooks as he or Bill will be. Tonight’s Glenn Beck show should be interesting. â—„Daveâ–º

Glenn Beck has been poking at ACORN of late. On this morning’s radio program, he is finally getting around to the truth about the genesis and purpose of the organization, which I reported on back on March 8th at: “The Obamacoup.” He says he is going to get into “The Cloward-Piven Strategy” on his TV program tonight. Now, if he can get O’Reilly interested in it we might actually wake a few people up to what this nonsense is all about. If you haven’t read the linked articles in my Obamacoup post, I highly recommend them. â—„Daveâ–º

There is an interesting comparison between the conditions leading to the hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic and those we are currently experiencing, by Ellen Brown in “The Weimar Hyperinflation? Could it Happen Again?:

Some worried commentators are predicting a massive hyperinflation of the sort suffered by Weimar Germany in 1923, when a wheelbarrow full of paper money could barely buy a loaf of bread. An April 29 editorial in the San Francisco Examiner warned:

“With an unprecedented deficit that’s approaching $2 trillion, [the President’s 2010] budget proposal is a surefire prescription for hyperinflation. So every senator and representative who votes for this monster $3.6 trillion budget will be endorsing a spending spree that could very well turn America into the next Weimar Republic.”1

In an investment newsletter called Money Morning on April 9, Martin Hutchinson pointed to disturbing parallels between current government monetary policy and Weimar Germany’s, when 50% of government spending was being funded by seigniorage – merely printing money.2 However, there is something puzzling in his data. He indicates that the British government is already funding more of its budget by seigniorage than Weimar Germany did at the height of its massive hyperinflation; yet the pound is still holding its own, under circumstances said to have caused the complete destruction of the German mark. Something else must have been responsible for the mark’s collapse besides mere money-printing to meet the government’s budget, but what? And are we threatened by the same risk today? Let’s take a closer look at the data.

Brown goes on to make a case that it was short selling currency speculators who destroyed the German Mark, not seigniorage. She suggests that massive government inflation of the money supply need not cause price increases if the money is spent into existence for productive efforts like infrastructure projects, instead of being loaned into existence by bankers; and it can be kept within the borders isolated from the currency speculators. She cites early American Congressional regulated money and Lincoln’s financing of the civil war. I am not sure I agree with her premise; but it seems to be a moot point for several reasons.

Obama is a tool of the bankers, not an adversary of them. Besides, the last two Presidents to try to go around them, Lincoln and Kennedy, ended with abbreviated careers and much speculation that crossing the bankers was responsible for their demise.

Moreover, our currency is still the world’s reserve currency, and the speculators will always have access to it. Besides, the international speculators perform a valuable service. Fiat currencies can in fact be inflated or deflated without much notice within the borders of a country initially. It is the job of the speculators to keep track of such things and create a value for value international exchange rate in a global marketplace. This drives the governments / central banks to distraction over the way it thwarts their devious seigniorage; and that is a good thing.

The only reason we are not already in a currency crisis, is that we are the world’s reserve currency and other nations are inflating theirs too. It won’t stay that way, and sooner or later, the world will give up on our lack of discipline and abandon the dollar. When that happens, it will be all over. The dollar is already worthless, and the only reason anyone will take one in exchange for their labor, goods, or services, is their expectation that they will be able to turn around and exchange it for their own needs.

The moment there is the slightest fear that one cannot get a “dollar’s worth” of what they need spending FRN’s, nobody will want them and they will become very expensive toilet paper. There is not much point in dreaming otherwise. Gold is still massively undervalued. Think about it. â—„Daveâ–º

Am I humor challenged, or something? I don’t find this funny at all:

Waxman himself acknowledges that he is not familiar with everything in the bill… Well, why the hell are you voting on it then, Congressman? The Texan didn’t impress me either. This is not a joke, it is a massive tax increase. These clowns are mocking us for being critical of the fact that they didn’t read the Stimulus bill a couple of months ago before signing it. Folks, we need to stop voting for incumbents, no matter which party they are in. We need a whole new bunch of Congress-critters. This lot has forgotten who their boss is. â—„Daveâ–º

I have stumbled across a truly fascinating website where one could spend untold hours of thought provoking reading. Global Research is wide ranging and deep; but you might as well enter where I did at, “Preparing for Civil Unrest in America“:

The Economic and Social Crisis

The financial meltdown has unleashed a latent and emergent social crisis across the United States.

What is at stake is the fraudulent confiscation of lifelong savings and pension funds, the appropriation of tax revenues to finance the trillion dollar “bank bailouts”, which ultimately serve to line the pockets of the richest people in America.

This economic crisis is in large part the result of financial manipulation and outright fraud to the detriment of entire populations, leading to a renewed wave of corporate bankruptcies, mass unemployment and poverty.

The criminalization of the global financial system, characterized by a “Shadow Banking” network has resulted in the centralization of bank power and an unprecedented concentration of private wealth.

Obama’s “economic stimulus” package and budget proposals contribute to a further process of concentration and centralization of bank power, the cumulative effects of which will eventually resul in large scale corporate, bankruptcies, a new wave of foreclosures not to mention fiscal collapse and the downfall of State social programs. (For further details see Michel Chossudovsky, America’s Fiscal Collapse, Global Research, March 2, 2009).

The cumulative decline of real economic activity backlashes on employment and wages, which in turn leads to a collapse in purchaisng power. The proposed “solution” under the Obama administration contributes to exacerbating rather than alleviating social inequalities and the process of wealth concentration.

The Protest Movement

When people across America, whose lives have been shattered and destroyed, come to realize the true face of the global “free market” system, the legitimacy of Wall Street, the Federal Reserve and the US administration will be challenged.

A latent protest movement directed against the seat of economic and political power is unfolding.

How this process will occur is hard to predict. All sectors of American society are potentially affected: wage earners, small, medium and even large businesses, farmers, professionals, federal, State and municipal employees, students, teachers, health workers, and unemployed. Protests will initially emerge from these various sectors. There is, however, at this stage, no organized national resistance movement directed against the administration’s economic and financial agenda.

Obama’s populist rhetoric conceals the true nature of macro-economic policy. Acting on behalf of Wall Street, the administration’s economic package, which includes close to a trillion dollar “aid” package for the financial services industry, coupled with massive austerity measures, contributes to precipitating America into a bottomless crisis.

The rest of the article is interesting and gets into HR645. I have followed many of the links to other of Michel Chossudovsky’s contributions to the site. All were interesting and thought provoking. I recommend the place. 🙂 â—„Daveâ–º

No wonder the Obamessiah and his Progressive central planners are in the process of chasing General Motors completely out of the country. They are still holding a grudge:

The other 15 pages of this old tribute to Hayek can be found here. Why does it feel like we white redneck Patriots are being set up for the roll depicted on page 12? â—„Daveâ–º

Here is a blast from the past. A political cartoon from the Chicago Tribune in 1934 entitled, “Planned Economy or Planned Destruction”:

Those ignorant of history...

Study it carefully; particularly the “Plan of Action.” History repeats itself; and the Progressives accuse the conservatives of having tired outdated ideas! I just loved the “Young Pinkies from Columbia and Harvard.”  🙂 â—„Daveâ–º

I have been having a nice chat with Gabe, one of the three (and soon to be only two) young Americans who labor diligently to fund my leisurely retirement lifestyle with their payroll taxes, in the comment section of my recent post about the demographic destiny of America. Technically, although I have been eligible for a couple of years, I have not bothered to apply for my SSI “benefit” / “entitlement” / “supplement” – pick an euphemism for Gabe’s hard earned cash. Understanding very well the nature of Ponzi schemes, since I got burned for a bottle of Scotch in a “Christmas Cheer” chain letter back in the ’60s, I honestly didn’t expect SSI to survive this long; so I never factored it into my retirement budget.

I have thus enjoyed a sense of occupying the moral high ground, in my frequent condemnation of America’s slide into socialism, by not being affixed to one of Washington’s teats. With apologies to Gabe, who is undoubtedly quite blameless for my chagrin, that is about to change out of retribution, if not necessity. When prices catch up to the near hyperinflation of our currency, which has the Treasury’s printing presses smoking 24 hours a day now, it will undoubtedly become a necessity; but for now I have cause enough for retribution.

I live the very simple, almost cloistered, lifestyle of a hermit. My needs are few, beyond my access to Google and the virtual world my mind inhabits, and my living expenses are minimal. My only non-digital indulgences are my caffeine and nicotine habits. My pursuit of happiness requires a steady supply of good Columbia Supremo coffee beans, and an occasional smoke. The cost of both has been steadily climbing of late, and I long ago had to adjust my budget for tobacco.

Like the erstwhile connoisseur turned wino, who no longer needs a corkscrew, because his palate has become accustomed to the fresher vintages found in screw capped bottles, my taste in tobacco has of necessity devolved. My first strategy, when ready made cigarettes became too expensive for my frugal sensibilities, was to purchase the making’s and start rolling my own. At first, beyond economy, this offered the benefit of using higher quality tobacco for added smoking pleasure, to offset the labor and hassle involved.

As the price steadily increased, my frugality forced my taste buds to accept lower and lower quality tobacco. Until recently, the cost of a pound of basic quality tobacco had risen to over $15 hereabouts. Outrageous, considering that it will only make about 2.5 cartons, and a ready made carton only cost 70¢ in the PX back in ’63, when the US Army got me hooked on these things. (Yes, they did; only the “real men” who were smokers got to take a smoke break. In my youthful naiveté, I thought I could fake it by not inhaling deeply.)

Now our Federal government has levied a new tax of $25 on a pound of tobacco. $25!! Most of the cost already was taxes, but this new Federal tax is adding an additional $1.00 tax to every pack I roll. That is an additional 5¢ Federal Tax every time I light up! Sorry, Gabe, that is a tax too far, and a retirement budget buster. It is time to sign up for my Federal teat, to recoup all the taxes these do-gooding bastards are extracting from my savings. Of course, inflation is the cruelest tax of all.

I do find it interesting that it is more difficult to establish one’s eligibility for SSI, than it is for the office of President. Even though I have had an account with these people for over 50 years, and they periodically send me pleasant letters telling me all they will do for me when I apply, they are requiring me to send for a copy of my birth certificate and my Army discharge papers. One would think they could just as easy acquire them themselves; but I guess they wouldn’t even do that for the Obamessiah, would they?

It is going to be fun to abandon my frugal nature for a change. I intend to spend Gabe’s cash like the Monopoly money that it is. With a pound of tobacco starting at $40, I might as well spend a few more for the best. Perhaps a daily cigar is in order; it sure looks like it won’t be long before good Cubans will be legal again. Then, I might as well pack an artery with a juicy T-bone occasionally…

The possibilities for indulging myself in life’s little pleasures are endless, while the kids tighten their belts trying to survive this depression. There sure isn’t any point in trying to save or invest any of it; the Progressives would just confiscate most of the earnings while I live, and the rest of it in death taxes when I am gone. I am going to change my will to state, “Being of sound mind, I spent it all.”

Truth be told, it probably isn’t even Gabe’s cash that I will be squandering; but his grandchildren’s. What a country; isn’t “democracy” grand! Now that the Baby Boomers are retiring, we will be such a dominant constituency for pandering, that we should be able to vote ourselves just about any “benefit” our narcissistic hearts desire, and send the bill to unborn generations. Wheeeee… â—„Daveâ–º

This is a few days old; but still worth the cheer:

Shep Smith goes off on Congress over AIG debacle

Can somebody please explain to me why MSM reporters, when handed a nailed down story like this one, wouldn’t have been just as incensed, if not as animated? Regardless of Party labels, this whole sordid charade was outrageous. I thought Shep’s point about McCarthyism was particularly poignant. â—„Daveâ–º

From today’s NYT:

The following is a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G.

DEAR Mr. Liddy,

It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:

I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.

After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.

I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down.

You and I have never met or spoken to each other, so I’d like to tell you about myself. I was raised by schoolteachers working multiple jobs in a world of closing steel mills. My hard work earned me acceptance to M.I.T., and the institute’s generous financial aid enabled me to attend. I had fulfilled my American dream.

I started at this company in 1998 as an equity trader, became the head of equity and commodity trading and, a couple of years before A.I.G.’s meltdown last September, was named the head of business development for commodities. Over this period the equity and commodity units were consistently profitable — in most years generating net profits of well over $100 million. Most recently, during the dismantling of A.I.G.-F.P., I was an integral player in the pending sale of its well-regarded commodity index business to UBS. As you know, business unit sales like this are crucial to A.I.G.’s effort to repay the American taxpayer.

The profitability of the businesses with which I was associated clearly supported my compensation. I never received any pay resulting from the credit default swaps that are now losing so much money. I did, however, like many others here, lose a significant portion of my life savings in the form of deferred compensation invested in the capital of A.I.G.-F.P. because of those losses. In this way I have personally suffered from this controversial activity — directly as well as indirectly with the rest of the taxpayers.

I have the utmost respect for the civic duty that you are now performing at A.I.G. You are as blameless for these credit default swap losses as I am. You answered your country’s call and you are taking a tremendous beating for it.

But you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial products unit had nothing to do with the large losses. And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press over our retention payments, and that you didn’t defend us against the baseless and reckless comments made by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut.

My guess is that in October, when you learned of these retention contracts, you realized that the employees of the financial products unit needed some incentive to stay and that the contracts, being both ethical and useful, should be left to stand. That’s probably why A.I.G. management assured us on three occasions during that month that the company would “live up to its commitment” to honor the contract guarantees.

That may be why you decided to accelerate by three months more than a quarter of the amounts due under the contracts. That action signified to us your support, and was hardly something that one would do if he truly found the contracts “distasteful.”

That may also be why you authorized the balance of the payments on March 13.

At no time during the past six months that you have been leading A.I.G. did you ask us to revise, renegotiate or break these contracts — until several hours before your appearance last week before Congress.

I think your initial decision to honor the contracts was both ethical and financially astute, but it seems to have been politically unwise. It’s now apparent that you either misunderstood the agreements that you had made — tacit or otherwise — with the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, various members of Congress and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of New York, or were not strong enough to withstand the shifting political winds.

You’ve now asked the current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. to repay these earnings. As you can imagine, there has been a tremendous amount of serious thought and heated discussion about how we should respond to this breach of trust.

As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to surrender our earnings. We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised. None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house.

Many of the employees have, in the past six months, turned down job offers from more stable employers, based on A.I.G.’s assurances that the contracts would be honored. They are now angry about having been misled by A.I.G.’s promises and are not inclined to return the money as a favor to you.

The only real motivation that anyone at A.I.G.-F.P. now has is fear. Mr. Cuomo has threatened to “name and shame,” and his counterpart in Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, has made similar threats — even though attorneys general are supposed to stand for due process, to conduct trials in courts and not the press.

So what am I to do? There’s no easy answer. I know that because of hard work I have benefited more than most during the economic boom and have saved enough that my family is unlikely to suffer devastating losses during the current bust. Some might argue that members of my profession have been overpaid, and I wouldn’t disagree.

That is why I have decided to donate 100 percent of the effective after-tax proceeds of my retention payment directly to organizations that are helping people who are suffering from the global downturn. This is not a tax-deduction gimmick; I simply believe that I at least deserve to dictate how my earnings are spent, and do not want to see them disappear back into the obscurity of A.I.G.’s or the federal government’s budget. Our earnings have caused such a distraction for so many from the more pressing issues our country faces, and I would like to see my share of it benefit those truly in need.

On March 16 I received a payment from A.I.G. amounting to $742,006.40, after taxes. In light of the uncertainty over the ultimate taxation and legal status of this payment, the actual amount I donate may be less — in fact, it may end up being far less if the recent House bill raising the tax on the retention payments to 90 percent stands. Once all the money is donated, you will immediately receive a list of all recipients.

This choice is right for me. I wish others at A.I.G.-F.P. luck finding peace with their difficult decision, and only hope their judgment is not clouded by fear.

Mr. Liddy, I wish you success in your commitment to return the money extended by the American government, and luck with the continued unwinding of the company’s diverse businesses — especially those remaining credit default swaps. I’ll continue over the short term to help make sure no balls are dropped, but after what’s happened this past week I can’t remain much longer — there is too much bad blood. I’m not sure how you will greet my resignation, but at least Attorney General Blumenthal should be relieved that I’ll leave under my own power and will not need to be “shoved out the door.”

Sincerely,

Jake DeSantis

Quoted in its entirety before it disappears. When Liddy was being berated by the insufferable Barney Frank on C-Span the other day, and trying to conceal these employee’s names because of the death threats, my reaction was that he should have taken a dollar out of his wallet, and thrown it in Frank’s face saying, “There is 100% of my compensation from your damn bailout funds, now take this job and shove it up your dildo receptacle.” However, reading this, I have lost all respect for Liddy too. He should have defended these people while he had the microphone and camera.

How many of the posturing politicians with their phony outrage knew the truth laid out in this letter? Did Obama? This BS makes me sick, and it is past time to grab the pitch forks, torches, and stout rope and head for DC to clear these fools out of our lives. â—„Daveâ–º

Why aren’t there many men in the Republican caucus with this lady’s spunk and interest in the constitutionality of the shenanigans going on in DC?

What a performance! I guess when one has her talent, looks, poise, and presence, one need not waste committee time preening for the cameras. Wanna bet whether those characters were relieved when Barney Frank cut her off? What an ass! I recommend that Sarah Palin choose Michelle Bachmann as her running mate in 2012. They would make an awesome team! â—„Daveâ–º

I may have dropped a letter from the Title of George Will’s latest editorial; or decorum required him to use the more subtle wordplay. Its content would make a fine bill of indictment for the impeachment of the majority of Federal politicians for repeated violation of their oaths to our Constitution. Better yet, a presentment from a “run away” Federal Grand Jury bent on clearing out the nest of bumbling thieves and ne’er-do-wells in DC. One I hadn’t heard:

From Mexico, America is receiving needed instruction about fundamental rights and the rule of law. A leading Democrat trying to abolish the right of workers to secret ballots in unionization elections is California’s Rep. George Miller who, with 15 other Democrats, in 2001 admonished Mexico: “The secret ballot is absolutely necessary in order to ensure that workers are not intimidated into voting for a union they might not otherwise choose.” Last year, Mexico’s highest court unanimously affirmed for Mexicans the right that Democrats want to strip from Americans.
[…]
This is but a partial list of recent lawlessness, situational constitutionalism and institutional derangement. Such political malfeasance is pertinent to the financial meltdown as the administration, desperately seeking confidence, tries to stabilize the economy by vastly enlarging government’s role in it.

Read the whole thing. â—„Daveâ–º

I hope everyone understands that this Wall Street rally is a Bear Market Sucker Rally. Once the little guys get bold enough to jump back in, the big guys will bail with their cash. Of course, another way to look at it is that the prices in the market are just trying to keep up with the massive inflation of our currency.

It looks like China has had enough, “China calls for new reserve currency“:

By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing

Published: March 23 2009 12:16 | Last updated: March 24 2009 00:06

China’s central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund.

In an essay posted on the People’s Bank of China’s website, Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank’s governor, said the goal would be to create a reserve currency “that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies”.

Analysts said the proposal was an indication of Beijing’s fears that actions being taken to save the domestic US economy would have a negative impact on China.

“This is a clear sign that China, as the largest holder of US dollar financial assets, is concerned about the potential inflationary risk of the US Federal Reserve printing money,” said Qu Hongbin, chief China economist for HSBC.

Although Mr Zhou did not mention the US dollar, the essay gave a pointed critique of the current dollar-dominated monetary system…

Now listen for the drumbeat as other G-20 nations climb aboard. One step closer to the end for the American economy. The mixed signals that come from every direction are so inexplicable that they must be contrived. Liquidate, buy metal, and buckle up. â—„Daveâ–º

The Liberty Papers has an incredible compilation of links to recent references to Atlas Shrugging and “going Galt.” One could spend hours reading all the source documents and blog posts at “Will Atlas Shrug? A Compilation of Blogosphere Commentary about ‘Going Galt’“:

There’s a new craze hitting the conservative tubes on the Internets these days: “Going Galt!” While it’s difficult to identify an exact date of reference or to provide any unique person with credit for the general meme, Michelle Malkin and Helen Smith certainly deserve honorable mention for recently popularizing the phrase.

This movement seems to have manifested itself in two distinct, but related, forms: those who say, more-or-less, that “I ain’t gonna produce more that 249,999 dollars and 99 cents of taxable income” as well as those more accustomed to singing “Amazing Grace” than Twisted Sister taking to the streets across America chanting “we’re not gonna take it anymore.”

Here are some relevant (and hopefully balanced) quotes I’ve found on all sides of the aisle regarding this recent phenomenon. Enjoy!

Yes, do peruse at least a few. â—„Daveâ–º

There is so much bad news and analysis coming at us from so many different directions that it is like drinking from a fire hose. What should we be paying attention to? Which existential threat is going to get us first? Who can we trust? Who is purveying truth? Who is peddling lies? Is Liberty lost forever?

All I and millions of red blooded Americans want is to be left alone. We just want to live our lives as we choose to live them – in Liberty. We are not serfs or slaves to a collective, we are freemen. We have tried the suggestion box; they ignore our pleas for redress of our grievances. We have tried the soap box; nobody will listen. We have tried the ballot box; these days it is stuffed with ACORNs. We appeal to the jury box; the courts won’t give us access or “standing.” It seems that all that is left is the ammo box; but we don’t even know which way to aim first.

Is the important target the nuclear armed and arming Muslim states or the stateless Jihadist terrorists? The Mexican drug cartels who are winning the battle for Mexico, or their ruthless distribution gangs who are taking over our cities? The reemerging saber rattling communist states, or our own Marxist idiots ensconced in our ghettos, academia, the environmental movement, the unions, the banks, the big corporations, the MSM, Congress, and now the White House?

After much reflection, I reckon our biggest problem at the moment is the latter category. The so-called Progressives, or socialists, or communists, or Marxists, or collectivists, or bleeding heart liberals – anyone who ascribes to the altruistic notion of “From each according to his ability – to each according to his needs.” That creed is anti-capitalist, anti-Liberty, and thus anti-American. All who esteem Liberty in the Land of Opportunity, need to take the gloves off and defeat this beast once and for all or earn our pine box trying.

How many times lately have you asked yourself, “What could the politicians possibly be thinking?” Can’t they see that there is no way we could ever repay all the “borrowed” money they are spending? I encountered a new term today, “The Cloward-Piven Strategy.” Somehow, it is not surprising that it came out of the nest of communists in Chicago that produced the Obamarxist and his cronies. First it appeared in an American Thinker article published back in September entitled, “Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis,” which is a must read:

One of two things must be true. Either the Democrats are unfathomable idiots, who ignorantly pursue ever more destructive policies despite decades of contrary evidence, or they understand the consequences of their actions and relentlessly carry on anyway because they somehow benefit.

I submit to you they understand the consequences. For many it is simply a practical matter of eliciting votes from a targeted constituency at taxpayer expense; we lose a little, they gain a lot, and the politician keeps his job. But for others, the goal is more malevolent – the failure is deliberate. Don’t laugh. This method not only has its proponents, it has a name: the Cloward-Piven Strategy. It describes their agenda, tactics, and long-term strategy.

The Strategy was first elucidated in the May 2, 1966 issue of The Nation magazine by a pair of radical socialist Columbia University professors, Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. David Horowitz summarizes it as:

The strategy of forcing political change through orchestrated crisis. The “Cloward-Piven Strategy” seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.

Cloward and Piven were inspired by radical organizer [and Hillary Clinton mentor] Saul Alinsky:

“Make the enemy live up to their (sic) own book of rules,” Alinsky wrote in his 1989 book Rules for Radicals. When pressed to honor every word of every law and statute, every Judeo-Christian moral tenet, and every implicit promise of the liberal social contract, human agencies inevitably fall short. The system’s failure to “live up” to its rule book can then be used to discredit it altogether, and to replace the capitalist “rule book” with a socialist one. (Courtesy Discover the Networks.org)

Newsmax rounds out the picture:

Their strategy to create political, financial, and social chaos that would result in revolution blended Alinsky concepts with their more aggressive efforts at bringing about a change in U.S. government. To achieve their revolutionary change, Cloward and Piven sought to use a cadre of aggressive organizers assisted by friendly news media to force a re-distribution of the nation’s wealth.

In their Nation article, Cloward and Piven were specific about the kind of “crisis” they were trying to create:

By crisis, we mean a publicly visible disruption in some institutional sphere. Crisis can occur spontaneously (e.g., riots) or as the intended result of tactics of demonstration and protest which either generate institutional disruption or bring unrecognized disruption to public attention.

No matter where the strategy is implemented, it shares the following features:

1. The offensive organizes previously unorganized groups eligible for government benefits but not currently receiving all they can.
2. The offensive seeks to identify new beneficiaries and/or create new benefits.
3. The overarching aim is always to impose new stresses on target systems, with the ultimate goal of forcing their collapse.

Do read the whole thing.

Then, in February it came up again in another American Thinker article entitled, “The Cloward/Piven Strategy of Economic Recovery“:

Using borrowed money for a band-aid bailout of the economy should seem backwards to most people. However, it likely is a planned strategy to promote radical change. Those naively believing that President Obama is simply rewarding his far-left base, and will then move to the political center, must wise up.
[…]
Obama adheres to the Saul Alinksy Rules for Radicals method of politics, which teaches the dark art of destroying political adversaries. However, that text reveals only one front in the radical left’s war against America. The Cloward/Piven Strategy is another method employed by the radical Left to create and manage crisis. This strategy explains Rahm Emanuel’s ominous statement, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”
[…]
Because these programs are financed with deficit spending, the effect of the Cloward/Piven Strategy becomes doubly destructive. Talk about a perfect storm! The Democrat stimulus plan is a mechanism whose goal is the destruction of the traditional American way of life. It is bitter irony that the American taxpayer will actually fund the destruction of his own ability to live according to the values of our Founding Documents. It is not alarmist to identify this situation as a coup d’etat.

Again, read the whole thing. Coup d’état is not alarmist at all; it is simply accurate. The only way we can ever recover our Constitutional republic with a capitalistic economic system now, is to reverse the Obamusurper’s clever coup. The sooner the better, while we still have the necessary tool box. It won’t be pleasant, but the alternative is infinitely worse, because there is not meant to be a recovery and return to “normal.” Get that through your skulls folks… the American Dream is over. Pick a box. â—„Daveâ–º

Troy has his thinking cap on and is laying out a series of “What to Do” options:

what-to-do-sit-here-and-hope-for-the-best

what-to-do-vote-our-way-out-of-the-mess

They are worth reading and pondering. I look forward to the next in the series. â—„Daveâ–º

A lot of us are seriously expecting a revolution soon, as the only conceivable solution for expelling the forces of tyranny that now have a stranglehold on our body politic. At the rate they are destroying capitalism in favor of socialism, and spending future generations’ earnings pandering to the mindless victims who empower them, if we wait too much longer for the inevitable, there isn’t going to be much left of America to save.

Thus, we are sensibly preparing for it and like our Founders, are willing to pledge our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the cause of individual Liberty; but how much thought has been given to what happens after the dust settles? Who is going to be in control of the levers of power during the transition back to our Constitutional Republic? Do we dare consider martial law? I think not.

How long would it take to elect honest representatives, and how vulnerable to foreign intrigue would we be in the interim? Would American Revolution II work out like the first one, with reasonable men focused on reestablishing the absolute minimum government necessary to secure individual Liberty; or might it be more like the French Revolution, where revenge against the establishment had unnecessary blood running in the streets? These are not trivial questions.

The American Conservative magazine had a really well written and surprisingly balanced article last month entitled, “Homeland Offense – Washington contemplates deploying the Armed Forces for domestic law enforcement”:

Americans have become so inured to the sight of federal troops fighting fires, rescuing flood victims from rooftops, and engaging in drug interdiction on the border that few eyebrows were raised when news broke that 20,000 active-duty infantry would soon be deployed on American soil for so-called homeland defense.

But critics say this development—announced by U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) in October—is unprecedented and further evidence of a military mission-creep into domestic affairs, particularly in areas for which the National Guard and Reserves are already suited.

“I don’t get it. I don’t understand why they are further encumbering active-duty brigades with this kind of mission,” says Winslow Wheeler, author of “America’s Defense Meltdown: Pentagon Reform for President Obama and the New Congress” and one of Washington’s few civilian experts on the Pentagon’s Byzantine budget. “It sounds like someone is expanding his empire.”

Read the whole thing, because it ought to be seriously pondered, Our founders eschewed a standing army; but in today’s world one is simply unavoidable. Given that, then the Posse Comitatus Act is essential and probably should be made an actual Amendment to the Constitution. Yet, in the current paradigm, it isn’t unreasonable to consider some of the arguments for deploying military forces in a defensive posture here at home.

The southern border needs to be defended and Mexico is about to come unraveled. Islam is bent on a worldwide caliphate. China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and Venezuela consider us adversaries. An invasion of our homeland is no longer out of the question. Europe is almost history, and perhaps it is time for Germany, Japan, Korea, et al, to start defending themselves. We need to consider garrisoning our warriors here at home, rather than scattered all over the world.

Yet, we must have checks in place to preclude our Federal troops from ever being used as a domestic police force, or even a coup. It occurs to me that the solution is to turn the sovereignty pyramid back over the way it ought to be, with the sovereign individuals on the top and the CinC on the very bottom. In our system, as designed, our local sheriff is the highest ranking law enforcement officer in the land. Federal alphabet soup agents are not authorized to perform their duties in our counties without the express permission of our local sheriff. If you don’t understand this, you might find my Sovereign Rights essay enlightening. I would appreciate anyone taking the time to read it.

[Note: You may choose to believe that your natural rights are a gift from a benevolent god – that is fine by me – but you will notice that that postulate is unnecessary. The essay was originally written to enlighten a passel of dense atheists, who thought rights were granted by the Constitution. With ACLU types, as soon as one says “god given,” minds snap shut.]

I would suggest that in the aftermath of ARII we should rally round reasserting the sovereignty of our local county governments. Perhaps we would need to rearrange the counties into new States, which exclude the metropolitan counties that are infested with the mindless Marxists and their ghetto dwelling sheeple. Then, these States can hold a new Constitutional Convention to reinstate the original Constitution, for a once again severely limited Federal government, including the Posse Comitatus Amendment.

Then, I would suggest that the armories of all Federal military forces garrisoned within any county be under the absolute control of the elected County Sheriff. I see little problem with troops having sidearms for personal protection when called upon to do relief work etc.; but they should have to get the Sheriff’s permission to check out their rifles or heavier ordinance. Obviously, a situation where they might need serious firepower would be exceedingly rare, and even then rather localized. The CinC and/or governors may ask nicely, but the local Sheriff, who is most answerable to local people, needs to be the one making the call.

Personally, I could care less what happens in the big cities. NYC, LA, SF, Chicago, et al can have their own little socialist police state utopias if they choose – I no longer consider the alien lifeforms residing therein as my countrymen. However, out here in flyover country we need to make sure that the civilians always outgun any Federal forces. Any discussion? â—„Daveâ–º

E-mail of the day:

Back in the 1929 Financial Crash it was said that some Wall Street Stockbrokers and Bankers JUMPED from their office windows and committed suicide when confronted with the news of their firms and clients financial ruin…

Many people were said to almost feel a little sorry for them…

In 2009 the attitude has changed somewhat:

Can’t say as I blame them. 😉 â—„Daveâ–º