The blow-out in the Gulf of Mexico is the best thing to happen to BP in years.
Perhaps I'm a bit narrow in my perspective. This BP failure will increase profits for all the well drillers. Just look at the profits of Exxon after the Exxon Valdez fiasco.
Here is how it works. Screw-up and make a mess, all you have to do is raise prices to cover the clean-up costs. Tack a few extra cents on the price and increase the profits. The oil companies know we are addicts. We have to buy the petrolem products. These products include everything from gasoline to road tar to plastics and pharmaceuticals.
Now our most wise Congress is trying to raise the liability cap. Where do you think the oil companies will get the money to cover the increased liabilty? Uh duh, the consumer.
The consumer pays all the bills. We pay for the clean-up costs, we pay for the profits, we pay the shareholders and we pay for all the taxes.
All the oil companies will share in this windfall. We will see increased fuel costs and our Congress will gain substantially increased tax revenues on the profits we pay for. Well at least until the Ponzi scheme runs out.
I don't have any answers. If we cap profits, the oil industry will decline. We are addicts and we will get our fix at any price. If we raise the liability cap, we force the price of petro-chemical to even higher levels. Perhaps it is time to change corporate laws and make the shareholders foot the bill. But this will just transfer the costs to other investors/businesses who will raise their prices. We, as a nation, could seize the corporate assets within our country. But this just transfers the mess to us and puts the operational aspects of the business in the hands of the very same government that has a miserable history of balancing the books and gross mismanagement of almost every program they have ever created.
I don't see an answer. I'll admit I haven't a clue. I just wish Congress would fess-up and admit they haven't a clue either. But its an election year. Every incumbent will do everything they can to blow smoke and move the mirrors. Don'tcha know? Congress has all the answers.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
It's the End of the World as We Know It
It's the End of the World as We Know It
Well, I was almost right. The elections in the UK went to the Tories. However I was wrong about the Liberal Democrats. Rather than picking up a few seats, they lost five.
What is important is the UK now needs a coalition Parliment. Already Cameron has approached Nick Clegg of the LibDems.
Here is where it gets interesting. In the debates, Clegg made it clear that the LibDems were unhappy about military expenditures. A reasoning person might interpret this to mean less involvement in the Middle East. This translates to the UK not being such a loyal participant with the bully on the block.
The US will be forced to either stand alone or back off when it comes to foreign countries. Much of the US corporate income is based upon foreign sources. Without the US military, revenue as well as goods decline to zip.
As I pointed out in a previous post, as goes the UK, so goes the US. Come November, the republicans will regain both houses. The democrats have run their course and won't re-emerge as a viable party unless and until they completely re-invent themselves.
Will it matter? In the long run, yes. The US needs a multi-party system. The dems aren't inherrently evil, just misguided. Are the reps better? On some national problems, yes. Otherwise and on the whole, both parties are composed of a majority of self-serving idiots. I state idiots based upon the definition being incapacity to learn.
No matter, likes like likes. Take this to equate to voters elect "their own kind." It is all about money. Money is interpreted as security. Screw with the electorate's security and suffer the consequences.
The US pursued maximum tax returns with minimum investment. We encouraged the exporting of manufacturing and resourse extraction. We produce almost nothing tangible. The electorate voted themselves money out of the common pot. The problem was we had to finance the pot by borrowing from others and inflating the money supply.
We voted to rape our children and grandchildren's financial future. Go find yourself a copy of the movie, "Wild in the Streets."
Watch it and then look at the use of Mood Altering Drugs (MADs), alcohol and illegal drug usage. The whole country is crying, "Don't bogart that joint."
"It's the end of the world as we know it, but I feel fine." Well not exactly. I'm scared SHITLESS!!!
Well, I was almost right. The elections in the UK went to the Tories. However I was wrong about the Liberal Democrats. Rather than picking up a few seats, they lost five.
What is important is the UK now needs a coalition Parliment. Already Cameron has approached Nick Clegg of the LibDems.
Here is where it gets interesting. In the debates, Clegg made it clear that the LibDems were unhappy about military expenditures. A reasoning person might interpret this to mean less involvement in the Middle East. This translates to the UK not being such a loyal participant with the bully on the block.
The US will be forced to either stand alone or back off when it comes to foreign countries. Much of the US corporate income is based upon foreign sources. Without the US military, revenue as well as goods decline to zip.
As I pointed out in a previous post, as goes the UK, so goes the US. Come November, the republicans will regain both houses. The democrats have run their course and won't re-emerge as a viable party unless and until they completely re-invent themselves.
Will it matter? In the long run, yes. The US needs a multi-party system. The dems aren't inherrently evil, just misguided. Are the reps better? On some national problems, yes. Otherwise and on the whole, both parties are composed of a majority of self-serving idiots. I state idiots based upon the definition being incapacity to learn.
No matter, likes like likes. Take this to equate to voters elect "their own kind." It is all about money. Money is interpreted as security. Screw with the electorate's security and suffer the consequences.
The US pursued maximum tax returns with minimum investment. We encouraged the exporting of manufacturing and resourse extraction. We produce almost nothing tangible. The electorate voted themselves money out of the common pot. The problem was we had to finance the pot by borrowing from others and inflating the money supply.
We voted to rape our children and grandchildren's financial future. Go find yourself a copy of the movie, "Wild in the Streets."
Watch it and then look at the use of Mood Altering Drugs (MADs), alcohol and illegal drug usage. The whole country is crying, "Don't bogart that joint."
"It's the end of the world as we know it, but I feel fine." Well not exactly. I'm scared SHITLESS!!!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Come Watson, The Game is Afoot
Come Watson, The Game is Afoot
Today is general elections in the UK. I haven't looked, heard of or scried in my crystal ball as to who is getting the votes.
Instead, I'll look at this from the perspective of game theory. Apologies for not remembering the Liberal Democrat's name and admittedly I don't know any British political party's platform. For this argument, it doesn't matter.
The candidates are Gordon Brown (incumbant)(GB), David Cameron (DC) and what's is name.
Scenario: Britian is effectively broke and a large percentage of its populace is on redundancy pay (British equivalent of unemployment). Britian is on a dual monetary standard, pounds and Euros. Credit exposure is in the same league per capita as the US.
If the Brits vote Brown, nothing will change.
If for Cameron, not much changes.
If what's 'is name gets a large percentage of votes and not neccessarily wins, changes will transpire.
So here come human nature. If a country is at war, the incumbant wins. If the economy is doing poorly, the opposition wins.
If it looks like complete doom and gloom, the third party skims off some votes.
Brown and Cameron are mainstream political party hacks. Their parties have been the effective power in Britian. They are flip-sides of the same coin.
Britian has been involved in Iraq and Afghanistan. We mustn't forget that Britian has effectively gone into economic warfare against Wall Street and the entire world banking establishments. You gotta name the enemy.
So here are the probable outcomes in order:
#1 Brown will lose by a slender margin. Cameron will win by a slim margin. The Liberal Democrats will get a few more seats in Parliment.
Six months from now, the coalition goverment will collapse.
#2 Brown wins by a slim margin.
Liberal Democrats get a few more seats and coalition government fails in a few months.
#3 Lastly and the 100-1 odds against, the Liberal Democrats win.
Coalition government fails in less than six months.
Failure is not an option, it is inevitable. Government produces nothing. It is a ravenous consumer of wealth. Wealth is the force behind productivity. The problem arises when wealth takes flight out of the production sector.
----------------------------------------
So why this blog? The US is European. We are the prodigal step-child of Europe. To put this in perspective, the national language, English, won out over German by one vote. Furthermore, the US has refused to make English the "Official" language by law.
Ergo, as goes Britian so will go the U.S.A. come November.
People are afraid and will almost always vote the devil they know. The swing votes will make the difference and those votes will be cast for wealth protection. And even these votes will be split. The unemployed will vote for redundancy pay. Big money will vote for bail-outs. It is all about the voter's pocket-book.
Welcome to the "Brave New World Disorder."
Watson, the game is afoot and I have to place my bet.
Today is general elections in the UK. I haven't looked, heard of or scried in my crystal ball as to who is getting the votes.
Instead, I'll look at this from the perspective of game theory. Apologies for not remembering the Liberal Democrat's name and admittedly I don't know any British political party's platform. For this argument, it doesn't matter.
The candidates are Gordon Brown (incumbant)(GB), David Cameron (DC) and what's is name.
Scenario: Britian is effectively broke and a large percentage of its populace is on redundancy pay (British equivalent of unemployment). Britian is on a dual monetary standard, pounds and Euros. Credit exposure is in the same league per capita as the US.
If the Brits vote Brown, nothing will change.
If for Cameron, not much changes.
If what's 'is name gets a large percentage of votes and not neccessarily wins, changes will transpire.
So here come human nature. If a country is at war, the incumbant wins. If the economy is doing poorly, the opposition wins.
If it looks like complete doom and gloom, the third party skims off some votes.
Brown and Cameron are mainstream political party hacks. Their parties have been the effective power in Britian. They are flip-sides of the same coin.
Britian has been involved in Iraq and Afghanistan. We mustn't forget that Britian has effectively gone into economic warfare against Wall Street and the entire world banking establishments. You gotta name the enemy.
So here are the probable outcomes in order:
#1 Brown will lose by a slender margin. Cameron will win by a slim margin. The Liberal Democrats will get a few more seats in Parliment.
Six months from now, the coalition goverment will collapse.
#2 Brown wins by a slim margin.
Liberal Democrats get a few more seats and coalition government fails in a few months.
#3 Lastly and the 100-1 odds against, the Liberal Democrats win.
Coalition government fails in less than six months.
Failure is not an option, it is inevitable. Government produces nothing. It is a ravenous consumer of wealth. Wealth is the force behind productivity. The problem arises when wealth takes flight out of the production sector.
----------------------------------------
So why this blog? The US is European. We are the prodigal step-child of Europe. To put this in perspective, the national language, English, won out over German by one vote. Furthermore, the US has refused to make English the "Official" language by law.
Ergo, as goes Britian so will go the U.S.A. come November.
People are afraid and will almost always vote the devil they know. The swing votes will make the difference and those votes will be cast for wealth protection. And even these votes will be split. The unemployed will vote for redundancy pay. Big money will vote for bail-outs. It is all about the voter's pocket-book.
Welcome to the "Brave New World Disorder."
Watson, the game is afoot and I have to place my bet.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Labels: Truth or Consequences
Labels: Truth or Consequences
As I have stated in previous blogs, I'm an economic news junkie. One of my most frequented sites is 321gold dot com.
Several times a week, some posting trots out Ayn Rand and her ideas about the economy. Usually it describes some connection to the csars and princes of the economic manipulation community.
Having read several of Ayn Rand's books, I find this more than just a little bit smelly. It just plain stinks of selective quoting to support some talking head's thesis, nay not thesis but rather untested hypothesis.
However, don't mess with what works. We live in a society that believes we are a democracy and therefore all you need to convince is a simple majority.
Still, I find it fascinating. I contend that this is fertile ground for a study of the human ability to use logical reasoning.
Over the last several decades, I have read several thousand books. Currently I'm semi-engrossed in "Sagas of the Icelanders." Would it be fair to state that my reading has influenced my perceptions of reality? Of course. Would it be realistic to claim that these authors shaped my perceptions? No, not at all. The problems most attributed to Ayn Rand is the concepts of self and its step-brother; greed.
Most people will scream loudly against greed unless they have more than their neighbors. Greed is a natural function of the human organism. Imagine the early hunter-gatherers disdaining greed and choosing to eat mice rather than taking down a bison or mammoth. Choosing the mice doesn't provide any food security for tomorrow. Greed insures the future.
None of this is meant to infer that greed without ethical conduct is good or natural. I don't believe in free lunches. Ergo, sharing among friends is the most beneficial and logical activity to insure the future. The harsh reality is that "shit happens."
Consider the Orwellians. You have government using the people for perpetuating government. All sorts of surveillance techniques are used. You have some sub-set of animals more equal than others. We are all in this together. Look around. In London, there are cameras on all the corners. In the US, we have government listening to our phonecalls. We have an Orwellian society. Yet the Orwellians are marginallized and ridiculed.
Don't forget that evil Jules Verne with his submarine warfare. Oh but Rachel Carson is a heroine. Who can forget Thoreau's "Walden Pond" and his endless pursuits of civil disobedience. For those who seek a future different from today, we have science fiction. Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" hammers on the idea that there ain't any free-lunches. Of course he wrote fiction. Just ask the greedy if they are footing the bill for free lunches. Then ask yourself if the free lunch has strings attached. "Vote for me. A chicken in every pot."
Sure, our reading list influences our train of thought. But it doesn't control it. Ayn Rand repeatedly hammered on the idea of personal responsibility. For shame, according to most from my personal experiences. I am inclined to contend that Ayn Rand's crime was negativity towards insurance companies.
Humans want security and insurance companies offer financial security for a price. Of course there is the problem of fiduciary responsibility to maximize shareholder return on investment. Insurance companies get the money up front and to paraphrase Warren Buffet, "If the people are doing their job, profits are guarenteed." A not-so-insignificant quantity of money the insurance companies recieve is pension plan monies. How much money did the insurance companies lose? How did a national directive for mandatory insurance policy enrollments get passed so easily against overwhelmingly negative public opinion? We are all in this together.
Speak against any sacred cow and you get to wear a label. Most of the labels are derived from some author. The labels exist as a means of pigeon-holing the person. After all, we have to have some means for sorting the millions of files our governments have compiled on most of us.
Who poses the risk today? Is it the Randians, perhaps the Orwellians. Few of us would ever consider anything but utter contempt for the Neo-Nazi skinhead Hitlerites. By holding a labelled group in contempt, we can discount all of their messages. In view of Arizona's new immigration law, I note that this law addresses one of the same grievances held by the Neo-Hitlerites.
I contend that some labels are valid. Most aren't. How do I tell them apart? When someone tells me they are a Democrat, I accept it. When someone tells me that Joe Blow is a communist, I accept the idea that the teller of the tale is trying to manipulate my perceptions.
Ohhh, I must be an Orwellian, huh? Thought crime; warning, warning Will Robinson. But wait! I'm all for free-markets, yet anti free-trade. I'm pro-business, but anti-corporation. I contend that war is absolute proof of failed diplomacy, yet am pro-military. I'm anti-income tax, but I readily agree that government needs a revenue stream. The irony is that I would gladly enjoy making enough money to put me in any tax bracket rather than the poverty I'm essentially stuck with.
Feel free to attach any label to yourself that makes you happy. I am wealthy in life experiences and poor in ducats. I have good friends that only mutual poverty can permit to develop. The wealthy have competitors, the poor have friends. I permit no agency to decree what alliance I shall align with. I am the proverbial duck. Labels wash off with the first rain. How far did Bernie Madoff fall when his label washed off?
The truth is that labels are just more damn advertising meant to encourage or discourage personal conduct. The consequences of accepting a label is someday the label will wash off and you will be exposed as the fraudulent piece of crap you are. Know thyself and be true to thine self. No label, no fraud.
As I have stated in previous blogs, I'm an economic news junkie. One of my most frequented sites is 321gold dot com.
Several times a week, some posting trots out Ayn Rand and her ideas about the economy. Usually it describes some connection to the csars and princes of the economic manipulation community.
Having read several of Ayn Rand's books, I find this more than just a little bit smelly. It just plain stinks of selective quoting to support some talking head's thesis, nay not thesis but rather untested hypothesis.
However, don't mess with what works. We live in a society that believes we are a democracy and therefore all you need to convince is a simple majority.
Still, I find it fascinating. I contend that this is fertile ground for a study of the human ability to use logical reasoning.
Over the last several decades, I have read several thousand books. Currently I'm semi-engrossed in "Sagas of the Icelanders." Would it be fair to state that my reading has influenced my perceptions of reality? Of course. Would it be realistic to claim that these authors shaped my perceptions? No, not at all. The problems most attributed to Ayn Rand is the concepts of self and its step-brother; greed.
Most people will scream loudly against greed unless they have more than their neighbors. Greed is a natural function of the human organism. Imagine the early hunter-gatherers disdaining greed and choosing to eat mice rather than taking down a bison or mammoth. Choosing the mice doesn't provide any food security for tomorrow. Greed insures the future.
None of this is meant to infer that greed without ethical conduct is good or natural. I don't believe in free lunches. Ergo, sharing among friends is the most beneficial and logical activity to insure the future. The harsh reality is that "shit happens."
Consider the Orwellians. You have government using the people for perpetuating government. All sorts of surveillance techniques are used. You have some sub-set of animals more equal than others. We are all in this together. Look around. In London, there are cameras on all the corners. In the US, we have government listening to our phonecalls. We have an Orwellian society. Yet the Orwellians are marginallized and ridiculed.
Don't forget that evil Jules Verne with his submarine warfare. Oh but Rachel Carson is a heroine. Who can forget Thoreau's "Walden Pond" and his endless pursuits of civil disobedience. For those who seek a future different from today, we have science fiction. Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" hammers on the idea that there ain't any free-lunches. Of course he wrote fiction. Just ask the greedy if they are footing the bill for free lunches. Then ask yourself if the free lunch has strings attached. "Vote for me. A chicken in every pot."
Sure, our reading list influences our train of thought. But it doesn't control it. Ayn Rand repeatedly hammered on the idea of personal responsibility. For shame, according to most from my personal experiences. I am inclined to contend that Ayn Rand's crime was negativity towards insurance companies.
Humans want security and insurance companies offer financial security for a price. Of course there is the problem of fiduciary responsibility to maximize shareholder return on investment. Insurance companies get the money up front and to paraphrase Warren Buffet, "If the people are doing their job, profits are guarenteed." A not-so-insignificant quantity of money the insurance companies recieve is pension plan monies. How much money did the insurance companies lose? How did a national directive for mandatory insurance policy enrollments get passed so easily against overwhelmingly negative public opinion? We are all in this together.
Speak against any sacred cow and you get to wear a label. Most of the labels are derived from some author. The labels exist as a means of pigeon-holing the person. After all, we have to have some means for sorting the millions of files our governments have compiled on most of us.
Who poses the risk today? Is it the Randians, perhaps the Orwellians. Few of us would ever consider anything but utter contempt for the Neo-Nazi skinhead Hitlerites. By holding a labelled group in contempt, we can discount all of their messages. In view of Arizona's new immigration law, I note that this law addresses one of the same grievances held by the Neo-Hitlerites.
I contend that some labels are valid. Most aren't. How do I tell them apart? When someone tells me they are a Democrat, I accept it. When someone tells me that Joe Blow is a communist, I accept the idea that the teller of the tale is trying to manipulate my perceptions.
Ohhh, I must be an Orwellian, huh? Thought crime; warning, warning Will Robinson. But wait! I'm all for free-markets, yet anti free-trade. I'm pro-business, but anti-corporation. I contend that war is absolute proof of failed diplomacy, yet am pro-military. I'm anti-income tax, but I readily agree that government needs a revenue stream. The irony is that I would gladly enjoy making enough money to put me in any tax bracket rather than the poverty I'm essentially stuck with.
Feel free to attach any label to yourself that makes you happy. I am wealthy in life experiences and poor in ducats. I have good friends that only mutual poverty can permit to develop. The wealthy have competitors, the poor have friends. I permit no agency to decree what alliance I shall align with. I am the proverbial duck. Labels wash off with the first rain. How far did Bernie Madoff fall when his label washed off?
The truth is that labels are just more damn advertising meant to encourage or discourage personal conduct. The consequences of accepting a label is someday the label will wash off and you will be exposed as the fraudulent piece of crap you are. Know thyself and be true to thine self. No label, no fraud.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
TANSTAAFL
TANSTAAFL
Lately we are hearing about a move to audit the Federal Reserve. It ain't gonna happen. Well maybe, but it will all be behind closed doors.
Here are the reasons:
1. Congress and the President don't want the public to find out that the Fed isn't a branch of government.
2. The probability of Civil War.
3. Without any illusions, the people will quit trying and surrender themselves to death.
4. Politicians love to be politicians.
So let's look at all of these in turn.
If the people find out that the Fed is just a bookie and loan shark to Congress, any remaining confidence in money and banking will disintegrate. Cash will become worthless and GDP in dollars will go to zero. Those dependant upon government money will find wage and price controls will lock them out of the markets. Barter will be king. Those with products or needed services will withdraw from the market. It matters little if bread is $2 a loaf under wage and price controls if none goes to the marketplace.
With little ot no money in circulation, tax revenues collapse. Government can't afford this and sure can't afford to declare war on the citizenry.
There is the possibility that no laws exist making it legal to open the Fed's books. Recall that our Constitution specifically outlaws ex-post-facto laws. This means what happened, happened and we as a nation have nothing to say legally about what happened.
The actual debt, presently due and payable as well as debts due in the future, can't be paid. In order to pay down the debt, virtually all of the entitlement programs MUST be eliminated.
Any of the above will trigger a Civil War. Hungry people do desperate things. To consider that government doesn't realize what is going on would be foolish. If government outsiders can figure it out, there is little doubt that those high up in the government know even more.
So what to do with the endless march of inevitability? Reinvent community. The extended family is gone. The sense of community is gone. Few remember either. Enter the new kid called Communitarianism. We are all in this together. We must cooperate and determine what community assets are available. These community assets are not collectively owned, but rather are privately owned.
Well, they are private until anti-hoarding laws are enacted. The grasshoppers will show up at the ant's door to redistribute your hoarded assets. Sooner more probably than later, the shooting will start. The grasshoppers will be hunted down and any and all supporting cast will be executed.
Those who have nothing but a sense of dispair will quietly roll over and die. Government will wring its hands and plead for cooperation. The mantra will be "we are all in this together." Any and all groups opposed to cooperation will be deemed outlaws. You can bet on the military being called in to put down the rebellion. Violence will beget violence.
With the military involved, the politicians and families will be assured of some measure of safety. Those in power never voluntarily surrender power. To do so will put politicians and their families in extreme danger of execution by the masses.
The politicians will seize farm production and distribution to maintain some measure of control of the hungry masses. Few agri-businessmen have ever noticed that their production is collaterall for the loans and government payments.
The hungry masses will be herded into the cities where distribution of farm products can be centralized and controlled by the military.
The bitter irony is that none of this will work in the long run. Without a viable economy, production of food and needed repair parts, the engine slows and stops. America doesn't produce the goods to maintain itself at any level. With no monetary assets backed by complete confidence, retooling any remaing factories won't happen. Our nation's infrastructure will collapse. Those remaining in the cities will escape into the countryside to plunder the few who work the land.
So is there a way out? Kinda sorta.
We can inflate the money supply a bunch. Think Zimbabwe. Debts can be paid down with worthless dollars. Jobs and production will fall, but the politicians will funnel cheap money into more bail-outs. The politicians must do what ever they can to maintain some sense of hope in the citizens. Of central importance is a common enemy outside the US.
This dreaded enemy requires our military involvement. Can you imagine the effect on our economy if we brought the troops home. War material production ceases, the veterans return to find jobs non-existent and any confidence they had in the system destroyed. Worse of all, these vets are combat trained. All of them have a sense of loyalty and duty. But where will this loyalty and duty be aligned with? You can bet that it won't be with a government that spent the wealth of the nation on crap. And you can bet everything on the vets winning the war against the politicians that sold the soldiers children into slavery.
Our nation, in a fit of compassion, sold future wealth for various entitlement programs that benefit the unproductive masses. The problem is "there is no future wealth only hardship and debt."
There is no such thing as a free lunch. TANSTAAFL. Auditting the Fed will only present the bills that are due and payable. No confidence in the money will be inevitable. It will become obvious that we will pay the piper. We will pay with death and destruction. The irony is that far too many skilled people will die for the sins of the politicians.
I would encourage those of you who can see TANSTAAFL seek out those with the knowledge and skills needed to maintain some semblence of a local economic engine and protect them for your children's sake. If we lose technology, we will be reduced to a hunter-gatherer society that preys on other groups.
It isn't too late to develop skills that will result in production of needed goods. It is almost too late to move to the country and buy a few acres. As the economy declines, outsiders will be unwelcomed. In order to be viewed as an asset, you must have something needed for the survival of the community. That something is tools and the skills to use them.
What we percieved as a free lunch will cost us far more than we could have ever imagined. Audit the Fed and find out. Just understand, it might, nay probably will cost you and your family far more than you can pay. After all, death is not optional, but rather mandatory. Audit the Fed and destroy what little confidence that remains.
I will leave you with this harsh reality. The entire world is inter-connected economically. Why do you think our politicians are passing bail-out legislation? Failure to bail-out corporations will result in immediate delivery of the bill. So many cry "New World Order" when what faces us is "New World Disorder." Duct tape legislation will only work for so long. Some country will default and the the world of economic cards will implode.
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey! How about a little more duct tape over here."
(Pan out to see delivery of new roll of duct tape.)
Politician peels off length of duct tape and patches hole in boat. Sets roll on seat.
(Zoom in on roll of duct tape.)
"Made in China"
Lately we are hearing about a move to audit the Federal Reserve. It ain't gonna happen. Well maybe, but it will all be behind closed doors.
Here are the reasons:
1. Congress and the President don't want the public to find out that the Fed isn't a branch of government.
2. The probability of Civil War.
3. Without any illusions, the people will quit trying and surrender themselves to death.
4. Politicians love to be politicians.
So let's look at all of these in turn.
If the people find out that the Fed is just a bookie and loan shark to Congress, any remaining confidence in money and banking will disintegrate. Cash will become worthless and GDP in dollars will go to zero. Those dependant upon government money will find wage and price controls will lock them out of the markets. Barter will be king. Those with products or needed services will withdraw from the market. It matters little if bread is $2 a loaf under wage and price controls if none goes to the marketplace.
With little ot no money in circulation, tax revenues collapse. Government can't afford this and sure can't afford to declare war on the citizenry.
There is the possibility that no laws exist making it legal to open the Fed's books. Recall that our Constitution specifically outlaws ex-post-facto laws. This means what happened, happened and we as a nation have nothing to say legally about what happened.
The actual debt, presently due and payable as well as debts due in the future, can't be paid. In order to pay down the debt, virtually all of the entitlement programs MUST be eliminated.
Any of the above will trigger a Civil War. Hungry people do desperate things. To consider that government doesn't realize what is going on would be foolish. If government outsiders can figure it out, there is little doubt that those high up in the government know even more.
So what to do with the endless march of inevitability? Reinvent community. The extended family is gone. The sense of community is gone. Few remember either. Enter the new kid called Communitarianism. We are all in this together. We must cooperate and determine what community assets are available. These community assets are not collectively owned, but rather are privately owned.
Well, they are private until anti-hoarding laws are enacted. The grasshoppers will show up at the ant's door to redistribute your hoarded assets. Sooner more probably than later, the shooting will start. The grasshoppers will be hunted down and any and all supporting cast will be executed.
Those who have nothing but a sense of dispair will quietly roll over and die. Government will wring its hands and plead for cooperation. The mantra will be "we are all in this together." Any and all groups opposed to cooperation will be deemed outlaws. You can bet on the military being called in to put down the rebellion. Violence will beget violence.
With the military involved, the politicians and families will be assured of some measure of safety. Those in power never voluntarily surrender power. To do so will put politicians and their families in extreme danger of execution by the masses.
The politicians will seize farm production and distribution to maintain some measure of control of the hungry masses. Few agri-businessmen have ever noticed that their production is collaterall for the loans and government payments.
The hungry masses will be herded into the cities where distribution of farm products can be centralized and controlled by the military.
The bitter irony is that none of this will work in the long run. Without a viable economy, production of food and needed repair parts, the engine slows and stops. America doesn't produce the goods to maintain itself at any level. With no monetary assets backed by complete confidence, retooling any remaing factories won't happen. Our nation's infrastructure will collapse. Those remaining in the cities will escape into the countryside to plunder the few who work the land.
So is there a way out? Kinda sorta.
We can inflate the money supply a bunch. Think Zimbabwe. Debts can be paid down with worthless dollars. Jobs and production will fall, but the politicians will funnel cheap money into more bail-outs. The politicians must do what ever they can to maintain some sense of hope in the citizens. Of central importance is a common enemy outside the US.
This dreaded enemy requires our military involvement. Can you imagine the effect on our economy if we brought the troops home. War material production ceases, the veterans return to find jobs non-existent and any confidence they had in the system destroyed. Worse of all, these vets are combat trained. All of them have a sense of loyalty and duty. But where will this loyalty and duty be aligned with? You can bet that it won't be with a government that spent the wealth of the nation on crap. And you can bet everything on the vets winning the war against the politicians that sold the soldiers children into slavery.
Our nation, in a fit of compassion, sold future wealth for various entitlement programs that benefit the unproductive masses. The problem is "there is no future wealth only hardship and debt."
There is no such thing as a free lunch. TANSTAAFL. Auditting the Fed will only present the bills that are due and payable. No confidence in the money will be inevitable. It will become obvious that we will pay the piper. We will pay with death and destruction. The irony is that far too many skilled people will die for the sins of the politicians.
I would encourage those of you who can see TANSTAAFL seek out those with the knowledge and skills needed to maintain some semblence of a local economic engine and protect them for your children's sake. If we lose technology, we will be reduced to a hunter-gatherer society that preys on other groups.
It isn't too late to develop skills that will result in production of needed goods. It is almost too late to move to the country and buy a few acres. As the economy declines, outsiders will be unwelcomed. In order to be viewed as an asset, you must have something needed for the survival of the community. That something is tools and the skills to use them.
What we percieved as a free lunch will cost us far more than we could have ever imagined. Audit the Fed and find out. Just understand, it might, nay probably will cost you and your family far more than you can pay. After all, death is not optional, but rather mandatory. Audit the Fed and destroy what little confidence that remains.
I will leave you with this harsh reality. The entire world is inter-connected economically. Why do you think our politicians are passing bail-out legislation? Failure to bail-out corporations will result in immediate delivery of the bill. So many cry "New World Order" when what faces us is "New World Disorder." Duct tape legislation will only work for so long. Some country will default and the the world of economic cards will implode.
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey! How about a little more duct tape over here."
(Pan out to see delivery of new roll of duct tape.)
Politician peels off length of duct tape and patches hole in boat. Sets roll on seat.
(Zoom in on roll of duct tape.)
"Made in China"
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Beyond Any Shadow of Doubt
Every day I am reminded of just how stupid people are. We are told that there is waste in the different government agencies. We are told that there are abuses within the myriad of social programs.
Few listen and even fewer get angry. Those few that get angry are effectively mollified by the endless numbers of agency spokemen that always proclaim that steps are being taken to halt the problem.
Here is my beef with the people. Haven't you been paying attention? This isn't some sort of fluke incident. It is endemic to the entire system. It just gets worse and worse the more we look into it.
Take the case of Enron. It was all smoke and mirrors. We were told that government regulators shut this sort of mess down and it wouldn't happen again. Except, one of the government's most trusted ally's on Wall Street was named Bernie Madoff. Now we have the Goldman Sachs fiasco.
A rational logical human would realize that the SEC is smoke and mirrors. As it is just a small portion of the government, wouldn't it be prudent to accept the possible notion that if the subordinate is a piece of shit, the supervisory agency is too?
We have a national budget so out of proportion to tax revenues that it will come back to bite us. Congress makes the budget. Congress created the SEC and the Treasury as well as the Federal Reserve with the urgings of Wall Street bankers. OUR DEBT is unsustainable. OUR CONGRESSMEN created the debt.
Trust is earned. Betray it and we all suffer the consequences. Unfortunately, stupid people breed.
Our economy has died a long and painful death. All that's left is the eulogy and having the stupid people line up for their daily ration of soylent green.
Few listen and even fewer get angry. Those few that get angry are effectively mollified by the endless numbers of agency spokemen that always proclaim that steps are being taken to halt the problem.
Here is my beef with the people. Haven't you been paying attention? This isn't some sort of fluke incident. It is endemic to the entire system. It just gets worse and worse the more we look into it.
Take the case of Enron. It was all smoke and mirrors. We were told that government regulators shut this sort of mess down and it wouldn't happen again. Except, one of the government's most trusted ally's on Wall Street was named Bernie Madoff. Now we have the Goldman Sachs fiasco.
A rational logical human would realize that the SEC is smoke and mirrors. As it is just a small portion of the government, wouldn't it be prudent to accept the possible notion that if the subordinate is a piece of shit, the supervisory agency is too?
We have a national budget so out of proportion to tax revenues that it will come back to bite us. Congress makes the budget. Congress created the SEC and the Treasury as well as the Federal Reserve with the urgings of Wall Street bankers. OUR DEBT is unsustainable. OUR CONGRESSMEN created the debt.
Trust is earned. Betray it and we all suffer the consequences. Unfortunately, stupid people breed.
Our economy has died a long and painful death. All that's left is the eulogy and having the stupid people line up for their daily ration of soylent green.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
The Game Has Already Been Played
Every season, folks sit down with drinks and snacks to watch another sporting event: baseball, basketball, golf, curling, ... etc. Most have a favorite team, a player or car and driver.
Few ever notice the underlaying reality. Every game, every race and every hole has already been played. Every perfect turn or pass has been made. Every mistake has been made. All that remains is who will make one or more mistakes that makes them the loser. Sports has been perfected. Only the players can make a mistake that allows another team or player to gain an advantage.
The folks continue to participate in the multi-billion dollar entertainmant complex as willing contributors to not just their favorite team, but also the losers (real or figuratively) that competed against them.
But I watch on TV. So what! Do you think that the TV station broadcasts the event as a public service.
Major league sports wouldn't exist in its present form without broadcast rights being sold. It is fundementally impossible for a 1/2 billion dollar sports stadium to be paid for out of gate receipts let alone player and staff salaries.
So the Consolidated Rodeo Arena Parnership (CRAP) sells broadcast rights to Broadcasting United Media Service (BUMS) for $500 million. BUMS then sells advertising minutes to various corporations to recoup the costs. BUMS also charges their network affiliates for rebroadcasting rights. These affiliates have several minutes of airtime to do their own sales of advertising that is sold to local companies and small corporations.
Each time you buy any goods that have been advertised, you are repaying the advertiser for their advertising costs. So as you can see, you are paying the losers indirectly but paying none the less.
Now here comes the real gravel-up-the-rectum kicker. Everyone is making money from you; the players, the sponsors, the camera-man, the advertising executive, everyone. They pay taxes. You are paying their taxes as well as their salaries.
It gets worse so better wrap some duct tape around your ankles otherwise this will blow your socks off.
The corporations make money for their investors who pay taxes. Most folks routinely scream for the corporations to pay more taxes. The corporations make money because they used advertising to get you to buy a new chrome-plated left-hand monkey wrench. Out of the money you paid, part of the price is the cost of advertising. This part is reimbursement to the local retailer and the corporation that brings you these fine crafted doodads.
Is the plot thick enough yet?
Advertising is deductable on taxes. So here we have Joe Public paying for the advertising, the players, ..., and the retailers workforce as well as everyone's tax burden.
The lost revenue from the advertising costs deduction has to be made up. Therefore you pay a higher percentage of the total tax bill.
Every time you scream for taxing the corporations, you are screaming to increase your tax burden.
Grab another beer from the fridge, bust open the chips and turn on the game. Who knows, it might go to triple overtime with the score 0-0. Who will screw-up and lose the game? Like I said, every game has already been played and the real loser is the consumer.
Few ever notice the underlaying reality. Every game, every race and every hole has already been played. Every perfect turn or pass has been made. Every mistake has been made. All that remains is who will make one or more mistakes that makes them the loser. Sports has been perfected. Only the players can make a mistake that allows another team or player to gain an advantage.
The folks continue to participate in the multi-billion dollar entertainmant complex as willing contributors to not just their favorite team, but also the losers (real or figuratively) that competed against them.
But I watch on TV. So what! Do you think that the TV station broadcasts the event as a public service.
Major league sports wouldn't exist in its present form without broadcast rights being sold. It is fundementally impossible for a 1/2 billion dollar sports stadium to be paid for out of gate receipts let alone player and staff salaries.
So the Consolidated Rodeo Arena Parnership (CRAP) sells broadcast rights to Broadcasting United Media Service (BUMS) for $500 million. BUMS then sells advertising minutes to various corporations to recoup the costs. BUMS also charges their network affiliates for rebroadcasting rights. These affiliates have several minutes of airtime to do their own sales of advertising that is sold to local companies and small corporations.
Each time you buy any goods that have been advertised, you are repaying the advertiser for their advertising costs. So as you can see, you are paying the losers indirectly but paying none the less.
Now here comes the real gravel-up-the-rectum kicker. Everyone is making money from you; the players, the sponsors, the camera-man, the advertising executive, everyone. They pay taxes. You are paying their taxes as well as their salaries.
It gets worse so better wrap some duct tape around your ankles otherwise this will blow your socks off.
The corporations make money for their investors who pay taxes. Most folks routinely scream for the corporations to pay more taxes. The corporations make money because they used advertising to get you to buy a new chrome-plated left-hand monkey wrench. Out of the money you paid, part of the price is the cost of advertising. This part is reimbursement to the local retailer and the corporation that brings you these fine crafted doodads.
Is the plot thick enough yet?
Advertising is deductable on taxes. So here we have Joe Public paying for the advertising, the players, ..., and the retailers workforce as well as everyone's tax burden.
The lost revenue from the advertising costs deduction has to be made up. Therefore you pay a higher percentage of the total tax bill.
Every time you scream for taxing the corporations, you are screaming to increase your tax burden.
Grab another beer from the fridge, bust open the chips and turn on the game. Who knows, it might go to triple overtime with the score 0-0. Who will screw-up and lose the game? Like I said, every game has already been played and the real loser is the consumer.
Monday, March 22, 2010
A Teaspoon of Medicine Makes the Bullshit Go Down
A Teaspoon of Medicine Makes the Bullshit Go Down
As I have not so gracefully gotten older, my sense of mortality becomes hightened. I read a copious amount on a plethora of subjects including medicine. Then there is free to air television and the University of Washington TV Mini-Medical courses and Research TV.
There is no doubt that the medical profession is on the cutting edge of gaining insight into the workings of the human physical condition. With the current discoveries into genetics and immunilogical responses, new drugs and their applications will become tailored to the individual.
This leads me to a troublesome line of reasoning. First-world humans have a pathological fear of death. We avoid talking about it. We will spend every last cent we can aquire to avoid it. We look to the government to help us pay for Herculean efforts to combat it. The insurance companies love it.
Once I developed this line of reasoning, it wasn't a giant leap to realize that most of what I thought I knew about medicine was wrong.
Perhaps some background might be in order. My mother was an LPN. She had great hopes for me to become a doctor and encouraged me to spend time with the doctor she worked for in order to develop my urge to become a prominent physician. I took a different path, but for a time was an EMT-1.
In all of this, I gained a better than average knowledge base on medicine. From my study of comparitive religion, I learned that humans shouldn't fear death. Shouldn't is a long way from the reality.
What I came to realize is that humans will expend all their wealth in the pursuit of the possibility of increasing their lifespan. A common thread in these treatment regimes is the "quality of life issues."
We have become a nation of drug addicts and cyborgs. Nevermind that the elderly will not be running in marathons or competing in Ironman competitions, a new hip or pacemaker will get you fixed up. We pursue better living through modern chemistry.
Over the years, we have prescribed amphetamines, barbituates, MDMA and before them, there was opium elixirs and even hash candy. Every time we saw a potential abuse of the drug, we outlawed it. Almost every currently prescribed drug has a long list of potential and often serious side-effects. I know people that were prescribed rat-poison aka warfarin as an anti-coagulent. A not so insubstantial percentage of Americans are on MADs; mood altering drugs. Got the blues, take a pill. Your child a bit hyper, we have lithium and if it doesn't work, we can try other drugs.
Daily we here about the drug traffickers and the financial and sociological drain on our society. And during the news broadcast come an advertisement that includes the statement, "ask your doctor if ______ is right for you?"
So what is my take on all this?
The majority of the medical professionals are high priced mechanics and chemists. Most of the highest paid are parts changers or service station attendants. We can swap out a hip, heart or a kidney. We can add an additive to the engine to relieve constipation, lower blood pressure and help with erectile dysfunction.
Then we have the vanity body and fender specialists. They will bob your nose, increase your bust size or turn black to white.
Then lest we forget, we have the software engineers. We will sit you down and ask you how you feel about _______ and then precribe MADs.
"She goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helperAnd it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day." Rolling Stones
Am I condemning medicine and the practitioners. Nope. We get what we are willing to pay for as long as the desired outcome is within our capacity as a patient and medical capability. I just ask why?
Why do we pursue a lifestyle that by all metrics increases stress. Just like a machine, the more you stress the machine, the greater the likelyhood of something wearing out or failing. Stress has been linked to immunilogical responses. Just like a machine, if we don't fire up the boiler regularly, the thing rusts and corrodes. The bearings fail. The pump leaks.
We are the culmination of millions of years of evolution. Rather than attempt to live within our design parameters, we think we have a better idea. Rather than accept the harsh reality that not every individual is a viable organism, we spend inordinate amounts of money and energy to sustain a lemon.
We have come to the mistaken belief that every individual is so damn precious that we have lost sight of reality. Not every individual is viable. We have an epidemic of C-sections in this country. Partly due to tort prevention, but also because we think that women who have too small of a pelvic openning MUST live and reproduce the same genetic flaw.
We have become a nation of lemons. We reproduce lemons. We demand that every lemon must be preserved for as long as possible. We pass laws and programs to protect lemons.
"In the year 2525, if man is still alive." Zager and Evans
As I have not so gracefully gotten older, my sense of mortality becomes hightened. I read a copious amount on a plethora of subjects including medicine. Then there is free to air television and the University of Washington TV Mini-Medical courses and Research TV.
There is no doubt that the medical profession is on the cutting edge of gaining insight into the workings of the human physical condition. With the current discoveries into genetics and immunilogical responses, new drugs and their applications will become tailored to the individual.
This leads me to a troublesome line of reasoning. First-world humans have a pathological fear of death. We avoid talking about it. We will spend every last cent we can aquire to avoid it. We look to the government to help us pay for Herculean efforts to combat it. The insurance companies love it.
Once I developed this line of reasoning, it wasn't a giant leap to realize that most of what I thought I knew about medicine was wrong.
Perhaps some background might be in order. My mother was an LPN. She had great hopes for me to become a doctor and encouraged me to spend time with the doctor she worked for in order to develop my urge to become a prominent physician. I took a different path, but for a time was an EMT-1.
In all of this, I gained a better than average knowledge base on medicine. From my study of comparitive religion, I learned that humans shouldn't fear death. Shouldn't is a long way from the reality.
What I came to realize is that humans will expend all their wealth in the pursuit of the possibility of increasing their lifespan. A common thread in these treatment regimes is the "quality of life issues."
We have become a nation of drug addicts and cyborgs. Nevermind that the elderly will not be running in marathons or competing in Ironman competitions, a new hip or pacemaker will get you fixed up. We pursue better living through modern chemistry.
Over the years, we have prescribed amphetamines, barbituates, MDMA and before them, there was opium elixirs and even hash candy. Every time we saw a potential abuse of the drug, we outlawed it. Almost every currently prescribed drug has a long list of potential and often serious side-effects. I know people that were prescribed rat-poison aka warfarin as an anti-coagulent. A not so insubstantial percentage of Americans are on MADs; mood altering drugs. Got the blues, take a pill. Your child a bit hyper, we have lithium and if it doesn't work, we can try other drugs.
Daily we here about the drug traffickers and the financial and sociological drain on our society. And during the news broadcast come an advertisement that includes the statement, "ask your doctor if ______ is right for you?"
So what is my take on all this?
The majority of the medical professionals are high priced mechanics and chemists. Most of the highest paid are parts changers or service station attendants. We can swap out a hip, heart or a kidney. We can add an additive to the engine to relieve constipation, lower blood pressure and help with erectile dysfunction.
Then we have the vanity body and fender specialists. They will bob your nose, increase your bust size or turn black to white.
Then lest we forget, we have the software engineers. We will sit you down and ask you how you feel about _______ and then precribe MADs.
"She goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helperAnd it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day." Rolling Stones
Am I condemning medicine and the practitioners. Nope. We get what we are willing to pay for as long as the desired outcome is within our capacity as a patient and medical capability. I just ask why?
Why do we pursue a lifestyle that by all metrics increases stress. Just like a machine, the more you stress the machine, the greater the likelyhood of something wearing out or failing. Stress has been linked to immunilogical responses. Just like a machine, if we don't fire up the boiler regularly, the thing rusts and corrodes. The bearings fail. The pump leaks.
We are the culmination of millions of years of evolution. Rather than attempt to live within our design parameters, we think we have a better idea. Rather than accept the harsh reality that not every individual is a viable organism, we spend inordinate amounts of money and energy to sustain a lemon.
We have come to the mistaken belief that every individual is so damn precious that we have lost sight of reality. Not every individual is viable. We have an epidemic of C-sections in this country. Partly due to tort prevention, but also because we think that women who have too small of a pelvic openning MUST live and reproduce the same genetic flaw.
We have become a nation of lemons. We reproduce lemons. We demand that every lemon must be preserved for as long as possible. We pass laws and programs to protect lemons.
"In the year 2525, if man is still alive." Zager and Evans
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
More Smoke and Mirrors
Well the latest Obama budget will put the ole USA even further in the toilet. It goes by many names, but Economic Stimulus is the catch phrase for borrowing and spending our way to recovery.
Nobody wants to talk about the fundemental problem. For the sake of social responsibility, we unwrite leisure. Oh this leisure has many names; among them are government programs for retirement, medical care, unemployment, national security and the list goes on and on and on.
The effective majority (small groups of vocal proponents) have clamored for every form of social program, more and better smart weapons, more environmental efforts and protecting too big to fail corporations from failing.
Only one problem exists with all thes dubious efforts: nobody can afford them. There isn't now or will ever be a large enough tax base to fund these programs.
So how did this happen? Emotional pleas that prey on the fears of the voting public. It could happen to you! Can you afford to take care of your parents if ... ? NGOs ply the TV airwaves with emotional pleas to save the ..., contact your Representative, help with relief efforts in ... . You get the idea.
Throughout human history, we have worked until we died. Survival demanded it. Effective work produced food and shelter. Post WWII inflation provided the illusion of prosperity and disposable income. We became a consumer-based economic power. We buy crap that we never needed for labor-savings and recreation. We rapidly moved away from actual producive work and moved into a service-oriented philosophy where we bought crap that we couldn't fix. So we hire a repairman to fix what we never needed to begin with. More money down the toilet. Now the USA doesn't make squat. We import it.
People are afraid that they will become destitute. A bit of reality please. The typical US citizen is an idiot. Idiot, n, incapable of learning. If you can't feed yourself, you are a malignancy. Malignancies never get better with time. The bag-lady is better prepared to survive than the members of a household in the suburbs. Being destitute is not the end of the world, slavery is.
If a citizen lacks the knowledge and skills to provide for their basic needs, they are forced to swear fealty to whomever ladles the soup into their bowl. Recall the old saw, "Never bite the hand that feeds you?" I hope that bowl of soup was worth your soul and self-respect.
But you say, "I have a mortgage that's underwater and my hours were cut." You chose this path in life. You have two options. Slavery or just walk away and begin a new life without all the modern trappings. The word trapping comes from the root word; trap.
It has been my observation that people define themselves by their possessions. This takes the form of job, family, home and toys. Their identity is stuff, not self. Don't believe me? Ask someone to tell you about themselves and listen to what they say. I'm a ..., I drive a ..., I have 2 ... and a wife that's a ..., I belong to the ... . Ain't a whole lot of self in this, but a whole passel of crap about their possessions.
So is there an answer? Can people escape this trap?
In the vast number of cases, no! People fear the unknown and self-sufficiency is completely unknown. If you aren't self-sufficient enough to provide for your most basic needs, you are a dependant and a dependant is a slave to their provider. These people's provider of choice; government.
If this were just about government's ability to tax, this wouldn't be near the problem. However government can tax the future by borrowing money today and tax the future by inflating the money supply. When you can inflate the monetary supply, the true value of the money declines. Prices for goods and services goes up.
Until now, we have been fairly successful in dodging the inflation bullet by outsourcing our manufacturing overseas. But, it has caught up with us. We are up to our necks in useless crap and forgot to flush the toilet. Once this toillet over-ran, everything is ruined. So we will continue to take in one another's laundry and gleefully declare that we are happy with a job that doesn't require us to clean our own soiled linen. And our most benevolent government takes a chunk of every paycheck to feed more and more useless drones.
Our only jobs growth sector is government. Welcome to our brave new world.
I like the analogy of the good shepherd. The sheep are happy with the good shepherd. He keeps them safe from predators and keeps them fed. It is a large herd, so few notice that a bunch of the lambs disappear to the slaughterhouse. Everyone agrees that there is a cost, so a minor annual fleecing is acceptable. Everyone hopes to be put out to pasture without realizing that the pasture is pretty bleak (don't waste good pasture on the old and infirm.)
In the end, everyone dies. It is just a matter of picking your own poison. Though Social Security is three years away for me, I know I will never be able to retire. Work has never been my enemy. Government spending is. I have no social responsibility beyond live and let live. I will die soon enough. Government and their communitarian allies might expedite it. Or not.
Nobody wants to talk about the fundemental problem. For the sake of social responsibility, we unwrite leisure. Oh this leisure has many names; among them are government programs for retirement, medical care, unemployment, national security and the list goes on and on and on.
The effective majority (small groups of vocal proponents) have clamored for every form of social program, more and better smart weapons, more environmental efforts and protecting too big to fail corporations from failing.
Only one problem exists with all thes dubious efforts: nobody can afford them. There isn't now or will ever be a large enough tax base to fund these programs.
So how did this happen? Emotional pleas that prey on the fears of the voting public. It could happen to you! Can you afford to take care of your parents if ... ? NGOs ply the TV airwaves with emotional pleas to save the ..., contact your Representative, help with relief efforts in ... . You get the idea.
Throughout human history, we have worked until we died. Survival demanded it. Effective work produced food and shelter. Post WWII inflation provided the illusion of prosperity and disposable income. We became a consumer-based economic power. We buy crap that we never needed for labor-savings and recreation. We rapidly moved away from actual producive work and moved into a service-oriented philosophy where we bought crap that we couldn't fix. So we hire a repairman to fix what we never needed to begin with. More money down the toilet. Now the USA doesn't make squat. We import it.
People are afraid that they will become destitute. A bit of reality please. The typical US citizen is an idiot. Idiot, n, incapable of learning. If you can't feed yourself, you are a malignancy. Malignancies never get better with time. The bag-lady is better prepared to survive than the members of a household in the suburbs. Being destitute is not the end of the world, slavery is.
If a citizen lacks the knowledge and skills to provide for their basic needs, they are forced to swear fealty to whomever ladles the soup into their bowl. Recall the old saw, "Never bite the hand that feeds you?" I hope that bowl of soup was worth your soul and self-respect.
But you say, "I have a mortgage that's underwater and my hours were cut." You chose this path in life. You have two options. Slavery or just walk away and begin a new life without all the modern trappings. The word trapping comes from the root word; trap.
It has been my observation that people define themselves by their possessions. This takes the form of job, family, home and toys. Their identity is stuff, not self. Don't believe me? Ask someone to tell you about themselves and listen to what they say. I'm a ..., I drive a ..., I have 2 ... and a wife that's a ..., I belong to the ... . Ain't a whole lot of self in this, but a whole passel of crap about their possessions.
So is there an answer? Can people escape this trap?
In the vast number of cases, no! People fear the unknown and self-sufficiency is completely unknown. If you aren't self-sufficient enough to provide for your most basic needs, you are a dependant and a dependant is a slave to their provider. These people's provider of choice; government.
If this were just about government's ability to tax, this wouldn't be near the problem. However government can tax the future by borrowing money today and tax the future by inflating the money supply. When you can inflate the monetary supply, the true value of the money declines. Prices for goods and services goes up.
Until now, we have been fairly successful in dodging the inflation bullet by outsourcing our manufacturing overseas. But, it has caught up with us. We are up to our necks in useless crap and forgot to flush the toilet. Once this toillet over-ran, everything is ruined. So we will continue to take in one another's laundry and gleefully declare that we are happy with a job that doesn't require us to clean our own soiled linen. And our most benevolent government takes a chunk of every paycheck to feed more and more useless drones.
Our only jobs growth sector is government. Welcome to our brave new world.
I like the analogy of the good shepherd. The sheep are happy with the good shepherd. He keeps them safe from predators and keeps them fed. It is a large herd, so few notice that a bunch of the lambs disappear to the slaughterhouse. Everyone agrees that there is a cost, so a minor annual fleecing is acceptable. Everyone hopes to be put out to pasture without realizing that the pasture is pretty bleak (don't waste good pasture on the old and infirm.)
In the end, everyone dies. It is just a matter of picking your own poison. Though Social Security is three years away for me, I know I will never be able to retire. Work has never been my enemy. Government spending is. I have no social responsibility beyond live and let live. I will die soon enough. Government and their communitarian allies might expedite it. Or not.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Heads I Win, Tails I Break Even
Heads I Win, Tails I Break Even
The evidence is becoming overwhelming; our politicians and their cohorts are attempting to prevent an economic firestorm that would destroy the value of our money. Effectively this is gonna take the mess and drag it out as long as possible.
Everyone watching the economic news knows inflating the money supply reduces the purchasing power of the money. With our current accounting practices, debt instruments are money. So not only is my bank savings account available for loans, but so is the mortgage papers on my house. Well, not my house as it's paid for but rather your house. It's like this, the bank loans you money to buy a house, then the bank takes the mortgage as security and claims the security of the mortgage papers is a deposit and loans money based on the deposit to someone else.
Our country prints money, spends it, claims it is part of the national wealth and taxes it. This is the gist of GDP. It has little to do with increased productivity and everything to do with money churn. Churn generates taxable revenue. Therefore, thou shalt not save and it is preferable that you but consumables rather than durables.
We have to not only allow inflation, but we must. Every year we have additional people entering the workforce. Without inflation, the current workers would be forced to accept a cut in pay. BUT, any and all infaltion MUST be directly in proportion to increased productivity. Government jobs are NOT productive and in fact are net consumers of national wealth.
So with all the background stuff out of the way, just how does this relate to the title of this posting?
Though I live at the ragged bottom of the economic ladder, I paid off all my bills. I cut up my credit card and chose to live with the absolute basics. Every dollar I wish to move into the disposable income column must be removed from essentials. Every day, there is a fixed cost to existing. If I buy potato chips, the basic allowance for food is reduced. Cooking from scratch makes this possible however sooo boring. Beans and rice makes for a ho-hum meal.
I try to keep a running list of what would make my life easier and profitable when the econonmy tanks. Many times it is just an additional couple of cans of vegetables or a 5# sack of sugar over and above my current needs. Sometimes it is a particular tool. I always have a list of books that will help me or a friend build or maintain something.
With my buying pattern, if the economy goes down the toilet tomorrow, I have prepared as well as I could. If the economy goes into a protracted slow decline, I bought tools, food and books cheap. I will use them either way. By abhoring debt, I have only the criminal element to fear and they won't find much here of value. Something to remember, a torque wrench has little value to a person lacking the skills to use it.
Oops, let the cat outa the bag. Every manual skill will have some value to the community. The scarcer the skill, the more barter value it has. History has amply proven; If you want to win, invest in sin. Our nation was only 4 years into the '29' Depression when Prohibition was repealed. The people wanted and were getting alcohol regardless of prohibition. Government needed the tax revenue. Whether it is the economics of the home or of the country, it is all about income vs out-go. I'm not avocating breaking the law, but rather pointing out that the lowly skill of the beer-maker will find a place in the poverty-stricken community.
The evidence is becoming overwhelming; our politicians and their cohorts are attempting to prevent an economic firestorm that would destroy the value of our money. Effectively this is gonna take the mess and drag it out as long as possible.
Everyone watching the economic news knows inflating the money supply reduces the purchasing power of the money. With our current accounting practices, debt instruments are money. So not only is my bank savings account available for loans, but so is the mortgage papers on my house. Well, not my house as it's paid for but rather your house. It's like this, the bank loans you money to buy a house, then the bank takes the mortgage as security and claims the security of the mortgage papers is a deposit and loans money based on the deposit to someone else.
Our country prints money, spends it, claims it is part of the national wealth and taxes it. This is the gist of GDP. It has little to do with increased productivity and everything to do with money churn. Churn generates taxable revenue. Therefore, thou shalt not save and it is preferable that you but consumables rather than durables.
We have to not only allow inflation, but we must. Every year we have additional people entering the workforce. Without inflation, the current workers would be forced to accept a cut in pay. BUT, any and all infaltion MUST be directly in proportion to increased productivity. Government jobs are NOT productive and in fact are net consumers of national wealth.
So with all the background stuff out of the way, just how does this relate to the title of this posting?
Though I live at the ragged bottom of the economic ladder, I paid off all my bills. I cut up my credit card and chose to live with the absolute basics. Every dollar I wish to move into the disposable income column must be removed from essentials. Every day, there is a fixed cost to existing. If I buy potato chips, the basic allowance for food is reduced. Cooking from scratch makes this possible however sooo boring. Beans and rice makes for a ho-hum meal.
I try to keep a running list of what would make my life easier and profitable when the econonmy tanks. Many times it is just an additional couple of cans of vegetables or a 5# sack of sugar over and above my current needs. Sometimes it is a particular tool. I always have a list of books that will help me or a friend build or maintain something.
With my buying pattern, if the economy goes down the toilet tomorrow, I have prepared as well as I could. If the economy goes into a protracted slow decline, I bought tools, food and books cheap. I will use them either way. By abhoring debt, I have only the criminal element to fear and they won't find much here of value. Something to remember, a torque wrench has little value to a person lacking the skills to use it.
Oops, let the cat outa the bag. Every manual skill will have some value to the community. The scarcer the skill, the more barter value it has. History has amply proven; If you want to win, invest in sin. Our nation was only 4 years into the '29' Depression when Prohibition was repealed. The people wanted and were getting alcohol regardless of prohibition. Government needed the tax revenue. Whether it is the economics of the home or of the country, it is all about income vs out-go. I'm not avocating breaking the law, but rather pointing out that the lowly skill of the beer-maker will find a place in the poverty-stricken community.
Everyone Is Entitled To __________ (fill in the blank)
Everyone Is Entitled To _________ (fill in the blank)
We are assailed everyday with one special interest group after another loudly proclaiming their group has a right to something; usually public monies. The cost is usually small compared to the national budget. Many times a comparison is made between some boondoggle and their worthy cause. Anyone foolish enough to question the supposed right will be castigated in the public forum. More than one politician has succumbed to the firestorm.
There is no escape other than complete collapse of the economy and the draconian spending cuts that WILL happen. There is only so much wealth generated each year. Most of this wealth is NOT new wealth, but rather a redistribution of existing wealth.
Lets call this wealth an elephant. Although an elephant is an enormous source of sustinence, its size seems overwhelming. It is possible to eat it if you just keep to one bite at a time. If you invite other diners, you will have more bites per given time period. Invite enough other people to the feast and soon the elephant is reduced to bones. Now you have a problem.
Very few of the people feasting contributed to the feast. Some provided nothing more than bringing their own eating utensils. But now the elephant is gone. The people are waiting to be fed. Few if any have developed the skills needed to deliver another elephant to the masses. Oh-oh, the masses are getting restless. What do we do?
You have a problem. There are fewer and fewer elephants. There are more and more mouths to feed. Dumb-ass you, you kept feeding them elephant. They are procaliming they are community and attaching every resource, you included), as a community-owned property.
Is it too late to leave the party? Oh yes. The age of hunger is just beginning and nobody gets out of here alive. People are going to die. Everyone of us. We can stack the odds in our favor for a long and prosperous life, but nothing is certain.
Nobody is entitled to anything beyond their civil rights. Life, liberty and the right to pursue happiness. In accepting these as our rights, we must defend others having these rights. However, the rights don't equate to society paying for your right to life by footing your living expenses. No, the right is all about your right to be relatively free from interference in your chosen lifestyle or lifespan. It is relative simply due to the possibility of "shit happens."
It is not a duty of the people to insure your health, nutrition or place of domicile. It is not the duty of the people to make sure your investments are secure and profitable. Most of all, you aren't entitled to happiness but rather the freedom to pursue it.
I won't deny that there are people in our country with serious problems. The problem is the spokesman for these people demand that everyone pays for putting the lipstick on the pig. Our taxed individual wealth doesn't cure any problems, but rather maintains the problem. We have legislated away nature.
In every natural system, an organism succeeds by industry. It may be nothing more than eating or it may be by participation in a collective effort. Failure to engage in a minimum level of industry results in death. Please understand, I'm not advocating euthanasia. I am advocating for NO PUBLIC MONIES to be expended on non-productive individuals or groups. We have legislated mandatory charity.
It really doesn't matter though. We have set our course for economic meltdown. In the end, we all lose. People will die from the "seven horsemen" while the government will daily proclaim its successes and admit to minor continuing problems with law enforcement, food distribution, utilities failures, yada, yada.
So just what of your resources will your neighbor claim as an entitlement. After all, we are all in this together. Aren't we all equal?
We are assailed everyday with one special interest group after another loudly proclaiming their group has a right to something; usually public monies. The cost is usually small compared to the national budget. Many times a comparison is made between some boondoggle and their worthy cause. Anyone foolish enough to question the supposed right will be castigated in the public forum. More than one politician has succumbed to the firestorm.
There is no escape other than complete collapse of the economy and the draconian spending cuts that WILL happen. There is only so much wealth generated each year. Most of this wealth is NOT new wealth, but rather a redistribution of existing wealth.
Lets call this wealth an elephant. Although an elephant is an enormous source of sustinence, its size seems overwhelming. It is possible to eat it if you just keep to one bite at a time. If you invite other diners, you will have more bites per given time period. Invite enough other people to the feast and soon the elephant is reduced to bones. Now you have a problem.
Very few of the people feasting contributed to the feast. Some provided nothing more than bringing their own eating utensils. But now the elephant is gone. The people are waiting to be fed. Few if any have developed the skills needed to deliver another elephant to the masses. Oh-oh, the masses are getting restless. What do we do?
You have a problem. There are fewer and fewer elephants. There are more and more mouths to feed. Dumb-ass you, you kept feeding them elephant. They are procaliming they are community and attaching every resource, you included), as a community-owned property.
Is it too late to leave the party? Oh yes. The age of hunger is just beginning and nobody gets out of here alive. People are going to die. Everyone of us. We can stack the odds in our favor for a long and prosperous life, but nothing is certain.
Nobody is entitled to anything beyond their civil rights. Life, liberty and the right to pursue happiness. In accepting these as our rights, we must defend others having these rights. However, the rights don't equate to society paying for your right to life by footing your living expenses. No, the right is all about your right to be relatively free from interference in your chosen lifestyle or lifespan. It is relative simply due to the possibility of "shit happens."
It is not a duty of the people to insure your health, nutrition or place of domicile. It is not the duty of the people to make sure your investments are secure and profitable. Most of all, you aren't entitled to happiness but rather the freedom to pursue it.
I won't deny that there are people in our country with serious problems. The problem is the spokesman for these people demand that everyone pays for putting the lipstick on the pig. Our taxed individual wealth doesn't cure any problems, but rather maintains the problem. We have legislated away nature.
In every natural system, an organism succeeds by industry. It may be nothing more than eating or it may be by participation in a collective effort. Failure to engage in a minimum level of industry results in death. Please understand, I'm not advocating euthanasia. I am advocating for NO PUBLIC MONIES to be expended on non-productive individuals or groups. We have legislated mandatory charity.
It really doesn't matter though. We have set our course for economic meltdown. In the end, we all lose. People will die from the "seven horsemen" while the government will daily proclaim its successes and admit to minor continuing problems with law enforcement, food distribution, utilities failures, yada, yada.
So just what of your resources will your neighbor claim as an entitlement. After all, we are all in this together. Aren't we all equal?
A Few Acres and a Cow
A Few Acres and a Cow
As always, every time there appears to be a collapse of the economy, the talking heads start promoting a small farm purchase. Every time they trot out their arguments for this action, I see failure in store for those who follow this ill-founded advice.
Here are the problems:
#1 People moving into a rural area are immediately suspect. You have no friends or family. You have no established reputation. You probably have no skills that the area is in need of.
#2 Living in rural environments requires an entirely different mind-set from suburban or urban areas. There is no corner store; big-box stores are miles away. Most all of the supplies needed to afford a reasonable lifestyle are imported to the area. Rural areas are NOT self-sufficient. The days of rural self-sufficiency went away decades ago. Succesful farming is corporate monoculture with plenty of access to credit.
#3 The homestead type farm is an illusion for the major part. It takes skills and experience to grow a garden. With minor carpentry skills you can build a chicken coop, but I'd bet money that your flock will die off within a few months. The skills needed to just maintain a subsistence lifestyle are almost overwhelming. It can be done, but you won't learn the skills in weeks or months, but rather several years.
#4 During this steep and exhaustive learning curve, you will need access to lots of money. You lack the skills to provide for yourself, so you will have to purchase them from others. You will buy skilled labor or you will die.
#5 If Federal Reserve Notes become worthless due to hyper-inflation, you better have something valuable to barter with that is in actual demand. Almost everything you own is total crap with no value in a subsistence environment.
#6 Most people will attempt to buy property based upon location, location, location. You live in a mind-set that still operates with investment potential as the prime driver for your choices. You will choose your land based upon the following criteria: On a well-travelled road, close to town, close to neighbors, ... etc. All of these criterias will put you square in the sights of the hungry masses that will have easy access to your assets. Survival success demands remoteness. The more remote you are, the greater the survival and farming skills you will need.
#7 Long-term success demands income from off the farm. Once again you are faced with lack of marketable skills in a rural environment. It is almost impossible to succeed without getting supplies you can't grow or make.
#8 All the talking heads promoting a bug-out farm fail to grasp the economic realities of rural life. I state all because all of the above reasons. You will not be an asset to the community, but rather a competitor for the limitted resources available. The most capable of surviving will know that you and your family will die, but until you do, you will drain away resources and put everyone else at risk of failure. The people will eliminate you from the herd. You can't survive without the herd.
Death is NOT an option. It is inevitable. You can stack the odds one way or the other on the time and place, but odds are for Las Vegas. So when you decide on "Going Up The Country"* bring lots of toilet paper, sugar and salt. The decending hoards of hungries will kill you and clean you out, but they are too stupid to pack off toilet paper and salt.
Don't depend on government for anything. Government produces nothing and consumes everything. Besides, their hands will be full with the hungry masses left in the cities. Remember those corporate monoculture farms? They are effectively owned by the USDA and all their production will go to the cities on government trucks with armed escorts.
So the question for me is, am I prepared? No. But I am established in the rural community and after beaucoup years I have developed the basic skills needed to survive. None the less, bring lots of toilet paper because the shit will hit the fan.
* "Going Up The Country" special thanks to Canned Heat. If only the water tasted like wine.
As always, every time there appears to be a collapse of the economy, the talking heads start promoting a small farm purchase. Every time they trot out their arguments for this action, I see failure in store for those who follow this ill-founded advice.
Here are the problems:
#1 People moving into a rural area are immediately suspect. You have no friends or family. You have no established reputation. You probably have no skills that the area is in need of.
#2 Living in rural environments requires an entirely different mind-set from suburban or urban areas. There is no corner store; big-box stores are miles away. Most all of the supplies needed to afford a reasonable lifestyle are imported to the area. Rural areas are NOT self-sufficient. The days of rural self-sufficiency went away decades ago. Succesful farming is corporate monoculture with plenty of access to credit.
#3 The homestead type farm is an illusion for the major part. It takes skills and experience to grow a garden. With minor carpentry skills you can build a chicken coop, but I'd bet money that your flock will die off within a few months. The skills needed to just maintain a subsistence lifestyle are almost overwhelming. It can be done, but you won't learn the skills in weeks or months, but rather several years.
#4 During this steep and exhaustive learning curve, you will need access to lots of money. You lack the skills to provide for yourself, so you will have to purchase them from others. You will buy skilled labor or you will die.
#5 If Federal Reserve Notes become worthless due to hyper-inflation, you better have something valuable to barter with that is in actual demand. Almost everything you own is total crap with no value in a subsistence environment.
#6 Most people will attempt to buy property based upon location, location, location. You live in a mind-set that still operates with investment potential as the prime driver for your choices. You will choose your land based upon the following criteria: On a well-travelled road, close to town, close to neighbors, ... etc. All of these criterias will put you square in the sights of the hungry masses that will have easy access to your assets. Survival success demands remoteness. The more remote you are, the greater the survival and farming skills you will need.
#7 Long-term success demands income from off the farm. Once again you are faced with lack of marketable skills in a rural environment. It is almost impossible to succeed without getting supplies you can't grow or make.
#8 All the talking heads promoting a bug-out farm fail to grasp the economic realities of rural life. I state all because all of the above reasons. You will not be an asset to the community, but rather a competitor for the limitted resources available. The most capable of surviving will know that you and your family will die, but until you do, you will drain away resources and put everyone else at risk of failure. The people will eliminate you from the herd. You can't survive without the herd.
Death is NOT an option. It is inevitable. You can stack the odds one way or the other on the time and place, but odds are for Las Vegas. So when you decide on "Going Up The Country"* bring lots of toilet paper, sugar and salt. The decending hoards of hungries will kill you and clean you out, but they are too stupid to pack off toilet paper and salt.
Don't depend on government for anything. Government produces nothing and consumes everything. Besides, their hands will be full with the hungry masses left in the cities. Remember those corporate monoculture farms? They are effectively owned by the USDA and all their production will go to the cities on government trucks with armed escorts.
So the question for me is, am I prepared? No. But I am established in the rural community and after beaucoup years I have developed the basic skills needed to survive. None the less, bring lots of toilet paper because the shit will hit the fan.
* "Going Up The Country" special thanks to Canned Heat. If only the water tasted like wine.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Confessions of an Economics News Junky
I admit I'm a junky for economic news. My perception of reality is based upon simplicity.
Survival of any and every organism is a balancing of effort against reward. It costs energy to hunt, fish, garden or gather. Spend too much labor for too little gain and you lose. Labor is energy plain and simple.
An efficient organism expends little effort for maximum gain and then saves the surplus for leaner times. Surplus is wealth.
Wealth is the key element for gaining leisure. A full belly permits the organism to relax and ponder possibilities. Surplus guarantees a full belly for days, weeks or months. Efficiency is the only mechanism that will gain an organism a large surplus.
Fast forward to the new and improved existence. Society decides inefficiency is just a minor problem and taxing surplus, redistribution and feel-good enlightenment is the moral thing to do. Everyone deserves. Nobody left behind. We are in this together.
Every day I hear about some new program, scheme or cooperative agreement intended to level the playing field. Those enlightened people who trot out this nonsense have no idea of the economic mess they are making.
Money has become the preferred storage mechanism for surplus labor credits. Some can accumulate surplus, but the vast percentage of people can't and/or won't save. Large numbers of people lack the basic capacity to gain the basic neccessities in life. They are failed organisms who's continued existence is completely dependant upon redistribution of wealth.
The problem becomes one of not enough surplus to tax. Enter debt. On an individual basis once debt reaches a certain level, the organism fails. But if we enter into debt, we can postpone the inevitable until maybe something happens. The liberals have a solution; we enter into a collective debt. Everyone has a duty to society. Well folks, duty is debt.
Many will proclaim that we have a social responsibility. Try as I may, I can't find any logical argument for this idea. Social responsibility is socialism. The body will be maintained at the expense of the limbs. We eat ourselves. The efficient get taxed into poverty because we are all in this together.
If this isn't bad enough, society has a brain called government, social planning groups and banks. Just as in the individual organism, the brain consumes energy but produces nothing. Economics is all about production; nothing else. Once we move consumption in excess of production, we begin a decline to death. Society has chosen this path and the outcome in inevitable.
There is no escape from debt other than paying it off. Debt is death to positive economic outcomes. When society decides to enter into collective debt, all participants are caught in the spider's web.
Every day, I read about the spider and just who is on the menu. Society's brain decides who shall be sacrificed to preserve the brain. Just like the human brain, society's brain is a major depository of fat. Don't get me wrong, fat is good for the organism. Society is NOT an organism but rather a parasitic growth. Society preys on the individual's economic success. Just like a tapeworm, society has no idea of the individual's capacity to succede as a viable organism.
I read the economic news for some bit of hope that this trend will run out of steam. It hasn't and won't. Society won't let it. Everyone deserves. Everyone is precious. We owe them because we are successful. Bullshit! Productivity is the determinant. Produce or die.
In the coming months or few years, the debt will become so overwhelming that entire portions of our economy will fail. We put all our economic eggs in one basket and the basket has a whole in it. We are borrowing and spending the future earnings of our grand-children and conning ourselves into believing it is for their own good.
Government step in and force major redistributions of foodstuffs. People will become trapped in the cities and completely dependant upon the distributions. Corporate farms carry tremendous debt and will have no choice but to surrender their production to the government. Cities can only survive by importing vast quantities of food, materials and wealth from other districts outside the city. Once these supplies run out, the city dies. Chaos will reign, government will attempt to contain the problem and fail. The problem is systemic and malignant.
Can we contain it? The only option we have is complete and total elimination of entitlements. We must stop all redistributions for every supposed good and just cause. I say supposed because that is all it is. These supposed causes are artificial and are directly counter-productive. Just is simple; we are born, we live and we die. Our individual actions determine the economics of our existence unless we permit others to make economic decisions for us.
The news isn't good and I know it will get worse. Economics has been redefined by economists and our politicians either lack the mental facilities to recognize bullshit or they lack the will to do what must be done. I tend to think it is a mixture of both.
As I read the economic news, I see that the individual lacks basic economic knowledge. They elect an idiot that proclaims a magic potion for solving the problem. And barring a major screw-up, the masses re-elect the same idiot because "better the devil we know."
I have met our economic enemy and it is us. We vote ourselves money that can only come from increased debt. TANSTAAFL
Survival of any and every organism is a balancing of effort against reward. It costs energy to hunt, fish, garden or gather. Spend too much labor for too little gain and you lose. Labor is energy plain and simple.
An efficient organism expends little effort for maximum gain and then saves the surplus for leaner times. Surplus is wealth.
Wealth is the key element for gaining leisure. A full belly permits the organism to relax and ponder possibilities. Surplus guarantees a full belly for days, weeks or months. Efficiency is the only mechanism that will gain an organism a large surplus.
Fast forward to the new and improved existence. Society decides inefficiency is just a minor problem and taxing surplus, redistribution and feel-good enlightenment is the moral thing to do. Everyone deserves. Nobody left behind. We are in this together.
Every day I hear about some new program, scheme or cooperative agreement intended to level the playing field. Those enlightened people who trot out this nonsense have no idea of the economic mess they are making.
Money has become the preferred storage mechanism for surplus labor credits. Some can accumulate surplus, but the vast percentage of people can't and/or won't save. Large numbers of people lack the basic capacity to gain the basic neccessities in life. They are failed organisms who's continued existence is completely dependant upon redistribution of wealth.
The problem becomes one of not enough surplus to tax. Enter debt. On an individual basis once debt reaches a certain level, the organism fails. But if we enter into debt, we can postpone the inevitable until maybe something happens. The liberals have a solution; we enter into a collective debt. Everyone has a duty to society. Well folks, duty is debt.
Many will proclaim that we have a social responsibility. Try as I may, I can't find any logical argument for this idea. Social responsibility is socialism. The body will be maintained at the expense of the limbs. We eat ourselves. The efficient get taxed into poverty because we are all in this together.
If this isn't bad enough, society has a brain called government, social planning groups and banks. Just as in the individual organism, the brain consumes energy but produces nothing. Economics is all about production; nothing else. Once we move consumption in excess of production, we begin a decline to death. Society has chosen this path and the outcome in inevitable.
There is no escape from debt other than paying it off. Debt is death to positive economic outcomes. When society decides to enter into collective debt, all participants are caught in the spider's web.
Every day, I read about the spider and just who is on the menu. Society's brain decides who shall be sacrificed to preserve the brain. Just like the human brain, society's brain is a major depository of fat. Don't get me wrong, fat is good for the organism. Society is NOT an organism but rather a parasitic growth. Society preys on the individual's economic success. Just like a tapeworm, society has no idea of the individual's capacity to succede as a viable organism.
I read the economic news for some bit of hope that this trend will run out of steam. It hasn't and won't. Society won't let it. Everyone deserves. Everyone is precious. We owe them because we are successful. Bullshit! Productivity is the determinant. Produce or die.
In the coming months or few years, the debt will become so overwhelming that entire portions of our economy will fail. We put all our economic eggs in one basket and the basket has a whole in it. We are borrowing and spending the future earnings of our grand-children and conning ourselves into believing it is for their own good.
Government step in and force major redistributions of foodstuffs. People will become trapped in the cities and completely dependant upon the distributions. Corporate farms carry tremendous debt and will have no choice but to surrender their production to the government. Cities can only survive by importing vast quantities of food, materials and wealth from other districts outside the city. Once these supplies run out, the city dies. Chaos will reign, government will attempt to contain the problem and fail. The problem is systemic and malignant.
Can we contain it? The only option we have is complete and total elimination of entitlements. We must stop all redistributions for every supposed good and just cause. I say supposed because that is all it is. These supposed causes are artificial and are directly counter-productive. Just is simple; we are born, we live and we die. Our individual actions determine the economics of our existence unless we permit others to make economic decisions for us.
The news isn't good and I know it will get worse. Economics has been redefined by economists and our politicians either lack the mental facilities to recognize bullshit or they lack the will to do what must be done. I tend to think it is a mixture of both.
As I read the economic news, I see that the individual lacks basic economic knowledge. They elect an idiot that proclaims a magic potion for solving the problem. And barring a major screw-up, the masses re-elect the same idiot because "better the devil we know."
I have met our economic enemy and it is us. We vote ourselves money that can only come from increased debt. TANSTAAFL
Friday, January 29, 2010
Retirement, What Retirement
Retirement seems to be the one thing the working man looks forward to. Well thanks to the SEC, the first wave of financial predators has started to attack your meager funds.
In a 4-1 decision, the SEC has put in place a mechanism that will suspend your ability to redeem your Money Market (MM) funds. The purpose is clear, the SEC will prevent the investors from making a run on the MMs. It is obviously NOT your money.
Recall that during the early days of the Great Depression once Roosevelt gained the presidency, bank holidays were enacted. The supposed purpose was to prevent runs on the bank by the depositors hurring to withdraw THEIR money. Many banks failed. Many people got pennies on the dollar as the FDIC wasn't there to back insure the deposits.
Now we have a $12 trillion national debt according to the government. This doesn't account for all the internal debt between agencies. There is NO money in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or any of the other trust (?) accounts. Congress spent it all.
The public wants every sort of government program, but is unwilling to pay for it. Tax revenue is where the real wealth Congress spends comes from. Tax revenue has been and will continue to be a major shortfall. The more people that lose jobs, the less the tax revenue. Look at the mess the people of California have made by voting for programs, but not for the tax revenues to fund them.
Simple math will reveal that the current national debt CAN'T be paid by taxation. Much of this debt is short-term. The government has had to convert long debt to short debt in order to get investors like China to roll-over their T-bill holdings.
It appears that our benevolent government is gonna try the Japan gambit; convert foreign holding to domestic holdings. Japan's debt is funded internally. The Japanese invest in their own economy by buying the equivalent of Treasury notes. If Japan defaults, it is their own people that lose their retirement funds.
With this SEC ruling, MM accounts are effectively frozen. Bailouts have become endemic. AIG, an insurance company, was bailed out in order to protect the holdings of Goldman-Sachs. As insurance companies are the large institutional investors, what will happen when the well of monthly insurance premiums dries up?
It takes little intelligence to figure out that this SEC ruling is the openning salvo in our government's move to nationalize retirement funds. The government is broke. China and other countries are trying to unwind their investment in US securities. Our retirement funds are going to be converted to government securities and our monthly premiums will pay for debt service. Don't fret none now. Your monies are secured by full-faith and credit of the US government. Makes you wonder, why the big push for national health insurance?
Any monies you have in the MM is effectively frozen. You no longer have the right to choose where to invest your meager holdings. In the words of the SEC, "We understand that suspending redemptions may impose hardships on investors who rely on their ability to redeem shares."
Nobody is talking about the greivious losses incurred by the pension plans aka retirement insurance. These retirement funds will be nationalized. Our debt needs the monies for debt service. Besides, you're suppose to die before drawing any benefits and your off-spring aren't really entitled to the fruits of your long career. Don't believe me? Why does inheritance taxation exist?
Can we escape or at least minimize the coming "hardships" before it is too late? I would contend that precious metals in-hand have always worked in protecting accumulated wealth. Of course if you tell anyone, you had better be willing and able to defend your wealth. People can't help but talk and your secret won't be.
Other options are eliminating personal debt, stocking up on food and supplies and most of all, get out of the city. Tools and the requisite skills to use them will insure a future revenue stream. Even lacking the skills presents a possible strategy for wealth generation with the tools. Have you ever gone to a tool rental business? Many if not most are in debt. Where do you think the tools will go when their debt is called in?
No folks, kiss retirement goodbye. If you haven't taken possession of your savings, it will shortly be possessed by our most benevolent and wise government. After-all, it is for our own good.
In a 4-1 decision, the SEC has put in place a mechanism that will suspend your ability to redeem your Money Market (MM) funds. The purpose is clear, the SEC will prevent the investors from making a run on the MMs. It is obviously NOT your money.
Recall that during the early days of the Great Depression once Roosevelt gained the presidency, bank holidays were enacted. The supposed purpose was to prevent runs on the bank by the depositors hurring to withdraw THEIR money. Many banks failed. Many people got pennies on the dollar as the FDIC wasn't there to back insure the deposits.
Now we have a $12 trillion national debt according to the government. This doesn't account for all the internal debt between agencies. There is NO money in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or any of the other trust (?) accounts. Congress spent it all.
The public wants every sort of government program, but is unwilling to pay for it. Tax revenue is where the real wealth Congress spends comes from. Tax revenue has been and will continue to be a major shortfall. The more people that lose jobs, the less the tax revenue. Look at the mess the people of California have made by voting for programs, but not for the tax revenues to fund them.
Simple math will reveal that the current national debt CAN'T be paid by taxation. Much of this debt is short-term. The government has had to convert long debt to short debt in order to get investors like China to roll-over their T-bill holdings.
It appears that our benevolent government is gonna try the Japan gambit; convert foreign holding to domestic holdings. Japan's debt is funded internally. The Japanese invest in their own economy by buying the equivalent of Treasury notes. If Japan defaults, it is their own people that lose their retirement funds.
With this SEC ruling, MM accounts are effectively frozen. Bailouts have become endemic. AIG, an insurance company, was bailed out in order to protect the holdings of Goldman-Sachs. As insurance companies are the large institutional investors, what will happen when the well of monthly insurance premiums dries up?
It takes little intelligence to figure out that this SEC ruling is the openning salvo in our government's move to nationalize retirement funds. The government is broke. China and other countries are trying to unwind their investment in US securities. Our retirement funds are going to be converted to government securities and our monthly premiums will pay for debt service. Don't fret none now. Your monies are secured by full-faith and credit of the US government. Makes you wonder, why the big push for national health insurance?
Any monies you have in the MM is effectively frozen. You no longer have the right to choose where to invest your meager holdings. In the words of the SEC, "We understand that suspending redemptions may impose hardships on investors who rely on their ability to redeem shares."
Nobody is talking about the greivious losses incurred by the pension plans aka retirement insurance. These retirement funds will be nationalized. Our debt needs the monies for debt service. Besides, you're suppose to die before drawing any benefits and your off-spring aren't really entitled to the fruits of your long career. Don't believe me? Why does inheritance taxation exist?
Can we escape or at least minimize the coming "hardships" before it is too late? I would contend that precious metals in-hand have always worked in protecting accumulated wealth. Of course if you tell anyone, you had better be willing and able to defend your wealth. People can't help but talk and your secret won't be.
Other options are eliminating personal debt, stocking up on food and supplies and most of all, get out of the city. Tools and the requisite skills to use them will insure a future revenue stream. Even lacking the skills presents a possible strategy for wealth generation with the tools. Have you ever gone to a tool rental business? Many if not most are in debt. Where do you think the tools will go when their debt is called in?
No folks, kiss retirement goodbye. If you haven't taken possession of your savings, it will shortly be possessed by our most benevolent and wise government. After-all, it is for our own good.
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