The real economic problem is debt and there is no easy way out. Almost everything 'they' do now is designed to hide and mask things from the general public. The actual unemployment rate is near 20% while 'they' report it as 9.7% The GDP numbers aren't 'real', the inflation numbers aren't 'real'. I no longer even trust 'consumer confidence' numbers. 'They' are actively playing with all the numbers they can to paint the picture differently than it really is. You'll start to hear minor changes in what things are called. GDP will start being called 'normalized' GDP. Our CPI numbers have been messed up since Bill Clinton. 'They' took OUT food and energy! As if those things do not impact Americans in an inflationary way... There is no foreclosure mitigation they are expected to rise for 2 years. 'They' just stretched out the time horizon a little. The banks still want the money. Beware the 'data spinners'. 'They' will continue to spend and prop up the economic data. Many many people are way over indebted and not only people but also corporations and the government itself. The only way to ever end this is through a dramatic downsizing of American life and what it means to be an American. Deflation.
Our country has already changed forever. One of the main problems here is that there are so many BORING numbers and statistics involved in all this that it's impossible, by design, for a layman to know heads from tails...
'We the people' will LOVE deflation. Your dollars will be worth more for a change. The economy will 'adjust' to new realities, a new paradigm. There are loads of industries in this economy that NEED to downsize dramatically! They were built on the accumulation of debt! Now that Americans have tired of accumulating debt things must change fairly dramatically.
The government's response to all this seems to be to ignore the 10% to 15% of Americans who are really hurting badly and just 'pretend' that things are improving. While 'they' desperately pump liquidity into the sectors that need it most. 'They' are plugging leaks in the damn with their fingers and thumbs...
Think 1950's... I'm looking FORWARD to it ;)
Greg
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Senior power can save us
Putting my powerful brain to work for 'real' solutions to today's economic turmoil. Granted it may be a 'short term' solution but based on what I see coming from Washington and Wall Street that's what everyone one WANTS. Something to fix everything 'right now!' And that's just what I've got ;)
According to our kleptocratic leaders what we need to bail out our economy is more 'borrowing', more 'lending' and more 'consuming/spending'. It seems the health of our economy depends largely on whether or not the American people choose to expand their deficit spending.
Then it struck me!
We have a very large elderly population in this country. They are being both hit and hurt by this economic downturn. I know of no one, not even the obama administration, that likes seeing our seniors hit and hurt by anything... However it seems far too many of our seniors these days are being forced to choose 'between' things such as shelter, utilities, food and the ever present, consistently income draining, drugs and medical 'services' that 'purportedly' keep them alive and kicking... I have my own opinions about just how 'safe' the drugs are and just how 'valuable' the services may, or may not, be but that's another post...
At any rate my point is that many many seniors are, shall we say, 'stretched' economically at the present time...
TA DA!!! I think the 'short term' (ie; the ability to party like it's 1997 or 2004 or somewhere in there...) solution to our problem is simple! And it has been right in front of us all this time!
What we need is for congress to pass a 'law' that MANDATES every major bank and credit card company in the country (we'll save world-wide mandates for later) immediately supply credit to our seniors through the distribution of credit cards (little plastic cards that work like free money but in the end turn out not to be quite free).
It's so PERFECTLY simple!
And it works so perfectly too!
Now this is going to take some 'responcibility' from our seniors as well... They should be 'required' to sign a contract agreeing to 'max out' these credit cards as soon as possible... 'Interest rates', 'fees' and 'terms' are 'inconsequential' as you will see in a bit...
We ALL, I dare say, love our seniors... After all they are our moms and dads, grandmothers and grandfathers! We would love to see them enjoy the later years of their life to the fullest would we not?! Movies, dinners out every night, plays, vacations to Europe! It's beautiful, really.
Just IMAGINE the huge and IMMEDIATE boost to our economy all this new 'consumerism' and 'debt creation' would have! I fail to see how we CANNOT impliment this plan!
In fact, though it might slow the bill down a bit, I think we should also 'mandate' auto loans and mortgages for all seniors over say 70 years old... Get those RV factories going again! Put that bar in the basement!
I truly DO believe that all of our seniors deserve no less than the best. They should be allowed to exit this mess with style and dignity. Don't you think?
It IS 'short term' I admit... Because when the bills come due mom and pop may have kicked the proverbial bucket and, in many cases, died penniless... I can't figure out EVERYTHING now can I?! It seems that all our government, the Federal Reserve, and the Central Bankers want is a lot more money right now! I think this sincere 'plan' can fill that gap at least...
So please join me in encouraging our seniors to live like the true 'kings and queens' they are for the time they have left on this earth. Encourage them to get a hold of all the credit cards and loans they can possibly get their hands on as fast as they possibly can. It could, potentially, keep us propped up for years!
Screw the banks... they can 'eat it' as far as I'm concerned.
Greg
According to our kleptocratic leaders what we need to bail out our economy is more 'borrowing', more 'lending' and more 'consuming/spending'. It seems the health of our economy depends largely on whether or not the American people choose to expand their deficit spending.
Then it struck me!
We have a very large elderly population in this country. They are being both hit and hurt by this economic downturn. I know of no one, not even the obama administration, that likes seeing our seniors hit and hurt by anything... However it seems far too many of our seniors these days are being forced to choose 'between' things such as shelter, utilities, food and the ever present, consistently income draining, drugs and medical 'services' that 'purportedly' keep them alive and kicking... I have my own opinions about just how 'safe' the drugs are and just how 'valuable' the services may, or may not, be but that's another post...
At any rate my point is that many many seniors are, shall we say, 'stretched' economically at the present time...
TA DA!!! I think the 'short term' (ie; the ability to party like it's 1997 or 2004 or somewhere in there...) solution to our problem is simple! And it has been right in front of us all this time!
What we need is for congress to pass a 'law' that MANDATES every major bank and credit card company in the country (we'll save world-wide mandates for later) immediately supply credit to our seniors through the distribution of credit cards (little plastic cards that work like free money but in the end turn out not to be quite free).
It's so PERFECTLY simple!
And it works so perfectly too!
Now this is going to take some 'responcibility' from our seniors as well... They should be 'required' to sign a contract agreeing to 'max out' these credit cards as soon as possible... 'Interest rates', 'fees' and 'terms' are 'inconsequential' as you will see in a bit...
We ALL, I dare say, love our seniors... After all they are our moms and dads, grandmothers and grandfathers! We would love to see them enjoy the later years of their life to the fullest would we not?! Movies, dinners out every night, plays, vacations to Europe! It's beautiful, really.
Just IMAGINE the huge and IMMEDIATE boost to our economy all this new 'consumerism' and 'debt creation' would have! I fail to see how we CANNOT impliment this plan!
In fact, though it might slow the bill down a bit, I think we should also 'mandate' auto loans and mortgages for all seniors over say 70 years old... Get those RV factories going again! Put that bar in the basement!
I truly DO believe that all of our seniors deserve no less than the best. They should be allowed to exit this mess with style and dignity. Don't you think?
It IS 'short term' I admit... Because when the bills come due mom and pop may have kicked the proverbial bucket and, in many cases, died penniless... I can't figure out EVERYTHING now can I?! It seems that all our government, the Federal Reserve, and the Central Bankers want is a lot more money right now! I think this sincere 'plan' can fill that gap at least...
So please join me in encouraging our seniors to live like the true 'kings and queens' they are for the time they have left on this earth. Encourage them to get a hold of all the credit cards and loans they can possibly get their hands on as fast as they possibly can. It could, potentially, keep us propped up for years!
Screw the banks... they can 'eat it' as far as I'm concerned.
Greg
Friday, September 25, 2009
'THUNDER UNDERGROUND'
Your thoughts are compromising
self-centered, patronized
your image supersedes
your soul
You find me mystifying
subhuman, so annoying
you can't have me
under control
You think you live forever
You don't find that profound
You won't think you're
so clever
when you hear thunder
underground
Your morbid fear of losing
destroys the lives you're using
You only have one
point of view
The stigma of delusion
confirms your self illusion
and after all this could
be you
When you hear thunder
underground
Could it be
that I have found my mind
or have I gone
insane?
Roller coaster of the
madness
and there's only me
to blame
the ever faithful hand of
doom
will take the pain away
I'll never know the answer to it all
'til my dying day
Your bullshit culture licking
can't stop the deathwatch ticking.
You're only mortal after all...
Your appetite for power
subverts your every hour
but every time the mighty fall...
self-centered, patronized
your image supersedes
your soul
You find me mystifying
subhuman, so annoying
you can't have me
under control
You think you live forever
You don't find that profound
You won't think you're
so clever
when you hear thunder
underground
Your morbid fear of losing
destroys the lives you're using
You only have one
point of view
The stigma of delusion
confirms your self illusion
and after all this could
be you
When you hear thunder
underground
Could it be
that I have found my mind
or have I gone
insane?
Roller coaster of the
madness
and there's only me
to blame
the ever faithful hand of
doom
will take the pain away
I'll never know the answer to it all
'til my dying day
Your bullshit culture licking
can't stop the deathwatch ticking.
You're only mortal after all...
Your appetite for power
subverts your every hour
but every time the mighty fall...
-Ozzy Osbourne (1995) from Ozzmosis
Ozzy wrote this to YOU corrupt to the very core barak obama administration, 'Top Secret' Federal freaking Reserve Bank, Central Banker thieves. Cease and desist immediately, your grand theft of the American people. I hear thunder... underground...
Your appetite for power
subverts your every hour
but every time the mighty fall...
subverts your every hour
but every time the mighty fall...
Greg
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The insurance company swindle
Swindle: to obtain money or property by fraud or deceit
I heard, last night, that tax payers aren't likely to ever see a dime back from $AIG...
The 'spin' on health care 'reform' is that the obama administration wants us to hate the evil insurance companies. So the government can 'punish' them... (ie; no pre-existing condition refusal, mobility, no inappropriate cancellations, etc).
The 'problem' is that our government is in the pocket of the insurance industry lobbyists . My 'suggestion' has been, and continues to be, that the health insurance industry is in dire straights financially. I believe our government has spent months now trying to figure out how to pump liquidity into the health insurance industry WITHOUT having to 'ask' tax payers for, yet another, 'bailout'. As we all surely know by now, the insurance industry is, of course, 'too big to fail'.
The solution must seem like 'sheer genius' to our kleptocratic leaders... Merely pass a 'law' that makes health insurance mandatory for all Americans. Merely steal our money out right and hand it directly to the insurance companies. And then claim that we are all better off for it...
Where are you America? Where have you gone?
Greg
I heard, last night, that tax payers aren't likely to ever see a dime back from $AIG...
The 'spin' on health care 'reform' is that the obama administration wants us to hate the evil insurance companies. So the government can 'punish' them... (ie; no pre-existing condition refusal, mobility, no inappropriate cancellations, etc).
The 'problem' is that our government is in the pocket of the insurance industry lobbyists . My 'suggestion' has been, and continues to be, that the health insurance industry is in dire straights financially. I believe our government has spent months now trying to figure out how to pump liquidity into the health insurance industry WITHOUT having to 'ask' tax payers for, yet another, 'bailout'. As we all surely know by now, the insurance industry is, of course, 'too big to fail'.
The solution must seem like 'sheer genius' to our kleptocratic leaders... Merely pass a 'law' that makes health insurance mandatory for all Americans. Merely steal our money out right and hand it directly to the insurance companies. And then claim that we are all better off for it...
Where are you America? Where have you gone?
Greg
Monday, September 21, 2009
Are we a Kleptocracy already?
The following from WIKIPEDIA
Kleptocracy, alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, from Greek klepto (theft) and kratos (rule), is a term applied to a government that extends the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class (collectively, kleptocrats), via the embezzlement of state funds at the expense of the wider population, sometimes without even the pretense of honest service. Political corruption is closely tied to the internal workings of a Kleptocracy.
The following from Ludwig von Mises Institute
[W]hoever desires liberty, should understand…That every man who puts money into the hands of a 'government' (so called), puts into its hands a sword which will be used against him, to extort more money from him, and also to keep him in subjection to its arbitrary will. That those who will take his money, without his consent, in the first place, will use it for his further robbery…That the only security men can have for their political liberty consists in their keeping their money in their own pockets, until they have assurances, perfectly satisfactory to themselves, that it will be used as they wish it to be used, for their benefit, and not for their injury. That no government, so called, can reasonably be trusted for a moment, or reasonably be supposed to have honest purposes in view, any longer than it depends wholly upon voluntary support
------------ end quotes
Can someone please explain to me how we are much different than a Kleptocracy right now, as it is described above?!
Some of us are 'smart' enough or have 'learned' how things 'work', how things are set up (and far too often stacked against us) in financial matters. There are still many, millions in fact, who have been so effectively 'dumbed down' by a, not 'failing', but corrupt and well planned de-education system. Those unfortunate enough to have failed, somehow, to grasp life and what it is and what it means. Those who have placed 'personal gratification' above all else...
This very same 'group' of people exists at the two extremes of society. The 'state educated' 'shopper class' at the bottom of the equation and the financial elites who 'feed' off them at the top. I propose that the 'shoppers' on the bottom are intentionally taught that they are immediately 'entitled' to everything they ever wanted in life the second they 'graduate' from the public school system. That they are 'taught' that the world belongs to them through the coolest invention mankind has ever come up with... easy credit...
They all, the 'shoppers', must have the latest greatest... you name it. Video game systems, flat panel TVs, Blu Ray players, iPods, MP3 players, Blackberries, cable/sattelite, computers, cell phones, pools, spas, hot tubs, furniture, appliances, vacations, cars and houses. To name but a few... Those persons at the other extreme, the top, are the SAME people! Merely stick the word 'uber' in front of all the above and multiply by any given number... Both 'extremes' are all about instant self gratification and not much more than that...
Then, there are a lot of people in the middle... Between the two 'extremes'... People who seek a life of family, love, joy, hard work and peace with the Lord. A life of honesty, the rule of law, justice, true democracy, freedom, liberty, respect for and adherence to the the 'Constitution of the United States of America'. A world free from greed and corruption, totalitarian governments and abusive corrupt corporations...
A Kleptocracy steals from the subjects it is charged to represent to stuff it' s own, and the pockets of other elites, with our gold. How is this so different from cap and trade, stimulus bills, bailouts, the printing of money by the FED, the CONFISCATION of our money through making health insurance mandatory?! Do it or pay a hefty fine ("TAX")! It is OUR money people! It IS OUR country people! We MUST 'take it back'! If NOT us... then who???
It's a battle, dare I say an ancient one?
Who will prevail? Where do we go from here? Does anyone truly 'care' anymore?
I, for one, pledge to continue to fight the battle for as long as I am able. For I am an Ancient Warrior.
Greg
Kleptocracy, alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, from Greek klepto (theft) and kratos (rule), is a term applied to a government that extends the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class (collectively, kleptocrats), via the embezzlement of state funds at the expense of the wider population, sometimes without even the pretense of honest service. Political corruption is closely tied to the internal workings of a Kleptocracy.
The following from Ludwig von Mises Institute
[W]hoever desires liberty, should understand…That every man who puts money into the hands of a 'government' (so called), puts into its hands a sword which will be used against him, to extort more money from him, and also to keep him in subjection to its arbitrary will. That those who will take his money, without his consent, in the first place, will use it for his further robbery…That the only security men can have for their political liberty consists in their keeping their money in their own pockets, until they have assurances, perfectly satisfactory to themselves, that it will be used as they wish it to be used, for their benefit, and not for their injury. That no government, so called, can reasonably be trusted for a moment, or reasonably be supposed to have honest purposes in view, any longer than it depends wholly upon voluntary support
------------ end quotes
Can someone please explain to me how we are much different than a Kleptocracy right now, as it is described above?!
Some of us are 'smart' enough or have 'learned' how things 'work', how things are set up (and far too often stacked against us) in financial matters. There are still many, millions in fact, who have been so effectively 'dumbed down' by a, not 'failing', but corrupt and well planned de-education system. Those unfortunate enough to have failed, somehow, to grasp life and what it is and what it means. Those who have placed 'personal gratification' above all else...
This very same 'group' of people exists at the two extremes of society. The 'state educated' 'shopper class' at the bottom of the equation and the financial elites who 'feed' off them at the top. I propose that the 'shoppers' on the bottom are intentionally taught that they are immediately 'entitled' to everything they ever wanted in life the second they 'graduate' from the public school system. That they are 'taught' that the world belongs to them through the coolest invention mankind has ever come up with... easy credit...
They all, the 'shoppers', must have the latest greatest... you name it. Video game systems, flat panel TVs, Blu Ray players, iPods, MP3 players, Blackberries, cable/sattelite, computers, cell phones, pools, spas, hot tubs, furniture, appliances, vacations, cars and houses. To name but a few... Those persons at the other extreme, the top, are the SAME people! Merely stick the word 'uber' in front of all the above and multiply by any given number... Both 'extremes' are all about instant self gratification and not much more than that...
Then, there are a lot of people in the middle... Between the two 'extremes'... People who seek a life of family, love, joy, hard work and peace with the Lord. A life of honesty, the rule of law, justice, true democracy, freedom, liberty, respect for and adherence to the the 'Constitution of the United States of America'. A world free from greed and corruption, totalitarian governments and abusive corrupt corporations...
A Kleptocracy steals from the subjects it is charged to represent to stuff it' s own, and the pockets of other elites, with our gold. How is this so different from cap and trade, stimulus bills, bailouts, the printing of money by the FED, the CONFISCATION of our money through making health insurance mandatory?! Do it or pay a hefty fine ("TAX")! It is OUR money people! It IS OUR country people! We MUST 'take it back'! If NOT us... then who???
It's a battle, dare I say an ancient one?
Who will prevail? Where do we go from here? Does anyone truly 'care' anymore?
I, for one, pledge to continue to fight the battle for as long as I am able. For I am an Ancient Warrior.
Greg
*My* nat gas thoughts
I'll tell you one thing for sure... My freaking heating bill had BETTER be a lot cheaper this year than it was last year! I'm sitting on a rather large natural gas position, via $UNG (damnit! f'ed again!) and down about 50% on the trade currently. That while nat gas continues to sit near 7 year lows! It has been for quite awhile now and who knows for how much longer?!
Once it gets to ZERO! I'm going 'all in'!!!
In the mean time if my heating bills are as high this year as they were last year I'm gonna be PISSED!
Greg
Once it gets to ZERO! I'm going 'all in'!!!
In the mean time if my heating bills are as high this year as they were last year I'm gonna be PISSED!
Greg
Friday, September 18, 2009
What if?!
What if... most of what we currently know about the Swine flu were but a lie...
What if 'they' KNOW millions around the world will DIE from H1N1 but there is absolutely NOTHING 'they' can do to prevent it? What would be 'their' likely response to such a situation???
Would 'they' put out a 'number' like 90,000 expected deaths, 3 times the case for 'normal' flu only to set up their response at a later date??? So that 'at the appropriate time' 'they' could say 'golly gee, looks like we may have underestimated that one'.
Like 'they' have tried to do with, and are STILL doing with the economy??? (Why... we had no idea it was THIS bad... Why... it's much worse than we THOUGHT it was...)
This is merely a 'whatif'... It's backed by nothing remotely factual at all... It ONLY pops into my head due to my fanatical DISTRUST of our government... So get some salt and take a few grains, please...
A real, honest to God, Swine flu 'panic' would finish off the world economy for sure wouldn't it... Would 'they', could 'they', rather see us die than lose 'their' power and wealth???
I'll leave that for you to decide... I'll just continue on with my 'what if's'...
Greg
What if 'they' KNOW millions around the world will DIE from H1N1 but there is absolutely NOTHING 'they' can do to prevent it? What would be 'their' likely response to such a situation???
Would 'they' put out a 'number' like 90,000 expected deaths, 3 times the case for 'normal' flu only to set up their response at a later date??? So that 'at the appropriate time' 'they' could say 'golly gee, looks like we may have underestimated that one'.
Like 'they' have tried to do with, and are STILL doing with the economy??? (Why... we had no idea it was THIS bad... Why... it's much worse than we THOUGHT it was...)
This is merely a 'whatif'... It's backed by nothing remotely factual at all... It ONLY pops into my head due to my fanatical DISTRUST of our government... So get some salt and take a few grains, please...
A real, honest to God, Swine flu 'panic' would finish off the world economy for sure wouldn't it... Would 'they', could 'they', rather see us die than lose 'their' power and wealth???
I'll leave that for you to decide... I'll just continue on with my 'what if's'...
Greg
Monday, September 14, 2009
Can Dylan say it better than I can?
I have been trying to communicate these same issues/ideas for awhile now to as many people as I possibly can. Can Dylan Ratigan get the point across better than I???
Here is his 'take' on the current situation in America
If you feel the same way please help get the message out! The more people who know and understand what is going on in America the better off all of us will be.
Greg
Here is his 'take' on the current situation in America
If you feel the same way please help get the message out! The more people who know and understand what is going on in America the better off all of us will be.
Greg
Sunday, September 13, 2009
My current macro view
This is NOT about racism! This is NOT about obama! This is NOT about the democrats! This IS about government SPENDING, GREED and CORRUPTION. This IS about Washington! This IS about a government out of control... We ARE Iran...
Capitalism has suffered a substantial, if not terminal, blow. It is currently collapsing of it's own weight. Our banks are insolvent. Our medical industry will follow. Our government may follow that.
The men behind the curtain have done an excellent job of concealing this fact from the general public.
The consumer will not return to save the day. The consumer has been forced to learn a cruel harsh lesson from this collapse. The consumer is done. The consumer has learned. It still seems that government and the financial elites have not....
I see and sense more deflation around me than I do inflation. I am not yet convinced that 'they' have stopped deflation, nor that 'they' can stop deflation.
I crave deflation. I desire a collapse. I wanted 'things' fixed for real. I want greed and corruption flushed from the system, completely. To me deflation is the only way to achieve this... the only true 'hope' and 'change'.
This is a new reality. This is a new paradigm...
Greg
Capitalism has suffered a substantial, if not terminal, blow. It is currently collapsing of it's own weight. Our banks are insolvent. Our medical industry will follow. Our government may follow that.
The men behind the curtain have done an excellent job of concealing this fact from the general public.
The consumer will not return to save the day. The consumer has been forced to learn a cruel harsh lesson from this collapse. The consumer is done. The consumer has learned. It still seems that government and the financial elites have not....
I see and sense more deflation around me than I do inflation. I am not yet convinced that 'they' have stopped deflation, nor that 'they' can stop deflation.
I crave deflation. I desire a collapse. I wanted 'things' fixed for real. I want greed and corruption flushed from the system, completely. To me deflation is the only way to achieve this... the only true 'hope' and 'change'.
This is a new reality. This is a new paradigm...
Greg
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The next bubble to burst
President Obama is fond of taking a 'conservative' point and twisting it to fit within his plans. Take, for instance, the issue of 'competition'... Who in their right mind could be against that? But he is not talking about free market competition. He is always referring to a government public option being used, not to compete really, but to use government largess and power to squeeze the insurance companies into a shape the government desires.
They often take a fringe argument and attempt to make a big deal out of it as they have and are with the so called 'death panels'. My complaint is not that they may 'knock off grandma', my complaint is that the government plans to PAY doctors for providing the service! That is tax payer dollars for every doctor in the country for providing end of life guidance which is required by law. Think about THAT people...
The president also spoke about the poor soul who has an ill family member but has to tell them that 'they cannot receive the treatment they need because they cannot afford it'. How many of you know ANYONE in this country who cannot get medical care?! My uncle just died of cancer not long ago. The man barely worked a day in his life for anyone other than himself. He certainly had no health care insurance. But he also received very good medical care for his condition. In St. Louis. There is NO ONE in this country who cannot get medical attention! Illegal aliens, regardless their heritage, get medical care in this country! Medical care IS being delivered to virtually anyone and everyone in this country who needs, or even just desires, it. That is what this is all about in truth. Cost, astronomical cost and the impending collapse of the entire medical industry. It's not about us... We have the 'safety nets', they are in place. Our problems are all based in cold, hard cash... or better stated, the lack thereof... Our problems are all STILL based on impending economic collapse...
I think it should be obvious, to nearly everyone, that president Obama and the democratic party cannot and will not discuss serious tort reform as it pertains to health care. They cannot because the trial lawyers are one, particularly large and lucrative, group into whose pockets their hands are thrust. This is why the democrats cannot even think about talking to republicans.
It is STUPIDITY! It only clearly shows that they ALL are in the pockets of special interest. This is ALL so obviously about preventing the collapse of their 'dream economy'. The very same economy that has turned into a nightmare for so many hard working Americans. This is clearly about the health care of, not us, but the health of our 'insurance companies', the health of our 'drug companies', 'hospitals', and 'doctors'. They paint the picture for us in the way they wish for it to be seen. As a serious debate about providing quality, affordable, health care access to all Americans. And it is a beautiful picture. But they lie, they obscure the facts, they use misdirection to fool as many as possible. Just as they do with the unemployment number. They play with the unemployment number so as to be able to report it as 9.7% when the REAL number is widely recognized to be closer to 17%. They lie and cover up and conceal the truth.
I found it interesting to hear president Obama taking credit for saving the economy. For preventing it from falling off a cliff. At what cost I ask? The number I see most often lately points somewhere near 24 TRILLION DOLLARS of tax payer money 'on the hook' through a myriad of Federal Reserve programs, bailouts, stimulus packages and the like. Our economy is not 'fixed'... Our economy is merely artificially propped up for the short term. Our incompetent leaders can never seem to think beyond the next election cycle. They live in the now, for the future is grim indeed. China and India the new world powers, America in slow decay. Demographics tell the complete story for any who would like to invest the time.
Just LISTEN to what they say is all that is necessary to clearly see what is really going on.
Still the president talks about the 14,000 Americans a DAY who are 'losing their health care coverage'. It is a distortion of the truth at best. I want to know a real number. I want to know what percentage of that 14,000 a DAY are making a conscious decision to voluntarily drop their health care coverage as a way to cope with joblessness, with mortgages which need to be paid, with credit card companies/banks/loan sharks who persistently demand their usury interest rates. At 500.00 per month for family coverage, a conservative estimate, that equals 6,000.00 per year in cost for a struggling American family. So people, many people, are just dropping it to concentrate on more immediate matters that need attention. Perhaps a place to live. Perhaps food for the table. Job loss is a nasty thing to have to deal with after all...
Listen to their plans to 'fix' health care and you will clearly see that their 'solutions' are NOT directed to save us. Their solutions are directed to save the entire medical industry. Because it is the next bubble to burst.
The solution that bothers me the most is the one that is so clearly unconstitutional! They suggest what we must do is force every American into a corrupt system! They suggest 10's of millions of Americans are not 'doing their part' by shoveling money into the insurance industry. So they propose to forcibly 'take it' from those who choose not to pay it. Against their will if that be the case. They propose a government run public option into which to force the dissidents who choose NOT to hand their money over to the insurance companies. To compare this to mandatory auto insurance is obfuscation. It is NOT the same. The average auto weighs tons and is capable of causing great harm. In my own opinion the forced purchase, by government, of auto insurance is likely unconstitutional as well. I can see it being required to cover collateral on a loan but that is another subject entirely... And one that does not apply to personal health care coverage.
Never in the history of our country has this been done! It is outright theft and most certainly unconstitutional.
Americans would be forced to purchase a heretofore optional product from a company, non-profit or not. How is that NOT a HUGE direct tax on 10's of millions of Americans?! At a time of great economic upheaval?! And just how much of that 'tax' will be secretly funneled into the pockets of the insurance industry, the drug companies?
They already hammered millions of Americans with a tax increase when they raised taxes on cigarettes by 6.00 a carton. Assume for a minute that 20% of the population still smokes, which I think is close, assume that the average smoker smokes one pack a day. That is a carton every 10 days for the average smoker. That's a 216.00 per year tax increase per average smoker times say 45 million smokers who are still either hopelessly addicted (me...) or freely choose to smoke. That's 45 million x 216.00 = $9,720,000,000.00. That is nine billion, 720 million dollars... Pretty nice tax increase huh? I think it pales in comparison to what they are attempting to do now.
What this entire health care 'debate' boils down to is the United States government 'taking' money, forcibly, from Americans citizens and handing it over to corrupt greedy insurance and drug companies to prop up a financially FAILING health care industry. It is but one more MASSIVE bailout. One more feeble attempt to prop up those that have destroyed THEMSELVES through their own business models. They seek only to prop up the medical industry just as they are currently propping up the banks, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the auto industry. It looks like a duck, it quacks like a duck... it is ONE MORE MASSIVE BAILOUT and nothing at all more than that. Obviously they would choose to call it something other than a bailout... How about just calling it 'quality, affordable health care access for all Americans'???
These are but a few of the reasons that I will be 'the last short standing'.
Greg
They often take a fringe argument and attempt to make a big deal out of it as they have and are with the so called 'death panels'. My complaint is not that they may 'knock off grandma', my complaint is that the government plans to PAY doctors for providing the service! That is tax payer dollars for every doctor in the country for providing end of life guidance which is required by law. Think about THAT people...
The president also spoke about the poor soul who has an ill family member but has to tell them that 'they cannot receive the treatment they need because they cannot afford it'. How many of you know ANYONE in this country who cannot get medical care?! My uncle just died of cancer not long ago. The man barely worked a day in his life for anyone other than himself. He certainly had no health care insurance. But he also received very good medical care for his condition. In St. Louis. There is NO ONE in this country who cannot get medical attention! Illegal aliens, regardless their heritage, get medical care in this country! Medical care IS being delivered to virtually anyone and everyone in this country who needs, or even just desires, it. That is what this is all about in truth. Cost, astronomical cost and the impending collapse of the entire medical industry. It's not about us... We have the 'safety nets', they are in place. Our problems are all based in cold, hard cash... or better stated, the lack thereof... Our problems are all STILL based on impending economic collapse...
I think it should be obvious, to nearly everyone, that president Obama and the democratic party cannot and will not discuss serious tort reform as it pertains to health care. They cannot because the trial lawyers are one, particularly large and lucrative, group into whose pockets their hands are thrust. This is why the democrats cannot even think about talking to republicans.
It is STUPIDITY! It only clearly shows that they ALL are in the pockets of special interest. This is ALL so obviously about preventing the collapse of their 'dream economy'. The very same economy that has turned into a nightmare for so many hard working Americans. This is clearly about the health care of, not us, but the health of our 'insurance companies', the health of our 'drug companies', 'hospitals', and 'doctors'. They paint the picture for us in the way they wish for it to be seen. As a serious debate about providing quality, affordable, health care access to all Americans. And it is a beautiful picture. But they lie, they obscure the facts, they use misdirection to fool as many as possible. Just as they do with the unemployment number. They play with the unemployment number so as to be able to report it as 9.7% when the REAL number is widely recognized to be closer to 17%. They lie and cover up and conceal the truth.
I found it interesting to hear president Obama taking credit for saving the economy. For preventing it from falling off a cliff. At what cost I ask? The number I see most often lately points somewhere near 24 TRILLION DOLLARS of tax payer money 'on the hook' through a myriad of Federal Reserve programs, bailouts, stimulus packages and the like. Our economy is not 'fixed'... Our economy is merely artificially propped up for the short term. Our incompetent leaders can never seem to think beyond the next election cycle. They live in the now, for the future is grim indeed. China and India the new world powers, America in slow decay. Demographics tell the complete story for any who would like to invest the time.
Just LISTEN to what they say is all that is necessary to clearly see what is really going on.
Still the president talks about the 14,000 Americans a DAY who are 'losing their health care coverage'. It is a distortion of the truth at best. I want to know a real number. I want to know what percentage of that 14,000 a DAY are making a conscious decision to voluntarily drop their health care coverage as a way to cope with joblessness, with mortgages which need to be paid, with credit card companies/banks/loan sharks who persistently demand their usury interest rates. At 500.00 per month for family coverage, a conservative estimate, that equals 6,000.00 per year in cost for a struggling American family. So people, many people, are just dropping it to concentrate on more immediate matters that need attention. Perhaps a place to live. Perhaps food for the table. Job loss is a nasty thing to have to deal with after all...
Listen to their plans to 'fix' health care and you will clearly see that their 'solutions' are NOT directed to save us. Their solutions are directed to save the entire medical industry. Because it is the next bubble to burst.
The solution that bothers me the most is the one that is so clearly unconstitutional! They suggest what we must do is force every American into a corrupt system! They suggest 10's of millions of Americans are not 'doing their part' by shoveling money into the insurance industry. So they propose to forcibly 'take it' from those who choose not to pay it. Against their will if that be the case. They propose a government run public option into which to force the dissidents who choose NOT to hand their money over to the insurance companies. To compare this to mandatory auto insurance is obfuscation. It is NOT the same. The average auto weighs tons and is capable of causing great harm. In my own opinion the forced purchase, by government, of auto insurance is likely unconstitutional as well. I can see it being required to cover collateral on a loan but that is another subject entirely... And one that does not apply to personal health care coverage.
Never in the history of our country has this been done! It is outright theft and most certainly unconstitutional.
Americans would be forced to purchase a heretofore optional product from a company, non-profit or not. How is that NOT a HUGE direct tax on 10's of millions of Americans?! At a time of great economic upheaval?! And just how much of that 'tax' will be secretly funneled into the pockets of the insurance industry, the drug companies?
They already hammered millions of Americans with a tax increase when they raised taxes on cigarettes by 6.00 a carton. Assume for a minute that 20% of the population still smokes, which I think is close, assume that the average smoker smokes one pack a day. That is a carton every 10 days for the average smoker. That's a 216.00 per year tax increase per average smoker times say 45 million smokers who are still either hopelessly addicted (me...) or freely choose to smoke. That's 45 million x 216.00 = $9,720,000,000.00. That is nine billion, 720 million dollars... Pretty nice tax increase huh? I think it pales in comparison to what they are attempting to do now.
What this entire health care 'debate' boils down to is the United States government 'taking' money, forcibly, from Americans citizens and handing it over to corrupt greedy insurance and drug companies to prop up a financially FAILING health care industry. It is but one more MASSIVE bailout. One more feeble attempt to prop up those that have destroyed THEMSELVES through their own business models. They seek only to prop up the medical industry just as they are currently propping up the banks, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the auto industry. It looks like a duck, it quacks like a duck... it is ONE MORE MASSIVE BAILOUT and nothing at all more than that. Obviously they would choose to call it something other than a bailout... How about just calling it 'quality, affordable health care access for all Americans'???
These are but a few of the reasons that I will be 'the last short standing'.
Greg
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Civil Disobedience
Yes we can! Be both civil AND disobedient that is... That is a key part of what we need to set things right in this country. We, Americans, have to stand up and stop being used and abused by the financial pariahs. It's absolutely ridiculous for ANYONE in this country to pay 20% or 30% interest on anything! If someone's credit is THAT BAD then they should not be able to borrow at any cost... It's not healthy for them and it's not healthy for our financial system, systemically so... Also it is morally abhorrent...
Please watch this video and please do all that you can to help it spread throughout cyber-space. This is what we need. Our government will not stand up for us. The Federal Reserve will not stand up for us. The financial elites will not stand up for us. They all stand only for each other, at our expense. Lets stand up for each other! Lets take matters into our own hands and correct this absurdity!
Greg
Please watch this video and please do all that you can to help it spread throughout cyber-space. This is what we need. Our government will not stand up for us. The Federal Reserve will not stand up for us. The financial elites will not stand up for us. They all stand only for each other, at our expense. Lets stand up for each other! Lets take matters into our own hands and correct this absurdity!
Greg
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Voices from the past (post #3 of series)
Another reason for our confusion is that we are afraid that we are leaderless. We have cut away from authority and have substituted for it the will of the people. We are a democracy. In democracies majorities take the lead and everyone knows that majorities are not always right. Modern America has no recognized leaders. There are a few who speak out in no uncertain fashion, but there are millions to howl down their every utterance, no matter what it is.
The educational world is full of theories and experiments. Our supposedly wisest do not seem at all sure what is proper training for our boys and girls. Certain of our colleges have remained conventional, but others are experimenting wildly; and quantity rather than quality production seems to be the watchword. It is a little terrifying to talk with recent college graduates and see how dazed and unprepared and dissatisfied they are. We ought to be able to look to them for leadership, but they seem, often, to have been more confused and upset than enlightened and stabilized by their study.
One does not have to look beyond his own neighborhood, perhaps even his own household, to be aware of the fact that something is wrong in the economic realm. The world around, men and women are in deep distress and in grievous need. Vaults are full of gold but people are poverty stricken. Our plains and fields bring forth abundant harvests, yet hundreds of thousands are hungry and cold. Dinner pails are not so full as they once were, and discontent marches toward despair. We may have our captains of industry but they have been strangely powerless to lead the peoples of the world to the plenty of which they have dreamed and for which they have toiled.
The lack of leadership, the lack of men and women of vision and of power sufficient to make their visions compelling is one of the marks of our time. Our confusion will continue until the modern democratic world shall learn to produce leaders and also the mass intelligence to recognize and follow them. We lack "men who can live above the fogs in public duty and in private thinking."
Now, may I in conclusion touch very briefly upon one phase of our confused modern life that really deserves an entire chapter. I refer to the confusion prevailing in the realm of morals.
One reason for this confusion is that our moral codes have heretofore been based upon the codes and conceptions and practices of countries and centuries and civilizations vastly different from our own. We are now engaged in trying to evolve our own moral codes and evolution is not a smooth process. Our morals have largely been built upon "Bible models." We have been greatly influenced by by ancient precepts and procedures laid down for Hebrew nomads living in Egypt and Arabia and Palestine. Why should we expect that what served an agricultural people three thousand years ago in the deserts of the East should serve us in twentieth-century America? Indeed, why should we wonder that grave adjustments are necessary when we remember that we are dealing not even with a Puritan stock living in quite New England villages and on hillside farms but with people drawn from every quarter of the globe, jammed by the hundred thousand in the tenements and apartment houses of our great cities?
Then, too, the moralists, largely priests and preachers, have sought to direct and impose by a use of their own or divine authority, and as we have already seen the modern mind does not bend easily to or respect greatly the thunder of professional leaders.
Certain schools of psychology -- groping, to be sure, but easy to listen to -- have told us that codes and principles and standards are of little worth anyway. We are told that we cannot help doing what we do. Sex and hunger and herd habits force us into certain predetermined acts and there is, so they say, no use in trying to control, let alone change, human nature.
Machinery has affected morals more than we dream. There is no time to tell the story; merely let me hint that it has brought men out of the country to live crowed in the cities. It has utterly changed the complexion of family life. It has given the masses an infinite amount of leisure time that they have not yet learned to use. It has placed a premium on youth and an accent on speed. It has so stressed the factor of efficiency that we are coming to regard human beings not as sacred personalities but as mere cogs in the great enginery of production and progress.
Is it any wonder that with these things, together with the emancipation of women and the heretofore unparalleled contact between nations, we are confused? Add to this the hysteria of and reaction from the greatest war in history, and no thinking person will wonder that our social order is upset, that our moral codes are called in question and our confusion is great.
Such in part is the setting of our modern stage. But there is no necessity whatever for us to be stampeded or frightened or depressed. "The deep permanence's of the world" are untouched. Nothing that I have said and nothing that has transpired really cuts at the root of religion. "Chance and decay in all around we see," but if history writes any lesson firmly and largely, it has written that such periods are but the forerunners of golden days to come.
Quoted "From Confusion to Certainty" by Boynton Merrill, D.D. copyright 1931
Used without permission.
Greg
The educational world is full of theories and experiments. Our supposedly wisest do not seem at all sure what is proper training for our boys and girls. Certain of our colleges have remained conventional, but others are experimenting wildly; and quantity rather than quality production seems to be the watchword. It is a little terrifying to talk with recent college graduates and see how dazed and unprepared and dissatisfied they are. We ought to be able to look to them for leadership, but they seem, often, to have been more confused and upset than enlightened and stabilized by their study.
One does not have to look beyond his own neighborhood, perhaps even his own household, to be aware of the fact that something is wrong in the economic realm. The world around, men and women are in deep distress and in grievous need. Vaults are full of gold but people are poverty stricken. Our plains and fields bring forth abundant harvests, yet hundreds of thousands are hungry and cold. Dinner pails are not so full as they once were, and discontent marches toward despair. We may have our captains of industry but they have been strangely powerless to lead the peoples of the world to the plenty of which they have dreamed and for which they have toiled.
The lack of leadership, the lack of men and women of vision and of power sufficient to make their visions compelling is one of the marks of our time. Our confusion will continue until the modern democratic world shall learn to produce leaders and also the mass intelligence to recognize and follow them. We lack "men who can live above the fogs in public duty and in private thinking."
Now, may I in conclusion touch very briefly upon one phase of our confused modern life that really deserves an entire chapter. I refer to the confusion prevailing in the realm of morals.
One reason for this confusion is that our moral codes have heretofore been based upon the codes and conceptions and practices of countries and centuries and civilizations vastly different from our own. We are now engaged in trying to evolve our own moral codes and evolution is not a smooth process. Our morals have largely been built upon "Bible models." We have been greatly influenced by by ancient precepts and procedures laid down for Hebrew nomads living in Egypt and Arabia and Palestine. Why should we expect that what served an agricultural people three thousand years ago in the deserts of the East should serve us in twentieth-century America? Indeed, why should we wonder that grave adjustments are necessary when we remember that we are dealing not even with a Puritan stock living in quite New England villages and on hillside farms but with people drawn from every quarter of the globe, jammed by the hundred thousand in the tenements and apartment houses of our great cities?
Then, too, the moralists, largely priests and preachers, have sought to direct and impose by a use of their own or divine authority, and as we have already seen the modern mind does not bend easily to or respect greatly the thunder of professional leaders.
Certain schools of psychology -- groping, to be sure, but easy to listen to -- have told us that codes and principles and standards are of little worth anyway. We are told that we cannot help doing what we do. Sex and hunger and herd habits force us into certain predetermined acts and there is, so they say, no use in trying to control, let alone change, human nature.
Machinery has affected morals more than we dream. There is no time to tell the story; merely let me hint that it has brought men out of the country to live crowed in the cities. It has utterly changed the complexion of family life. It has given the masses an infinite amount of leisure time that they have not yet learned to use. It has placed a premium on youth and an accent on speed. It has so stressed the factor of efficiency that we are coming to regard human beings not as sacred personalities but as mere cogs in the great enginery of production and progress.
Is it any wonder that with these things, together with the emancipation of women and the heretofore unparalleled contact between nations, we are confused? Add to this the hysteria of and reaction from the greatest war in history, and no thinking person will wonder that our social order is upset, that our moral codes are called in question and our confusion is great.
Such in part is the setting of our modern stage. But there is no necessity whatever for us to be stampeded or frightened or depressed. "The deep permanence's of the world" are untouched. Nothing that I have said and nothing that has transpired really cuts at the root of religion. "Chance and decay in all around we see," but if history writes any lesson firmly and largely, it has written that such periods are but the forerunners of golden days to come.
Quoted "From Confusion to Certainty" by Boynton Merrill, D.D. copyright 1931
Used without permission.
Greg
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)