Libor and Lies

There is a thing called Libor in the news, I don't have a lot of time to discuss this tonight but I want to make sure I have made you aware of it. Libor is the interest rate that banks in London lend to each other. It is an average of the rate charged by 16 banks, the big ones. Now, why is this important. Well, that rate is often used to determine what you will pay in interest when you get a loan.

There is a problem, the rate was rigged by the banks. The banks lied about what the rate was that they were lending to each other at. How is this important? Well, if you are playing blackjack in Vegas, the house advantage is 51% to your 49%. If you card count, you can put the advantage to you. If you do the same thing with trillions of dollars, you can effect every financial transaction and they did.

One of the banks investigated what had occurred and has just removed it's head; but, for this to have worked, all the banks (or at least many) had to participate. The financial industry in the City of London is one of England's biggest industries. If people stop trusting it, England will be severely damaged.

The western worlds financial system is corrupt, pretty simple. Wall Street was corrupt, our banking system is corrupt and Europe's is. Heck, even the Vatican bank has been found to be corrupt. The west controls the financial world because of dollars, the reserve currency of the world; but, China, Russia and others are looking to go off of the dollar standard. If they do, why should they let us control the financial system too?

I can see a time when the world creates a new financial system and a new financial capital. I like Dubai for the role; but, Singapore, Hong Kong and many others would do. China is the dominant economy in the world right now and they will have a say in it. Dubai works for me as it is home to so many companies worldwide including Halliburton.

I have said before that I see the elimination or greatly minimized use of paper currency. I think China, Germany, Japan and others are going to insist upon an electronic currency that is backed by actual commodities and other things. When the great transition occurs, I believe a lot of debt is going to be excused and there will be a reboot. That won't make things better for long for the west.

You might wonder why I don't see it as a good thing. The problem is simple, we don't produce anything to sell. Eliminate all the debt and we have no way to make money. The cost for Chinese goods is only going to go up and they produce everything. The west will simply transition into a second world country.

Both George W. Bush and President Obama have used Warren Buffet as a financial adviser and your can't get any better than him. If you read his stuff, you can know what he told them both, it is what he has written about for years. Our businesses are mismanaged, short term thinking and reward bad business practices. He will also say that we have destroyed our manufacturing base and will be in a long slow decline if we are lucky. He would have told them that this was all exposed after 911 when we had to beg people to go to restaurants for the sake of the economy.

I am firmly convinced that the housing bubble was intentional because it was. It also took place in other western countries at the same time, something that has never happened in history. The government allowed and encouraged loans with no income verification, when has that happened before, not in my lifetime. The bubble was the only way we could pump start our economy, employ people and build housing that we would need later because we cannot afford to build it again. Let me explain, it is cheaper to buy a new house then build one and a lot cheaper. We built these houses and sold the bad loans to the Chinese and Japanese. We are scoundrels.

As we continue our decline, we will lose our influence on other countries. Our military cannot help us, we cannot just steal what we need. The question is who we are and what we will become and it is our choice. We can cut our salaries and work together while not taking what we don't deserve or cheating on our taxes. We could be competitive again; but, the truth is, I do not see that happening. In the book "Gone With the Wind" somebody says that there are two times when you can make lots of money, when a society dies and when a new one is created. You can make a lot more while a society is dying, desperation pays more.

What we are witnessing is people who know that the game is rigged and the game is up. We are seeing people gamble with our future because they feel they have nothing to lose. The question that we really should be addressing is what next? We could repent that we have lost our morality and only care about ourselves; but, I don't think we will see that.

Genetically Modifying Living Things is Fun

I read this article from Wired Online and am just not surprised anymore. There is now an online game where you can virtually change the genetic makeup of a thing. If you win, then scientists in a lab will actually create what you were trying to do.

Wired - New Videogame Lets Amateur Researchers Mess With RNA

I don't know what to say about it that I have not said in the past. Not only will people happily genetically modify themselves; but, they have turned it into a game.

An Old Show

There was a television show on long ago called "One Step Beyond". The show was sort of like "Unsolved Mysteries", it was about things that were documentable; but, made no sense. I offer you one of the shows. It begins at 1:17:00 or show on the linked video. It takes about 25 minutes to watch.

World War I was a horrifying war and this video is about a strange event that occurred during the war. It is not the only one, another occurred at Christmas when the war was stopped in a place for a time with no authority.

I have sympathy for anyone who has ever killed for whatever reason. It is a burden that has a price tag within eternity. The hardest thing in this world is to forgive ourselves. Forgiving others is easier than forgiving ourselves. To forgive others is to the see that everyone is imperfect. To forgive ourselves requires that we see that what we did was evil, that we knowingly did wrong. To forgive ourselves when there is no room for justification, when we know the truth is painful.

There is something worse than anger, there is apathy. There is something worse than revenge, there is righteousness. I do not mean worse in wrong, I mean worse in painful, just and effective. Heartless; but, full of justification. The point in time when morality is a rule to be used for revenge rather than morality being the shape of our heart which takes into consideration our human frailty. I was a very bad man. When I was young, I was apathetic and self-righteous. If people think I am scary now, they have no idea what I was capable of. Heck, people cannot understand me now.

People look at me one way when I paying to feed the poor. People look at me one way when I am preaching. People look at me one way when I am doing my job and one way when I resting and reading and writing for my lovely readers. I am who I am and I am not who I was and God blessed me by keeping hands free of blood.

I grew up at a time when cowards avoided military service and my intent was to join. I was ROTC while the Vietnam war was still going on, it ended before I graduated. I was never involved in the draft, my intent was to join. I wanted to be a pilot, I wanted to kill other pilots. I wasn't interested in dropping bombs. I was interested in air to air combat. The military wished to put me in intelligence or law. I would have ended up in intelligence, they had sought me for a decade the little ....... Most analysts read a lot, they have a subject or country or whatever and are supposed to know everything about it and write papers about it, it is all very boring.

There is a different type of analyst, he reads all the other summaries. That is the one to watch for, he is the planner. Do not trust a planner especially not a contingency planner. They are heartless, they are apathetic and amoral, just like I was.

I will tell the truth (I have nothing else to offer), I changed because I felt tenderness. I did not know that one could be tender. I thought the world had to learn "no". People I know read this; but, I shall tell the truth. I had five gang members confront me when I was younger and still of a mindset. I determined the best way to deal with the situation was to rip the eyes out of the one closest to me. I had hopes for dealing with the rest; but, it is irrelevant to the issue. The issue is not that I would have defended myself in a harsh way, the issue is that I would not have cared at all what happened to them.

To tell the truth, the day I stood 5 men down was something that only made me see what I was capable of. Today I look at such thoughts with shame. I am not ashamed that I would have protected others or my country, I am ashamed that the damage I caused would have meant nothing to me because I would have justified it and felt nothing, not remorse, nothing. I allowed righteousness (even though an agnostic) to outweigh my love. Love may have to harm (slapping a babies hand for going near fire); but, it should always care. I felt that from one.

In everyone's life there is someone who cares. I was able to be that for a psychic vampire, nobody else cared; but, he knows I do. One person cared for me and it changed my world, I had to think about people. The Lord God was kind enough to give me a chance to never explore that part of me, he always gave me a second chance and I always chose to to try and be better. God does not direct us, he restrains us so that we can grow and learn and love.

What I have discussed is what the video is about. Click the link and move the cursor forward to 1:17:00 into the video and watch it for 25 minutes or so. During World War I, over a thousand soldiers throughout Europe saw a vision and for one moment they just refused to kill each other.

Today is the 4th of July. It is Independence day. It is a day when we celebrate killing lots of Englishmen so that we didn't have to pay a tax on tea. We have such fine justifications for killing people; but, would we say taxing us one cent for tea was worthy of killing others for? If I don't piss off someone with this post then I suck as a writer.

We started a war over a tax on tea and we all drink is coffee now. Don't you find that funny? I don't know how man people died in the Revolutionary war over a tax on tea, it was too many, I can tell you that and I hate kings and queens. Canada paid the same tax and they didn't have to kill lots of people to be a pretty good country. I cannot tell a Canadian from an American. So who benefited, are you better off than the average Canadian? I cannot celebrate killing anyone for any reason anymore. Peace and here is the link.

YouTube - The Best of One Step Beyond Over 4 Hours of PD TV (NOT owned by APM Music and AdRev) Again, move the little slide bar to 1:17:00 and then wait for 25 minutes, it is an amazing story that you might not know; but, it is true.

Rest in Peace Andy Griffith

Most people know Andy Griffith from his television shows. While those were all memorable, what many may not know is that he was also a standup comedian. His first comedy album created a character that was later in the movies. I thought you might enjoy hearing his best bit from his album.

YouTube - Andy Griffith - "What It Was, Was Football"

An Interesting Spiritual Video

I know that there are members of my audience that are Christians. I don't often post directly to them; but, on occassion I see something or read something that I think they will find interesting. Such is the video link that I will provide today. I don't have much to say about it as I have been preoccupied with other things; however, I found it interesting. Just as an update, I have managed to eat bland foods and drink more water. I also will never eat a chili pepper again or anything made with it if I can help it.

YouTube - The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment

In short, the video is about 9-11, a bible verse and how it was used to outline what the U.S. would do after 9-11. Personally, as I have said before, I believe the western world has seen it's best days. I did not come to that conclusion based on the bible, just based on our approach and refusal to set things truly right. We are still trying to play by the same rules that caused our bubbles and collapses, short term and selfish thinking. Still, the video raised some interesting questions.

Pimpernel is Better

Well after going sleepless all night and not being able to keep anything down, Pimpernel is better. Truth is, I don't eat spicy food for a reason. I have an allergic reaction to curry and a sensitive stomach. In the past two years I heard about the "ghost chili", I have watched videos of people eating them (they are the hottest chili in the world) and I cannot imagine why they would want to.

Anyways, today I have a work project that requires my time. I will drink water and work on my project and wish you all the best.

Tough Times for Pimpernel

The Pimpernel ate some Mexican food and didn't know it had chili peppers in it. I don't eat chili peppers. I didn't start feeling the heat until after I ate them and then it got bad. I have been unable to keep down water and have been throwing up. Somehow it is even hotter the second time around. That is my way of saying that you might get a mediocre post at best.

I haven't really written about the Affordable Care Act(often called Obamacare) because there is more than enough written about it by others. The conversations that I have read are all biased. Yet, they seem to miss the real issues. Do we wish to live in a country where healthcare is only available to some? It is a valid question, this may not be the best way in which to achieve it; but, I haven't heard an alternative put forth that would ensure medical care to all.

I actually read an article where someone was saying that by giving more people access to healthcare, it would cause waiting times to increase. The person was complaining that they would have to wait longer because more people would have access to healthcare. Do we not care about one another?

I have read how people thought the Supreme Court should have overturned the law that congress passed, not Obama. These same people complain when the Supreme Court overturns other laws.

The Affordable Care Act was not a new concept and it didn't come from Obama. The Clinton's tried to get basically the same thing passed when Bill became president. What is not being discussed is why this bill was necessary now and the reason is because we have an aging population. Over the next 20 to 30 years we are going to see millions of baby boomers getting old and taxing the medical system. There is simply not enough to go around and costs are skyrocketing. These are facts.

Now, in case you think I am a supporter, I am not. Just because I don't support this bill does not mean I am against the idea of universal health coverage. While this bill does not eliminate private coverage, it will result in the destruction of it for just about everyone. Once it is in place, tax payers will insist that all civil servants be on it and be taken off of private policies. Guess what, government employees are one of the biggest groups on private insurance and when they go off of those plans it will destroy private medical insurance. Citizens will insist that government workers go on this plan and local governments will be thrilled to reduce their medical expenses.

The big companies that still offer health insurance will switch over for the same reasons, to save costs. One concern I have is that people are going to resent the elderly, smokers and obese people even more than they do now. They will blame them for using more medical services.

I think my biggest concern is over how the federal government is taking over everything. The Federal government now controls all water, food, the internet and is currently seeking to regulate all local public easements (the streets). Our business and political leaders have lost all sense of morality and have become the epitome of selfishness and corruption. Even the police have become evil. Our government gave guns to Mexican criminals, that is why congress is talking about holding our Attorney General in contempt.

Our nation actively and openly supports torture and the majority of Americans agree with that. Guess what, you get the type of government you deserve. An open and free nation does not support torture, only an authoritarian government does. This country has been sold out by our politicians and big business.

We the people are responsible for much of this. When we were in the housing bubble, people only cared about personal gain. The children all became spoiled and disrespectful of their elders. We have seen these things before in history and they always go badly.

2 Timothy 3:1 to 3:5 says, "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."

I have very little hope for our country and none for Europe. The western world is in decline, we have been sold out. But then, did we really deserve to have as much as we did? We priced ourselves out of producing anything real. Have a great week.