The Blame Game and the Anti Tea Party

For anyone who has regularly read me, it should be clear over time that I am neither a Democrat or a Republican. I sympathize with both the Tea Party and the Occupy Movement in many ways; but, agree with neither. My Bachelor's is in Political Science with multiple national honors for the same. I don't like Ayn Rand, I agree that people should not be held back and she be evaluated on their merits while maintaining that we have a responsibility to one another. I believe the terms liberal and conservative are nonsense because nobody uses them correctly. Most people associate them with particular positions on specific issues, in fact a liberal is for changing how things are and a conservative is for keeping things as they are, that is what the words mean. Using that definition, the correct one, a liberal would be against abortion being legal and a conservative would be for keeping it legal.

For the past few weeks there has been an argument in congress over whether or not they would fund the government enough to meet it's promised obligations. Theoretically, major parts of the federal government were "shutdown". While this has been blamed on the Republicans, the real culprit, we are now told it is the Tea Party Republicans. That seems to please the Democrats and the Republicans because the Tea Party Republicans were being set up to take the blame all along.

What we have been watching is the Republican party use the help of the Democratic party to purge themselves of people who want to reform their party. What neither party wants is a popular political uprising where their party actually takes a position contrary to the interests of their friends and backers. While the Occupy Movement was beaten into submission, or at least for the moment, the Tea Party was quickly and easily co-opted. They sought to work within the system and were effortlessly destroyed by their party. The biggest mistake the Tea Party made was in not joining with the Occupy Movement and working on what they had in common, ending the Federal Reserve, ending the wars and forcing Wall Street and the banks to abide by the law.

Now, here is an interesting fact. It is legal for members of congress to trade in stocks even if they are voting on a matter that may effect the stock market. Consider this, the stock market has risen the last two days even though the funding bill was only passed to day, it went right to the wire. The smart money should have seen the market go down due to the uncertainty. Wouldn't it be interesting to know how many options were placed by congress people betting that the bill would go through in time and that the market would go up? Oh, and what it their reason for messing up the smooth running of government, their hatred of Obamacare.

This is all fairly simple. Less than 20% of the people support the people in congress, yet, the vast majority were re-elected. Historically what we should have seen was the rise of a new party based on the biggest issues; but, instead the real issues were ignored over less meaningful issues.

Watching the Economy, Pensions and Resting

The Telegraph - US banks no longer 'too big to fail', says Tucker. We read and hear a lot about "too big to fail" and how this was a bad thing. We are told that the government decided which companies were too big to fail and bailed them out and theoretically have now paid back their loans.

There are some interesting things said in the article. "Paul Tucker claimed that America's biggest banks are now in a position to go bust without state intervention." What does that mean? What it means is that when the banks fail, the state will not bail them out and we will see bail ins. The article also says that over the past 5 years laws have been put into place to allow for their failure in a bail in situation. One of the people in the article says that they will be perfectly prepared in a year; but, if they had to are ready now. It is like saying that you have filled the lifeboats and are ready to hit the iceberg now.

Yahoo - Reuters - Two years after bankruptcy, California city again mired in pension debt. This is pure nonsense. The author also talks about San Bernadino and fails to mention that Calpers caught them lying and hiding the funds that would have meant the pensions were current.

The article claims that the biggest cost to the city of Stockton is it's pension obligation. Think about it and you see how silly it is. The biggest cost to any organization is personnel costs, straight up salary. Stockton does not pay more in pension than they do in salary and most of that is already covered from deposits in their pension fund that have been made by the government and it's employees for decades.

The problem is not pensions, the problem is that people are living longer and we want them to work longer. We don't have anyone to replace the aging baby boomers. We have an aging population and fewer and fewer people having children. In the article it states that the pension obligation is 14% of the general fund budget. The general fund is money that can be used for anything. Special Funds are limited to people doing specific work. The people who work in Sanitation may be special funded and the payments to the City from that fund also go to pension obligations for the people doing that work not from the general fund.

Just some news and thoughts for Columbus day

CNBC - What traders have in common with baboons. I disagree with the conclusions; but, the examples are wonderful. Traders are arrogant and people who steal from their clients really believe they are better than the rest of us.

CNBC - Some big investors take breather in rental market. The real story here is that the financial people are taking over the housing market and renting will be on the increase.

Reuters - Analysis: U.S. banks get ready for the day when deposits shrink. This is definitely worth a read, I like where the banker says that they don't need deposits, think about that.

Yahoo - Daily Ticker - The Road to Prosperity: How to Fix the Stubborn Slump in Advanced Economies. The video and article are about how we have an over supply of labor compared to our needs and that the government should hire people to fix our infrastructure.

Reuters - U.S. Treasury, Fed planning for possible default - source.

Yahoo - The Telegraph - Bond investors face 'untold damage' when interest rates rise. Could this be why JP Morgan was selling off it's bonds?

zero hedge - JP Morgan Money Market Funds Join Fidelity, Sell Bills "In Light Of Possible U.S. Government Default"

Why The Military Must Report to Civilians

Be careful what you wish for. LOL. A secret if you will. Under the Constitution the military can be deputized by one group. LOL. The United States Marshals have the authority to deputize people, to put them under their authority. The Posse Comitatus Act said that the military had certain rights of their own, that they could avoid being deputized; but, in exchange had to be of a certain level to be free of civilian control by the marshals. LOL. What fools these mortals be, after Bush eliminated the Posse Comitatus Act, it meant that Constitutionally, the United States Marshals could legally deputize anyone, including the President. Isn't that funny? Having said that, the congress is immune from arrest except by US Marshall's.

A few comments and some news and maybe some music.

Slate - What Undercover Boss and The Jetsons Tell Us About the Future of Jobs. Two researchers are claiming that in the next 20 years, the United States may lose 47% of our jobs.

That was the news. I had some other articles; but, as I went and looked back at them just felt they were redundant to what is all over the news now. The Affordable Health act (Obamacare) is in effect and the world has not ended, the federal government has closed certain offices because congress refuses to pass a budget and has decided to put on a blame game show to pander to their perceived audiences.

Yahoo - Reuters - JPMorgan's Dimon gives up chairman role at bank subsidiary. There has been a lot of changes at JP Morgan in the last two months. Now, Mr. Dimon stepped down as the chairman of one of it's subsidiaries; but, has moved over to another spot which becomes relevant if the bank becomes insolvent and needs to be broken up. Mr. Dimon knows the bank is insolvent and about to pay another 11 Billion in fines for their role in the mortgage mess.

Here is something you can count on. The people with the most inside information know when everything is going to come apart. The standard play is to get out just before things come apart, the rats are always the first to leave a sinking ship. The Board of Directors and the shareholders of JP Morgan will be pummeled when things come apart; but, they voted to keep Mr. Dimon on even after the LIBOR and other scandals. They kept him because he made money and they didn't care how he did it. They deserve to lose everything and they will; but, I bet Mr. Dimon does just fine and will claim that everything was good when he was in charge.

I was talking to the President of a company that I deal with today. I have known him for a number of years and have always enjoyed his company. We talked some business and then about the world in general. His company works within the state and has no overseas or interests outside of the area. They have a fairly traditional American business model and as far as I know they have no debt. It is a well run, conservative business model. They supply a product and seek to be well run and operated. They have not sought to convert people to part time employment in order to avoid paying health insurance and have always been involved in their community. JP Morgan does not consider itself part of this nation, they see themselves as multinational and don't really care what happens here. That is a dangerous situation for this nation; but, there are alternative banking models.

RT - Keiser Report: JP Morgan's Financial Herpes (E505). In the second part of this video Mr. Keiser talks to someone about state run banks, The state of North Dakota and foreign countries have banks that are owned by the government and are focused on investing in their communities. This is an idea that needs to be explored. When the private banks fail, governments and pensions will lose lots of their money, this will not happen in North Dakota as their bank is where all of their taxes are kept.

When the crash comes, I hope that my readers are not disturbed or surprised. Whether you know it or not, I actually care about you. This blog has been quite an experience and not what I had intended. It has in fact lasted much longer than I intended. For one thing, I never intended for this blog to be so personal, it began discussing philosophy and metaphysics. It was rather dispassionate as I recall. Somewhere along the way it became personal. I think because it is a minor bump on the internet I feel free to be personal. It is pretty much the same as the things that I tell friends face to face.

The thing that globalists forget is that the world is a series of families and communities, not just consumers. A world of people who are not connected to others is a world of sorrow. Now for some music. Hope you like it.

YouTube - Kacey Musgraves - "The Trailer Song" Live at the Grand Ole Opry.

YouTube - Shiane Hawke - Mercy - Auditions - The X Factor Australia 2012

My Colonoscopy and Stealing Pension Funds

I am high. I am pleasantly high and relaxed. Sort of feel as if I am floating. You see, today I had my first ever colonoscopy and they did not put me to sleep. I was given a mixture of drugs including Valium while they gave a look inside me and removed a polyp. Those who know me the best know that I don't even take aspirin when I have a headache. I just don't like taking pills that much and they seem to have a strong impact on me. They gave me some sort of liquid version along with some other drugs.

While the procedure was going on I chatted with the doctor and nurse. They were a captive audience and I find joking about things relaxes me. For those of you over 50 or who have concerns, I recommend you have the colonoscopy. I had to fast for a couple of days and drink some liquid that cleared me out in preparation for the procedure. In the end it was a walk in the park compared to having some hemorrhoids removed and even that was not that bad. As for the results, I don't have to have another for ten years, my colon was just fine and dandy.

There is something else that needs looking into and it is the thieves who are robbing the public pension funds. This matter needs to be investigated and the bankster polyps need to be removed from the system. I see a lot of articles about the public pension horror that is not. The real culprit, as I have often pointed out, is that there are a few on Wall Street who profit from robbing public pensions; but, that doesn't get written about much. There is a man who works for Rolling Stone magazine who is exposing what is going on. It is nice to see there are still some investigative reporters out there and I think you should read his latest article.

Rolling Stone Magazine - Looting the Pension Funds.

Yahoo - Breakout - Twitter Co-Founder’s Next Project Could Be Even Bigger. Another article about the coming electronic currency and how your biometrics will be required.

Now, a different subject. I want to talk about overpopulation. We hear a lot of talk about it and global warming; but, what is the real agenda. What is overpopulation in concept? Most of us would say that overpopulation is the situation that occurs when you have more people than the world can provide sufficient resources. We have not and are not close to reaching that amount of people. China with a population of about 1.5 Billion people does not have a starving population. India with 1.2 Billion people can feed all of its people. I recognize that both of these countries have a lower standard of living that America; but, we only have about 315 million people and grow enough to export to other countries. We could increase that if we wanted and without a lot of effort.

What if your definition of overpopulation was different than mine and you considered overpopulation to be having more people than you need to manufacture what you want. If you automate everything, you don't need as many people. A recent study claims that we will only need 47% of the number of workers that we currently have. The question then becomes what do you do with the other 53%? This is the overpopulation that bothers many of the people who run this world. They used to call having more people than were needed to make them money, "useless eaters" and the "great unwashed masses". Because we have outsourced our jobs, we have created a situation where the unemployed and low skilled are now seen as useless eaters by almost half of our population.

We are currently in a philosophical is being waged and most people do not understand the real issues because they don't understand how the language is being manipulated. Many on the right have taken to calling the wealthy "job creators". If the jobs they created are in other countries shouldn't we call them "job removers" or at least "foreign job creators"? It is a fair question. If an American company, such as Apple, has outsourced the majority of it's jobs to China, should we call them job creators? It is deceitful and does not show the whole story.

Okay, lets try this. You work hard and save and raise two kids. Would you tell one of them that because they won't have a job in the future (50% loss in jobs because of automation) that they are a useless eater and refuse to feed them? Let us look at this again in another way. What if everyone in America could live twice as well; but, only half of us ever had to work? Would the other half be useless eaters or would we just starve them to death. We do that with foster kids.

At 18, kids in the foster care program are dropped, they just stop getting help and are on their own. Many end up homeless and on the streets, the exceptional ones are found and rescued. A complete aside, I have Central serous retinopathy (csr). It was caused by continued stress over a long period of time, so much stress that a chemical our bodies create when stressed permanently disabled my left eye. When I had my procedure today I mentioned that I had that to my nurse. She had not heard of it and neither had my doctor. It is not as common as one might hope; but, it is not uncommon to develop csr.

If you had two kids and only one would ever have a job, would you starve the other to death? How much time would you give them to get a job, to determine which was and was not a worthless eater? Neither fascists or communists believe in useless eaters. Both groups believe in Euthanasia. We claim to find that appalling, yet, many here feel the same and think it is for different reasons. What happens when we lose half of our remaining jobs? We try and tell ourselves anyone can get a job; but, how can that be where there are fewer jobs available than the population?

A trust fund baby is a child that is born wealthy and can live extravagantly off of money that an ancestor left to them without ever having worked in their life. Are they useless eaters? If a rich mans kid is given a job by an American company because they got a contract for a lot of money from the rich kid and then don't work, are they useless eaters. If we are going to use a scale to weigh who is unnecessary, should it be based on how much money they have or what actual contribution they make to society?

The pension battle is about just this issue. If you can save up for a pension or 401k or whatever you save so that someday you retire then most of us would commend you.

Pride versus Dignity

Pride and dignity are not the same thing. We are told not to be prideful, we are not told not to have dignity. Dignity is when you know who you are and live by it, truthfully and in the face of the world. Pride is when you think you are better than others because you made some choices that worked out for you. Pride is emotional greed. Dignity is emotional responsibility. It is being okay with yourself and being honest with yourself at the same time.

We pass through stages in life. We all have times where we learn about ourselves and see things that we do not like. I hate to tell you; but, we never get perfect, we choose which aspects of ourselves we will work on. I like my doctor, I am sorry that I terrify him because of my numbers. They will never be perfect. He has decided we will work on one thing at a time. I really like him. The thing I like the best is that he treats me with dignity. He respects people that allow him to see all their private, personal physical aspects. He talks to me like a person and not just a body part. That is showing someone else dignity. He tells me that there are parts of me that are not great and some that are bad; but, he treats me as a person.

Pride causes people to lie and hide who they are and therefore they are never truly known. Dignity allows you to show all of you and not lie about who you are.