Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Tainted Lunch Meat : very important
In perhaps the most important post this blog has yet to see, I bring you Street Fighter IV. Found over at Kotaku , this is the best news I've read in some time. The console version of the game hits North American shores on February 17th. Still no word on the HD remix of Super Turbo, but surely it will be out before December. Hopefully. Regardless, good times ahead for any Street Fighter fans.
Le Metropole Cafe Article Excerpt.
I've been meaning to post a blog about the dire straits America is in now thanks to our bandit Federal Reserve.
The following piece appeared in an article on Le Metropole Cafe. I forgot who wrote it, it was either Bill Murphy or Chris Powell of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committe, of whom I'll be blogging more about when I can organize some blogs in a chronological educational manner. But for now, since I've been procrastinating posting my "definitive" account of the failure of Wall Street, I figured I'd just post this. I think it has enough dramatic pomp to please the reader. This was included in an email of mine to someone else dated 9/21/2008.
This past week was a disaster for markets worldwide. We came closer to a financial meltdown than any time since the Depression. Don't take my word for it, listen to Pres. Bush, Paulson, Bernanke, Cox, Dodd, Schumer, Gross, etc.. These are the same people who have been telling us all along that everything was just hunky dory. Remember Paulson, Bernanke, and Sheila Bair doing their media blitz and assuring anyone who would listen that the "banking system is sound" and "the financial system is strong"? That was just TWO WEEKS AGO during the Fannie and Freddie failures.
WOW! What happened? How could the whole system go from "sound" and "strong" to the verge of a meltdown in such a short period of time?
So what really happened? The Dow and S+P hardly went down this week so what's the big deal? The big deal is that the credit markets completely seized up, no one was lending, we had a $100+ Billion run on money markets, short Treasury rates went negative, Central banks were forced to pump half a Trillion Dollars into the system just to keep the doors open. Lehman Brothers failed, Merrill Lynch disappeared and AIG was saved by the government all within 3 days, this, the week after Fannie and Freddie were nationalized. How come no one told us 30 days ago that we had big enough problems that could threaten the entire system? No, no one from the government had anything other than BLATANT LIES for public consumption 30 days ago [actually 20]! Now we are told they have the answer, WE WILL ALL BE SAVED! They weren't telling the truth last month but now they are? Why? Because tomorrow is a new season? Because they planned to go to church today and will swear to God that if he spares them they "won't do it again"? NO! Because the game is over, they know it, we know it, and they know we know it. They have to tell us that all is well even though it isn't, as the TRUTH will cause THE panic of all time.
OK so here's the deal, we were one minute to midnight this past week. We know this because Wall Street and the government finally admitted that the system was imploding. But wait, now they have a plan, didn't they have a plan before? Treasury is going to wave its magic wand and buy up $700 Billion of "toxic mortgages" [their words not mine] and that will solve everything. $700 Billion is a lot of money no? NO!!! $700 Billion won't even scratch the surface of this problem, the derivative market is now over $1 Quadrillion. This is over one thousand TRILLION DOLLARS. The mortgage market in the US probably approaches $20 Trillion. This new "plan" will not do anything other than bail out institutions that ALREADY own toxic debt. It won't help me, and it won't help you make next months mortgage payment. All this does is buy time. How much? Who knows? It buys time until people realize that all the Treasury is doing is trying to prolong a system that has already broken down.
We already know that without government intervention this past week, the system would have imploded. Now the government wants to save the system with more of the same [more debt] so we can go back to living like we have in the past? Wasn't the way the system worked up until now just proven to be a failure? It felt good, it was fun, in some ways it was even easy. Of course it was all of this because we LIVED BEYOND OUR MEANS for years upon years! So now the Treasury will go out and borrow $Trillions [yes Trillions not Billions] more to fix a problem that was caused by living too large for too long in the first place.
But there is a big, fat fly in this ointment. In order for the magic wand to wave its magic powers, the Treasury has to have the ability to borrow these $ Trillions. For years now the US has not been able to fund it's own debt. We have gone across the globe to borrow the money necessary to live light years beyond our means.
Foreigners now know that we have not been entirely truthful about the status of various financial products we sold them, nor were we truthful about companies' prospects, economic numbers [inflation , money supply etc.] and the health of the entire system in general. Are foreigners now going to fall all over each other to line up and lend the Treasury more capital? I think not. I think not because the Treasury has already had it's debt downgraded in the CDS markets. The credit default swap rates on US Treasuries have more than doubled in the last month so that market has already made a judgment with negative bias. I can see big pressure on interest rates to rise because of this additional necessary debt. When rates rise for Treasury borrowings, I assure you mortgage rates will rise also. This cannot be good for the real estate markets.
Last but not least is the value of the Dollar. Let's assume this is only a $700 Billion magic wand [I assure you it will have to be more]. This is an additional $700 Billion of added money supply and added debt that goes into the system without the system expanding. The mathematical outcome of this action is a MUCH LOWER DOLLAR value. This is highly inflationary. Over the next sixty days or so the inflation volcano will surely spurt a few unpleasant and unintended consequences. Inflation of "things", the things we need to live our daily lives will explode. Even if $700 Billion is the correct number, US debt will expand 7%. So in one sense this amount of money is chicken feed as to the amount really needed, and on the other hand it is a huge amount based upon the Treasury's ability to borrow.
Actually all of the above will soon prove to be moot because a total collapse will stop the clock. Treasury will have a failed auction very shortly, let's do some math. Just over the last two weeks Treasury has announced spending of $100 Billion each for Fannie and Freddie, $85 Billion for AIG, extra $s for the Fed [because the Fed has run through it's balance sheet and now only has the ability to print], Lehman ?, FDIC will need $50 Billion, and the magic wand of a mere $700 Billion. So... that will come to ...over $1 Trillion! I don't know about you, but since we are broke we might as well spend the exta .69 cents and supersize it! The funding will not be there for US to borrow, all that remains now is Ben Bernanke's printing press. Monetization will become as common a phrase as "would you like to supersize that". Your only protection against monetizing the debt is a four letter word that the government wishes you didn't know.
The following piece appeared in an article on Le Metropole Cafe. I forgot who wrote it, it was either Bill Murphy or Chris Powell of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committe, of whom I'll be blogging more about when I can organize some blogs in a chronological educational manner. But for now, since I've been procrastinating posting my "definitive" account of the failure of Wall Street, I figured I'd just post this. I think it has enough dramatic pomp to please the reader. This was included in an email of mine to someone else dated 9/21/2008.
This past week was a disaster for markets worldwide. We came closer to a financial meltdown than any time since the Depression. Don't take my word for it, listen to Pres. Bush, Paulson, Bernanke, Cox, Dodd, Schumer, Gross, etc.. These are the same people who have been telling us all along that everything was just hunky dory. Remember Paulson, Bernanke, and Sheila Bair doing their media blitz and assuring anyone who would listen that the "banking system is sound" and "the financial system is strong"? That was just TWO WEEKS AGO during the Fannie and Freddie failures.
WOW! What happened? How could the whole system go from "sound" and "strong" to the verge of a meltdown in such a short period of time?
So what really happened? The Dow and S+P hardly went down this week so what's the big deal? The big deal is that the credit markets completely seized up, no one was lending, we had a $100+ Billion run on money markets, short Treasury rates went negative, Central banks were forced to pump half a Trillion Dollars into the system just to keep the doors open. Lehman Brothers failed, Merrill Lynch disappeared and AIG was saved by the government all within 3 days, this, the week after Fannie and Freddie were nationalized. How come no one told us 30 days ago that we had big enough problems that could threaten the entire system? No, no one from the government had anything other than BLATANT LIES for public consumption 30 days ago [actually 20]! Now we are told they have the answer, WE WILL ALL BE SAVED! They weren't telling the truth last month but now they are? Why? Because tomorrow is a new season? Because they planned to go to church today and will swear to God that if he spares them they "won't do it again"? NO! Because the game is over, they know it, we know it, and they know we know it. They have to tell us that all is well even though it isn't, as the TRUTH will cause THE panic of all time.
OK so here's the deal, we were one minute to midnight this past week. We know this because Wall Street and the government finally admitted that the system was imploding. But wait, now they have a plan, didn't they have a plan before? Treasury is going to wave its magic wand and buy up $700 Billion of "toxic mortgages" [their words not mine] and that will solve everything. $700 Billion is a lot of money no? NO!!! $700 Billion won't even scratch the surface of this problem, the derivative market is now over $1 Quadrillion. This is over one thousand TRILLION DOLLARS. The mortgage market in the US probably approaches $20 Trillion. This new "plan" will not do anything other than bail out institutions that ALREADY own toxic debt. It won't help me, and it won't help you make next months mortgage payment. All this does is buy time. How much? Who knows? It buys time until people realize that all the Treasury is doing is trying to prolong a system that has already broken down.
We already know that without government intervention this past week, the system would have imploded. Now the government wants to save the system with more of the same [more debt] so we can go back to living like we have in the past? Wasn't the way the system worked up until now just proven to be a failure? It felt good, it was fun, in some ways it was even easy. Of course it was all of this because we LIVED BEYOND OUR MEANS for years upon years! So now the Treasury will go out and borrow $Trillions [yes Trillions not Billions] more to fix a problem that was caused by living too large for too long in the first place.
But there is a big, fat fly in this ointment. In order for the magic wand to wave its magic powers, the Treasury has to have the ability to borrow these $ Trillions. For years now the US has not been able to fund it's own debt. We have gone across the globe to borrow the money necessary to live light years beyond our means.
Foreigners now know that we have not been entirely truthful about the status of various financial products we sold them, nor were we truthful about companies' prospects, economic numbers [inflation , money supply etc.] and the health of the entire system in general. Are foreigners now going to fall all over each other to line up and lend the Treasury more capital? I think not. I think not because the Treasury has already had it's debt downgraded in the CDS markets. The credit default swap rates on US Treasuries have more than doubled in the last month so that market has already made a judgment with negative bias. I can see big pressure on interest rates to rise because of this additional necessary debt. When rates rise for Treasury borrowings, I assure you mortgage rates will rise also. This cannot be good for the real estate markets.
Last but not least is the value of the Dollar. Let's assume this is only a $700 Billion magic wand [I assure you it will have to be more]. This is an additional $700 Billion of added money supply and added debt that goes into the system without the system expanding. The mathematical outcome of this action is a MUCH LOWER DOLLAR value. This is highly inflationary. Over the next sixty days or so the inflation volcano will surely spurt a few unpleasant and unintended consequences. Inflation of "things", the things we need to live our daily lives will explode. Even if $700 Billion is the correct number, US debt will expand 7%. So in one sense this amount of money is chicken feed as to the amount really needed, and on the other hand it is a huge amount based upon the Treasury's ability to borrow.
Actually all of the above will soon prove to be moot because a total collapse will stop the clock. Treasury will have a failed auction very shortly, let's do some math. Just over the last two weeks Treasury has announced spending of $100 Billion each for Fannie and Freddie, $85 Billion for AIG, extra $s for the Fed [because the Fed has run through it's balance sheet and now only has the ability to print], Lehman ?, FDIC will need $50 Billion, and the magic wand of a mere $700 Billion. So... that will come to ...over $1 Trillion! I don't know about you, but since we are broke we might as well spend the exta .69 cents and supersize it! The funding will not be there for US to borrow, all that remains now is Ben Bernanke's printing press. Monetization will become as common a phrase as "would you like to supersize that". Your only protection against monetizing the debt is a four letter word that the government wishes you didn't know.
These People Shouldn't Be Voting!!!
Can't we just shoot these people??? Please? Please??
You have to at least give them credit for knowing which one has a pregnant teenage daughter.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Rahm Emanuel's Military Conscription Plan
Come join the military!! At least that's what Rahm Emanuel wants you do! In fact, he's going to force you to join whether you want to or not if you're between the age of 19 and 25.
Rahm Emanuel explains how to "fight against the spread of evil and totalitarianism.." by "expanding the U.S. army by 100,000 more troops..." through the process of creating a "new domestic counterterrorism force like Britain’s MI5" in his 2006 book The Plan: Big Ideas for America. On pages 61-62, he writes:
This kind of military establishment harkens back to Soviet Russia's Stasi and Nazi Germany's Hitler Youth. And this is the "golden boy of the Democratic Party" who funded recruited candidates and placed them in office.
At the present moment Rahm Emanuel is the most powerful man in Washington, D.C. Barack Obama's campaign manager David Axelrod, Jewish Zionist, is Emanuel's long-term friend.
Rahm Emanuel explains how to "fight against the spread of evil and totalitarianism.." by "expanding the U.S. army by 100,000 more troops..." through the process of creating a "new domestic counterterrorism force like Britain’s MI5" in his 2006 book The Plan: Big Ideas for America. On pages 61-62, he writes:
It’s time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us. We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, All Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five will be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service. …
Here’s how it would work. Young people will know that between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, the nation will enlist them for three months of civilian service. They’ll be asked to report for three months of basic civil defense training in their state or community, where they will learn what to do in the event of biochemical, nuclear or conventional attack; how to assist others in an evacuation; how to respond when a levee breaks or we’re hit by a natural disaster. These young people will be available to address their communities’ most pressing needs.
This kind of military establishment harkens back to Soviet Russia's Stasi and Nazi Germany's Hitler Youth. And this is the "golden boy of the Democratic Party" who funded recruited candidates and placed them in office.
At the present moment Rahm Emanuel is the most powerful man in Washington, D.C. Barack Obama's campaign manager David Axelrod, Jewish Zionist, is Emanuel's long-term friend.
Articulated Starfish: Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve
Long but comprehensive. Features: Ron Paul, Joseph Salerno, Hans Hoppe, and Lew Rockwell.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Tainted Lunch Meat : break time
I posted about the Mirror's Edge demo a while back, and while it was great, early reviews of the full game make it seem novel but not revolutionary. That's fine, I'll still pick it up. Soon as that happens I'll do a full on review myself. In the meantime I did come across this wonderful little flash version of the game. Apparently EA had their hands on this so it's official. So far it's just a 1 level beta version, but it's smooth as silk and twice as tasty. http://www.bornegames.com/?page_id=369. enjoy.
Tainted Lunch Meat : 30 days to oblivion
So, yeah, wow, that's a list and a half there. I can't wait to see the next 30 days either. I just wonder how many will survive the first 30 days to see the next 30. Now I'm not entirely against every step in that plan, but I do have some reservations. I couldn't 100% tell if this plan was being presented with seriousness or with tongue in cheek humor in mind. I'm going to assume it was posted with a serious mindset.
1. So let's start from the top. With a progressive income tax, like we have, the wealthier citizens pay more taxes than the less wealthy citizens. If you cut out those revenues and offset that with a reduction in spending, the country is no worse for the wear, kinda, sorta. It depends on what spending is cut to match the lack of income tax revenues. Most poor people don't pay income tax. Money comes out of there paycheck but it can usually be recovered as a tax refund check later on. Most wealthy people however do pay income tax, so eliminating it would be great for them, inconsequential for poorer people. Cutting spending could hurt either set, depending on where the cuts are. If you cut social programs for the poor, then it's obvious who wins out in this situation. Maybe the spending cuts could be devised to adversely affect the people who most benefit from them no longer having to pay their fair share.
2.I really don't like the idea of a pay-to-play voting system. A lot of people could be priced out of civic participation almost instantly. Horrible idea, completely.
3.Being a poor person myself, I quite like public land, since I don't own any for myself. And seeing as how many landowners are far from generous in letting me or anyone else have free run of their property, public land needs to stay public, or I need to be rich, either way is good.
4. Again with the bad ideas. Workers need protection. The job market should be upwardly competitive, not a race to the bottom. There is always some jackass willing to do your job for less money than you. He may even do it better. The has to be a floor for wages. And it needs to be high enough that people can live off of it. If you reduce the minimum wage to zero, that's quite likely close to what employers will be willing to pay for the work.
5.Can't really see the benefit of having blind and deaf economic planners.
6.This really doesn't seem to be a burden on big business. They would love to have less regulation.
7.I don't know if prices of oil and gas would plummet. Those prices tend to not plummet, unless we're in the middle of an economic crisis. Of course, if this plan came to fruition, then maybe oil and gas prices do indeed plummet.
8.I wasn't aware competition was illegal. I could be reading this wrong.
9.There is a bit of a difference between HUD housing and "cheap, private, apartments". That difference is a substandard somewhat livable dwelling and a lean-to. I just cant imagine developers lining up to sell or rent cheap housing. The tenants quite likely won't take of the property and the margins and much thinner for profit.
10.I'm not entirely against the general concept of this step. But I think the gas tax can be priced so as to make the roadways just barely self sufficient.
11.This is just hateful. "Work or starve" really? So maybe it's not fair for some people to game the system. I'd still rather see them do that than die. And I'm completely tired of being told people should fall back on charity during hard times. We may be a generous population, but the government of the richest country in the world should be able and willing to take care of its less fortunate citizens.
12.You realise when they repealed the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, that kind of led us to the meltdown we are seeing now. I can't see how further deregulation helps this in any way whatsoever.
13.I'll never have more than $100,000 in the bank, so alright, down with the FDIC, sure.
14.I like this step, actual asset based currency seems right to me.
15.The only way I'm flying is if I sprout wings, so yeah, I'm good on this step of the path to doom as well.
16.The post office is still cheaper than UPS, and it's not like FedEx is making UPS any cheaper, and DHL is going out of business apparently. Seems like some cartels are worth keeping.
17.Welfare farmers, well I laughed when I read that. "How's the harvest Clem?" "Little short on the welfare, but OK I reckon." That's what went through my mind. Anyways, yeah I'm good with this step too.
18.Really? Get rid of anti-trust laws? They barely save us from Vista as is. Seems like a terrible idea to me.
19.Again with the charities, somehow a cold, heartless government will lead to a kind, caring populace. I don't know, sounds risky, and again an assault on the poor, who may or may not be able to afford private education.
20.Why on earth would you want to sell the Federal Monuments? I like them, I can't afford to buy my own, but I like them all the same. Bad idea. Mt. Rushmore on Ebay FAIL.
21.Now this is something I can get behind. As a late adopter of cell phones, I'm a bit of a Luddite. Data bases are indeed evil. Good idea here.
22.Another idea that just strikes me as hateful. Unpopular minorities need protection, otherwise the tyranny of the mob will oppress them(I'm looking at you California).
23.Yeah, cause you know, of course you can win a legal battle against huge companies over pollution. Their enormous legal budget would absolutely not have any impact on the outcome of the trial. Surely if some evil polluter were dragged in front of a judge, your bargain bin lawyer could totally take 'em to the cleaners. Right. Moving on.
24.I don't even understand what this step means.
25.I'm glad we didn't move to privatize Social Security last year. That may have been painful after watching the Dow shed 4000 + points over the last few months.
26.Leave the NEA alone.
27.I can live with cutting off foreign aid.
28.I'm for it, I like guns. Good idea.
29.I'm down with this one too. Close down most of the 700+ military bases we have all around the world. The empire needs to be over.
30.Good idea, can't wait to get me that discounted Honda Civic.
Exhilarating indeed.
1. So let's start from the top. With a progressive income tax, like we have, the wealthier citizens pay more taxes than the less wealthy citizens. If you cut out those revenues and offset that with a reduction in spending, the country is no worse for the wear, kinda, sorta. It depends on what spending is cut to match the lack of income tax revenues. Most poor people don't pay income tax. Money comes out of there paycheck but it can usually be recovered as a tax refund check later on. Most wealthy people however do pay income tax, so eliminating it would be great for them, inconsequential for poorer people. Cutting spending could hurt either set, depending on where the cuts are. If you cut social programs for the poor, then it's obvious who wins out in this situation. Maybe the spending cuts could be devised to adversely affect the people who most benefit from them no longer having to pay their fair share.
2.I really don't like the idea of a pay-to-play voting system. A lot of people could be priced out of civic participation almost instantly. Horrible idea, completely.
3.Being a poor person myself, I quite like public land, since I don't own any for myself. And seeing as how many landowners are far from generous in letting me or anyone else have free run of their property, public land needs to stay public, or I need to be rich, either way is good.
4. Again with the bad ideas. Workers need protection. The job market should be upwardly competitive, not a race to the bottom. There is always some jackass willing to do your job for less money than you. He may even do it better. The has to be a floor for wages. And it needs to be high enough that people can live off of it. If you reduce the minimum wage to zero, that's quite likely close to what employers will be willing to pay for the work.
5.Can't really see the benefit of having blind and deaf economic planners.
6.This really doesn't seem to be a burden on big business. They would love to have less regulation.
7.I don't know if prices of oil and gas would plummet. Those prices tend to not plummet, unless we're in the middle of an economic crisis. Of course, if this plan came to fruition, then maybe oil and gas prices do indeed plummet.
8.I wasn't aware competition was illegal. I could be reading this wrong.
9.There is a bit of a difference between HUD housing and "cheap, private, apartments". That difference is a substandard somewhat livable dwelling and a lean-to. I just cant imagine developers lining up to sell or rent cheap housing. The tenants quite likely won't take of the property and the margins and much thinner for profit.
10.I'm not entirely against the general concept of this step. But I think the gas tax can be priced so as to make the roadways just barely self sufficient.
11.This is just hateful. "Work or starve" really? So maybe it's not fair for some people to game the system. I'd still rather see them do that than die. And I'm completely tired of being told people should fall back on charity during hard times. We may be a generous population, but the government of the richest country in the world should be able and willing to take care of its less fortunate citizens.
12.You realise when they repealed the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, that kind of led us to the meltdown we are seeing now. I can't see how further deregulation helps this in any way whatsoever.
13.I'll never have more than $100,000 in the bank, so alright, down with the FDIC, sure.
14.I like this step, actual asset based currency seems right to me.
15.The only way I'm flying is if I sprout wings, so yeah, I'm good on this step of the path to doom as well.
16.The post office is still cheaper than UPS, and it's not like FedEx is making UPS any cheaper, and DHL is going out of business apparently. Seems like some cartels are worth keeping.
17.Welfare farmers, well I laughed when I read that. "How's the harvest Clem?" "Little short on the welfare, but OK I reckon." That's what went through my mind. Anyways, yeah I'm good with this step too.
18.Really? Get rid of anti-trust laws? They barely save us from Vista as is. Seems like a terrible idea to me.
19.Again with the charities, somehow a cold, heartless government will lead to a kind, caring populace. I don't know, sounds risky, and again an assault on the poor, who may or may not be able to afford private education.
20.Why on earth would you want to sell the Federal Monuments? I like them, I can't afford to buy my own, but I like them all the same. Bad idea. Mt. Rushmore on Ebay FAIL.
21.Now this is something I can get behind. As a late adopter of cell phones, I'm a bit of a Luddite. Data bases are indeed evil. Good idea here.
22.Another idea that just strikes me as hateful. Unpopular minorities need protection, otherwise the tyranny of the mob will oppress them(I'm looking at you California).
23.Yeah, cause you know, of course you can win a legal battle against huge companies over pollution. Their enormous legal budget would absolutely not have any impact on the outcome of the trial. Surely if some evil polluter were dragged in front of a judge, your bargain bin lawyer could totally take 'em to the cleaners. Right. Moving on.
24.I don't even understand what this step means.
25.I'm glad we didn't move to privatize Social Security last year. That may have been painful after watching the Dow shed 4000 + points over the last few months.
26.Leave the NEA alone.
27.I can live with cutting off foreign aid.
28.I'm for it, I like guns. Good idea.
29.I'm down with this one too. Close down most of the 700+ military bases we have all around the world. The empire needs to be over.
30.Good idea, can't wait to get me that discounted Honda Civic.
Exhilarating indeed.
Is I.O.U.S.A. Documentary a Fraud?
I've been deliberating about what subject I should blog about tonight. At one point I decided not to, but now I've changed my mind because I felt so strongly about this particular subject that I couldn't ignore the impulse to share.
There's an independent documentary film that has been produced and presented to the Sundance Film Festival called I.O.U.S.A. and I just read a scathing critique about how it is more fraud than truth.
I'm going to provide you the link to the trailer to this documentary so you can at least understand the dramatic hype appeal it has generated.
And here follows the film review, written by Doug French.
The American empire, like the Roman one, is heading for a fall, and an out-of-control government deficit is one of the reasons. However, destruction by deficit is not fait accompli, if Peter Peterson, David Walker and the Concord Coalition have anything to do about it. Peterson and Walker like their government after all. Peterson was United States Secretary of Commerce and Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is the Senior Chairman of the politically connected private equity firm, Blackstone Group. Walker was Comptroller General of the United States and head of the General Accounting Office. The Concord Coalition is an organization founded by the late former Sens. Paul Tsongas (D-Mass.) and Warren Rudman (R-N.H.), along with Peterson. Concord added former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) in 2002.
Not exactly a confederation of anarcho-capitalists.
I had high hopes for the documentary film I.O.U.S.A., because it was conceived of, co-written and executive produced by Agora Financial’s Addison Wiggin, co-author with Bill Bonner of the excellent book Empire of Debt. When the movie finally started, the opening credits even indicated that the documentary was based on the book. I wish.
Bonner and Wiggin wrote that the purpose of empire was “to show that the United States is headed for trouble.” And, “their burden is only to show that the people making important policy decisions are morons and frauds.” I.O.U.S.A. shows that the United States is in trouble all right, but instead of politicians and central bankers being outed as crooks and mountebanks, the likes of Bill Clinton and Paul Volker are treated as heroes. Ex-Fed Chair Alan Greenspan is made to look like an idiot by Ron Paul in one clip and by comedian Jon Stewart in another, yet the filmmakers continually go back for sound bites from him and ex-Fed governor Alice Rivlin as authority figures. The film even claimed that one Federal Reserve mandate is to keep inflation low. Good grief, the Fed creates inflation.
Empire of Debt cited gold 23 times, government debt 19 times and David Walker only once, Stephen Fairfax noted on the LewRockwell.com blog. But the movie made no mention of gold and makes David Walker out to be the nation’s savior. I.O.U.S.A. is essentially a buddy-movie with Walker and Concord’s Executive Director Robert Bixby hitting the road to alarm Americans into holding their elected officials accountable. So there are plenty of scenes in the car, in the banquet rooms and being interviewed by local TV stations that don’t air their story.
Interspersed amongst these action sequences are person-on-the-street interviews that make the point that the average Joe and Jane don’t know or care about the goings on with the government budget.
If billionaire Warren Buffett has his way, the great unwashed and uninformed will pay the $12.50 they saved by not seeing the movie to the government in taxes. After I.O.U.S.A. concluded, CNBC’s Squawk Box honey Becky Quick moderated a panel of wise ones live from Omaha, led by Tout TV’s favorite guru, Buffett. The panel assured everyone that government Ponzi-scheme Social Security would be there when they retire. The Cato Institutes’ freedom-loving chairman William Niskanen even thinks people should be forced to save for retirement. Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP, believes the five guys on the panel could solve all of the country’s problems. And more than one panelist blamed everything on partisanship in Washington. If our representatives in this great republic could just learn to get along, everything will work out fine, was the claim. After all, America has faced greater challenges and triumphed.
But by far the most annoying was the Omaha Oracle, who continually piped in that the budget deficits aren’t that big a deal, but that trade deficits are, and that future generations of Americans will live better than the present generation, as long as Americans will pay enough in taxes to keep this good American thing going. We are lucky to be born here, according to Buffett, but he is unhappy that he pays a lower tax rate than his cleaning lady. No doubt she is, too.
The main message of the film – that, by the way, was purchased by The Peter G. Peterson Foundation last month – is that all of this debt will “swamp our ship of state,” and that the trade deficit will lead to less leverage in matters overseas. So, pay more taxes, and urge your congressman to decrease government spending.
Instead, moviegoers should spend their time reading Wiggins and Bonner’s book, buying gold and avoiding taxes.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french96.html
There's an independent documentary film that has been produced and presented to the Sundance Film Festival called I.O.U.S.A. and I just read a scathing critique about how it is more fraud than truth.
I'm going to provide you the link to the trailer to this documentary so you can at least understand the dramatic hype appeal it has generated.
And here follows the film review, written by Doug French.
The American empire, like the Roman one, is heading for a fall, and an out-of-control government deficit is one of the reasons. However, destruction by deficit is not fait accompli, if Peter Peterson, David Walker and the Concord Coalition have anything to do about it. Peterson and Walker like their government after all. Peterson was United States Secretary of Commerce and Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is the Senior Chairman of the politically connected private equity firm, Blackstone Group. Walker was Comptroller General of the United States and head of the General Accounting Office. The Concord Coalition is an organization founded by the late former Sens. Paul Tsongas (D-Mass.) and Warren Rudman (R-N.H.), along with Peterson. Concord added former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) in 2002.
Not exactly a confederation of anarcho-capitalists.
I had high hopes for the documentary film I.O.U.S.A., because it was conceived of, co-written and executive produced by Agora Financial’s Addison Wiggin, co-author with Bill Bonner of the excellent book Empire of Debt. When the movie finally started, the opening credits even indicated that the documentary was based on the book. I wish.
Bonner and Wiggin wrote that the purpose of empire was “to show that the United States is headed for trouble.” And, “their burden is only to show that the people making important policy decisions are morons and frauds.” I.O.U.S.A. shows that the United States is in trouble all right, but instead of politicians and central bankers being outed as crooks and mountebanks, the likes of Bill Clinton and Paul Volker are treated as heroes. Ex-Fed Chair Alan Greenspan is made to look like an idiot by Ron Paul in one clip and by comedian Jon Stewart in another, yet the filmmakers continually go back for sound bites from him and ex-Fed governor Alice Rivlin as authority figures. The film even claimed that one Federal Reserve mandate is to keep inflation low. Good grief, the Fed creates inflation.
Empire of Debt cited gold 23 times, government debt 19 times and David Walker only once, Stephen Fairfax noted on the LewRockwell.com blog. But the movie made no mention of gold and makes David Walker out to be the nation’s savior. I.O.U.S.A. is essentially a buddy-movie with Walker and Concord’s Executive Director Robert Bixby hitting the road to alarm Americans into holding their elected officials accountable. So there are plenty of scenes in the car, in the banquet rooms and being interviewed by local TV stations that don’t air their story.
Interspersed amongst these action sequences are person-on-the-street interviews that make the point that the average Joe and Jane don’t know or care about the goings on with the government budget.
If billionaire Warren Buffett has his way, the great unwashed and uninformed will pay the $12.50 they saved by not seeing the movie to the government in taxes. After I.O.U.S.A. concluded, CNBC’s Squawk Box honey Becky Quick moderated a panel of wise ones live from Omaha, led by Tout TV’s favorite guru, Buffett. The panel assured everyone that government Ponzi-scheme Social Security would be there when they retire. The Cato Institutes’ freedom-loving chairman William Niskanen even thinks people should be forced to save for retirement. Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP, believes the five guys on the panel could solve all of the country’s problems. And more than one panelist blamed everything on partisanship in Washington. If our representatives in this great republic could just learn to get along, everything will work out fine, was the claim. After all, America has faced greater challenges and triumphed.
But by far the most annoying was the Omaha Oracle, who continually piped in that the budget deficits aren’t that big a deal, but that trade deficits are, and that future generations of Americans will live better than the present generation, as long as Americans will pay enough in taxes to keep this good American thing going. We are lucky to be born here, according to Buffett, but he is unhappy that he pays a lower tax rate than his cleaning lady. No doubt she is, too.
The main message of the film – that, by the way, was purchased by The Peter G. Peterson Foundation last month – is that all of this debt will “swamp our ship of state,” and that the trade deficit will lead to less leverage in matters overseas. So, pay more taxes, and urge your congressman to decrease government spending.
Instead, moviegoers should spend their time reading Wiggins and Bonner’s book, buying gold and avoiding taxes.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french96.html
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Lew Rockwell's Thirty Day Plan
Rockwell's Thirty-Day Plan
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
When Eastern Europe broke free in 1989, we all realized just how little thought had been given to the transition from socialism to capitalism. Mises had told us the collapse was coming, and we should have been prepared.
As America comes to resemble a command economy, we need a transition plan here too. Yuri Maltsev proposed a "One-Year Plan" for the U.S.S.R. We're not in that bad a shape (yet), so we could do it in 30 days.
DAY ONE: The federal income tax is abolished and April 15th is declared a national holiday. The 40% reduction in federal revenues is matched by a 40% cut in spending. The budget is still almost twice as big as Jimmy Carter's.
DAY TWO: All other federal taxes are abolished, including the corporate income tax, the capital gains tax, the gasoline tax, "sin" taxes, excise taxes, etc. Businesses boom, and the few legitimate federal functions are funded with an inexpensive head tax. People who choose not to vote need not pay it. (Note: this was a mainstream view in the 19th century.)
DAY THREE: The federal government sells all its land, freeing up tens of millions of acres for development, mining, farming, forestry, oil drilling, private parks, etc. The government uses the revenue to pay off the national debt and other liabilities.
DAY FOUR: The minimum wage is reduced to zero, creating jobs for ex-federal bureaucrats at their market wage. All pro-union laws and regulations are scrapped. The jobless rate falls dramatically.
DAY FIVE: The Bureau of Labor Statistics, like the rest of the Labor Department, is sent to that big hiring hall in the sky. Without detailed economic statistics, future economic planners will be blind and deaf.
DAY SIX: The Department of Commerce is abolished. Big business has to make its own way in the world, without subsidies and privileges at the expense of its competitors and customers.
DAY SEVEN: The plug is pulled on the Department of Energy. Oil and gas prices plummet.
DAY EIGHT: All regulatory agencies, from the Interstate Commerce Commission to the Federal Trade Commission, are deep-sixed. Competition is legalized.
DAY NINE: HUD is squashed like a bug. There's a building boom in cheap, private, apartments.
DAY TEN: The interstate highways reopen as private businesses. Road entrepreneurs price travel according to consumer demand. Using modern technology, drivers get bills once a month. Credit risks – and drunks and dangerous drivers – aren't allowed on the road. Non-drivers no longer subsidize car owners.
DAY ELEVEN: Government welfare is wiped out. Bums work or starve. The deserving poor find a cornucopia of private services designed to make them independent. Private charity explodes, as the American people, already the most generous in the world, find their incomes almost doubled, thanks to the tax cuts.
DAY TWELVE: The Federal Reserve closes its open-market operations and stops protecting the banking industry from competition. But banks can now engage in all the non-bank financial activities previously forbidden to them. The business cycle, which is caused by monetary expansion through the credit markets, is liquidated.
DAY THIRTEEN: Federal deposit insurance is scrapped. All insured deposits are redeemed from federal assets, which include the personal assets of high-level government employees. The threat of bank runs forces banks to keep 100% reserves for their demand deposits, and prudent reserves on all other accounts. There are no more inherently bankrupt banks propped up by the government, at taxpayer expense, and no more bail-outs.
DAY FOURTEEN: The shaky fiat dollar is defined in terms of gold, with the ratio determined by dividing the government's gold stock by all existing dollars on that day.
DAY FIFTEEN: The federal government sells National and Dulles airports to the highest bidder, and stops all subsidies to other socialist airports around the country. All constraints on airline prices and service cease. It costs more to fly during peak hours than off-peak, but overall, air travel drops in price.
DAY SIXTEEN: All government regulations that create and sustain cartels are abolished, including those for the post office, telephones, television, radio, and cable TV. Prices plummet, and a host of new and unforeseen services becomes available.
DAY SEVENTEEN: Centrally planned agriculture, as imposed by Hoover and Roosevelt, is repealed: there are no more subsidies, payments-in-kind, marketing orders, low-interest loans, etc. Farm prices drop. Entrepreneurial farmers get rich. Welfare farmers go into another line of work. The poor eat like kings.
DAY EIGHTEEN: The Justice Department shutters its anti-trust division. Companies, big and small, are free to merge – up, down, or sideways. Stockholders can buy any other company, or sell their stock to anyone else. Marginal producers can no longer battle their competitors with bureaucratic weapons.
DAY NINETEEN: The Department of Education flunks the constitutionality test, and is kicked out. Private charities set up remedial reading and writing programs for the former bureaucrats. Federally subsidized sex education and other anti-family programs go out of business. Local school districts become responsive to parents or close, pressured by a fast-growing private school sector (which many more parents can now afford).
DAY TWENTY: All federal monuments are sold, in some cases to non-profit groups based on the Mt. Vernon Ladies Association, which owns and runs George Washington's home. The VFW buys the Vietnam memorial. There is much bidding for the Jefferson and Washington monuments. Nobody wants FDR's, so it's torn down and the land sold to a farmer. (With the federal government cut back to its constitutional size, much of Washington reverts to productive uses like agriculture, as in late 18th century.)
DAY TWENTY-ONE: The computerized financial and political dossier maintained by the government on every American is erased. The public wanders through the federal offices to make sure, in a reprise of the East Berliners' visits to Stasi headquarters.
DAY TWENTY-TWO: Equal rights are granted to all Americans, even members of non-victim groups. There is no affirmative action, no quotas, no set-asides, no public accommodations laws. Private property and freedom of association are fully restored.
DAY TWENTY-THREE: The EPA is cleaned out, with all "clean air" and similar big-government laws repealed. Ten thousand lawyers leap from their balconies. Private property is established in air and water. Americans harmed by pollution are free to sue the polluters, who are no longer protected by the federal government.
DAY TWENTY-FOUR: Americans are given complete freedom of contract, restoring rationality to malpractice and product liability law.
DAY TWENTY-FIVE: Government scrambles for more assets to sell (i.e., the National Zoo, also known as Washington, D.C.) to pay off the liabilities of the privatized Social Security system.
DAY TWENTY-SIX: Porno artists have to earn their own livings, as the National Endowment for the Arts tries to raise its budget through sidewalk painting sales.
DAY TWENTY-SEVEN: Foreign aid is outlawed as unconstitutional, unjust, and un-economic. Foreign politicians have to steal their own money. The World Bank, IMF, and United Nations close their super-luxurious doors.
DAY TWENTY-EIGHT: The American people are given the unrestricted right to keep and bear arms.
DAY TWENTY-NINE: The Defense Department is reoriented towards defense. American troops come home from all around the world. We adopt a policy of armed neutrality, remembering the Founding Fathers' teaching that we could not have an empire abroad and a constitutional republic at home.
DAY THIRTY: All tariffs, quotas, and trade agreements are put through the shredder. Americans can trade with anyone in the world, without barriers or subsidies. Japanese car prices drop an immediate 25%.
In just 30 exhilarating days, we have established the outlines of free market. Radical? Maybe so. Me, I can't wait until Month Two.
This article appeared in The Free Market for March 1991.
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