No Rest for the Economy's Wicked Parties

Money is the Root of Evil

Now a couple hours past, and I was sitting in my house, the day was winding down and coming to an end, so I turned on the TV, and flipped it over to the news, and what I saw I almost couldn't comprehend, I saw a preacher man in cuffs taking money from the church, he stuffed his bank account with righteous dollar bills but even still I can't say much cause I know were all the same, oh yes we all seek out to satisfy those thrills.

Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked – Cage the Elephant

Money is not inherently evil. It is useful to buy food, pay for utilities, education, and transportation. It can be used to support charities, take vacations, or be saved for a rainy day. It can be invested in capital equipment, research, or technology, which has the potential to generate more money for the investor. It can also be squandered on depreciating assets such as unnecessarily luxurious houses, luxury cars, TVs, stereo systems, Blackberries, iPods, and other baubles and trinkets. Spending money on these things is not evil or wrong. Buying these things with borrowed money that you are not capable of paying back is wrong. Lending money to people and companies that cannot pay you back in order to generate short term profits to enrich management is wrong. Creating financial leverage products whose sole purpose is to mislead investors, regulators, accountants and the public in order to enrich management is wrong. Debt which is not used for productive purposes only leads to sorrow and heartbreak.

Total credit market debt as a percentage of GDP has risen from 130% of GDP in 1952 to 350% of GDP today. The various bailout and stimulus schemes enacted in the last year will drive this percentage above 400% in the near future. When a country allows this much debt to accumulate versus its GDP, they have done something seriously wrong. The country’s politicians, business leaders, and citizens have all contributed to this disaster. If the debt had been used for constructive fruitful purposes such as building refineries, laying pipelines, replacing decaying water pipes, building nuclear power plants, repairing the 156,000 structurally deficient bridges, or researching and developing cutting edge energy, biotech, or nanotech technologies the increase may have had some merit.

Instead, banks created new forms of debt to benefit themselves through excessive CEO pay, stock options to reliable lieutenants and stock buybacks to make EPS appear better. Government used debt to pay for useless wars of choice, tax cuts for the rich, expansion of the unfunded Medicare program, ethanol subsidies, and other payoffs to the 40,000 lobbyists scurrying around Washington DC like cockroaches. Of course, I didn’t intend to insult cockroaches. Americans used the debt buy and sell houses to each other, leasing cars they couldn’t afford, taking vacations they couldn’t afford, and buying doo-dads they didn’t need. Corporations used debt to buy and sell divisions to each other, bought back their own stock, rewarded management with $50 million compensation packages, while shipping millions of jobs to China. Reckless companies used leverage to do $3 trillion of mergers and acquisitions in 2006, at the top of the market.

The debt was wasted on non-productive assets, useless financial gimmicks and complex fraudulent products sold to investors. No one knows at what level the debt will swamp the ship of state. A rogue wave has just crashed across our bow and washed many overboard. A captain of state that cared about the remaining passengers would reverse course and take responsible evasive action. Our captain and his crew of gamblers have decided to speed up and take the ship of state headlong into a perfect storm. We all know how this will end it is only a matter of when.

We also know how it all began:

“Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.”

Mayer Amschel Rothschild

When the banking cartel succeeded in creating the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913, control of money in the United States was put into the hands of bankers whose sole purpose is to enrich themselves at the expense of the citizens of the country. Their relentless printing of money has resulted in the dollar losing 96% of its value since 1913. The printing of dollars has allowed politicians to spend money today and make unfunded commitments decades into the future. The systematic inflation created by the Federal Reserve is immoral as it impoverishes the middle class and senior citizens for the benefit of bankers, the elite rich and entrenched politicians. Much of the moral decay in our nation can be traced to the manipulation of money in the last 8 decades. During the 1950’s, 1960’s and into the 1970’s, a family of five could be supported with a father working and a mother staying at home with the children. Today, due to relentless inflation, the average family of four needs to have both parents working to maintain a similar lifestyle. Inflation adjusted median household income has been stagnant since 1970. The social pressures caused by the Federal Reserve induced inflation such as increased divorce, children raising themselves, and focus on material possessions has resulted in a society whose fabric is tearing.

The Federal Reserve’s mandate to keep short term interest rates steady and conducive to long-term growth has been a farce. The interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve have caused every financial crisis since 1913. The Great Depression from 1929 to 1940 is debated endlessly regarding FDR’s social programs and whether they helped or hurt. What is rarely discussed is the fact that the Federal Reserve’s loose monetary policies in the 1920’s created the disastrous stock market crash and the depression that followed. Milton Friedman explained the decadent relationship between banks and the Federal Reserve:

Banking is a major sector of the economy in which no enterprise ever fails, no one ever goes broke. The banking industry has been a highly protected, sheltered industry. That’s because the banks have been the constituency of the Federal Reserve.

Alan Greenspan’s interest rate decisions and belief that financial institutions did not need to be regulated during his reign as Federal Reserve Chairman from 1987 to 2006 were by far the most significant cause for the worldwide financial system collapse. Greenie trained Wall Street to expect the Federal Reserve to bail them out whenever their horrific financial bets went south. He created the moral hazard that eventually led to the recent collapse. He did it in 1987 after the stock market crash, in 1990 when Citicorp (C) was rescued for the 1^st time, during the Reagan initiated S&L crisis, the Mexican peso rescue, the Asian currency bailout, when Myron Scholes and his models brought down Long Term Capital Management, prior to the Y2K fake crisis, after 9/11, and lastly during the 2003 false deflation scare. These bailouts encouraged the extreme risk taking and 40 to 1 leveraging that occurred between 2003 and 2008. Allowing financial institutions to not have to accept the consequences of their irresponsible actions was and is wrong. Ben Bernanke has continued this immoral policy of bailing out corrupt bankers at the expense of prudent bankers and prudent citizens.

The reduction of interest rates to 1% in 2003 by Greenspan encouraged consumers, investors, banks, hedge funds, and investment banks to go on the greatest debt financed buying binge the world has ever seen. By “saving” the idiots who lost their shirts in the internet bubble, Greenspan created a debt bubble of epic proportions. Lessons about margin debt and excessive leverage that should have been learned during the 2000 – 2002 stock market crash were forgotten by 2004, with margin debt reaching $381 billion in 2007, 40% higher than the NASDAQ peak in 2000. Investment banks increased their leverage from 10 to 1 to as high as 40 to 1. Consumers used home equity and credit cards to live way above their means. All of these choices were bad decisions. Very simply, these decisions made freely by millions of people were wrong.

The chart below is the clearest visual representation of why those proclaiming green shoots sprouting are either, liars, knaves, or fools. The green shoots are actually poison ivy. Real disposable income has only risen fourfold since 1960. Real household debt rose at virtually the same rate as disposable income from 1960 to 1980. By 2009, real household debt had increased by twelvefold. The miraculous Reagan Revolution was nothing but a debt induced fraud. All of the apparent wealth in America has been a gigantic sham. The McMansions, fancy cars, HDTVs, jewelry, and other “essential” gadgets were not bought with earned income. The Federal Reserve and their banking brotherhood lent billions to delusional Americans, convincing them to live for today and not worry about tomorrow. But now tomorrow has arrived. Housing “wealth” continues to plummet, stock “wealth” is down 40% in 18 months, and our old friend household debt remains stubbornly in place. This debt must be paid down before any green shoots can take permanent root. Any policy that encourages the expansion of consumer debt would be immoral, wrong and foolish. This is the policy that the Obama administration has chosen.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

“No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”

H.L. Mencken

Americans are still infatuated with President Barack Obama. He is a dynamic speaker and shrewd manipulator of public opinion. After eight years of George Bush’s narrow minded demagoguery, Obama’s appearance of intelligence and moderate rhetoric have been refreshing to many. His words may be comforting but his policies, if fully implemented, will lead to an irreversible decline of the American Empire. The chances of reversing our current misguided course get slimmer by the day. The Keynesians who have taken control of our government pick and choose the wisdom of this renowned economist. His assessment of how aging populations act describes a major roadblock to fixing our broken society.

“Most men love money and security more, and creation and construction less, as they get older.”

The government has promised to protect us from terrorists, protect us from swine flu, protect us from Wall Street, protect us from foreign corporations, protect our car industry, protect our union jobs, protect our retirements, and protect us from having to take responsibility for our actions. We have sacrificed liberties, rights, responsibilities, and entrepreneurial spirit for a false sense of security provided by a corrupt, inefficient, morally bankrupt government. Our rapidly aging population has chosen security over creative destruction and renewal of the American Dream.

The polarized extremists that dominate the dialogue in our country make rational necessary change virtually impossible. The public relations maggots have taken the “green” agenda into elementary schools and the mainstream media has done their usual job of misinforming the masses. As the “green” guru Al Gore continues to live in his 20 room mansion with 8 bathrooms while raking in millions as a partner in a joint venture firm, his misleading agenda is directing the country down the wrong path. The average Joe now believes that solar energy, ethanol, and higher mileage cars will save the earth and make the U.S., energy self sufficient. This is a big lie and will lead to suffering and economic calamity when oil prices soar past $200 a barrel in the foreseeable future. The U.S. no longer has the moral authority to tell other countries how to manage their finances. Our fiscal deficit as a % of GDP in 2009 will exceed 12%. Countries we have scoffed at and ridiculed like Italy, Mexico and Argentina will have deficits less than 4% of GDP. This is only the beginning.

The deficit projections from the Obama administration and CBO are dead on arrival. When tax revenues don’t materialize and the predicted V shaped recovery turns into an L shaped depression, deficits will far exceed the already horrific projections. The government continues to spend our children’s and grandchildren’s money at an ever increasing rate on bailouts, non-investment stimulus, healthcare waste and subsidies for friends of Congress. P.J. O’Rourke humorously explained government drunk with power.

“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”

The dilemma facing our country is that the elite ruling class in control of the nation wants to maintain the status quo. The 50% of Americans who pay no Federal taxes will gladly support increases in taxes on the 50% of Americans who do pay taxes. Those without health insurance will vote for anyone who promises them government healthcare at no cost. There are 306 million Americans. I often refer to the average American in my articles. Part of our problem is that by definition, half of Americans are below average. After spending Memorial Day weekend at the Jersey shore, I know where a large number of below average Americans like to vacation. They give themselves away fairly easily. If your body is more than 50% covered in tattoos, you have more than 10 body piercings, your gold chain weighs more than 5 pounds, and your idea of cuisine is a fried Oreo, you’re a below average American. These zombie-like citizens have absolutely no interest in deficits, GDP, the National Debt or shared sacrifice. The majority prefer not to be bothered.

An entitlement society will eventually wither and die. Only societies that produce something of value to other societies will prosper. Using financial hocus pocus and enormous amounts of leverage creates nothing of value to anyone except the criminals who created the financial weapons of mass destruction. Bailing these criminals out will waste essential capital and lead to our ultimate demise as a world power. Dr. John Hussman clearly lays out our future:

The bottom line is that the attempt to save bank bondholders from losses – to provide monetary compensation without economic production – is not sound economic policy but is instead a grand monetary experiment that has never been tried in the developed world except in Germany circa 1921. This policy can only have one of two effects: either it will crowd out over $1 trillion of gross domestic investment that would otherwise have occurred if the appropriate losses had been wiped off the ledger (instead of making bank bondholders whole), or it will result in a stunning and durable increase in the quantity of base money, which will ultimately be accompanied not by a year or two of 5-6% inflation, but most probably by a near-doubling of the U.S. price level over the next decade. As I've noted previously, the growth rate of government spending is better correlated with subsequent inflation than even growth in money supply itself, particularly at 4-year intervals. Regardless of near-term deflation pressures from a continued mortgage crisis, our present course is consistent with double digit inflation once any incipient recovery emerges.

The following graphs tell the story of a country in decline and a country on the rise. We proudly proclaim that we are a consumer society that creates 70% of its GDP by buying stuff and saving nothing. Instead of encouraging and rewarding saving, which leads to productive investment, our government pours an additional $7.5 billion into GMAC and demands them to lend the money to millions of subprime borrowers, because they deserve to drive a BMW just like any big time Corporate Treasurer. While America was “inventing” Twitter so Americans could waste more time on useless bullshit, China built three nuclear power plants and two refineries.

China on the other hand is sailing an entirely different course. With gross national saving of 52% of GDP it is only a matter of time before China becomes the world economic leader. The 21^st Century will be China’s century. There is much wrong with their society. Pollution, human rights abuses, and fraud are major issues, but the enormous amount of saving and investment in infrastructure, manufacturing plants, nuclear power plants and refineries will overcome those issues. As the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve double down on failed socialist policies that will bankrupt our country, the Chinese increase their productive capacity and use their depreciating dollars to buy up natural resources around the globe.

We have been confronted with stormy seas in the last two years. Our leaders’ inept management and inane solutions caused the crisis. They have committed hundreds of billions in the last six months. This has resulted in the seas receding from the shoreline. There is an unusual calmness. An alert and dutiful government would be warning Americans to run inland by paying off debt and preparing for rough times ahead. Our government is encouraging Americans to venture out to where the violent waves were recently breaking and pick themselves up a new car or an “affordable” house. When the tsunami warning is sounded, it will be too late.

We are in our current predicament because we have allowed evil men to gain control of our government and financial institutions. These men have enriched themselves at the expense of taxpaying citizens. Trillions have been stolen from the American people and no one goes to jail, no one is punished, and no responsibility is taken by the culprits. If we stand by silently while criminal bankers are bailed out and policies are put into place that increases our crushing debt, the Hangman’s scaffold will loom ever larger. On Memorial Day, when we honor those who died heroically to protect and defend our way of life, the lesson of shared sacrifice should bear out that it is morally wrong to spend money today and pass the bill to unborn future generations. If you have ideas to share, join me at www.TheBurningPlatform.com.

THE BOTTOM LINE: "...I did no more than you let me do."

Comments

[James Quinn:]

For the entire unedited article please go to:

theburningplatform.com...

May 27 10:18 AM

[Moto:]

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776


We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

May 27 10:18 AM

[4Annie:]

Yours is the best, most comprehensive, honest & accurate assessment of the problems I've yet seen. You are so right, unfortunately the brain-dead masses of leeches will continue to suck the life-blood from our country. We have no statesmen to lead a dutiful government & put an end to all this crap. Where's that hidden valley Ayn Rand wrote about?

May 27 10:29 AM

[onebir:]

A) "Pollution, human rights abuses, and fraud are major issues, but..."
B) "...the enormous amount of saving and investment in infrastructure, manufacturing plants, nuclear power plants and refineries will overcome those issues."
How can the things mentioned in B overcome the things mentioned in A? They're different sets of issues: a million manufacturing plants won't do anything for human rights or fraud.

"...the Chinese increase their productive capacity..." Which in fact exacerbates their current problems, over capacity, derived from massive but very inefficient investment. But needed by a government whose legitimacy depends entirely on delivering improved living standards, faced with political interests which nationalise much of benefits of rapid growth (hence the failure of consumption to keep up with GDP identified above).

The country buying the exports necessary to sustain this process (ie the US) happened to hold the global reserve currency, so bankrolling their deficits suited both Chinese and US interests.

The USA (& to a lesser extent UK) and China have had mirror image unsustainable policies. To some extent, both sides are responding to the crisis with "more of the same" policies. Both face risks this approach will eventually fail.

May 27 10:51 AM

[User 353732:]

LOVE of money is the root of all evil and Vanity(i.e self obsession) is the root of all temptation. The corrupt and entrenched elites in America have ,for some decades now, fostered public policies and cultural models that combine love of money with vanity at all levels of society from the individual(instant gratification of self indulgent whims; envy of the material possessions of others; techno-lust) to the Municipality, State and Nation(staggering and unredeemable debt ; increasingly extravagant promises that will not be kept because they cannot be kept; expansive bribes to key constituencies and the illusion of greatness without sacrifice).

This elites have succeeded brilliantly in both creating the temptation and in inducing scores of millions of Americans(not all, of course)to succumb to this temptation without guilt. No better prescription for control of the many by the few has ever been discovered. No hallucegenic drug has claimed as many addicts as easily and for so long as the drug of guiltless pandering to vanity with easy money.
We cannot, however, claim to be innocent victims. We, as a society, voted for the drug dealers to come into every house and neighborhood and openly dispense the drug and recruit the clients. We are now discovering just how high a price has been paid and how much higher the price will be in the years ahead.
There is a way out, of course, for individuals and polities and the Nation but it is the very hard and slow way of frugality, work, sacrifice and humility.
Let us hope that not too many of our fellow citizens agree with Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost who said( I paraphrase)" It is better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven".

May 27 11:32 AM

[dcb:]

I have been advocating that to get rid of our current government is justified and legal based on the constitiution


On May 27 10:18 AM Moto wrote:

> IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
>
>
> We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
> equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
> Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
> — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
> deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That
> whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends,
> it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
> new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing
> its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
> their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments
> long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;
> and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed
> to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by
> abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long
> train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object
> evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their
> right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide
> new Guards for their future security.

May 27 11:43 AM

[dcb:]

way to go james!!!

May 27 11:44 AM

[Jasper M:]

On May 27 10:18 AM James Quinn wrote:

> For the entire unedited article please go to

Dude - That was the Edited version!?

Love your work.
Hate your music.
Oh, well . . . can't have everything . . .

May 27 12:22 PM

[conceptwizard:]

AMEN!! A very articulate and easy to understand post. And absolutely true and if and because it is true we are screwed! I absolutely believe this to be the case. Now what? Where do we go from here. China runs the world in 2030 and the USA is doing what? Completely bankrupt, the dollar loses its value and world currency status. The standard of living tanks big time. The Financial Institutions that raped the day today are head officed in China. Social Security is none existant, Medicare can only be afforded by those that bought precious metals instead of American stock. People are starving and the barter system is back in full swing.

Is this what this all comes to? The end of the superpower era, the end of the service ecomomy, the end of military dominanance and World control. We are all lower class and they are upper class and the middle class is no more or paying 65% taxes on income.

Obama tells us what to do and when to do it and how much to do it for.

This all seems farfetched but we are definitely in for some major changes. And I guess you are saying that not only is this a bear market rally, the next dive is 3 fathoms.

I pray for the best but expect the worst. Good luck to all and thank you for the wonderful post.

May 27 12:50 PM

[SBgal:]

Thanks for telling it like it is. In all seriousness, where can one emigrate in this world with civil rights (this eliminates China), clean water (eliminates half the geography of the globe), and where one won't be affected by the maelstrom that will develop when the US implodes? I live in California, the 5th largest economy in the world and we are essentially bankrupt. Everything seems fairly normal, but there is a sense, for those of us who watch economic trends, that the "big one" is coming--and I don't mean another earthquake. What should the "average joes" and "janes" do?

May 27 01:02 PM

[Moto:]

That will not happen because it would take representatives with the wisdom and spine to do the right thing. And you will not get representatives like that as long as people only have a choice between Republicans and Democrats. The only hope I have is to remember what a small number of people are able to accomplish whether it's John Adams and Thomas Jefferson or Lenin and Hitler.


On May 27 11:43 AM dcb wrote:

> I have been advocating that to get rid of our current government
> is justified and legal based on the constitiution

May 27 02:27 PM

[Jason Rines...:]

Brilliant.

May 27 04:40 PM

[SeekingTruth:]

Thank you, James, for another revealing , provocative and splendid article.

I don't recall the exact interest rate numbers (around 6%), but I think that one of the worst and most stupid things Greenpsan did was to raise interest rates for no apparent reason in late 2000 just a few short months before the start of a serious recession starting in early 2001.
I believe he did this for purely political reasons in order to influence the 2000 elections (it worked!)

So , in addition to your excellent description of him, I believe he was a political hack , jerk, and idealogue doing the biding of his political affiliates.

With watchful and prolific people such as yourself now onto their game, and willing to write about it, perhaps these partisan insider high level macro strategies will not be so successful in the future.

May 27 05:08 PM

[Tony Petroski:]

I don't think I've ever read such withering scorn and so much scolding packed into a single article in my life. Apparently there is a longer version at another website. Sorry, I won't be reading it as you've convinced me to go out and commit suicide.

May 27 06:15 PM

[Vienna:]

As always a good article, there are two points I would like to object or clear.

Their relentless printing of money has resulted in the dollar losing 96% of its value since 1913.
Well due to inflation we probably still have mor ethan in 1913. If you take the nominla value, but this figure is misleading. It needs to be compared with the PPP, and there we have a static and a dynamic basket of goods, so hard to compare. Your statement about the living standard since 1970 seems more appropriate.

During the 1950’s, 1960’s and into the 1970’s, a family of five could be supported with a father working and a mother staying at home with the children.
Due to the dynamic basket of goods used for comparrison, a familiy living in the style of the 60's (5 TV channels, one fixed line phone, cooking at home, one car, less vacation) might also be able to survive on one income today.

May 28 08:33 AM

[Bill40:]

Democracy is suboptimal. Democracy only works when 50%+ of VOTERS (people that show up - usually public-school teachers and other government workers do so disproportionately) vote for the values that make up a prosperous society (self-reliance, do unto others..., freedom, honesty) AND have a CANDIDATE that represents those things.

Is there a better form though? We need to make it so that people receiving money from the government (and their spouses) do not get a vote. Public (aka government) school teachers and administrators, those on social security and medicare, those getting government pensions, and those in the military.

Things would change for the better quickly.

May 28 10:30 AM

[Dirk McCoy:]

I absolutely understand and agree with your concern over debt, your concern over politicians entrenching themselves with our money, your concern over fewer Americans paying more taxes, and your concern over the loss of our economic and moral superiority.

But I'm not as quick to blame it all on banking and the Fed. While their inverting of the yield curve- artificially raising interest rates higher than market- has always been destructive and should be put to a stop, I'm just as comfortable with bankers having control of the money supply (which should grow with supply capacity unless you want to create a deflationary environment) as I am with anyone else (and more than an Administration or gold mining industry).

Rather, I lay blame on the Marxist / Darwinist view that you have to "get" yours because you're owed it, rather than earn it because it's someone else's. And in a culture where child rearing is no longer the primary function of a family and the state is given an increasing role, is it a surprise that more women have entered the labor pool, depressing wages? It's not so much the cost of goods- look at the hours worked required to earn air travel, housing, clothing, watch a sporting event, gallon of milk, etc. and you'll see purchasing power has increased considerably- it's the amount of goods and taxes we supply to our families and to non-productive elements of society. And those are choices we make as families and as a society.

While it's tempting to think a gold standard or elimination of the Fed would solve our problems, the real solution lies in an understanding of the consequences of welfare, fraud, and misplaced priorities. Unfortunately, Obama has confused the issue by focusing less on fraud and more on wealth as the problem. The Chinese, on the other hand, are less confused- on one hand the saying is "it is glorious to be rich", on the other, last time I was in Beijing it was front page news that a manager had been executed for embezzlement (OK, that's overkill, but you understand what I mean)...

May 28 11:07 AM

[Whippet:]

Amen, amen, amen!!!

This country was not founded as a Democracy; we were neither ancient Greece nor modern France. This country is a Constitutional Republic. There was a reason why only landowning males could vote then, and it was NOT because the Founding Fathers of the nation and the individual states hated women or the poor. It was precisely for this reason- that only stakeholders would determine the direction of the nation. Was this a perfect system? Absolutely not. But it is much closer to SANITY than the current one. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST make certain that unsustainable, absurd, unConstitutional entitlement programs remain entrenched as "third rails". (BTW, General Welfare Clause-Spouting-Progre... read Madison and Jefferson's views on that one). DISENFRANCHISE THE DEAD WEIGHT. My Tapeworm should not tell me what to eat for breakfast, should it?


On May 28 10:30 AM Bill40 wrote:

> Democracy is suboptimal. Democracy only works when 50%+ of VOTERS
> (people that show up - usually public-school teachers and other government
> workers do so disproportionately) vote for the values that make up
> a prosperous society (self-reliance, do unto others..., freedom,
> honesty) AND have a CANDIDATE that represents those things.
>
> Is there a better form though? We need to make it so that people
> receiving money from the government (and their spouses) do not get
> a vote. Public (aka government) school teachers and administrators,
> those on social security and medicare, those getting government pensions,
> and those in the military.
>
> Things would change for the better quickly.

May 28 02:38 PM

[dragonpaw:]

Impeach many from office and jail them. Jail crooked "investment bankers" who gut us here! GET ALL INCUMBENTS OUT OF OFFICE. TERM LIMITS FOE SENATE AND REPS. Object and rebel in every and all new taxes . Keep writing and talking to bring down the present one party demogoguery! Socio-facism is at hand!

May 29 06:18 AM

[beech_35:]

War is peace: Iraq combat troops to be replaced with an "advisory and assistance brigade" - Fox News 2/27/09

Freedom is slavery: Unregulated capitalism caused the economic crisis - Bill McGinnis, Director - LoveAllPeople.org

Ignorance is strength: Self-evident. What led to the rise of each party's Presidential nominee, if not ignorance of the problems we face, and the methods they proposed to address them?

There is hope for an economically bankrupt society, but none for a morally bankrupt one. God help us.

May 31 10:01 AM

[samba:]

One problem is that the masses believe they have the perfect electoral system - democracy, however in reality they have no power, if they want to enact change, what can they do? vote for the other party candidate, which unfortunately makes no difference.

If the few who realise the truth march on washington, we will be branded terrorists, enemies of freedom etc and locked up

May 31 09:16 PM

[littleguylobby:]

Good post. 1984 is here now. I am twittering as Rome Burns.

thelittleguylobby.org

Jun 01 02:50 AM

[bobinnz:]

I went with New Zealand when the big black clouds started towering on the horizon and am almost a citizen now. I would hate to renounce my US citizenship but will do so if the taxes go as high as I think they will.

> In all seriousness, where can one emigrate in this world with civil >rights (this eliminates China), clean water (eliminates half the >geography of the globe), and where one won't be affected by the >maelstrom that will develop when the US implodes?

Jun 01 03:08 PM

[TinyTim:]

"While America was “inventing” Twitter so Americans could waste more time on useless bullshit, China built three nuclear power plants and two refineries."

Youch!! Sad, but true

Jun 02 03:40 PM

[Rokjok777:]

I moved with my family from San Francisco to Australia after Bush was "re-appointed" in 2004. We couldn't be happier. Next month I will get Permanent Residency and after that will drop my US CITIZENSHIP.
Just do it.


On May 27 01:02 PM SBgal wrote:

> Thanks for telling it like it is. In all seriousness, where can one
> emigrate in this world with civil rights (this eliminates China),
> clean water (eliminates half the geography of the globe), and where
> one won't be affected by the maelstrom that will develop when the
> US implodes? I live in California, the 5th largest economy in the
> world and we are essentially bankrupt. Everything seems fairly normal,
> but there is a sense, for those of us who watch economic trends,
> that the "big one" is coming--and I don't mean another earthquake.
> What should the "average joes" and "janes" do?

Jun 15 12:48 AM