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Socialism cannot compete!
329 Comments
Dollar Strength: An Illusion
[quote]
Strangely, I think this may be at the source of why Obama stands a good chance of winning the presidency. I think its not just that he is a brilliant campaigner and politician, but he has correctly pointed out that the last 8 years of republican administration have been economically irresponsible and that he will change that, although the nature of the change has not been very well defined.
[end quote]
You miss the mark here. Obama is *not* brilliant. He is merely articulate. HIs policies are not new -- they are the same sorry old Democratic view that we all ought to be wards of the state...an entitlement-driven government that maintains its power by continually increasing the number who are recipients. Eventually that comes crashing down...similarly to how the Roman Empire kept expanding citizenship as it took over new territory -- the newly acquired peoples became the slaves. When you run outta slaves...there's noone left to pay the bill!!
Furthermore, the last 8 years of Bush WERE NOT THE CAUSE of this economic crisis!! It is PRECISELY the fault of the Democrats and their SOCIALIST push for home ownership for those who could not afford it!! Quit the damm lies already -- this is too well-known and well-documented!! The core of this crisis is subprime lending, as put forth by Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, ACORN...and yes, Obama himself!! The only facet I will agree on is that W has not maintained a balanced budget -- due to the war. But that wasn't what broke the back of this economy...the sudden defaulting of mortgages was the main culprit that killed the banks and is now sweeping through the economy as a result.
You want a balanced budget? So do I. We ought to have a balanced budget amendment. Did you and do you oppose the Iraq war? You ought to be for an abolishment of the income tax then...our government is unresponsive because of how it gets its funding -- a preemptive grab out of our paychecks that is unconstitutional and ever-growing! A return to only consumptive taxes (as the Founders allowed for!!) is the solution to returning things to fiscal conservancy *and* control by the people!
And finally, let it be said, that the Democrats have controlled both the House and the Senate for two years now -- if we don't have a balance budget, you cannot shield them from blame!! Many of them also voted in previous years to fund the Iraq war...and also voted to go there to begin with!! Short memory? Selective for the sake of politics?
Just say no to Obama -- he is more of the same Democratic tax-and-spend. Bush was not as good as promised, but McCain is not Bush -- he has a decades-long record of fighting pork, and I believe he will do better at it than Obama, even though I am not wholly sold on him either. I'd like to have seen Ron Paul or Huckabee in there, for the sake of *real* fiscal overhaul!! But McCain is *clearly* far better than Obama in bringing real change. Check out the Citizens Against Government Waste web site for yourself. It's non-partisan, and we need to go by the facts!!
Financial Stability and the Fed
Let private money remain private!! Abolish the income tax and let us do as WE WANT with what is OURS to begin with!! The way to restore the economy is to let the private citizen have control over their own property once again. By strange coincidence, an abolishment of the income tax and a return to funding government by sales & other consumptive taxes, would also restore control over the government (as opposed to vice versa!!) to the people!!
P.S. -- hope you all are following the latest Democrat proposals to nationalize our 401Ks into government bonds yielding 3%!! They better damn well not touch that! There will be an all-out revolution if they go there.
Eight Thoughts on the Current Crisis
1) Government now sees itself as the Provider and Protector of the people. The Constitution provides for this only in terms of the military. "...provide for the common defense...promote the general welfare..." That latter part...did not refer to entitlement programs!! It's about *preventing* government or groups from *interfering* with private life and private commerce!! Our Founders were all about SMALL government...our current government thinks we need to be provided for and wants us as the underlings to fund it and to have power wielded over us!! We were not intended to be such "wards of the state"!!
The Fed and its ability to manipulate the economy are a big part of this government usurpation of *private* commerce. Biggest scam ever. Tool to profit "the few". Abolish it and restore the gold-backed dollar.
2) Private Property Rights: We are quickly losing all notion of personal property rights. In recent years, the concept of Eminent Domain has been radically abused. For decades now, the government has thought that it has the first claim on our paychecks. And now, redistribution of wealth is threatening to ramp up even further!
3) Personhood: closely related with personal property rights. Ya know who denies personal property rights? Hegelian-Marxists. And the next step is personhood -- where there is no private property, the next step is *always* for the person to become regarded as an automaton who exists FOR THE SAKE OF THE STATE!! A cog in the wheel, to be USED. That is not the essence of a human being, folks!! We'd better watch closely for this, because it IS COMING. There are very close similarities to what happened in Nazi Germany now forming in the U.S., in terms of philosophies!!
4) Taxation -- again, closely related to both 2 & 3: with the rise and continuation of Entitlement government, we already *have* become automatons who are mere producers for the state in some sense: those in the workforce exist and are kept employed in order to maintain the in-flow of tax money for those who are now on the receiving end. You need only look at Social Security to see this one!!
In general, this is what our current entitlement-minded government and our entire tax structure does!!! It makes us wards of the state, and mere producer automatons, for the sake of the state, and to perpetuate the power of those who are "the provider". In order to become human beings again, with value for our own sake, and having a government that *serves us*, instead of being producers for *it*, we need to abolish the income tax completely!!
The Income Tax is unconstitutional, and it was ruled so in 1895...somehow we amended in 1913 to allow it -- and *that* has sucked power from the people like noone could ever have anticipated!! Needs revoking *yesterday*! When we go to sales tax & tariffs only, we will have restored the power of the people:
a) Their right to their own money, vs. presumptive grab by government
b) The power to control the government purse -- American doesn't like what is being spent, we cut our consumption drastically for a couple weeks...boom -- project cancelled. We'd have government responding to us again, instead of wringing our hands nervously over whether we did our taxes correctly.
c) Restore privacy - why does the government get to know every detail of your financial life? That's what happens with income taxes! They have no right to that knowledge. Sales tax is non-intrusive.
And the other king-daddy: property taxes -- totally out of control! Why should we pay tax forevermore on something we have already bought and own? There should be a one-time sales tax, and then that's IT.
In short, we can reverse *most* of the wrong ideas and damage, by giving the people control over their own livelihood again -- by abolishing the income tax entirely! Let's get it done, people!!
P.S. -- did you all read about the Democrats and the proposal to grab our 401Ks?? They're talking now of "nationalizing&qu... 401Ks...we'd be the gracious recipients of government bonds yielding 3%. Like it or not. Betcha Obama signs that bill when Pelosi and Reid put it on his desk. Any takers??
Dollar Strength: An Illusion
And it's not just government programs. The only *real* way forward is to do away with preferential treatment of all kinds. My company has a "preferred supplier list"...they look there for women and minority suppliers before looking to the at-large biz community. Reverse discrimination. It has to stop in order to stop fomenting the very logical resentment that comes from this type of thing.
The bottom line has to be a scenario where anyone can put a bid in. Where no matter who you are, you are rewarded proportionately to how hard you work. An entitlement-minded government does not do this: it takes from those who have attained success to give to those who have not. It removes the incentive to excel, the fundamental connection between work and its results!
Gold in a Credit Crisis
Unfairly Punished - Fast Money Recap (10/24/08)
When It Comes to the Economy, Heterodoxy Is In Vogue
"this belief that everybody pursuing his self-interests will maximize the common interests or will take care of the common interests is a false idea. It's a suitable idea for those who are rich, who are successful, who are powerful. It suits them to justify you know, enjoying the fruits without paying taxes."
Soros can go to hell. The way to maximize prosperity is to maintain personal property rights -- the notion that if you work for something you get to keep it!! Anything else reduces, nay...it's even worse...eliminates, incentive to work for anything!! And the current movements of government are proving this to be true!! We do not know how to assess the economy right now, nor value stocks...precisely because the Fed is seizing ownership stakes in banks...and soon to follow, insurance companies!
There have also been recent rumblings about removing tax-deferred status of 401Ks and instituting a mandatory government-run pension, requiring an additional 5% payroll tax to go to that! Why do I want to stay on this treadmill? There's no incentive to participate in this economic system...nor this *country*, when personal property rights are no longer held. When what's mine is no longer mine, but forfeitable at the whim of the government to hand to others! If this trend isn't reversed POST-HASTE...we will be in another GREAT DEPRESSION...not recession. And it will be BECAUSE OF the Fed and government actions, not despite them!!!
When will the madness stop?!?
Dollar Strength: An Illusion
This Time, We'll Learn the Lesson
Will Equity Markets Gain Traction as TARP Begins Implementation?
Shrink the damn government. Get it out of our pockets. Quit the socialism. Understand that the financial system was overly large and predicated on high levels of debt, and never should have gotten there. And that the real solution is a drastic reduction in government and in taxation...lowering that "first hurdle". Then and only then can we talk about an economy on solid footing. Because it has to be an economy where we spend what we *have*, not what we have borrowed! It has to be an economy where I get to keep most of what I earn, not where the government thinks it knows better than I do where my money should go! An economy where only the truly disabled are on the government payroll...where everyone else understands that their earnings and take-home *are*, in fact, related to the effort they put forth, and that working harder and being successful is not penalized!!
That's the only foundation for sustained prosperity. I'm not satisfied that either leading candidate fully understands all this. But one is clearly lagging the other.
Can We Rely on Stock Prices Going Back Up?
No. Not until this Marxism stops. Not until the government gets its hands out of our pockets. New rumblings are of proposals to get their fingers on our 401Ks and of new Social Security taxes! When does the madness stop???
Some Good News for Investors
I don't call any of that "good news for investors." In fact, it's not good for *anyone*. We need a good old-fashioned revolution. No, I'm not kidding. When personal property rights are totally killed off like this, our very survival is at stake.
This Time, We'll Learn the Lesson
You are full of BS -- and i think you know it! Yes, there was some serious injustice done to Native Americans...even some genocidal activity. But read some real scholars, such as the widely-acclaimed Mr. Lee, who wrote "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee". The facts are that such did happen, but you GREATLY exaggerate the time-frame, and along with that, give the implication that we all but wiped out Native Americans, and never did them a lick of good!
Lee cites real documentation, and is part Cherokee himself, if I remember. So he is quite trustworthy to not be minimizing what happened. Much of what happened was during the late 19th century, and notably, was NOT due to the usually blamed Christian missionaries, but due to the godless humanism of certain Army officers. When word reached Lincoln for example, and other officials later on, of some of these incidents...they investigated and sent other officers to take charge out in those territories. There were a few who did great damage among Army officers...while most took the honorable path of trying to accomodate both Native American rights *and* protecting settlers amidst the movement west.
Liberals love to bash America based on the excesses of a few radicals, who do not represent the norm. Little do they realize that they, ironically, are the ones doing the same at present -- destroying this country by tearing down its fabric with their hatred, lies, and godlessness. If you don't love this country, get the HELL OUT!!!
This Time, We'll Learn the Lesson
The government *will* be cut to the core, whether they like it or not, as a result. When that happens -- riots and blood in the streets. Because the entitlement recipients will not be happy campers.
I'm serious...it's coming. And a marxist in the White House, with radical leanings, isn't going to help things!!
Response to Bloomberg's 'Gold May Pay Only in Case of Maximum Despair'
"in quantities sufficient to meet public demand"
Who decides what "sufficient" means? Demand is met at what price? See what I mean?