WTF, Goldman Sachs!

Head's up people. I mean really, head's up. I feel like shouting, "Bury your food and grab your guns!". Well, not your guns, but at least your wallet and your pocket sized copy of the Constitution. Grab the Constitution and your copy of the Declaration of Independence and keep them close. There are dark times ahead. When the government makes its own rules then there is nothing restraining it. Even Alexander Hamilton would be very concerned about this government.

Goldman Sachs was under a civil investigation for over 9 months and then in the midst of another round of demonizing Wall Street, Sachs gets hit from nowhere with a criminal investigation. The normal channels in government knew nothing of the charges until they were filed. Goldman Sachs knew nothing of the charges until they were filed. Funny this happened on the eve newer, more controlling regulations being proposed by the Federal Government.

What's to stop them? They took over two car companies, banks, the student loan system, packing courts, packing legislative districts, cram unpopular legislation down our throats...did I miss something? Nothing has stopped them. Nothing.

The tea parties are painted as incubators for Fascism, those that disagree are racists and bigots, and the main stream media is the only source of truth according to the White House. They are prodding and provoking the Tea Party members to violence, hoping that one nut job will come out to give them what they want.

In the 1960's, the radicals were the mob and they learned that directly confronting the government with violence will lead to failure and marginalization. Now, the radicals are in power and they are confronted with the vast, silent majority that is silent no more. The radicals know how they lost the argument in the past and are working hard to hang that sign on the Tea Party members. Are they enough to check the out of control Obama administration? I sure hope so.

Will Obama and his henchmen go after Bank of America or Wells Fargo? You betcha. Are they safe? Don't make me laugh, I make typos when I try to type while laughing. Insurance companies? The ObamaCare bill will make them extinct inside of 24 months once the legislation begins to put the bite on them. I don't hear about the companies having to kiss Waxman's ring any longer...then again, someone probably told him that AT&T and crew were just following the laws that people like Waxman wrote.

Checks and balances? The only check on the out of control government right now are the various Libertarian movements springing up all over the country. Let's hope that this is enough to pull my country back from the brink of Marxist dissolution.

-Zavost

Where is Iceland's Carbon Offset?

I wonder if the MSM are going to notice that volcano in Iceland that has shut air travel down in Europe? I don't mean if they actually notice the economic effects, I wonder about the climatic effects.

The volcano under the glacier is called, wait for it, it really is a real name, Eyjafjallajokull. That thing has blasted as much gas, dust, glass, and god only knows what else into the atmosphere as all of humanity has done since we figured out how to control fire. Anyone going to think of that? When does Iceland get taken into the World Court for all that pollution they are failing to control?

Whenever a volcano goes off in a big way, the sunsets get spectacular and the weather gets colder. It just does. It is called nature and we have dealt with it for a long, long time. No amount of hybrid cars is going to make a spit of difference. No amount of energy conservation is going to affect the environment like a good old volcano. One, big volcanic blast always puts out more pollution then all of mankind ever has and yet we continue on our merry way. Fancy that.

The MSM can't help but put a positive spin on everything. An article in the WSJ remarks about all the money the airlines are saving in fuel costs since they are not flying. Really? That is like telling a private trucker that his business will be just fine since he is not burning up all that diesel. Hello, get a brain cell, even if you have to borrow one.

Anyhow, I'm sure Gore will get another award, his cronies will be given a pass, the crooked "scientists" will all be off the hook, and the only people who will be vilified will be the people who dared doubt them.

So who is drawing up the lawsuit against Iceland?

--Zavost

MOPE-Management of Perception Economics

The Wall Street Journal has been bugging me for months. Right along with all these other news outlets that continues to bombard me with 'great economic indicators' while hedging lower in the article about how the economy is 'fragile', 'weak', 'susceptible to shock'. Its our national economy, not a sick patient in the hospital. Each month I hear about how the unemployment numbers "unexpectedly jumped again", but then blame the weather, the floods, hell, they blamed Easter for the last figures. Give me a break.

Taxes pull money out of the private sector. The private sector uses that money to expand, invest in new products, new services, service delivery, and general technological advancement. They also use that money to pay and offer benefits to their employees. If you tax something you make it go away. Are we clear on that yet? Raising taxes causes businesses to either NOT HIRE, thus the "slower than expected jobs recovery" or continue to shed cost...that would be you...which makes unemployment go up. Pretty basic stuff here and I didn't even go to Harvard (no, wait, that is a good thing).

If it wasn't for the occasional good article in the WSJ I would have dumped it a long time ago. Then again, my parrots do need paper and I can recycle...

Perception Economics at its worst. The media manipulated the news to hand Bush 41 a recession in 1991 and Bush 43 another in 2001, 2002,...well, every year he was president we were told how horrible things were. Riiiight. Give me 2006 again any time.

Things really tank big under Obama and I see article after article about fathers spending more time with the kids and the joys of unemployment. The opportunities to go back to school (don't get me started) and do what you want to do in life are many. Unemployment is a good thing? Really? Who do you expect to pay all those taxes Mr. Government man? Tax the benefits? Oh, wait, you do already.

You can not run up the debt we have run up and not feel the pain in a big way. Heck, even the Fed chairman has come out and said that our current and future debt structure will cost so much to service (think minimum payment on your credit card) that there will be no money left for anything. Not Social Security, not Medicare, not the vaunted Health Care Affordability (excuse me while a laugh a little here) Act and none for even the military. The guy who said that the housing market was doing just fine in 2007 is now talking about what our debt and continued spending is doing to our country. Yes, that guy. He is warning us. If even he sees it then it is time to run for the hills. Then again, he could just stop with the printing presses already, BEN!

Tell it to me like it is, not how you want me to hear it. Don't manipulate me or the masses. We have to act in our own self interests with accurate information on the market. Trying to manipulate us or the market will cause distortions that will simply make it fail. No, wait, things have failed already. Never mind.

-Zavost

What will remain?

When Harding took over from the Wilson administration, he 'inherited' a ballooning national debt, a credit bubble, a post war depression (1920-21), dozens of progressive political experiments. In just a few years, he cut the size of government by 1/3, reduced the national debt, cut taxes by 60+% (amazing how big they got in so short of a time, huh?), and restored the economy. Stunning how much he got done by doing so very little. Please read that last line and think on it. Perhaps even read up on that period in our history. Most of what he did was cutting, reducing, and stepping out of our way. Very under appreciated President.

In Hardings' time, the government was not as invasive or pushy, yet. Yes there were cycles even then, but like a good sailboat on the lake, our government, as outlined by the Constitution, will right itself is allowed to.

When Eisenhower took over from the Truman administration, he inherited a war in Korea, a Cold War in the rest of the world, and a society that was evolving, rapidly, a complex technological and societal matrix. When he was a boy, there were no airplanes in the sky or mass production of automobiles. Yet not only did he create the Superhighway project, but he also created the foundation for NASA. The world of Eisenhower was not the world of Harding. He extracted us out of the active war of Korea and began to build up a nuclear deterrent (since the Soviets had just stole the plans to build a bigger bomb). He attempted to limit the range and scope of the government and even began to note a sinister new development in society. The so-called "military industrial complex". In context, what he was warning about was a growing 'feed back loop' whereby industries existed to provide products, jobs, and visibility for Congressional districts. Taxpayer money was being doled out to industries not because these items were needed but because they became pork projects for Congressmen wanting to get re-elected. These industries then became influential enough to practically select the politicians that would then vote for the appropriations. Most history books conveniently leave out the connection with the politicians.

When Reagan took over from Carter, he inherited a growing national debt, growing 'Stagflation', a discredited American image abroad, a weakened military, a resurgent Soviet Union, union bosses, corruption, Progressive pet projects (Department of Education and Energy comes to mind). The country had slid so much under the last several Presidents (Nixon is a mixed-bag for me) that even two terms of Reagan could bring us back all the way from where we had left the path. He slashed taxes, in a Democrat controlled Congress, and rebuilt the military. Congress broke just about every spending promise they made to Reagan and the deficit grew, though by paltry amounts compared to today's figures. He re-energized our Space Program and, most importantly, he restored our faith in ourselves. He made us proud to be Americans again.

As a child, I remember looking at the newspaper headlines and photos of burned and wrecked helicopters in the Iranian desert. I remember looking at the bodies of our soldiers laying neglected in the sand and wondered how our country could be so inept. How could the pilots not even get to the mission start? Could they have even accomplished the mission had they gotten there? Who was running that show? In a nut shell (no, I won't hit on the peanut thing) it was Carter. Where Carter was spineless Reagan had resolve. He had vision and he had religion. When two-bit dictators in Central America and the Caribbean caused us trouble, he rung their bell. When the leftists in Congress blocked him, he went around them. I know I'm on slippery ground with that last line legally, but god bless him anyhow.

After Reagan, we got one Progressive president after another. National debt is truly unsustainable, our military is once again being used inappropriately (you know, to actually win wars) and our children are being indoctrinated in ways not seen since FDR and Fascism.

These are dangerous times everyone. There are vast numbers of the American public being ignored and marginalized (the left has NEVER been the majority in this country). When enough people have had everything taken from them and no longer feel that there is an outlet for their voices that things get dangerous. All it takes is for a very charismatic individual to come along and offer those people everything they want only if they follow them. I pray that the Democrats get obliterated this November and neuter Obama and his deliberately treasonous activities. Get the Progressives out of Congress and the President will be severely curtailed.

Only God knows what He has in store for us. It will be up to us to rise to the challenges.

-Zavost

The door has been kicked in

It seems as if Pelosi's promise about what was going to happen once she, "kicked in the door" is coming to pass. Since the health care cram down it seems like a day does not go by without me hearing or reading about something that I would never have read about even three years ago.

The Department of Education now owns my (and my wife's) student loans. Where does the government obtain this authority? Under what statute? Is it constitutional? Being in the shadow of health care, one little notices this huge power grab. Will the government take over car loans as well? How about the remainder of all real estate and commercial property loans? Heck, what about personal loans? Can banks make loans without Federal Government approval now?

Will the government begin to decide when to graduate a high school student? I mean, if they are now going to decide who gets funding to go to the expensive (government does not seem concerned about those expenses or professors getting the big paychecks....) universities and colleges, what keeps them from deciding if someone is even worth a college education?

Some countries in Europe have, for many decades, had students take tests at various stages of life. These tests helped 'others' decide if you were going to go on to college or gain a trade skill (or something more in align with your perceived value to society). If an inner city has a 50-70% drop out rate between the ages of 16 and 18 years of age, then it is obvious that if you 'graduate' these kids at 16, fund a trade or technical school program for them, then not only will you cut your apparent drop out rate to nearly zero, but you will now also be training these kids for something useful in life, right?

Boy, that just sounds great doesn't it? No, it doesn't. This 16 year old is going to be told what his value is to society. He (or she, folks, don't go PC on me) will be told that he must do this thing or that thing, regardless of whether he really wants to do it or not. He will be told, on many non-verbal levels, that his value and worth is only what someone else tells him is value or worth is.

That all makes me cringe. How many of our best and brightest were college drop outs? Limbaugh and Beck are notable examples. Bill Gates saw college as a distraction from his true calling. What about those people?

People frequently find themselves doing things in life they never thought they would do. Entry level work gets you thinking about your priorities and interests. How many people changes jobs in a lifetime? How many change careers? Will this be permitted if you are 'slotted' based on the dictates of some central planning committee?

Now there is oil drilling discussions (riiiiight, that will actually happen), re-writing our nuclear policies (those fools), massive unionizing efforts across the country, shameless indoctrination of our children, open corruption of our Congress. All of it shameless and out in the open. Anyone who has a differing opinion is labeled a racist and a bigot. Two years ago it was your patriotic duty to protest the government, now it gets FBI helicopters in your back yard. Terrorists get a pass while a dufus militia man (boy, the government really loves those people...Clinton had issues with them as well) gets prison.

It is all upside down. The Constitution is dying even though we all know the cure. Our country is turning into Europe. Medicine will actually RETROGRADE in my lifetime. Education teaches nothing but social awareness.'

Where will this all lead us? Why did Pelosi have to kick in a door? Isn't Congress supposed to represent the will of the people? I don't think the "People" wanted any of this.

-Zavost