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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
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| Friday, October 10th, 2008 | 12:28 am
[snowowl]
 |
If two people make the same yearly salary, would they be taxed less by the American federal gov't if they filed independently or if they legally married and filed jointly? | | Thursday, October 9th, 2008 | 11:16 pm
[lindsay40k]
 |
I do enjoy a Doonesbury flashback.  The message I'm delivering here is that you don't need to post endless politics tests that categorise everyone here as Teh Liberals™ or blame everything bad that happens on abortion to annoy free market proponents. | 2:19 pm
[gunslnger]
 |
| 3:37 am
[jimprofitanon]
 |
Anyone watch Penn&Teller's Bullshit?  They're self described libertarians, so you probably do. Nothing says libertarian like two idiots who couldn't even cut it at the circus and are some horrible, mutant, combonation of Bill Mahrer and the guy on the monopoly boardgame box... Anyway, it gave me an idea to create my own youtube series I'm working on. Which will be called Full of Shit. Don't know if that's technically plagerism. Not that I give a rat's ass as I think plagerism is full of shit... So I'm here to give you a preview of some of the topics that I think, is full of shit... Global Warming:It's not that I don't believe in global warming. It's the fact that how can you prove evidence of there being global warming? Considering the same people who want to prove global warming love to pick on Christians, I find it very hypocritcal. And more importantly, full of shit.. Excuse me if I don't believe the records of the Earth's tempature from 1905. When people were still using horse carriages and churning butter... The Constitution:I don't give a shit what the constitution says. Yes, surely there is some philosophical elements that merit what the ammendments say and they are good rules to liveby. You know, like that other archaic document called the ten commandments... Considering the constitution was written in the latter part of the 1800s. When leeches were still a common medical practice and vast majority of people believed in witches.. You'll have to excuse me for thinking any argument based off the constitution is full of shit. Women/Black/Homosexual/etc's Rights:Another ridiculous assertion liberals tend to make is what defines human rights. They have no strict basis. It's just an intristic guessing game.. Equal income was a right? Sense when? Are you working hard enough to get an equal income? Is your skill equal and thus are you deserving of equal income? Sense there's so many things to consider from things like equal pay, I don't see how forcing an employer to pay you equal when he doesn't feel you are equal is a right. Maybe I should get payed just as much as you even though I don't even fucking work there. Afterall, we're equal right? And gay marriage. Who the fuck decided marriage was between a person, place, or thing? As far as I remember, marriage was defined by the religion you were a part of. Ofcourse, sense we religiously worship the state in today's generation, it comes as no surprise they expect them sleezes up in Washington to define marriage. You don't trust them making laws, how they spend federal tax dollars, or their ideas on self defense. But hey! They surely know a thing or two about the definition of love! I don't even have to bring up abortion to tell you these equal rights are full of shit. Taxes:WTF do we need taxes for? People always bring up roads and firemen. Cause you know. There's no way a private industry wouldn't be able to build roads for you, or put out fires for you. Government's the only people who can come up with those ideas. And you shouldn't have full control over how your money is spent. A good percentage of your money should be cut out to the more responsible government. God, I can only imagine the utter chaos we'd be in if you irresponsible jerks had all your money when all-mighty government can't spend their money like mature adults and go into trillions of dollars in deubt! Taxes are definitely full of shit. War:Kind of goes hand-in-hand with taxes because government is somehow better equipped then you are to make moral decisions. They can declare war on a nation, and kill innocent people, and bombard their countries with bombs and blazing guns. If I and a couple of my redneck friends went into China and shotup the cities, we'd be criminals. And the world, including our country, would condemn our acts of violence. But ofcourse if government declares war on China, we should be prepared to support our country, support our leader's decision, and support what is best for justice! War is full of shit. Voting:Voting has to be the most hypocritical piece of government ever created. On one hand, we're constantly reminded how selfish and stupid people are. And don't get me wrong, they are selfish and stupid. Half the fuckers reading this right now are selfish and stupid. I can't even trust them not to kill their own babies. But I'm suppose to trust them to elect the leaders of our country. And this is the kicker. Because democrats and republicans are always trying to appeal to voters, like a salesman, they got to meet a quota. So they target younger people, and poor people. Cause nobody cares about them. Yes, because young people who havn't passed school yet, and poor people who probably never went to school, know so much about our nation's deubt, it's history, and the best possible way to handle it's current problems! In between working at McDonalds and collecting their welfare checks they're tuning into CNN to get the low down on the latest stock market crash and social issue bill! Democracy is filled with the most shit. Because it relies on people. Who produce shit. | | Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 | 9:47 am
[lucy_chronicles]
 |
Crock of sh*& for Unemployment in NV w/ gov... Nevada's preferred method of payment is a prepaid debit card. See example pictured to the right: If you do not want to receive a debit card please call the following numbers: Southern Nevada: 702-486-0350 Northern Nevada: 775-684-0350 Long Distance: 888-890-8211  --------- so the financial industry isn't in bed w/ the gov eh? love the visa logo. oh, this is so much easier for us to monitor whatever you spend x on AND visa makes more money! see, no checking account required. just go to your local cash on the corner. it is more work for me to call and have them send a check to deposit to one of my accounts rather than re-load a card. context smells heavily.... the oligarchy doth want the populous poor, w/o financial options and to obey... ? blowing off steam. grr.... | | Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 | 10:17 am
[lucy_chronicles]
 |
Jackie Mason on Voting response to Sarah Silverman Obama plea
Funny. He doesn't endorse McCain but asks you to think and vote for the best person. This needs to be thoroughly exploited particularly as it came out of the REPUBLICAN Jewish coalition camp. no shock nobody's ecstatic of McCain...
Worth two minutes. what the hell. i'm looking forward to leaving the country move and move... at least it will be an open monarchical dictatorship... and the taxes are lower!
| 9:58 am
[typewriterking]
 |
They Still Believe It Yeah, I'm commenting about a random comment by a user on the Huffington Post, so feel free to level the charge of nut-picking if you want. Many of us here may recall the most unpopular New Deal policy, where six million pigs were slaughtered and ten million acres of cotton were destroyed in the name of raising prices. Naively, I believed at least this concept wouldn't find any supporters today.
Well,
Whenever I see a comment like this I wonder if the author is serious or not. If serious then there appears to be a fundamental misunderstanding. While on the surface it may appear that FDR's actions didn't make sense they actually made a lot of sense at the time. Yes, low prices were a problem but they were caused by overproduction to the point that prices were driven down below the cost of production. Now food is a special case. Who would argue for food shortages just to bring prices up to a level where farming is profitable? So it made sense to subsidize farmers NOT to grow crops. You might argue that crop subsidies today have been distorted and I would agree. On the other hand, one can only hope that farmers today have the necessary incentives and ability to produce more in the face of global food shortages. ( Cut because I'm nice )I suppose it is a marvelous tribute to the humanitarian instincts of the American people that they sympathize more with little pigs which are killed than with full-grown hogs. Some people may object to killing pigs at any age. Perhaps they think that farmers should run a sort of old-folks home for hogs and keep them around indefinitely as barnyard pets. But we have to think about farmers as well as hogs. And we must think about consumers and try to get a uniform supply of pork from year to year at a price which is fair to farmer and consumer alike.
Though not as insulting, this is a head-scratcher:
I will go further than most of them in condemning scarcity economics. We want an economy of abundance, but it must be balanced abundance of those things we really want.
Even at the height of popularity for command economies, I'd have expected those from the commanding heights to at least acknowledge that in a market system, consumer demand creates a supply of things people want. But not even this was left for us to decide.
Blah. This is a touchy subject with me. When I was a kid, someone nearby was taking care of wild boars on a ranch. Federal agents that didn't even bother to identify themselves rounded them up and took them all away. If I accidentally typed "Henry Paulson" instead of "Henry Wallace' at any point, I'm sorry for any confusion.
</div> Current Mood:  depressed | 9:00 am
[jimprofitanon]
|
A libertarian joke. (Well, sortof..)  Despite what you jackals might think. People irl are under the impression I'm libertarian. Seeing as I sound like "those guys on south park". Normal people are not stuck up bitches who want to shoot airplanes for flying over their property. So I don't get in an argument with them about capital L vs little l libertarians like you shitheads.. Anyway, I was talking to a friend and my girlfriend, and she is a democrat, but is voting for McCain. She asked who I'm voting for, and I said McCain too. (Mostly for Sara Palin) Then my girlfriend said "I thought you were libertarian?" Then I explained to them both why I'm voting for McCain, and gave the difference between the parties as Jessica could not tell the difference between a republican and a libertarian.. And how every party has it's own stupid assholes to deal with.. Neoconservative Republicans: You have two cows. The government takes them and sells you the milk, except you don't know water has been added to it, and some was given to cronies for free. Real Republicans: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. "Capital L" Libertarians: You have two cows. You sell one for gold and silver and eventually buy a bull for cheap, using inflation to your advantage. And bitch out and fight the FDA for wanting to regulate you and stop you from physically abusing your animals to get more milk out of them. Real Libertarians (That's me): You have two cows. You geneticaly engineer one to grow a penis so you can get them to have sex and make more cows while sitll producing at full capacity and boosting the morale of your current cows with rampant sex. You gladly accept the FDA's regulation that this milk was made by mutant cows pumped up on harmones and other bio-chemicals.. But the milk is cheaper cause of it! So it's ok.. Liberal Democrats: You have two cows. Government taxes force you to sell them in order to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow which was a gift from your government. They provide you with soy based Silk© because it's greener. Real Democrats: You have two cows. You feel bad that the your friend has none, so you offer to give him some milk untill he can get a cow of his own. | 3:59 am
[typewriterking]
 |
Well, That Settles It, Then The LP's VP candidate told the New York Times McCain will win 37 to 40 states.
Mr. Root wagered that John McCain would prevail in November, winning 37 to 40 states.
His explanation:
“McCain literally stole, word for word, what I’ve been saying in my playbook,” Mr. Root complained.
More than any other politician in the country, I understand why McCain took the gamble of a lifetime to choose Sarah Palin. She is a female me!**
I thought she was the female Tina Fey. ^_~ So how should we take this, the LP VP candidate that plans to be the 2012, 2016, and 2020 nominee complaining that in image, the GOP ticket is mimicking him? The Republican Party left him, but u-turned around to steal his image.*** On the plus side, Barr is denouncing " the bailout from Hell." Lolz at reading an article from 1999 denouncing Freddie and Fannie, and ranting about congress "knowing the crisis was coming", and 'doing nothing about it,' from ex-Congressman Barr, 1994-2002. ^_^ **Not that I object to Sarah Palin all that much, as far as a mainstream politician goes. As Governor of Alaska she's at least consistently...raised govt spending a little slower than Democrats would like. Yeah, I'm underwhelmed, but that's something. ***You probably caught me practicing my political one-liners, so I might as well confess to it. </div> Current Mood:  cynical | | Monday, October 6th, 2008 | 8:50 pm
[mynameisnotreal]
 |
On The Bailout
Okay; can someone explain to me, in small, bite-sized morsels, just what the hell happened that we need a buyout? I'm an engineer by heredity. Accountants are the mortal enemy, so my understanding of high finance is limited.
What happened?
What caused it?
What is happening now? (ie. how did it go from people not paying mortgages to credit being destroyed for everyone else)
Why is this bailout supposed to fix it?
And anything else I may have missed. | 10:13 am
[deadpansev]
 |
Should I quit paying my mortgage? How to profit from the impending depression, stop paying your mortgage says Peter Schiff. Lew Rockwell interviews Peter Schiff for today’s podcast. In it Peter explains why he thinks that the “mortgage crises” has only just started. He also says at one point that you can stop paying mortgage if you want to get ahead during this depression. The reason is that the new bailout plan passed tells the government to try and prevent foreclosure on these bad mortgage loans that they are buying up from these failing banks, even if they do foreclose on you it will not be for a couple years as slow as government works, in the mean time you can stop paying your mortgage and can divert that extra money into gold and other commodities that are likely to hold or increase in value. I am not sure it is something I want to do, but the idea behind it is interesting. I figured I would profit from the inflation simply by hanging on and paying off my mortgage with dollars that have half of the purchasing power they did when I took out the loan, so even though the dollar amount remained the same the true cost of my home decreased by half. His idea is interesting, because even though my credit rating would drop tremendously, my actual wealth would increase immediately and precipitously. For the show: http://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/ | 8:59 am
[jimprofitanon]
|
Political typology test. http://typology.people-press.org/typology/I expect most of you to get enterprisers or bystanders. Suprisingly enough I got liberal. I mean stereotypical liberal. Not your hijacked version of the word.. Based on your answers to the questionnaire, you most closely resemble survey respondents within the Liberal typology group. This does not mean that you necessarily fit every group characteristic or agree with the group on all issues.
Liberals represent 17 percent of the American public, and 19 percent of registered voters.
Basic Description
This group has nearly doubled in proportion since 1999, Liberals now comprise the largest share of Democrats and is the single largest of the nine Typology groups. They are the most opposed to an assertive foreign policy, the most secular, and take the most liberal views on social issues such as homosexuality, abortion, and censorship. They differ from other Democratic groups in that they are strongly pro-environment and pro-immigration, issues which are more controversial among Conservative and Disadvantaged Democrats.
Defining Values
Strongest preference for diplomacy over use of military force. Pro-choice, supportive of gay marriage and strongly favor environmental protection. Low participation in religious activities. Most sympathetic of any group to immigrants as well as labor unions, and most opposed to the anti-terrorism Patriot Act.
Who They Are
Most (62%) identify themselves as liberal. Predominantly white (83%), most highly educated group (49% have a college degree or more), and youngest group after Bystanders. Least religious group in typology: 43% report they seldom or never attend religious services; nearly a quarter (22%) are seculars. More than one-third never married (36%). Largest group residing in urban areas (42%) and in the western half the country (34%). Wealthiest Democratic group (41% earn at least $75,000).
Lifestyle Notes
Largest group to have been born (or whose parents were born) outside of the U.S. or Canada (20%). Least likely to report having a gun at home (23%) or attending bible study or prayer group meetings (13%).
2004 Election
Bush 2%, Kerry 81%
Party ID
59% Democrat; 40% Independent/No Preference, 1% Republican (92% Dem/Lean Dem)
Media Use
Liberals are second only to Enterprisers in following news about government and public affairs most of the time (60%). Liberals’ use of the internet to get news is the highest among all groups (37%).The most militant prolifer here, maybe anywhere... a liberal... You gotta' admit that's kind of funny... | | Sunday, October 5th, 2008 | 9:52 pm
[zzzing]
 |
The New Obama Ad - The American Promise: The New Cult of Change in the Country of Fear http://www.adsavvy.org/new-obama-ad-the-american-promise-the-new-cult-of-change-in-the-country-of-fear/New Ideas?, New Politics?, Change? These words mean everything, and therefore nothing. They’re vague and obscure and all-encompassing and they have no place in the political arena. It’s time people spoke up and stopped letting these pandering maniacs insult our intelligence with nonsense terms. We, as voters, need to demand clarity from politicians. We can’t sit back and mindlessly applaud every grunt and gesture and bit of gibberish as if it had real meaning. We can’t get hypnotized by whimsical jive, no matter how beautiful it sounds. | 5:50 pm
[arkadelos]
 |
Hey, I have spent almost all day looking for the precinct voting results for Ohio, Colorado, Maine, and New Mexico. However, I cannot find the results anywhere. Can someone please point me in the right direction? | | Saturday, October 4th, 2008 | 8:57 pm
[lucy_chronicles]
|
From Arden Guy as submitted to Liberty Watch Magazine
Living to Fight Another Day
As the Chairman of the Nevada Republican Party [Sue Lowden] announced
the unanimous vote supporting John McCain for President from the floor
of the National Convention in Minneapolis last month, my heart sank
and my phone began to buzz. Immediately, I knew there had been a
fumble of sorts on my part as a delegate. I knew that the true will of
the Republican voters in Nevada had not been represented and I knew
that, although I’d made myself believe that getting to floor as a
supporter of Congressman Ron Paul was enough of a win for this cycle,
the truth was deeper – somewhere, undefined in that sinking feeling.
In May of 2007, about a dozen of us met at Timber’s Bar on Flamingo.
Fellow Ron Paul Supporters from Phoenix showed us how to make the now
infamous “Love Revolution” signs and by July of that year, we were
able to fill a ballroom at the Paris Hotel Casino with well over 600
local soldiers, ready to do whatever it took to Dr. Paul the
Republican Nomination.
By this time I had been given the privilege of acting as the
Congressman’s press contact, setting up his interviews and speaking
schedules. Our group had outgrown meeting at the bars and we were
gathering in the auditoriums of the various public libraries
discussing the details of the Caucus process and studying the main
points of Robert’s Rules of Order.
We canvassed our precincts for Dr. Paul and began filling the Clark
County map on the wall of our Sahara headquarters with red pins
indicating a wide spread of support for our candidate. On Caucus day,
we were happy with 2nd place and only a very few were surprised to see
Mitt Romney take the day with landslide numbers. By the time of our
County Convention, our hopes in the caucus process were elevated when
we realized that although Romney’s supporters were able to show up to
vote, they did not have the stamina or determination to see the
nominating process all the way through to the State Convention in Reno
as we did.
Around the time of the County Convention, some of us began to pick up
on Dr. Paul’s message of Freedom. He was hesitant to come right out
and say it, but for anyone listening closely to his speeches it was
clear that the movement was about more than getting him the
nomination, which early on the primary process began to show as a
losing battle. It was about returning the GOP to its conservative
principles and gearing up for a battle that would extend far past this
November.
Taking Dr. Paul’s cue, across the country organizations began to crop
up and focus on the creation of a thousand Ron Paul’s getting into
seats of influence. Here in Las Vegas, we started the Nevada Liberty
Alliance. At the same time, many of us joined and became active in our
County’s Central Committees. Some of us even went so far as to get
ourselves elected to the CCRCC Executive Board. All wins, in my book.
Things were looking good, and with Romney out of the race, for reasons
unknown, all that was left to do was prepare for the State Convention
and send a delegation to Minnesota that leaned toward Nevada’s desire
to give Dr. Paul a good showing.
In order to be considered for the slate of recommended National
Delegates, a resume had to be sent in complete with references to the
State Party’s Nominations Committee. Confident in my recent
accomplishments and political activity, I sent in my resume but
quickly learned that I did not make the cut. Although I was a little
disappointed, I counted the wins we had so far and accepted the fact
that I had yet to earn enough stripes to be a part of the Delegation.
Meanwhile, the Ron Paul Campaign representatives were creating a slate
of their own and they were asking supporters if we would be willing to
vote for Ron Paul no matter what the pressure. I whole heartedly
agreed that if Ron Paul still was in the race, a firing squad could
not sway my support for him, the operative phrase being, “Still In the
Race.”
At the state Convention we came prepared with text message trees and
high speed printers. When a rule change voted down the Central
Committees power to be present the sole nominations for National
delegates, nominations were taken from the floor and in no time it was
apparent that the RP supporters did their homework and were poised to
gain a majority of National Delegates. That’s when the now infamous
gavel went down, the lights went out and the radical faction of the
Ron Paul Movement was born.
Although, it was certified that I was one the contested winners in the
Delegate Elections, I gave the State Party the benefit of the doubt
and waited for the call to reconvene. Many Ron Paul supporters did not
wait and organized their own reconvening. I, as a leader in the
movement, conspicuously did not participate in the planning or
execution of that convention and it was put forth that I should be
removed from the Ron Paul Slate, but somehow my name remained on their
list.
The NVGOP lost my confidence when in the end; they did not reconvene
or even send out mail in ballots, but instead opted to send the
original slate voted down on the floor of the convention in an obvious
rejection of the will of the majority of Nevada Republicans. At this
time, I sent a formal letter to our County Chairman, and then
considered the matter closed again, still feeling as though our many
gains were enough to grow on over the coming years.
As is well documented by news sources nationwide, the RNC ultimately
rejected both the Ron Paul slate as well as the slate put forth by the
NVGOP. A delegation was then appointed by the RNC and it was in the
papers that I found out I had been granted a seat in the Nevada
Delegation. With an initial reluctance and after a flurry of last
minute phone calls and arrangements, I was off to Minnesota to claim
my seat. I was met with no offers of accommodations, and no schedule
of events. I eventually managed to secure a room and a schedule from
friends inside the party through luck and providence.
The first thing I realized when standing on the Convention Floor was
that everything was made for TV. It was all a show. The nomination was
a decision that was made from the top down, and nothing would have
been able to stop this battleship of a movement. I was content to
touch the Nevada sign and resign myself to the fact that I and three
or four other Ron Paul supporters were there, and that was enough.
On the second day of the convention, I passed my credentials off to an
alternate and attended the Campaign for Liberty Rally in nearby St.
Paul. The contrast between the realness of that gathering in
comparison to the plastic appearance of the actual Convention across
the river was astonishing. My hope that future would tell of the
successes of this year was restored and the political reporter from
the Review Journal [Molly Ball] was there to document how moved and
proud of the Ron Paul Movement I really was.
On the day of the official Nomination of John McCain, I was approached
by a liaison assigned to our delegation and asked how I was going to
vote. I had already conceded the fact that Ron Paul was no longer
interested in the nomination, so I told him that I was without a
candidate. I asked if I could abstain and was told that was my
prerogative.
Shortly thereafter, I was approached again and informed that I would
be the only delegate preventing a unanimous vote. I was surprised to
hear that my fellow Ron Paul delegates had given their pledge to
McCain so I found them and asked if it were true. It was. So, in a
moment of confusion, I told the liaison that the best I could do was
give my credentials to an alternate and excuse myself from the voting
entirely. I was told that this was OK and I figured I had some time to
seek council and think about it. However, there would be no actual
vote. Chairman Lowden made her announcement at the end of the day and
I began to feel a mistake had been made.
That night I had much blowback from the message boards and found
myself being called a traitor. It wasn’t until the last day of the
convention when McCain was set to give his acceptance speech that I
realized how wrong I may have been not sticking to my original
instinct to abstain. I know now that I should have stuck to my guns
and refused my delegate vote to be counted for what I believe will
lead to more unconstitutional war and a further erosion of our
personal liberties. The endless platoons of black Darth Vader uniforms
outside the arena and the shoulder to shoulder men with shaved heads
and sheriff stars on the lapels of their dark suits filling the isles
of the delegation floor made this realization all the more clear.
I felt defeated and remorseful on that final day of the convention and
when the lights went down and an obvious piece of propaganda film
attempted to convince the crowd of the need for perpetual preemptive
war, I gave my badge to our county precinct coordinator and left the
Excel Center weary but resolved that this country deserved better and
that I would do all I could to ensure that in the future, America
would return to a fair democratic process of nominating candidates
with true conservative principles and records to back that up.
As if to manifest my first experience in the belly of the beast, I
came back to Nevada only to be involved in a head on collision with
car that swerved into my lane on Ann Road. As I thankfully recover
from that accident and write this, I am grateful for seat belts, air
bags and the fact that, although damaged, I will heal and I will live
to fight another day. I am lucky to have learned a great lesson
concerning politics and the internal strife that resulted from the
experience was such that I, as a solider of liberty, resolve never to
be caught off guard again. | 3:15 pm
[lucy_chronicles]
|
Dr. Paul's Statement on the Passage of the Bailout Yep. Stepping up the search for a commercial real estate position in Dubai, Qatar or Abu Dhabi in that order. At least I will live in an open monarch/dictatorship. The Taxes for me are also ZERO over there up to $80K imposed by the USA. I will not be paying for this bailout. Talked to another friend today and he is moving to Panama after a month down there. I'm starting to lose count of how many other Liberty loving friends have moved and are waiting for this empire to self destruct before coming back... or just go bankrupt. I shall have a dual citizenship. Many leaving to create Galt's gulch aren't necessarily keeping their citizenship either. I'm transferring assets, visiting relatives, putting my will together and will be adding a friend to my car insurance as he will keep the car. things are ready to go into storage after visiting with the storage company again today. Last round of BBQ needs to be had however... oh, but my fav Saltlick restaurant closed here in Vegas as have so many others in this non-recession... sigh... ----------- Rep. Ron Paul, MD. / United States House of Representatives: Statement on HR 1424 Madame Speaker, only in Washington could a bill demonstrably worse than its predecessor be brought back for another vote and actually expect to gain votes. That this bailout was initially defeated was a welcome surprise, but the power-brokers in Washington and on Wall Street could not allow that defeat to be permanent. It was most unfortunate that this monstrosity of a bill, loaded up with even more pork, was able to pass. The Federal Reserve has already injected hundreds of billions of dollars into US and world credit markets. The adjusted monetary base is up sharply, bank reserves have exploded, and the national debt is up almost half a trillion dollars over the past two weeks. Yet, we are still told that after all this intervention, all this inflation, that we still need an additional $700 billion bailout, otherwise the credit markets will seize and the economy will collapse. This is the same excuse that preceded previous bailouts, and undoubtedly we will hear it again in the future after this bailout fails. One of the most dangerous effects of this bailout is the incredibly elevated risk of moral hazard in the future. The worst performing financial services firms, even those who have been taken over by the government or have filed for bankruptcy, will find all of their poor decision-making rewarded. What incentive do Wall Street firms or any other large concerns have to make sound financial decisions, now that they see the federal government bailing out private companies to the tune of trillions of dollars? As Congress did with the legislation authorizing the Fannie and Freddie bailout, it proposes a solution that exacerbates and encourages the problematic behavior that led to this crisis in the first place. With deposit insurance increasing to $250,000 and banks able to set their reserves to zero, we will undoubtedly see future increases in unsound lending. No one in our society seems to understand that wealth is not created by government fiat, is not created by banks, and is not created through the manipulation of interest rates and provision of easy credit. A debt-based society cannot prosper and is doomed to fail, as debts must either be defaulted on or repaid, neither resolution of which presents this country with a pleasant view of the future. True wealth can only come about through savings, the deferral of present consumption in order to provide for a higher level of future consumption. Instead, our government through its own behavior and through its policies encourages us to live beyond our means, reducing existing capital and mortgaging our future to pay for present consumption. The money for this bailout does not just materialize out of thin air. The entire burden will be borne by the taxpayers, not now, because that is politically unacceptable, but in the future. This bailout will be paid for through the issuance of debt which we can only hope will be purchased by foreign creditors. The interest payments on that debt, which already take up a sizeable portion of federal expenditures, will rise, and our children and grandchildren will be burdened with increased taxes in order to pay that increased debt. As usual, Congress has show itself to be reactive rather than proactive. For years, many people have been warning about the housing bubble and the inevitable bust. Congress ignored the impending storm, and responded to this crisis with a poorly thought-out piece of legislation that will only further harm the economy. We ought to be ashamed. http://www.house.gov/paul/ | 10:08 am
[rightc0ast]
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I had a question, but found the answer. RE: competing currency in Worgl, Austria I am thinking about a certain forgotten something I read a long time ago, and now I vaguely remember it. I think this is a useful thing to know while discussing the Austrian school with others who ask for an "instance" of the free market actually working. Here is what I remember ... Something happened in Austria prior to WWII. It is referred to as something like "The $blank Miracle". The market was completely unregulated and IIRC and basically the only instance of almost completely laissez faire economic system being used. Also IIRC the Nazis only allowed this to go on for a short period of time, but in that time (during the depression no less) growth was way up, production was up, employment was up. Even if I am wrong, does anyone have any clue what I am getting at, and something I can read to satisfy my curiosity? Google doesn't help much when you forget what you are looking for. :) EDIT: Ah ha! I found what I was looking for after searching for entirely too long. :) My memory of the whole thing was quite faulty. I will read up on it, as it is related to the benefit of a competing currency during the depression.
On July 5th 1932, in the middle of the Great Depression, the Austrian town of Wörgl made economic history by introducing a remarkable complimentary currency. | | Friday, October 3rd, 2008 | 10:52 pm
[ceja]
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State may need $7-billion loan
SACRAMENTO -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, alarmed by the ongoing national financial crisis, warned Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson on Thursday that the state might need an emergency loan of as much as $7 billion from the federal government within weeks.
The warning comes as California is close to running out of cash to fund day-to-day government operations and is unable to access routine short-term loans that it typically relies on to remain solvent.
Letter from Schwarzenegger to Paulson
Dispute imperils California family...
Credit crunch puts California governments in a corner
Schwarzenegger slaps down workers' comp bills
The state of California is the biggest of several governments nationwide that are being locked out of the bond market by the global credit crunch. If the state is unable to access the cash, administration officials say, payments to schools and other government entities could quickly be suspended and state employees could be laid off.
Plans by several state and local governments to borrow in recent days have been upended by the credit freeze. New Mexico was forced to put off a $500-million bond sale, Massachusetts had to pull the plug halfway into a $400-million offering, and Maine is considering canceling road projects that were to be funded with bonds.
California finance experts say they know of no time in recent history when the state has sought an emergency loan of this magnitude from the federal government. The only other such rescue was in 1975, they said, when the federal government lent New York City money to avoid bankruptcy.
"Absent a clear resolution to this financial crisis," Schwarzenegger wrote in a letter Thursday evening e-mailed to Paulson, "California and other states may be unable to obtain the necessary level of financing to maintain government operations and may be forced to turn to the federal treasury for short-term financing."
The letter, obtained by The Times, came on the eve of a vote by the House of Representatives on a $700-billion rescue package, but it was too soon to know how the package would affect the nation's paralyzed credit markets. The Senate approved the so-called rescue bill Wednesday night.
A top Schwarzenegger aide followed up the letter with a call to the Treasury secretary Thursday night. Treasury Department officials could not be reached for comment.
It's customary for California to borrow billions of dollars at the start of the fiscal year to fill its coffers until the usual flood of sales tax receipts comes in after Christmas and income tax receipts arrive in the spring.
"California is so large that our short cash-flow needs exceed the entire budget of some states," Schwarzenegger wrote.
The cash needs to be in the state's bank account by Oct. 28 to be available to fund a scheduled $3-billion payment to more than 1,000 school districts.
Said Matt David, Schwarzenegger's communications director: "California faces the potential of a perfect storm created by the financial crisis' effect on liquidity, lower-than-anticipated revenues currently coming into the state, and our late budget. The governor is taking steps to prepare for this scenario to ensure that the state can make critical payments."
But those payments won't be forthcoming if the state can't do routine borrowing. For now, "the window is shut, and if it stays shut, we are in deep trouble," said an administration official, who asked not to be identified, citing the sensitive talks with Washington.
Quick passage of the rescue bill by the House of Representatives today and a signature by President Bush could inject more money into the international financial system and allow California to borrow at a reasonable interest rate, the official said.
But there are no guarantees that the economic recovery plan before Congress will succeed, said California Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who has been working with Schwarzenegger to keep the state solvent.
Asking the federal government for a loan "is one option on the table," said Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for Lockyer. The treasurer, he added, is working with outside financial advisors on a possible emergency plan to sell short-term debt notes to the U.S. government. Lockyer believes that such a plan is both feasible and legal, Dresslar said.
"I don't think we have ever gone to the feds," said Fred Silva, senior fiscal policy advisor with California Forward, a state budget think tank.
Silva said the closest California came may have been in the days after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, when at the request of the state, Washington sped up payment of federal funds that the state was owed.
State officials now fear they face a potential cash crisis worse than California confronted in 2003, in the final days of Schwarzenegger's predecessor, Gov. Gray Davis.
At that time, the precipitous decline of state revenue in the middle of a budget year forced officials to pay a syndicate of banks a premium of hundreds of millions of dollars for what amounted to an expensive "payday loan."
Even that option, administration officials say, would not be available during the current credit drought. They say if Congress does not approve a bailout plan -- and maybe even if it does -- there will be no lenders available to provide the state with the money it needs, regardless of the premium the state is willing to pay.
"We need to go as wide as possible to try to find buyers at reasonable rates," said Robert Fayer, an attorney advising the state on its planned $7-billion bond sale.
"Whether it could ultimately be the federal government, I have no idea. It is a fairly radical concept."
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So why are we bailing out wallstreet and not the American people? Not that I agree with spending money we don't have in the first place but if we were to spend money at all it should have been on the people in this country and not these criminals on wallstreet.
| 3:13 pm
[gunslnger]
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The Sunspot EnigmaTsuneta said solar physicists aren't weather forecasters and they can't predict the future. They do have the ability to observe, however, and they have observed a longer-than-normal period of solar inactivity. In the past, they observed that the sun once went 50 years without producing sunspots. That period coincided with a little ice age on Earth that lasted from 1650 to 1700. Coincidence? Some scientists say it was, but many worry that it wasn’t.
Geophysicist Phil Chapman, the first Australian to become an astronaut with NASA, said pictures from the US Solar and Heliospheric Observatory also show that there are currently no spots on the sun. He also noted that the world cooled quickly between January last year and January this year, by about 0.7C.
"This is the fastest temperature change in the instrumental record, and it puts us back to where we were in 1930," Dr Chapman noted in The Australian recently. But of course, man-made warming is bad while natural cooling is good, so we should work to stop all the global warming so we can have another Little Ice Age. | 1:41 am
[gunslnger]
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Using Plants Instead of Petroleum to Make Jet FuelChemical engineers in North Dakota have successfully turned oil from plants—canola (rapeseed), coconuts and soybeans—into jet fuel indistinguishable from the conventional kind, according to U.S. government tests. Working with the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), scientists at the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota turned these plant oils into fuel that had a similar density, energy content and even freezing point. Considering that we only have to duplicate what nature already did with the same materials, we knew it was feasible, it was just a matter of time and effort. But it's good to see it happening sooner than later. Since planes can't run on solar power, it's good to have an alternative for them to lessen the dependency on foreign oil. |
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