Our "Road To (Financial) Hell" Is Paved With Gold For The Likes Of George Soros

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Published: Apr 1, 2009	Share This Article | Most Popular Stories | Site Search

Our "Road To (Financial) Hell" Is Paved With Gold For The Likes Of George Soros
by Vincent Gioia

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, the man who President Obama said the United States could not do without despite his record of tax cheating, has come up with the "Big Sham;" a plan to reward fat cat investors who are Democrat supporters (or who will be) at tax payer expense. Geithner's so-called Public-Private Partnership Program is a sham. It's a lie. It supposedly "pairs" government money with private investors' money to buy toxic mortgages from banks but there is no pairing and there's no partnership. Private investors favored by Democrats put up a fraction of the money and get almost all the profits while taxpayers get stuck with almost all the risk.
Here is an example of how this works.
Goldman Sachs (home of many Obama appointees) wants to buy a million dollars of mortgages from a bank for $420,000; Goldman puts up $30,000 and Treasury puts up $30,000 but then the FDIC guarantees a loan for $360,000. Goldman gets 93% of the profits while taxpayers (suckers like us) are on the hook for 93% of the risk.
Tens of thousands of defaulted mortgages on tens of thousands of homes are bought giving favored bankers like Goldman Sachs ownership of them by putting up just 7 cents on the dollar. The sub-prime mortgages total more than $2 trillion so this amounts to another huge give-away to politically well-connected bankers.
Looking at the scheme all together: $80 billion goes to make JPMorgan Chase whole on its bad trades; $319 billion goes to Citibank; $300 billion goes to bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; $185 billion to bonus-giving AIG; $29 billion to Bear Stearns; $25 billion to General Motors Finance; $700 billion in currency swaps to other governments and trillions for the TARP, TALF; and other programs that will make bankers who have shown their greed and incompetence wealthy while Obama and Geithner make the rest of poorer.
Although Geithner and Obama are able to fool Americans with the aid of the Democrat news media house organs, the rest of the world is not so gullible.
Recently China's central bank governor joined three other economic giants (Russia, Brazil and India) in calling for the world to abandon the dollar as the world's reserve currency; then the International Monetary Fund said the same thing. As the G-20 meet the US dollar as the international reserve currency is on the agenda there.
As the dollar trends lower against other countries' currencies, people like George Soros make billions. Soros has already said "This has been a good crisis for me," and why not? Soros was able to get 158% profits in just 24 days by buying options that stood to gain when the Euro rose against the dollar. The Euro rose less than a dime but Soros and others like him wound up with huge gains. Add another 74% profits in two weeks with options on the British pound and more profit on just a change of 9 cents – a 77% profit when the pound increased 10.3 cents against the dollar. Now with the size the bailouts and the huge multi-trillion dollar deficits, the US dollar will likely fall even more. The profit potential for the likes of George Soros who gains and adds to his fortune by currency speculation will now, from currency options on stronger currencies, be enormous.
Those with 401 Ks who lost large sums in the market meltdown can attest that no matter how well diversified you are, there are times when the whole stock market goes pretty much straight down, and the same for bonds

and real estate. But that doesn't happen with currency investments because it's mathematically impossible for the US dollar to go down without other currencies like the Euro, Chinese Yuan, or the Canadian dollar going up in equal measure.
Soros knows that in any kind of financial climate, including today's recession/depression currencies can always be found that go up in value. That's not true with almost any other kind of investment.
Geithner is perpetrating a huge lie that will wreck the dollar and is the biggest scam in our history - all for the benefit of wealthy bankers who will be beholden to Obama and the Democrat Party. Even the president of the European Union called these bailouts and other lunatic American policies "the road to Hell." But in this case the road to hell is paved with gold for the fortunate few.
Vincent Gioia is a retired patent attorney living in Palm Desert, California

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AIG Bought Out Chris Dodd

You’d Be Foolish Not To Contribute To Chris Dodd’s Campaign

Posted by CTVoter2010 (Profile)

Monday, March 30th at 11:00PM EDT

Promoted from diaries. - Moe Lane.

In today’s Washington Times there is a report about how a bunch of AIG Financial Services executives were “asked” by their CEO to donate to Chris Dodd’s campaign, and to encourage their subordinates to do the same. Read AIG chief executive Joseph Cassano’s email for yourself.

Was this more than just a suggestion? Well, the boss said he wanted copies of the checks they sent. And it seems pretty clear that the recipients of the email got the gist: in less than two months, Dodd received over $160,000 in donations from AIG employees and their spouses.

Did Chris Dodd have any part in this request? We may never know. And it’s not illegal. So what’s the big deal? Well, the email pretty explicitly calls for the donations with the understanding that they will have very real and practical effects in their favor:

With the Democrats having regained control of the Senate following the November elections, Senator Dodd is next in line to become chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. From securities litigation reform, class action reform, mutual funds, and international trade, Senator Dodd will now have the opportunity as chairman to set the committee’s agenda on issues critical to the financial services industry.

And it just happens to turn out that Cassano was right on. On the eve of the passage of the stimulus bill, who tweaks an amendment that a few weeks later allows numerous AIG executives to collect about $160 million in bonuses that would not have been allowed without the last minute change by Chairman Chris Dodd! Not a bad return on an investment: donate $160k, 28 months later get $160 million.

Dodd doesn’t deny any of it. Instead, he sends his spokesman to trots out his now-tired line of “it’s old news.” From FoxNews:

…[DeAngelis] said Dod’s fundraising “has always been above-board, transparent and in accordance with campaign finance rules.”

“This is a biased news story that seems to be a blatant attempt to repeat old news,” DeAngelis told FoxNews. “The truth is, Senator Dodd has made it clear that he will not accept contributions from PAC’s of companies receiveing (federal bailout) money and has also made it clear that if anyone who received these recent bonuses from AIG has donated to his campaigns, he will donate that money to charity.”

As if the fact that he got paid off two years ago and that he was “transparently” bought off makes it okay. Just like when he got caught with his sweetheart Countrywide mortgages, he figures that since the unethical behavior was a long time ago and he recently got around to remortgaging, there is no story there.

Frankly, the fact that he doesn’t seem to think any of his numerous scandals are newsworthy is nearly as worrisome as the scandals themselves.

Here are a few links on the story: NRO (and here and here), Everyday Republican, Hot Air, Courant’s Capitol Watch,

And via “A Disgruntled Republican,” you might get a chuckle out of this:

Hey, you hear about this? Very strange incident at JFK Airport in New York City today. An AIG executive going through security had to empty out all his pockets. You know what fell out? Senator Chris Dodd.” - Jay Leno

Cross-posted at The Artful Doddger.

I still believe that some Employees of AIG got a raw deal, but this is just more proof that Washington, with their fake outrage needs to get on the ball and get off the take.

Dear A.I.G., I Quit! (Part 1 of 2)

The following is a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G.

DEAR Mr. Liddy,

It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:

I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.

After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.

I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down.

You and I have never met or spoken to each other, so I’d like to tell you about myself. I was raised by schoolteachers working multiple jobs in a world of closing steel mills. My hard work earned me acceptance to M.I.T., and the institute’s generous financial aid enabled me to attend. I had fulfilled my American dream.

I started at this company in 1998 as an equity trader, became the head of equity and commodity trading and, a couple of years before A.I.G.’s meltdown last September, was named the head of business development for commodities. Over this period the equity and commodity units were consistently profitable — in most years generating net profits of well over $100 million. Most recently, during the dismantling of A.I.G.-F.P., I was an integral player in the pending sale of its well-regarded commodity index business to UBS. As you know, business unit sales like this are crucial to A.I.G.’s effort to repay the American taxpayer.

The profitability of the businesses with which I was associated clearly supported my compensation. I never received any pay resulting from the credit default swaps that are now losing so much money. I did, however, like many others here, lose a significant portion of my life savings in the form of deferred compensation invested in the capital of A.I.G.-F.P. because of those losses. In this way I have personally suffered from this controversial activity — directly as well as indirectly with the rest of the taxpayers.

I have the utmost respect for the civic duty that you are now performing at A.I.G. You are as blameless for these credit default swap losses as I am. You answered your country’s call and you are taking a tremendous beating for it.

But you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial products unit had nothing to do with the large losses. And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press over our retention payments, and that you didn’t defend us against the baseless and reckless comments made by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut.

Page 2

Dear A.I.G., I Quit!

(Page 2 of 2)

Back to Page 1

My guess is that in October, when you learned of these retention contracts, you realized that the employees of the financial products unit needed some incentive to stay and that the contracts, being both ethical and useful, should be left to stand. That’s probably why A.I.G. management assured us on three occasions during that month that the company would “live up to its commitment” to honor the contract guarantees.

That may be why you decided to accelerate by three months more than a quarter of the amounts due under the contracts. That action signified to us your support, and was hardly something that one would do if he truly found the contracts “distasteful.”

That may also be why you authorized the balance of the payments on March 13.

At no time during the past six months that you have been leading A.I.G. did you ask us to revise, renegotiate or break these contracts — until several hours before your appearance last week before Congress.

I think your initial decision to honor the contracts was both ethical and financially astute, but it seems to have been politically unwise. It’s now apparent that you either misunderstood the agreements that you had made — tacit or otherwise — with the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, various members of Congress and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of New York, or were not strong enough to withstand the shifting political winds.

You’ve now asked the current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. to repay these earnings. As you can imagine, there has been a tremendous amount of serious thought and heated discussion about how we should respond to this breach of trust.

As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to surrender our earnings. We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised. None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house.

Many of the employees have, in the past six months, turned down job offers from more stable employers, based on A.I.G.’s assurances that the contracts would be honored. They are now angry about having been misled by A.I.G.’s promises and are not inclined to return the money as a favor to you.

The only real motivation that anyone at A.I.G.-F.P. now has is fear. Mr. Cuomo has threatened to “name and shame,” and his counterpart in Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, has made similar threats — even though attorneys general are supposed to stand for due process, to conduct trials in courts and not the press.

So what am I to do? There’s no easy answer. I know that because of hard work I have benefited more than most during the economic boom and have saved enough that my family is unlikely to suffer devastating losses during the current bust. Some might argue that members of my profession have been overpaid, and I wouldn’t disagree.

That is why I have decided to donate 100 percent of the effective after-tax proceeds of my retention payment directly to organizations that are helping people who are suffering from the global downturn. This is not a tax-deduction gimmick; I simply believe that I at least deserve to dictate how my earnings are spent, and do not want to see them disappear back into the obscurity of A.I.G.’s or the federal government’s budget. Our earnings have caused such a distraction for so many from the more pressing issues our country faces, and I would like to see my share of it benefit those truly in need.

On March 16 I received a payment from A.I.G. amounting to $742,006.40, after taxes. In light of the uncertainty over the ultimate taxation and legal status of this payment, the actual amount I donate may be less — in fact, it may end up being far less if the recent House bill raising the tax on the retention payments to 90 percent stands. Once all the money is donated, you will immediately receive a list of all recipients.

This choice is right for me. I wish others at A.I.G.-F.P. luck finding peace with their difficult decision, and only hope their judgment is not clouded by fear.

Mr. Liddy, I wish you success in your commitment to return the money extended by the American government, and luck with the continued unwinding of the company’s diverse businesses — especially those remaining credit default swaps. I’ll continue over the short term to help make sure no balls are dropped, but after what’s happened this past week I can’t remain much longer — there is too much bad blood. I’m not sure how you will greet my resignation, but at least Attorney General Blumenthal should be relieved that I’ll leave under my own power and will not need to be “shoved out the door.”

Sincerely,

Jake DeSantis

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Conservatives Against Marijuana Prohibition

Why Conservatives should insist on overturning cannabis prohibition in the U.S.:

Cut wasteful spending, restore respect for law enforcement, grow a sustainable economy without large government stimulus.

Personally, I'm not a Marijuana user, though I did experiment over 20 plus years ago in my youth. I do however enjoy a nice Margarita every once in a while and really see no difference between that and occassionally "lighting one up". The preposterous laws that we have banning cannibis, hemp and Marijuana based pharmacuticals is absolutely un-American, and was born out of a campaign of fear, not facts.

Here's a few highlights of the benefits of legalizing this herb.

1) Effective Law Enforcement: Ending cannabis prohibition will drastically reduce wasteful government spending and corruption of law enforcement officers. Half of the police budget is spent on invesitigating and prosecuting non-violent drug offenders.Law enforcement funds should be used to fight real crimes like murder, robbery, sexual abuse, fraud, assault, domestic abuse, driving while intoxicated, money laundering, cyber crimes, government corruption, vandalism, arson, conspiracy against rights, and medical and legal mal-practice. In todays socio-economic upheaval we need all the resources available to suppress gang violence, prevent home invasion and protect our citizens against real threats to their safety. With the lessening of profits available in the street drug business, that will certainly come about with the end of prohibition, our inner-city youth will have more incentive to get an education and seek a ligitimate career. No more kingpins.

2) Cut Government Spending: Cap on Taxes Ending proibition of cannabis will allow the introduction of the highly prolific hemp industy in New York State, which produces the essentials of life: food, clothing and shelter, and a multi-purpose medicine, thus giving non-profit charities the key ingredients for aiding the poor and disabled citizens, and eliminating nearly all of the need for state funding for welfare, medicaid, H.U.D., and Food Stamps.

3) Freedom of Enterprise The hemp industry was a standard part of the spectrum of agricultural and manufacuring business ventures in nearly every state in the country until it's prohibition was established deceptively by the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Millions of Americans were in one way or another benefiting from hemp industries and were unaware that the arbitrary banning of marijuana was actually a ban on hemp. Had it been clearly explained to the public the law would likely have been opposed by an overwhelming majority. The cultivation of hemp never posed any serious threat to public safety, and in fact only threatened some newly invented pharmaceuticals.

4) Right to Bear Arms The unconstitutional prohibition of cannabis exposes free and upstanding citizens who grow the herb for personal use to felony charges which deprives them of their right to keep and bear arms and violates their right to privacy and sovereignty in the home. Let us not give the government licence to invade us.

5) Freedom of Education Choices Just as Conservatives value the right to pray in schools, the implication by police in D.A.R.E. programs, that the choice to use marijuana, as opposed to store-bought cold medicine, such as Nyquil is inherently self destructive, is not scientific and imposes a particular religious stance on our children, comparable to telling our children that God is not real. The role of public schools is to teach our children about science and generally accepted morals, not one religious stance or another. It is a family choice to teach kids our personal ideals.

6) Economic Prosperity Ending prohibition of cannabis will introduce a wide array of hemp products, grown and manufactured here in New York, including food, clothing, rope, canvas, building materials, fuel, and cosmetics. The production of so many valuable saleable items here at home will make way for many prosperous, self- sufficient economic networks. Our children won't have to wonder where they will work, because the job market will arguably be growing nearly as fast as the hemp fields. The lessening of the need for public welfare programs will free up government funds and open the opportunity to introduce sizeable tax-break incentives for new businesses. Allowing marijuana users to grow their own will allow them to save on healthcare and return their money to the mainstream economy. Let's put the criminal drug dealers out of business.

7) Medical Practice Accountability Without the restrictive control of the individual's free choice of medical treatments, the pharmaceutical companies and insurance providers will not be able to corrupt the medical establishments by encouraging certain prescriptions for the benefit of private corporate interests.

8) Freedom of Religion Many conservatives strongly believe that use of any mind-altering substance is morally damaging and should be kept from reaching our children. However, the current laws are a blatant invasion of people's rights to make their own moral judgements concerning what medicines to use, and whether or not to engage in euphoric practices. Prohibition is encouraging government to make arbitrary decisions on which freedoms to violate, depending on what party or political agenda is in control. The unavoidable truth is that not everyone's religion calls for the same guidelines, therefore we can not make state laws based on a certain group's religious convictions. That is a violation of the separation of church and state. We should follow the example of the founding fathers by opposing any infringement on rights and thereby protect our offspring from being subject to the future loss of their own freedoms. As long as your religion is not becoming an invasion of someone else's safety and well being, your religion is lawful and protected within the Constitution.

9) Right to Privacy If you allow the government to control what plants you grow on your own property even when you pose no real threat to neighbors or the community, then you are allowing government to violate your constitutional rights, committing treason against the country. If you let the government invade us because of regulations on plants, you are certainly encouraging the arbitrary invasion of whatever rights the acting regime might want to deprive us of in order to gain more control over our personal freedoms. You have a right to grow food, medicine and herbs on your own property. Prohibition of alcohol was destructive to the peace and tranquility of communities and so is prohibition of cannabis.

read more digg story

Rush Limbaugh's CPAC Speech in Full

Perusing through the plethora of YouTube videos that has Rush's Speech in it's entirety is a bit of a mishmash, so I figured I'd post them here... In order, along with some responses from the Mainstream Media.

One of Ten

Two of Ten

Three of Ten

Four of Ten

Five of Ten

Six of Ten

Seven of Ten

Eight of Ten

Nine of Ten

Ten of Ten

Keith Oberman's Delusional Response

Ron Christie Defends Rush at CNN

The Young Turks, More Partisan Bickering.

This is kind of old, but for a fleeting moment, I thought to myself, WOW, for once I have to agree with these guys. Of course, in the end though, he makes this all about the Evil "Republicans" vs the "Saitly" Democrats. What he fails to say however, is the fact that the Democrats have been in charge of Congress for the past 2 years and could have crafted this in any way they wanted to. They've been in the majority since the 2006 Elections, so why the outrage against JUST the Republicans. Once again, The Young Turks prove themselves to be nothing but a mouth peice for the Democrat Party.

I checked their You Tube Video's to see if they had something similarly critical of Obama's Trillion Dollar "Bailout" or his nearly 4 Trillion Dollar budget, and of course there's nothing there critisizing that level of outrageous spending. So there you have it, these so called "Rebels" are nothing more than

Darth Matrix Obama Smith

I came across this video, very entertaining:

Phoenix - Kidnapping Capital of the U.S.A.

When you think of kidnappings, generally you think of areas like Colombia, Brazil, Somalia or Iraq & Afghanistan. It surprised me to learn that Mexico City is the Kidnapping Capital of the world, with Phoenix Arizona a close second, making it the Kidnapping Capital of the U.S.A. What's even more troubling, is the fact that this has been going on for quite some time with practically zero major coverage from main stream news stations. What are their priorities?
What bothers me the most about this is the fact that Obama has picked Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as the new head of Homeland Security? Was it her Stellar Record? What's more is that Napolitano didn't even complete her own state security plan. As the Tucson Citizen pointed out,

"(Gov. Janet Napolitano) blames budget problems and the difficulty coordinating agencies in Arizona, where she has been governor, for failing to complete key provisions of a detailed security plan for her own state."

Apparently Yet Again, Politics trumps anything else in Washington, and the post was given as political payback, instead of given to the right person for the right job. The following story can be found on ABC's website, but why isn't this the leading story on their newscasts? I suppose whoever is winning the Grammy's is a bigger story.

Washington Too Concerned With al Qaeda Terrorists to Care, Officials Say

By BRIAN ROSS, RICHARD ESPOSITO and ASA ESLOCKER
February 11, 2009

In what officials caution is now a dangerous and even deadly crime wave, Phoenix, Arizona has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City and over 370 cases last year alone. But local authorities say Washington, DC is too obsessed with al Qaeda terrorists to care about what is happening in their own backyard right now.

Wave of abductions hit Phoenix. Is Washington paying enough attention?

"We're in the eye of the storm," Phoenix Police Chief Andy Anderson told ABC News of the violent crimes and ruthless tactics spurred by Mexico's drug cartels that have expanded business across the border. "If it doesn't stop here, if we're not able to fix it here and get it turned around, it will go across the nation," he said.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown warned that as the U.S. government focuses so intently on Islamic extremist groups, other types of terrorists – those involved with the same kidnappings, extortion and drug cartels that are sweeping Phoenix – are overlooked.

To try and combat the crime wave, the Phoenix police have created a special unit to handle the kidnappings called the Home Invasion Task Force, which has pulled more than a dozen officers off other assignments. The crimes are occurring across the valley and in all types of neighborhoods, authorities warn.

48 Liberal Lies About American History

Larry Schweikart wrote a fantastic book called "48 Liberal Lies About American History". Some of the things that he goes over is:

1. 3rd most common image in the top 20 American History Books of the 20th Century sections is of the Klu Klux Klan - As if America is STILL a Racist country.
2. Virtually all the Text Books identify Lee Harvey Oswald (Kennedy's Assassin) as a Deranged Marine, when in fact he should be portrayed as a Communist - As one of the top 20 does.
3. Most of the most commonly used books have 1/3 to 1/2 the 48 Liberal Lies, as if their Agenda is to portray the U.S. as some Evil, Oppressive and Racist country.
4. Lie #19, The Rosenbergs were not Spies and were Wrongfully executed - One of the books even says that they were not major spies, even though they sold Nuclear Bomb Schematics and Diagrams to the Soviets. Nikita Kruschev himself said the Rosenburgs were instrumental in advancing their nuclear bomb program.
5. Lie #41, The Trans Continental Railroads required Government Subsidies to survive. Even though the ONLY profitable Trans Contintental Rail Road (the Great Northern Railroad) was a completely private railroad, built entireley with private funds by Canadian James J. Hill. It was also the only railroad that survived the crash of 1873.
6. Lie #45, LBJ's Great Society had a great impact on the poor. By the 1990's when the impact of these programs was actually observed, it intoduced 2 generations of drastic levels of family breakups and illigitamacy. Most gains started with John F. Kennedy's Tax cuts and stopped with LBJ's "War on Poverty" and Government spending.
7. Lie #9, McKail Gorbachev's Reform policies led to the Collapse of the Soviet Empire and the end of the Cold War. It was Reagan's military buildup and pressure that caused the Soviet's Collapse.

The book looks to be a very interesting read, and provides a great insight as to why most Americans, especially the "Better Educated" Americans think the way they do about our country.

The Following video gives a bit longish 45 Min. Interview with the Author, but I find it very interesting. Being a history buff, I guess I'm a bit biased, but hopefully you'll like it as much as I did.

Those Who Don't Learn From History .... Oh Boy ...

The New Deal
Obama keeps talking about the New Deal as if it was such a great period of prosperity, but the truth is, all that government spending back in the 30's just led to a lot of instability in the financial markets. Instability led to higher interest rates, which then led to the suffocating of the private sector.
Andrew Wilson wrote in the Wall Street Journal,

" the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations -- in disregarding market signals at every turn -- were jointly responsible for turning a (short term) panic into the worst depression of modern times. As late as 1938, after almost a decade of governmental "pump priming," almost one out of five workers remained unemployed. What the government gave with one hand, through increased spending, it took away with the other, through increased taxation. But that was not an even trade-off. As the root cause of a great deal of mismanagement and inefficiency, government was responsible for a lost decade of economic growth"

That doesn't sound to me like the fantastic Economic Boom I learned about in my history class? They made it sound like it was all bubble gum and lollipops.
Think about this for a moment. When was the last time you went to get a Driver's license office or to the Court house, the Social Security Administration or ANY government run facility and thought to yourself, "Wow, this is a really efficient operation. Everything makes so much sense!" All of us know, instinctively that Government is inefficient and does things in irrational and crazy ways, but now we're going to hand them Trillions of OUR dollars to spend when historically, we know that this has never, ever worked? It's because of this that I support the "Personal Responsibility Act of No Socialism" Our solution to the financial crisis. Call me a dreamer, but who knows. It could happen!
Of course, there's a lot of nay sayers out there that say that us on the "Right Wing" are revisionist trying to re-write history. That we somehow want to besmirch the gains made by the New Deal, however, the government's own statistics, you can find the series in Historical Statistics of the United States here (big PDF) . This isn't "made up stuff, this is government statistics. Historical FACT.
Truth is the "New Deal" didn't pull this country out of the Depression, World War II Did. At the time the war had broken out, we still had fantastic levels of unemployment in this country, so why on earth would we NOT learn from our history and repeat the same exact mistakes of the past?

Japan's Lost Decade
The President spoke last night in his speech about Japan and the "Lost Decade" where he believes the Government didn't act, and that's why they ended up in the situation that they are still in to this day. Let's take a trip down memory lane, so we can see the differences between what the U.S. did during the last financial crisis, and what Japan did that led to their "Lost Decade".
For those of you you may remember, we had a massive stock market crash in 1987, that was very similar to what happened in 2008. Back then, the DOW plunged by 22.6% in a SINGLE Day! Keep in mind that the "Biggest one day point loss ever" of 778 Points on Sept. 29th 2008 AND the "Second Biggest one day point loss ever" of 733 points on Oct. 15th COMBINED was LESS than 20%!
With this in mind, back then most world economists said that we would end up in the next 5 years with a period similar to the Great Depression. Luckily for us, Reagan didn't listen to all this fear mongering and kept a steady hand, did nothing but lower interest rates to maintain liquidity and tighten some regulations on banks. Unsound companies were allowed to fail because stinking rotting corpses of companies that can't survive were NOT propped up. Within a year, the economy was back on track and growing again.
Japan, instead chose a different path. A path that included nearly nationalizing banks. A path that included the Government pumping Trillions of Yen into the Markets. A path that included "Propping up" Dead companies that only prolonged the pain. Here's a great article (reprinted from the WSJ) that highlights 6 lessons that we learned from Japan's "Lost Decade" and unfortunately, it looks like we're set to repeat those same mistakes with this bill. Especially of Interest is Lesson's 4 & 5.

• Lesson Four: Fiscal policy isn't effective: Japanese government repeated trying to rescue the economy by "emergency fiscal stimulus", which resulted only as the vast amount of government deficit, 180% of GDP. As many banks and companies were insolvent, the money supplied by the government was used to make up zombie banks and companies who looked alive but in fact dead.
  
  
• Lesson Five: Until the focus of disease is removed by surgery, no macroeconomic medicine will be effective. In 2002, an economist Heizo Takenaka became the Minister in charge of Economy and Finance. He changed the "soft landing policy" of predecessors and said "I don't think there are too big banks to fail" in an interview with Newsweek. It aroused a panic among bankers, so they stopped postponing the disposal of bad loans.

Yet Lesson 4, is EXACTLY what this stimulus bill is all about, and Lesson 5, well that's the good ol' TARP program right? Some banks are just "Too Big to Fail".

There is a reason that after FDR died, the constitution was amended to not allow anyone to perpetually run for the office of the presidency. Congress knew that FDR was a disaster, but nostalgia from the "War Days" didn't allow a really fair look at his entire administration. Circumstances from that era prevented any kind of opposition, it almost looked un-American to oppose FDR. The insiders knew though, and that is why they passed that law so something like this would never happen again.

It's time to Act. Do your part to stop this MASSIVE Pork bill from happening. It's not too late!

Do Your Part to Stop this MASSIVE Pork Bill

I saw this over at NoStimulus.com and thought it would be worthwhile to share it with my readers. Please make sure you click to sign the petition!!!

Fight Special Interests that Want to Take Your Money

FOX
News coverage of the first 69,000 of your petitions being delivered to the
United States Senate this past Friday [Left]. Senators Jim DeMint (SC), Jim
Inhofe (OK), Jeff Sessions (AL), Michael Enzi (WY) and David Vitter (LA)
receive the petitions on the steps of the Senate [Right]. We will be
delivering all the new petitions this week!

This Fight Is Not Over

We still have two chances to win in the House or Senate!

The Senate mustered 61 votes to squeak through the Collins/Nelson
amendment, better known as the “compromise” stimulus plan.

If you listen to the mainstream media, this means the fight is over, Nancy
Pelosi, Harry Reid, and President Obama win, and it’s time to move on. Not so
fast!

The bill will go to a conference committee to work out differences between
the House and Senate versions. The conference committee will be a brand-new
feeding frenzy of wasteful pork projects.

Whatever comes out of conference committee will be another very tough vote
in both the House and Senate.

If we keep the pressure on, we can win!

What Does the So-Called “Stimulus Package” Mean For You?

It means you pay.

You pay for more bailouts, more giveaways, more wasteful spending...and
your children and grandchildren pay for trillions of dollars of debt.

But you can fight back right now. By signing the
petition, you can join
the thousands of Americans who are saying NO!

NO to more taxpayer-funded bailouts and
giveaways to special interests!

NO to using economic hardship as an
excuse for Big Government power grabs!

NO to heaving trillions of dollars in
new debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren!

NO to this no-stimulus scam!

Follow the links on the right to contact your elected officials, learn how
you can tell your friends and family why this new scheme will hurt taxpayers,
and invest in the movement that is fighting back!

FOX
News coverage of the first 69,000 of your petitions being delivered to the
United States Senate this past Friday [Left]. Senators Jim DeMint (SC), Jim
Inhofe (OK), Jeff Sessions (AL), Michael Enzi (WY) and David Vitter (LA)
receive the petitions on the steps of the Senate [Right]. We will be
delivering all the new petitions this week!

This Fight Is Not Over

We still have two chances to win in the House or Senate!

The Senate mustered 61 votes to squeak through the Collins/Nelson
amendment, better known as the compromise stimulus plan.

If you listen to the mainstream media, this means the fight is over, Nancy
Pelosi, Harry Reid, and President Obama win, and its time to move on. Not so
fast!

The bill will go to a conference committee to work out differences between
the House and Senate versions. The conference committee will be a brand-new
feeding frenzy of wasteful pork projects.

Whatever comes out of conference committee will be another very tough vote
in both the House and Senate.

If we keep the pressure on, we can win!

What Does the So-Called Stimulus Package Mean For You?

It means you pay.

You pay for more bailouts, more giveaways, more wasteful spending...and
your children and grandchildren pay for trillions of dollars of debt.

But you can fight back right now. By signing the
petition, you can join
the thousands of Americans who are saying NO!

NO to more taxpayer-funded bailouts and
giveaways to special interests!

NO to using economic hardship as an
excuse for Big Government power grabs!

NO to heaving trillions of dollars in
new debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren!

NO to this no-stimulus scam!

Follow the links to contact your elected officials, learn how
you can tell your friends and family why this new scheme will hurt taxpayers,
and invest in the movement that is fighting back!

Obama Fails the 'Katrina' Test

If you remember the criticisms of the Federal response to Katrina, one of the biggest things was the claims that the Federal Government (President Bush) was "Slow" to respond to the disaster, as thousands of people were living without power and proper living conditions. It seems that there must be a double standard in the main stream media when it comes to the coverage of this kind of news. When it's poor blacks who are the victims, it's national headlines. When it's just plain old regular white Americans, well I guess no one cares. President Bush signed a $10.5 billion relief package within four days of the hurricane. Within 1-2 days of the hurricane, National Guard Troops arrived with relief of food, water, and medicine, and participated in security and rescue operations.

Let's see now that Obama is in charge? A week (Feb 2nd) after the Ice Storm hit the Midwest, particularly Kentucky, is barely getting any federal help. 55 people dead, where was the federal response? As of Friday (Feb. 6th), FEMA says that they are "Coordinating efforts".
Don't get me wrong, I'm not really critisizing Obama, I am however, critisizing the mainstream Media. It seems that when the subject is something that they want to make a big deal of, like the Nations Poor, they will find a way to do it and in a way "generate" their own story. I remember down here in Florida, when Hurricane Andrew hit, it was 5 days before we saw the National Guard, vs in Luisianna it was only 3 days. Weeks had passed before the feds came in with any real help, whereas in Luisiana Bush signed a bill within just 4 days. Jack Kelly wrote a great article about the Federal response to Katrina, where he highlights:

... "The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne."

For instance, it took five days for National Guard troops to arrive in strength on the scene in Homestead, Fla. after Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992. But after Katrina, there was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three.

Journalists who are long on opinions and short on knowledge have no idea what is involved in moving hundreds of tons of relief supplies into an area the size of England in which power lines are down, telecommunications are out, no gasoline is available, bridges are damaged, roads and airports are covered with debris, and apparently have little interest in finding out.

So they libel as a "national disgrace" the most monumental and successful disaster relief operation in world histor." ....

He goes on to point out:

Exhibit A on the bill of indictment of federal sluggishness is that it took four days before most people were evacuated from the Louisiana Superdome.

The levee broke Tuesday morning. Buses had to be rounded up and driven from Houston to New Orleans across debris-strewn roads. The first ones arrived Wednesday evening. That seems pretty fast to me.

A better question -- which few journalists ask -- is why weren't the roughly 2,000 municipal and school buses in New Orleans utilized to take people out of the city before Katrina struck?

Truth is, the local mostly Democrat government was much more to blame than Bush was, yet this was never really pointed out by the Agenda driven media.

If Obama had been measured by the same yardstick used to measure Bush, he would have definitely have failed the "Katrina Test".

Titan - Socialist in Space

I was checking out the History Channel's Universe series when they started talking about Titan, and how it has an atmosphere 1.5X thicker than earth's, how it has rivers of Methane and Natural Gas (our new gas pump?). At any rate, figured I'd check out some articles across the internet to see what others had written about Titan and I come accross this very well written article that I've copied below. The article itself was fantastic but some of the responses this guy got was just absolutely HILARIOUS!

One of the posters said we should build windmills over there for energy. On a planet that a lake twice as large as Lake superior of pure Liquid Natural Gas! A planet where it rains methane, We should build inefficient windmills! Another poster claimed that we should leave Titan alone, as a nice preserve. Of course the fact that we're the ONLY creatures in the universe that we know of that can actually appreciate a preserve, this fact simply eluded him. Truth is, even if we did colonize Titan, we're talking about a moon that's 50% larger than our own, with half the gravity. Not a place we could necessarily put millions of people on.

Even if we could engineer a microbe that would eat the methane and exhale Oxygen (which is what many scientist thing happened on this planet), we'd still have to deal with the Nitrogen Cyanide in the Atmosphere, of which even tiny amounts could kill us. Either way, all attempts should be made to colonize other planets, just so we have a "Backup Place" to go to if we see a killer asteroid heading to earth.

Personally if I could somehow terraform these planets to make them habitable for humans, I would not care if it destroyed the Desolate Lifeless environments that are already there. Who cares, if this planet is destroyed, there would be no one left to appreciate any planets or moons that we've "preserved" for the future.

Here's the story.

Colonization of Titan-- The Future Persian Gulf?

(Note: this is a continuation of the The Space Colonization Series)
In terms of potential locations in the outer solar system, Saturn's moon Titan is usually mentioned right off the bat. It is a prime location for human survival in the outer regions because of its great abundance of all the necessary organic materials. The atmosphere contains large amounts of methane and nitrogen and it is believed that both liquid water and liquid ammonia are locked under the surface and occasionally pushed out through volcanic activity. Water and methane could be used as both propellants for a rocket and for a colony's power supply. Nitrogen, methane, and ammonia could be used as a source of fertilizer for growing food. The water could also obviously be used for drinking and for oxygen.

Now, looking in an even more speculative nature, Titan would be a major target for a future fusion based economy. We will soon run out of oil on Earth and we will inevitably need to find another source of power. If we ever make a break through on fusion power we know we will need two things that aren't readily available on Earth: helium-3 and deuterium. Saturn has a relatively high amount of these resources available and Titan would be an ideal spot to mine and collect from.

True color image of Titan taken by Cassini. More images of Titan from NASA.

The Cold, Hard Facts

True color image of Titan Surface taken by Huygens. More information from NASA.
Titan is cold. Really, really cold. The temperature is about -180 degrees Celsius. This type of cold also isn't quite as easy to deal with as the cold we would encounter in space or on the Moon. No, Titan's thick atmosphere makes this very difficult. Thermo-insulation becomes a much bigger problem. Fortunately, this problem could potentially be solved be building a protective layer around a habitat. By evacuating a space in between an outer shell and the inner habitat heat loss could be lowered to a more manageable level akin to a lunar habitat's requirements for thermal insulation.

The thick atmosphere does provide some advantages, however. At about 1.47 times the atmospheric pressure of Earth--equivalent to 5 meters under water on Earth--the atmosphere would protect inhabitants from potentially deadly doses of radiation that would be of concern on outposts on Mars, the Moon, or the asteroids. The quality of Titan's atmosphere also greatly decreases the engineering complexity of any aerobraking and landing techniques.

At least one more advantage exists for its atmosphere when combined with Titan's relatively low gravity of 0.14 g's. This unique combination makes flying much easier. So much easier, in fact, that a human could simply strap on some wings and take flight (with a pressurized suit on of course). Other than for human enjoyment and recreation, easier flight requirements could be taken advantage of for more near-term, exploratory missions like sending probes that float around the atmosphere in blimps, hot air balloons, or autonomous planes. Alas, like the atmosphere of Titan, the low gravity also has its disadvantages. Namely the health problems associated with low-g environments.

Personally, I believe Titan will never be more than a mining or research outpost but who knows? Perhaps it could some day be terraformed and become a bastion for thousands or even millions of colonists in the future. It does, after all, contain an abundant amount of the necessary organic materials needed for life as we know it. What do you think? Could you see Titan in our future?

Something to think About

A friend of mine just emailed me this and I thought it would make a nice addition to my blog:

Every once in a while, someone puts together some interesting, yet true thoughts.


To Whom It May Concern

Who ever this boss is he has it nailed down perfectly........read his entire message and the last 3 paragraphs will make total sense to you....and if you are a left leaning socialistic democrat this type of thinking just may get you to re-evaluate your sense of direction for this country. Cuba is a prime example of where we could be if we keep heading towards thinking that the government can provide for our every need.........but first get clear in your head "WHAT AND WHO IS THE GOVERNMENT'....just what does the government produce, plant and harvest, and sell to earn the money that they so freely give to those that could but do not produce and contribute to the productivity of this country. Don't remember where it came from...BUT...once! everyone is in the wagon there will be no one left to pull it.

A letter from the Boss:

To All My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.
However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.

First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a Back Story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You've seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I'm sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.

However, what you don't see is the BACK STORY :

I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.

My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the discount store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9 am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5 pm, I don't. There is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations... you never realize the Back Story and the sacrifices I've made.

Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn't. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.

Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds.

Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:

I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.

The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.

Here is what many of you don't understand ... to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.

So where am I going with all this?

It's quite simple.

If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more.

Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.

So, if you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about....

Signed, THE BOSS

God Bless America & God Bless Our Troops

------ End of Forwarded Message