Finally a politician speaks truth, and it is the President! Will the President continue to sign deficit spending into law?
Portion of CSPAN transcript of interview over the holiday weekend:
SCULLY: Yet, it all takes money. You know the numbers, $1.7 trillion debt, a national deficit of $11 trillion. At what point do we run out of money?
OBAMA: Well, we are out of money now. We are operating in deep deficits, not caused by any decisions we've made on health care so far. This is a consequence of the crisis that we've seen and in fact our failure to make some good decisions on health care over the last several decades
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Weimar Hyperinflation
This article describes Weimar hyperinflation as caused by currency speculators taking advantage of a weakened economic system.
The article has a useful discussion of fiat currency that has seemed to work in the past.
The article has a useful discussion of fiat currency that has seemed to work in the past.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Pension Guarantee Agency Chief Refuses To Testify
This shows that government can't manage things any better than a fake free market. The solution is a true free market with fast and free information flow so people can make their own decisions based on the numbers.
The socialized and overly-regulated system doesn't work. Government running the show doesn't work. Let's try real free markets!
Shortfall Triples at U.S. Pension Guaranty Agency
By DARRELL A. HUGHES and JOHN D. MCKINNON
The federal agency that backstops corporate pension plans reported that its deficit tripled in the last six months, to $33.5 billion. Despite the shortfall, the agency said it has enough assets to pay benefits for many years, even if the holder of one of the largest retirement programs, General Motors Corp., were to file for bankruptcy.
The news came as the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.'s former director invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to lawmakers' questions about possible mismanagement under the Bush administration. The PBGC's inspector general last week issued a report saying that the former director had violated prohibitions on contacting bidders that were seeking investment contracts.
The former director, Charles Millard, has denied allegations that he had inappropriate contacts with several Wall Street firms that won contracts to advise the agency, and said his actions were approved by agency counsel. But his attorney, Stanley Brand, said in a statement that it was best if Mr. Millard didn't testify at a Senate hearing Wednesday, in what he described as a "biased and hostile environment."
...
The socialized and overly-regulated system doesn't work. Government running the show doesn't work. Let's try real free markets!
Shortfall Triples at U.S. Pension Guaranty Agency
By DARRELL A. HUGHES and JOHN D. MCKINNON
The federal agency that backstops corporate pension plans reported that its deficit tripled in the last six months, to $33.5 billion. Despite the shortfall, the agency said it has enough assets to pay benefits for many years, even if the holder of one of the largest retirement programs, General Motors Corp., were to file for bankruptcy.
The news came as the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.'s former director invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to lawmakers' questions about possible mismanagement under the Bush administration. The PBGC's inspector general last week issued a report saying that the former director had violated prohibitions on contacting bidders that were seeking investment contracts.
The former director, Charles Millard, has denied allegations that he had inappropriate contacts with several Wall Street firms that won contracts to advise the agency, and said his actions were approved by agency counsel. But his attorney, Stanley Brand, said in a statement that it was best if Mr. Millard didn't testify at a Senate hearing Wednesday, in what he described as a "biased and hostile environment."
...
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Restaurant Manager Stops Robbery
The manager refused to be a victim.
Restaurant with anti-gun policy saved by a gun
April 21, 9:46 AM
Oleg Volk, A Human Right
Oh, the irony.
The manager of an Atlanta restaurant, Taco Mac, stopped an armed robbery Sunday morning by firing his own gun at the armed robber. What makes this story ironic is that the CEO of the company that owns this particular Taco Mac was one of the people that strenuously fought against the passage of the Georgia law last year that made it legal to carry a firearm in this restaurant.
... Taco Mac has not had an armed robbery in 30 years. Taco Mac posted the Georgia Restaurant Association signs banning firearms, which tells criminals that this is an easy target. Then it is robbed. So what is the conclusion to be drawn? That gun free zones encourage armed criminals to prey upon the disarmed people inside?
...
Restaurant with anti-gun policy saved by a gun
April 21, 9:46 AM
Oleg Volk, A Human Right
Oh, the irony.
The manager of an Atlanta restaurant, Taco Mac, stopped an armed robbery Sunday morning by firing his own gun at the armed robber. What makes this story ironic is that the CEO of the company that owns this particular Taco Mac was one of the people that strenuously fought against the passage of the Georgia law last year that made it legal to carry a firearm in this restaurant.
... Taco Mac has not had an armed robbery in 30 years. Taco Mac posted the Georgia Restaurant Association signs banning firearms, which tells criminals that this is an easy target. Then it is robbed. So what is the conclusion to be drawn? That gun free zones encourage armed criminals to prey upon the disarmed people inside?
...
Sunday, May 17, 2009
US Spends $2.6 Million To Study Chinese Prostitute
The US can't pay it's bills so it borrows from China. Some of the borrowed money is then spent in China studying Chinese prostitute alcohol abuse.
U.S. Will Pay $2.6 Million to Train Chinese Prostitutes to Drink Responsibly on the Job
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
By Edwin Mora
(CNSNews.com) -- The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will pay $2.6 million in U.S. tax dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job.
Dr. Xiaoming Li, the researcher conducting the program, is director of the Prevention Research Center at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.
...
U.S. Will Pay $2.6 Million to Train Chinese Prostitutes to Drink Responsibly on the Job
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
By Edwin Mora
(CNSNews.com) -- The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will pay $2.6 million in U.S. tax dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job.
Dr. Xiaoming Li, the researcher conducting the program, is director of the Prevention Research Center at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.
...
Thursday, May 14, 2009
8th Grade Exam From 1895
Consumers today may have been less willing to take on excess debt (credit card, car, house) if they understood basic math from an 1895 8th grade exam. The 6th question is about calculating interest.
Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide.
How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050lbs.for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000.What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft.long at $20 per meter?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9.What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide.
How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050lbs.for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000.What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft.long at $20 per meter?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9.What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
John McCain And Torture
John McCain knows that waterboarding is torture and punishable as a war crime, yet John McCain voted to allow waterboarding torture.
On November 29, 2007, Sen. McCain, while campaigning in St. Petersburg, Florida, said, "Following World War II war crime trials were convened. The Japanese were tried and convicted and hung for war crimes committed against American POWs. Among those charges for which they were convicted was waterboarding."
...
Politifact, the St. Petersburg Times' truth-testing project (which this week was awarded a Pulitzer Prize), scrutinized Sen. McCain's statement and found it to be true. Here's the money quote from Politifact:
"McCain is referencing the Tokyo Trials, officially known as the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. After World War II, an international coalition convened to prosecute Japanese soldiers charged with torture. At the top of the list of techniques was water-based interrogation, known variously then as 'water cure,' 'water torture' and 'waterboarding,' according to the charging documents. It simulates drowning." Politifact went on to report, "A number of the Japanese soldiers convicted by American judges were hanged, while others received lengthy prison sentences or time in labor camps."
McCain does or doesn't support torture, but in the end McCain allows the US government to torture.
McCain supports Bush veto of bill banning harsh interrogation tactics
Doesn't want CIA limited to methods used by military
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, March 9, 2008
When President Bush vetoed legislation Saturday that would have prohibited the CIA from using physical force in interrogations, he had the support of Sen. John McCain - the most outspoken of any presidential candidate in his opposition to torture. ...
On November 29, 2007, Sen. McCain, while campaigning in St. Petersburg, Florida, said, "Following World War II war crime trials were convened. The Japanese were tried and convicted and hung for war crimes committed against American POWs. Among those charges for which they were convicted was waterboarding."
...
Politifact, the St. Petersburg Times' truth-testing project (which this week was awarded a Pulitzer Prize), scrutinized Sen. McCain's statement and found it to be true. Here's the money quote from Politifact:
"McCain is referencing the Tokyo Trials, officially known as the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. After World War II, an international coalition convened to prosecute Japanese soldiers charged with torture. At the top of the list of techniques was water-based interrogation, known variously then as 'water cure,' 'water torture' and 'waterboarding,' according to the charging documents. It simulates drowning." Politifact went on to report, "A number of the Japanese soldiers convicted by American judges were hanged, while others received lengthy prison sentences or time in labor camps."
McCain does or doesn't support torture, but in the end McCain allows the US government to torture.
McCain supports Bush veto of bill banning harsh interrogation tactics
Doesn't want CIA limited to methods used by military
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, March 9, 2008
When President Bush vetoed legislation Saturday that would have prohibited the CIA from using physical force in interrogations, he had the support of Sen. John McCain - the most outspoken of any presidential candidate in his opposition to torture. ...
Al Gore Debunking
35 errors in Al Gore's movie are documented. There is a lot to learn here, even by reading the quick summary of each of the 35 items.
Monday, May 11, 2009
False Flags For Cuba Invasion
In his new exposé of the National Security Agency entitled Body of Secrets, author James Bamford highlights a set of proposals on Cuba by the Joint Chiefs of Staff codenamed OPERATION NORTHWOODS. This document, titled “Justification for U.S. Military Intervention in Cuba” was provided by the JCS to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on March 13, 1962, as the key component of Northwoods. Written in response to a request from the Chief of the Cuba Project, Col. Edward Lansdale, the Top Secret memorandum describes U.S. plans to covertly engineer various pretexts that would justify a U.S. invasion of Cuba. These proposals - part of a secret anti-Castro program known as Operation Mongoose - included staging the assassinations of Cubans living in the United States, developing a fake “Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington,” including “sink[ing] a boatload of Cuban refugees (real or simulated),” faking a Cuban airforce attack on a civilian jetliner, and concocting a “Remember the Maine” incident by blowing up a U.S. ship in Cuban waters and then blaming the incident on Cuban sabotage. Bamford himself writes that Operation Northwoods “may be the most corrupt plan ever created by the U.S. government.”
Download the report here.
Download the report here.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Federal Reserve Inspector General Knows Nothing
Either the lady is lying when she claims to be the Inspector General of the Federal Reserve, or there is a giant scam being perpetrated on America.
How can Inspector General Elizabeth A. Coleman be so clueless?
How can Inspector General Elizabeth A. Coleman be so clueless?
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Punishment In China
Will the US financial regulators have any penalty?
China Quick to Execute Drug Official
Eye Press, via Associated Press
Zheng Xiaoyu, who had admitted to taking bribes over medicines, was put to death Tuesday.
By JOSEPH KAHN
Published: July 11, 2007
BEIJING, July 10 — China executed its former top food and drug regulator on Tuesday for taking bribes to approve untested medicine, as the Beijing leadership scrambled to show that it was serious about improving the safety of Chinese products.
The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court carried out the death sentence against Zheng Xiaoyu, 62, the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, shortly after the country’s Supreme Court rejected his final appeal.
Mr. Zheng, who had appealed his May 29 sentence on the grounds that it was too severe and that he had confessed to the bribery charges against him, became the first ministerial-level official put to death since 2000 and the fourth since China opened its doors to the outside world nearly 30 years ago.
...
China Quick to Execute Drug Official
Eye Press, via Associated Press
Zheng Xiaoyu, who had admitted to taking bribes over medicines, was put to death Tuesday.
By JOSEPH KAHN
Published: July 11, 2007
BEIJING, July 10 — China executed its former top food and drug regulator on Tuesday for taking bribes to approve untested medicine, as the Beijing leadership scrambled to show that it was serious about improving the safety of Chinese products.
The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court carried out the death sentence against Zheng Xiaoyu, 62, the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, shortly after the country’s Supreme Court rejected his final appeal.
Mr. Zheng, who had appealed his May 29 sentence on the grounds that it was too severe and that he had confessed to the bribery charges against him, became the first ministerial-level official put to death since 2000 and the fourth since China opened its doors to the outside world nearly 30 years ago.
...
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Radiation Media Spin
New York Times covers up effects of dropping atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Media cover-ups have been ongoing and it is not changing.
... W.H. Lawrence contradicted himself one week later in an article headlined NO RADIOACTIVITY IN HIROSHIMA RUIN. For this article, the Pentagon's spin machine had swung into high gear in response to Burchett's horrifying account of "atomic plague." W.H. Lawrence reported that Brigadier General T. F. Farrell, chief of the War Department's atomic bomb mission to Hiroshima, "denied categorically that [the bomb] produced a dangerous, lingering radioactivity." Lawrence's dispatch quotes only Farrell; the reporter never mentions his eyewitness account of people dying from radiation sickness that he wrote the previous week. ...
... W.H. Lawrence contradicted himself one week later in an article headlined NO RADIOACTIVITY IN HIROSHIMA RUIN. For this article, the Pentagon's spin machine had swung into high gear in response to Burchett's horrifying account of "atomic plague." W.H. Lawrence reported that Brigadier General T. F. Farrell, chief of the War Department's atomic bomb mission to Hiroshima, "denied categorically that [the bomb] produced a dangerous, lingering radioactivity." Lawrence's dispatch quotes only Farrell; the reporter never mentions his eyewitness account of people dying from radiation sickness that he wrote the previous week. ...
Monday, May 04, 2009
NY Fed Chairman's Insider Trading
Investopedia defines insider trading
What Does Insider Trading Mean?
The buying or selling of a security by someone who has access to material, nonpublic information about the security.
Investopedia explains Insider Trading
Insider trading can be illegal or legal depending on when the insider makes the trade: it is illegal when the material information is still nonpublic--trading while having special knowledge is unfair to other investors who don't have access to such knowledge.
"it is illegal when the material information is still nonpublic"
The SEC's definition of insider trading.
During the time the Federal Reserve was bailing out financial institutions and allowing companies such as Goldman Sachs to become banks, the Federal Reserve of course had responsibility to regulate those banks.
Stephen Friedman was and is the New York Federal Reserve's Chairman and sat on Goldman Sach's board of directors AT THE SAME TIME. There is an apparent conflict of interest when the regulator works for the bank that is being regulated. Stephen Friedman would not only have access to material non-public information from both the Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs, he would also have conflicting obligations to work for the regulator and the regulated bank.
During this time (December 2008), Stephen Friedman purchased 37,300 shares of Goldman Sachs stock according to the same Wall Street Journal article.
Stephen Friedman worked for the regulator, he worked for the regulated bank, he was in posession of material non-public information about banking bailouts, and he purchased 37,300 shares of Goldman Sachs which have risen $1.7M in value (according to same Wall Street Journal article).
Will Stephen Friedman be investigated for insider trading, convicted, forced to disgorge the ill-gotten gains, stripped of his jobs, and sent to prison?
Stephen Friedman's purchase of 37,300 shares of Goldman Sachs in December 2008 in SEC database. "purchase of 37,300 shares of the Issuer's common stock by the Reporting Person at an average weighted purchase price of $80.7792 per share"
The current price of Goldman Sachs stock is 134.16.
134.16 - 80.7792 = 53.3808.
53.3808 * 37,300 = $1,991,103.84 of ill-gotten gains from insider trading by Stephen Friedman.
Where is the outrage?
What can an average citizen do?
An average citizen can file a complaint with the SEC online or via email to enforcement@sec.gov. An average citizen can even apply for a bounty from the SEC.
What Does Insider Trading Mean?
The buying or selling of a security by someone who has access to material, nonpublic information about the security.
Investopedia explains Insider Trading
Insider trading can be illegal or legal depending on when the insider makes the trade: it is illegal when the material information is still nonpublic--trading while having special knowledge is unfair to other investors who don't have access to such knowledge.
"it is illegal when the material information is still nonpublic"
The SEC's definition of insider trading.
During the time the Federal Reserve was bailing out financial institutions and allowing companies such as Goldman Sachs to become banks, the Federal Reserve of course had responsibility to regulate those banks.
Stephen Friedman was and is the New York Federal Reserve's Chairman and sat on Goldman Sach's board of directors AT THE SAME TIME. There is an apparent conflict of interest when the regulator works for the bank that is being regulated. Stephen Friedman would not only have access to material non-public information from both the Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs, he would also have conflicting obligations to work for the regulator and the regulated bank.
During this time (December 2008), Stephen Friedman purchased 37,300 shares of Goldman Sachs stock according to the same Wall Street Journal article.
Stephen Friedman worked for the regulator, he worked for the regulated bank, he was in posession of material non-public information about banking bailouts, and he purchased 37,300 shares of Goldman Sachs which have risen $1.7M in value (according to same Wall Street Journal article).
Will Stephen Friedman be investigated for insider trading, convicted, forced to disgorge the ill-gotten gains, stripped of his jobs, and sent to prison?
Stephen Friedman's purchase of 37,300 shares of Goldman Sachs in December 2008 in SEC database. "purchase of 37,300 shares of the Issuer's common stock by the Reporting Person at an average weighted purchase price of $80.7792 per share"
The current price of Goldman Sachs stock is 134.16.
134.16 - 80.7792 = 53.3808.
53.3808 * 37,300 = $1,991,103.84 of ill-gotten gains from insider trading by Stephen Friedman.
Where is the outrage?
What can an average citizen do?
An average citizen can file a complaint with the SEC online or via email to enforcement@sec.gov. An average citizen can even apply for a bounty from the SEC.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Sweden Allowed CIA "Terror Flights"
Sweden spied on CIA 'terror flights'
Published: 24 Apr 09
The government led by former Prime Minister Göran Persson knew that Sweden was used as a transit destination for clandestine CIA flights transporting suspected terrorists, according to a report in the Expressen newspaper on Friday.
The Swedish defence forces conducted a secret surveillance operation in 2005 monitoring a US government plane at Stockholm Arlanda Airport.
"The assignment to carry out this operation came from the defence ministry to the defence forces," according to an Expressen source who confirmed that the Swedish government harboured suspicions that the CIA was using so-called rendition flights to force people out of the USA against their will.
The surveillance team confirmed these suspicions and found that the CIA plane was filled with chained prisoners clad with black hoods and unable to move, the newspaper reports, citing several independent anonymous sources.
...
Published: 24 Apr 09
The government led by former Prime Minister Göran Persson knew that Sweden was used as a transit destination for clandestine CIA flights transporting suspected terrorists, according to a report in the Expressen newspaper on Friday.
The Swedish defence forces conducted a secret surveillance operation in 2005 monitoring a US government plane at Stockholm Arlanda Airport.
"The assignment to carry out this operation came from the defence ministry to the defence forces," according to an Expressen source who confirmed that the Swedish government harboured suspicions that the CIA was using so-called rendition flights to force people out of the USA against their will.
The surveillance team confirmed these suspicions and found that the CIA plane was filled with chained prisoners clad with black hoods and unable to move, the newspaper reports, citing several independent anonymous sources.
...
Constitution Repealed
It appears President Bush modified Executive Order 13375 so Americans can be sentenced to indefinite quarantine without following the rule of law. This effectively removes American's Constitutionally protected rights and makes the federal government a dictator.
DHS Sets Guidelines For Possible Swine Flu Quarantines
...
"The Department of Justice has established legal federal authorities pertaining to the implementation of a quarantine and enforcement. Under approval from HHS, the Surgeon General has the authority to issue quarantines."
McGaw appears to have been referring to the section of federal law that allows the Surgeon General to detain and quarantine Americans "reasonably believed to be infected" with a communicable disease. A Centers for Disease Control official said on Tuesday that swine flu deaths in the U.S. are likely.
Federal quarantine authority is limited to diseases listed in presidential executive orders; President Bush added "novel" forms of influenza with the potential to create pandemics in Executive Order 13375. Anyone violating a quarantine order can be punished by a $250,000 fine and a one-year prison term.
...
DHS Sets Guidelines For Possible Swine Flu Quarantines
...
"The Department of Justice has established legal federal authorities pertaining to the implementation of a quarantine and enforcement. Under approval from HHS, the Surgeon General has the authority to issue quarantines."
McGaw appears to have been referring to the section of federal law that allows the Surgeon General to detain and quarantine Americans "reasonably believed to be infected" with a communicable disease. A Centers for Disease Control official said on Tuesday that swine flu deaths in the U.S. are likely.
Federal quarantine authority is limited to diseases listed in presidential executive orders; President Bush added "novel" forms of influenza with the potential to create pandemics in Executive Order 13375. Anyone violating a quarantine order can be punished by a $250,000 fine and a one-year prison term.
...
Friday, May 01, 2009
Feds Drop Espionage Case
Well-connected lobbyists with massive federal governement influence have succeeded in having their espionage cases dropped.
Just because the information exchanges that are common among government officials happen frequently doesn't mean they should happen frequently. Common lawlessness calls for aggressive prosecution of crimes, particularly espionage.
What if the bankers committed fraud with collateralized debt securities and used their political connections to avoid prosecution? Oh right, that's also happening now.
WASHINGTON (AFP)--Federal prosecutors are dropping espionage charges against two former pro-Israel lobbyists, court documents showed Friday.
The move ends a four-year case that critics charged was an attempt to criminalize information exchanges that are common among government officials, journalists and lobbyists.
Just because the information exchanges that are common among government officials happen frequently doesn't mean they should happen frequently. Common lawlessness calls for aggressive prosecution of crimes, particularly espionage.
What if the bankers committed fraud with collateralized debt securities and used their political connections to avoid prosecution? Oh right, that's also happening now.
WASHINGTON (AFP)--Federal prosecutors are dropping espionage charges against two former pro-Israel lobbyists, court documents showed Friday.
The move ends a four-year case that critics charged was an attempt to criminalize information exchanges that are common among government officials, journalists and lobbyists.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)