Friday, November 29, 2013

THE TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP (TPP)

I heard  you say "What the Hell Is That) ?  It's a trade deal(with damn little trade in it) that is being negotiated between 10 nations and has been in negotiation for 10 years.  It's not surprising you don't know what is in it because it is being done in secret.. Only bits of it have leaked out and those have been all bad news for us.  The simplest explanation of what it does is strip all power from national law which is superseded by terms set in this agreement. It's been described by many as NAFTA on steroids

The fact that it is being negotiated in secret (even members of congress are out of the circle) but of course corporations are at the table.  You could simply say this agreement if being built by corporations , for corporations and all we get is the screwing.  The president is trying to get this bill fast tracked before the end of the year.  Fast tracking means just an up or down vote with no amendments allowed.  Since most of us no little or nothing about this agreement there will be little opposition from constituents.  You can bet on huge corporate money floating around congress for a simple little yes vote on a bill we know little about.

THIS LINK   at 13 minutes in talks about the TPP , the one big clue you should have are the two people in the discussion are knowledgeable people on this topic and they know damn little..

This would be one time I hope the republicans ban together to defeat an  Obama bill.

The first 13 minutes of this piece are on the drone program..

Thursday, November 21, 2013

WE'VE DONE IT BEFORE NOW WE'RE DOING IT AGAIN

The United States has tried plans to unseat a Venezuelan president that has an economic policy the US does not want to exist.  Chavez was a real thorn in our side and they tried all the dirty tricks in the books to unseat him.  Now it's Maduro's turn.

Here is the US game plan .

What are the sins of their government that are so egregious that we must attempt to overthrow them.  A government who has reduced poverty by huge amounts year after year, brought health care  to every neighborhood , upped the standard of living , increased education opportunities and on and on.  WE obviously can't stand this kind of government success, so we set out to destroy it.

Upped the game this time even suggesting sending in American and Nato troops aided by Columbia.  Enough of this bullshit, our country is falling apart and were trying to bust up a nation doing good for it's  people.  Time to withdraw the fangs and get busy back here.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

THE GREATEST CON OF ALL TIMES

 This is not a political rant , it will simply lay out the game plan of the Con artists who have set out with a goal to eliminate the great middle class and reduce us all to poverty wages and servitude to the corporations behind this con.  Today after 33 years it is working on the final stage of this takeover of a great country.

The plan begins in the 1980's with the busting of the PATCO unions and the drive to rid the country of the union worker.  Trickle Down economics is the name they put on their beginning stroke.  Huge tax cuts to the rich and a military buildup that by there selves put 6 billion dollars of debt on the accounts.  They told us that if they guided more money to the rich it would trickle down to us through their investments.. It never has and never will happen that way.

As we set out on the big plan of Free Market capitalism we would turn into a financial powerhouse creating all these nice clean high paying office jobs and all would be golden, while shipping our dirty ole manufacturing jobs overseas.

NAFTA was the first big stroke of the transition to white collar jobs.  Ross Perot told us NAFTA would create a great sucking sound as jobs went to Mexico and they did.  Instead of making life better for both countries the exact opposite happened.

GATT and WTO were the next free trade deals cut and more and more jobs and factories left the country.  The toll so far is 60000 factories gone, 5 million blue collar jobs gone. Unions lost membership right and left and declined from 34% of the work force unionized to 7% today.
All these high paying white collar jobs turned out to be white apron jobs at the fast food joints, major restaurant chains and retail clerk jobs with the biggest retailers in the country .  All paying minimum wage.

The job picture today is still bleak.  The unemployment rate is not the 7% the government claims but closer to the 22% claimed by Shadow Stats.  Half of the household's in the country earn less than $50,000/yr.  not enough to raise a family and provide for higher education or retirement savings. On top of that unions and workers across the country are being stripped of benefits, health care, retirement and and lower wages.

When the banks were deregulated the bubble machine turned on full blast blowing bubble after bubble egged on by regulations by the FED encouraging wild behavior.   We saw a Tech bubble, then a housing bubble and now a stock market bubble with talk going on about what's the next bubble to keep the economy going.  Of course it's not going now for a lot of the country and the next bubble will not improve the plight of many.

One can look around and think that they can't do much more , but you would be wrong.  They have one more card to play called TPP.  Trans Pacific Pact.  You can't read much of this new plan as it the talks are being held in secret.    Once again we are at the mercy of leakers (bless them , one and all) for information of what this pact will do.  From the little we know this will be the final stroke in creating THE ONE WORLD ORDER we have snickered about for years.. Most of us thought , of hell just another conspiracy theory .  Oh no, there is no doubt now that is what they have in mind.  This pact puts corporations officially in charge of all world governments.  A three member world court that have absolute rule of all things.  Nothing can be enacted that would negatively affect corporation profits.  We have already seen wages in the US stay level or fall in the last 30 years.  From the day this program started till today income has been on a steady decline.. The President is attempting to get the TPP on fast track approval which would not allow any amendments and a straight up or down vote.  If passed it  will be the end of the America I have know all my life.. It has saddened me to watch this last 33 years and see good job after good job shipped overseas, including a lot of those fine office jobs they told us about.. We are left with minimum wage jobs or no job at all.  The corporations will move production to the cheapest labor country and when a cheaper one appears they will move again.  So income world wide will spiral down and down to a level so low you will be on a race for survival..

I know you are thinking , how can they benefit from the plan they have put in place. I know I have and until recently had no answer.. Those of my generation know that the US was prosperous for my first 50 years and watched in horror as they destroyed job after job.. So what is in their minds. Here's the answer and you can hear it on radio talk shows (mostly left wing ) The rich believe they don't need us any more , they have accumulated enough money to live in their desired lifestyles and they really only need a staff of servants they can get from anywhere for next to nothing.  Sounds stupid doesn't it , it is, in a world that high tech schools are needed train people to keep their toys running isn't going to be done by uneducated waiting staff.

If TPP is passed the we will not recognize the world we will be living in.  It will be the final stroke for the completion of the One World Order we have heard about for years.  This is really just another version of the 80 year cycle that has happened time after time in the  history of this country.  The theory goes that 4 generations pass and memories of the last great turn down has faded and the rich go on their romp to get it all.  They proceed to a point then a White Knight appears faintly in my memory of FDR who was of the rich class but saw what his fellow rich were doing to the country.  He turned it all around with the help of WW2 .  Programs after the war kept progress moving up for decades.  till 1980 and then the takeover began again.  They have almost reached their final goal and will reach it if TPP passes.

We the people will have to forget about  the items that normally split us Democrats and Republicans and go with a White Knight candidate that is powerful enough to overcome corporate money and at the same time elect a congress that will allow him/her to make the changes necessary.. We can only hope, we have no power left to overcome corporate money.

Monday, November 18, 2013

BRASS BALLS

You would think a company would be ashamed to admit they paid their employees so little they held a canned food drive so they could have a Thanksgiving dinner, probably the next day cause they have to work Thanksgiving.  The CEO admitted lately that most of their 1 million employees made less than 25K.  I would be ashamed to admit that while the Walton's are among the most wealthy in the world.  READ IT HERE

Sunday, November 17, 2013

HOPE FOR 2016

BERNIE SANDERS SAYS HE IS CONSIDERING RUNNING IN 16 IF NO ONE WITH A PROGRESSIVE MESSAGE IS RUNNING.  You know Hillary is not a progressive message she is just another Bill Clinton an enemy of the working man... You can bet with a Sanders in the chair there would be no talks about TPP.  Check him out and build your savings accounts now .  He will need every dime we can muster..

Saturday, November 16, 2013

FROM SUCKING SOUND TO BANSHEE SCREAM

Dear ole Ross Perot warned us about the sucking sound made by jobs running to Mexico if we passed NAFTA.  We did and Ross turned from NUT JOB to GENIUS as he was absolutely right.  Since then we have seen 60000 factories leave the US for other places.. 5 million blue collar jobs gone.. and it didn't stop there.  Any job that could be done elsewhere now is and we developed new ways to earn money, flipping burgers, mixing drinks, waiting tables, diving dumpsters or a premier job as Walmart greeter..

Now we are faced with an animal that makes NAFTA look like a pussycat.. Called the TPP it is a far reaching agreement that expands it's reach often... What you never heard about it, well hell the government can keep a secret, this thing has been negotiated for at least a decade in the smoke filled room in the back guarded by corporate snakes... 3 representatives from each country and 600 corporate advisers are the only ones that have seen the document , congressman have only seen selected pieces under close supervision..    Meaning we don't know what the hell is is it.

This current blog is just a heads up on what's happening, at the bottom if an enclosed link there are links you can pursue on your own.  This thing is so wide reaching it cannot be addressed in one blog so I will attempt over time to highlight some of the worst pieces..

The shortest possible explanation is just this.  The US would surrender control of the country to a three man corporate board that would decide any violations of the agreement ..Violations of the agreement reach deep into our every day lives as far down as to the illegal downloading of a piece of music.. but of course the bad stuff I will save to later..

If you happen to think wages are low now, you ain't seen nothing yet.  Wages in China are around 4 bucks a day but in Vietnam a little above two bucks and you think you are not working for $7.50/hr.
Profit will be the only controlling feature it it is good for profit and not good for the country too bad the corporate profit wins, 3 judges say so.

YOU MUST GET INVOLVED IN THIS DEBATE IT COULD BE FAST TRACKED IF THE PREZ HAS HIS WAY WHICH WOULD MEAN A SIMPLE UP OR DOWN VOTE , NO FILIBUSTER , NO AMENDMENTS.  THE AMOUNT OF MONEY FLYING AROUND CONGRESS DURING THE NEXT MONTH OF SO WILL BE A STAGGERING PERHAPS LARGE ENOUGH TO SWAY A FEW TO VOTE FOR IT.. NOT IF YOU START SCREAMING NOW.

GO HERE FOR MORE INFO..  HERE
HERE
HERE   AT THE BOTTOM ARE RELATED SITES==GET BUSY


Friday, November 8, 2013

THE LOOK OF RECOVERY??



LOOK LIKE A RECOVERY TO YOU.  ONCE AGAIN PROVING THAT MOST OF OUR POPULAR ECONOMISTS ARE BLIND.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

IT'S THE MATHEMATICS STUPID

As we now know by example , modern economics theory does not work.  This piece points  out why this is obvious even to the students now in the college economic classes.  The profs teaching to classes of 400 will not deviate from the lesson plans to handle the questions and discussions of his students, he has to stick to the schedule.  Lots of lessons from that admission.  To me it shows the real problems in our schools, if it ain't in the lesson plan we are not going to go there.

Richard Wolff has said in all three colleges he graduated from there were essentially two economic schools, one labeled School of economics the other School of Business. Economics was taught in both schools but were totally different..IN one how the math showed it would work and the other showed it was the bottom line of the balance sheet was what counted.

So in current day economic classes the students get mostly math.  Formula that discount any input from the real world.  People are placed in the formula as always acting as rational human beings.  So far from actual life to be laughable.  I personally have made quite a few choices that don't come to be   rational and so do many people.

The belief of current day economists that they can formalize life is laughable.  A formula is a fixed equation that is viewed as gospel if all fields of study.  The problem is life is a variable.. Decisions are seldom cast in concrete , todays students know that better than anybody.  They spend 16 to 20 years pursing a career that as they finish the career is gone, outsourced or outdated.  Hello dad, can I move back in is a sign of the times.

Let's look at recent big events that the popular economists say the didn't see coming.  The Housing Bubble is a prime example.  Alan Greenspan the nations Chief economist still says today he didn't see it coming.  Being blind must be a requirement for being a top economist.  House prices rising at 15 to 20% a year , year after year, should have alerted even the dullest economist that this cannot continue. But yet many of them didn't see it and still don't.

On  to a bubble that is about to bust and the results almost have to be worse than the Great Depresion.  The table is set for the biggest bust of all time.  Daily you see the stock and bond market being at level that are far from justified by real earning.  The Fed is printing money as fast as the presses can print it and taking it by the wheelbarrow full to dump in the banks trough almost cost free, and the   banks are dumping it into all kinds of market driving prices of everything through the roof.  The little guy isn't in this market they are struggling to put food on the table.  Countries holing our debt are dumping it as fast as they can and not buying new , the fed has been buying most of the new issues eventually causing the crash of the dollar and it's loss as a reserve currency.  Because of this the dollar will depreciate and inflation will run wild.

The formulas show we are in a recovery and here shows why formulas as an economic theory fall flat on it's ass.  Their are formulas for everything take for instance the formula for unemployment.  It has been changed so many times over time that the difference in rate comparing the original formula to the one used today gives you a 7% rate compared to the old which gives you a 22% rate.  The CPI is another great example.  Over time this formula has been changed many time to hold SS payments in check because if we had stuck to the original formula SS payments would be twice as much.

The bottom line of using formulas for economic policy , if you don't like the results change the formula.  The crash of 2008 was helped along because the derivative formula did not contain a down element.  The math geniuses did not see how their could be a down in that market , oops , they were wrong.

So here we sit and you can pick your crash predictor all by yourself , there are many to choose from with time frames running to tomorrow to 2016 and after..It really doesn't matter when (oh it would be nice to know) but ruling anything but blind luck you can't time it.  Just know that the stage is being set as you read this for a trigger event to start the avalanche .  With the derivative market out there being some where between 600 trillion to a quadrillion bucks heavy ended in interest rate derivatives can do nothing but explode.  A slight move in the direction against the major derivative position out there and boom it goes..The banks don't come near to having the money to cover their positions , Boom and they go and the world goes Boom along with them..  All brought to you by stupid math formulas being followed by blind idiots.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

FROM THE ASHES WE SHALL RISE

Today the flames of what use to be the most powerful nation in the world economically and  militarily is barely flickering.  We are still the most powerful nation in the world romping over whoever we wanted to punish for reasons often not understood by the masses.. E comically we are a shadow of our former selves.

It's taken 33 years of Reaganomics to get us to this point.  Reaganomics is a name give to the economic policies starting with Ronald Regan.  Also called Trickle Down economics which is based on a now proven flawed theory of if you make the rich richer the money will eventually will trickle down to the lower end of the income scale.. It didn't work out that way , because every economic theory throughout history has always had a flaw generally based on the actions of individuals.  Who could have thought that if you make a guy a billionaire he would expand his company , instead he started pursuing his second billion.  Why he decided he could increase his wealth by making the masses poorer defies understanding.  The off shoring of jobs, the closing of 60000 factories the destruction of the middle class , and replacing once good jobs with minimum wage jobs just does not make sense.  But it happened and we are left with the results.

A nation with infrastructure falling apart..Civil engineers give our infrastructure a D- and will require 3.6 trillion dollars to bring it up to snuff.  (the cost of two unnecessary wars)In the political world even knowing the latter still go for austerity programs designed to make the problem worse., the poorest poorer and of course offering more tax breaks to corporations and the rich.  On top of that some are pushing for more military involvement is already lost causes and campaigning for new wars (Iran).

If we keep pursuing the same policies into the future , the future is bleak.. It doesn't have to be, but we are doggedly sticking to the same policies.  The Fed is pumping 85 billion dollar a month into the banking system and intends to keep up till unemployment falls.. nobody can figure how putting the money into the system in this manner can accomplish the goals of the program..It does drive the stock market to unjustified levels , the bond market being driven to  a bubble..the value of the dollar being destroyed  to the point where it will probably loose it's status as the reserve currency.. Big players in the T bill market are already getting out of their dollar assets as quickly as they can, Japan and China lead the way.  When the exodus reaches critical levels  the markets will crash to levels never seen before..

The country will be destroyed, the little guy will suffer but the rich will even suffer  more.. They will get taken to the cleaners, There is no place to hide their money.. So down it will come,banks will lead the way as they are leveraged beyond a level that will enable them to handle a sharp decline.. Their derivative load will take them down.

From this pile of ashes we will surface a bit at a time.  Is the Tiger smoking crack again?  How in the hell are we going to do that broke?   There is history that shows us the way.  You realize of course that on the way down inflation will be the runaway kind our currency will be worthless.  So we do what Germany did after WW1.  They made a new currency and built the WW2 war machine with it.  We can do the same but we will build a nation.  Keep in mind that rich folk always wanna get richer and they will fund this new money and away we will go..  Workers can unite in local groups to utilize the skills still alive in their areas, car builder, appliance builders all crafts are still out there, a little old perhaps but willing to serve to train the new troops.  If the workers would form Mondragon style companies the bosses of old will be obsolete , companies owned and managed by the workers can replace the big companies of the past.

To accomplish this of course we have to get rid of our congress and replace them with people not of the corporations.. Money at this time will be out of control of the country and time to replace the congress with folks from the crowd. Sloppy I'm sure but for awhile at least focused on the problem of rebuilding.

To believe this is possible one only has to look back the state of the country during the Great Depression times were bleak.  A smart president knew he had to get people back to work so the New Deal began.  Huge chunks of government money flowed into gigantic projects and other kinds of work from writer , to singers to all fields of work... The money out was turned right around and plowed back into the country and with each wave things got better... We did it once and we can do it again.   Waiting for the chance is the hard part.. so hang on and be ready.

Monday, November 4, 2013

POLITICALLY CORRECT SPEECH

You could probably  go far back in history and pick pogroms that were run against saying certain things disliked by the people in power. I would rather talk about the application of this theory during my lifetime.  The first political use in this country was by the early communist and socialist parties to tout party lines as political correct (with little impact) they never really reached any strength..  Picked up in the early 70's by the liberal parties that focused on sexism and racism and later picked up by the conservative parties to counter the liberal success of modifying the acceptable language of the time.

That's as history shows it but in the real world things looked a little different to us folks living with it out there.  To me being in the mid 30's at the time and having recently spent 11 years in the submarine service where language has a tendency to be on the rough side, it was a difficult time.  Women's liberation was just starting to have an impact in the US and a lot of the political correct speech was aimed at changing the way we talked about and to women.  The one particular that sticks in my mind of a sign of the times was the discussion from women about us men leaving the toilet seat up after use.  Always seemed to me that should work both ways if they were seeking equality , shouldn't they then have left the seat up for me.  Of course that's so trivial it serves to diminish my story.  When in truth it should strengthen it because it points out the one little thing diminished the importance of the women's movement in my eyes.

Keep in focus please if you research the history of PC you will see that it has always been the ploy of political parties and used to sway the masses to their side.. Shame on us for falling prey to that trick.

1970 began the movement of women into the work force being told they deserved more than being labeled a housewife.. So off they trotted to jobs in offices and factories to find out in the end , hey  this is just work there is not a lot of glamour to it.  At the time most women found out they now had ,many jobs, their work job, housekeeper, mother, and sexual partner.  Exhausting when you think about it. I have always believed the movement of women into the labor force had more to do with keeping the household income steady as men's wages were driven down.  But at the time it was definitely PC to be in favor of liberating women I just never could see how that worked .  The saying of that got me into a lot of debates that were generally not fun.

It developed into a very strong movement for awhile, limiting speech of any kind because some were afraid of offending this group or that.. It made public speaking risky business at the time.. As other forms of communication came into being , internet, cellphones, twitter, facebook etc.. PC kinda went away hidden on line, but remained active in public speech.  When rap showed up PC for the common man went away , damn near anything could and was said hidden under the protection , it's just a song.

It's still used politically by both sides, who carefully craft their words using "WORDSMITHS" to craft their speeches to a particular audience, by picking word for word what turns that audience on.  Drives me absolutely ape shit when I see Frank Luntz play an audience building a speech for a particular politician ..  Both sides use em but Frank is the most well known.  When he gets done with a speech you can't recognize it from the original.

So here we are in 2013 and PC speech isn't talked about much any more, perhaps because everybody is on their Twitter machine or Facebook and not talking out for us to hear.. Just as well if the crap on those things is what they have to say I ain't listening .. I still can't see how it is possible to bully on Facebook, shit it has an unfriend  button , use the damn thing the bullying stops.  Yeah I know that ain't PC but tough shit.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

WE TELL GERMANY THEIR ECONOMY IS HURTING THE WORLD

The Treasury Department's Take HERE
AND KRUGMAN'S KISS ASS TAKE HERE

The only thing that these two sources are in sync about is they don't know shit about economics.  To blast Germany for maintaining exports, but not increasing consumer demand, and not raising the  birth rate is a statement by both that use to carry  weight.  Neither do today because of nonsense theories put forth in these two pieces.

Unless I am mistaken Germany has provided many of the bale out funds for other EU countries while the IMF has enforced austerity measures  on most that destroys demand and output.  Germany plugs along by employing economic measures that are long range plans for maintaining a level economy. They have devices in place to keep people working during down turns, and programs for child care, education and training the crafts and on and on and on.

For the US to criticize the internal workings of Germany's economy is hysterically funny because they have done what they are suggesting the Germans do and where are we.  We certainly reduced exports by shitcanning 60,000 factories and 8 million blue collar jobs.. Thereby cutting exports, can't say much for the increase in consumer demand and it is at an all time low.  Yet they talk of Germany expanding their day care while at home they are destroying large parts of all programs to assist low income working families.

Our government has no right to tell anybody in the world how to run their economies . In fact if you look at past history of the US's help managing other world economies they all (ALL) have ended in abject failure.  Together with the IMF they have destroyed country after country by running up their debt, then forcing them to sell off infrastructure to their conglomerate buddies while the working people are thrown into poverty.   They destroyed everyone else and now it is our turn.  Look around you can see the same thing happening here that destroyed most economies in Latin America in the 80's.

What we see today in the US is the FED pouring at least 85 billion bucks a month into the system to be scoffed up by the banks who are shooting craps with it.  Stock market at all time highs, why, ain't nobody buying nothing and the Fed scared to stop (they have tried) and got scared too death at the immediate results.  To replace the blue collar jobs,we get waiters, cooks, burger flippers, gardeners, baby sitters and a score of other low paying jobs.. Household income for 50% of the working families is less than 50K a year and I'm sure there are some out who wish there's were that high.

We are definitely not the country that should be advising Germany how to run their economy they seem to be doing quite well,  while the US on the other hand sucks and is getting suckier.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

WE ALL KNOW THIS BUT IT IS PAINFULL TO SEE

OWNERSHIP OF THE COUNTRY  We know that few own it all but it is even more painfull to see.  95% of media is owned by 6 companies, is it any wonder we don't know anything.  I just did an interesting change to my news reader I weeded out a few of the big (known to be in the pocket of power) to see if would change the character of the news I was getting.  And it did stories that were there before but now became more visible.

A link off this story talks about the new news network being put together with Greenwald and Scahill founded  by the founder of E-bay.  It should add some zing to our lives.

YOU GIVA TO ME AND I GIVA TO YOU

That's politics today.  THIS STORY  shows that a large contributor and bundler to the Obama campaign gave large personnel sums to democratic campaigns , worked as a bundler for Obama campaign , was an executive for a large insurance company who bought the company awarded the contract for the Obamacare Website.  Now they are being given the contract to fix the site.  DO YOU SMELL THAT?  I wonder what it could be.. oh , I know politics as usual , it just smell like shit.

Now you know how to make money bidding government contracts,, bid it low, fuck it up , and then get the bid to fix, bingo , you are on easy street.  

The poor ole citizen is left out here scratching unmentionable parts wondering just who the hell he can vote for that wouldn't end up fucking them.  The answer, NO BODY WE KNOW.