Sunday, April 26, 2015

NEGATIVE GROWTH

Some economists in talking about the current economy said we are in a period of Negative Growth.The Archdruid in this weeks piece pointed out one of his readers heard them  talking about Negative Growth like it was some kind of a wanted thing.  Now we have had beat into our heads that we must always have growth some growth any growth , a negative number was bad very bad, till now.

Seems  the new school of thinking among the deep thinkers in the world of finance have adopted a strategy of wrapping almost anything up in shiny paper , get it stamped by a respected authority , then sell it to their clients who it seems will buy anything without inspection.

In the case of Negative Growth we are the clients they are trying to convince that growth no matter how negative  is a good thing.  We have been learning the hard way for the past 30+ years and have watched as many things in our lives have gone negative.

Negative careers, negative pensions, negative jobs, negative income , negative opportunities , all sold to us along the way by convincing us that all these trade deals were a good thing and would create all these wonderful ,high paying white collar jobs.  As Elizabeth Warren said the other day if they were so good for us "SHOW EM TO US" .

 A QUICK LOOK AT THE GRAPH BELOW .  The blue line is what a true reading of GDP really is , and it shows negative grow for a lot of years.  Seen to start in 2005.
Stories abound about desperate people looking for work , any work, maybe even a minimum wage job , but for many no matter how hard they looked could not find work.  

Once again the blue line is figured using the old rules before we started manipulating them to say what we wanted them to be.  There is a lot of distance between 23% to 5 and a little%.  Considering that 90% of all working people make $31000 or less I imagine we are not surprised we are and have been in a period of negative growth for quite awhile.

Now is the time to start looking at our perspective presidents for any indication of what if any thing they are going to do about changing the above stats.

From the Republican side we hear the same ole litany of tired old plans to attack the safety net programs with special aim at Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  While they are at it they want to  take a chunk out of food stamps, school lunches and any and all programs that reach directly to the people.  They never forget to throw in a new round of tax breaks for the fat cats.

From the Democratic side our one declared candidate Clinton has a track record of not being that much difference from her republican rivals.  There are several other maybe candidates sticking their toe in the water to see if they can catch a hold.  Money will be the big problem , they will need lots of it to compete.  They are talking about a 5 billion dollar campaign , twice election cycle costs in 2012.

Thinking about negative things brings politics to mind.  I think we need some key words to weed out the undesirables from the prospective list of clowns.  For starters:  any cutting of social programs should be at the top of the list, cutting pensions or health benefits are high on the no vote list, any mention of new tax cuts for the wealthy should be an automatic thumbs down.  Cutting of food stamps or other welfare programs should not be cut.

On the plus side, any candidate who suggests we can correct , save and improve all pensions and health care programs should put them on your consider list.  A revamping of the student loan program is a must with a look at reducing or eliminating all of them.  Placing a transaction tax on all financial transactions to raise funds and to eliminate Fast Track Trading.  Any candidate who suggest large cuts in defense spending, revamping of foreign bases , closing most of them.. Kill defense projects like the F35 a plane no military man wants but congress knows better.  

These are just a few of my thoughts on the field, with hopes that a few better will appear..

Friday, April 24, 2015

WARREN TO TPP SUPPORTERS -IF IT'S SO GOOD -LET US SEE IT?

Seems like a simple enough request, that you can bet will be totally ignored by the supporters..  All we really know is the little bit that leaks our from time to time.  If we ever needed a WHITE RAT now's the time.

In a much saner world if a bill such as this was sent to congress they to a man should not even let it come to a vote, park it in a corner and let it die a lingering death.

A close to congress example of where all these trade deals have led us, here's the story of a cook who prepares meals for the Senate.  He's a single father who makes $12/hr as cook for the contractor who has the contract to feed the senate.  He has a second job works 70 hours a week and still can't make ends meet.  He's not proud to say he has to resort on food stamps to feed his child.

That my friends is where all these glorious trade deals have taken us. Yet that is not enough for the fat cats reaping all the benefits of the low wage jobs created by these deals.  90% of workers earn less than 31000 bucks a  year most requiring public assistance to get by.

There are very few voices speaking on the plight of the majority of workers. Here in northern California there are few jobs and those that exist pay about $9 average.  Citizens all over town ask what are we going to do to keep our kids close , they can't exist on these low wages.

Drop south to good old San  Francisco where the cost of living is out of site.  The average house now in is he million dollar class and rents are sky high.  Yet there are many who live there not knocking down the big bucks who  have to live together in piles to be able to afford a place to live.

Now the Prez and the boys want to give us sure suicide on the fast track.  One can only imagine how much further down the slide we will go if this monster is enacted.  Now's the time to fight .. However you can!

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

WORLD DOMINATION A DREAM OR A NIGHTMARE

In the far reaching interview with William Blum some cold hard facts about US intentions of World Domination has been the goal of the US for a very long time..It took the neocons to say it out loud as the Soviet Union collapsed leaving us the big dog on the block.  We certainty  were at the time and we strutted around the stage like a bunch of beautiful peacocks.  Little did we know that our country would soon begin to molt.

We started a string of wars, spending money faster than we could print it.   Stories of waste fraud and abuse flew everywhere.  Money going to place like Iraq and Afghanistan by the truck load, so much in fact they caught some GI's using footballs made our of money.

Ok so we lost both of those wars and today both countries are totally destroyed along with Libya and Syria .  We have spent close to 5 trillion dollars and have destroyed most of the ME in the process.

Now we are concentrating on taking Russia down (once again) and never fear China is on the list too. Russia and China know this and started forming alliances throughout Asia.  Our Tip to Asia was taken in fear of those getting to strong for us to force into submission.

Using Ukraine as a trip wire trying to sucker Russia war , coupled with a little market trickery driving the price of oil through the floor hoping to destroy the Russian and Venezuela's economy down. Neither has happened as yet but odds are they won't collapse.

It would appear that our days as BIG DOG ON THE BLOCK are over.  But we keep trying to anyway throwing away big bucks and backing some pretty unsavory people..Nazi's, Jesus Christ what are we thinking?  Hopefully Russia will resist being drawn into a World War almost  certainly ending up in  nuclear confrontation.

All this in an attempt to dominate the world, hardly worth it don't you think.  History has shown us time after time that nations that tried to dominate the world eventually failed.  I am saying that failure point is where we are at right now.

IT'S THE PRESIDENT THAT'S WRONG!

Shame on him for saying the TPP will be good for the middle class when he knows damn well that the trade deals since Bill Clinton have cost the middle class 60,000 factories and at least 4.5 million jobs..They are getting desperate to pass TPP but a few like Warren and Sanders are preparing to torpedo this deal.

The toll is probably higher but some things become hard to pinpoint.  In  a previous post I pointed out that the bottom 90% earn 31,000 or less, have little saving and next to no retirement and plan on working till they drop.

But that's assuming there will be jobs to work at period, never mind good paying jobs.   As dire as things are for most in the US today and the lack of good jobs will only get worse.  As robots are about to enter into jobs people use to do.  Serving drinks , food , drive your car, fly your airplanes you know damn near everything.  When any job that requires people input go over seas we are in for big trouble.

So for the president to so blatantly lie about trade deals is bad enough but to attack Warren for telling the truth is beyond bad.  Could it be the powers that be behind both parties(being one and the same) fear the likes of Warren and Sanders , quite possible.  Both are getting very popular on social media a place where politicians seldom shine.

When you see the likes of the Koch brothers saying they like Gov Walker for the presidential nomination and other rich folk backing the craziest of the crazy.  When you look at the current field and start to see who would be the least bad for the country , you suddenly realize how big a problem we have.  Remember all the promises Obama made,  see how many he actually pulled off , what could we expect from any in the clown car of politics?

Monday, April 20, 2015

SCUTTLE THE TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP

Being negotiated in secret with not even Congress allowed to see it they still gave it Fast Track agreement to ram rod this thru the Senate.  Since Obama is for this bill he would probably sign it if it gets thru the congress.  There is some hope that a few of our good guys will torpedo this demon before it become law.

Keep in mind please what the recent trade agreements have cost the workers of this country.  For starters 60,000 factories have been closed, NAFTA alone cost us 1 million jobs although they promised it would create 200,000 jobs.. Remember ole Ross Perot and his GREAT SUCKING SOUND  of jobs leaving the country.

Then their was the agreement with China supposed once again to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in stead it cost us 3.2 million jobs.

Now keep in mind the TPP is all the above on steroids.  Nobody knows how many jobs this will cost the country.  There can't be that many more good jobs left to send out of the country, but you can bet they will find a way to move more jobs.

Order a pizza , it will be delivered by drone from Vietnam.  Wanna get married , a preacher from the Ukraine will be here in just a few days (don't pay any attention to the swastika on his forehead).
Now I know the above examples are way out there but necessary to make my point.  We can not afford to loose any more jobs.  We need to bring back some of what we lost and there is a  lot to do to rebuild our country.





PUT ON YOUR CRUEL SHOES MAMA

City after city has been passing ordinances against individuals feeding the homeless.  Somehow they think that by not feeding them they will go away.  Proven time after time that they don't go away they just look for more dumpsters to dig.

Their arguments are so weak and obviously made up that if it wasn't so sad it would be laughable.  Reasons like sanitary condition, scaring other people  in parks that are sometime used as feeding stations.

This women in San Antonio was fined $2000 for feeding the homeless once a week in a city park. She had a permit to run a food truck for the homeless but they ticked her for bringing the food in legal catering trays into the park.. Later dismissed ( but really)

33 cities have passed or are considering passing anti feeding laws.  Some have even passed no sitting or laying on a sidewalk, while city fathers of this burg freely admit they don't have the money or personnel to enforce this law they passed it anyway.

A couple in Daytona Florida were cited and fined $2000 for feeding homeless in that city.  They opted for court so the cops dropped the charges.  Later told the couple if they continued serving food they would be ticked again.  I suppose the cops in Daytona have nothing better to do.

This scene is being seen across the country . Their are homeless everywhere you look, times are tough for all kinds of people , vets on the street , unemployed unable to find work, the mentally ill, workers only able to get minimum wage jobs can't afford a place to live.  But in a supposedly Christian nation , apparently these Christians have a hardened heart.  I think they are in for a big surprise when they get to the pearly gates with old St. Pete giving them a thumbs down.  Twould serve them right.

Why not instead of passing laws to drive the homeless out of your town, find a location, there's one in every town, set up a basic camp.  Portable toilets, water and dumpsters.  Hire a couple to police the area and check that it is done.  If done properly it could provide a respectable place to live.  I am not saying this would be absolutely trouble free but it would be better than what many are doing now.

All you Christians need to ask yourself "What would Jesus do"



Sunday, April 19, 2015

THE DRUMS OF WAR ARE GETTING LOUDER!

It would appear the US is itching to get into a war, just about any war will do , but we have to have one.  Pick your poison,Iran, Iraq (again), Ukraine, China , Russia, Syria, Libya, Yemen , none of which can be waged without boots on the ground.

I urge you to be careful to verify the data you are being fed by the MSM because most of the so called news is closer to propaganda .  Here is an example of the truth along of the lies that were made up from it.  MORE PROOF and YET MORE PROOF.  Check some of the links in these document for the proof we are being lied to again.

It's Not Hockey were Playing against Russia.  Playing, I'm hoping is the operational word for our actions of the past two years.  For if it is for real we are running down a path that leads over a cliff of doom.

Perhaps we think we are playing chess, if so we are getting our asses handed to us by the Russians and the Chinese.  Our actions in Ukraine have caused an alliance of some of the next biggest powers in that part of the world.  The formation of a new financial network that rivals the IMF and World Band that nations flew to join besides the US trying to discourage them.  Even Our staunchest Allie Great Britain joined the network.  Huge trade agreements, transportation alliances, oil contracts all set up outside the influence of the dollar.

Though Ukraine news of late has been scarce you should know we have been busy under the sheets suckering other nations to send troops to (train) the Ukraine troops for another battle.  We have sent troops (900) to train and perhaps fight alongside the Ukraine's in the next attack.  These same outfits we are assisting are neo nazi's who have executed some leaders of the revolt and issued a warning to all who are anti Ukraine to leave the country in 72 hours or face death.  These are the folks we are backing , are our leaders going nuts?

We have been re-positioning troops and heavy weapons closer to the Russian border in a direct provocation of the Russian Bear.  Putting missile batteries within 10 minutes of Moscow.  All this to try to get a direct Russian reaction and to be blamed for WW3.  So far Putin has played his cards well while nervously watching  the strutting of our elected officials and those who hope to become our president in 2016.  A most dangerous time to be playing games of chicken with country that will fight if need be.  The Russians have proven more than once they will defend their homeland to the last man standing.  Is this a battle we really want to fight?

If you get just one thing out of this post I hope it will be, that from here on out you check all these pieces edging us to a war against someone.  On the front burner today the Ukraine and Iran are big ticket items.  The republican congress is itching to attack Iran and destroy the nuclear program they say is moments away from building a bomb.  There is no data to indicate they are trying to build a bomb..Just remember the Iraq WMD's that were not there but cost up 5000 dead troops and a trillion  or two  dollars to end up withdrawing with our tail between our legs.  Take a good look at conditons on the ground throughout the Middle East and realize that all the conflict there was cause by our involvement in the region.

Realize too that the Shift to Asia is just another Neocon pipe dream whose plan to control the resources in the Pacific will never come to pass. It's time to come home and fix all that needs fixing here.  Let the Muslim factions over there have it out , they will anyway no matter what we do.  Don't waste any more lives or resources in a battle we do not understand...Bring the troops home now and leave them home.





Friday, April 17, 2015

YOU DON'T GET MUCH FOR 287 MILLION DOLLARS

The Army concerned about the high number of suicides in their ranks decided to invent a testing mechanism to test the well being of the troops and their families.  The cost 287 billion and the results were astonishing.  37000 suffered from lack of commitment , 40% didn't trust their immediate supervisor , only 40% were in good shape 33% were in poor shape.  To say the least the Army wasn't pleased with the results especially when USA Today took a microscope to the results.

USA today defended their results against Army denial of their findings.  But on they charge 50 million dollars a year to test soldiers even though most of the experts who evaluated the test and the data and the results came to the same conclusion .  The test did nothing  for morale of the troops.

As a result of USA Today finding the army of  course changed the formula to what. To produce numbers more to their liking.   Of course you don't get the results change the formula.

I see little has changed since I left the service . The leadership has no idea what drives their troops, they immediately go to their panic mode to try and solve a high suicide rate.  So in the spirit of modern times they design a test to measure all from physical fitness, mental health, trust of supervisors , family health, and lots of other areas.

I spent 27 years in the Navy , 22 of which I was in a leadership position.  My key job as a leader was the welfare of my men.  Above all else their welfare , training , and performance were at the top of my list.  I had many confrontations with the officers I worked for , many didn't agree with how I ran things but they gave me my head.  I can proudly say that all the gangs I lead performed above expectations.  My point being, not that I was special but that I was trained early on how things should work.

When I made chief in 66 I was on the commissioning crew of the SSBN 657 .  There were way too many Chiefs in the Sub force and I could't get another sub.  I didn't pull some strings and am not sure they would have worked.  Consequently I interviewed and was hired as Submarine Force Atlantic
Force Career Councilor.

All  the above to make a point on the Army's Resiliency Testing.  I was hired to try and determine what the real re-enlistment rate of Submarine Force Atlantic really was.  It was obvious to just about anybody in subs that the re up rate was not in the high nineties.  Out of the 10 interviewed for the job I must have been the only one to come with a plan to determine the real rate.

The answer was simple and I couldn't believe the leadership did not know what the problem was.  The reenlistment rate was used to funnel troops into the training program to keep the skills necessary for safe operations.  With bad number, of course the training pipe line was not working.  The answer was simple.  The sub fleet of the day was comprised of 43 SSBN boats each with two crews, if after a patrol you d id not have enough time to make another patrol you were transferred generally to a sub support ship.  When you left the Navy your loss counted against the aux craft and not the sub force.
A simple reporting program I invented shortly showed the true rate and all were happy of course except the sub CO's.

Upon reporting aboard the Captain head of the Personnel Dept interviewed me and liked to ask all new Force Counselors to make a prediction for the future.  So I looked at his desk and asked how many officer resignations he currently had on his desk. There were just a  few... I  said my prediction is that next year this time you will have a big pile.. He didn't believe me till a year later.

The whole point of my back slapping is not to brag on me but to point out those in higher leadership positions have no idea what their troops were feeling, or for that matter how they were performing.  In my opinion they should have sought out the knowledge  of the enlisted leadership.  They after all all responsible for the day to day lives of those they lead.  E7's, E8's and E9's if given the power  that there positions deserve will be a quicker return to normal ..

Here's the instructions for the program 

Multiple deployments to high tension areas supplanted with large number of National Guard troops who lost home's, wife's, cars, families had to have a negative effect on all troops.  Having a mission with undefined goals and no logical way to withdraw has got to mess with your mind.  Nothing like multiple trips to the Sand Box with undefined goals to mess with your mind.

If you take the time to looks at the implementing instruction you might find the the same bug I found.  The simple fact that they plan to use the test results in promotions tells you the program will not accomplish  it's stated goals.

Testing of this nature will not do the job, especially when you don't like the outcome you just change the rules.. That's sure to work , don't ya think.





WHAT YOU SEE MIGHT NOT BE WHAT YOU GET!

Oh joy, it's election season again.  We face 16 months of  a agonizing avalanche of TV adds full of lies and distortions.  We will however have to choose one to vote for and one to hate.  I'll leave that choice up to you.

As each candidate steps  to the plate I will try to see through the chaff and alert you to the pluses and minus of each.  Oh you know I will be fair (not) any republican will have a very hard time getting my nod.  Each and every one who is thinking of running is dying to cut severely or eliminate entirely all assistance programs.  Every one of them wants to increase military spending.

ON RAND PAUL
 This article lists the items Paul says he would institute if he were elected.  The article lists in some detail what he wants to do.  I will highlight below the one's I feel are the most significant.
1.  A huge increase in military spending 190 billion over two years

2. More giveaways to the rich (who would have thought) .  Now the real damage to the bottom 90 percent.  Eliminate Dept of Education.  Eliminate funding for schools by either block granting money to the states God knows what this would do to the school system.  Eliminate school lunches , Eliminate children health care, Repeal Affordable Care Act, Eliminate HUD and Energy Dept. AND WAIT HERE IT IS: PRIVATIZE MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY  , Slash Medicaid, Repeal all bank regulations, Go to a Flat Tax.

There are other stuff listed in the article in the link but they are not high on my list so I leave them for you to decide for yourself.

I leave you with one piece of advice .  Look at the list in #2 and try to figure your world if all that would come to pass.  Given the conduct of congress the last 8 years you have to believe anything is possible.  We would head the rest of the way to a THIRD WORLD STATUS.  Not a place I want to be.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

RISK HAS BEEN ELIMINATED

Perhaps for the top tier of income.  They are led to believe that the booming stock market is some kind of indicator of the economies health.  The bankers believe they have eliminated risk do their gambling program called derivatives .  They like to believe that since they hold both sides of a derivative that somehow nothing can go wrong. They refuse to recognize that the housing bust existed and they were on the wrong side of that event.  The major banks would have gone bust except for the help they got from Uncle Sam and our pocketbooks.  The exact amount they were give is pretty much an unknown but estimates are from 1 billion to many billions.  Kept afloat by years of 0 interest loans that they used to play the market.  Along with various government agencies pushing the market thru large injections of cash guiding the market in whatever direction they wanted... The clearest place to see their effect is the gold ,silver and oil futures all driven to very low levels. You can pick your own reason why they picked those commodities but by money is on the destruction of Russia and Venezuela.   
  It's just a matter of time till the wall comes tumbling down.  It's common knowledge that consumer spending is 90% of the economy.  A quick look at the chart above provides all the information you need to know that things are not  well.  When 90% of workers earn $31,000 or less there's little left to buy other than the necessities of life.  

Most in the workforce today believe they will never retire and they are probably right given a miracle. With union participation at all time lows the only retirement many have is their 401K's and the chart below shows what that is going to do for them.
The average of money in these accounts is $17000 and that is skewed by older folks in the mix.  

The other interesting fact is Americans when asked how long they would live not many came close but then how could they.  Changing factors along the way make that game a crapshoot.  You may live to a ripe old age or you may get run over by a train tomorrow.  

But none of that should matter.  All should have a guaranteed retirement paid for my them and the company they work for.. That  also means that the company needs to pay them enough to contribute.  Examples set by our biggest employer (Walmart) that pays very low wages , has lousy benefits, and steers their employees to government assistance programs like food stamps and health care.  They tried a nice little trick recently and thought it would make us look upon them in a better light by giving their employees a 10% raise bringing them up to the $10/hr range.  Nice try but no dice we are not buying that is the best you can do..However what they do leads the way for other lowballing companies to do the same.

The risk of surviving in today's world is higher than it has ever been in my lifetime.  Not only do you have to scrape the barrel to eck out a living, you have nothing  left to save towards retirement.  Many do without health care and other necessities of life.

Once again we are in an election cycle with the same clown car of candidates  on the republican side and at least one on the democratic side.  All sing the same tune "WE GOTTA CUT SOCIAL PROGRAMS " we just can't afford them.  Yet out of the other sides of their mouth they all want to increase military spending some by huge numbers.  The military budget already spends 55% of all our disposable income and yet they want more.  Previous posts have pointed out some of the fraud , waste and abuse that exists inside the military budget.

Our infrastructure is falling down around our ears, yet all scream there is no money to fix any of it.   Bridges falling down, roads left turning back to gravel , railroads falling apart , utilities in need of huge sums of money to bring them to current standards, but hell no we have no money for that nonsense.

Just looking at which is probably the biggest boondoggle existing today the F35 a $400 billion dollar plane with an lifetime cost of 1.5 Trillion is one place to get the money for infrastructural repair.  The argument against cutting the program is job loss palace at 125,000 across 40 some states.  No body has said how many infrastructure jobs 1.5 Trillion would buy.  But I'm betting a lot more than 125,00 jobs would be created .  Just think how many of the good ole time manufacturing jobs could be restarted to build the equipment and materials for such a project.

It's a good question that should be asked of all potential presidents .  



Tuesday, April 14, 2015

PEAK DENIAL

THE GOD OF TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS MAY WELL BE DEAD

 The link above provides the thoughts behind this post.  The podcast is well worth your time.


For the first half of my 78 years  were years of gradual growth for the population as a whole.  Then 35 years ago things started to change.  Beliefs I held to be true started turning out not to be true.  The American dream was alive and well till 1980 when the drift downward began.

The general population failed to see the changes that were coming.  Tickle down economics to Globalization were sold to the masses as beneficial to all.   Anybody who took a serious look at what they were proposing knew the end game would not be good for the general population. IT WOULD BE A RACE TO THE BOTTOM.

One had only to look at the precursors to 1929 to see the same actions occurring now as then and then perhaps expect a different outcome.  Well surprise surprise the rich got richer and the rest of us took it in the shorts.

Even though the beginnings of this downturn were the same the outcomes have been considerably different.  This time 50,000 factories were closed and or moved over seas and with them went a lot of the higher paid blue collar jobs.  At the time we were told never fear those jobs would be replaced by nice clean white collar jobs only problem was in the end they turned out to be service jobs, bartenders, waiters, burger flippers etc.

We were led to believe that all was well while more and more of us struggled to get by.  During the early part of my life,one job could support a family, buy a house and a car, put away a little savings pay into a retirement plan supported by the company he worked for and things were ok.

I remember in the 70's when the women's movement peaked and sent millions of women into the work force believing that any job could be more rewarding than being a homemaker.  Even my household got caught up in the rush to the workforce.  Never made sense to me that a woman with a job wouldn't have the same household chores she had before entering the work force.  Most of them found out the hard way.  Husbands were slow to respond to the change.

As the economic plight of the average person went down and down the need for an economic boost was needed so the financial system blew the tech stock bubble.  As usual a frenzy to buy a tech stock any tech stock , didn't matter they would go up and up.  P/E ration went out of sight, companies with no earnings were selling like they were blue chip stocks.  Till somebody woke up and said these things are worth nothing and down the market came.  The not so amusing thing about this downfall not many of the investment  guru's didn't see it coming and lots of folk got taken to the cleaners.

No problem  we'll just blow a real estate  bubble.  Across the country house prices started to rise and rise and rise.  The big thinkers of the time believed it could go no where but up.  They started a kind of new fad, flipping a house.  That involved buying a house and putting it right back on the market at a handsome profit.   That profit was aided by buying the house with little or no down and then sell it at a profit.  This drove prices through the roof. It was just a matter of time before the price of a house was out of reach to the average worker.  Never mind that they bought into spending the fast rising equity of their home as income and were left facing mortgages that turned deadly in the end causing many to loose their homes..

The other financial trick of the time was the birth of the mortgage derivative packages , the bundling of mortgages of varying quality, getting them rated by crooked rating companies as AAA and selling these bundles to pension funds, city and state investments.  These institutions were sold this package of bomb grade material to gain a little extra interest income.  Of course they blew up and institutions around the world are still paying the price for that caper.

Now we are blowing another stock market bubble fueled by 0 interest government loans to bail out the TO BIG TO FAIL BANKS.   They used these funds to pump up the stock market and when that wasn't enough the FED through their PLUNGE PROTECTION FUND tailored  the direction they wished to drive the market at the time.

Now the game gets serious Hedge funds, banks, the government heavily invest in derivative packages to drive a commodity prices in the direction they desire.  The recent plunge in oil prices is the latest example of what they are able to accomplish.  At the same time gold and silver are at all time lows driven there by the above mentioned.  We all out here in deep denial that this is just another crooked game except this time a lot of folks have skin in the game since a lot have been driven to fund their retirement through 401K's.  Don't take a rocket scientist to know where that will end up.

The banks have hundreds of trillion of dollars in interest rate derivative packages , when they end up on the wrong side of interest rates the game is over, the world economy will zero out. All brought about by bets just like at the casino.. I guess you could call this an ALL IN BET.

You have to be in deep denial to believe that America is still a world leader.  Our once proud dollar was the reserve currency for the world.. When we started messing around in Ukraine with the intent of suckering Russia into a shooting war possibility resulting in a nuclear exchange.  An exchange we believed we could pull off by a first strike that by some magic the world could survive. The most outrageous case of denial on record..Russia and China formed a new world financial system not based on the dollar and in competition with the IMF and World Bank.. Making us less significant in world money transactions..

We are in denial that our education system can be fixed by more testing. We are sold that BS by supposed high level educators who should know better but maybe they don't. Hot shots might have a hard time saying they were wrong.  They are and we all know it but few dare to say it.

We are told that we have the strongest military in the world, yet we haven't been able to win against a bunch of goat herders twice and rice patty farmers in another.  Our major defense is based on a BLUE WATER NAVY that consists of 12 carrier attack groups patrolling the major oceans. Just as battleships were not the answer to previous world wars today's carriers are just huge targets awaiting a missile or a torpedo to take them out.  Although these are the most advanced ships in the world missile technology has advanced to the point of making large ship attack groups obsolete.

We spend more money on defense than the next ten countries .  More than 50% of disposable budget on the military.  A closer examination of how this money is spent will make  a grown man cry.  Boondoggle after boondoggle shows up often costing billions and sometime 100's of billion.  Anti missile systems that don't work, air born lazier systems not powerful enough to do the job.  High tech fighters that at some point do their job but large chunks of these babies don't work , aren't completed or  badly designed.  Despite loss after loss on the battlefield we still believe we are the best in the world.  Other nations have built their defenses to address the carrier groups and their fixes are cheaper and deadly.  A Chinese sub surfaced in the middle of a carrier group having never been seen.
You perhaps are a believer that we are now oil independent think again., This fracking  business being touted as the final answer to oil is right now standing on the brink of the whole mess going bankrupt.  At 50 dollar oil they are done.  None ever showed a quarterly profit at 100 bucks a barrel and they are loaded with debts.. The banks are holding these loans magnified by huge sums of derivatives sold just like all other derivatives , plus they got caught with a lot of these junk loans on their books unable to unload them at any price.  You know where this will end.

Peak Energy = Peak Economy
That's where we sit right now.  Since fracking is a joke we are left at the mercy of our oil, coal and natural gas we always had.  With the ME blowing up as we speak with the ultimate end being an all out world of Shiite against Sunni no possible way our oil supplies will be affected by that.  Wanna buy a bridge.

We have depended on technology saving our behinds by some new energy source , perhaps we have run out of technology this time.  Solar and wind has a chance to help here but we are far behind the curve in doing that.  There is always nuclear but too many are afraid of it for it to happen.  I have a bad feeling they will be more afraid if we run out of sufficient power.

Our infrastructure is falling down around our ears and supposedly we have no money to fix it.  It all depends on your priorities, if you blow most of your money on weapons you have little left for fixing up the home front.  If we insisted loud enough we might be able to change this fact, but not likely.

With the congresses of late you know that no legislation to correct these wrongs is likely.. In a corporate controlled country especially where they are not dependent on local manufacturing to come to our rescue they aren't going to budge.

All of the above is fixable but not in the current system.. How we can change a system controlled by big money is and unknowable at this writing.  Sure there are a few in congress that have promise but even a Elizabeth Warren was to become president without a major change in the makeup of the congress her hands would be tied.  What we need is a third party led by a firebrand to whip the masses to a frenzy  to completely change the congress. A massive undertaking not doable as long as most of us are in denial of how bad things actually are.



Friday, April 10, 2015

HEY STOP WHAT'S THAT SOUND

IT'S GLOBALIZATION COMING DOWN
This quote from a piece by Howard Kuntsler by Larry Summer:we may be headed into a world where capital is abundant, deflationary pressures are substantial and demand could be in short supply for quite some time.”

Tom Friedman at the time said Globalization was here to say.  The idea today looks insane today as we watch the daily disintegration of what was supposed to be a gift to mankind.  All would be honey and roses once all were playing the same game.

Friedman's dream of a Globalized world was based on a dominant and sound American polity , neither of which we have today.  A quick look around the world stage shows us that America has fared poorly on just about all fronts.  Frustrated on the battle field, frustrated on the False Flag field, embarrassed by the response to our Pivot to Asia has been an absolute disaster.  China,Russia, Brazil, India and a flock of others have banned together to form and economic giant that will rival the IMF and World Bank.  With the world being pummeled by the austerity programs forced on the EU by the IMF and World Bank the new system looks like a better deal

Any fool who took the time when  Globalization was being touted as the great solution to world economic problems I and a few others started calling it "THE RACE TO THE BOTTOM"  which appears to be were we have been heading for the past 30+ years.

The system that was supposed to bring everybody into a new system where blue collar work would disappear and we would all be in white collar jobs making big bucks.   Granted their are a lot of sort of white collar jobs serving coffee and burgers and the like but most good paying jobs have gone elsewhere.

It would be comforting to think that we are at the bottom of our slump, but when you read things like half the jobs existing today will not exist 10 years from now , you wonder just what are the one's without jobs going to do?

Keeping that in mind keep a very keen eye on all the politicians you will see spouting their fixes to all our problems.  I can simplify your task if you like me want a strong social security program, a strong Medicare for all health system, a retirement other that stock market driven, a world without a war we started, decent paying jobs for all, and above all a strong safety net for those who can't find a place  to fit in.

Needless to say if those mentioned above are on your list to choose a candidate you won't have to spend much time looking at republicans.  You can put Hillary on the short list to not be in the running she is not going to be the anointed one.  Who will rise to be the one is yet to come to the top but there are several out there that can and one of them will.

Globalization and crooked banks have done us all in world wide.  It's time to stop them dead in their tracks.  They will call all of us  that try to change things all kinds of names, so what.  You have heard them all before from liberal to communist to traitor to socialist, to a fighter of class warfare .    All or perhaps only one of those names fit, but you can hold your head high and say at least I'm not a  REPUBLICAN!




Thursday, April 9, 2015

THE MARCH OF THE CRAZIES !

16 POSSIBLE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES ?
Here's a link to a little on all 16 of them  .  I guess it says something of our choices when not one of 16 will get my vote.  Some new faces in the pile, but mostly reruns from 2012. Nobody liked them then and I don't know what would change that now.  Have fun trying to pick a winner out of this pile of crazies.

SO YOU THINK YOU LIKE RAND PAUL

First remember he is a politician one who reserves the right to reverse sides on any issue that did not sit well with the electorate.

For instance he was originally for  cutting 164 billion dollars from defense by 2016..Today he wants to increase military spending by 190 billion over two years.  In looking other at issues he flip flopped on there are way too many to list one by one but I will list a few of his most outrageous ideas.

He called Social Security a Ponzi scheme and his ultimate goal to to start a process to privatize the program which would ultimately be the death of the program.  The fix is so easy that no right winger will ever suggest it a simple raising the income that is taxed the program could be fixed forever.

Medicare is Socialism and would privatize that program too, who could afford such coverage is beyond thinking.   Putting everybody under Medicare and allowing negotiations on all services would bring great saving to the program.  Even if it meant higher premiums it would still way cheaper than buying private insurance.

On taxes it's the same ole right wing fix, lower taxes particularly on corporations and the rich.  He is favor of a flat tax of 17% which would be a huge gift to the rich and an increase for what is left of the middle class.

Free market choice on energy , no subsidies on any energy company..with the exception of things like solar and wind, I am not exactly sure what that would mean , but if you label anything Free Market I immediately become wary.

For school vouchers and no regulation of home schooler's both bad ideas

For Free Market health care (there's those word again)  and for Health Savings accounts a very very bad idea.  Tell that to  the millions who are now receiving care under the act..

Favors keeping Gitmo open.

Opposed legalization of Marijuana

Favors imprisoning for listening to Radical  Political Talk (who defines that is left unstated).

There's other standard right wing points of view not much different that other right wingers.
Anti abortion, Anti Gay,Privatize and Free Market everything.

I'm anti Rand and it puts me in bed uncomfortably with these guys  a Secure and Prosperous America a right wing political action committee that uses secret donations to fund their operations.  I had heard months ago that the Koch brothers were against Paul and would work to defeat them.. If this is not them other right wing freaks are after him too..Why does that make me uneasy..?

So to all of you that were thinking of backing him you have now been made aware of his views , they certainly aren't yours.   Were just at the beginning of the 16 campaigns and already Paul is starting flip flop on the ideas that may have attracted you..Watch this one >>

Monday, April 6, 2015

WATER , WATER, EVERYWHERE BUT IT AIN'T YOURS

While us Californians are in the middle of a big drought , fingers are pointing everywhere but where they should be pointing.  La and all cities south are often sited by north stater's as culprit that is part of the problem.  But when you consider that 80% of California water is used for agriculture purposes.  Arguments that we should not be growing things in a  desert kinda dim when you consider how much of the countries produce is grown here.

I do have a problem with the large corporations that have bought up huge tracts of land and commenced to plant thousands of acres of nut trees effectively edging out small family farms that had been growing nut trees for a long time.  In my 30 some year in California I have seen thousands of acres of row crops get planted with some kind of trees and worst of all way too many acres of grapes.
But the real problem lies with who owns the water and how they got to own it.  I spent 20 years or so running the Central Valley Project that along with the State system DWR delivers much of Ca water. Never have I heard in all the years that a lot of ground water was owned by corporations and a selected few wealthy few.  A lot of the facilities they now own were built by tax dollars and thru all kinda of back door deals ended up in their hands.

Those interested in California water should read an old book titled Cadillac Desert that at it's writing the author came down pretty hard on the water systems and how they came into being.  I will freely admit that a lot of shady deals were conducted throughout the building of the system.  Never the less it is hard to ignore the benefit of growing in the desert and feeding the nation..   Even the writer mentioned changed his mind on the worth of the projects.  Still today there are those who sing the tired old song it's our water and they are stealing it.  They are , but not the one's people are talking  about.

WATER IS THE NEW OIL!
What in the 80's was one of the favorite tricks of World Bank and IMF loans was the privatizing of public utilities in Latin America, water works being a favorite.  After privatization they raised the prices till the poor and not so poor could not afford it.  Check out what they did to much of Latin America and can see what they planned for us.

Now it's big banks and wealthy individuals buy up public utilities , water , roads, electrical systems and even lowly parking meters.  Looking at it as the new oil casts a different light on what is happening throughout the world.  Kinda makes you wonder the same bunch says they don't believe in Global Warming but are buying up all the water they can get their hands on. The same bunch that brought you banks to big to fail now bring you water you can't afford.

How we stop this from happening is a very big question.  Money talks and bullshit walks is truer today then it ever has been.  When states make the collecting of rain water a crime you know that there is evil lurking in the shadows.

YOU THINK THE DAYS ARE COMING WHEN A BUCK A BOTTLE FOR WATER WILL BE A GOOD DEAL.  Geez I hope not.


IT MUST BE IN THE WATER

Here we go again.  A Georgia teacher told her students that President Obama is not a Christian and if their parents voted for him they are not Christians either.  I would love to see where in the bible it says that.  Isn't it time to leave your religion inside the doors of your house and your church.  Quit trying to place your values on me.

BOONDOGGLE PRIME

In this story are the tales of 4 missile defense programs that spent 10 billion dollars but none of them worked.  As with most military adventures of the past few decades we were rushed to production on a large batch of fear-mongering that turned out to be unfounded.

But these 4 missile programs are special.  All were basically pipe dreams rushed to production without much testing and like all complicated systems , none worked any where near their design criteria.

The SBX Radar system
A 2.2 billion dollar submariners dream.  To catch one of these monsters in your periscope would be a dream come true.. This slow moving or anchored target would be the first thing to be taken out prior to an attack.  But not to worry the damn thing doesn't work anyway.  It spends most of it's life nowadays in mothballs in Hawaii.  It's field of vision was so narrow it proved unworkable..

Next up the Airborne Laser system a really expensive toy,coming in at 5.3 billion dollars.  So not powerful that it proved to be not a viable weapon.  Not to cheap  for a flop.

Next up Kinetic Energy Interceptor a real screw up.  To big to fit the ships it was designed for , and on land it required siting too close to enemy lines to be effective. But a steal at 1.7 billion.

Multiple Kill Vehicle designed to take down multiple warheads.  Test flight never flown program was cancelled after 4 years.. But a very low cost flop.. 700 million.

To put a little icing on this boondoggle a retired head of these programs blamed Obama for not doubling down on funding for these misguided programs..

Good thinking wouldn't you say , the damn things don't work so throw more money at them.  I wonder how much you could trim off our defense budget if you just threw out the junk.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

HEGEMONY IN THE TOILET

The US's desire to lord hegemony over the planet is toast.  First our plan to egg Russia into a war with our false flag operation in Ukraine failed. As a unseen trick by Russia and China to cut huge deals that also brought other countries into the pact.  China then set out to build a new economic system to counter IMF and the World Bank.  The US tried to persuade other countries to not join the system but join they did.  Hard to tell at this writing how many will flip over to the new system but it must look attractive to all those in the EU having to eat all those austerity programs forced on them from the other system.

Having lost on the war front and the economic front another of the US dreams is circling the drain.. The much touted TPP has stalled out for the third year supposedly over Obama's probability of getting congressional approval.  Tears of joy from this writer, if this deal ever gets into law just throw your rule book and constitution in the toilet as they will be worthless.

However you can chalk a potential win up for Obama.  He did get a framework agreement with Iran over their nuclear program.  Congress and BIBI are unhappy about the framework and some talking heads and a few major newspapers are still calling for bombing Iran.  I would like to be hopeful on this deal coming to  a real deal, but with our current congress it might be a hard sell.. So I guess we better keep the pressure on the congress to go along with the deal..  

Saturday, April 4, 2015

CHEAT TO SURVIVE

The latest cheating scandal in the Atlanta school system once again screams that the insane education system based on massive testing programs is a gigantic failure.  In Atlanta administrates and teachers have been tried and convicted of falsifying test  score to save their jobs and get promotions.   The testing craze has been going on for far too many years when it is common knowledge that this process does not function as intended.  Concentrating  on math and science has led to less instruction in other equally important areas of education.  Less civics, less gym, less art, less music.  Less of everything deemed unimportant to the likes of Arnie Duncan.  The total failure of his Chicago school plan was proof enough that his theme did't work.

In an effort to make teachers accountable for the scores attained by their students sounds good on the  surface ,but every attempt to establish an honest evaluation system for teachers has failed.  Using test scores as the basis for said evaluation and then trying to supplement those with other unrealistic measuring devices brought fervent opposition from teachers unions.

The huge amount of money in each district set aside for buying tests has detracted from all other programs in the system.  If your performance is not tested then you can figure out how to fund your class on your own.

One has to wonder how the current thinking the quality of teachers is not up to snuff.  One has to ask why does the average teacher lasts but 5 years.  Having an inside track to this information leaves me with little wonder why they would leave so soon. In this day and age where good paying jobs are few and far between things inside have to be pretty unbearable to make them leave. But leave they do.

Since the mid sixties when they started messing with a system that was working well for the country up till then but change had to happen..  I remember going to PTA meetings when the new math was being pushed as the new trick thing.  I did not have a lot of company when I objected to the abandonment of good ole math that one needed for everyday living.   At the same time a new reading program was brought into service and proved pretty early on this was going to be another failure.  It was based on a self guided tour of some damn uninteresting books.  Some kids were said to not being reading at grade when an examination of what they were supposed to read were pretty damn boring.

Change after change has led to less and less performance.  Longer days, way to many hours of homework , back packs, crappy lunches and downtrodden teachers leads us to where we are today.If what I'm told is correct high schooler's of all ages cannot follow a simple 10 step outline to accomplish a task.. They hate to read and generally won't unless pressed.  A general lack of knowledge about most things and sent into the world unprepared for what faces them.

Even though the changes in education system has not worked on we go to doctors and Medicare.  They want to apply the same kind of nonsense to health care cannot have any different outcome than achieved in education.  They say they want to measure the quality of care being administered by doctors and hospitals by checking on the repeated returns to hospital soon after being released. Damn little has been put out to the patient on these changes.  Doctors are already refusing to take Medicare patients that can only get worse under the proposed system..  A doctor would be reluctant to take on patients with complex problems, hell it's going to affect his pay.  I can see where a hospital would hold on to patients longer (not a minus) so they don't have to readmit them too soon.

Take a hard look the next time you hear someone say for instance "crime rates are down"  what you  might find is the only change has been a reclassification of a crime to a lower level.  The next time you hear a new low unemployment number just scream "bullshit"  and go over to shadowstats and get the real number.  The next time we are asked to go to war better ask"why in the hell would we want to do that?

It's getting harder and harder to be a good citizen. We are over policed  by what appears to be a bunch of bullies with guns and badges.  All the news we are handed through our MSM is propaganda instead of news.  We are being led to wars for reasons that are less than true.  We watch our government pull false flag operations to topple regimes we don't like.  We see our leaders talk of a first strike nuclear attack being doable (it isn't) .  Leadership in program after program are caught cheating to make themselves look good.

Maybe it's time to have and evaluation of our government officials at all levels.  Hopefully we would be able to put together a system that would be fair and allow us to weed out the deadwood.
How we get back to a country that works in a system controlled by corporations and the money they buy the things they want from government.  How do we elect a congress not beholden to the moneymen?  How do we return to a workforce that gives and honest days labor for an honest days pay?  How do we keep from slipping further into a third class nation?