SO YOU DON'T BELIEVE MAN IS AFFECTING CLIMATE CHANGE

Well just take a look at this set of graphs and ask yourself a question. Is their something different about the last rise in temp or co2 levels.   Please notice the huge spike in co2 that is occurring now, this has never happened in 100's and 1000's of years.  Only man can have caused this to happen.

THE EVIL TWIN OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Now I will admit if you don't want to believe in man made climate change ,sometimes you to take have to take the blinders off and look around you.  Strange things are happening in the oceans, coral reefs are dying, hard shelled critters are in trouble , strange die offs of star fish and on and on.

GLACIER VOLUME OVER TIME

On top of the above environmental changes we have man's interference with Mother's Natures plan.  We are filling the oceans with miles and miles of our plastic wastes.  At the same time we have over fished the oceans to the point that 90% of most species are gone.  While methods of fish harvest have changed in favor of man the number of boats chasing a decreasing number of fish the absence of which will also have effects on ocean health.

Now I know the deniers out there (mostly  republicans) don't believe in man's contribution to the destruction of the planet based on god knows what.  Some believe they hold those beliefs because God controls what happens and he'll be coming soon so it doesn't matter if we destroy the earth.  Giving them their beliefs shouldn't keep one from acknowledging that the change is happening and we can argue who is to blame.  As long as we do what we can to stop the change..    

RATIONING MEDICARE

Earlier this month the Obama administration met with medical providers namely insurance companies to announce a new plan to ration services given to Medicare patients.  The plan will ration doctors , hospital, and drugs given to these patients.

Strangely not one word of this has been seen in the conventional press and once again had to rely on the Net to provide the information.

Being an old couple , my wife and I have enjoyed having three insurance plans and have an almost 0 medical expenses.  Now I have to worry how this change will affect us.  I already have seen how this works with private health insurances limiting the services a doctor can provide.  One example I know of an older man needed a hip replacement , there were several surgeons locally that could do the work but the insurance company insisted that their the only surgeon on their list be used.  The guy had a very bad track record.  Even though my doc fought hard he lost.. Fortunately the group he belonged to quit servicing those companies.

With mergers taken place throughout health services they become bigger bullies with each merger.  A personal example was with medications I have taken for many years, of course cheaper drugs became available and they wanted me to switch, I would try but had reactions to these new drugs and had to fight to go back to my old meds.  The story they always gave me that these new meds were the same that didn't sound logical because if they were why the bad reaction.  A little research showed they in fact were marginally different , but that little change made the difference.  Never the less a few times each year they would subsist generic drugs.  So the annual fight always got the drugs back.  Point being that under the type system these ACO's will provide will be less than we have not.

Not a surprise for Obama to put this into play and give the repubicans another win.  This is the door to killing Medicare in the end , bit by bit.  My experience is that doctors are not going to like this one bit, essentially this shifts medical decisions to outside forces that tie the doctors hands.

At this writing I don't have a lot of info as I just found our about this today.  One of the things mentioned is to monitor hospitals for readmitting patients within a 30 day period.  Pretend your a hospital who now gets rid of patients as quick as they can, if they get punished for having to readmit  within the month will only serve for longer hospital stays and a increase in cost.

It is already hard enough to find a good doctor that takes Medicare (not all do) this ACO we know nothing about will make that harder.

MEDICARE WORKS JUST LIKE IT IS- SCRAPE A FEW BUCKS FROM DEFENSE AND PAY FOR IT.  HERE'S THE LINK TO THE STORY

HERE'S THE LINK TO THE STORY

SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA A BIG MISTAKE

While most of the US is supporting the sanctions on Russia , they need to take a time out and see how they are going to affect our PIVOT TO ASIA.

First you need to understand what the Pivot to Asia was meant to do.  It was an effort to control the sea lanes to be able to block China's access to energy supplies. If you remember what we did to Japan to get them to go to war against us.  We cut off the oil supplies to Japan.  That did the trick they attacked us.

So here we go again, preparing to cut off energy to China to limit their world reach.  Well hello Dummies , this brought China and  Russia to sign huge deals for oil and gas, started them selling oil for other than dollars.  They formed what is now called the BRIC economic group to counter the IMF.

While the sanctions undoubtedly have an effect on Russia , the people seem to still be behind Putin.
The unsought problems the sanctions have caused , the current unstable EU.  Italy for instance have lost 50% of their exports and are hurting to begin with.  They don't need more problems causeed by the US an an attempt to bankrupt Russia.

There are other deals being cut between Russia and China giving China the new Russian anti missile systems, the building of a high speed rain system from Russia to China (chins is providing the cash)
with other deals in the works.

Other things not being talked about at all may in fact be more important than the above.  Russia with huge stacks of American dollars (that are high at the moment) are buying Gold and their own Rubles (at an all time low) getting the maximum bang for their bucks. The sanctions have a big new oil deal with Exxon that will now be done by more friendly folks.

When all the above is added up you have to be a math wizard to believe this is a good deal for anybody.  It could in fact be the straw that broke the camels back.  You see Sweden bailing out the the Euro which will most likely bring others to the same conclusion.  The EU was shaky before this event it might be the end.

This sanction business which our government has said don't  work (Cuba) we place them on Russia what will make this time different , nothing they will fail too , hurting many who will not forget who brought the pain.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

This week the History Channel presented a 3 part mini series depicting the beginning of the American Revolution.   It presented a view of the event not usually seen in the history books.  It pointed out just how the bravery of just one man brought about the insurrection.  Sam Adams against great odds kept organizing and eventually at Independence Hall in Pennsylvania brought about  the Declaration of Independence.

It showed the bravery of the colonists thru defeat after defeat they kept going toward their goal of a new nation.  The KOCH brother have pledged 900 million dollars to the 2016 campaign. The brothers coupled with other right wing crazies are out to buy their way with brute cash.

While watching the series I got to thinking that those colonists were rebelling the oppression of the king who taxed them, usurped their rights.  It came quite naturally to compare those days to today.  Inch by inch we are loosing rights not taken by a king but taken by corporations buying their way thru the purchasing of politicians to grease their way to new riches.

A few very rich people have been purchasing power for decades but 2016 is shaping up to be the biggest buy off in history of our country.  By providing masses of money they will control the media which in turn will control how they will vote with 30 second tv adds that will persuade us to vote with them.  I hold that the Koch brothers can be compared to the King of England.

So if one man could start our great revolution (Sam Adams) could one man bring about the second American Revolution.. We have seen groups right and left pop up in the recent past and fade into the sunset ,in my opinion they did not succeed from the lack of a powerful leader.  I'm waiting.

WHEN HALF IS NOT ENOUGHdi

Since I became aware of the fact that there were wealthy people in the world, and that they did not share their well being very well, that I could live with their abundance of money and things as long as they let me have a comfortable life.. That consisting of a home, enough food, enough money to live a comfortable life, education for out kids, and a few toys along the way.

All was well and good until 1980 and The Regan revolution.  Trickle down economics was the trick phrase used to disguise the raping of the middle class.  It's about that time I became interested in economics and commenced a study of how things worked in the real world.  The gurus of the day spun a fairy tale that convinced many that the trickle down thing would make them rich.  Our only problem was we thought the them was us.  WRONG

In a recent report by OXFAM  80 people own more than the bottom 50% and the gap is widening every year.  This number wakes you up to understand trickle down meant that we were getting pissed on from those above us.

Which brings to ask the question "WHAT IS ENOUGH"?  Apparently there is no upper limit of their greed, which is shown by the massive amounts of money they spend to craft legislation that makes them richer.  The amount of money flowing into our political system has so corrupted the country that one can not see a way to change anything.

So where do these rich folk spend their money?

BELOW IS MY ALL TIME FAVORITE

The above boat is his fifth, a poor Russian billionaire.  I wonder if he would give me his castoffs?? 

I know you are wondering who the top rich folk are: HERE'S THE LIST OF TOP 100

I have no problem  with them being rich, I do have problem with them using that wealth to keep the rest of us from having a decent life.  I will list several of these folk understanding therre are many others in the same boat but these have been the most obvious:  The Koch Brothers, The Walton family, Sheldon Adelson among the most aggressive in attacking the middle class.

The perplexing part of their campaign is the drive to destroy unions, pensions, health benefits , retirement plans, wages , social services, infrastructure funds, destruction of the constitutional rights that have existed for a very long time.

What troubles me the most in all this, they are not satisfied yet and continue to fund the destruction o of jobs of the worker bees.  There are projections that say half the jobs that exist today will not exist 10 years from now.  We already have at least 1 million souls without work.  Nowhere is there talk of what those without work will do to survive.  They already don't want to fund the social services in place today. In fact they are actively supporting drives to dismantle Social Security and Medicare, Medicaid. 

So here we sit in 2015 wondering what the hell will become of us the people of the United 

States  in the future.  It looks pretty bleak from here.  I wish I could see a White Knight  riding to our rescue but I don't.  The daydream of a leisure society has not come to pass and probably never will surface.

One can hope that somehow a new movement will surface that gets strong enough to bring about change.  See have seen glimmering of a few , The Tea Party, The Occupy movement but they have sputtered out of being a force to just becoming a memory.  Both suffered from not having a leader strong enough to bring about a lasting change.  Will someone step forward , could that someone be  you??

$43 HOT DOGS WITH MUSTARD AND PICKLE BUT NO CHIPS!

Times are tough in DAVOS.  The little rich guys and their families are over their for their annual "HOW WE ARE GOING TO FUCK THE REST OF THE PEOPLE" meeting where the price of a hot dog is $43.  Yep times are tough in Davos.

One of the I got rich off of Hedge Funds fellows in a speech said we are going to have to learn to do with less.  (he flew his wife, children and two nannies to Davos) yep that's less.

They meet in secret, countries craft treaties in secret, countries lie through their asses on national statistics and we the masses soak it up like good beef gravy on bread.  Some do understand we are mushrooms being fed bullshit to make us grow.  News flash , we are still being fed bullshit but it don't cause growth anymore.

2015 is not going to be a fun year by any measure.  Failures I have been talking about may finally show up this year ironically by the surprising drop in oil prices.

The drop in oil prices will make one of my very early predictions that Shale oil was not the great 100 year supply of oil and certainly  will not make us energy independent.  You can already see the decline in drilling rigs and the dramatic decline of aging wells.  Three years and done is the general rule.  Their costs run about $80/bl to produce they weren't making money at 100 oil , they sure won't make it at 40 dollar oil.  Their bankruptcies will cause huge market disruptions as they have been financed by funny money vehicles, that have the ability to bring down the TBTF banks.

Needless to say if you have been reading this blog for long you know I don't have a rosy horizon for the US or the world.

The US has mounted a ill disguised attack on Russia by using Ukraine as the bait, the anticipated results have not happened.  Instead Putin set out to make huge deals with China, Turkey and others  that will make our puny efforts to bring him down fail. In gives me great pain to root for Putin in this ill planned attempt to bring him down.  Not thought about by us was how the rest of the EU would react to the sanctions placed on Russia.  Some of the EU folks lost 50% of their exports do to those sanctions and will probably drop out one by one making us look like fools .  Which we are.

So as a reward for your faithful reading of my blog I am enclosing the following link to JAMES HOWARD KUNTSLER'S 2015 PREDICTIONS 

His piece is quite long but tough it out, you will end up with a clear picture of what to expect the coming year and how you should be planning to survive in the future.

DEAD ON ARRIVAL SINCE DAY ONE

On the day President Obama was sworn in a group of top republicans met at a restaurant in DC to plan how they were going to destroy his presidency.  If they had met to plan on how to fix this country things might look better today, but they didn't and there not.

Now six years out , another State of the Union speech , and another DEAD ON ARRIVAL response by the republicans.  Even though there were absolutely no programs put forth in the speech.

Anyone who has been reading this blog for any length of time knows I have no love of republican plans for this country.  Every day they prove to me that they do not deserve to serve as they clearly have their corporation ties at the forefront of their actions.

Current examples the first two bills they put forth in the congress they control were the KEYSTONE PIPELINE and  to roll back Obama's immigration reform.  Both bills that the president vows to veto.

I don't see how this country can keep on voting these smucks into office when they know their interests will not be served.

We are once again teetering on the edge of another financial collapse, a time when we need a congress working together with the president to avoid another collapse.   Somehow we need to get their attention to take action to help us not put us further in the hole..