Getting worried...

Ok I'm not quite panicked yet, but perhaps my anxiety factor is rising. It seems almost as if there is a concerted effort by the US Government as well as some Wall Street "insiders" to paint a more rosy picture than really exists. I believe they are hoping things will turn around, but things aren't.

-Claims that unemployment numbers are improving are a gross fabrication. People continue to loose jobs....very few gaining jobs. Additionally, once someone stops looking for work, gets a part time job (because it is all they can find) or falls off the extended rolls, they aren't counted anymore. Hidden in yesterdays CBO report was a scare little number...2.3 million MORE people will be unemployed. How the heck is that an improvement?


- Claims the stimulus is working....but it isn't.

-Along with the new report from the FDIC on an increase in failing banks and those on the verge of failure, comes the obvious attempt to hide action behind the scenes. Bailing out banks with money that is itself debt money (remember we (the government) are $11.7 trillion in debt already and rising) seems somewhat insane.

So it begs the question....does the US Government and Wall Street have their heads up their fourth point of contact or are they merely stalling and preparing behind the scenes for what seems to be the inevitable economic collapse of the US?

Sticker Shock....

The Obama administration has just upticked it's 10 yr deficit projection (the amount more the government spends than takes in)
from a staggering $7.1 trillion to a more digestible $9.1 trillion *vomits*. But at least they will modify their projection for this year down from $1.84 trillion to $1.58 trillion.....by removing $250 billion set aside for banks (no idea why that isn't included..maybe it makes him feel better.

Maybe he wants the US to default....why is anyone supporting him?

Powerful Dems begin to hunt down those that oppose their plans.

Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Bart Stupak, D-Mich. on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee issued letters to 52 insurance companies demanding the reveal who their highest paid employees are and how much they were paid. Is this the governments business? Is the authority granted anywhere in the Constitution for the COngress to investigate companies that have NOT committed a crime?

What these companies have done is come out against the proposed government run health care plan. This is the political class making its move to harass and intimidate private companies that oppose their view...this action IS illegal and a violation of their oath of office.

Plato showed the pitfalls of democracy (we are supposed to be a Constitutional Republic) in 'The Republic'. Democracy always degrades to tyranny:

"The excessive freedoms granted to the citizens of a democracy ultimately leads to a tyranny, the furthest regressed type of government. These freedoms divide the people into three socioeconomic classes: the dominating class, the capitalists and the commoners. Tensions between the dominating class and the capitalists causes the commoners to seek out protection of their democratic liberties. They invest all their power in their democratic demagogue, who, in turn, becomes corrupted by the power and becomes a tyrant with a small entourage of his supporters for protection and absolute control of his people."

Sound familiar?


I fear tyranny isn't far away.

The awesome posters are from a great site The Peoples Cube

Epic Failure....

Cash for Clunkers.....update!!!!

Update: I was being generous thinking they had until mid September....it ends this Monday!!!!!

The cash for clunkers program is coming to an end . Originally a $1 billion program that was supposed to last until November, ran out of funding 6 DAYS after it started. The Congress quickly approved another $2 billion in taxpayer, debt laden money to keep it going. As of yesterday, 25 days into the now triple original cost program, the White House is winding it down having spent $1.81 billion of the $3 billion. Assuming current spending continues the project will be out of money again, by mid September.<---my assumption was wrong it ends Monday!!!....wowza!

New York dealers are pulling out of the program because they are not receiving the money from the government and are on the hook for too long a time...hemorrhaging cash and money lost in interest.

So lets recap...
-a government run program
--->ran out of money in 6 days but supposed to last ~120 days
--->budget had to be tripled
--->suppliers are pulling out because they haven't been paid
--->the program didn't last quarter the expected run time even with triple the budget
--->some 400,000+ Americans have new car payments (more debt?)
--->the majority of cars purchased were foreign made instead of American
====>Epic failure<====

....and you want these clowns in charge of your healthcare?! Brilliant!!!

Anti- U.S. business President continues his quest....

President Obama seems intent on crushing U.S. businesses and manufacturing sector via U.S. Taxpayer dollars/debt, hoisted on terrible plans and bailouts. Lets look at some of the spiffy ideas he (and Congress) have going...

- Billions of U.S. Taxpayer dollars for offshore drilling...in Brazil!....he blocked offshore drilling in the U.S.

-Cash for Clunkers....$3 billion going to mostly foreign made cars (UAW...you suckers!)

-Promised millions of "green jobs" yet a study in Spain shows a loss of 2 jobs for every 1 new green job. (SEIU...you suckers!)

-Cap and trade will crush small businesses and employment. (SEIU, UAW, UWUA, UMW, USW....all suckers for supporting dems and obama...just watch your jobs and pay shrink). This interactive map helps..press play and watch what happens 2008-2009 specifically in NY, CA, and FL...states with huge social programs.


Not the best job of overlaying the 2 maps but I did find the comparison interesting.

-Social Security and Medicare are disasterous single payer systems that already are crushing the US taxpayer and placing this country in huge debt. Congress and the administration want to add another massive complex system without fixing the first 2?!...that get's a huge WTF?!!!

-millions upon millions of dollars in pork projects, free money with no strings attached...the list just goes on....it's as if the administration and congress want to bankrupt the country.

WalMart goes communist...Update..response from WalMart.

UPDATE:Responses (2) from WalMart under my letter

The second more coherent response suggests that WalMart has pulled advertising from ALL 'polarizing' talk shows. I assume that includes several on MSNBC such as Obermann and Maddow. I will see if they live up to their word.

Thanks to FiveFeetofFury for giving me the heads up.
Though I suspected WalMart was slightly communist due to it's pricing policy towards suppliers and crappy Chinese products...they finally went over the edge with me. In case you were asleep, WalMart along with several others have decided to bycatt the Glenn Beck Show. Now I know Glenn can be a bit dramatic sometimes, but he speaks his mind and so far seems to speak the truth. I may not agree 100% of the time, he still is at the very least honest. I have not seen WalMart issue a statement regarding it's disapproval of the President referring to the Cambridge Police Department as "Stupid". Apparently it is ok for the President to defame someone, but not a talkshow host? I won't even go into the numerous socialist/communist talkshow hosts out there that continually insult those constituents trying to be heard by their representatives. When a retail store won't stand up for it's customers and more importantly the founding principles that it luxuriates under....I will have nothing to do with it.

Probably the most disturbing aspect in the campaign against the Glenn Beck Show is lead by Van Jones, Pres. Obama's "green-jobs" czar. Hello ethics violation?


Below is what I sent to WalMart's customer service. I encourage all to write WalMart and express your disapproval.

I was extremely disappointed at WalMart's decision to cease advertising with the Glenn Beck show (or ensuring that ads don't run during that time slot). WalMart has become a powerhouse in the US retail world by riding the coattails of this countries founding principles of freedom and capitalism. Recently, that seems top have changed. Wal Mart is in full support of a single payer health plan, and more disturbingly, showing a distain for freedom of speech. I wonder if Walmart has decided to drop it's support for the President's health plan since he called a Cambridge Police Sergeant "stupid"? No apology by the President nor by the more egregious, insulting Prof. Gates has ever been issued. Will WalMart insure that none of it's ads run before or after a Presidential speech? I suspect WalMart will continue to look more and more like a company that likes the benefits of this great nation, but won't support the freedoms it affords others. Due to this rather hypocritical policy, I cannot justify spending money in your store.

-Tom H
Palm Valley, FL

WalMart First response:

>>>This response made no sense to me and I'm not sure the person responding comprehended english<<<<
Dear Tom,

My name is Clavel. I am with the Walmart.com Customer Service team.
Thank you for allowing me to assist you today.

Tom, I understand and respect you view. Herman Cain is not a
spokesperson for Wal-Mart. We understand that he has a long standing
column and the views he expresses in that column are his own. Wal-Mart
is about creating jobs, providing affordable health care for our
associates and saving money for working families.

Anything else I could help you with? Feel free to email us anytime and
let us know how we can better service. Should you require further
assistance from one of our customer care representative, you may reach
them at Walmarts Toll Free Number 1-800-966-6546, they will be more
than glad to be of service to you.

I apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced.

Thank you for visiting Walmart.com. We appreciate the opportunity to
serve you and look forward to your next visit.

If we may be of further assistance, please email us at help@walmart.com.
We're here to serve you 7 days a week!

Sincerely,

Clavel
Customer Service at Walmart.com

>>>> I wrote back asking if WalMart comprehended what I was saying and received a more coherent response<<<<<

Dear Tom,

My name is Christopher. I am with the Walmart.com Customer Service Team.
Thank you for allowing me to assist you today.

Walmart.com and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. respect your reaction regarding the
recent issue with the Glenn Beck Show. However, we continuously review
our media plans.

In keeping with our internal guidelines to avoid content that is highly
polarizing, we have instructed our agencies, as of August 3, 2009 not to
run Wal-Mart advertising in news commentary shows on national cable
networks. This would include the Glenn Beck Show. We request for your
understanding on this matter.

Tom, I apologize for the inconvenience you may have experienced.

Thank you for visiting Walmart.com. We appreciate the opportunity to
serve you and look forward to your next visit.

If we may be of further assistance, please email us at help@walmart.com.
We are here to serve you 7 days a week!

Sincerely,

Christopher
Customer Service at Walmart.com

I will be away for the next few days..

...will be in TN for a few days with the Mrs.. Unless something monumental occurs I expect not to be very active...here anyway.

Best explanation of the debt I have heard and seen yet!

This video is excellent and explains the debt so everyone can see it plainly. Thanks Missourah! for the heads up.

Made by the genius at PoliticalMath...he puts everything in simple terms so even an uneducated Neanderthal like me can understand.

We already have single payer government systems...

Medicare , the government run single payer medical plan with 40 million subscribers and Social Security, the government run single payer (retirement?) plan. Both programs are a fiscal disaster with a combined $107 TRILLION (that's $107,000,000,000,000) in unfunded liabilities; 7 times the national GDP and almost 10 times the national debt. It is projected in 8 yrs Medicare will be bankrupt (technically it already is since the present federal debt of $11.6 trillion exceeds 'money in the bank').

Read the eye popping article HERE.


And people wonder why I don't want another government run program.....geee let me think....

Stimulus wearing off....(China that is).

A great indicator of future markets as well as production comes from the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) which is considered a leading economic indicator. The BDI basically helps track shipping most notably raw materials that go into production of goods. As the BDI goes up that means more companies are making more products due to an increased demand. If it goes down that means production is slowing.

The BDI grew steadily from 2nd Qtr. 2002 to 2nd Qtr 2008 when the economy tanked. It reached a low 4th Qtr 2008 not seen in over a decade. At this time stimulus money, most notably from the Chinese government began to take hold. The Chinese pumped money directly into infrastructure projects (over 60%) versus the US pumping it into pork projects with no production value. This caused a demand for raw materials (thus increase in production) over the last few months with the BDI rising to 2006-2007 levels. Here comes the catch.....once the stimulus was burned through the hope was the economies around the world would have picked up....they haven't. The BDI has slid some 35% since it's high in June and appears to continue this loss.

Here is what worries me...China is the largest holder of US debt. If things get tough for China, who do you think they are going to want money from?...the countries that owe them. If Congress and the President continue to try to bury us in debt, we will either have to default or pay up....since we are already $11.6 trillion dollars in debt...how exactly are we going to do that? The legislative and executive branches are dooming us to economic collapse.

Is anyone awake out there?

Increase in federal debt...most in debt nation in the world.

U.S. Treasury Secretary, Timothy (I have no idea how to pay my taxes..but won't get penalized) Geithner has asked for an increase in the national debt limit from $12.1 trillion (thats $12,100,000,000,000 +) to some unspecified number. I suspect congress will give it to him so the U.S. "...can meet it's obligations". In the real world...the U.S. has no money. We are now the number 1 debtor nation to outsiders. Does this not strike anyone as bad? The legislative and executive branches are going to collapse this country.....why please tell me why anyone would support any policy that coninues us down this road????!!!!!

The stock market went up on Friday due to a perceived decrease in unemployment...what really happened is more people either stopped looking for work, in which case they were dropped from the statistics or managed to find part time work (in order to eat) in which case they are dropped from the stats. Unemployment is really closer to 16% hence the need for congress to extend unemployment benefits.

The national debt will exceed the GDP sooner than predicted....this hasn't happened since WW2. In fact it took 200 yrs for the national debt to reach $1 trillion...yet is has only taken the last 33 years for that debt to reach almost $12 trillion. You tell me where the problem is......social programs are killing this nation....we have become a nation of freeloaders praying on each other for freebies and throwing away life liberty and the pursuit of happiness....we are definitely a poor country.

Another auto bailout...new $2.4 billion on top of the new $2 Billion for Clunker cash...

Hey peoples...wake the f$ck up....another bailout!!!!!! After over $130 billion plus for the auto industry..I have no idea because there are so many bailouts.

Cash for Clunkers tanked in 5 days at $1 billion...wow amazing government management...amazing. Then another $2 billion to bailout the bailout...plus another $2.4 billion the Prez took with him to bribe workers today at an RV plant (now there is a green industry...they get about 13 miles to the gallon and weigh twice as much as a car...cash for RV's next?)...he has to bribe workers to get support...oh yea ACORN does that..never mind....

Hey American union workers....you are being suckered like no ones business...how much is your pride worth?...you are screwing everyone else.....gain some fortitude....be an American instead of a communist leach!!!!!

IT'S TAXPAYER MONEY>>>OUR MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wake the F up America!!!!!!!!!!!

U.S. Government continuing down the debt road....

Next week the Treasury will issue a record $75 Billion in new notes and bonds (new debt). The US Government continues to play a shell game with it's debt by issuing new notes and bonds to pay off maturing debt and raise more cash. The problem is these new notes and bonds are debt. One who buys notes and bonds is lending the government money for a certain amount of time. So the government is borrowing new money to pay off old debt. Does no one see a problem with this?

This coupled with the expansion of Cash for Clunkers to now a $3 billion dollar bailout of the auto industry (after already pumping $10's of billions), mostly foreign made..(AFL/CIO you suckers!), defaults on refinanced mortgages as high as 45% , commercial property morgage failures , and continued job losses (during a typical hiring season) bodes for another mounting disaster.

People are grasping for anything positive in an attempt to fake out the consumer and get them spending again. Unfortunately, all that is going on right now is the effects from the injection of debt laden cash (remember the US Government is $11.6 trillion in debt with a combined $55+ trillion public/private debt). Everyone hopes (gambles) that the economy will recover sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, projections have US debt exceeding the GDP in 2 years (this is with a White House projected GROWTH of GDP by 2.4-4%...presently it is contracting). In otherwords...the government could seize ALL money/product made in the US in a year and still be in debt.

At present rates of unemployment, reduction of productivity and heavy debt merely being re-named/re-financed and repackaged I worry we are in for a nasty surprise come fall/winter.

UPDATE: Elizabeth MacDonald at Fox Business is doing a 3 part series on the commercial real estate looming disaster. She explains the situation far better than I could.

Big Brother is watching you....especially if you disagree.

From the Official White House blog regarding the proposed health care proposal.

"Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to "uncover" the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions.....

...Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

If you have an opinion that doesn't go with the government or believe that the health care policy is 'fishy'...you are on the list.

Thanks Ace of Spades for the poster...love it!

Avoiding the Next Obama..

Via an opinion piece on the American Thinker by L.E. Ikenga . Ikenga lays out exactly what the POTUS is doing and how he is doing it. If I had written such an opinion I would be branded some sort of racist. This comes from someone of Nigerian parents who has seen first hand the devastation done by those who cleverly dumb down supporters to the point of blind stupidity. These African Colonial Politicians (ACP) are the worst kind, spouting what sounds like magnificence, but really end up keeping their constituents stuck in squalor.

"I call these men, who appeared all over Africa in the wake of independence, African Colonial politicians (ACP's). They were the direct offspring of the European Imperialists, imposing radical European leftist political theory on tribal cultures. ACP's and their unscrupulous followers were able to almost completely destroy many African cultures.

For the most part, these ACP's were intellectual frauds, completely unworthy of the honors bestowed upon them. But they sounded and looked good; so the people listened to them. With their fancy Oxbridge degrees, grandiloquent speeches given with perfectly accented "Queen's English", finely tailored European suits, and fabled family histories, ACP's took the masses by storm."

Sounds incredibly familiar doesn't it?

Remember what is important...and why we fight for this place we call America..

Family..... The Mrs., kids and I are in upstate NY on one of the fingerlakes visiting family. Last night, we all gathered around a fire, toasted marshmellows, made banana boats, smores, laughed and just enjoyed being with each other. I looked up at the sky...it was amazing and felt tremendously blessed. I thought to myself...I'm tired of bashing my head against the proverbial wall of stupid government programs, supposed representatives, and those just seemingly bent of squishing this once great nation into some perverted socialist, lowest common denominator, nightmare. Maybe if I ignore it....it won't affect them. Hearing their laughter, seeing their smiling faces........whoa! Nothing like the Almighty tossing a hot ember on my bare foot to snap me out of the REMF mode.

There is no way I will let that happen! Years ago I served this wonderful country with some of the finest people on the planet. Today, our warriors continue to stand and fight whether they be in uniform, in front of a computer, making a tea party sign or merely doing a good deed for another. Though getting this country out of the mess it is in seems like a rather daunting task, it can be done. Time to hug the family and friends, roll up the sleeves and get back to work.

The U.S. is like no other country, it should not be modeled after some other country.We are unique, we love our freedom. Many want to change this, want to think for us, want to make us all the same....why? Why the heck do we all want to be the same? Freedom is about being different NOT the same. People in America have become helpless crybabies that believe they are entitled...what the heck happened? Why have we become so lazy? How do we reverse this seemingly infectious, weak minded attitude?

I'm the handsome one on the right.

The revolution begins.....

Finally, Americans seem to be waking up and realizing socialism/communism don't work. Legislative members facing their extremely angry constituents.

My favorite so far though is something so simple yet says so much.

All via Drudge.

The plan is to eliminate private healthcare..

In his own words and the words of Congressional 'leaders'. Thanks Pat Dollard/Young Americans for this little gem.

Political Cartoon of the week....

Sometimes a picture or in this case, cartoon art says it all.

By Michael Ramirez

Missing Florida son to come home....

Missing F/A18 pilot from the first Gulf War, Captain Scott Speicher's remains have been found. He has been missing for 18 long years...though we morn the loss of our warrior, we rejoice in the return of his spirit home.

Welcome home Sir!

...and even more new taxes..

In a Sunday interview with Treasury Secretary, Timothy (I forgot to pay my taxes) Geithner, on ABC's This Week, the Treas Sec. basically told the American people to prepare for more new taxes in order to reign in the governments continuing ballooning deficit (thus debt). Well golly what a shocker. For some reason the idea of reducing the government spending and eliminating wasteful programs and porky projects isn't possible....instead raise taxes on people already struggling to make ends meat (those still working that is).

CUT GOVERNMENT SIZE AND SPENDING!!!!!! What is it with this concept that is so hard to grasp? The economy isn't going to bounce back anytime soon. If anything, it is probably going to get worse. The path the executive and legislative branches are pursuing is unsustainable....are they really trying to kill this country? Please fellow Americans, please wake up...before it is too late.

Another disastrous social program needs to be bailed out

After tens of billions of dollars where thrown at Chrysler and GM to prevent them from going bankrupt, which they did anyway, the taxpayer continues to fund the auto industry. The 'Cash for Clunkers' program which pays people to turn in their old vehicle for a new more efficient one, ran out of money yesterday after running for an amazing 8 days....yep 8 days....as Homer says..."Doooop!" Another $2 billion (thats $2,000,000,000) is to be injected into the program. I have 2 questions....

1. What is being done with all the clunkers? I know the engines in the clunkers are to be disabled, but then what? The scrap yard business (or any for that matter) isn't exactly hopping these days, and the environmental impact of a rotting vehicle isn't exactly positive.

2. Are we setting up for more defaults on loans (new fuel efficient cars cost wayyyy more than the $4500 paid per clunker)? The jobless rate is still rising. We are creating an artificial uptick in the economy which will show it's true state in just a few short months.

Companies that are poorly managed need to fail. Injection of cash into already bad business models is sheer stupidity.

Not to digress...but do you really want the government in control of your health when a $1 billion (soon to be $3 billion) program goes belly up in 8 days?.......nice.

The Political Class...

  Plato talked about the different classes in his writings in 'The Republic'. He described several forms of government that societies seem to cycle through Timocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy and finally Tyranny. When reaching tyranny it becomes somewhat familiar...almost to the point of frightening. Society transitions from Democracy to Tyranny when the Political class cleverly manipulates the Common class (poor) to rise against the Capitalists. Commoners place all their power in an ideological demagogue within the Political class to crush the perceived threat by the Capitalists. The 'have nots' basically want the Political Class to seize what the 'haves' have. This leads to a small, but extremely powerful group ruling over all. Unfortunately for the commoner...they are no better off, having lost all of their freedoms and lowering the Capitalists to the lowest common denominator.

To me this sounds extremely familiar....the masses elected an ideologue (Barack Obama) who, along with Congress have been placing more restrictions, crushing capitalism and attempting to 'level the playing field' (read degrade to lowest common denominator). Now I certainly don't place the blame on the President or present Congress....this has been a long time coming...they are merely speeding up the transition. Both parties are just as responsible. As the political class has swelled in power and size, the commoner and capitalists have allowed themselves to be duped. We have become stupid and lazy. If something isn't done soon...we will have tyranny (if not already).

 Our Forefathers warned us against this. Government is merely supposed to stay out of the way of opportunity...not try to create it. Governments cannot create anything except restriction on freedom.  People want protection from everything....protection from foreclosure, floods, being poor, bad health,...the list is endless. Those things are part of life folks!

What got me on this tirade was recent event in House Energy and Commerce Committee when Rep. Roy Blunt attempted to add an amendment to the new disastrous healthcare plan. The amendment was to have all federal employees including legislative and executive branches on the same health plan as the commoner.....it was voted down. The Political Class KNOWS this is a bad plan....so bad they themselves will not subscribe to it. 

Sen. Dodd, the beleaguered chair of the Senate Banking Committee, announced he has prostate cancer. He credits his congressional healthcare program for early diagnosis. This is NOT the same program the commoner will get...not even close. If it was, Sen. Dodd would not be getting his surgery...he would be told to wait (they call it 'watchful waiting) or more likely he will have to live with the results....that is the 'European' model standard. Funny...he seems to be going right in for surgery....the rest of us would not under the new plan.

Why America...why on earth would you want something that the architects know is a disaster....why? Why are we willing to trade our freedoms for more perceived protection from life?