Das Kapital

I had an interesting discussion with my son (the college student) and one of my daughters this evening about the value of money and the control of our economy.

For a while now I've been wondering just what has gone wrong and it is clear (as mud) that the criminals that manipulated the economy into last years collapse were just another set of jokers in the deck, deluded by the illusion of capitalist superiority.

Capitalism states that wealth comes from the investment of money. Money begets more money. Ask any banker if this simple minded truism is valid and he'll hem and haw. Ask him for a loan and he wants his pound of flesh along with every penny he lends you.

Money is supposed to represent our productivity. One unit of measure is our Gross Domestic Product. Madman Junior (my son) claimed that the US would have a negative GDP unless China (who we have an egregious trade balance with) invests in our economy. If China should think this is a bad investment and pull out of trade with us our economy would fail.

My argument to him was our economy is comprised of buying and selling the crap China exports. We aren't producing anything. There fore if China wants to continue to produce they might want to continue to give us the money to buy their production.

Or we could just say no.

This isn't a rant about protectionism. We don't need protectionist trade policies to control our economy. We need to look carefully at who is controlling our economy and where the money goes. Just like in CSI. Follow the money.

The investment community has manipulated the average relative wage and the inflation index for many years. (The inflation index shows signs of manipulation since the early 1980's). OK this is an opinion but I think I can prove it. More to follow on that front. I feel that my relative income growth has not kept up with either my value to the workforce or the GDP.

The number crunchers have taken away the sense of what money is> that is the value of work.

In 1979 my take home was 1200 a month.

today my take home is 4900 a month (roughly).

According to the economics site www.measuringworth.com the measure of my productivity (my wages) has shown a 38% growth in the last 30 years measured against the CPI (or the value of what I spend my money on).

In 1979, $4,903.00 from 2008 is worth:

	$1,652.60	using the Consumer Price Index
	$1,977.82	using the GDP deflator
	$1,476.96	using the value of consumer bundle
	$1,731.24	using the unskilled wage
	$1,176.82	using the nominal GDP per capita
	$869.89	using the relative share of GDP

Against the nomimal productivity of everyone else I've lost ground (Nominal GDP).

But most telling is the relative share of the GDP. There I've lost 30% of my worth. This means someone else has taken my money. And yours. This is a conspiracy theory, but not a wild one. Maybe they're just arrogant.

We shouldn't be stupid.

King Obama Tututkamen

I love bigots and conservative blowhards. They are a cartoon characters when compared to an intelligent man.

President Obama's speech to the Eqyptians strikes at the heart of the middle east trouble. Consider the real history. The original Israelies were conquered by the original Italians (Romans) and driven from their homeland when they rebelled (read this as violent terrorist acts). 1900 years later the descendents of Rome in the guise of the Third Reich tries to eradicate them as a race.

In the meantime the remaining European powers have recaptured the middle east and have been parceling out it's wealth and history, while treating the people, who carried the torch of science and civilization through the barbaric times following the fall of Rome, as though they were somehow inferior, therefore causing deep seated resentment and mistrust.

So our European bretheren, after we ended their great war for them, chose not to accept any of the survivors of the Nazi's 'Final Solution' and sent them back to their original homeland, Palestine, which was now the homeland of a whole other group of people (oddly called Palestinians) who did'nt want a bunch of European immigrants taking over their cities and farms.

I can't imagine why these people should feel bad about being put aside. Didn't they realize that the Jewish people had a God given right to the land? (It's true. Read Exodus. Though I'm afraid the intervening years has destroyed the land of milk and honey).

So here we are today, a group of European immigrants who pushed aside the resident population of 'our' country, to make a great nation, in turn supporting another group of basically European immigrants of Middle Eastern extraction who pushed the resident population aside when they fought against the invasion of their land.

I guess I can appreciate our position. But it's not a noble one. We simply support those who looke at the world the same way we do.

And dear naive President Obama has pissed off the conservative hack machine by telling the world the truth. Our public self image requires us to support the oppressed and make the world a better place for children. Realizing neither side has any place else to go, the president has said let's all get along. Let the evils of the past stay there.

The idea that it's somehow unAmerican to look at both sides of an issue should make the comic book character pulpit pounders that speak for the conervatives look like cutouts of Hitler pounding on his pulpit and espousing the superiority of everything German. Or Brezshnev pounding his shoe on the podium trying to rouse the masses with emotion.

Reasonable thought and discussion should be the watchwords for political discussion. No more of this Madison Avenue hype playing to emotions with cliched images (did anyone see the new GM ad??? Right out of the Advertisers Sure Sell Handbook. Page 63. Look it up.)

God bless free speech, but keep your hand on your freedoms or the Conservative shills will scare you back into the autocratic Bush Cheney dictatorship.

A New Day for America

Well folks, Obama is going to be president and the world thinks it's marvelous we elected a black man.

I think it's marvelous we elected an intelligent and literate man who reasons with his head instead of his duodenum. Imagine actually researching Lincoln for a philosophy on building a presidential cabinet.

I'm very glad for my brothers of color who can see someone they identify with in as president. The fact that he is a man of reason and learning is more important, and relevant, to me than his skin color.

With 'W' as our poster child, I'd rather not talk race. Let's talk about how learned people are the best hope for finding our way out of this mess. Reason, intellect and the willingness to look at more than the personal interests in the problem are the ways to solving our current Crises.

From the Middle of th Road

I am quite fed up with pundits and spin and the rhetoric of 'political realities'. Politics is supposed to be the science of self interest, so let's review where our self interest lies.

The current administration has provided tax breaks and lucrative contracts to well connected corporations. It has presided over a war that has increased the profits of oil companies by billion's of dollars. It weathered the worst natural disaster in US history since the San Francisco earthquake by ignoring the plight of the economically dispossessed. It has overseen record foreclosures and home losses.

Now we need to ask ourselves a few questions:

Have we benefited in any way from the Republican party's aggressive pursuit of profit?

Is the pursuit of profit at the expense of the well being of the majority of the people in the United States in our best interest?

Is the the pursuit of political ambition worth the dismantling of the greatest all volunteer Army in the world?

Sometimes I wish we could go back to the turn of the century where we were faced with a choice between the 'righteousness' of the Republican candidate as opposed to the licentious legacy of the previous administration. Given the results, if I had to make the choice over again, I'd choose fellatio over sodomy.

Reach Out and Touch someone

It's hard to know if we're a country of psychopaths or pussies. Today's horror in Virginia where a single man guns down thirty people is insane. No rational mind can see value in the taking of so many innocent lives. (As opposed to taking guilty lives? Our society is bi polar on this issue too, since we don't want to kill the guilty...)

How can one man hold thirty people at bay while he systematically shoots them? According to one eyewitness he wasn't even a good shot. (The living witness said the man shot at him five times from a distance of 30 to 35 feet and missed. Much to relief of the witness).

The only thing that holds people in that condition is fear.

Fear of what? we ask.

Of getting shot.

So they get killed. Anyway.

All right when something unexpected and awful happens people normally do the wrong thing. Without training or forethought they freeze. The brain shuts down and if they can't run away they quiver in terror as the madman rampages and kills them all systematically.

So I guess we need to think these things through. The psychos will rule the world if we let them. Being passive and waiting for rescue is usually not an option. We need to plan on how to fight back. How to keep the wacko's from treating us as playthings.

I like to think I might have charged into his fire with a desk for a shield, crushed the killer against the wall and wrestled the gun from his hand. Especially if he was reloading.

On the other hand, and in reality, I would likely have been cowering under a desk in a puddle of my own piss when he put a bullet in my head.

But I'd rather go out fighting than laying in my own fear. Hopefully this doesn't happen to me or you, but if it does? What would you do?

The Manifesto Revisited

Since the basic purpose of this blog is to define a document the American people can live with let me restate the premises of the New Manifesto.

1. The government belongs to the people, not the other way around. This is our country. The bureaucrats and politicians guide it by our authority. Remember that when it comes time to vote.

2. Our leaders must not try to appear perfect. We all make mistakes. Admit them. Learn from them and move on.

3. Private ownership of the means of production is the cornerstone of our economic strength. This does NOT mean CORPORATE ownership and does not encourage outsourcing good paying jobs overseas while encouraging marginally paying jobs to be filled by illegal immigrants.

4. This is a land of immigrants. Every time cheaper labor was needed waves of immigrants came to this country, Chinese, Irish, Poles, Germans, Africans. Each group was treated badly when they came (especially the Africans) but ultimately they all became Americans. If people want to come to live in our ghettos, let them do it legally.

5. War is always a last resort, but the object of the war must be of the first agreement between ALL people in the society. Otherwise, no war.

6. Our first response to a threat is to negotiate and determine the cause of the hostility.

7. Our first response to an attack on our soil is a response in kind, but magnified a hundred fold.

8. Peaceful use of nuclear energy is a beautiful thing. But see 7 for our response to a nuclear attack.

9. Energy independence is mandatory. The sun is the source of all energy consumed, excepting nuclear. It shines on all of us.

10. The Constitution of the United States is a darn good document. It mandates the separation of powers and thus we should encourage all branches of government to be separate.

11. The Bill of Rights, as appended to the US Constitution, is a damn fine document itself. No leader has the right to abrogate any of those rights. This is what prevents us from becoming a totalitarian state.

12. Health care is not a right. However, it is a necessity. The purpose of government is to protect the individual and provide those services we can't provide individually. Health care is one of these services. Anything less is un American.

And lastly, What does it mean to be an American?

It means to be a individualist and an individual.
It means to Love your neighbor like your brother.
It means to stand tall and strong in time of threat.
It means to be creative and inventive and productive.
It means to be involved in the creation and re-creation of your government.
It means cherishing this country and its history, with all the flaws and blemishes, mistakes and arrogance. Our history is not perfect, but our ideals are.

Impeach Dubyah?

Last night I saw an internet rumor that Illinois and California legislatures were voting to impeach the president. I've been checking CNN and NPR all day expecting to hear about it but I guess it's just a rumor.

I was afraid they'd really do it. Because, without a doubt, the weak kneed democrats wouldn't charge him with the real charges.

If we were to impeach Dubyah let the charges read: For incompetence, shown be his refusal to actually study the problems before he orders troops in, shown by ignoring white papers on Al_Qaeda plans to attack the US with airplanes.

Let him be impeached for refusing to admit his mistakes, and refusing to see his mistakes.

Let him be impeached for not planning to win the peace in Iraq.

Let him be impeached for making the phrase "Force is a last resort" mean war is imminent.

Let him be impeached for blowing the opportunities of 9/11.

Let him be impeached for the corporate legislation passed on his watch allowing credit card companies to gouge middle income people, big business to profit by off shoring jobs, and shifting the tax burden to the middle class.

Let's not impeach him for lying. We learned that lesson with Clinton and the Blue Dress. If we impeach a president let it be for something meaningful, like the grotesque misuse of power, as illustrated by "warrantless" telephone tapping.

Then again, if we impeached Dubyah and forced him out of office, Dick Cheney would be front and center.

Maybe we should throw out all the bums and start over.

Taking Responsibility

First let me say I'm back.

Life has gotten in the way of my political ranting, but I think I've been quiet too long. The other day I heard a rumor that Dubyah was planning to invade Iraq. All logic of course is against even Himself doing something so incredibly stupid, yet the rumor had some serious legs and came from a serious place.

So I thought for a while, what could generate such a rumor? Well, Dubyah did say that military force would be the last resort if the Iranians wouldn't cease their pursuit of peaceful Nuclear Power. After all Nuclear Power comes from enriched Uranium which can be used to make a Weapon of Mass Destruction. (See Chernobyl..>) I'm sure his gut is telling him that no matter what those stupid physicists say the Axis of Evil will find a way to make WMDs like they did in Iraq.

They didn't have any in Iraq?

Oh.

Well that doesn't matter. At least not to the Commander in Chief.

In fact, it doesn't matter that our military mission in Iraq was never based on winning the peace. We never had enough troops to hold the trouble spots and put out the insurgency before it started. Our troops were supposed to turn over the country to Halliburton and leave. At least that's what the general's were told.

And Dubyah said, today, that he'd do it the same way all over again.

That should be grounds for impeachment. The shear arrogance of the man to say that he's right in the face of the facts and the thousands of brave soldiers who have lost their lives and worse (what's worse than dying? Ask the young GI with no legs or the one with no hands and a new baby he can't hold or support.)

Well Congress can't impeach him because they fell for his line of shit to start with. But if he starts noising around about attacking Iran, I think the impeachment proceedings should be immediate and I think he should be forced to resign or serve his remaining term behind bars along with the rest of the brigands he brought into the administration of our nation.

As for Iran? Let them address the world energy shortage with nuclear power. God love them if they manage to not create a Chernobyl or Three Mile Island. But let them test a nuclear war head and we should offer them several of ours, with delivery systems only used once.

We might not want to take the same approach with North Korea since China would at the very least be offended by the fall out, but then again China might choose to slap the rat biting at her ankle in her own way.

Theory of the Revolution

Education is the cornerstone of a free society. You can not have a free democratic people if they don't understand the consequences of their freedom. History is the study of consequences. It should never be a shroud over the truth. Every despot and successful government wants to teach its people that their government is the best.

This is rarely true.

Today American education takes place in front of a fluorescing tube or liquid crystal display. Agendas and advertisement and blatant bullshit are pushed out to the populace who scan it, ignore and believe it indiscriminately. Since money buys access to the media, the major peddlers of this nonsense are corporations.

So let's take a close look at this. If corporations are corrupting the media that is the primary educational tool in this country to their own ends, and those ends always involve profit for the company, then a revolution to correct the corruption in our system and to return to the concept of a free and democratically lead populace requires gaining control over the corporations.

Can we legislate these monsters out of existence? Can we demand they have morals? Can we elect one leader who isn't bought and paid for? These are the questions, the truths that need to be addressed in the next cycle of elections.

Corporations drive our economy, something like a driver herds cattle, with a whip and a prod. If we aren't willing filling the corporate profits from our own pittance then they invent laws to take our money. Witness the latest legislation on credit card interest rates and bankruptcy. One more example of corporate greed, but I'm getting off topic.

We have to take the long view. The election and support of uncorrupted public officials is the patriotic duty of every American. Screw the parties. Democrats and Republicans are equally corrupt in their own ways. We must set the bar high and demand our elected officials exceed our expectations, instead of allowing them to slither underneath the bar.

So my brothers and sisters. Gather your pens or your keyboards, and strike a blow for the real America.

Hunting with Dick Cheney

All things considered I hope Dick C invites Dubya out to hunt.

The latest bit of arrogance is the President's insistence on overriding a congressional bill, before it is written or passed, that interferes with his corporate brothers. Even if they are Arabs indistinguishable from the masses demonstrating and bombing and raging by any means other than their bank accounts.

We have a corporate oligarchy running our country. That was at least acceptable when the owners of the corporations were Americans. But now the corporations seem to be owned by others. Corporate decisions do not consider the people of this country as anything more than fodder. They suck our blood like vampires and laugh at our efforts to contain them.

Walmart, the quintessential American trading company, forces American companies to close their facilities in the US and open them in China so they can buy the goods cheaper. And it's a good thing they do that. With all the people underemployed in this country there isn't anyplace to stretch a buck like Walmart. Is it in Walmart's best interest to make sure everyone lives in trailer parks? Probably.

Maybe we deserve to be treated like mindless fools, manipulated by the press, told what's best for us by a patriarchal government, watched like mice by the NSA and the FBI, and fed upon by corporate vampires. If we had the guts and the independence of our ancestors, we'd stand up all together and say "No more. This is our country. These are our lives. If we are free, let us be free. While we live, let us live."

Consider the question of capital punishment. The latest fiasco is whether or not lethal injection is a humane enough way to kill somebody. Why do we care? The person in question didn't care when he committed his crime. Let's look at the improvements in execution over the years.

Stoning: A little primitive, very painful and very cruel. Still practiced today in parts of Africa.

Lopping off the criminals head: Another ancient practice made popular by the Hebrew government about the time of Christ (John the Baptist). Usually performed with a sword or ax. Pretty swift and painless form of execution, unless the edge is dull or the blade twists. Apparently the Japanese officers practiced on Chinese prisoners during WWII until they could drop a head with a single blow, instead of hacking the victim's head off like chopping a tree. This method of execution was improved on with the French Guillotine. As long as the edge was sharp the heads were separated so quick they barely knew they were dead.

Hanging was another interesting method of execution. In it's more primitive form (used right up until the KKK lynchings) the culprit is simply left dangling from a rope until he strangled to death. Very nasty. The government improved on this with the advent of the gallows trap. The sudden drop was supposed to break the villain's neck and therefore kill him before he strangled. It worked most of the time.

In recent times certain groups have developed really efficient execution techniques. The Russians in particular would put two small caliber bullets in the back of the victim's head. Probably the most humane method of execution I've heard of. Wouldn't even know you were dead.

So what's the fuss with lethal injection and the gas chamber and old Sparky? Take a lesson from Beria. If a criminal has been convicted by legitimate evidence so there is no doubt he is responsible for a capital crime, put two bullets in his head, drag him out into the woods and let the animals eat him. End of problem.

Or send him hunting with Dick Cheney.

Dubya rides again

Well, after three years of saying he attacked Iraq because Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, Dubya has finally admitted that the "intelligence was flawed." Of course simple facts like that shouldn't deter us from "staying the course." And "knowing then what I know now I'd have done the same thing."

So our president admits in a round about way that the WMD scare was just a ruse to drag the American people into some holy crusade against the Madman, Saddam.

My guess is that Dubya still doesn't get it. The people feel lied to and cheated. Our leadership failed us in the most egregious manner, by selling us a bill of goods and not delivering. Remember, we were supposed to be liberators, not an occupying force. Maybe that would have been true if he'd had a plan. He didn't, and still doesn't.

With the new round of elections coming and the warm up for the 2008 presidential race, we the people need to speak out loud and clear against the electoral machines that have ruled our country. They are ruining us. We need strength, vision and commitment to a set of values ALL the people can live with. We also need some one in the hot seat that understands a gun is a threat until you fire all the chambers.

So who will be that man, or woman?

Where Does It End?

Health care costs are ruining our economy.

Consider: GM tanks 30,000 workers because they can't afford health benefits.
Starbuck's pays more for health coverage than it does for coffee.
WalMart plans to hire only healthy workers.
The biggest cost to states is the unfunded portions of Medicaid.
The Government Accounting Office has suggested holding back on the drug "benefit" for Medicare to save money.

The United States is supposed to have the best health care in the world, except it's pricing itself out of existence. Without health insurance and without going broke the average person has no health coverage. A single doctor's visit can cost well over a $150 with blood test (common) and medicines. Come back in two weeks and it costs another $50 minimum.

If the Health Care "Industry" (it's in quotes because it's not an industry it produces nothing) is market based then what is driving the market. It's been suggested that the health insurance companies are at fault for paying the outrageous prices. On the other hand the legal system allows judgments against individuals for using services they have no way to select (an ambulance) or determine whether they can afford.

If the receivers of the service are responsible for its costs they should be able to determine what they can afford. Try to sell me a car for $30,000 and I might pass on it right now. Tell me I'm having a heart attack and will die with out services and I'll be in hock $30K without knowing where it was spent. Since I want to live I have no choice about shopping for medical care or transport. Not that it would matter. The insurance companies determine reasonable and customary fees.

Socialized medicine has been kicked around as a possible solution. It is in some ways but that makes the amount and kind of care available to the common person something at the whim of the government. And We know how much I trust the government.

One possible solution is to outlaw health insurance companies. Prohibit them from setting and paying reasonable and customary charges. Set a national fee structure based on percent of income. Maybe use a graduated system of Medicaid/Medicare/government health plans/ private insurance.

Insurance companies will be the first to scream that there is health care fraud. People trying to rape the system. I'll nod my head in agreement. I just think there are more companies raping the system (and the public) than private individuals getting an extra $10,000 for a phony back injury.

Folks this is a topic worthy of comment and recommendations. Please give me your thoughts.

Senator Boxer on NPR

Dear Senator Boxer

I heard your interview on NEVER today and as usual was deeply impressed with your sincerity and apparent honesty. I wonder if you are a spokesman for our new manifesto.

In case you are not yet familiar with the revolution I am proposing let me summarize:

Corporate America has made its wealth off the people of this country. In the days of the Robber Barons when steel was king, the giant companies owned the people's housing, sold them their food and kept them in debt so they wouldn't dare rebel.

We don't see any difference between then and now. Corporate America has the right to make enormous profits off the misery of the general population and the government, which is supposed to be of the people, by the people and for the people, has been usurped by corporate management.

In order for America to regain its dream the people need to step forward and reward the villains appropriately. We're in favor of dismantling faceless corporations who are influencing the government. Every dealing with corporate lobbyist should be treated like a meeting with a foreign agent. That is reported and examined for the harm they are trying to do to the national interest.

It's not in the national interest to bleed our economy dry.

It's not in the national interest to destroy the backbone of our military by making them fight a war for corporate profits. Lets' not fool ourselves any longer. Three entities are benefiting directly from this war.
Al Qaida, Iran and Halliburton.

America's interests have NOT been served by this war. The criminals who attacked us are going unpunished. The world who believed our holier than thou rhetoric will never believe in us again. Iran on the other hand has had every goal they set out to meet in their battle with Iraq met. Saddam is gone, the Shiites have political power and the region is destabilized.

Thank you George W. You did your father proud.

Senator Boxer: These may be harsh statements but I think you might see the truth in them. Now look at the mess our economy is in. The major theme running through the news recently is health care, from Wal Mart's idea of cutting costs by only hiring healthy employees to the transit strike in Philadelphia where the transit authority wants to increase the worker's health care costs. Medicaid costs are crippling state economies and old people have to spend every bit of money they saved for their retirement on medical expenses just so the state will pick up the remainder.

Then we talk about taxes and God forbid the incredibly wealthy actually pay the majority of the taxes. I was heartened to see during the Katrina tragedy that some of the overpaid talent in this country dug into their own pockets to help out the victims. More people should do that. I gave what I could. But I've got medical bills to pay.

The only way change of this magnitude will happen is by a demand for action from the people both democrat and republican. The old party lines need to be torn down and something new created. And with it a manifesto requiring the government to behave. Requiring the politicians to be scrupulously honest. And requiring corporations and other interests to desist their bribery of the elected.

Of course the media is playing their part in this mess. Instead of honest opinion and truthful reporting we get sound bites designed to entertain and targeted to spin a particular point of view. This needs to be decried by the population.

Please note: I am not calling for new laws. We've got too many laws and not enough common sense in the justice system. W gave me a belly laugh the other day when he said Scooter was innocent until proven guilty. What planet is he on? Apparently not the same one as we are, guilt and innocence usually bares little on the outcome of criminal proceedings.

So Senator, are you ready to be a spokesperson (really the word is spokesman but political correctness must get its nod), for the new manifesto? Are you ready to change the way the country does its business?

If not, let me know who has the guts, because I want to pass the flame to them.

Thank you

Madman

Corporations Aren't Our Friends

With the pending bankruptcy of Delphi, GM's spin off, we are reminded of how little corporations care about anything but the bottom line.

Corporations, like drug addicts, never think passed the next score.

America has a de-evolving economy, soaring personal and national debt, and a declining purpose in the world other than to make foreign countries economies work.

Years ago when I first heard the phrase "Service Economy" I railed against it as a put down to the spirit of America, but then our corporate leaders went ahead and focused on making profits from the "service industry."

Service Industry?

Industry produces product, basic foods, clothes, cars, buildings, airplanes, space ships.

Service is about serving. Waiting on tables, offering advice, washing clothes. A good example of a service economy is the trade that built up around the Gold Rush towns. Miners mined gold. (Productive work.) General store owners sold them gear. Saloons sold them booze and sex. Washer women washed their clothes. Bath houses opened up to bath and shave the miners. Now that's service.

America's means of production has been shipped off shore for years. There are many things we cant' make anymore because we don't have the abilities. We lose what we don't use.

I constantly see editorial cartoons mocking space industry. Yet this is one of the few areas America can still be competitive in, though not for long.

America, corporate, political, and body politic needs to wake up to the idea we must restore our economy. We won't do it by trade restriction. We'll do it by out performing everyone else, like always.

A New Export: Debt

Well I was excited to see today's paper describing our Treasury Secretary's advice for China's growing economy.

Improve their access to other people's money. Let the populous go in debt to buy more stuff. That's his advice to improve their economy. And to improve ours.

Such an improvement it would be, Oy! The communist government, if it truly cared about its people would outlaw usury for personal debt. If, instead and as expected, the communists want absolute control over their people's lives and thoughts and actions, allow them to go into debt over things they think they need. Then they won't dare rock the boat, revolt against the government or propose alarming reforms. Because they might lose access to the wonderful world of credit.

I wondered immediately whether this debt monster isn't the reason our own population is so passive about the complete lack of moral fiber in our government at the highest level? When its all you can do to make sure the bills are paid and the collectors aren't on the phone at 7:30 in the morning, who cares if the president is a liar or a womanizer or a thief?

Does anyone remember the song "Sixteen Tons"?

"You load Sixteen Tons and what d'ya get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter don't ya call me, cuz I can't go.
I owe my soul to the company store."

The mining industry used easy credit to make sure the miners showed up to work and didn't strike. With no savings and all debt they needed the revolving credit to feed their families and keep their house. Nothing else could matter.

Except the miners did revolt.

Maybe we should too.

Welcome to My Nightmare

With apologies to Alice Cooper, this thought block is on debt and finance.

Credit card or unsecured debt is one of the greatest burdens on consumers. From the view point of personal responsibility, my feeling is don't take on what you can't payback. That makes good common sense.

However, what do you do when you defer common sense to corporate America? The credit card corporations become the heroin pushers of the financial world. They jolly you into the idea that "you should get the credit you deserve". Then corporate America charges usurious interest rates for propelled of putting you in debt.

Nice.

Since our society and government is all about prohibition and since credit card debt is ruinous to the fabric of our society and economic foundations of our country, why don't we require the government to cap all unsecured debt at 1/2 percent below prime rate. Debt payment would be required in one to two years with no additional debt accumulated.

One of the first reactions I have to this suggestion is that no credit card company or bank could stay in business at those sort of rates. And I don't have a problem with that.

Our economy can only thrive if it is based on productive value added. Usury is non productive. Sales commissions are non productive. Social services, except in times of desperation, are non productive.

So what happens to all those people who have gainfully employed donning debtors and holding back payments at the credit card companies and banks? With all the productive capital suddenly freed up by the relief from usury new jobs should flourish.

We need clever people to create a renewable energy economy that pays for itself. We need honest politicians and journalists. We need science as the mainstream product of our country. We don't need debt.

The Little Train That Couldn't

You have no idea how many times I've heard: That's the way the government is. There's nothing we can do about it. Maybe the democrats will win next time. Blah blah blah blah.

People, you don't get it. You are the government. What you want is what Uncle will give us. If we ask for a befuddled wish list like a little kid on Christmas, Uncle's policies and laws and campaign rhetoric is going to be just as befuddled.

How many rednecks, and I want a show of hands on this, have wanted to kick some Islamic terrorist ass for years? Do I hear a chorus of HoAhhs back there? You bet. Every testosterone toting one of us wanted to kick dirt in the face of those nasty little buggers for the cowardly attacks they've made on Americans for the last thirty odd years.

So now we have Iraq. Doesn't matter that the money trail points at a completely different reason for the war. We asked for it and we got it.

Everybody is sick of paying more taxes. So we ask for a tax break. We ask for cuts in government spending. We ask for social assistance. We ask for a strong defense against the bad guys of the world. We want to love our neighbors. We want our jobs.... ad infinitum.

So legislative and executive branch officials formulate policies, pass laws, execute executive orders to please the greatest number of people, or at least the loudest. Or the richest... What ever will ensure success at the next election. See, they really don't care what laws or policies are passed and implemented. They only want to be elected. That's where we get our power.

We the people. We speak out in a single chorus to our legislatures. We want honesty. We want fiscal responsibility. We want government support of our economy, of our educational goals, of our old age and infirmity.

We want the politicians to know we require a leader,who when questioned, and asked for true honest answers, will stop his SUV get out in the dirt risking their lives just like our sons and daughters in Iraq, and answer the real question with a real answer. Courage is a rare commodity, especially in our latest crop of leaders.

Speak up, write your congressman, or woman, or undetermined, and let them know that the echo out there is a nation of people asking for the same things. We the people are tired of politics as usual, tired of corporations buying power, tired of sound bite elections. Tell them that the people demand serious answers to the problems we are facing. Jobs and the loss of real earning power. Energy policy. (There's a subject for a couple more blogs. ) Health and elder care. Education and motivation of our children.

People it's time to speak up...

Pravda means Truth

My daughter recently found out her new job opportunity in a new city was a scam run by con men. She discovered this quickly and extricated herself from the situation with the grace and forthrightness I expect of her.

We should be as smart as her when it comes to the morass the politicians of both parties have dragged us into. Can we believe them when they tell us what we want to hear? No. They have to address the solutions to the problems in front of all of us with a reasoned, rational and comprehensible plan.

This plan needs to be evaluated by the masses. It has to meet the common sense test. Is it too good to be true? Like every other deal if the plan gives you everything you want and doesn't cost you anything then it probably is a con.

Standards of Living

Economics is fundamental to the new manifesto and is fundamental to politics. But the way most people understand economics is in how it affects them. This is the standard of living.

On my computer I keep a wallpaper of the "World at night" (http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?vev1id=5826 -) showing the lights of the inhabited world. This is illustrative of the standard of living experienced by most of the people in the world. America, Europe and Japan are the most densely lit countries. South Korea stands out as an island, because North Korea is nearly in complete darkness. A look at the more densely populated areas of the globe show less light at night then we do.

The deduction I make from this illustration is that we use more energy than the rest of the world on a per capita basis. Energy defines our standard of living. Take the worst place to live in the United States (a gentlemen of my acquaintance suggested East St. Louis but I'm sure there are other places in the US that are filled with hopeless people and crime and drugs.) and offer to transport people from Sudan or Ethiopia to live there and they would find their standard of living improved beyond their wildest dreams. Unfortunately their personal safety wouldn't necessarily improve.

The point is that standard of living is relative. What we consider abject poverty in this country is considered upper middle class elsewhere.

So what is our responsibility in this?

Well, any improvements in the world standard of living have come as a result of our own economic development. When our economy stagnates the world trembles. Given enough time the world won't care and we can become a third world country, but that isn't the way I want to see our country go.

We need to understand that every good job created through American inventiveness will move overseas eventually. That's one of our top exports. We've shipped clothing, cars and computers away and more things are going. As a nation, as a people we need to recognize this and pull together for the next big thing. Personally, I think space is the place we need to go. We need to dominate the technology of spaceflight and define the economics of space.

I also think we need to define the economics of renewable energy. Between sosphisticated technology and an inexpensive way to feed the energy jones we would have a great deal to offer the world economy and still develop a higher standard of living for our poorest people.

So along with honest politicians, responsible citizenry and a tame government, our standard of living is dependent on the economic marvels we create.


Tanstaafl.

Good Morning Vietnam ... oops I mean Iraq

Well here we go again. In a war of attrition with no clear goals, trying to force democracy down unwilling throats.

OK that might be a bit extreme, but where is it in the best interest of the US for us to force the Iraqis to have a constitution? The democratic process is supposed to be inclusive not dictatorial. If we pressure them to meet OUR timetable then we've created a puppet state without legitimacy in the Muslim world. Period. And solved nothing.

Instead, let the Iraqi government, duly elected in the face of threats of violence as they were, do their job and answer to their bosses. And our government needs to do the same.

While I haven't been writing much lately, I've been talking to a lot of people. While the President lost my confidence early in this process a lot of good people believed we truly have a leader who is doing the "right thing". They're changing their minds.

I fully and unconditionally support the efforts of our troops to control the situation in Iraq. They follow their orders, they walk into harms way every day and try to get the job done. But they aren't sure what the job is anymore. They have kids jeering them from the streets, bombs going off, people targeting them for random shootings. It sounds like Detroit.

Gray bearded thirty , forty and fifty something conservatives, ex military and current (in some cases) are universally condemning this war. There is no plan, there never was a plan.

There were hopes.

There were good wishes and nice thoughts.

But a plan? Plans are based in reality and this whole war was fantasy. I've often been warned about living out fantasies, (like when I thought I could breath under water like a fish after I had the measles) (I couldn't) as they often don't play out as expected. This hasn't .

One suggestion to help the situation and disentangle the United States from this morass is to clarify our goals. In our national mind we didn't invade and destabilize Iraq to make it a profit center for American companies. The rest of the world isn't so sure. Now that there is an Iraqi government I suggest we terminate Haliburton's contract (T for C in contracting parlance) and allow the Arab world to handle it's own contracting. The Saudi's might even be of some assistance since they hire people to do their work all the time.

Terminating Halliburton and any other American based contracting firm working in Iraq would go a long ways to supporting our contention that America didn't invade for gain. And getting the other Muslim countries economically involved in the conflict may well improve our chances of extricating ourselves successfully from Iraq.

This time maybe not from the embassy roof.