Saturday, December 5, 2009

Six More Banks Bite The Dust

You walk the low road, we'll march the high road
The total number of banks shut down by the government so far in 2009 is 130:
"The 130 bank failures are the most in a year since 1992 at the height of the savings-and-loan crisis. They have cost the federal deposit insurance fund more than $28 billion so far this year."
(Huffington Post). Even the FDIC fund used to cover these 130 failed banks this year has been running short of money.

So while some banks are getting trillions in bailout money, other banks are going down in near record numbers? Lets dig deeper.

The graph above shows the military economy going straight up through the roof at the same time that banks are going down and while the domestic economy tanks into the basement.

There are several obvious things wrong with this picture, however, I want to focus on a hidden economic "mystery" that the MSM will not yet talk about.

The red vertical line shows when "the most expensive public works legislation in US history" was passed.

The green line shows a reasonable time frame, following the passage of that bill into law, until "shovel ready" projects could have begun to receive funding pursuant to that public works spending revolution.

The mystery is that the domestic non-military trend line stays flat while the military trend line keeps climbing.

Following the domestic trend line, it is clear that "the most expensive public works legislation in US history" had no effect on the domestic economy, in fact, the domestic economy soon got worse.

In fact it was just after John McCain said "the economy is fundamentally sound" that the graph shows the domestic economy did a steep dive.

Perhaps he was talking about the military oil complex budget which he considers to be "the economy"? The military oil complex economy was the only one raking in the taxpayer's money hand over fist.

The yellow vertical line on the graph represents the U.S. infrastructure suffering a major bridge collapse after the greatest public works spending in U.S. history should have been fully operational.

This collapse indicates how much that public works money was needed here at home.

Did that money make its way to Baghdad where the largest, most fancy, and most mismanaged embassy in the world was being built? Or Dubai where the largest building and largest airport in the world were being built?

What we know is that the Pentagon admits to having an accounting system that misplaces 25% of its budget (trillions of dollars), the Federal Reserve refuses to disclose where it has sent your / our federal dollars, and I call this the age of Plunder.

You decide.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Some Dementia Is Contagious

Canada is catching it.
There are posts on this blog that attempt to use various analogies, symbols, allegories, and the like to point out that nations behave like individuals sometimes.

Yes, as Freud said, nations behave like individuals in some cases, even to the point of appearing to be temporarily outside the parameters of sanity, and at times clearly infected with neurosis.

To take it a bit further, let's consider whether or not some forms of dementia are contagious.

This contemplation is offered in the sense that "a person is known by the company that person keeps", but more than that, I found sources which declare outright that dementia is contagious:
The latest research performed in Montreal at McGill University reported that if depression is not treated then it could lead to dementia or insanity. It means that your loved one can pass the disease to you.
(Seniors, [Wayback Machine Copy] see also The Article Box). Which is another way of saying memes hang with like memes, and memes comprise sanity as well as insanity.

Canada has evidently become infected with the dirty energy meme in a magnitude that would make Exxon proud:
The people around the world who have considered Canada to be one of the beacons, one of the sources of environmental sanity, one of the places to always be a solid hope for the future of humanity, now fear that Canada has fallen into the abyss of human error.
(Ecocosmology Blog). The oil barons of the U.S. going around religiously proclaiming "Oilah Akbar! Oilah Akbar!" while infecting millions, have now infected the Canadian government. Canada is now against Kyoto and Copenhagen.

The world has gone crazy several times before and can do so again if enough people fail to resist the memes of insanity.

Resist!

Obama Situation Ethics For Fewer Jobs

Question: President Obama said in a news conference, concerning the jobs summit to fix 10-17% unemployment, that the reason for fewer jobs is that when he was inaugurated there was "less money coming in than there was going out".

So he had to spend trillions of dollars on the "poor" banks, spend $30-$50 billion a year or more to escalate another war that is only profiting the "poor" warmongers, then tell the poor people in New Orleans, who are suffering due to insufficient government help to this day , "I wish I could write a check", then go to a dinner to raise money for rich politicians where the menu only had items on it that would cost you $34,000 to sit down and eat?

Answer: The government is not of the people, not for the people. It is becoming increasingly that way, and we have no choice or hope of another politician who will do anything but be a puppet of those who would plunder the people until millions lose homes, jobs, savings, health, to become like those living in a third world banana republic.

The right wing plunder barons are becoming more and more happy with Obama as the middle class and poor are becoming shocked at the utter incompetence of the government to govern for the people any more.

The new age kingdom is upon us where democracy and concern for the people is feigned, but in reality behind the scenes, the new kings are the military oil complex of warmongering plunder barons.

Will the people rise up and figure a way to throw off the illegitimate oppressors and illegitimate plunder barons?

Maybe, maybe not.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Mega Infrastructure Bill To Make Jobs?

We are talking about "the most expensive public works legislation in US history" having creative billions reserved as special earmarking to the tune of "$24 billion for a staggering 6,376 pet projects, spread among virtually every congressional district in the land".

"The enormous bill -- 1,752 pages long" costing "$286.4 BILLION" known as "the highway bill" was the republican congress and republican president's bill passed in late 2005.

But it did not stop the Minnesota bridge from collapsing and killing American citizens, nor did it stop the great recession that is still ongoing.

So how is the next most expensive public works legislation in US history going to be any different?

The answer is that nothing is going to work until we stop destroying wealth with the stupid wars, the stupid military spending gone pork barrel wild, and the stupid military propaganda deciding our fate.

Read this following quote slowly, remembering that it was done while the exorbitant costs of war were not being included in the budget a few years back, while everyone was smitten with bubbleosis, that economic disease which says this economic universe is expanding forever baby, and while we were in the love of war daze:
AT $286.4 BILLION, the highway bill just passed by Congress is the most expensive public works legislation in US history. In addition to funding the interstate highway system and other federal transportation programs, it sets a new record for pork-barrel spending, earmarking $24 billion for a staggering 6,376 pet projects, spread among virtually every congressional district in the land. The enormous bill -- 1,752 pages long -- wasn't made public until just before it was brought to a vote, and so, as The New York Times noted, ''it is safe to bet that none of the lawmakers, not even the main authors, had read the entire package."

That didn't stop them from voting for it. It passed 412 to 8 in the House, 91 to 4 in the Senate.
(Boston Globe, August 2005, emphasis added, see also PBS Transcript). Once again, why didn't the greatest infrastructure spending in fiscal history not help the economy?

Because war is the most expensive and economically destructive endeavor any nation can partake of. As long as we have nation building and wars like we have now we will have economic problems.

Final question, where did that money really go?

This mystery continues.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Obama's October 7, 2001 Speech

Our good president, Barack Obama, gave the October 7, 2001 speech last night at West Point that Bush II should have given way back when.

Back when it would have made sense to many of our citizens.

Over eight years ago Bush II invaded Afghanistan when the U.S. reputation in the world was at such a peak that even he could get unfettered support.

But that unfettered support did not last long, so now we find ourselves at the lowest ebb of our international popularity, our reputation in the world.

But war illusions together with the death, destruction, and loss of innocents does continue to be with us to continue our reputation's ongoing demise.

What many in the United States forgot was that war is not glorious, war is not good, war is not just, war is simply inevitable when people forget the evil nature of war, forget what war will do to any people who will let it.

Our most eloquent and wise forefathers, presidents, founders, who are our eyes, informed us of this long ago:
"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied : and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. Those truths are well established."

James Madison (Father of U.S. Constitution, 4th President, etc., emphasis added)
(Source of Corruption). Obama confirmed that we are addicted to faith in war instead of hatred of war as it should be.

Our good president's decision to escalate the Afghanistan war will damage us even more than it already has, furthering the demise of our reputation as a peaceful nation of the world.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

In Support of Slavery

Everyone is talking about Dubai in the context of "commercial real estate failure".
This talk is also in the sense of whether Dubai's financial failures will or will not effect our commercial real estate here in the United States.

Those in the know are already aware that commercial real estate, like residential real estate, is practically a catastrophe here already. But not much talk about their policy that supports slavery:
Dubai is finally financially bankrupt – but it has been morally bankrupt all along. The idea that Dubai is an oasis of freedom on the Arabian peninsular is one of the great lies of our time.

Yes, it has Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts and the Gucci styles, but beneath these accoutrements, there is a dictatorship built by slaves.
(Independent, emphasis added). There is a rush to feed the public as much pabulum as possible so as to hide the realities which are unfitting for a denial society. Sorry folks, if you blog here you have to take your medicine, because that is what the doctor ordered.

Dubai practices slavery, Cheney's Haliburton moved there, it gets TARP bailout money, and the treasury will not tell us how much other money went there or to other foreign nations.

I mean "the most expensive public works legislation in US history" never found its way to Republican districts in the U.S., so how many "world's tallest building", "world's largest airport", etc. for Dubai, has to be built first before they spend some of the American taxpayer's money on Americans?

I guess, then, that "we" will have to wait for the final report as to how much "we" support slavery with our hard earned tax dollars.

Monday, November 30, 2009

9/11 Conspiracy Theorists Take A Hit - 5

There is a group of expert aviation professionals who have had a website up for several years.

During their careers some of them even flew the aircraft that were purportedly destroyed on 9/11.

A couple of years ago they got the Flight 77 black box data from the NTSB, who had received those black boxes from the FBI, because the Pentagon was a crime scene.

When these aviation experts put the flight data recorder ("black box") data into professional flight simulators (the type used to train professional airline pilots) it did not add up.

For one thing, the data showed Flight 77 at about 400 feet high at the time of impact with the Pentagon (not possible in this universe).

The NTSB would make no comment when the pilots inquired about the discrepancy in the data NTSB said was the official data.

Further perusal of the data indicated that the flight deck door (door to pilot cabin) remained closed during the entire flight. In other words, no one from the passenger section opened the door to get into the cockpit.

Thus, these professionals are concerned that the official story is wrong or that they and/or the NTSB were given the wrong data.

UPDATE: The comments to this post show that some folks do not comprehend the very critical importance of Flight Data Recorders in terms of determining what caused an airliner to crash, what happened on the flight, as well as what did not happen.

Clearly, the best science is used to make sure that these "black boxes" work accurately:
Both the Flight Data Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorder have proven to be valuable tools in the accident investigation process. They can provide information that may be difficult or impossible to obtain by other means. When used in conjunction with other information gained in the investigation, the recorders are playing an ever increasing role in determining the Probable Cause of an aircraft accident.
(National Transportation Safety Board). Our ability to believe as well as our inability to believe certain things is a psychological reality which some people have no control over, exclaiming "I could not believe it even if it was true".

If you find yourself saying "I don't believe the Flight Data Recorders" because you have already determined what happened on a flight, you are at the edge of the realm of your capacities of belief, so be careful not to proceed recklessly until you are ready for it.

Like the man said, if "you can't handle the truth" apples, don't deal with it until you can handle it. This is for your own mental health's sake. We do not want anyone who is not qualified to sit on a jury to deal with adult jury material to their demise in any way, shape, or form.

Iraq War, Like GITMO, Is Not Over

Remember that war to rid the world of WMD, to rid the world of Al Queda Sadaam, and to bring the purple finger of democracy to those thirsting for its refreshing essences?

The one that only took 90 days and was paid for by Iraqi oil?

The one where the large "Mission Accomplished" banner waived in the breezes of propaganda some 30 days after the invasion?

Guess what, I like the way this man puts it:
As Obama considers adding yet more troops to the near-decade-long occupation of Afghanistan, Iraq cannot muster sufficient political consensus to organize the elections critical to the departure of 120,000 US troops. The Beltway consensus that Iraq has already been a victory was always more about the Beltway than Iraq, and more about sustaining neo-imperial morale rather than confronting reality. The Beltway doesn't do reality very well. They prefer Palin and "bending the cost curve" and "exit-ramps" and "optics".
(The Atlantic, Andrew Sullivan). It still doesn't work to invade sovereign nations, kill hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children, run a million out of their own homes to another strange land.

Even if you then color their fingers purple and say "Isn't that better now?"

It still does not work and it never did nor ever will work. It is a crazed fantasy.

The saying in the mideast now, which is a curse, is "may Bush II of America bring democracy to your country".

It is the equivalent to saying "may the south end of a north bound camel breathe upon you my son".

The surge of the failure of the MSM to cover the ongoing Iraq war and its crippling costs to the U.S. economy does not change the picture.