Letters to the Editor
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Regarding this statement:
"Phillips' two other preoccupations over the past decade are the rise of the
religious right and increasing U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Previously, he has argued
provocatively that Pentecostal-style belief in the imminence of the Rapture nurtures a
get-rich-now, who-cares-about-the-future mentality in regions of the U.S. where hard
times once bred economic populism and skepticism of men who wear top hats and
monocles."
It's my belief that people who believe in the Rapture are among the most enormously ego-driven people on the planet -- because once you accept that construct as a central tenet of your religion, it isn't enough to believe that the Rapture will happen at some indeterminate point in the future. The desire to see it happen while you're around to witness it is too great, so that it may validate your beliefs and justify your self-appointed stature, couched in false humility, as second only to Jesus. Get enough of these types in power, and they will work to bring the "great reckoning" about. Maybe unconsciously, maybe not.
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large groups of mounted horsemen...
wielding bow and spear have recently been sighted in the northwest. rumor has it that crazy horse's ghost has been seen laughing at tourists visiting little bighorn nm.
worse yet, china is slowly shifting out of usd and into euros. the last days are on us, and not a minute too soon. i could endure yanks who were loud-monthed, and ignorant, as long as they paid cash. but lately they have been shooting people to get what they want, instead of buying it. that's gotta stop.
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then again
England, Holland, and Spain aren't such awful places to live these days. Maybe being an ex-empire isn't altogether negative?
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Floating debt
Is it true Debt has to be repaid, or merely that debt has to be serviced?. This is a rather large distinction, especially if you can control the lending rate.
Did America take on the role of the world financial center willingly, or because the pool of labor and the centers of manufacturing moved offshore due to currency exchange rates?
Additionally the BRIC countries have enjoyed investment based on the advantages found in America's financial products.
To be fair most of Wall Street hoped that the benefits of economic developement would turn the third world into replicas of the US 100 years ago. The possibilities were much too enticing, (China is Post War Japan) and allowed the financial engineers to forget all the differences which prevent a smooth transition.
In the final outcome America was overly ambitious, just as it was militarily after WWII. The question of fixed debt instruments is equally arcane. Is it time to simply admit that all debt should be repaid at a fair value to our current economic conditions?. (Yes when the economy improves, you may owe more on that loan, and conversely when the economy tanks you should get a reduction in rates)
Fixed income investors, (who are being cheated by most accounts) are really being paid a fair rate of return based on real economic growth. Why shouldn't debt holders be subject to the same rules?
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What does the actual data say?
The level of debt in relation to the size of the total economy is, for the US only middling. Many countries have much higher debt ratios vs their national economy.
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Bears Stearns? What's that?
I have been amazed-- though I should know better-- at the vacuum in the media following the utter and very sudden collapse of a major investment bank. B/S collapsed over a weekend. The big outlets mentioned it, had some stories about it. But then, you know, Obama went bowling. Zip. I wonder if Phillips feels like he's yelling into an abyss... because an abyss is what the media offers.
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This is all you need to know about Bear Fucking Stearns
I pulled my money from these clowns as fast as I could when this went down, circa mid 2003, and I was even a dealer of the brand:
"Bear Stearns has agreed to buy a privately held recreational equipment maker, CamelBak Products, for $210 million from the Bowes family, which bought it for $4 million in 1995, CamelBak said yesterday. John G. Bowes, CamelBak's chairman, owns the company with his daughters and said he would leave when Bear Stearns completed the purchase. CamelBak, based in Petaluma, Calif., was established in 1989 by a former paramedic, Michael Edison, and makes backpacks that allow hikers, runners and other athletes to drink hands-free during physical activity. It also makes those products for hunters, the government and the military. CamelBak's chief executive, Glenn Gross, 59, said he would remain after the purchase. "
Ahem. Camelbak? Makers of something original once, back when it was invented, now notable since 2003 for... introducing another bisphenol plastic bottle -- but with an adult sippy cup. That's it. Oh yeah, and also hydration packs for the Army, but that was already a front-loaded KT when BS bought it in '03. No way in hell could that company have been realistically valued beyond 10-20 mill, absolute tops.
What sort of country is it when the leading newspapers didn't even find this run-of-the-mill-waste-of-200-million-bucks remarkable? And now, here we are.
Everyone is fucking culpable. And that includes the ostensibly leftist assholes who also stood by and watched it happen too -- it's not like anyone in Camelbak's peer industries thought this sort of thing foreshadowed a greater problem. One trade pub after another, one newsgroup after another: Hey, we're all rich! Whoo hoo!
Except, we weren't.
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And the Common Thread for the Implosion of Empire ?
Outsourcing , War ... Spain, The Dutch and England all outsourced their productive economy and adopted the financial economy. How did they do this? Many Wars and free trade while heavily borrowing from their private European Banks to enrich the bankers.
Sound familiar ?
This is why we we need to get of the fractional banking treadmill of geometrically increasing debt. Fractional Reserve Banking is actually a fancy name for leveraged debt money creation. In practical terms that means the system needs more and more debt to satisfy the appetite of the ever growing principle and interest payments. A debt spiral that only a financial crisis can cure, through a systemwide bankruptcy leaving a smoldering shambles behind.
This is why we need a public central bank. We need a bank that creates money without the use of geometric debt accumulation so that in times of crisis the credit system doesn't implode. Indeed why is it that We the People of the United States have to borrow our own money to spend it ? That's right, Congress appropriates money, an IOU is sent to the Federal Reserve and they then give it to the Treasury to spend. Why isn't the money appropriated directly to the Treasury to spend ? The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 which has given the private bankers a piece of every bit of business that our government does, the largest welfare program the world has ever seen ! ! !