I LOVE THIS.
Stephen Budiansky’s Liberal Curmudgeon Blog: Steve’s guide to Ground Zero.
Also see Ron Paul.
Archive for the 'monetary policy' Category
23
Aug
Moloch’s Holy Ground
But he speaks the truth - we have been OWNED;
Full of Something
“The Giving Pledge is the brainchild of billionaire businessmen Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. The two of them have teamed up to ask the world’s wealthiest people to donate at least 50% of their fortunes to charities. They believe that the richest people in the world can eradicate many of the world’s problems through philanthropy. The pledge is not a binding contract but more of a “moral commitment”. Individuals are free to donate money to whatever cause they would like. So, far about 40 billionaires have accepted the giving pledge challenge. That’s not a large number when you consider that there are nearly 1,000 billionaires in the world, according to Forbes. So, who hasn’t signed up and for what reason? “
Gates and Buffett will not give away ONE DIME.
Instead, they will put all of their billions into foundations they and their heirs control, to lobby for things THEY believe in, at everyone else’s expense.
Also, they are both HUGE proponents of letting the estate-tax cut expire, because then, when small businessmen die, their heirs will have to sell their companies, at a huge discount, to pay the estate tax.
And who will buy these companies at a huge discount?
Uh-huh, people like Buffett and Gates. Screw them.
Also, it is turning the concept of (Christian) charity on its head - proclaim your “giving” as loudly and ostentatiously as you can, and bullyrag others to do do likewise;
“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Matt 6:5,Matt 6:16,Matt 23:5
Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. Luke 6:24
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. Jer 17:10, Matt 6:6, Matt 6:18″
(Thanks to my wife for bringing this to my attention)
We are being stampeded, AGAIN, by a classic PR-lying campaign into a pre-arranged conclusion on immigration, the contents of which will be opaque until passed under a political smokescreen, and a false urgency. When we speak of the “immigration” issue, we are really speaking about a number of separate but interrelated issues They are complex issues, each of which needs to be dealt with fundamentally and without undue haste;
1) Border security, 2) Freedom to trade in labor services, 3) Freedom to trade in goods, 4) Free movement of capital;5) Free movement of people; 6) Privacy; 7)Tax policy; 8) Immigration policies of the US and Mexican governments; 9) Labor regulation; 10) Property rights: 11) Naturalization; 12)Welfare; 13) State sovereignty, and, I am sure a multitude of others.
The estimated 12 MILLION illegals aren’t going anywhere any time soon, why the hurry?
“Ms. Kagan, whatever her credentials as a college administrator, is absolutely unqualified to sit on the US Supreme Court. Her tenure as Solicitor General has been an unbroken stream of defenses of unprecedented expansions of executive authority. , precisely the sort of person uniquely unsuitable for a role in defending the rights of Americans against the depredations of the President and Congress, in the name of the failed War On Terrorism.
Please oppose Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court.”
The nut of this very long, but very worthwhile essay by Angelo Codevilla on our emergent ruling class;
“Its attitude is key to understanding our bipartisan ruling class. Its first tenet is that “we” are the best and brightest while the rest of Americans are retrograde, racist, and dysfunctional unless properly constrained. How did this replace the Founding generations paradigm that “all men are created equal”?”
via The American Spectator : Americas Ruling Class — And the Perils of Revolution.
Today, on LRC, Fred Reed ticks almost all the boxes (categories) with this one;
“Perhaps the US should recognize that it has a second-rate military at phenomenal cost – an enormous, largely useless national codpiece. It is embarrassing. The Pentagon’s preferred enemies are lightly armed, poorly equipped peasants, which makes for a long war and thus hundreds of billions of dollars in juicy contracts for military industries. Yet the greatest military in history (ask it) gets run out of Southeast Asia, blown up and run out of Lebanon, shot down and run out of Somalia, with Afghanistan a disaster in progress and Iraq claimed as an American victory rather than Shiite. Do the aircraft carriers intimidate North Korea? No. Iran? No. China? No. For this, a trillion dollars a year?”
I got involved in a Facebook discussion of Social Security (I know, I know) with a Social Security Disability recipient. He argued against my assertion that SS is not an entitlement, insurance, or investment (but rather is a transfer / welfare scheme) by claiming that SS is an annuity.
took me two minutes, but I came up with the Supreme Court decision FLEMMING V. NESTOR (363 U.S. 603 - 1960) (on the Social Security Admin WEBPAGE) which states ,I think, unambiguously;
…2. A PERSON COVERED BY THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT HAS NOT SUCH A RIGHT IN OLD-AGE BENEFIT PAYMENTS AS WOULD MAKE EVERY DEFEASANCE OF “ACCRUED” INTERESTS VIOLATIVE OF THE DUE PROCESS CLAUSE OF THE FIFTH AMENDMENT. PP. 608-611.
(A) THE NONCONTRACTUAL INTEREST OF AN EMPLOYEE COVERED BY THE ACT CANNOT BE SOUNDLY ANALOGIZED TO THAT OF THE HOLDER OF AN ANNUITY, WHOSE RIGHTS TO BENEFITS ARE BASED ON HIS CONTRACTUAL PREMIUM PAYMENTS. PP. 608-610.
(B) TO ENGRAFT UPON THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM A CONCEPT OF “ACCRUED PROPERTY RIGHTS” WOULD DEPRIVE IT OF THE FLEXIBILITY AND BOLDNESS IN ADJUSTMENT TO EVER-CHANGING CONDITIONS WHICH IT DEMANDS AND WHICH CONGRESS PROBABLY HAD IN MIND WHEN IT EXPRESSLY RESERVED THE RIGHT TO ALTER, AMEND OR REPEAL ANY PROVISION OF THE ACT. PP. 610-611.”
I guess I should have expected it, but he SAVAGELY attacked me ad-hominem, again and again, while never substantiating his argument with even ONE contrary cite.
So tell me. am I reading this wrong? Do we have a contractual and property right in a Social Security annuity after all? Do I owe this jughead an apology?;
Vince Daliessio: ”(A) THE NONCONTRACTUAL INTEREST OF AN EMPLOYEE COVERED BY THE ACT CANNOT BE SOUNDLY ANALOGIZED TO THAT OF THE HOLDER OF AN ANNUITY, WHOSE RIGHTS TO BENEFITS ARE BASED ON HIS CONTRACTUAL PREMIUM PAYMENTS.”
Unless you can show that this has been reversed or modified by jurisprudence or statute, I rest my case.
Scott (name witheld): “you never had a case as you can not read! That paragraph states that it IS an annuity! What a fool! If you had a 12 th grade reading level you would understand the meaning of the sentence.
Vince Daliessio: Read Justice Black’s dissent, if you want to know the history of the case, the clear violations of Article 1, Section 9 of the constitution, which prohibits the passing of bills of attainder and ex-post-facto laws.
Scott: I have no need to cite anything, YOU are sitting here spewing untruths based on your inability to understand what you obviously can not read. You interpret the fact that congress is the final governing body of the Social Security Administration as congress can limit who can get benefits, yet Scotus stated otherwise, that they only can set ..
Vince Daliessio: Where does it state that? It clearly states the opposite.
Scott: Again you display more nonsensical garbage… you can opt out of Social Security therefore there is no constitutional violation. Do you argue with the wall when you are taking a dump?do you argue with a brick? You ARE NOT a Lawyer, Nor are you anywhere close. Stop trying to act like one
Vince Daliessio: You don’t cite it because you can’t. Congress can set the benefit level at zero. It can set the retirement age at 200. It can set the tax rate at 200%. It can, according to Flemming, pass a law today outlawing behavior that occurred 15 years ago, and use that to invalidate benefits, since they have pronounced that you have no legal property right in SS. No insurance company can do this with a real annuity - they would be sued for treble damages and lose.
Scott: Look IDIOT I suggest you research Schoemann v Social SecurityAdministration of the United States and try your fucking bullshit then. YOU know absolutely Nothing about what you try to speak… you sit here spreading lies and pretending to be the authority. You’re nothing but a know it all punk without an education. Now say good bye boy
Vince Daliessio I CAN’T opt out. I don’t know where you get that idea. Only certain tightly-defined groups under the statute can opt-out.
Scott: Title 26 learn it live it love it
Scott: Gotta love know it alls and troll
Vince Daliessio: You made a statement - that SS is an annuity. Flemming clearly contradicts that. Your argument isn’t with me, it’s with the Supreme Court. I don’t know why you have a beef with me. I stipulated that if you are dependent on the program, you should be taken care of.”
(PHOTO: Coming To A Forward Operating Base Near You, if you are unfortunate enough to be in Iraq.)
Marine-Killing V-22 Osprey Aircraft Sent To Iraq
Time Magazine is reporting that the V-22 Osprey is being deployed to western Iraq for use by Marines there. The V-22, for those of you who haven’t been following the unfolding tragedy for as long as we have, is an aircraft that, much like one of the Transformers of movie fiction, can transform from a helicopter-like rotary-wing aircraft into a fixed wing aircraft, and back again. Except this transformer also turns into, with alarming frequency, a flaming pile of twisted metal and dead Marines.
If you have even the slightest confidence in the wisdom or utility of this, please read here, or here, or, watch this clip from CBS, then tell us with a straight face that you believe this is a good idea.
If this is anybody’s notion of how we should be “supporting the troops” I would have sincere doubts as to that person’s real intentions.
One of the prime movers of the program since its inception was Congresscritter Curt Weldon (R, Boeing Vertol) representing the district in Southeastern PA we all grew up in, who horse-traded and threatened his colleagues in order to get part of the aircraft built in the Boeing facility that dominated his district (in his mind, anyway).
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the estimable congressman Weldon, here’s a shot of him participating in a Washington D.C. ceremony where the Reverend Sun Myung Moon had himself declared the Messiah, complete with an apparent Orthodox Rabbi blowing the Shofar to announce it to the assembled politicians (Moon, er, moonlights as publisher of the Washington Times, an erratically conservative newspaper and neocon propaganda outlet).
Weldon wrangled a key part of the project into the fading Boeing plant at the behest of the unions in exchange for political support. Even though the evil Weldon’s lengthy congressional career was subsequently slain by his own greed (a probe into shady deals involving his daughter’s “consulting company”) as well as reformer-cum-”Bizarro Weldon” Joe “Sleestak” Sestak, Weldon’s pet project V-22 Osprey, aka the flying pig that wouldn’t die, wouldn’t, well, die.
The “program”, as a protracted expenditure of pelf of this nature without successful production of a working piece of ordnance is called, was abandoned long ago by the Army, which was to have shared the cost of it with the much-smaller Marine Corps. Since that time, this flying deathtrap has grown to consume 90% of the Marines’ aircraft procurement budget. We are told that the helicopter it is replacing, the venerable CH-46 (not the also-deadly Hawker Harrier, as some erroneously report, is well past its service life and must be retired, along with 40+ years of experience, improvements, and development. So why then has the army continued to upgrade its fleet of CH-47 Chinooks (sister design to the Sea Knight) rather than replace them?
Cyranos Journal Online » Why is America suffering so much from a recession that Germany largely bypassed?
Lots of good observations here from a left perspective, particularly regarding the impact of tax policy on the manufacturing sector, though regulation and Fed meddling play a big role as well. But a few quibbles;
1 Teddy Roosevelt was no hero, he was a tool of Morgan, and his “trust-busting” was no more than a smashing of Morgan’s rivals, principally Rockefeller, followed by cartellization of all industries Morgan controlled. FDR was just as bad, but he played on the side of the Rockefeller – Harriman – Kuhn Loeb group, and busted up Morgan cartels.
2 Technically, the US did not see real economic growth until 1946, when the war ended, and pent-up demand and de-regimentation of the wartime control economy erased 17 years of Depression.
3Subsidizing salaries is NUTS. It’s an admission as a government that you have broken the labor market and you refuse to let it clear. Germany’s labor market is vastly different than the US culturally, politically, ethnically, and with regard to harmful regulation. And protectionism just protects inefficient, uncompetitive industries that destroy wealth, and invites trade retaliation. E.G, Smoot-Hawley.
4 On the other hand, a low, uniform tariff, coupled with VERY light regulation of the export sector tends to build wealth. But our economy is so rife with misregulation and cross-subsidy that it is impossible to know anymore what our leading industries should be.
5Gabriel Kolko and many others have shown, beyond refutation that in the US, regulation is written by and for the biggest players in the regulated industry to disadvantage competitors and cartellize most of the business into the hands of a few gigantic firms, who can then run roughshod over everybody, workers and customers alike. This is an important reason we are in the pickle we are in – the game is rigged, There is no free market, except at very local levels.
6 Finally, Keynesianism is not economics, it is not science, it is superstitious voodoo like CDS and the Federal Reserve itself, a gigantic humbug fabricated to provide justification for the evil things the owners of this country want to do to us. Anyone in authority who puts forth such insane Kenesian notions as “stimulus” spending by government should have his head examined. When the government finally defaults on its paper promises, as bad as things MIGHT have gotten, had Hank Paulson not bailed out his buddies, followed by Obama and Geithner doing the same, it will be a thousand times worse when the stimulus fails. We are talking about hyperinflation, like we experienced in the 1970′s, or worse, like Weimar Germany, and we all know how THAT turned out.
7 I want to know why when Hayek won the Nobel prize for Economics, EVERYONE in the mainstream press, but particularly the left put it down, saying it isn’t really a “Nobel Prize”, they are a bunch of cranks, whatever; when Krugman wins, suddenly it’s a prestigious award, filling the winner with Godlike authority. Well Krugman is a Keynesian, and Hayek was not. When Keynsianism is shown up as a failure, AGAIN, will the mainstream and the left hail Hayek, and Mises, and Rothbard, who were right before the crisis hit, and have been proven right again and again?
They will bollocks. There is no way the Austrians will ever be even grudgingly admitted to be right. It doesn’t serve the powers that be.
via Cyranos Journal Online » Why is America suffering so much from a recession that Germany largely bypassed?.