It's No Longer about Politics, It's About Simple Math!

It's no longer a matter of politics, it's simply a matter of math!

I don't agree with this whole article from the Burning Platform but recommend a careful read of the whole thing.

Destruction of the "Antiquated Notion of Sovereignty" . . . ??

What has been referred to for years in progressive, collectivists circles as the "antiquated notion of sovereignty" is squarely under attack worldwide, including the dual sovereignty in the unprecedented compound republic system of the U.S.

The sad and unfortunate fact is that we are doing this to ourselves:

"The borrower is servant to the lender." (Proverbs 22:7).

And, "Think what you do when you run in debt, you give another power over your liberty."  (Benjamin Franklin).

While this article refers to the EU, the implications are spot on for the United States on an even grader scale.

From Zero Hedge:

From the "just delivered speech by ECB executive board member José Manuel González-Páramo is the following: "We cannot completely delegate governance to financial markets. The euro area is the world’s second largest monetary area. It cannot depend solely on the opinions of ratings agencies and markets. It needs economic governance arrangements that are preventive and linear. This underscores my central point that a much more comprehensive approach to economic governance is now the priority for the euro area. And this means more economic and financial integration for the euro area, with a significant transfer of sovereignty to the EMU level over fiscal, structural and financial policies." In other words, in order to protect people from the "stupidity" of rating agencies which after years of lying have finally started telling the truth, and the market which does what it always does, and punishes those who fail, Europe must be prepared to give up "significant sovereignty" (sounds better than Anschluss) to Europe's "betters" which is another way of saying 'he who pays the piper calls the tune."

Federal Fraternity of Fraud

"When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated." -- Thomas Jefferson

Prof. William Black at Occupy LA.  Bill Black led thousands of fraud prosecutions during the S&L Crisis.  Since then, the federal government has centralized all power to Washington and, at best, looked the other way while massive fraud has been perpetrated.  The purpose of government is to protect life, liberty and property, including from fraud.  However, the benefit to fund national campaigns is too great to bite the hand that is feeding the DC excess and centralization.  

However, the answer is not anarchy or socialism as many of the Occupy Crowd seek.  It is decentralization to our original unprecedented system of government.  This is precisely why "it must be the states themselves, erecting such barriers at the constitutional line as cannot be surmounted."  Thomas Jefferson

Isn't it naive to believe/hope that Washington will solve "The Washington Problem"?

Federal Fraternity of Fraud

"When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated." -- Thomas Jefferson

Prof. William Black at Occupy LA.  Bill Black led thousand of fraud prosecutions during the S&L Crisis.  Since then, the federal government has centralized all power to Washington and, at best, looked the other way while massive fraud has been perpetrated.  The purpose of government is to protect life, liberty and property, including from fraud.  However, the benefit to fund national campaigns is too great to bite the hand that is feeding the DC excess and centralization.  

However, the answer is not anarchy or socialism as many of the Occupy Crowd seeks.  It is decentralization to our original unprecedented system of government.  This is precisely why "it must be the states themselves, erecting such barriers at the constitutional line as cannot be surmounted."  Thomas Jefferson

Isn't it naive to believe/hope that Washington will solve "The Washington Problem"?

"Super" Committee Insanity

Suppose you have . . .

Credit Card Debt of $150,000 and still growing because . . .

You are still OVERSPENDING at the rate of nearly $15,000 PER YEAR and . . .

You don’t have the $750,000-$2,110,000 you need to care for your parents and grandparents in their old age as you promised (which they are counting on now that they are retiring), and, given that there are 6 of them and only one of you, you likely never will.

So, you decide these problems are too tough to handle on your own so you convene a SUPER COMMITTEE to help you with your predicament.

This SUPER COMMITTEE initially recommends that you . . .

Cut the amount you are OVERSPENDING by $12,000 over 10 years, or $1,200 per year on average, and that you get seriously started on these drastic cuts in 4 or 5 years from now, but . . .

Because this proposal is just way too hard the SUPER COMMITEE is considering that you only . . .

Cut your OVERSPENDING by $5-6,000 over 10 years, or $5-600 per year, and still take a break for 4 or 5 years before you really get serious about cutting your OVERSPENDING by the paltry $5-600 per year.

And, let’s not worry about the promises we’ve made to mom and dad, grandmas and grandpas because . . .

Surely, something magically amazing will happen between now and the time things get really serious . . .

Add 8 zeroes to these numbers and that is the condition of our nation’s finances and the recommendations of the SUPER COMMITTEE.

Approaching Fiscal "D" Day . . .

Via Lew Spellman of the Spellman Report as posted on Zero Hedge:

How Monetization Happens: Being at the Helm When the Ship Goes Down

The consequences of excess debt are now facing the leaders of Europe head on, and a monumental decision must be made whether explicitly or implicitly. Excess debt leads to a long chain of D words: Deleveraging in an attempt to retire debt results in a depressed economy and declining asset prices. The depressed economy breeds private debt defaultsthat in turn produce distressed banks. The chain then runs through depositor flight from the banks, producing a financial crisis and in turn a devaluation of the currency as capital flees. When foreign goods become more expensive there is a declining standard of living as import prices rise faster than wages. Then in an effort to stop the governmentdebt trap, there is a default on promised entitlements under an austerity program leading to the swift defeat of the political leaders. But ultimately there is a sovereign restructuring or a default of the government debt. Most, if not all, the D words are visiting Europe at the moment and its leaders are falling by the wayside.

There is not a precise science that tells us when the debt trap begins the downward spiral that takes the ship down, but there are some rough guidelines. Reinhart and Rogoff (This Time is Different) have found to the extent one can generalize when a country’s debt-to-income ratio reaches the 90 percent level the ship of state begins to list and currently the OECD aggregate of 30-country gross debt-to-income ratio is 105 percent.