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Free Market Principles Provide the Cultural Mandate for a Peaceful and Stable Economy

By: Curtis Ophoven

4/22/2010 - 36 Comments

Economic policy guides human ethics.  Bad economic policy guides humans into making unethical actions, which leads to further bad policies to try to protect people from unethical actions of other people. 

The result of bad economic policy leads to a deteriorating economy and social unrest as bad policies provides cover for one group of people to trample on another group of people – legally stealing their property, labor and freedom. 

Bad economic policies support unjust actions on just people, which cause them to take unethical actions to right the unjust that has been portrayed on them.  In the name of equality and fairness, government policies are the primiary source of inequality and unfairness.

A strong commitment to free market principles reduced the passage of bad economic policies that create injustice and reduce the need to create more policies to protect people from further unethical actions.

Free Market = Ethical Culture

Therefore a strong commitment to free market principles creates the critical element of rewarding ethics within the culture that is needed for a prosperous economy.

Culture is the key to economic prosperity as proven by the history of America.  But that culture is eroding because our governmental leadership no longer has a strong commitment to free market principles.

As our winning culture that motivated hard work and ethical actions deteriorates because of bad economic policies that destroy the free market, America cannot expect to remain a prosperous nation. 

America is not in decline because other nations like China and India are growing in strength or any other reason.

America is declining because we have a deteriorating ethnical business environment, created and supported by our growing anti-capitalism government policies.

Our anti-capitalism government policies are the source of our decline as the Tea Party movement has rightly pointed out.

The path to economic recovery begins with repealing the many anti-capitalism government policies that this administration and Congress has passed and continue to propose. 

Sometimes it is not easy to identify bad economic policies because they are created with such good sounding intentions and backed by powerful lobbyist and special interest groups, but none the less they must be repealed. 

If not, the unintended negative consequences of anti-free market policies will continue to destroy the economy.

Policies that should be fought and repealed include pretty much any interference with the market process: minimum wages, price controls, taxes, tariffs, and most subsidies should all be repealed.

The true hope of our economic recovery rests with the new political leadership that we so desperately need to repeal everything on the agenda of the current administration.

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Reader Comments

Comment 1
Chang Says: on Friday, April 23, 2010 7:06:28 PM

Brace Yourself, China Is Finally Removing Its Stimulus

http://www.businessinsider.com/brace-yourself-china-is-removing-its-stimulus-2010-4


Comment 2
Peacethrough Superior Firepower Says: on Sunday, April 25, 2010 10:48:12 AM

"Launch of secret US space ship masks even more secret launch of new weapon Michael Evans, Pentagon Correspondent.

The X-37B sits on top of an Atlas V rocket
Somewhere above earth is America’s latest spaceship, a 30ft craft so classified that the Pentagon will not divulge its mission nor how much it cost to build.

The mysterious X37B, launched successfully by the US Air Force from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, using an Atlas V rocket, looks like a mini-Space Shuttle — but its mission is top secret.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7106714.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093


Comment 3
sally Says: on Sunday, April 25, 2010 5:38:05 PM

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/if-the-u-s-economy-goes-into-the-toilet-will-it-result-in-a-complete-and-total-collapse-of-society
"now former U.S. President Bill Clinton is comparing Tea Party members to Timothy McVeigh.

Considering the fact that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty, that is a very frightening parallel for Clinton to draw.

Does Clinton actually believe that Tea Party protesters should receive the same treatment as McVeigh?

Even more alarming is new legislation being pushed in the U.S. Senate. A new bill introduced by Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman would allow the U.S. military to round up large numbers of Americans and detain them indefinitely without a trial if they "pose a threat" or if they have "potential intelligence value" or for any other reason the President of the United States "considers appropriate".

The reality is that as "necessary" as bills like that may seem to many as we edge ever closer to the breakdown of society, the reality is that the United States is quickly becoming just like so many of the other horrific totalitarian regimes that we have seen rise throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

In fact a time may soon be coming when authorities in the U.S. may soon be able to legally utter this bone chilling phrase: "Your Papers Please!" Lawmakers in Washington D.C. working to create a new immigration "reform" bill have decided on a way to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants: a national biometric identification card that all American workers would be required to obtain.

Can you imagine being forced to carry around a national identification card?

Or worse?

A startup company developing "chipless RFID ink" has already tested its product on cattle and laboratory rats.

Could one day we all be required to sport an "RFID tatoo" to prove our identity to authorities?"



Comment 5
Steve Says: on Sunday, April 25, 2010 5:46:51 PM

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/insights-americas-disneyland-mike-krieger-and-our-neo-feudalistic-gulag-casino-economy
Why Extending Unemployment Benefits is Inflationary and Why Food Stamps = Bread Lines


Comment 6
packaging equipment Says: on Monday, April 26, 2010 2:28:55 PM

I agree, free market principles need to be adhered to in order for the market to work the way it should. At the same time, I think it's unfair to blame the current administration for some of the things that are currently going wrong - the previous administration left a huge mess on its way out and the new one has to find ways of trying to fix what it inherited.

Comment 7
Gabriael Says: on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 7:17:35 PM

Angel investors outlawed by new bill:

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article18744.html



Comment 8
George Says: on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 7:31:59 PM

Is this a preview of what is to come in the USA?

Iceland reports record 34 percent inflation
Inflation is up overall in Europe, especially in Iceland, which experienced a 2-year cumulative increase of 36 percent.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/Stefan-Karlsson-s-Blog/2010/0420/Iceland-reports-record-34-percent-inflation



Comment 9
Dunstan Says: on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 7:36:21 PM

At least you living in USA do not have your private home wi-fi networks mapped for the CIA to supenoa:


"There is a specter haunting Europe. Nope, not that one, but several European nations have expressed concern about Google’s slow but steady encroachment on citizens’ privacy protections. Now the search behemoth is in hot water with Germans for using its wandering Street View cars to log the location of private WLAN networks and media access control (MAC) addresses in that country.

Germany’s data protection chief said he was “horrified” by the discovery – which has been rumored for a while now – and called on Google to delete what he claims was unlawfully collected personal data from wireless networks, as well as to cease cruising German streets for Street View."

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-04/google-catches-flak-mapping-wlan-networks-mac-addresses-europe


Comment 10
Carter Says: on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 7:43:17 PM

Now that your Pres. Obama nationalized your healthcare like us Brits, you have this to look forward to!

"The British Medical Association is so worried it wants the new system suspended."

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1267892/Putting-health-records-national-NHS-database-save-lives-deeply-disturbing-questions-remain.html
Anyone's medical record is for sale & available for a price...




Comment 11
Harold Says: on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 7:46:53 PM

Dunstan you should be more concerned about the drones than Google's spying!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1268535/Superspy-sky-soon-patrolling-British-cities-search-hidden-terror-cells.html
"A Top-secret US unmanned drone used to locate Al Qaeda and Taliban hideouts in Pakistan and Afghanistan could soon be patrolling over British cities to search for
hidden terror cells.

The controversial move would allow MI5 and GCHQ, the Government's eavesdropping centre, to step up surveillance operations over the UK. Until now, the £23million Global Hawk aircraft has not been available for foreign sale.

However, US policy has been quietly changed and Britain is now negotiating to buy the drones. America is keen to supply them for British patrols after a string of terror plots threatening the US and its citizens.

These include the attempt in 2006 to detonate liquid bombs on aircraft flying to American cities from the UK. It is not known how many drones the UK wants from manufacturer Northrop Grumman, but earlier this year a senior Ministry of Defence procurement official visited the Pentagon to begin negotiations.

Britain would not need to use the drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan because the US already provides full air coverage in the region. Instead, it is believed they will be used mainly for domestic surveillance.

The drones are also being deployed by the US Navy in the Caribbean and off the Florida coast to combat drug smuggling. In Britain, MI5 and GCHQ already use three planes based at RAF Northolt in North-West London to spy on citizens.

The three Britten-Norman Islander aircraft are all fitted with sophisticated surveillance equipment. They have been used to track down terror cells and to locate former Afghan veterans who may have returned to Britain to plot terror attacks.

The aircraft are able to identify suspects using 'voice-prints' of insurgents with British accents that were picked up by spy planes monitoring Taliban radio signals in Afghanistan.

One stumbling block is that permission from the Civil Aviation Authority would be needed to fly the drones in already congested UK airspace. Although the CAA gave the MoD permission to fly another drone over parts of Wales earlier this month, it is understood to be against regular flights because of safety fears.

However, the Global Hawk recently became the first drone to be certified by the American Federal Aviation Authority for use in civilian air corridors with no advance notice.

The drone can stay airborne for 30 hours without refuelling. Last night, MoD sources said the Global Hawk was being looked at for possible military use but any decision to buy the drone would depend on funding.





Comment 12
Schmitty Says: on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 7:48:41 PM

No, this is a preview of what will go down in the USA:

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB127193332870480995.html?mod=BOL_hpp_dc
WHAT IF THEY GAVE a bond auction and nobody came?

"That is the ultimate doomsday scenario with the unprecedented fiscal deficits around the world -- that governments' credit lines could run out and they couldn't raise the cash they needed in the bond markets. At that point, after bailing out banks that had faced the same dilemma, who's there to bail out the governments?

That hasn't happened in Greece, ground zero in the European debt crisis. Earlier this week, Greece found ready and willing buyers for its short-term bills, albeit at yields twice what the government had to pay just a few months ago.

It was Germany that didn't receive sufficient bids to sell all the bonds it offered. In other words, the auction failed."



Comment 13
Plinker Says: on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 7:52:48 PM

Socialism vs Corporatism
by Ron Paul

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul665.html
"Lately many have characterized this administration as socialist, or having strong socialist leanings. I differ with this characterization. This is not to say Mr. Obama believes in free-markets by any means. On the contrary, he has done and said much that demonstrates his fundamental misunderstanding and hostility towards the truly free market. But a closer, honest examination of his policies and actions in office reveals that, much like the previous administration, he is very much a corporatist. This in many ways can be more insidious and worse than being an outright socialist.

Socialism is a system where the government directly owns and manages businesses. Corporatism is a system where businesses are nominally in private hands, but are in fact controlled by the government. In a corporatist state, government officials often act in collusion with their favored business interests to design polices that give those interests a monopoly position, to the detriment of both competitors and consumers.

A careful examination of the policies pursued by the Obama administration and his allies in Congress shows that their agenda is corporatist. For example, the health care bill that recently passed does not establish a Canadian-style government-run single-payer health care system. Instead, it relies on mandates forcing every American to purchase private health insurance or pay a fine. It also includes subsidies for low-income Americans and government-run health care “exchanges.” Contrary to the claims of the proponents of the health care bill, large insurance and pharmaceutical companies were enthusiastic supporters of many provisions of this legislation because they knew in the end their bottom lines would be enriched by Obamacare.


Similarly, Obama's “cap-and-trade” legislation provides subsidies and specials privileges to large businesses that engage in “carbon trading.” This is why large corporations, such as General Electric support cap-and-trade.

To call the President a corporatist is not to soft-pedal criticism of his administration. It is merely a more accurate description of the President’s agenda.

When he is a called a socialist, the President and his defenders can easily deflect that charge by pointing out that the historical meaning of socialism is government ownership of industry; under the President’s policies, industry remains in nominally private hands. Using the more accurate term – corporatism – forces the President to defend his policies that increase government control of private industries and expand de facto subsidies to big businesses. This also promotes the understanding that though the current system may not be pure socialism, neither is it free-market since government controls the private sector through taxes, regulations, and subsidies, and has done so for decades.

Using precise terms can prevent future statists from successfully blaming the inevitable failure of their programs on the remnants of the free market that are still allowed to exist. We must not allow the disastrous results of corporatism to be ascribed incorrectly to free market capitalism or used as a justification for more government expansion. Most importantly, we must learn what freedom really is and educate others on how infringements on our economic liberties caused our economic woes in the first place. Government is the problem; it cannot be the solution."




Comment 14
New Arizona Law Says: on Thursday, April 29, 2010 7:27:05 PM

Leviticus 19:33-34 (New International Version)

33 " 'When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. 34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.


Comment 15
Giblet Says: on Thursday, April 29, 2010 7:30:13 PM

http://dailybail.com/home/bill-moyers-with-simon-johnson-james-kwak-the-13-bankers-who.html?utm_source=patrick.net
With all due respect, we can only wish those tea party activists who gathered this week were not so single-minded about just who's responsible for their troubles, real and imagined. They're up in arms, so to speak, against big government, especially the Obama administration.

But if they thought this through, they'd be joining forces with other grassroots Americans who will soon be demonstrating in Washington and elsewhere against high finance, taking on Wall Street and the country's biggest banks.

The original Tea Party, remember, wasn't directed just against the British redcoats. Colonial patriots also took aim at the East India Company. That was the joint-stock enterprise originally chartered by the first Queen Elizabeth. Over the years, the government granted them special rights and privileges, which the owners turned into a monopoly over trade, including tea.

It may seem a stretch from tea to credit default swaps, but the principle is the same: when enormous private wealth goes unchecked, regular folks get hurt - badly. That's what happened in 2008 when the monied interests led us up the garden path to the great collapse.

Suppose the Tea Party folk had dropped by those Senate hearings this week looking into the failure of Washington Mutual. That's the bank that went belly up during the meltdown in September 2008. It was the largest such failure in American history.

WaMu, as we were reminded this week, made sub-prime loans that its executives knew were rotten, then packaged them as mortgage securities, and pawned them off on unsuspecting investors.



Comment 16
Chan Says: on Thursday, April 29, 2010 7:39:50 PM

Wow, the surplus itmes the federal & state governments are selling seems to have tripled as they try to bring in as much non-tax revenue as they can...

http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm
http://www.govsales.gov/html/index.htm
Some good deals if you live close to one of the many distribution places...




Comment 17
Penny Lane Says: on Thursday, April 29, 2010 7:42:50 PM

A penny for your thought has met inflation - pennies soon to be outlawed and no longer produced.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/senators-give-p%20enny-some-thought/article1549439/
“The committee will not stop honourable senators from earning or spending a pretty penny … Unfortunately, you can no longer trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers because, under the Currency Act, no florist or party to any transaction is obliged to accept the payment of more than 25 cents in pennies.”


Comment 18
Water wars are a comin Says: on Friday, April 30, 2010 6:07:22 PM


http://www.slate.com/id/2251547/
Warming in America
Mass migrations, water wars, and insect plagues. How will climate change reshape the electoral map?


Comment 19
You mean food wars are a coming Says: on Friday, April 30, 2010 6:10:18 PM

http://www.marketskeptics.com/2009/12/2010-food-crisis-for-dummies.html



Comment 20
You must mean the trade war that is on Says: on Friday, April 30, 2010 6:38:43 PM

http://johngaltfla.com/blog3/2010/04/28/while-the-greece-fire-spreads-a-trade-war-begins/



Comment 21
Or the war between Mexico & Arizona! Says: on Friday, April 30, 2010 6:42:50 PM

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/article_bc4f2de2-522e-11df-b701-001cc4c03286.html


Comment 22
Juan Says: on Saturday, May 01, 2010 6:25:55 AM

Actually, Arizona is not the only State on track to ask for proof of citizenship status, the Democrats at the Federal level are proposing the same thing:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20100430/cm_huffpost/557721National ID Card Included In Democratic Immigration Bill




Full Summary here:
http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/REPAIRProposal.pdf






Comment 23
No, the class war is on! The free market is already dead Says: on Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:04:32 AM

Class War For Idiots / April 28, 2010
Confessions Of A Wall St. Nihilist: Forget About Goldman Sachs, Our Entire Economy Is Built On Fraud
By Mark Ames

http://exiledonline.com/confessions-of-a-wall-st-nihilist-forget-about-goldman-sachs-our-entire-economy-is-built-on-fraud/
“Jesus H. Christ, Ames– you’re even more clueless than the idiots who managed the Lehman collapse. I mean, didn’t everyone get it how badly those idiots screwed up with Lehman? It was the biggest screw-up this hemisphere has ever seen. You had Secretary Paulson and Fed Chief Bernanke scratching their a@@es not knowing what to do, so then they go, ‘OK, we’re supposed to be a free market economy, and we’re supposed to be the Republicans—let’s try something different for a change since nothing else is working. Let’s go out on a limb and actually give this “free market” thing a whirl. Who knows? Maybe the “free market” really works the way we always say it does. Nothing else seems to work, let’s let the free market decide Lehman’s fate. Maybe corporate-socialism isn’t the answer.’ So they hung Lehman out in the free-market, and BAM! The. Sh_t. Hit. The. Fan. No sh**, dudes—the free market is for suckers, didn’t your daddy teach you idiots that? Not only did Lehman collapse—everything collapsed; confidence in the entire system collapsed. And here’s what I’m trying to explain to simpletons like you: Our economy is just a confidence game. Don’t ask me how it got this way, don’t care.”

I tried saying something insulting to him, but he just talked right over me, lurching forward baring his laser-whitened teeth.

“I’m sure you have the answer, you and Ron Paul and all the other pot-smoking libertarian do-gooders have it all figured out. But what I’m saying is, no confidence means end of the confidence game. That’s what Lehman showed. Every single player in finance suddenly had to face the fundamental problem—this whole f_cking economy is built on fraud and lies and garbage. So when Lehman collapsed, every single player panicked, going, ‘If Lehman was nothing but a Ponzi scheme—and I know what I’m running is a Ponzi scheme—holy sh_t, that means everyone else is running a Ponzi scheme too! Run for the exits!’ No one trusted anyone else, everyone pulled out, and the entire global economy collapsed just like that. And that meant your parents, my parents, every teacher, every fireman, every person in the country going into retirement, every price on every asset—wiped out.

“And here’s what I’m trying to get you to understand: In the grown-up world, when an entire country’s savings accounts are wiped out because of some do-gooder and his law books and his Thomas Jefferson ‘What about free and fair markets?’ crap, that is a big problem—people don’t give a f_ck about Jefferson and ‘free and fair markets,’ they just want their savings to be worth something. And people are right: Jefferson was an imbecile. He should have been a folk singer, not a Founding f_cking Father. But that’s another issue that’s over your head—the point is, the guy who destroys this economy because it’s ‘the right thing to do’ will have to flee for his life, and whatever president or political party was in power when that decision was made will be out of power for the next 200 years. That’s why Washington panicked and passed ‘the bailout,’ they didn’t want to be the fools whom all the Ponzi victims blame for tanking the Ponzi scheme, so they broke the glass and pumped up a newer, bigger Ponzi scheme. It was an expensive 14 trillion dollar lesson in, ‘Stay the f_ck away from free-market experiments, assholes!’ How naive are you people to actually believe that ‘free market’ crap? The problem is when people in power are stupid enough to listen to guys like you: all the do-gooder libertarians and the do-gooder free-market Republicans who forgot that they’re supposed to lie. Hello!”



Comment 24
Carp Says: on Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:11:42 AM

This sucker's going down!

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Archives2010/KunstlerApril27.html
"Going down" will mean a society with no money and an infrastructure for daily life that requires gobs of money to run, and a populace too dazed, confused, and inflamed to do anything useful in the way of organizing new infrastructures for daily life for their new circumstances. In retrospect, the Great Depression of the 1930s will look like "The Philadelphia Story" compared to what we wake up to ten years from now.

President Obama's speech at Cooper Union last week was a remarkable performance. It managed to appear forceful and serious without containing any really serious or forceful proposals to discipline a banking system that is running a hostage-and-ransom racket on civilization. If this is finally what the Obama Experience is all about than his detractors have been right all along: he is a tool. Finance reform aside, there are still plenty of laws left on the statute books that could be applied to the frauds and rackets that ran absolutely amok on Wall Street the past few years. I would still like to know why buying CDS "insurance" against your own issue of bonds deliberately engineered to default is NOT a form of insider trading, to put it as simply as possible.

The SEC action against Goldman Sachs is likely to open a Pandora's box of troubles for that company, and perhaps all of the Too Big To Fail banks. But even so, I believe this sucker is going down before 99.9 percent of it is sorted out. Anyway, there was a lot about the SEC action that seemed curious, to put it mildly, from the timing of it, to the brevity of the document, to the strange fact that it emerged at all from an agency whose principal activity the past few years has been the viewing of internet porn, and which has otherwise behaved so indifferently in the face of numberless offenses to common decency, not to mention the public interest, that it might as well have been staffed by a thousand head of Holstein cows rather than licensed attorneys and graduates of accredited colleges.

This sucker is going down because the train of bankruptcies underway has a remorseless self-reinforcing power to provoke more and more bankruptcies at every stop along the line as every promise to pay is welshed on. The mortgages will not be paid and securities will not pay their investors and the banks will choke on the bad paper promises in their vaults and the pension funds will not pay their beneficiaries and the states and counties and municipalities will go broke and not pay their employees and creditors, and the federal government will not be able to "print" new money in sufficient quantities fast enough to compensate for all the money not being paid up-and-down the line... and one morning we will wake up and discover that all those promises to pay were sham promises based on no productive activity whatsoever... and that will be a sad day. Perhaps the Dow Jones Industrial Average will hit 35,000 on that day.

Nothing can stop this chain of bankruptcy. It's already baked in the cake. There is probably some wish on the part of those in charge, like Mr. Obama, to try everything possible to postpone it. And there is likewise surely a huge effort underway in the banking sector right now to cream off as much cash as possible so that when this sucker does go down they will bethink themselves better positioned to survive the consequences.

Personally, I believe that the damage was mostly done during the tenure of poor dim George W. Bush, and his predecessor Bill Clinton. I suspect that Mr. Obama learned at the height of 2008 election campaign -- during those days of the Lehman collapse and the TARP -- just how completely the government -- and the people of the USA -- were in fact hostage to the banking system, and that it has been his unfortunate role to pretend that there is some other fate to bargain for besides this sucker going down. It is probably why he continues to smoke so much. He must be lighting one Marlboro off the tip of another, one after another, in whatever inner sanctum he repairs to when the midnight chimes toll around the White House. It's sad to think of this graceful, still rather young man going down in history as the chump-of-the-century, a reincarnation of Herbert Hoover on steroids, with sugar on top.

Animosities brewing as they are among the white trash elements of the country, I just hope this sucker doesn't resolve into an ugly bout of attempted ethnic cleansing. Certainly Obama's racial make-up has inspired a revival of the Ku Klux spirit around the Nascar ovals. I'm sincerely worried that the misdeeds of people name Blankfein, Rubin, and Madoff could provoke a red-white-and-blue pogrom.

The big mystery for the moment is how come a few good men of stature in important places have not stepped forward to say the right thing or do the right deed. How come no US congressperson challenged the knavish behavior of Republicans who condone malicious idiocy that they know to be false like the so-called "birther" activity. How come no putative "progressive" has called the Democrats on their disingenuous failure to call illegal immigrants what they are. How come no state attorney general has filed charges against TBTF bank misconduct even if the US attorney general lies in state over at the US DOJ. How come no political figure of any stripe has called for the resignation of Summers, Rubin, Gensler and other Goldman Sachs "sleepers" infesting high levels of government. How come Dylan Ratigan is the only visible figure in any major newsroom willing to identify the precise nature of the meta-swindle.

When this sucker goes down, our primary task will be reorganizing American life on a much more local and de-complexified basis. It's a very big assignment and especially daunting against a possible background of political disorder. The losses will be epic and the changes severe, but it doesn't have to mean the end of recognizably American culture. There will be very little money around, and it may end up being a certificate backed by gold issued by a bank other than the Federal Reserve. Or maybe we'll just be swapping stuff for the makings of dinner.

So many forces are roiling around 'out there' now that it's hard to believe that the authorities in government and banking can keep the illusion of normality going a whole lot longer. The possible litigation against Goldman Sachs-style frauds by a thousand aggrieved victims is enough to paralyze the system. Meanwhile, trillions in credit default swaps are ticking away like dirty bombs. Greece is going down, with Portugal, Spain, Ireland, and the UK standing by to go next. Nobody can pay their bills. Before long, the old folks won't get their checks. Then the poor folks. Lately, I wonder if there will even be an election six months from now."




Comment 25
Interesting Says: on Saturday, May 01, 2010 2:09:14 PM

Cement pour probable cause of oil spill blowout in Gulf of Mexico?

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/seafan/3886



Comment 26
Interesting Indeed Says: on Saturday, May 01, 2010 2:28:34 PM

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/44349
Halliburton Presentation May Explain Horizon Oil Rig Explosion and Fire


Comment 27
No War, too fat to fight!!! Says: on Tuesday, May 04, 2010 7:21:21 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8655651.stm
US youngsters are too fat to fight, warn generals

Former generals want Congress to act to give children better food in schools
Rising rates of obesity among young Americans could undermine the future of the US military, two retired generals have warned.

More than a quarter of young Americans are now too fat to fight, they said.

Writing in the Washington Post, the ex-commanders said the fat crisis ruled out more potential military service recruits than any other medical factor.

They want Congress to introduce laws to give US children better nutrition in schools, with less sugar, salt and fat.

John Shalikashvili and Hugh Shelton, both former chairmen of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote: "Obesity rates threaten the overall health of America and the future strength of our military."

"We consider this problem so serious from a national security perspective that we have joined more than 130 other retired generals, admirals and senior military leaders in calling on Congress to pass new child nutrition legislation," the commanders added.

The warning comes amid mounting fears that childhood obesity has turned into an "epidemic" affecting an astonishing one in three young American people.

Mr Shalikashvili and Mr Shelton pointed to post-school lunch laws from 1946, which recognised that poor nutrition reduced the pool of military recruits.

"We must act, as we did after World War II, to ensure that our children can one day defend our country, if need be."




Comment 28
Li Says: on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 6:00:46 PM

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aMbfBKW.uKn4
China May ‘Crash’ in Next 9 to 12 Months

When all those unmarried guys in China loose their jobs they will have nothing to do but fight & wage war



Comment 29
Dilbert Says: on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 6:04:41 PM

Ron Paul needs to be careful as if he keeps pushing the Fed audit I am worried he may end up like JFK!

http://open.salon.com/blog/rw005g/2010/05/01/congress_admits_lee_harvey_oswald_didnt_act_alone
Congress Admits Lee Harvey Oswald Didn't Act Alone


Comment 30
War or Civil war is going to be upon us? Says: on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 6:06:32 PM

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/2246-Threats-Of-Civil-War.html
Greece will not cut public salaries or there will be civil war.

"There's the gauntlet folks. It means that no "assistance" can actually succeed, because it is not possible to get the fiscal situation under control without significant cuts in public spending.

This, incidentally, is the same problem we have in the US, and why attempts to deal with our fiscal situation at both state and federal levels is going to end up in the same place eventually. The majority of our budget is comprised of handouts of one form or another, whether they be Social Security, Medicare, or public-sector salaries.

The "unified opposition" by public-sector employee unions (just look at what Florida teachers ran when their pension handouts and tenure were threatened) says everything you need to know.

Greece has to be cut loose. The best way to do it is for Germany to walk away from the Euro and return to the Mark for its currency, leaving the rest of Europe to twist in the wind.

I see no other solution. Threats of civil war, which are effectively what the public sector unions here in the US have also threatened repeatedly since 2008 (and to which we have responded by refusing to cut their salaries and benefits) mean that we have the irresistible force meeting the immovable object.

All such governments who refuse to take on these bullies and meet that threat with immediate charges of inciting overthrow of the government by force (in the US this charge is known as seditious conspiracy) will fail.

We have refused to make clear that such threats will result in charges of this sort - and so have other nations such as Greece. Yet unless this is made crystal clear and this sort of approach by these unions is put down immediately all nations beset by this sort of action will fail both politically and economically.

Simply put the artificial support proffered to the financial sector should have never been put forward, but having done so, the public must now bear the cost, here, today, and immediately.

Those are the only choices folks. Greece, and indeed the entire European Union, will ultimately disintegrate (as will America) if this is not done."



Comment 31
Class war is right! Says: on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 6:09:42 PM


http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Archives2010/KunstlerMay03.html
I continue to wonder how it will all go down this summer in the Hamptons where, like Versailles in 1789, the elite mega-wealthy of today cavort shamelessly in a semi-private fantasy-land of status vamping for the Vanity Fair shutterbugs. The Hamptons are not defensible -- unless you count privet hedge as an effective fortification. Any bloody-minded gang of unemployed, grievance-maddened mudlarks can creepy-crawl down the Sunrise Highway to Gin Lane with firearms bought at the WalMart (and modified to full-automatic in the garage). What if hundreds -- thousands! -- of them get the same idea? Louis XVI and his homeys probably never thought the mobs would scale the ha-has of his fabulous estate, either."


Comment 32
Drink Tea, not Kool Aid Says: on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 6:20:55 PM

http://www.amerika.org/2010/organization/tea-party/
Tea Party
May 2nd, 2010 by Brett Stevens.
"The Tea Party isn’t a crusade for small government. It’s a clash of personal values systems and the types of civilization they suggest. Whatever the future of the Tea Parties, the fundamental split in Western politics will remain until solved.

The Tea Parties in the USA, Europe and now Canada have really captured my imagination. It’s rare to see such a populist upswell in one’s own lifetime."



Comment 33
Chen Says: on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 6:25:31 PM

The free market will kill GS:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-g-brant/the-death-of-goldman-sach_b_554371.html
"I expect Goldman Sachs to be out of business by the end of this year and maybe before the November election. That's just my opinion, of course. But I'll justify it in a moment.

I will post C-Span's coverage of this testimony as soon as it's available. I predict it will be viewed for years to come by students of business ethics but also by students of famous moments in the civic life of America. I believe this moment will be seen on par with the famous incident in which Senator McCarthy was brought down with the simple question "Have you no sense of decency?"

Senator Carl Levin's simple question - the one that killed Goldman Sachs - was "Do you think it's proper for Goldman Sachs to bet against the security it is selling to a client without telling that client that it is making that bet?"

Mr. Blankfein said over and over again that it was proper for Goldman Sachs to do what they had done. He even said at one point that the minute Goldman Sachs sells something to its customer, it no longer owns that security and has "the opposite interest" to its client regarding that security. This was just one of many breathtaking moments, as I could tell that Mr. Blankfein had no idea what he was doing to his firm."


Comment 34
Bankers Rule the World! Says: on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 6:37:28 PM

Suckers, after the IMF bails out Greece & Europe, the USA will bail out the IMF stealing more of your hard earned $, Love G. Saks

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/credit/after-imf-bails-out-europe-u-s-may-have-to-bail-out-imf/19459061/?sms_ss=email


Comment 35
Godless Greedy Capitalists Says: on Sunday, May 09, 2010 5:51:12 PM

Wallstreet's Bull Market Worship is the Baal of Today!

"Today, godless capitalism is threatening to supplant the two millennia reign of Christ’s message of brotherly love—if not in word, then, certainly, in deed.

Greed is good is also one of Ayn Rand’s fundamental beliefs; and, if Karl Marx is the father of godless communism, Ayn Rand, America’s premier doyenne of selfishness, is the patron saint of its antagonist, godless capitalism.

Alisa Rosenbaum was born in Russia in 1905 where she would later change her name to Ayn Rand. In her youth, she would become an atheist, a belief she would hold for the rest of her life. No other self-proclaimed atheist would achieve such a large following—except perhaps Karl Marx; additionally, no other writer would be as responsible for giving philosophical cover to the selfishness and greed that would later characterize American-style “laissez-faire” capitalism.

Ayn Rand saw selfishness and greed as virtues; and, to their later disgrace, so, too, did many others.

Karl Marx was right when he predicted that capitalism would destroy itself.

To call capitalism a monetary system is a misnomer. It’s a financial shakedown, a scheme whereby bankers profit by inserting debt into every aspect of human activity. Eventually, everyone becomes indebted beyond their capacity to repay and the system collapses.

The bankers’ indebting of others eventually will end in their own demise, with governments, businesses, and consumers drowning in debt and banks insolvent. Capitalism is an economic parasitoid, a parasitic system where parasite and host both expire.

Capitalism’s recipe insures government’s infinite growth as government access to central bank credit is unlimited and bankers will profit from loaning paper money into perpetuity.

When gold was removed from paper money in 1971, this simple yet powerful recipe for capitalism’s success was fundamentally altered and so, too, would be capitalism. It would only be a matter of time until capitalism sans gold would falter."


Comment 36
Godless Greedy Capitalists Says: on Sunday, May 09, 2010 5:52:19 PM

Above article quoted from this source:

http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1272953460.php


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