Is Sotomayor a Lesbian or a Tax Cheat or More?  We need to know.

Abstract: The political game of vetting and investigating a SCOTUS nominee is now in progress. From the left we learned how to subject nominees to all sorts of questions and bring out ‘testimonials’ and other information in the Clarence Thomas trials. We may need another ‘Anita Hill’ to testify in Congress against her. This is the way the process works now, so let’s get busy and dig and dig and find out who this Sotomayor person is and if she has any warts.  Then the information needs to be put up in lights with documentation and testimonials. We can play the character assignation game too as this is now apparently essential in Washington politics. She has made alarming statements that seem to cast her as some kind of rebellious radical belligerent who would corrupt and poison our judicial system and these need to be inspected closely. Ella es racista? Necesitamos saber más sobre ella.

President Obama has finally made his first selection for a nominee for the United States Supreme Court. We now must struggle with the potential politics of diversity, leftist power and activist judges[1] as this process proceeds. This nomination is a welcome prerogative of the Obama administration as they are minority-based and will put person of color in as many places in government as possible. This is the privilege of the winner of a political contest. This will bring ‘change’ in our society and the voters certainly sanctioned this last November. She may be just fine. But, we need to avoid putting some misfit on the High Bench so let us dig for information and find out what we can:

We already know this about our new appointee for SCOTUS from her own mouth:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” said Judge Sotomayor, who is now considered to be near the top of President Obama’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees.”-- A Judge’s View of Judging Is on the Record by Charlie Savage Published: May 14, 2009 [Emphasis is mine in all quotes.]

Here is how she views her ethnicity from the bench:

“…. As National Journal legal analyst Stuart Taylor reported, “Sotomayor also referred to the cardinal duty of judges to be impartial as a mere ‘aspiration because it denies the fact that we are by our experiences making different choices than others.’ And she suggested that ‘inherent physiological or cultural differences’ may help explain why ‘our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.’” The full speech was reprinted in something called the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal. “La Raza” is Spanish for “The Race.” Imagine if a white male Republican court nominee had published in a law review called “The Race.”[2]-- The Supreme Court high hurdles contest By Michelle Malkin   May 27, 2009 09:33 AM

We also know she is a member of La Raza.[3][4] We do know that gay activists are wildly supporting Sotomayor:

“In a statement issued by the National LGBT Bar Association, the group said Sotomayor “not only meets, but exceeds” the organization's criteria for a nominee.”-- Gay Activists Applaud Sotomayor Nomination. By Carlos Santoscoy MAY 27, 2009[5]

La Raza is an Hispanic Supremacist group and she may be therefore connected to the allied La Mecha bunch. [6]They are another group that wants to reconquer much of the US and return it to its Mexican roots and expel Anglos in the process. No wonder she gets so much praise from the radical and criminal ranks of the Hispanics. Many think she would vote for amnesty for illegal aliens in a flash.  Thus, she would be a force for supporting criminal activity mixed with bias and racism. We need to look at this closely.

We should object not to gays living their own lifestyles, but we can object to some surreptitious creature that might sneak into the Supreme Court and brings along a hidden agenda for social and judicial activism. This portends that she is possibly just a simple stooge for the radical left and, as such, defiles and soils the mission and history of the High Court.  She also appears to be a hot head or hot dog [she is reported to be nasty and abrasive at the bench] and her legal competence has been questioned.[7] We need to know all about her since we now put our candidates under some kind of political microscope as we found out with the Bork and Thomas cases. Maybe we need another “Anita Hill” to emerge and ‘testify’ about her sexual activities or other unseemly conduct. That is the way politics works now.

Nobody seems to know a thing about her tax history.[8] She has an apartment in the West Village of NYC and that is expensive.[9] She probably pays $5000 a month on her rent alone. Her federal salary is not so very high so we need to know how she balances her house budget living in Manhattan:

“ The Washington Post reports that the 54-year-old Sotomayer[sic]  has a $179,500 yearly salary but

On her financial disclosure report for 2007, she said her only financial holdings were a Citibank checking and savings account, worth $50,000 to $115,000 combined. During the previous four years, the money in the accounts at some points was listed as low as $30,000.”[10]

We need to investigate this person and expose any and all activities in her life as is the contemporary custom in vetting SCOTUS nominees. We learned this process from Ted Kennedy and the mentally unstable Joe Biden[11]—a.k.a. Plugs[12] the Buffoon.[13] This is a route inherited from the liberal Democrats. If she has any warts we need to see them from all angles. We really should avoid having perverts, parasites, racists, bigots and stooges on the courts. They just poison our society.  She may be just some mediocre liberal, but we need to know more.

And on it goes. Her judgeship may be a mere ‘aspiration as she seems to be the center of some blueprint to corrupt the legal system using identity politics, sleaze and other nefarious tactics. Let us look into this mess with diligence.

rycK [a 5^th generation Californian in exile]

Comments to: ryckki@gmail.com

Little Timmy Geithner Races the Interest Rate Demon around the Financial World. The Demon is Wining.

Abstract: U.S. Treasury Secretary Little Timothy Geithner’s plan to keep the yield on 10 year Treasury bonds low has gone gangrene. The Chinese are watching us as they think Treasury is printing money and monetizing the debt thus cheating the Chinese out of the value of their bond holdings. Inflation appears to be looming and this is the usual penalty for too much money being spread around. We are spending and printing our way to financial oblivion and the cracks in this phony facade will start opening soon for all to witness and our financial essence and wealth will gush out leaving us with a worthless currency if we do not watch out what we are doing.  I believe that the far Left want this to happen.

We have been inspecting the antics of our elfin being[1] as he juggles several financial hot potatoes in the steamy atmosphere of Washington politics and the relevant question thus becomes: which one will he drop first? I think he will drop our currency in the latrine.

Little Timmy’s theme song:

“… [the fed people] are very committed to making sure they have the ability to unwind and reverse the exceptional measures they have taken once we have achieved the necessary stability in our financial markets and an economic recovery is back on track."[2]—Geithner [Emphasis is mine in all quotes.]

"I am deeply aware of the complexity and importance of that basic task of making sure we are preserving that great asset -- which is the deepest and most liquid markets in the world. And we will work very hard at that." —Geithner

If we could beg a question here: Why is the interest rate on the 10 year bond going up when Little Timmy wants it to go down? Isn’t he the Snake Charmer who can make the cobra rise and fall from the aperture in the wicker basket with aural spells from his little flute?

For another analysis I choose my favorite international analyst [Ambrose Evans-Pritchard] from the Telegraph in London:

“Yields on 10-year Treasury bonds have risen relentlessly since March when the Fed first announced its plan to buy $300bn (£188bn) of US government debt directly, a move that briefly forced rates down to nearly 2.5pc, a level thought to be the Fed's implicit target.

Yields have jumped to 3.69pc – after spiking as high as 3.74pc on Wednesday – pushing up the standard 30-year mortgage loan to 5.08pc and lifting the borrowing cost for corporations.”[3]-- Bond markets defy Fed as Treasury yields spike. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 28 May 2009

We all know, or should know, that the 10-year Treasury bonds actually define the instant cost of capital.  This should be of interest in case capitalism inadvertently survives Obama and his Marxian hordes who believe that we can spend our way to prosperity. Incidentally, these bond yields eventually also directly influence the long bonds and mortgage rates. Not to be so brash or insolent as to mention that the fatal global crash in home prices that precipitated this depression and that the recovery in that global wealth sector depends largely upon new mortgage rates, we seem to be having some problem with the control strings that our little elf uses to push and pull the treasury. Any liberal ought to be able to push on as string or a piece of linguini.

The Chinese position:

“Mr Luo, whose English tends toward the colloquial, added: “We hate you guys. Once you start issuing $1 trillion-$2 trillion [$1,000bn-$2,000bn] . . .we know the dollar is going to depreciate, so we hate you guys but there is nothing much we can do.””[4]—wild rant by Luo Ping, a director-general at the China Banking Regulatory Commission [Emphasis is mine in all quotes.]

Out of options?

“"The Fed is going to have to consider doubling its purchases of Treasuries," said Ashraf Laidi, from CMC Capital Markets.”We could be nearing the end-game for the US dollar but the Fed has little choice at this point. We're in a vicious circle where any policy aimed at supporting the US economy must be at the expense of the dollar."-- Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

“It is unclear why US bond yields have spiked so violently, with spill-over effects on gilts and bunds. One camp of investors is worried that inflation is rearing its ugly head again: others fear a sovereign debt crisis as over-extended states loses their AAA ratings."-- Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Maybe this is a Buffet buffeting effect as our Sage of Omaha has divined that our government will “…inflate its way out of the burden of that debt,” Buffett said. [5]

This prompts me to think that Little Timmy Geithner has a novel plan to inflate the dollar, pay off the debt and not raise interest rates. That would be original. With some new and as yet unexplained maneuvers by the Fed and Treasury they might try to satisfy all citizens, and the vigilant world, particularly in Peking, and work a miracle with the cobra and the basket. I happen think Geithner is just lost and frustrated.

Maybe somebody can explain all this to me as I seem to have lost my way in the complex economics of 2009.

“Dallas Fed chief Richard Fisher said his recent trip to Asia was an eye opener. "Chinese government senior officials grilled me about whether or not we are going to monetise the actions of our legislature."-- Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

I think Little Timmy is now the leading candidate for the Nobel Prize in Economics if he pulls this trick out of the magical air he seems to be living in.  But, I tend to be a bit stuffy and really want some proof that we can print money and suffer no inflation or debasement of our currency, credit ratings or dignity during this crash into financial oblivion.

Where do we get these cretins? How much are these losers in Washington going to cost us?

rycK

Comments to: ryckki@gmail.com

California Begs for Alms and Descends into Whoredom. The Inferno is at Hand.

Abstract: California now grovels like a diseased hooker in need of a quick fix in a frantic quest for money from anywhere and anywhere. The social structure of California has been debauched and their skill and reputation for handling finances are the jokes of the universe. Besotted in a drug infested inferno with hoards of swarming illegal aliens milking every possible benefit they have hit the very bottom of the Pit. They now beg for a co-sucker to partner with them in their misery so they can borrow even more money while they have no plans to cut spending—the financial problem that initiated this mess. Only a fiscal earthquake can jolt these lunatics back into financial reality. That disaster will happen soon.

We all know that California is finished as a society at least in economic terms.[1][2] They are no better off in the social arena.[3]  Polluted with drug-crazed Marxian puppets the Sacramento Legislature cannot seem to find ways to halt their psychotic spending sprees that will sink the state in debt for decades. We know that the Golden State has had some nasty encounters with financial reality in past years[4], but now they face The Abyss and what is their plan? Beg for money from somewhere else—any where!!

Here is a snapshot of the current maudlin circus act in full bloom:

“In a move with only one modern-day precedent, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic lawmakers are pressing the Obama administration and members of Congress for federal loan guarantees to help the state out of a desperate, multibillion-dollar jam.”[5]-- Calif. wants federal government to back its loans May 27, 2009 by Judy Lin

Wasn’t this predictable?? The ‘experts,’ like Paul Krugman of the Walter Duranty Papers [6] tells us that the constitutional limits to taxation in California are the problem and we need to raise taxes![7] Higher taxes will bring us prosperity. But, when did this leftist puppet ever suggest anything other than more taxes and bigger government for any problem? Never.

So, the grubby quest for more funds morphs into a sickening spectacle of tears, threats and howls that match elements of the Divine Comedy[8]. We have passed the first two cantos [first was the drug/political culture and the second canto was the uncontrolled social spending] in this epic and, now having passed Purgatorio, we enter the Inferno. We have to acknowledge that Paradiso is lost forever in a social swamp infested with sloth, sodomy and drug addiction. This dismal failure was predictable and is actually a desirable outcome of the elitists of the Left.[9] But, not to suggest that they have no designs on the wealth of others, as the rest of us are their targets, we must study this nonsense:

“California is not asking for cash, like the tens of billions given to AIG, General Motors or Morgan Stanley. (MS) Instead, the state with the worst credit rating in the nation is asking that Washington act as a sort of co-signer on the state's borrowing, to be backed up with money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.”-- Judy Lin [Emphasis is mine in all quotes. All quotes in this blog reference the Judy Lin article unless stated otherwise.]

This is like “sort of “selling your little sister into slavery so you can keep your sick mother fixed up with the latest in designer drugs and living in the trendy new  green ambience replete with some expensive carbon cap receipts and weekly trips to Mexicali.  I am sure the rest of us will be pleased to subsidize Calif0rnia’s plunge into the financial maelstrom for yet another year. It will be ‘temporary’ we can be assured and we can believe in this plea and its outcome given California’s financial histories of the past few decadent decades. Sure.

The justification:

“"There's simply no better stimulus than guaranteeing state and local bonds, particularly those that are being used to get through the crisis and avoid layoffs," said Rep. Brad Sherman, one of 15 Democrats in California's House delegation who signed a letter earlier this month asking for the federal loan guaranty.””—quote from Rep. Brad Sherman  

Let us pause and ask: who caused the crisis and when will it end??

“"We are not asking for a bailout," said state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, a Los Angeles Democrat. "We're asking for the federal government to step in where commercial banks can't this year because of the crisis within the financial industry.””—quote from Assembly Speaker Karen Bass

When will it end Karen?? How much do you need? Why is your credit rating down there among the cockroaches?

“"I think if the federal government can go to the aid of major financial institutions, particularly when state and local governments face short-term liquidity issues, I think helping them out is very relevant," Frank said.”-- Barney Frank [Backside Barney[10]]

Short-term?? Liquidity?

From a previous blog on this issue:

“They have a $104.3 billion budget with a $ 15.2 billion deficit and $7 billion in spending cuts.

Having passed high school in that state I am at a loss to see what the problem is. In a progressive society, this amounts to only a $ 7.2 billion dollar deficit and the unreasonable and antisocial law that prevents the state from deviating from a balanced budget with no more barrowing is trivial. “[11]--California Crumbles as Paralyzed Politicos Pass Some Phony Budget: Arnold Will Veto This Wreckage by rycK.  Sep 17, 2008. [Emphasis is mine in all quotes.]

Their deficits then ballooned to 42 billons at the end of 2008 and now it is climbing past 22 billions this year. I am sure we can think of this process as short-term using Barney Logic. But, let us look ahead and ask, politely, what is the plan to balance the budget for 2010??

They are cutting?

“California already has cut $15 billion and raised taxes by nearly $13 billion this year. Schwarzenegger has proposed cutting nearly $20 billion more, including eliminating California's welfare-to-work program and getting rid of health insurance for 930,000 poor children”

The prediction from an unbiased observer:

“California is just as likely to repay its loans, said Matt Fabian, a bond analyst at Municipal Market Advisors, based in Concord, Mass. He and others noted that the state has never been late on a payment, and is always collecting revenue and has the option of raising taxes.”

"California's not going to default," Fabian said”

This is merely half a thought Matty! What they are asking for is a co-signer or co-sucker or, in San Francisco parlance a sugar daddy. [Massachusetts is also going bankrupt so he needs a good storyline when the Boston liberals come to him for alms. He can huddle with his counterparts in New Jersey, Michigan and Maryland as well.]

The missing link here, disguised as some kind of algebraic solution to achieving a target number is to think about the colossal tax hikes they are implementing and then ask: do massive tax hikes drive down tax revenues? Oh, yes they do. So, we cannot just pluck out another 20 bln in taxes from the greedy capitalists because such people will get fed up and leave the state or go out of business and unemployment will soar even higher. Extending their feverish logic here we can demonstrate that a tax rate above 100% would create a new form of prosperity.

There is no end to this cycle of spending and bawling and begging for alms. California has washed out its social resources, trashed its future in a poisonous wasteland of illegal aliens, drugs, union overlords and sloth and becomes not a state but a malignant piece of social leprosy that threatens to infect the rest of us. If the fed co-suckers on this loan package it will just metastasize to a bigger tumor next year. Like the addicts they are, the left-liberals and psychotic radicals in that state will crawl back to the taxpayers and grope wildly for anything dumpster prize they can get. They will NOT cut spending in any meaningful or financially responsible manner. These fools spend 40 billions on ‘education’ and have the 47th worst educational system in America. Raising taxes on everything in sight will just push up the cost of everything that California sells or offers and that will cause the resident politicians to look elsewhere for finances for their debauches. Now, they want to grow and sell dope. What is next? Slavery? Child porn? It is too bad they cannot print their own money.

California will have Somalia’s social structure and Zimbabwe’s financial success in the near future.

This is hopeless. Move out!

rycK [a 5^th generation Californian in exile]

Comments to: ryckki@gmail.com

A Bigot is Chosen for the Supremes. Liberalism Celebrates!

President Obama has finally made his first selection for a nominee for the United States Supreme Court. We now must struggle with the politics of diversity, leftist power and activist judges as this process proceeds. This nomination is a welcome prerogative of the Obama administration as they are minority-based and will put person of color in as many places in government as possible. This is the privilege of the winner of a political contest. This will bring ‘change’ in our society and the voters certainly sanctioned this last November.

Here is a quote from our new appointee for SCOTUS:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” said Judge Sotomayor, who is now considered to be near the top of President Obama’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees.”-- A Judge’s View of Judging Is on the Record by Charlie Savage Published: May 14, 2009 [Emphasis is mine in all quotes.]

How about this as a reply?

I would hope that a wise Anglo male with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Hispanic  woman  who hasn’t lived that life,…”—rycK in a hypothetical response to  Sotomayor’s comment.

By merely changing places with the author of this bigoted statement, we can test the liberals on their phony concept of diversity. This hypothetical response that exactly switches ethnic identities and gender with the speaker of this nonsense is not going to be accepted as politically correct. The transition is not politically equal. There is no level playing field anymore—there is just hate and leftist bias and the urge to tax white people to ameliorate the rage and actions of the past.  That is good leftist politics.

Diversity here means that they are free to discriminate against white males and that this is a one-sided argument that has been settled. Obama has already demonstrated his ideological racism[1] in his books and his involvement with Jeremiah Wright and other racists.  We must now continue to live with stuff like this:

A quote by Kamau Kambon “[blacks must]…exterminate white people off the face of the planet.” [2] [The New York Times did not comment on this guy.]

Senator Barack Obama told us about the ‘typical white person’ and denigrates whites[3] for ‘clinging to their guns and religion’ and escapes any accusations of overt racism by the left. Obama is an ideological racist, a bigot, an arrogant elitist and a racism enabler and all this welcomed by the rabid left as they grunt and grab at the tax base. He can listen to the rabid racist howls of Jeremiah Wright and see nothing out of the ordinary.  He can explain all this. He cannot disown his pastor or church he said. Then, he did.[4]

Nothing will change and the racial and ethnic polarization will only grow worse. The sad fact is that because of cognitive skill differentials [The Bell Curve[5][6][7]] certain minorities will, on average, not be able to compete effectively in our society so we can expect more ‘affirmative action[8]’ programs from our government. Other minorities will excel. We might even hear that illegal aliens were ‘exploited and abused’ and now deserve some new affirmative action programs provided they will vote with the Democrats. The standardized tests will be outlawed or minimized as they exclude certain minorities by test scores. We saw that in the New Haven Fireman case[9] where, strangely, our nominee flatly slapped down their case. [10] No blacks could pass the test so the levers of reverse racism had to be pushed and Sonia Sotomayor did her part.

We expected this when both Bushes screwed up the party and McCain tried to push his Rockefeller Republican theories upon us. This is just an ongoing war by the usual political means. So what we have to do is:

[1] Watch your spending and align your purchases with conservative political ideas in mind.

[2] Be careful who you hire and who you fire in business.  Make political considerations in all business plans and agreements. Be sure to include the new higher taxes and other political burdens in your corporate business plans.

[3] Minimize your exposure to taxes. Think global for your investments as many emerging countries will do better that the US considering the green revolution carbon taxes, high taxes and inefficient government we have. Consider gold.

[4] Avoid buying a Detroit automobile or any other business product controlled or nationalized by the government.

[5] Be sure to vote appropriately. Vote in the ideological sense-not for anyone based on personalities or good looks. We cannot change any of this with Democrats in power.

And on it goes

rycK [a 5^th generation Californian in exile]

Comments to: ryckki@gmail.com

Krugman Talks of Paralysis in California. He Really Means Tax Hike Paralysis.

Colin Powell Belongs in the Party of Democrats

As a Democrat, but not exactly a loyal one[1]--although I was during the JFK Era, I can see that we desperately need another ideological bootlicker with tassels and glitter who can cause problems in the Republican camp. I see that Colin Powell can fulfill that mission. Powell is a phony.[2] But, he can serve as a useful idiot in his current place for certain political essays for the radical left. [3]

Powell’s ‘record’ is not very impressive:

[a] He  began as just another ordinary ROTC flunky from a nowhere college with poor grades. He did not emerge with honor from VMI or one of the military academies such as West Point. Therefore, his training was slight and sloppy. There are sound reasons why military academies produce fine soldiers. They filter out losers, wimps and cowards and only promote the finest and most honorable. It takes years of loyal obedience and hard work and attention to detail to become a general officer. Affirmative action politics and political actions only reward losers if they push aside more qualified candidates. He could not get his promotions honestly. He is a gold brick.

[b] His tours in Viet Nam consisted of valiantly stepping on a pungi stake in the bush and, while recuperating for several dozen years from this life-threatening episode, and in his first political assignment he wrote: “"In direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent." [4] He wrote this while assigned to the unit that caused the so-called My Lai Incident. He was apparently ‘playing the game’ here but on the wrong side. He could have denounced our soldiers as baby killers and he might have been made a 10 Star Field Marshal on the spot.  He spent the rest of his long and expensive career on ‘staff” duties whatever that means. He is an insubordinate, churlish, opportunistic paper pusher.

[c] Powell’s only display of courage was scurrying out of crashed helicopter and helping to rescue some of his comrades. Apart from the gratuitous medals that gushed forth from the moon and stars upon this incident, he was a paper pusher and politico the rest of his life.

[d] He used some kind of political influence[5] to get into Nixon’s Administration and later on Ronald Reagan’s staff. I suppose a black Republican was so novel that the Republicans could not resist this novel political vector. He is pro affirmative action, predictably, as that is all that got him into the military as an officer. He is pro ‘choice[6]’ on abortion and favors gun control as would any pedestrian grade leftist. He defends homosexuals in the military as he somehow pushed through the military's Don't ask, don't tell policy into full force thus collecting points with the gay community. He was passed over by his superiors for ‘being average[7]’ He is not even average. He doesn’t have the attributes to be an officer in the military arena. He does have the appropriate political skills however.

[e] He has a foul mouth and is prone to divisive internal infighting and insubordination as he stated “…[ in a conversation with British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw,] he reportedly referred to neoconservatives within the Bush administration as "f**king crazies.”[8] These people were presumably on the same team. Powell was obviously on a different team—the enemy team.

[f] He stated:  "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism."[9]

[g] But, the phoniest part of his pseudo military mystique is the hokum and claptrap about the infamous Powell Doctrine:[10]

The Powell Doctrine states that a list of questions all have to be answered affirmatively before military action is taken by the United States:

[1] Is a vital national security interest threatened?

[2] Do we have a clear attainable objective?

[3] Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?

[4] Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted?

[5] Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?

[6] Have the consequences of our action been fully considered?

[7] Is the action supported by the American people?

[8] Do we have genuine broad international support?

Let’s answer some of his questions!

It is amusing that the answers to his questions [1-5] would preclude our involvement in the Revolutionary War, our Civil War, WW1,2, Korea and Viet Nam and even his own war in Iraq. What was our objective in World War 1? What was our exit strategy? What “non-violent policy options were fully exhausted in World War 2?

This strange doctrinal notion appears to suggest that you can put an accountant on to the war scene like our famous hokum-and-blow artist Robert S.  McNamara and ask him to crank out some numbers that promise a reasonable risk/benefit analysis is pure sophistry. Thusly, we can win a war with some computer simulations on body count and such.  LBJ fired that bozo. Bush should have fired Powell.

Question [5] offers us the opportunity to talk about the  hilarious examples of the Philippine Islands in the Spanish American War, parts of Cuba and Puerto Rico,  and a mere 5-6 decades as a stagnant and expensive  occupational force in Germany and Japan along with  other follies. Where was our exit strategy? Why are we still in Germany and Japan? Did Hitler get away and remains hidden? Can we give back Puerto Rico yet?

Question [6] makes us ask why FDR risked our economy with another depression. Oh! For socialism—that makes sense.

Question [7] must be answered a resounding ‘no’ if we look at the very unpopular War with Mexico, Viet Nam and possibly Korea and certainly Iraq. There is no “fully supported war” on record by our people including our revolutionary war. This unsophisticated statement promises power to the pacifist movement, an important wing of the leftist Democrats.

Powell spent the last few years as a dry gulcher in direct support of the liberals. He is credited with: “Powell further questioned McCain's judgment in appointing Sarah Palin as the vice presidential candidate, stating that despite the fact that she is admired, "now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president." This is amusing as we can not find any complaints from him about Plugs the Buffoon[11] who is now some kind of gaff-launching ‘VP’ lounging around in the Obama tent. As a Democrat he is beyond the reach of Colin’s acid tongue.  Sarah Palin suddenly loomed as a tremendous threat to O’Bozo and need to be put down by all hands. Powell jumped in to denigrate her as per command by his superiors in the Party of Democrats. She electrified the Republican Party and is now a shining star in that constellation. She will be back.

Colin Powell is a churlish opportunist and a closet racist who built his career by milking affirmative action policies, bawling and whining when he could not make the next grade and then by seeking political help  to get his promotion and finally stabbing his benefactors in the back. He is a political blackguard. He is a disgrace to the military. When he finally becomes regularly disinvited to authentic Republican activities he can revert to his narrow political profile and move over to the liberals where he will be celebrated as someone undercover and spread disease among the enemy. He might get his third Medal of Freedom for that.

I want him back in my party and I will offer to have him mechanically instruct me on how to vote on my ballot if he switches over to the Party of the People. I 0we him that much as a fellow Viet Nam vet. We welcomed Arlen Specter as he performed as the buffoon he promised to be. We suckered him into yielding many party chair powers. That is one more loser in our camp.

For the first time in my adult life I am ashamed of one of my country’s soldiers. But, my party needs and nurtures losers like this if they can bring in votes.

rycK

 Comments: ryckki@gmail.com

The Demise of the US Dollar and the Road to Serfdom

Abstract: Out phony government is now buying debt and the Chinese object loudly. As alert and concerned creditors they fear that we are just printing money hence ‘monetizing our debt.’ They object to the US Treasury buying debt and throwing more phony money around to ostensibly fight deflation or whatever. Our AAA bond rating is now in jeopardy as is the UK rating. The promise that the fed has the ability to “unwind and reverse” this wild spending is no longer believable. Marxian radicals now seem to have control of the levers of finance and taxation in our country.

Our citizens are now too simple and trusting to make a nasty scene when our elected [and worse…some appointed] officials tell us all about the economy, debt and such and that we will recover from this mess. We should be outraged that they breath our air.

The IMF [International Monetary Fund] has warned the Brits that their AAA bond rating is in jeopardy and, due to their horrendous debt, may soon be relegated to junk status or worse.

A reading of the recent book Read The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson[1] gives us several exciting examples of past bond bubbles and the aftermath of such foolishness.  We are now playing that kind of game. We are looking straight into the financial abyss. We cannot sustain this spending.  A tax rate of 100% is now not high enough to get us out of this mess.

The central issue here is that we do not have enough capital to finance our federal debt nor do the Brits or many others in our new global economy. To keep the lid on the steamer, our Treasury Secretary, Little Timmy Geithner, has elected to sell us on the notion that the fed can do this:

“… [the fed people] are very committed to making sure they have the ability to unwind and reverse the exceptional measures they have taken once we have achieved the necessary stability in our financial markets and an economic recovery is back on track."[2]—Geithner [Emphasis is mine in all quotes.]

Can we believe this?

We have some serious doubts about our government and its ability to handle finances. [3] California is in a pecuniary panic and beyond rescue.[4] Our union-crushed automakers in Detroit are now being subsidized by the government with the bond holders having been pushed aside and the unions given a majority of shares in these ‘restructured’ companies that bring so much money into Democratic Party slush buckets. When could they ever sell bonds again? Not on this planet.

Now, China is warning us that we may be ‘monetizing’ our debt:

“Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, said: "Senior officials of the Chinese government grilled me about whether or not we are going to monetise[5] the actions of our legislature."

"I must have been asked about that a hundred times in China. I was asked at every single meeting about our purchases of Treasuries. That seemed to be the principal preoccupation of those that were invested with their surpluses mostly in the United States," he told the Wall Street Journal.”-- China warns Federal Reserve over 'printing money.' China has warned a top member of the US Federal Reserve that it is increasingly disturbed by the Fed's direct purchase of US Treasury bonds by Ambrose Evans-Prichard 24 May 2009

“The Oxford-educated Mr Fisher, an outspoken free-marketer and believer in the Schumpeterian process of "creative destruction", has been running a fervent campaign to alert Americans to the "very big hole" in unfunded pension and health-care liabilities built up by a careless political class over the years.”

"We at the Dallas Fed believe the total is over $99 trillion[6]," he said in February.

"This situation is of your own creation. When you berate your representatives or senators or presidents for the mess we are in, you are really berating yourself. You elect them," he said.”-- Ambrose Evans-Prichard 24 May 2009

Our dollar is sinking fast.[7] Gold is soaring. Our hapless leftist radicals, oblivious to reason or any admitted knowledge of finance, are planning to spend 10 trillion more during ‘Obama’s First Term.’

Gold prices are soaring and our currency is sagging as measured by the dollar index. [8] We are so far in debt that we cannot manage either the spending or the interest on our current debt. China has built up a large reserve of US dollars and now fears that we will just debase our currency and inflate their holding. We won’t default; we will just print money and pay them off. They understand this so they will now REFUSE TO BUY ANY MORE US BONDS.  So, who buys them? How many suckers do we have left in the world?

This is not the time to perform some more magic feats of finance by spending our way into prosperity. What we face is a degradation of our currency, soaring dollar prices for oil and any exports and a collapse of our financial structure. The fed is spending and printing money wildly in what should be a battle against deflation, but it looks like there is more mischief here. It looks like the plan is to actually wreck the financial system so the government can ‘rescue’ us from the evil capitalists.  To think that Chrysler and GM could ever again be viable companies with such labor costs and piles of rules and laws about their products is beyond the imagination of even Harry Potter’s creator.

That elfin creature Geithner offers no believable financial mechanisms to “to unwind and reverse the exceptional measures they have taken…” I think he is lying.  The slimy Marxian radicals who somehow got to power by importing poverty and other nefarious measures such as ballot box stuffing, reprehensible energy taxes and carbon caps and nurturing  union corruption tactics now have their chance to ‘change’ our society. We won’t like that.

Business taxes and red tape will drive more unemployment to depression levels. Businesses cannot operate with higher and higher costs—they will have to cut workers or move out of the country, a good bet in our new global economy. Detroit will be another wretched failure and Michigan will look like Somalia in just two years or so.  California will view Michigan as some kind of paradise compared to what they are facing. We could sell California to Mexico if they had any money.

Our phony government just ruined the corporate bond market when they put bondholders in the creditor’s lines somewhere behind the trash collectors and gave some foreign company 20% of Chrysler for nothing but a promise to peddle their puny little death traps called ‘cars.’ Now, our phony governments [state and federal] will try to peddle more bonds to finance their social programs that are now well beyond the definition of broke. They have gone fascist.[9]

They are frantic for money so look out for a wealth tax or the attachment of your 401(k) s to feed the monster known as Social Security.  We need to unelect most of our officials and so-called leaders.

rycK

Comments to: ryckki@gmail.com

California Voters Reject Phony Budget Scams.

 Abstract: California is finished as a society at least in economic and financial terms. There is ample room for higher levels of drug addiction and insanity. The voters have delayed the financial implosion of their state as the ‘budget solutions’ from their drug-crazed and insane legislators will only raise the debt liability as the years go on. There is no limit to the spending that the leftists can legislate unless the state goes bankrupt and these greedy unions are stomped and neutered by a bankruptcy judge. The in-the-Marxist-tank press merely blames Arnold.

 We all know that California is finished as a society at least in economic terms.[1] The Sacramento Parasites can do nothing other than spend wildly on such esoteric nostrums as their versions of ‘education’ that rank somewhere near the bottom of the upper 48. They import poverty at 10 billion a year in spending so as to stuff their ballot boxes and gain power and expect the rest of the US citizens to subsidize their hallucinatory society. They are a disgrace and the world needs to see them crash in a financial maelstrom and take lessons on simple arithmetic—something that must not be taught in their school systems any more. Socially and morally, they are worse than bankrupt. [2] California is now a containment facility for degenerates.

So, the voters were given some choices and what did we learn? They don’t like the socialist parasites that have their oily snouts sunk deep into the public trough. The voters rejected these phony psychotic lunges for more and more money from anywhere and particularly from the future. They have no concept of debt. If you smoke enough Mary Jane the debt seems to become somewhat less of a problem.

 Let us listen to some whines:

 “LOS ANGELES — A smattering of California voters on Tuesday soundly rejected five ballot measures designed to keep the state solvent through the rest of the year.”[3]-- Calif. Voters Reject Measures to Keep State Solvent New York Times b y By Jennifer Steinhauer Published: May 20, 2009   [Emphasis is mine in all quotes.]

 We are firstly alerted to the salient leftist fact that ‘the people’ did not endorse this outrage thus the courts must address this and conjure up some ‘justice’ and perhaps redress the sins of the past. The illegal aliens must not have made it to the ballot boxes in sufficient numbers. Such a tragedy.  None of this would have made this ‘state’ solvent and the deficit will ascend arithmetically the rest of this summer. There is no way to stop it without massive spending cuts.

 “The measures, which would have prolonged tax increases, capped state spending, earmarked money for education and involved the state in a complex borrowing scheme against its lottery, were rejected by roughly 60 percent of those who voted. The failure of the measures, combined with falling revenues since the state passed its budget, leaves California with a $21 billion new hole to fill, while foreclosure rates and unemployment remain vexing problems here.”-- Jennifer Steinhauer

 A bright spot in the latrine:

 “The one measure to pass, which would prevent legislators and statewide constitutional officers, including the governor, from receiving pay rises in years when the state is running a deficit, was approved by more than 75 percent of those who cast ballots, demonstrating the overwhelming disgust many Californians say in polls that they feel toward elected officials in a time of deep budget paralysis.”-- Jennifer Steinhauer

 I wonder if the voters are awake. They voted for ‘change’ and now O’Bozo has spent or committed more money to be squandered than all the presidents that came before him. This is insanity and the voters will be penniless unless they wake up and vote every maggot out of office and then set up hearings for criminal conduct. California is the first place to start this purification process.

 ““We face a staggering $21.3 billion deficit and in order to prevent a fiscal disaster, Democrats and Republicans must collaborate and work together to address this shortfall,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “The longer we wait the worse the problem becomes and the more limited our choices will be.”—Arnold Schwarzenegger quoted in the NYT article cited above.

 These fools faced a 42 billion dollar deficit last round. And we thought this would be the end of it??

 This is an example of ‘news:’

 “LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to permanently fix California's "broken budget system." But three times now he has tried and failed to smooth out the state's roller coaster revenues.”[4]-- Schwarzenegger's 3rd budget reform attempt flops by AP writer Juliet Williams

 Arnold has no power over the legislature. He has no power over the “propositions” that appear on the ballot boxes from time to time.

 Now, we can read the LA Times [LATrines] so we can know who the real culprit might be:

“By rejecting five budget measures, Californians also brought into stark relief the fact that they, too, share blame for the political dysfunction that has brought California to the brink of insolvency.”-- California voters exercise their power -- and that's the problem. Residents relish their role in the lawmaking process, but they share the blame for the state's severe dysfunction.” By Michael Finnegan May 20, 2009

 After filtering off the leftist drool from the pages here, we must note that in a democracy the voters have done poorly and that while they voted to stop the madness and eternal spending that could sink the state in debt for decades their votes must have made the situation worse! Where are the teacher’s unions and other groups here? They have no responsibility here for wild spending and ecological and financial lunacy?

 Here is more:

 “The results Tuesday fit Californians' long-standing pattern of demanding what is ultimately irreconcilable, all the more so in an economic downturn: lower taxes and higher spending.”-- Michael Finnegan 

 The voters are to blame for the sorry state of the schools? Well, the ‘unified’ LA School System is the joke of the Western Hemisphere in the way that they ‘teach’ their ‘students’ all sorts of Marxist camel plop and other pro-drug EcoNazi [5] Lysenko-styled dogma not to forget to mention the most essential component to California’s future: gay marriage. How about a ballot initiative that would cut the number of state government employees in half? Would that pass? How about an initiative that would cut legislator’s salaries, benefits and retirement 20% for each year they cannot secure a balanced budget. I think that would pass. California has too many state workers with astronomical salaries and benefits such as free sex-change operations in some places and everybody knows this.

 The recurring ‘problem’ is Prop 13 that emasculated the legislature and prevented them from being wanton tax whores:

 “In the Proposition 13 tax rebellion of 1978, Californians voted to require a two-thirds approval by the Legislature to raise taxes, a major obstacle to budget agreements. Over the last couple of decades, voters have also passed a patchwork of ballot measures directing billions of dollars to favorite causes, among them public schools and transportation projects”-- Michael Finnegan 

 Measures such as this might have prevented that idiot Obama from spending 12 trillion dollars in the federal system if the rest of us had one was in place.  How about a balanced budget amendment? We need a national tax rebellion.

 California is fast becoming the Needle Park[6] of the Left Coast and will be difficult to expel from the union. It will just become worse so we wonder if many in the legislature in Sacramento are doing too few drugs. Why not just pass out crack pipes during legislative sessions in Sacramento?

 This is hopeless. Move out!

 rycK [a 5^th generation Californian in exile]

 Comments to: ryckki@gmail.com

The Demise of the Dollar and US Society as we know it.

The problem:

“Sooner than we think, the dollar may be challenged by other currencies, most likely the Chinese renminbi. This would have serious costs for America, as our ability to finance our budget and trade deficits cheaply would disappear.”[1]--  The Almighty Renminbi?[2] By Nouriel Roubini Op-Ed Contributor Published: May 13, 2009 [Emphasis is mine in all quotes.]

Our dollar is being debased by wild printing of money by the fed. We are spending on social programs and trying to rescue Zombie Banks[3] and Zombie auto companies[4] to ‘save jobs.’ We are on some kind of anti-capitalist crusade reminiscent of Saladin[5] or Mao.[6]

Of course, this is Dr. Doom speaking and the Spectre of Doom does not make parallel too well with the so-called ‘recovery’ or stimulus plans of the Obama administration. Their wild spending depends on the excuse or favorable outcome of growth in t he US economy and that hope is fading fast. The Good Doctor has been right so far. [7] Others have guessed wrongly.

Some History: Bernanke guessed wrong when he said that:

 “…I believe that the chance of significant deflation in the United States in the foreseeable future is extremely small, for two principal reasons…[ignore the rest—he guessed wrong]”[8]-- Deflation: Making Sure "It" Doesn't Happen Here.  Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C. November 21, 2002

Bernanke also guessed wrong when he told Congress that we needed to rescue the mortgage market, another Zombie that is dead and rotting in the grave. This is a political disease as the government slobbers and jives when markets rise but rush to ‘be fair’ and ‘help the poor’ if markets take a down turn. Thus, this is a futile attempt at forcing ‘equality[9]’ upon the citizens by punishing the successful. This is wealth lost.

The dollar or what?

“But what could replace it?[the dollar, ed.]  The British pound, the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc remain minor reserve currencies, as those countries are not major powers. Gold is still a barbaric relic whose value rises only when inflation is high. The euro is hobbled by concerns about the long-term viability of the European Monetary Union. That leaves the renminbi.”-- Nouriel Roubini

We may get a chance to test the worth of this form of barbarism.

“Now that the dollar’s position is no longer so secure, we need to shift our priorities. This will entail investing in our crumbling infrastructure, alternative and renewable resources and productive human capital — rather than in unnecessary housing and toxic financial innovation. This will be the only way to slow down the decline of the dollar, and sustain our influence in global affairs.”-- Nouriel Roubini

This sentence just about rips it for our version of capitalism.

We need to look into the future with our crystal ball and, as always, watch California ‘progress’ in  leading the nation into the realm of new possibilities.[10]  With 10% of the US population [not counting illegal aliens], California now has almost the worst educational system in the northern hemisphere and a recent soaring state bud deficit of 40%.  The next budget is already 20 bln in the hole. California is morally and intellectually insolvent and socially and financially bankrupt. Their grand plan it to just keep on spending and spending and hope that Obama will rescue them with printed money.

California has imported poverty, drugs and disease and used these leftist political assets to swamp the ballot boxes so they could decriminalize sloth, sodomy and drug addiction. They have raised political correctness to a level not envisioned by the Nazis[11] or even the Moscow Show Trials.[12] The new and novel idea for some more tax revenue is to legalize and highly tax marijuana.[13] They have what appears to be a fully degenerative society as lofty tax rates purify their state by driving out the capitalists and other non believers in their psychotic brand of governance. They are moral lepers. [14] They believe that EcoNazism[15] will rescue their economy. In satire, but stressing what I think they offer, I believe they proffer this [see ref in footnotes]:[16]

Not to be too stuffy about my former state, I must be fair and shuffle in some observations about other wonderful and progressive states and cities like New York[17] , New Jersey[18] and Massachusetts.[19]  I must mention Baltimore, New York, Philly, Atlanta, New Haven, Detroit, Cleveland, New Orleans, Oakland, San Francisco and some other concrete jungles that I have spent too much time in. Not to be outdone in taxation[20] and murder[21] these places, or the inner cities of most, have rivaled California in the esurience for belligerent unawareness and drug-induced mental illness.

California is sinking in a dozen selected metrics.[22] They grovel before the unions, ignore education, commemorate illegal aliens, have embraced EcoNazism and numerous other follies.

Another point of view:

“California needs someone to say:

[1] "Hey voters, screw you and your stupid ballot measures."

[2] "Hey public employees, we're laying some of you off and cutting pay for the rest of you."

[3] "Hey rich folks who live on the coast, we're raising your property taxes. Suckas!"[23]-- California Is A Crisis For Democracy by Joe Wiesenthal May. 13, 2009

Translated, this [probably] means: [1] raise property taxes and dump term limits, [2] downsize the unions and [3] raise taxes even higher. This is a mixed solution to a mass of problems—hence unworkable and foolish blather--, but Wsiesnthall does have an interesting prediction:

“In the meantime, it looks like California's democracy are [sic] set to spread. When the state finally threatens to default, and Barney Frank manages to push a guarantee of the entire muni market, the de-federalization of America will be complete".

The bond market[24] is already a financial cesspool and having the fed guarantee California’s municipal bonds is a license for them to ignore any notion of debt or responsibility. The taxpayers of the other 49 can subsidize their lunacy. This is race to the bottom and it is relevant to suggest that we need for California to hastily showcase its soiled lingerie to the world[25] and go bankrupt before the contagion spreads beyond New York and the other aforementioned ‘states.’

It all hangs on Congress at this moment. If they authorize the wasting of more previous capital then we are finished.

rycK

Comments: ryckki@gmail.com