20/20 in 2020

Sorry I haven't written much lately. My mother was in a car accident on Christmas Eve and severely broke her right leg to the extent that she had to have an external fixator. I have thus had a lot on my plate. She was taken to Wake Forest Baptist for a month. A superstar doctor was able to save her leg. The Fibula and Tibia were broken along with bones above and below the ankle. She had 14 fractures.

She was in Baptist for a month, then in rehab in Conover for a month, I took a leave of absence from my job and finally I brought her home on February 27th, but a couple of days later she took a turn for the worse and she had to be admitted to the Frye hospital with heart and other issues. I was able to bring her home again on March 9th. It was just a couple days after that when the Coronavirus Pandemic hit full force. We made 5 trips to Wake Forest Medical Center over the subsequent two months before we finally moved her to a hard cast and then a walking boot.

My life has been funky since all of that happened, but I know most people's lives have evolved over the past several months. Below I will place some thoughts that I have jotted down in various places over the past few months that I will relate to you.

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*** Television - The other day my mother was going to tell me about something related to what one of the talking heads on television said about Governor Roy Cooper's mandates about the Coronavirus and the lockdowns. I told her that I didn't care what they said on the TV, because their "news" is irrelevant. It has little to do with reality and more to do with their agenda. Like I told her, they like to manipulate the Dupes that are addicted to the television. There needs to the a Alcoholics Anonymous for TV addicts.  There are 12 step programs for about every addiction and Television can be very bad for those certain people in a vulnerable mental state.

***  Echo Chamber - an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so that their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered.

*** Virtue Signalling: (aka - Woke) - To take a conspicuous but essentially useless action ostensibly to support a popular cause but actually to show off how much more moral you are than everybody else... Advocating a political or philosophical position, and/or taking up a public cause, from a position of vanity, for the primary purpose of demonstrating your conformity with fashionable pop culture values.

***  Facebook - I'm just curious. Is facebook a place for the mentally ill or is it just a reflection of our current society, because there is no doubt in my mind that more than half of the place is Nucking Futz.

*** On Democrats blaming Trump for everything -  I know that Democrats like to blame Trump for everything. Actually they like to blame Republicans for everything, but let's look at who runs the Major Metropolitan cities. Basically Democrat-Socialist-Progressives run these cities from top to bottom. They are so large that they control who becomes governor of the State. They have the Mayorship, and control their town councils and appoint the Police Chief. Democrat-Socialist-Progressives control the whole thing from top to bottom, because minorities put them in these positions, but somehow it's Trump's fault. Give me a freakin break. The cancer in our society is the Democrat Party and how corrupt it is and run like a caste system. It's a Gilded Age system where they live fabulously wealthy lives in their compounds and everyone else deals with the messes they make.

*** Social Media Bias - Either Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and other social media forums are allowed to be public commons and open without bias or they should be forced into divestiture. End the high tech monopolies and tyranny...  There are Antitrust rules that come into play over how these companies have been operated. Capitalism isn't at play here. Crapitalism (Crony Capitalism) is at play here and these entities are not above such laws. These are the modern day Robber Barons... Of course it is Democrats that have always protected monopolies and have been against competition. Look at the largest tech companies, that have bought out competition and vertically integrated into behemoths. All Democrats protected by Democrats. That's why you have to laugh when Democrats pretend to be for the little guy. They love the Gilded Age type culture... I am in favor of the Social Media Behemoths being run and regulated as public utility infrastructure like the phone company, power company, and cable companies are run and regulated... Democrat-Socialists seem to be in favor of a public forum that attacks free expression and speech. These Social Media corporation's growth was built upon them operating as a public commons. If they are going to enjoy enormous growth based upon that principle then they can't arbitrarily disappear people and their expression, because they decide to pick one side over the other. We don't tolerate that with other industries and we aren't going to here. It is a violation of Civil Rights. It is the same as arbitrarily denying me the right to eat in your restaurant for (because of) some reason you don't like me.

*** Proverbs 13:9 - The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is extinguished.

*** John 1: 5-9 - 5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

"Mainstream Media" just isn't getting it - New York Times on President Elect Trump

OK, I've taken the year off basically and there have been reasons for that, but I want to weigh in on the subject of Traditional Media that has evolved into Corporate (shill) media and their personal biases against anyone and anything that doesn't toe their line. They don't represent a spectrum of opinion and they have chosen a role of Issue Creationism. Instead of providing information about the relevant current events that effect the public's lives, they are trying to create issues and formulate public opinion based on the issues they create.

I've also been hearing and reading a lot about what the Establishment and Status Quoers define as "Fake News" and "Fake News Sites". This all has evolved because people are seeking alternative sources of information, because the Establishment media has done what I describe above. The Establishment Media has narrowed their focus to the issues that define the Global Corporatists' agenda and seek to delegitimize anything that doesn't have a viewpoint through that prism. Make no mistake, those who push the "Fake News" meme are outing themselves as Global Corporatists. They should be called out on it.

I had the opportunity to listen to an audio from President-Elect Donald Trump's meeting with the New York Times (NYT) today. NYT felt a need to do a play-by-play description of the interview, which is fine, but goes a lot to the heart of the issue of what we saw with the traditional press's reporting of the elections this year.

What we have seen is that the traditional press has blurred the line between what should be editorial content versus the newsworthy actions that have taken place. There is a pride with traditional "old school" media that leaves no room for the reality of evolution and new technology. It is a sword that they are in the process of falling upon.

Mr. Trump believes he was treated unfairly by his hometown newspaper -- and as he states other media outlets. NYT and other media seem to take umbrage with the depiction, feigning innocence, teling the reading/listening world that they were only doing their job. Well, that would be perfectly fine, if they had covered the Hillary Clinton campaign with the same fervent gusto in editorializing Mr. Trump on every issues he brought forward or was brought forward against him in this campaign, instead NYT chose to fill a role as advocate for the Hillary and the Democrats.

Personally editorializing, I have no issue with NYT, or any other media outlet, being an advocate for a candidate, candidates, or issues; but they should be honest and upfront with the utmost transparency about where they stand. NYT, and other media outlets, have made the mistake, it seems, to believe that the news is about them and not the subject they are reporting on. Think about an artist. That is what a journalist is supposed to correlate with -- literature. Think about the portrait they are painting. Think about a fine work of art. In the Mona Lisa, I don't see Da Vinci's face in the picture. Yet, these self-important "journalists" seem to believe that part of their job is to now interject themselves into every subject.

NYT's presentation drips with the irony I describe above. We, the public, are supposed to look up to NYT, because of who they are. Their reporters tell us so in the lead up to the excerpts of this interview. The reporter (Ross Douthat) says that (his personal opinion, but he doesn't say it is his personal opinion - so is he speaking for everyone?) their is a fundamental surrealism about the man, Donald Trump. The reporter says he doesn't have a disrespect for the man, then he goes into Mr. Trump's background as a celebrity and businessman. Then he talks about how this meeting wasn't a formal and traditional meeting of a President and they aren't in awe of him.

Right there, from the get go, shows how biased and disrespectful this whole situation is. What made a Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, or Bill Clinton seemingly so awe inspiring? versus Mr. Trump? You see, that is this journalist's opinion, and it shows that the reporter isn't going to give Mr. Trump a fair shake, because he is essentially saying he doesn't respect him.

The reporter, Mr. Douthat states that he expected Mr. Trump to come in and be gracious (to the NYT) in a way he wasn't gracious to other media outlets in a recent meeting. Personally, I have learned, that isn't part of being a journalist. It is about having some sort of respect commodity. You earn respect by producing relevant information that has value. When you produce worthless opinionated tripe, then you aren't going to be respected. You are even entitled to have an opinion, if it is fair, justified, and constructive creating value.

To show the NYT's representative conceit, the reporter goes as far as to say that he expected Mr. Trump to be conciliatory showing deference to what a jewel the NYT is. Why should Mr. Trump be conciliatory. He won the Presidency in spite of all your newspaper did to try to keep that from happening. Your paper should be the ones who show conciliation in some form by at least going back and showing some humility in how wrong you had it about this election on so many accounts.

Mr. Trump even says that the NYT is a jewel. Not to put words in his mouth, but I believe he is speaking to what NYT was and represented, not the current iteration of what I believe are entitled, self-important pseudo-journalists who seem to feel that just because they work for the NYT they have been anointed as experts in the realm of whatever it is that they are reporting on. It doesn't work that way in the real world. In the real world you earn your position by creating value. Journalists create value by having credibility. Credibility comes from getting "it" (the news) right more than you get it wrong. The NYT got it completely wrong when it came to this election and that sinks their credibility rating. It doesn't matter what you have done in the past if you self-destruct your present.

I can go on and on, but you can go to the link to the article below and listen to the tone. It's basically another round table discussion on Trump. This is much of what personality and issue information has become. The media plays snippets of events and a group of people sit around and hash the subject matter out based upon a context they create through personal opinion. This is the echo chamber. This is where the lack of depth on issues comes from. Why not just throw a camera/microphone up in a bar. This is fine as an adjunct to news issues for further discussion of pertinent issues, but this is not news reporting.

I'll be back...

Audio: Inside the Room With President-Elect Donald Trump [The Run-Up] - New York Times - Michael Barbaro - November 23, 2016

Edits had to be done because my batteries were running low on my keyboard and so I had to proof read and re-edit. Peace to everyone on Thanksgiving.

20160214 - More video from Trump in Hickory

 Here are some short videos I shot of the Trump visit yesterday. The scenes basically not captured by television include a short scene of the tight security, media set up, and the three protest incidents.



Security as everyone enters the auditorium.




Public is first allowed to enter the auditorium and media setup.





1st Personal video of protest

Posted by Joe Brannock on Monday, March 14, 2016

1st Personal video of second protest




1st Personal video of third protest

Hound on the Donald Trump event in Hickory -- March 14, 2016

I've been laying low and not produced anything in a while, but the Hickory Hound was granted press credentials to the Trump event. Top notch produced event. Mr. Trump was about two hours late due to the fog that rolled into the area overnight and failed to lift until late morning. By 7am this morning the line wound around the inner campus of LR. I'd say there were 3,000 people in line at that time. We spoke with a couple of girls from Bristol, TN. There were media from all over NC present at the event. This was much more than a regional event. Trump could have easily filled LR's football stadium. Protest wise, there were very few protestors and for the most part they were peaceful. There were some people flying Mexican flags and driving around in pickups and cars flying the Mexican flag. 

Early in the Town Hall discussion with Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, Trump protesters (I believe 7) three rows directly in front of us stood up and ripped open their shirts with protest writing on the t-shirts. They were quickly removed from Monroe auditorium. The interruption lasted a little over a minute and was met with USA chants. The seats were quickly replaced by some of the at least 4,000 people who stood outside hoping to find a seat. There were two more interruptions during the event, but it was obvious that security was very much on top of the situation and the subsequent folks were removed even quicker than the previous and the seats were replaced. The event was quite the spectacle. This could not be identified as a normal political event. The Trump supporters were jacked up to the max. 

The event lasted around an hour and then Mr. Trump left quickly, headed to the airport to his jet and was out of here. It was obvious that Trump hit home on incompetent politicians, bad trade deals, the negative impact that those deals have had on the area, and that those issues must be addressed if were are to turn around the area. Trump gave the people what they wanted to see. As time permits I will relate more of the happenings of this event to you. I will say it was very professionally run and police and security were very much on top of the situation and did an excellent job with disturbances.

First Protest

Remembrance 7+8=15

I'm to the point where I've lived half of my life. You can't take the days for granted anymore, because they become less and less guaranteed as time goes by. I wish others could understand that. Don't waste time. God does not want us to be patient. God wants us to get it done.

The markets are imploding. When one looks at reality, one sees that we have seen nearly eight years of negative growth in the economy. It's getting harder and harder to hide unless you are the willing victim of Stockholm syndrome. Da Chickens comin' home to roost.

Harry Dent interview on Alex Jones - (The Tyrannical Rexes may not like Alex Jones. I don't really care. Here is Harry Dent on the trouble ahead).




Carl Denninger interviewed by Greg Hunter (USA Watchdog) - July 7, 2015 - Debt Going to Explode in our Face








Catherine Austin Fitts interviewed by Greg Hunter (USA Watchdog) - Interview from earlier in the year - 2015 Forecast Volatile & Violent 

Wanda Arnold: Trade Legislation - They Never Learn

Wanda Arnold's third article written to the Hickory Daily Record in relation to the Trans Pacific Partnership wanting to rebut some of what she had read in that paper.

I read the letter from the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) (June 27) in support of North Carolina Congressmen who voted yes on the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill. The reason they support the TPA is explained clearly in the letter. They understand the amount of power the President will have in writing trade agreements with foreign countries and state:

The support of our friends on Capitol Hill helps us to secure critical provisions, such as those giving preference to yarns and fabrics made in the United States.

They are in effect saying that if NC does not vote for the bill, their legitimate concerns for agreements that favor their industry will be ignored. They won't have the ear of the President, period.

This reminds me of a similar situation that occurred when I was on the Board of Directors of the Prince William Realtor's Association in Virginia. The issue came up as to which candidate for election the Association should support in terms of financial contributions. I thought that the two candidates would be evaluated for their past support of the real estate industry. Naive me. No, equal amounts would be given to each candidate so that then, no matter who the winner was, we would be assured of an appointment with the winner during which we could explain our position on pending legislation.

The NCTO is assuming that they will have a chance to similarly influence the President in their favor in all future negotiations. I am afraid the President and those calling the shots have their own agenda and it is not to build up American small businesses and strengthen the economy. The very industry that was devastated by NAFTA did not learn their lesson.

NATFA is really a treaty with Canada and Mexico forming the North American Union and it did break down many trade barriers. But ask yourself who benefited? If you'd like to know the plan for us, just look at the European Union and its history. Our new currency has already been planned -- the Amero.

Why is our border wide open to Mexico? Research the North American Union and find out. What's next? It's the Trans Pacific Union, of course. We need to wake up and put a stop to this plan: once large sections of the world are under complete control of the corporations, the next step is the New World Order.

Wanda Arnold: the Trans Pacific Partnership on Your Back

Wanda Arnold wrote these articles to the Hickory Daily Record in relation to the Trans Pacific Partnership wanting to rebut some of what she had read in that paper. The HDR has a policy that they only permit one letter to the editor every 20 days from a contributor. Some say that they are just a mouthpiece for the government. Let's see them put a 20 day moratorium on contributions from government officials. After all, most of their statements are opinion based. Aren't they?


There are 29 chapters in the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement that Obama wants passed. Only 5 of those pertain to trade matters. The rest would set binding rules on food safety standards, on access to medicine policies, on financial regulations and on internet freedom.

Here are three real-life examples of how the TPP works in the section called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).
(1) Germany wants to phase out nuclear power. The nuclear power industry there can sue Germany for posing a threat to their profits.
(2) Canada wants to place a moratorium on fracking in order to study its effects more carefully. The energy industries involved can sue Canada for infringing on their profits and causing them loss.
(3) The governments in Uruguay and Australia want to pass anti-smoking policies. Phillip Morris can sue those countries because their profits have suffered.

This system has been in use for several years. TPP adds 9,000 more corporations to the list of those empowered to sue. The cases will be tried in a parallel legal system that goes around domestic courts. A tribunal of three lawyers will make a binding decision in each case. If the corporation wins and the government loses, guess who pays the corporation. Friends, you pay. The government produces nothing and earns nothing. The government lives on the back of YOU, the taxpayer. While we are being distracted by TV reality shows, national sports competitions, titillating sex scandals, social media, online games of every kind and the huge din of constant entertainment, "they who shall remain unnamed" are stealthily ensnaring us in a web and drawing the noose tighter and tighter. It's called Fascism and Hitler was the trial run. Unless we do something now, we are the end game.

Surveys have shown that citizens here don't trust their government. They don't trust Congress, they don't trust the Executive, they don't trust the Courts. It's not enough just to feel something is "not right." It's up to you to find out what's wrong. Didn't we believe the lies about how NAFTA would "create jobs" for Americans? Didn't over 3 million U. S. jobs flee overseas since that agreement and others like it were passed. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. We better find out what else is
in the TPP!

Wanda Arnold's Wake Up Call on the current Trade Agreements

Wanda Arnold wrote these articles to the Hickory Daily Record in relation to the Trans Pacific Partnership wanting to rebut some of what she had read in that paper.

Trade agreements are not for the faint hearted. They make the eyes glaze over. I finally figured out the difference between TPA (not secret) and TPP (secret)! I wish I were knowledgeable enough to rebut Patrick Henry's guest column of June 18: "A win for transparency, congressional oversight," but I thought I must try.

To begin with, consider the source. As Majority Deputy House Whip, Patrick McHenry has moved onto the first rung of the House Republican Leadership ladder. His job is to whip up votes among his party members for legislation that the leadership wants approved and persuade others of its worth. Mr. McHenry is a nice guy and probably has done a lot for individual constituents; but this legislation affects the entire country and is too important for blind trust in our representatives.

I'd rather turn to Jeff Sessions, Republican Senator from Alabama. Sen. Sessions went down into the basement where the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade deal is under "heavy guard" to read it for himself. How many other Congressmen or women have done this? Then he read the TPA (Trade Promotion Authority) bill that is available online. He diplomatically calls these bills "fraught with problems and concerns." He then goes on to point out the five areas of major concern he has with TPA, which will apply not only to TPP, but to all future trade deals.

(1) Sessions says that TPA would consolidate power in the Executive Branch rather than return more power to Congress. There won't be a committee review process. They won't be allowed to amend it in any way. If Congress sees something it doesn't like or that violates our current laws, it will be hard to remove it from fast track because it must go through the revenue and Rules Committees where the Chairman can kill it. The President must send a report to Congress to get future fast-track approval if TPA is adopted, but he/she can classify and redact any part of the report. (More secrecy!)

(2) Passing TPA through Congress would result in "increased trade deficits." This would result in the loss of thousands of American jobs and he gives the actual figures of how this has happened with both NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and the South Korea Free Trade Agreement. NC workers, you remember NAFTA, don't you?

(3) The TPP is a "living agreement," open to change in the future. The deal could be changed by other countries and the President without any congressional approval whatsoever. For example, China could be added without protections for us against their business subsidies and currency manipulations.

In fact concern (4): the agreement does not address currency manipulations at all.

(5) Sessions notes how TPA could facilitate immigration increases above current law and Congress will be powerless to stop it.

How are we as individual voters supposed to figure this all out? Maybe it comes down to "who do you trust?" Sorry Mr. McHenry, I'll go with Jeff Sessions this time.

China

The dip in Hickory's fortunes since the beginning of the millennium relates to the de-industrialization of our local economy which coincides with the rise of the Dragon - China. The industrialization of the Chinese economic system is hard to compete with under the current United States/North Carolina/Catawba County/Unifour/Hickory model. The Eagle will continue its descent until we take real action to address what led us here. Action does not come from cooking books to pull wool over the public's eyes. The Atlanta Federal Reserve has lowered its forecast for GDP in the first quarter of 2015 to 0%. We have been in a recession since late 2007. We have never come out of it, even if the government says we have. They have constantly underestimated inflation to make it look like we have had growth. If real inflation is accounted for, we have had negative real growth in the GDP for nearly every quarter since late 2007.

The following is an interview that I listened to on Youtube from the Coast to Coast AM program hosted by George Noory on April 3, 2015. The interviewee on the subject is Dan Collins, the founder of Tiger Hill Capital, a Hong Kong based asset management company. He has lived in China for 15 years. He addresses how China's unprecedented industrial revolution has created massive wealth. Since the reform in the 1970s, in which citizens began to be allowed to reap rewards from their own businesses, China's economy has catapulted ahead to become the world's largest. In the economic sense, it's actually more capitalistic than the United States, but politically it's absolutely communist, with tight controls, and little or no voting, he pointed out. "On the economic side, it's totally the Wild West-- no property taxes, no environmental regulations," and it's very easy to open a new business, he remarked, adding that there are an estimated 60 billionaires in the Chinese Politburo.

By not being a democracy, China was able to make quick economic strides such as putting in a high-speed rail system in a short number of years. They are currently building 50,000 skyscrapers (the equivalent of 10 New York City's), and they've constructed 70 international airports in the last 10 years, he cited, adding that there are one million Chinese citizens now living in Africa, pursuing business opportunities, and tapping into the bounty of natural resources there. China has been increasing military spending by over 10% a year for decades, but Collins doesn't foresee them attacking America-- they are much more interested in areas closer to home such as Taiwan, and countries near their borders, he said. For the US to beat or more readily compete with China, he believes it needs to overhaul its tax system, and move to a consumption tax that is more friendly to business and manufacturing.

Here is the direct link that takes you to where his interview starts.

John Williams - Shadowstats - Please Watch

John Williams is one of the Economists I follow. Please educate yourself about the current Economic Recovery.

Greg Hunter is the producer and creator of Greg Hunter's USAWatchdog.com and he interviews John Williams. This video is was released February 15, 2015.







John Williams, of ShadowStats.com, says the Fed has given a false sense of security but did not fix the problems that led to the last meltdown. Williams warns, “People say everything is fine again—nonsense. You had a panic in 2008. . . . The system was on the brink of collapse. The Fed and the federal government did everything in their power to prevent it. They pushed things into the future, but they didn’t do anything of substance to address the underlying problems.” So, are we going to have another panic? Williams says, “Yes, and that is the type of thing that can break at any time, and you just don’t have the options you had in 2008 for buying time into the future.” Williams adds, “The odds are high you are going to see the beginnings of hyperinflation this year.”

Catawba County Labor Force below the 70,000 person critical point

70,000 people in the Civilian Labor Force is the critical point that I have talked about in the past. We fell below that mark in December for the first time since these statistics become publicly available in January 1990. In January 1990, the Labor Force in Catawba County stood at 70,308 people. Today, the numbers released show the Labor Force is down to 69,241 people. The Labor Force has fallen by nearly 3,000 people since January 2014. At the same time we are being sold a bill of goods that the unemployment rate is 5.4%, down 2% since August 2014. So they are telling us that unemployment is down 2%, when we haven't seen any influx of industry in these past 4 months.

Economic Research - Federal Reserve St. Louis - Catawba County, NC

By the numbers, we have 65,502 people employed in Catawba County. In March 2012, there were 65,221 people employed in Catawba County and the unemployment rate was said to be 10.9%. So the unemployment rate has been cut in half and yet we basically have the same number of people employed. Does that make sense?

I believe that we will be seeing soon that we are once again losing population in the area.

Unemployment Spreadsheet for February 2015 - latest data from December 2014

Article below by Gallup that is relevant to this issue:

The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment - Gallup - Jim Clifton - February 3, 2015

Privatization can reduce the National Debt -- Harry Hipps

The $17 trillion and rising debt that we, as citizens of the USA have amassed is a mind boggling figure that is so large that most people can’t really relate to it. But the debt, along with the dysfunctional political system and the ideological divide we have today has nearly everyone worried about our future and what kind of country our kids and grand kids will have. I wish I had a buck for every time a heard phrases like: “We are saddling our grandkids with a debt that will make it hard for them to enjoy the lifestyle we enjoyed.” Well, spending is out of control, we are a divided nation, and there are some serious problems we need to deal with to reinvigorate our democracy and adapt to a fast changing world. But can I inject a bit of optimism here?

Rarely mentioned in the ongoing angst in the media is a simple, but overlooked fact - we have some assets! The average person has probably at some time sold some of the stuff that is cluttering up the house and garage. The garage is cleaner and easier to get around in. And a few bucks were put in the pocket. And this simple idea can work for the over sized garage that is our federal government.

According to Bob Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, in their recent book “The Fourth Revolution, The Global Race to Reinvent the State” selling public assets and businesses could virtually eliminate the debt. Amtrak lurches from crisis to crisis despite having some lucrative routes and could be sold to a private company that would probably figure out how to make it profitable. The feds own 900,000 buildings, some that are in some very expensive real estate markets and around 45,000 are unused or underused. The Bureau of Land Management has jurisdiction of around 260 million acres of land, and while no one would advocate selling our national parks, much of this land is agricultural or unused land with shale deposits that could contribute an estimated $14.5 trillion dollars to the economy by 2050. The government also has their hands in numerous businesses.

Recently, President Obama suggested selling the Tennessee Valley Authority but was immediately confronted by Republican politicians objecting to the move. One can only imagine the Gipper looking down from the Shining City on a Hill and wondering what the heck is going on here. We should seriously study whether selling the TVA as well as some other government agencies to private entities. Let them do what businesses do, try to find efficiencies and run them profitably. With the regulatory apparatus we have today the public’s interest can be managed without the cost inefficiencies that inevitably come with government run operations. And the revenue from the sale of public assets could shrink, if not eliminate that huge debt.

We Americans have a lot of work to do to retool our democracy for the modern era. The entitlement programs aren’t sustainable, health costs continually grow, and globalization and technology are both causing dislocations and offering new opportunities. The challenges are large and our dysfunctional system is slowing our response to them. Selling assets could change our fiscal situation dramatically, but would only be a temporary fix if we only use our decreasing debt burden to justify more out of control spending. But I wouldn’t write off the kids’ future just yet. There are answers if we can only find the will and the leadership.

My personal Obamacare Insurance Fiasco - September 10, 2014

I received a bill from Catawba Valley Medical Center Group on Monday and I knew something had to be up. I've had Blue Cross Blue Shield Individual insurance for over 10 years. I went and looked at my bank account and found out they stopped drafting the money in May.

In December, I knew I needed to do something. It looked like I couldn't keep my old policy. In the middle of looking into the Affordable Care Act policy, the government decided to allow people to keep their individual policies. Well, you could keep it, but they didn't put a price tag on it at that time. My premium to keep my old policy was going to rise 17% and it was costing enough already.

I went to a local provider and filled out the paperwork and the agent attempted to get me into the system. He's actually cross his fingers and had a ritual to superstitiously get the exchange to accept my information and submit the policy. It took a week for the information to go through and I delivered a check a couple days before Christmas.

So I had an Obamacare insurance policy. Well, I apparently had one for 4 months. Looking back on it, I kept getting a bill each month for the same amount I was paying for the policy. I figured it was a glitch and they would get it straightened out. Eventually, I stopped getting those notices and the last time I looked they were still drafting my account.

Well, to be honest, I'm not living and breathing to look at my bank account. I've got a general idea of how much money is there and since it hasn't been growing over the last several years, it is depressing to look at, so I only check it when I need to and lately I haven't needed to. I haven't looked at it in detail anyway... let's put it that way.

So, as I said, because I received this bill I had to look at my account in detail and to my surprise the last time BCBS drafted my account was in April. So, I've been without insurance from May to Present and didn't even have a clue...

The following is my call to BCBS to find out what was going on... and apparently the left hand (Obama's exchange) doesn't have a clue (or relation) to what the right hand (BCBS) is doing. You should listen. It is quite entertaining.

and I already had concerns -  The Health Care Fiasco on a personal level - November 27, 2014

238th Birthday - Let's take back our country

The Reaffirmation of Independence of the United States of America - July 8, 2010

John F. Kennedy... a man not saddled by ideology

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was murdered 50 years ago tomorrow. He is looked upon as being a President of distinction and significance even though he served just 1,036 days in office. His death has had a resonance in this country, because he is viewed upon as being struck down in the prime of his life.

Young people related very well with this man. His Presidency was viewed upon as a new era in this country and upon his death we went from an inspirational leader backwards to a hard man, and some would even say a crass man, in Lyndon Johnson who stole hope and ushered in years of fear, control and paranoia that still grip the Presidential office to this day. Six revolutionary seconds in Dallas changed the world forever.

John Kennedy died 966 days before I was born, but he has had a significant impact on my generation -- Generation X. You see we were born into a world of shock. Twenty years after the Greatest World War. Born into a world that could now destroy humankind in hours through the use of Atomic weaponry. We were born amongst the tumult and surrounded by the mayhem of great and significant people being murdered, because "they didn't think right." Think about Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King being murdered, just like JFK, in the prime of their lives.  Think about the lost contributions. Think about how they weren't able to put their own stamp on their own works. Think about what we missed out on.

The public didn't see the Zapruder film until 1975. We see any and every form of video of every situation in life these days. The world now changes so rapidly every day. Many say that the United States lost its innocence after that day in Dallas. I think what they mean to say is that the people lost their naivete after that event and the subsequent events that followed, including the murders, Vietnam, the 1968 Chicago Democrat Convention, and Nixon's Presidency ending in Watergate.

Kennedy wasn't stuck in the old conventions. He wanted to move the country forward. I can't get into all of the non-conventional stances that he took without introducing the controversial subjects surrounding his assassination. No! I do not think that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, if he even fired a shot. Kennedy had made many enemies by standing up to and against the establishment of the time. His assassination brought the establishment back into absolute power and no one has stood against accepted conventions, to the degree that Kennedy did, since that time.

As I wrote nearly five years ago in The Hottest Places in Hell - December 30, 2008:

I watched a documentary about President John F. Kennedy this week. The man was an enigma. He wasn't stuck within a political party mindset. I truly believe that he wanted to represent all of the people and if that meant making controversial decisions, then so be it. That is most assuredly what got him killed. But, he did not live a life in fear.

JFK was a leader, who never stuck his finger in the air to see which way the wind was blowing. He also didn't play the blame game. He was a visionary with a mind set towards accomplishing goals. He realized and communicated time and time again, through words and actions, that those who do not take a stand in life are relegated to a life of insignificance. He road tall and proud on that fateful day in Dallas, because he believed in his cause.

From the JFK Library online: http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Dante+Quote.htm

One of President Kennedy's favorite quotations was based upon an interpretation of Dante's Inferno. As Robert Kennedy explained in 1964, "President Kennedy's favorite quote was really from Dante, 'The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality.'" This supposed quotation is not actually in Dante's work, but is based upon a similiar one. In the Inferno, Dante and his guide Virgil, on their way to Hell, pass by a group of dead souls outside the entrance to Hell. These individuals, when alive, remained neutral at a time of great moral decision. Virgil explains to Dante that these souls cannot enter either Heaven or Hell because they did not choose one side or another. They are therefore worse than the greatest sinners in Hell because they are repugnant to both God and Satan alike, and have been left to mourn their fate as insignificant beings neither hailed nor cursed in life or death, endlessly travailing below Heaven but outside of Hell. This scene occurs in the third canto of the Inferno.

In this era of Tumult, does this fit you? For all who espouse themselves to be followers of the Kennedy Ideal, how do you defend your inaction?

There is hope. Today is a new day. You can shed your neutrality today and strive for a life of significance. Ambivalence won't change anything. Contributing to our community can change everything!!!

When I think of Kennedy, I always think about the speech below. This is the John Kennedy that represents me.

Here comes the Truth - GDP down in 4th quarter

As I said, after the election is over and the swearing in ceremonies take place, then they are going to start pushing upon us just how bad it is to set us up for higher taxes and reduced services. This kind of massaging of reality is called lying by most of us. If your kid times the reality of conditions of honesty, trust, and integrity when communicating with you, then you call him out on it. When your government does it, you seem to think it's alright. Since I try to keep this forum as clean as possible, I'm not going to tell you exactly what I think. The problems don't really lie with these government people and their fake numbers and perspective. The numbers lie with the depth and breadth of a weak nation of Zombie Robots looking to be told what to do instead of telling their representatives what they expect.

What do I expect? The Truth.

The facts are that the economy has not grown in over 5 years now. The only "Growth" we have seen was through monetary fuel injection. When you subtract the real inflation rate from non-governmental Gross Domestic Product (GDP created by the Private Sector), then you see that we have had negative growth over the last five years. All of the Quantitative Easing and Stimulus has nearly doubled the Federal Debt over the last five years and if we continue these policvies, the debt will double again over the next 5. The government is telling you that the National Debt will only rise to $21 trillion by the end of 2016, where are they showing the increased tax revenues? Where are they showing the reduction in expenditures? It seems to me that they are carrying forward the same policies that they have been and those policies, as I have shown you, have nearly doubled the National Debt over the last five years. That means a National Debt, not at the projected $21 trillion. That means a National Debt of Approximately $30 trillion.

GDP Shows Surprise Drop for US in Fourth Quarter - AP through CNBC - January 30, 2013 - The U.S. economy posted a stunning drop of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, defying expectations for slow growth and possibly providing incentive for more Federal Reserve stimulus.                     The economy shrank from October through December for the first time since the recession ended, hurt by the biggest cut in defense spending in 40 years, fewer exports and sluggish growth in company stockpiles.                                    The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter. That's a sharp slowdown from the 3.1 percent growth rate in the July-September quarter.


It is easy to see that these Economic Comptrollers haven't a clue about what they are doing other than cooking the books. I really don't think they are doing this on purpose. They just have a certain economic belief system and they are going to drive us to hell instead of admitting they are wrong, because there is no accountability in our governmental system. As a matter of fact we reenforce failure through back slaps and gladhanding. As Rand Paul said to Hillary Clinton about Benghazi last week, paraphrasing, 'I don't think you are a bad person or had bad intentions. I just don't think you understand or know what you are doing. And so therefore, If I were the President, I would have had you relieved of your duties.'

People keep being given these positions of leadership and they strut around like peacocks as if they are royalty, when they have a fiduciary responsibility to do what is best for the people they represent. And they are not doing that. They are representing a handful of people who line their pockets with cash and the rest of us be damned. There is no Honesty, Integrity, Honor, and Loyalty in the current political paradigm. It's just every man for himself and this is all going very, very badly. We can turn this all around by demanding Accountability and for some reason we have way too many people who seem to think that is a hard thing to do. Folks, demanding Accountability is the easiest thing we can do to begin to turn this economy around. The hardest part will be picking up the pieces of this shattered economy and putting them back together again.

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World


US economy shrinks 0.1 percent, first time since recession ended - Fox News - January 30, 2013

Google News on the shrinking of the U.S. Economy

The only chart you need on the GDP report - The Washington Post - Dylan Matthews - January 30, 2013

SPLAT!

Peter Schiff The Real Fiscal Cliff How to Spot the Ledge - December 20, 2012

Cutting off the GOP Gravy Train

Peter King: Halt donations to House GOP

This is what I have done for the past few years. I have given no money to the GOP. One of the reasons why I haven't given any money is because I don't have it and what little money I do have to give has gone to help the Church and some individual causes.

I received a phone call on Saturday asking for a contribution to "Activate" my GOP membership. I told the guy I wasn't giving them a damned thing. First off, the only reason I answered the phone was because I thought it was a family member, because my family was in town, but if this guy was going to talk it up, then I was going to give him a piece of my mind.

I could tell that he was going over a schematic list... if I say this, then you say that type of thing. The first thing out of his mouth was about the Fiscal Cliff and how we need to beat back the Democrats to get the governments finances under control. I told him the Fiscal Cliff was a joke and we've gone over the cliff long ago. I told him that our party has contributed to this as much as the Democrats. We just initiated and pushed through a $677 billion Defense Authorization Program and how much is Homeland Security costing us? I fully support our troops, but in 2001 I wasn't signing on to wars that would last forever. I feel duped by all of that stuff. Hell, we blow things up to build them back again to blow them up again... How much is that costing along with giving billions to Warlords all over the Near and Far East?

Then he switches and says he understands my anger. Yeah, we need to get some of our guys out of there, how he is AWAKE, but we can only do that by supporting the party. Sounded like Bush telling us how the only way to save the free market system was through policies that interfered with the operation of the free market. I gave him Harry's line about "if you keep doing what you're doing, you're gonna get what you've got."

Can you give $100... Our party was fully instrumental in destroying my community's Industrial base through all of these "Free for All" trade agreements like GATT, the WTO, and NAFTA, why should I support that?

Can you give $50... My party turned a blind eye on immigration and worked with Democrats to allow an influx of people who have helped, along with the one way trade agreements, to diminish my ability to earn income, then they fuss about people not working or being on food stamps. That helps Democrats look good, because at least they say they don't want people being homeless or starving to death. Hey Republicans, why not work to bring decent paying jobs back to America? Then you will have a right to tell people to work or starve. Right now you just come across as apathetic idiots and hypocrites.

Can you give $25... The Republican Party says it is against unions, but they run the party like it's a union. Everybody is supposed to wait their turn and be seen, but not heard. This is as much our country as it is the bigwigs. They aren't going to get that until we show them that. I believe in a Meritocracy. I like the best ideas to come forward... the cream to rise to the top. One of the points of the Contract with America in 1993 was the idea of term limits. The idea that citizens would serve a few years and then go back home to rejoin society as a citizen - to be like everyone else as one of the people. When the Republicans won the majority, this was pushed to the background and rarely heard of again,. The Congress continued with their special salaries, special healthcare, special pensions, and other special privileges and amenities, while most of the rest of society has continued to decline... No I am not going to give you any money to continue on with your party and these policies.

Can you give anything... You don't get it. Back when I was making decent money and expenses were a lot less, I gave you money. That is how I got on this list. I gave you money, because I had it and I believed in the cause and the agenda you were espousing. And you took my money and you worked against my interests, because my money didn't amount to a hill of beans compared to that of the spoiled, effeminate Wall Street and Main Street Nutthuggers. You didn't do what you said you were going to do. I'll tell you what. When you do what you said you were going to do all of those years ago and you accomplish what you promised me and you begin working in my interests (the majority of the working public's interests), then I might feel like giving you some money and better yet, I might be able to afford to give you some money.

Til  then GOOD BYE!

I told you so -- The Fiscal Farce

It is time folks. It is time to decide. Do you want to look in the mirror and see a tool and a fool or are you going to say No More... No More.

Folks, the charades that we have seen have destroyed the Republic. I told you they were going to make a deal and I told you that it was going to be bad. I am not arguing for arguments sake. I understand in negotiations that you have to compromise. I am not an idiot.

What we see is that at a time when we have grown the National Debt by over $6 trillion in 4 years, we are ready to further expand that. Like I pointed to a few weeks ago, you could actually see the National debt balloon to $22 trillion to $32 Trillion in the next 4 years. That is just by extrapolating the exponential numbers that we have seen over the last 8 years.

All it takes to break the dollar is a little blip up in interest rates. If interest rates go back to where they were in 2000, then our economy will be fully decimated. Bear with me.

The Federal Funds Rate

Wikipedia - In the United States, the federal funds rate is the interest rate at which depository institutions actively trade balances held at the Federal Reserve, called federal funds, with each other, usually overnight, on an uncollateralized basis. Institutions with surplus balances in their accounts lend those balances to institutions in need of larger balances. The federal funds rate is an important benchmark in financial markets.[1][2]

In other words the Fed Funds rate is the Interest Rate at which Intrabank Lending takes place at the shortest term basis (Daily). How much interest you earn or pay on a loan is based upon this rate. How much interest the Government earns or pays is based upon the Fed Funds Rate. It always costs more to take a loan out than you will earn in interest, because of the inherent risk associated with payback.

Today, because of Federal Reserve System manipulation, the Ded Funds interest rate is .1%. If you look back to 2007, that rate was 5.5% and back in 2000 it was 6.24%. Right now we are servicing the National Debt at an interest rate that floats somewhere near this rate through the sale of Treasury notes. When they tell you that they are going to raise the National Debt, that means that they are going to auction off more of these notes to the public Market. Other sovereign governments have been buying these notes (China, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia). Your Social Security is invested in these instruments. All of your financial institutions (Banks, Insurance Companies, Mutual Funds, and Pension Funds) are invested heavily in these instruments. And the Federal Reserve is even purchasing these funds from themselves, while this money already essentially has no backing.

All it takes is for one of these big institutions to start selling their holdings and/or demand a higher interest rate to invest and our problems will grow exponentially.

Last year the interest on the National debt was nearly $360 Billion ($359,796,008,919.49). If you round off that our average debt for 2011-12 was $15.5 trillion, then we paid an average interest rate of around 2.3% on the National Debt. What if interest rates were to go back closer to their historical average of around 4, 5, or 6%?

That would mean that we would easily see a doubling of the interest paid annually on the National Debt. That could easily take interest payments up to $700 Billion a year or higher. We are already running annual deficits of over $1 trillion over the past 4 years. If you start adding another $300 billion in interest, then you will never get that number down.

The biggest effect of all of this is that it is debasing the currency. Think of dollars as shares in a Corporation called the United States of America. The more of those dollars that are issued, the less the value of each share, especially when the value of the company isn't increasing.

I can go on and on about this, but what I presented is a lot to ponder. You might think everything is alright, because you have hitched your wagonj to the news media and the politicos. Oh they will tell you how the Gross Domestic Product grew at 3.1% last quarter, but they aren't factoring in inflation (resulting from the debasement of the currency) or the fact that much of that growth is accounted for through government spending paid for by increased debt.

And all the while, they continue on with their games, while kicking the can down the road. There is a reckoning steaming towards us. We're already over the cliff. I believe we are days (if not hours) away from the markets reacting very negatively.

Message to Congressman McHenry -- Get Rid of Boehner! It is time for him to go. He doesn't get it.

Fiscal Cliff Bwahaha -- The Three Card Monte System

I have already personally responded about the issues with the Republican Party and it has been all over the Hound over the last four years. Harry makes legitimate points about how the Republican Party has voluntarily cornered itself by having single themed simplistic messages that don't address the needs of most of the American public. The Republican Party has not had a coherent message of ways to move forward and back towards prosperity for the working class. And the Republican Party has not displayed leadership towards the future and has chosen to follow the path of the entrenchment of the career politician, which goes against the grain of Conservative Principles set forth in the "Contract with America" nearly twenty years ago.

A friend sent me a message the other day that is right on:

LETTER to the EDITOR-- MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

Let's look at what we have learned from this election:

Twenty-one of 22 incumbent senators were re-elected, and 353 of 373 incumbent members of the House were re-elected.

The American people have re-elected 94 percent of the incumbents who were running for re-election to an institution that has an approval rating of about 9 percent.

This indicates, as an electorate, we are a nation of idiots.

Now I have friends from across the spectrum. I talk to everyone and try to understand people and get them to understand where I am coming from. I don't believe in Redneck World Wrestling Politics. I believe in studying issues and finding compromise where I can and moving forward in a constructive manner where I have disgreements with others. Rednecks don't do this. They draw corners and have a P***ing match and think they are accomplishing something by seeing who can P*** further. Nothing substantial ever happens. I am sick of that and those A-holes need to be drawn and quartered.

And like another friend articulates about the Democrats. The Democrats talk about the Republicans and Bush and we are like yeah uh-huh and besides the debt, deficit, impinging on our liberties, and getting us involved in two wars that there are apparently no ends to, they increased the ethanol subsidies to take care of their buddies in the Midwest and this caused corn prices to nearly quadruple in the last decade, they went along with the deregulation of Wall Street and its marriage to Washington, and they worked to offshore our working class jobs through NAFTA and GATT and a hundred other Free For All Trade Agreements.

Now let's talk about Obama, who said he was going to end the wars, instead we are looking to be headed into Syria soon and Iran right after that and more troops die in Afghanistan virtually every day.. ohh and Pakistan. We look at the issues with Wall Street, which is full scale corruption; and which seems to be getting worse, not better. Who have charges been brought against, but they'll fry some poor guy that can't afford their taxes. We look at problems with running up our debt, which I will go into further in a second.

They say No. No. No. Obama all good... Repubwicans all bad. I say B* S*.

And then there is the talk about the Fiscal Cliff.

Folks we have already gone over the Fiscal Cliff long ago. We could have dealt with this 4 1/2 years ago, but no one wanted to. We had time to reform, but no one could see, because they are Economic Idiots. It was going to be painful then, but it will be exponentially worse now. The National Debt has gone up from $10 trillion to $16.4 trillion in the last four years. That is a 64% increase in four years. In 2004 it was $7.4 trillion, which means that over the 4 year span (2004-2008) the deficit went up   35%, which still is horrible, but you can see the acceleration can't you?

So if the National Debt only went up 35% over the next four years, then it would be (16.4 x 1.35) = $22.1 trillion in 2016. If it increased at the current pace, then it would be (16.4 x 1.64) = $26.9 trillion in 4 years. If it increased at the accelerated pace (1.35 to 1.64) = ^1.99% pace, then it would be (16.4 x 1.99) = $32.6 trillion at the end of 2016. That means that we are going headlong towards oblivion.

There won't be some cataclysmic moment. It is going to be like a boiling frog. Slowly, but surely the costs of necessities are going to accelerate. I have shown it to you here on the Hound. Look at the prices in the grocery store. Maybe you are ignorant enough to not notice the way that they have repackaged the products. Nip an ounce here and add some filler there, yep that's the new American Economic system. The Ponzi economy leading to the Great American Ripoff.

I am tired of the Three Card Monte system. Everyone expects the world to shake when this all goes down. The dinosaur media at every level is in bed with the Government Incorporated. They get you all worked up about whatever the talking point of the day is, while the bureaucracy slides around to pick your pocket.

Everyone is worried about their taxes going up or their benefits getting cut, when they can't seem to grasp that the purchasing power of their money is worth less or worthless.  $100 of goods today cost $74.44 in 2000...  $17.51 in 1971, when we went off the Gold Standard... and $4.28 in 1913, when the Federal Reserve was created. And this is when looking at it through the Governments cooked book calculations, the Consumer Price Index produced for the Bureau of Labor. Other Calculators, such as Shadow Stats, show the 1971 number to be $4.98 and the 2000 number to be $33.88.

Your Standard of Living isn't being destroyed because it is being taxed away or Big Daddy Government isn't giving you enough. Your Standard of Living is being destroyed by the Federal Reserve, because the President and the Congress don't want to make the hard choices and they have their priorities out of whack. The President even seems to think it best to have no debt limit at all and he  has chosen to let the banks be in charge of our money and the bank managers have naturally chosen to look out for their own self interests. The Federal Reserve is putting $40 billion dollars into the system every month by purchasing U.S. Treasury bonds, which allows the Treasury to create money. This money is injected into the banks through nearly ZERO % loans. The banks, now being Financial institutions instead of holding corporations, are going out and purchasing commodities through hedging and derivatives processes. Too many dollars chasing too few goods leads to (Supply and Demand) prices going up.

Your average politician doesn't feel guilty, because they don't understand this. They don't understand MONEY. They really only understand the money in their own bank account and they haven't a clue about yours, nor do they care... Can you vote yourself a raise? Are most of your meals subsidized or paid for? Is your healthcare paid for? Is your retirement set?  

I do appreciate the President and his Economic team taking the ideas that have been discussed here on the Hound. 90% of the people in my community don't understand the significance of this News Source. At least the politicos pay it some attention. I see you ;)

I can't take the credit for "The Race to the Bottom" term that I talked about in April 2010,  I heard Catherine Austin Fitts talking about it about 3 years ago; but the Hound was the first to coin the term  "Middle-Out Economics," introduced here when the President only wanted to talk about the bottom up. I have discussed this since the inception of the Hound. I only wish that his regime would be interested in substantive processes to bring the economy back to equilibrium. Right now there is a war against the Middle Class. It is one thing to talk about jobs. What are you going to do to bring the jobs back to America? What are you going to do to level the Labor Price Parity Dynamic?

The problem is the Middle Class is asleep and frankly I am tired of going to them and trying to wake them up. It is a lot easier to sit back and wait for them to fall and then they wake up on their own and study what has been going on like I had to six years ago. Those who choose to find a way out will join us. Those looking to be bailed out will join the Empire of Rot.



Catherine Austin Fitts interview about Fiscal Cliff at Minute 39