Sold Down The River

Get this!

I may be slow on the up-take, but I’m still way ahead of the American public that still believes that by simply substituting a few political heads on Election Day, we can set things right again.

Scanning the headlines this morning, I happened to run across one that said “New Call To Greece To Sell Off Its Assets”. With all that’s going on, why did this particular item set my alarm bells ringing?

How much land does the U.S. government own? According to www.answerbag.com, “The United States government owns approximately 650 million acres of land, according to NationalAtlas.gov. That total amounts to about 30 percent of the total land area in the U.S. Some large categories of federally-owned land include national parks, national forests and national wildlife refuges.” Even if this answer is wrong, we all know it’s a lot. Out West, the percentages are even higher. In Nevada, for example, privately held land amounts to barely 20%.

Who owns or controls most mortgages? Don’t know the exact answer to this one, but you can bet the Feds have their fingers in this one as well (via Fannie and Freddie).

Who is it that keeps private industry from mining and drilling, keeping our land pristine and valuable to the max? Again, the answer is government.

After our currency has collapsed under the dead weight of unserviceable debt, what will be left to trade? Answer: land.

We’re being set up to be sold down the river, folks!

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

A Cautionary Tale

Today it is raining. As is quite usual for us, when it rains, our morning newspaper – though double bagged – gets soaked through and through. I threw it in the garbage and called 1-888–JOURNAL to complain. Their automated system gave us a credit. That did not really solve it.

Then, curiosity got the better of me. I retrieved the paper and struggled on to the opinion pages. I was glad I did. There was an article by Takis Michas entitled “Athens Descends Into Anarchy”. It began thus:

“Greece’s public debt may reach 150% of GDP this year… But in the final analysis, the major issue confronting Greece may not be its solvency, but its governance.”

It goes on, “The country is at the mercy of militant activists who are inspired by various factions of the hard left.” Then it goes on to list some of them: Greece’s Communist Party, the anarcho-Stalinist Coalition and the International Workers’ Left among these. “…their followers have taken to harassing citizens and destroying public property – even taking over whole villages.”

Mr. Michas goes on, “What stand out in all these incidents is the authorities' inability or unwillingness to enforce the law…

“Many argue that Greece’s disintegration is the unavoidable consequence of the government’s attempt to enforce fiscal austerity.” Michas disagrees. “This meltdown can be seen,” he says, “as the product of the authoritarian left’s open attempts to exploit the economic crisis and destroy Greece’s existing democratic and economic institutions. What we are witnessing is not a descent into chaos, but… into organized lawlessness; sowing pandemonium and forcing Greece to default…”

Michas states that according to polls, the Left only enjoys the support of 13% of the population. He concludes by saying, “The problem… lies with the political and ideological passivity of the parties that do represent Greece’s broader middle classes. The tolerance these democrats have shown toward their totalitarian counterparts has allowed the latter to play a leading role in shaping Greek public discourse.” Michas asks, “Do they imagine that the favor would be returned if the… Left were in charge?”

As such, this is a cautionary tale for us as well. What the people of America still fail to understand is that the ideological Left will not be content to rule over a capitalist/democratic system. They fully intend to change it and make it into their own.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Germany Bails Out Greece

The big political battle of our time is the struggle between Left and Right. The Left is winning. It’s late in the fourth quarter, the score is tied and the Left has the ball on the Right’s three-yard line. Merkel knows how the game will end. By calling for a time out now – by agreeing to bail out Greece - she intends to postpone the inevitable, hoping to no longer be on the field when the final score is announced. In German it’s called Realpolitik.

The Left seeks the total collapse of world currencies. By beggaring the middle classes, they intend to bring about the chaos that would usher in totalitarian state communism. Bailing out Greece at this point merely kicks the can down the road. Further bailouts are all but inevitable. This will anger the German populace to the point of turning its rage against Merkel’s right-of-center party. Leftists will take up the reigns. The next time the issue of the PIIGS needing money arises, there will be no hesitation about what to do. Neither will there be any incentive for any individual nation to pursue economically sound policies. The Euro will collapse, followed by societal upheaval. In the people’s frenzy to save themselves, they will seek out scapegoats. As Batchelor often says, “There will be blood.” The perceived ‘rich’ will be targeted and sacrificed on the altar of ‘Social Justice' (and Merkel will be permitted to sit by, knitting).

After the revolution, people will be starving and begging for leadership. Strongmen will emerge and rewire the West into a series of cooperative communist dictatorships in which economic principles no longer apply. Cronyism, brutality and ideology will comprise the new world currency.

Soapbox Derby

Lou - I appreciate your comment. However, you make two assumptions that do not necessarily hold water. First, the market did not ‘recover’. It went down almost 350 points yesterday. Today, it went down another 140 even despite all the optimistic talk about the latest unemployment numbers. Second, there is not only one single enemy attacking us. We are being attacked from all sides by a broad base of bad actors - including from within. We’re quite on the ropes already.

Picture one of those soapbox derby races we used to get roped into back when we were Boy Scouts. We’re going downhill, hoping that our wheels don’t fall off before we reach bottom. They won’t come off this time. The skids have been carefully greased and each little push only makes us go faster. They’re all out there pushing: the progressives, the communists, the unions, the anarchists, the atheists, the illegals, the environmentalists, the gays, the blacks, the browns – every malcontent who’s ever had a hung toenail is pushing. …and while they’re pushing, they’re spitting at our flag.

It doesn’t stop there. Internationally, we’re being pushed as well. Look at the military build-up to our south - courtesy of Russia and Iran - in the fallen dominoes of South and Central America. Look at who’s threatening our allies around the world. Look at the oil exploration about to begin practically in our own backyard by the likes of China, while our own hands remain tied. The Deepwater Horizon ‘accident’ sealed out fate in this regard. Instead, we’ll now concentrate on building windmill farms. Pretty soon it’ll be raining birds.

One plan is to choke off our energy supply. I can’t see it any other way. It’s already been decided at the highest levels of our own government that we should come begging for our energy needs. The rationale is that it would save the planet, but it’s really not that. It’s to diminish our influence and power. Some would say, it is to destroy us as a nation; to reduce us to that gushing wound that once was America; or Greece; or Rome or Great Britain (the empire on which the sun never sets).

The Islamists and the communists are all in this together. Their mission is to destroy America; capitalism. Once that’s done, they’ll sort out the differences amongst themselves by killing each other. We’re so rattled now that every time someone drops a pack of Lucky Strikes on the sidewalk somewhere, we close down Times Square. Don’t tell me it’s not having an effect.

We can be reasonably certain by now that our president is a communist. Until I see his birth certificate you can’t convince me that he isn’t a Muslim as well.

Bloodshed and Anarchy

Just another in a long series of well-connected rich boys sucked into the Islamic jihad excitement. Our liberal press clearly had trouble with this one. They never learned what we JB listeners already know, that the first three reports are always wrong. They ran like laughing hyenas with the first two (reports) that seemed to indicate that the perp was white, and possibly a tea party member (or Beck listener) upset at Obama’s health care legislation. Even Mayor Bloomberg fell for it. Once the identity of the would-be bomber had been established, the back-tracking began to resemble the sound of heavy furniture being dragged across the floor. In some instances, the foot-dragging left unattractive marks. Shahzad’s house was said to be in foreclosure by the evil banks (which must have made him mad) - never a thought was given to the likelihood that one determined to commit the jihad of his life would care less about paying his bills. If he had succeeded, his future at home would have been secure. He and his turncoat father would have been celebrated as undisputed heroes of the jihad. For us, it would have been an unmitigated disaster with only one tiny sliver of silver lining: the fact that this particular jihadi had wanted to live.

The authorities with boots on the ground performed admirably throughout. It’s their liberal bosses who got egg on their faces. Homeland Security was out to lunch once again, having allowed this guy to operate - incompetently as he did - after having taken the trouble of placing him on the watch list. In all fairness, our leadership from the Mayor on up had ample cause to be confused. They’d been issued lexicons with a serious printing error. Antonyms are listed under the heading marked ‘synonyms’ and vice-versa. Good is now bad; war is now peace; up is now down; black is now white; etc. We’ve returned to an antebellum mindset, except now it’s the white male that is suspected first after a crime has been committed.

This is why I have become pessimistic or, better yet, resigned. This is why I do not put much stock in the November midterm elections - because the system that produced Obama will continue to exist. Even if a handful of right-minded individuals were elected overwhelmingly, the wrecking balls are already in place to take them down. Look at New Jersey’s new governor for whom the knives are already sharpened. Look at the president of Greece, facing bloodshed and anarchy in the streets. In both cases, reform is but a speed bump in the road that can do little to halt the Left’s steady advance. America’s enemies are on the march. They have too many potent weapons to arrest the pigskin’s progress towards the goal line. The blue-haired ladies and their retired working stiff mates are no match for the wildly inspired brutes who control the ball - first and ten on the three yard line.

Tipping Point

I think we have a problem with our indiscriminate use of nomenclature here. I’m referring to the use of the word ‘trigger’. For the second time today this word has come up, first in connection with an event that would bring about civil strife here in the U.S., and now again in connection with something that would seal the financial collapse of a nation or currency. The problem as I see it is that by the use of the word ‘trigger’, you absolve all past sins while placing blame on a single specified (or unspecified) event. This is not fair or accurate.

Greece has been spending money like a drunken sailor for far too long. By doing so, they have managed to maintain the peace and tranquility that its socialist unions are forever threatening to disrupt. This has now reached a ‘tipping point’. Pouring more and more sugar into the weighing pan, the scale will lose its equilibrium and begin to tip. Increasing the weight on the other side will bring it back into balance. If that weight happens to be debt (or negative weight), the only option is to remove a portion of the sugar. The laws of economics are immutable. Gimmicks will only work as long as it is possible to confuse or distract the public.

We here in America are faced with a similar problem. Only here, it was the politicians who were pouring sugar onto the scales. We too have reached and (some say) surpassed our ‘tipping point’. Since our problem was politically driven – government corruption: buying votes, bribery, etc. – the blood you’re seeing is being (figuratively) spilled on the Senate and House floors (while in Greece, the blood is being spilled on the streets). It ultimately filters through and comes to one and the same: blood everywhere.

Time and time again, fancy financial accounting gimmicks were created to facilitate kicking the stink bomb farther on down the road. Well, we have reached a dead end. The damage done can no longer be masked by fancy arithmetic. Simply put, we’ve spent too much and don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of ever paying it back.

Lost in all the gimmickry is the willful ignorance of the value of money which is maintained only by hard work, prudent risk-taking and talent. If there is no appreciation of value, we might as well scrap the whole system and go back to bartering. But first, we are destined to endure a cycle of blame involving ‘triggers’, political pariahs, and even the trappings of success itself. Meanwhile the scale remains buried.

Surrender or War

Today’s drive to establish an Islamic caliphate roughly approximates the drive by the Left to rule globally under a single red banner. So far, the ominous similarities have escaped notice because the two have been working largely in tandem toward more or less the same purpose. As such, they have sought to minimize the frictions between them (for now) in view of their overriding objective: to defeat western values and, especially, capitalism.

As nothing is ever new in any matter, the strategies employed here have also been seen before and are based on the domino theory. It involves flipping individual countries form one camp to the other. I first heard of it by name when our government claimed that if the spread of communism isn’t halted in Vietnam all of Asia would fall.

The latest countries to flip over to the dark side are Turkey and Greece. Increasingly, people are realizing that one can now also add the U.S. to the list. Turkey was a heartbreak. Not that it couldn’t have been foreseen. As in the U.S., there were plenty of warnings of what could be expected if Erdogan were elected. Although, I don’t understand the intricacies of Turkish politics, I must assume a similar pattern of deceit and false promises were employed there to bring radical Islamists to power.

Greece, of course, has been subject to leftist sabotage for decades. Leftist union and student pressure have managed to ruin their economy which has now put the entire EU at risk. Leftist instigators have as recently as yesterday pulled out of serious negotiations with the government and declared that the battle would henceforth be fought out in the streets.

Compromise in Greece and elsewhere is no longer on the table. Hence, the only option free market advocates have is appeasement. The latter always serves to contain the ugliest part of it, but at a cost. The remaining democracies that are still functioning now find themselves with their backs to the wall. In order to appease the Left they have to increasingly put their economic principles at risk. In time, there will be no margin left within which to pursue the fiction of negotiation with people who have no interest in solutions. At that point there will be only two options: surrender or war.