Dem recruits Head For The Exits

Dem recruits continue to head for exits - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room: 
"Democrats have lost yet another touted recruit, this time in Kansas.
State Sen. Laura Kelly (D) just announced her withdrawal from the race to face Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.). She becomes the fifth formidable recruit to bow out in recent weeks.
“I have been forced to make a decision between honoring the pledge I made to the people in my Senate district and my firm conviction that the people of the 2nd congressional district deserve a truly independent voice in Congress,' Kelly said in a statement.
“This has been a very hard decision, but it is the right one.”"

As someone who has soured on the "two party system", and the Gang Of 535 that we have in D.C., I fell in love with the following posters comment:

"As a registered republican of the actual 1 party system, don't fret dems because these repubs that are incumbents are going to get kicked out also. Americans haven't forgotten all of the banking cartel bailouts that repubs as well as dems voted our tax dollars to pay for. The repubs are a part of the 2 headed one body of the same bird. You might say that "we are cleaning house."

I doubt that the Tea Party will solve the problem of getting rid of the low life's that infest the Hallowed Halls Of Congress and the White House, but it's a start. Then again the next terrorist attack on our country could well be in D.C. That might sober them up a bit. Naaah, they'll just continue on with the Politically Correct facade, refusing to admit that we are in a Holy War with the Islami. Not just "Radical Jihadists", all of  Islam.

Drunk With Power

Let me start off by saying this, Senator Baucus is either Drunk as a Skunk, or he is doing the best impression of Foster Brooks I have ever seen in my life. If he had a few more Pops, he would have really been on the Senate Floor - Literally. Doesn't this behavior make you respect the fools in DC even more than you already do?
I for one am curious as to how this will play out in the MSM news cycle come this Monday. I'll bet that the Democratic Strategists will be tripping all over themselves tomorrow trying to explain his behavior away. Let's see, will it be "the stress of the negotiations for Health Care Reform", celebrating Christmas in DC far from friends and family, an insulin attack, or that old favorite "it's all George Bush's fault".

Hey Harry: Where Is Nevada's Gift?

SHERMAN FREDERICK: Opinion - ReviewJournal.com: 
"I'm very disappointed.
It's Christmas morning and I can't find one single gift to Nevada from Sen. Harry Reid under the health-care 'reform' tree."

This is a very amusing, very brief, Christmas Op-Ed piece from the Las Vegas Review. I must say I was surprised that such a short tongue in cheek article could generate so many comments, 454 and counting. I'm getting the feeling that, contrary to the common belief held by Washington insiders, the American public will NOT forget about all of this come next November.

MD VIP Continued

On doctors and their VIP patients - Sheehan - NewsObserver.com:
"When I wrote recently about so-called concierge doctors' practices - docs who charge an annual fee for more attentive care - I tried to tell the other side of this story, and not just by quoting angry patients who felt jilted. I talked to a medical ethicist who saw nothing alarming with the trend.
Turns out, I should have talked to one of the family doctors NOT switching to concierge.
I should have talked to Dr. Adam Goldstein.
"The reality is, this is about profit," Goldstein said. After all, 600 patients at $1,500 a year is $900,000 on top of insurance payments."

This is a NewsObserver follow up to a previous article describing the trend by doctors to offer VIP a.k.a. Concierge services.With all of the fuss that's going on about health care reform, the question boils down to just one thing, who's going to pay for medical service. The answer of course is you. Either by oppressive new taxes or MD VIP fees, it will be the middle class who will pay. Not the rich, not the poor, not Civil Servants or the "Gang of 535." It will be what ever is left of the middle class, retired or working, who will be burdened with the cost of paying for themselves and everyone else.

After reading the N&O article, I was reminded of a comment from a recent Ann Coulter editorial, which read in part: "...... the liberal argument for national health care was that it wasn't fair that some people -- "the rich" -- have access to better health care than others. Instead of being honest and telling us that their plan is to make health care worse and more expensive -- but fairer! -- liberals have recently begun claiming that providing universal health care will actually save money."

According to the article it looks like Ann is right, health care will get worse and more expensive, one way or the other.

Just in case you missed them, the following are links to my previous posts regarding the subject of  MD VIP services:
            Two Tier Health Care Trend  
            Mayo Clinic Opting Out Of Medicare          

Obama's Pulls A Rodney Dangerfield

Obama raced clock, chaos, comedy for climate deal:
"WASHINGTON (AP) - It was almost unthinkable. The president of the United States walked into a meeting of fellow world leaders and there wasn't a chair for him, a sure sign he was not expected, maybe not even wanted.
Barack Obama didn't pause, however. 'I'm going to sit by my friend Lula,' he said, moving toward Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. A Brazilian aide gave the U.S. president his chair, and Obama spent the next 80 minutes helping craft new requirements for disclosing efforts to fight global warming. Along with India, South Africa and Brazil, the key member in the room was China, which recently surpassed the U.S. as the world's top emitter of heat-trapping gasses."

As I noted in a previous post, anyone looking for Gravitas from this White House had best look elsewhere.

This is another in a series of Non-Presidential behavior that goes beyond being comical or sophomoric. It is disturbing to say the least. For a President of the United States to walk into a conference room, in a foreign country, that his Secret Service hasn't checked out before hand, is incredulous. They should not only have known where he was to sit, but they should have had full knowledge of everyone in the room and made sure that they satisfied security clearance rules. His aides are either complicit in this incompetence, or must be bald from all their hair-pulling over the incident. I'm not sure how the Secret Service guys feel, but I can guess. Obama and his staff are out of control and clueless as to international protocol and security.
Adding insult to injury, joking that a Communist Dictator like Lula is his friend, is beyond the pale.

I never thought  Bubba  Bill Clinton could be made to look Presidential by anyone, but Mr. Obama has done it.
Is it too late to get Bubba back?

Jesse's CafeAmericain: The Bankers Summit

Some Significant No-Shows: 
"It appears that Goldman's Lloyd Blankfein, John Mack of Morgan Stanley, and Dick Parsons of Citgroup will not be able to make the meeting today with The One regarding executive pay and the failure to lend by the Wall Street Welfare Queens.
The excuses are not the usual: end of year performance reviews, too busy with the office redecorators, trying to settle the tab at Scores, on hold with the Neiman Marcus trophy-wife and office-chippy department, making plans to fix the Superbowl."

It looks like that old saw is as true today as ever -
"When you don't want to do something, any excuse is a good excuse." My personal favorite was "I'd love to attend, but I have to go shopping at Job Lot that day".
Seriously, I wonder when President Obama and his band of merry men are going to realize that you can't go around demonizing people and then expect them to roll over and do what you want. Bankers, like most of the American public, are not psychopaths like DC politicians. When you insult them they take it personal and do something about it. I wish we could go back to the old days, when a Senator insulted or slandered someone they fought duels to defend their honor. Today they appear on the Sunday talk shows and hurl "sound bites" at each other, what a bunch of pansies. We need more Congressmen with Saber scars and bullet holes. Come to think of it, some of our Congresswomen might benefit from that same new look.

They Eat Their Own

The American Prospect Savages Matt Taibbi For Savaging Obama:
"American Prospect, the left-leaning political magazine, doesn't like Matt Taibbi's latest Rolling Stone piece slamming the Obama administration's economic sell-out, calling it a 'nightmare of a story:'

Tim Fernholz: The piece is a factual mess, a conspiracy theorist's dream, doesn't even indict Obama for his real failures...and of course invokes the cold hands of Bob Rubin like a bogeyman at every turn.
This is pernicious for a lot of journalistic reasons, but politically it's bad for progressives because conspiracy theories stand in the way of good policy analysis and good activism, replacing them with apathy and fear."

I love Mr. Fernholz's reasoning, it's so Je ne sais quoi ......... "european socialist." Criticism of Taibbis article isn't about the truth of its complaints, it's about being "politically bad for progressives." If I remember correctly he and his fellow progressives had no problem with "conspiracy theories standing in the way of good policy analysis" when it came to George Bush's policies. But then again I guess that was "good activism" instead of Taibbi's "bad activism."
As I said in my last post "The left has a habit of eating its own, just ask Hillary Clinton."

Obama's Big Sellout

Obama's Big Sellout : Rolling Stone:
"The president has packed his economic team with Wall Street insiders intent on turning the bailout into an all-out giveaway What's taken place in the year since Obama won the presidency has turned out to be one of the most dramatic political about-faces in our history."

I think that the Democrats are going to find out, much to their dismay, that the far left can be just as damaging to them as the Republicans. The left has a habit of eating its own, just ask Hillary Clinton.
By the way, you can hear more from  Matt Taibbi here.  

I d i o c r a c y

This impromptu survey video is making the rounds and is very reminiscent of the movie Idiocracy.
The only difference is that the movie is set in the future, and the people who were asked to sign the petition are here now, and sad to say they vote. Take ten minutes out of your day and see what our country's future will be with enlightened voters like this.
"Watch it and Weep".

Two Tier Health Care Trend In North Carolina Triangle Area

Doctors Charge Initiation Fees For Service:
"Over the last few weeks, Dr. Brooks Wilkins' patients have been running him ragged, trying to get in to see him one last time.
Wilkins is not retiring. He's downsizing - and going upscale. Starting Tuesday, Wilkins will treat only patients who pay an annual fee of $1,500 to remain in his new MDVIP practice."

Welcome to European Style Health Care, and the term  Two Tier Health Care.

This is the defacto system in England and other European countries. They either have, or are moving toward, dual medical care systems, one for the poor and middle class (socialized)  and one for the rich (capitalism).

This story caught my interest for two reasons:
The first was that it is directly related to my My Nov. 20th blog about an article published in The Arizona Republic reporting that The Mayo Clinic was refusing to accept Medicare payments. They instituted a plan that is quite similar to the MDVIP mentioned in the above article.
The second reason was that about six months ago a friend in New York was recommended to a local doctor who was charging an annual fee of $2,000, and a predetermined number of required visits just to become a patient. Both my friend and I thought it was a crazy idea, but now I see it is becoming a trend in America medicine.

At this point I would normally advise you to write or email your elected officials to express your outrage at the disastrous effects the proposed Health Care Reform Bill  will  is already having on medical care in this country. But the Gang Of 535 has been ignoring and demonizing their constituents to such a degree lately, that sadly  they wont listen to you, so why bother.

The Plundering of Ontario

Shocked Investor: The Plundering of Ontario: 

The City Journal reports on the sorry situation of California:
"The economy is struggling, the unemployment rate is high, and many Americans are struggling to pay the bills, but one class of Americans is doing quite well: government workers. Their pay levels are soaring, they enjoy unmatched benefits, and they remain largely immune from layoffs, except for some overly publicized cutbacks around the margins".

"The situation in Ontario is not much different. The provincial government publishes the list of public employees who make more than $100k/year. With the last data available, this includes a mind boggling 53,300 employees."

Looks like Socialist States are the same no matter what Country they're in. Our neighbors to the north seem to be having the same Civil Service and Real Estate problems as the US, but their MSM refuses to admit it. Blogs like The Shocked Investor are the only ones who will acknowledge the problems, or they may just be the only ones who see and believe they exist. Either way, the world has a financial problem and it's much bigger than a Recession, and more wide spread than California and Ontario.
What bothers me is that so many are commenting on the US/World economy and markets as though this has been an ordinary cyclical recession and it is done. Let me assure you it is not.

Unemployment Games

I found this amusing video while browsing for some articles on the new jobs statistics that have the White House and a lot of the MSM euphoric about the future of the economy. Even Kudlow and his talking heads guests think that this may be the turning point in the economy. If you ask me, they're all drinking the Kool-Aid.
GIGO - One Report, based on legacy systems, front ended by new programs, written by tyros that don't understand the original legacy systems or their data.
Go Figure

The Creditor And The Plastic Duckie

This video was posted as a comment to one of the financial blogs that I occasionally read. In my rush to copy the embedded link, and all of the HTML troubles I had with it, I forgot which blog I got it from.
Sorry, No Hat Tip For You.
It's a shame because this is one of the most amusing and insightful explanations as to why China keeps buying our debt. No PHD's in Economics theories here, just plain old common sense on how to make money in any situation.    

Obama Storylines - Yahoo! News

Seven Stories Obama Doesn't Want Told:
"A year into his presidency, however, Obama’s gift for controlling his image shows signs of faltering. As Washington returns to work from the Thanksgiving holiday, there are several anti-Obama storylines gaining momentum."

The key point in the article is this quote:
"The problem is that many voters took Obama seriously in 2008 when he talked about wanting to create a more reasoned, non-partisan style of governance in Washington."

It wasn't just the voters looking for change that took him seriously. The Main Stream Media and all of the political talking heads who should have known better fell for the spiel. The Conservative pundits took comfort in believing that like Bill Clinton, he would move towards the center after he was elected, and all would be well with the world. Guess what, they were all dead wrong.
People that should have known better because their livelihood is dependent on covering politicians, swooned over Obama and his "message". The public was just guilty of being Fashion Voters, but the beltway insiders were guilty of dereliction of duty. Shame on them, they get paid handsomely to show more skepticism toward duplicitous politicians but this time they didn't earn their keep.

Bankster Seeks Billions as Whistle-Blower

Birkenfeld, Ex-UBS Banker, Seeks Billions as Whistle-Blower:
"Bradley C. Birkenfeld was sentenced to 40 months in prison for helping rich Americans dodge their taxes. Now he is hoping for a bit more — a few billion dollars more.
Mr. Birkenfeld, a former private banker at the Swiss bank UBS, won the enmity of his peers by violating the omerta of Swiss banking: He divulged the tax evasion secrets of UBS, the world’s largest bank by assets, and its well-heeled American clients. As part of a deal with federal prosecutors, he admitted to, among other things, helping to smuggle diamonds in a tube of toothpaste.
Now, as thousands of wealthy Americans seek amnesty for keeping illicit, offshore bank accounts, Mr. Birkenfeld and his lawyers hope to use a new federal whistle-blower law to claim a multibillion-dollar reward from the American government. If they succeed — and legal experts say the odds are pretty good — it would be the largest reward of its kind."

Anybody that uses a weapon to hold up a bank is a fool, this article tells you why and how to do it the right way. Just steal with a pen or computer like the Banksters and Politicians do, and then hire a lawyer to get rewarded by the law.
Mr. Birkenfeld reminds me of that old joke about the ultimate case of chutzpah: A man is on trial for killing his parents for their money, and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he's an orphan.
It's times like this when I truly think the world has gone mad.

A Thanksgiving Prayer

Climategate and Carbon Tax

Five Aussie MPs Resign In Disgust Over Carbon Tax:
"Australia is leading the revolt against Al Gore’s great big AGW conspiracy – just as the Aussie geologist and AGW sceptic Professor Ian Plimer predicted it would. ABC news reports that five frontbenchers from Australia’s opposition Liberal party have resigned their portfolios rather than follow their leader Malcolm Turnbull in voting with Kevin Rudd’s Government on a new Emissions Trading Scheme."

Cheers to the Aussie Fab Five for having the honest to stand by their convictions against the Religion of Global Warming. I sincerely doubt that we could get that many of the Gang Of 535 to resign over any issue, much less something like Global Warming. Our guys won't resign even when they get caught with $90 G's stashed in the freezer, or when the are discovered to be blatant tax cheats. The more serious the crime, the harder they fight to stay in office.
To the Fab Five: Good On Ya, Dinki-Di

Google Explains Racist Obama Results

Google Explains Racist Results: News24: SciTech: News:
"Washington - Google is running advertisements to explain the appearance of racist and anti-Semitic material in search results, including a picture which depicts US First Lady Michelle Obama as a monkey."

Oddly, I don't remember Google apologizing for search results "including a picture which depicts US President George W. Bush as a monkey". But then again again, I could have missed it.
By the way, there were so many pictures like the above on Google Images, that I spent hours trying to decide which one to include with the post. Be my guest, try it your self if you have any doubts, just click here.

There is still a lot of truth left to the old saw:
"It all depends on whose Ox is being Gored".

US Foreign Policy - DER SPIEGEL ONLINE

Obama's Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage :
"When he entered office, US President Barack Obama promised to inject US foreign policy with a new tone of respect and diplomacy. His recent trip to Asia, however, showed that it's not working. A shift to Bush-style bluntness may be coming."

'A Lot Like Jimmy Carter'
I think the article hits the nail on the head, it's reiterating what the Conservatives on this side of the pond have said from the beginning about Obama's foreign policy. I won't even mention The Great American Apology Tour, that's the subject of another post. At any rate the article is a good read, and it's comforting to know that not all Europeans hate our guts even though that's what the MSM would like you to believe.

As an aside, I found the following synopsis about Der Spiegel (The Mirror) just in case you weren't aware of its background. I guess the phrase "Sturmgeschütz der Demokratie" appeals to me because I'm part German. Boll was Americanized from Von Boll, mit aus ze Von, und Umlats over the O.
Anyway here's the blurb:

Der Spiegel has a long track record of uncovering political misconduct and creating scandals, earning itself the moniker "Sturmgeschütz der Demokratie" (assault gun of democracy) in its early decades. With Stefan Aust taking over in 1994, the magazine's political stance is said to have drifted towards the right. Some argue its position had changed from being critical, but supportive towards the red-Green government to a "neo-liberal", "Thatcherist" stance. Others reply that Der Spiegel always used to be critical of those momentarily in power - be it the right or the left. In fact, politicians of all stripes who had to deal with the magazine's attention often voiced their disaffection for it.

Saturday Night Live In China

No, this video not from that great satirical non-partisan web site The Onion.
This is a hilarious Saturday Night Live skit that may be a Tipping Point in the way the left is starting to see President Obama's, and The Gang of 535's policies. Not the Berkley Far Left, but the New York Limousine Liberal Moneyed left. You know the ones, they'll accept any socialist fad as long as they get to keep the mansions in Amagansett.
To paraphrase former President Clinton:
"Forget About The Economy, It's the Money, Stupid."

Global Warming Scam - Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Hackers Prove Global Warming Is A Scam:
"It's now official. Much of the hype about global warming is nothing but a complete scam.
Thanks to hackers (or an insider) who broke into The University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) and downloaded 156 megaybytes of data including extremely damaging emails, we now know that data supporting the global warming thesis was completely fabricated."

I guess it was inevitable that someone got a hold of some paperwork that discredited the Global Warming Religion. The theory and its disciples were getting too outlandish for the public to believe. I think they were following PETA's play book, and tried the Shock Jock thing one too many times.
How Druid European of them.  

Mayo Clinic Opting Out of Medicare

Mayo Clinic in W. Valley Opting Out of Medicare for Primary Care:
"'Low reimbursements have led one West Valley medical facility to stop taking certain Medicare patients, a pilot program that an Arizona health-care expert says may become a long-term trend in the industry.
'Government payers without question are the worse payers in health care,' said John Rivers, president of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association. 'Medicare shortfalls in hospital payments represent nearly $1 billion in Arizona alone. And those costs ultimately get shifted onto the backs of privately insured individuals in the form of a hidden health-care tax.'"

The Mayo Clinic's position on Medicare payments has National implications for Senior Citizens on Medicare. This shift in policy looks like it has a good chance in establishing a precedent throughout the industry. To say that it will have a huge financial impact on current and future Medicare recipients is an understatement. The majority of seniors depend on Medicare as their sole source for medical coverage, and this trend doesn't bode well for them financially.
The Medicare reimbursement problem is nothing new, it has been festering with threats of Denial of Service (DoS) by providers for years.  This is the first time that an institute as prestigious as the Mayo Clinic has drawn a line in the sand and refused to accept Medicare patients.
If this isn't another good reason for the Gang of 535 to "stop the insanity" and come up with real health care solutions, nothing is.

Jesse Jackson: Why Does Anyone Listen?

'You can't vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man' - Jesse Jackson: 
"The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Wednesday night criticized Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) for voting against the Democrats’ signature healthcare bill.
We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill,” Jackson said at a reception Wednesday night. “You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”"

It never ceases to amaze me that in this day and age there is anyone left that takes these Black Racists seriously. I've always thought that one of these days, like "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" we'd see through the lies and we'd all get back to normal. Unfortunately that has yet to happened, and I'm starting to have doubts it ever will. "Nobody believes a liar...even when he is telling the truth!" says Aesop, but Jesse and Al seem to get away with the Big White Lie over and over again.

I will not apologize for using an allegory with the word "Boy" in it. If it was good enough for Aesop, it's good enough for me.

Prepare For 'Global Collapse' - Telegraph

Societe Generale tells clients how to prepare for 'Global Collapse' : 
"Societe Generale has advised clients to be ready for a possible 'global economic collapse' over the next two years, mapping a strategy of defensive investments to avoid wealth destruction.In a report entitled "Worst-case debt scenario", the bank's asset team said state rescue packages over the last year have merely transferred private liabilities onto sagging sovereign shoulders, creating a fresh set of problems."

The article seemed so European Elite that I just had to post it. After all, Americans today are so enamored of what the Europeans and the rest of the world think of us, the article must be be worth the read. N'est-ce Pas?

America, A Serious Nation?

Is America a Serious Nation? - Pat Buchanan:
"For if we are at war, why is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed headed for trial in federal court in the Southern District of New York? Why is he entitled to a presumption of innocence and all of the constitutional protections of a U.S. citizen?"

This is a really good article, but Pat is looking for some Gravitas from the White House where there is none.

It reinforces my belief that Obama doesn't really understand that he is President Of The United States or what the office represents. He looks at it as merely a bully pulpit to advance his progressive agenda and doesn't realize that he was elected to govern. To him it's his Kumbia moment with a few extra perks thrown in. I also think that there are a lot of politicians and MSM political pundits who feel the same way that he does about his election to the highest office in the United States. It seems to be the attitude of a street urchin who has made a big score and is now flaunting it in front of "the man."

They don't seem to care about the country that gave them the opportunity to make something of themselves, they just hate everything that it stands for. It reminds me of the Watts riots during the Sixty's, when the people who's neighborhoods were set ablaze by rioters, thanked the Firefighters and emergency services personnel by throwing rocks at them. Something akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face.

To get back to Pat's question is America a Serious Nation, I must reply with a resounding NO.

Paterson Rips White House For NYC 9/11 Trial - wcbstv.com

Paterson Rips White House For NYC 9/11 Trial - wcbstv.com: 
"Gov. David Paterson openly criticized the White House on Monday, saying he thought it was a terrible idea to move alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspected terrorists to New York for trial."

I know that this is a political move by Gov. Paterson, but as an ex-New Yorker I have to agree with him. Not in New York.
If Mr. Holder want's to put the trial on display for all to see, he should do it in DC. This way if, God forbid, anything should happen it will be the Gang of 535 that will suffer, not my friends in New York.
They've been through enough.

China's Empty City

 If you build it, he will come -

This video has been making the rounds on Internet and it really got my attention. It seems that the US is not the only country in the world who thinks they can spend their way into prosperity. The Chinese think they can build their own Field Of Dreams, an entire city in Mongolia. They are hoping that the residents will come, but the problem is that the only ones interested are investors, and anyone from the west coast can tell you how badly that will turn out.

But hey it's different in China, real estate prices only go up there. It's a fact Jack.

529 Dropouts - Yahoo! Finance

More Parents Are Becoming 529 Dropouts:
"When Michael Singer of Coral Springs, Fla., started saving for his children's college education about six years ago, he relied mainly on a 529 savings plan sponsored by the state of New Mexico. Then the 49-year-old high-school teacher lost about half of his 529 savings because of an Oppenheimer bond fund that had bet heavily on mortgage-backed securities. Mr. Singer decided not to make the big contribution he had planned to his 529 this year, and he is now saving for college on his own, mostly by investing in municipal-bond funds and individual bonds."

With all the articles that have been written about the stock market decline, the vast majority of them were focused on 401K and IRA plans. This is the first one I've seen that even mention 529's. Pity the poor middle class couple who have seen their house, 401K and 529 plans take a dive in recent years. Actually there are probably quite a few generous grand parents that are in the same boat.

Which brings me to my most favorite under reported Elephant In The Room story, the College Tuition Bubble. For close to forty years our elected officials in Washington DC have felt it their duty to Socially Re-Engineer our society into a Utopia where everyone owns a house, has a college education, and works at a job that doesn't require dirty hands. In other words, a society molded in their own elite image. They are trying to deal with the fallout of the Housing Bubble, quite badly I might add, and don't have a clue about the tuition loan problem that is making Debt Slaves out of a generation after generation of young people.

House debtors have learned  the hard way that they've been deceived by the promise of  the great American Dream of home ownership. Now recent graduates are learning that they have also been deceived by another American Dream, a College Education. They've indebted themselves for many years to come, only to find that all their hard earned degree will buy them is a job as a night manager at McDonalds. A job where ironically they get their hands quite dirty.

Afghanistan, Khair (goodbye)

The American Way of Abandonment - Pat Buchanan:
"When America is about to throw an ally to the wolves, we follow an established ritual. We discover that the man we supported was never really morally fit to be a friend or partner of the United States."

I ran across this article by Pat Buchanan about a week ago and as usual found it a valuable lesson in modern history. I tucked it away in my memory bank but with all of the news about Obama waffling on Afghanistan and the talk of how corrupt the Karzai brothers are, the article came to mind immediately. If Pat is correct, and history repeats itself, we are out of Afghanistan right quick. And then watch the Return To The Killing Fields in all its horror on late night TV and the Internet.
On a lighter note, I've always loved the quote by Henry Kissinger:
"In this world it is often dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, but to be a friend is fatal"

New Bank Rules and More Lies

New Rules and More Lies Hide Cancerous Commercial Real Estate Loans: 
"Commercial real estate is blowing up so what do regulators do? The answer of course is to come up with new rules and regulations that will allow banks to ignore losses.
On October 31 the Wall Street Journal reported; Banks Get New Rules on Property."

I'm finding that the longer this Financial Crisis drags on, the stronger the language gets from the economic bloggers. Terms like Lies, Cheats, Thieves, Corrupt, and Banksters are becoming more common place. Check out Jesse's Cafe Americain for another example.
Now if Joe Six Pack and our Selected Officials started using the same words with the same anger in their voices, maybe we could fix this thing. Who am I kidding, Joe Six Pack is too busy trying to put food on the table and Congress is to busy lying, cheating, stealing, corrupting, and acting as lookouts for the Banksters.

Castles In The Sand

Dubai's Shut Up Finance: 
"We have heard of project finance, debt finance, LBO finance, islamic finance... we have even heard talk of Green Finance (self serving smile). But until yesterday, we never had the pleasure of Shut Up Finance."

The above post deals with Dubai's Bubble, which can't just be referred  to as a real estate bubble. It is really more of an Opulence Bubble, akin to what has happened here but on a vastly larger scale, and an almost cartoonish outcome. However like Dubai's Shut Up Finance our government has it's own Shut Up Policy, and it goes something like this:
Those who doubt the value of the Health Care Bill
should “shut up”.
Those who doubt the results of the Stimulus Program
should "shut up".
Those who doubt the value of Cash For Clunkers
should "shut up".
Those who throw Tea Parties
should "shut up".
You get the point, the boys and girls in D.C. just want to do things their way, and want us all to "shut up".
To which I respond, not too respectfully I might add,  
"In Your Hat".

Pick Ups At Home Depot - Las Vegas Sun

The New Faces Of Day Labor: 
"It sounds like a George Lopez joke:
Times are so bad that I saw an Anglo day laborer standing outside Home Depot the other day.”
Except it’s true.
In the latest sign of the Las Vegas Valley’s economic free fall, U.S. citizens are starting to show up in the early mornings outside home improvement stores and plant nurseries across the Las Vegas Valley, jostling with illegal immigrants for a shot at a few hours of work. Experts say the slow-starting but seemingly inexorable trend is occurring nationwide."

It saddens me to read an article like this for two reasons. The first and most obvious is the sympathy I have for the human suffering Americans are enduring during these hard economic times. The second is more political, and stirs the emotions of deep rooted anger at the current thinking of the DC elite. I feel anger at our politicians, our businesses, and immigration activists who constantly tell us that Americans don't want just any type of job. They don't want the non-college level jobs that have been exported to other countries in the name of Globalism. They don't want jobs that they feel are beneath them like laborer jobs, plumbers, electricians, heavy equipment operators. You know the kind of jobs our fathers did to put food on the table for us, so that we could live the American dream. According to our "fearless leaders" those jobs are better left to illegal migrant workers, or to off shore call centers and foreign manufacturers. My God, what red blooded American would want a manufacturing job in this day and age?

As I said in a post I wrote a few days ago - "these days I am starting to pay close attention to what the Left has to say. Their intent for what they say may be different than mine, but their observations ring true."

I give you this link to a Slate Magazine article entitled  What Are The Jobs Americans Won't Do? . Read it and you decide if the Left doesn't have a point. Besides I'm too pissed off at this whole fiasco, and Mr. Gross has a better flair for words than I, but I'm getting there.

Millionaires in Congress

CRP Reports 237 Millionaires in Congress:
"Talk about bad timing.
As Washington reels from the news of 10.2 percent unemployment, the Center for Responsive Politics is out with a new report describing the wealth of members of Congress.
Among the highlights: Two-hundred-and-thirty-seven members of Congress are millionaires. That’s 44 percent of the body – compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall."

Let me preface my comments with the following observation. I can't tell you how hard it was to pick an image to attach to this post. Normally I go to Micro$oft's new Bing search engine, click on Images and make a quick pick from the list of pictures they present me. Not this time. All of the simulacrums (look it up) were so apropos to this article that it must have taken me 15 to 20 minutes to make up mind. Boy there are a lot of people who dislike politicians out there, and every one of them has a camera or a drawing pad.

Back to my comments on the article about Politician Salaries.

I hate to say this, but I feel sorry for these poor Pols, and before you start throwing stones let me explain why. Imagine here you are making a mere $170K a year having to make difficult decisions about spending Millions of Tax Payer Dollars (TPD aka OPM) on pet projects for your colleagues. Then to add insult to injury the Fed starts printing more money and low and behold you are now in the position of having to spend Billions of Tax Dollars just to keep up with the increased money supply. The final insult comes when you now have to make a decision to vote for a health care bill that will require you to give the OK to spend 1.2 TRILLION of TPD (OPM) on a bill. You're further annoyed because this piece of legislation was requested by some babe from a place called California, who represents a district that consists of less than one tenth of one percent of the nations population. Voting for it may cost you your job, not doing so may cost you your job. My God what do they expect from you. All this work and responsibility for what, after all you only make a paltry $170K a year, and your net worth is only a few Million. Hell at this rate you can't steal enough to live on much less get re-elected. And all the while those fat cats on Wall Street collect multi-millions of dollars in bonus's with TARP money that you voted for.

Life is so unfair. Just ask our underpaid Congress.

Pay 'Appalling Underclass' not to breed

New Zealand Mayor Says, Pay Problem Parents Not To Breeds :
"AN outspoken Kiwi politician has proposed a new solution to the country's child abuse problem - pay the 'appalling underclass' not to breed. Michael Laws - who stirred up controversy by calling the late Tongan King a 'bloated brown slug'' - has again hit the headlines.
'That there is a group within our society who give their children no hope nor opportunity from the moment that they are born,' the regional mayor wrote on the New Zealand radio website where he broadcasts as a talkback DJ. 'That these ‘parents’ are known to authorities ... and yet the authorities can only intervene after children have been harmed.'
Mr Laws goes on to write: 'it would be far better for this appalling underclass to be offered financial inducements not to have children, given the toxic environment that they would provide for any child in their care.'"

At first blush I was a little put off by Mayor Laws comments, but then I started to think about it in Good Old US of A terms. Suddenly it dawned on me that his solution seemed more humane than the way we do it.
We pay to have our Appalling Underclass abort their children, and when they get pregnant again we pay for them to abort again. It's a little game of Genocide we play in the name of "pro choice".
When some of them get wise to the game and won't abort their children, we begrudgingly give them welfare to support the surviving children in benign poverty. When those children get old enough, we can get a second chance at Genocide by paying them to aborting their children.
Life goes full circle.

Unfit for Military Duty

75 Percent of Young Americans Are Unfit for Military Duty :
"The latest Army statistics show a stunning 75 percent of military-age youth are ineligible to join the military because they are overweight, can't pass entrance exams, have dropped out of high school or had run-ins with the law. So many young people between the prime recruiting ages of 17 and 24 cannot meet minimum standards that a group of retired military leaders is calling for more investment in early childhood education to combat the insidious effects of junk food and inadequate education."

An amazing statistic don't you think? Now you know why the both parties are loath to stop illegal immigration. We need illegals, they're all hungry, skinny, eager to learn, and will kill for work.

TV Program Aims at Obamamania

ABC's 'V' New Fall Series -- ChicagoTribune.com:
"Imagine this. At a time of political turmoil, a charismatic, telegenic new leader arrives virtually out of nowhere. He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care.
The news media swoons in admiration -- one simpering anchorman even shouts at a reporter who asks a tough question: 'Why don't you show some respect?!' The public is likewise smitten, except for a few nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader's origins and intentions. The leader, undismayed, offers assurances that are soothing, if also just a tiny bit condescending: 'Embracing change is never easy.'"

I can't believe what's happening in the news lately. First the NY Times article about Voter Remorse and now this, ABC is making a Sci-Fi version of The Obama West Wing. I'm sure that it has something to do with ratings, after all they can read Fox's numbers. Or maybe it's a ploy, and when the "totalitarian space lizard" reveals itself, it will turn out to be George Bush.

Euphoria Gives Way to Second-Thoughts

In Iowa, Euphoria Gives Way to Second-Thoughts on Obama :
"WILLIAMSBURG, Iowa — Pauline McAreavy voted for President Obama. From the moment she first saw him two years ago, she was smitten by his speeches and sold on his promise of change. She switched parties to support him in the Iowa caucuses, donated money and opened her home to a pair of young campaign workers."

First of all let me say that I'm speechless because the article is by JEFF ZELENY, and was originally published in The New York Times. I was so taken back that I read it twice looking for some sort of  Liberal political agenda hidden deep with in it. Low and behold I couldn't find one, but I'll keep looking, it's got to be there somewhere. Meanwhile I'll ad my brief thoughts on the article.
The stories of why these people voted for Obama reminds me of a blog comment that I saved because I thought it was so spot on. I think it applies here even though some of the reasons given in the article are about a sense of belief in Obama's message. I don't know if that was their true feelings or a smoke screen for Fashion Voting. Below is the blogger comment, you decide:

"Our country is paying a terrible price for a trendy impulse. The fashion voters - those who voted for the nation's first black president regardless of his qualifications and despite the communists in his background - are how we got into this ungodly mess."

The Trading Sardine

Andy convinces Billy to buy a can of sardines at a high price by telling him how wonderful they taste. Billy, being greedy, decides to resell them to Charlie for a profit at an even higher price by convincing him, too, about how great these sardines are. The process is repeated several times until the last buyer, let’s call him Zebediah, pays a million bucks to Yorick for a can of the “world’s absolute best sardines – EVER”.

Well, Zebediah decides to open the can and eat the sardines, only to discover they are ordinary, plain sardines. Furious at being swindled, he yells at Yorick: “You crook! You liar! I paid you a million bucks for plain ordinary sardines. They were not the greatest tasting sardines - EVER”, yells Zeb.

Yorick shrugs and replies…

“Hey Zebediah, you are such a schmuck. Those were not eating sardines – them were trading sardines!"

I found The Trading Sardine fable embedded in a post on the Sudden Debt blog. The reason I didn't include the entire post is that it was full of esoteric charts relating to the CIT fiasco, which I thought would bore every one. The Trading Sardine while a simple allegory, illustrates what has happened to housing, commercial real estate, stock market, and commodities.Basically what has transpired right in front of the noses of all of the regulators that are supposed to protect us, is one big Circle Jerk.
We are all Zebediahs now.

Some Very Expensive Jobs - Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Obama creates 640,329 jobs at a cost of $323,739.83 per job:
"Inquiring minds are asking the question 'How many jobs were created out of the various stimulus programs so far and at what cost per job?'
That is a good question. Not that we can believe the reported number of jobs created, but let's assume for the sake of argument that the figures provided by the administration are correct."

Looks like Fox isn't the only one on the Administrations "Bad Guy" list. Mish, along with Denninger at Market Ticker are joining a long registry of financial bloggers who are starting to question the numbers and claims being put out by the Team Obama. There are more and more of Obama Believers Of Change that are slowly becoming heretics. The Main Stream Media, not so much.
Update:
I may have spoken to soon about the MSM's non-reporting of the subject. I just ran across this article in ABC news by ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper, check it out -
$160,000 Per Stimulus Job? White House Calls that "Calculator Abuse" 

Ethics Report Leaks - Yahoo! News

Congressional ethics report leaks, revealing names - Yahoo! News: 
"WASHINGTON – Internal investigations into the conduct of over two dozen House members were exposed in an extraordinary, Internet-era breach involving the secretive process by which Congress polices lawmaker ethics."

I can't believe that this  news item popped up on Yahoo News. It must have been an automatic feed that no one was able to delete before it was posted. Almost all of those being investigated were Democrats, can't have that can we. Don't get me wrong, I believe that all politicians are thieves however the MSM seems to think that Republicans are the only ones with a Culture Of Corruption. In their minds the Democrats are pillars of virtue in a cesspool of Republican depravity.
Better read it quick before it gets deleted from Yahoo News.

Wall Street vs. Main Street

Courts Beginning to Favor Foreclosed Property Owners:
"Agents involved in foreclosures and short sales may need to begin to disclose the possibility of serious property transfer defects associated with these types of lender controlled sales.
If recent court decisions are any indication, we could be headed for an explosion of litigation in this area.
And now, Massachusetts Courts have revealed the possibility that unlawful foreclosures, dating back to 1989, might be invalidated and that buyers of foreclosed properties and short sales may have clouded titles."

Here's something to keep in mind especially if you plan to relocate like me. You might want to reconsider short sales or foreclosures, not because of the hassle of fixing them up or the length of time to purchase, but according to this article you might not own it after you buy. Very scary stuff, even if you buy title insurance it looks like the courts could over ride your claim to the property and leave you with nothing.

Jesse's Cafe Americain

Restoring Glass-Steagall:
"Restoring Glass-Steagall is such an obvious move that one has to wonder why it is not being more seriously considered. Granted, it took a multi-year lobbying effort and the expenditure of many millions of dollar to subvert a national regulatory and political process to overturn it, largely led by Sandy Weill of Citigroup. Frontline: The Long Demise of Glass-Steagall."

For those of you that are into this type of thing, this is a great article from a blog with an International Flair.
The merging of investment and savings banks was one of the many things that contributed to "the perfect storm" that caused this financial mess. Once that was done, the new "banks" could take on as much investment risk as they wanted because they were now backed by the Fed and FDIC (read; our tax dollars).

The Mess That Greenspan Made

Grantham on Greenspan:
"Ouch! If Grantham hadn't been so right about so many other recent financial market developments, you could easily dismiss this as sour grapes of one kind or another.
But he hasn't and you can't."

Unfortunately the fools in Washington who salivated and fawned over Greenspan's every word, and named him The Maestro, are still there. They have glorified new Maestri, Bernanke and Geitner, and this whole debacle will end just as badly.

Escape From New York

Tax refugees staging escape from New York:
"New Yorkers are fleeing the state and city in alarming numbers -- and costing a fortune in lost tax dollars, a new study shows.
More than 1.5 million state residents left for other parts of the United States from 2000 to 2008, according to the report from the Empire Center for New York State Policy. It was the biggest out-of-state migration in the country.
The vast majority of the migrants, 1.1 million, were former residents of New York City -- meaning one out of seven city taxpayers moved out."

I left New York in 1995 after receiving an early buy-out from NYNEX. The main reason for the move was the affordability factor. My property taxes had gone from $3K to $5K plus, water and electricity rates were the highest in the nation, and I was paying State and City income tax that was going nowhere but up. In so far as housing was concerned LI, actually the Tri-State area, was in a real estate bubble from the day I bought my first house in 1975 until the day I left. I was tired of subsisting in New York but not being able to "live" there.
It turns out I made the right move. It looks like the only ones that will be left are Civil Servants, Politicians, and the poor. I'm always amazed at life's full circle. Harlem was once the place of the rich and famous, then it went down hill and became the place for the poor and crime. Just within the last few years it found new life with the migration of Urban Pioneers, however I think it will soon return to its roots of crime and poverty along with Brooklyn and the rest of the New York.

‘Obama Hangover’

Democratic candidates suffer from ‘Obama Hangover’:
“It’s like the morning after the party,’’ said Michael McGann, a Democrat running for clerk of courts in the Philadelphia suburbs. “The party was wonderful and exciting. The day after it’s like, ‘Gee, I don’t want to do that again for a while.’ ’’

I vehemently disagree with Mr. McGann's description of the "day after." It's more like a Cyote Ugly morning after.
Cyote Ugly is when you wake up next to the woman you had sex with the night before,and you realize in your sober state that she is the UGLIEST woman you have ever seen, and you realize she is laying on your arm. Instead of waking her up to move, you chew off your arm to free yourself so you can escape.
Fashion voters who elected him should always remember the title of that great Country Western song, The Girls All Look Prettier At Closing Time.

California Treasurer Scolds Legislature Over Pension Reform And Reckless Spending

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Pension Reform And Reckless Spending: 
"Inquiring minds are listening to California Treasurer Bill Lockyer who testified at an informational hearing on budget reform on October 22, 2009."

Great Video.
Now if someone from the CBO would explain things to Congress in the same blunt way, we might have something.

Credit Card Holder Protection

Citibank shows credit card holders need protection : "Months before a law takes effect that cracks down on abuses by credit card issuers, the bank increases interest rates to almost 30% on customers who pay their bills on time."

I don't understand, what's the big deal. Debt is like drugs .......... Just Say No!
Seriously, I guess I can't fathom how addicted the American public is to debt. I can't believe that all the people I see at the checkout counter using credit cards are unable to afford their purchase. There must be some mistake. But then again, I seem to be the only person in beautiful downtown Durham who pays in cash for everything. Sometimes I feel lonely and foolish reaching into my pocket, pulling out the cheap green paper and alloy coins to pay for goods at Target. But they take it, put it in the till and politely ask me if I want to sign up for a Target Credit Card. Go figure.

The Poverty Pimp's Poem

The Poverty Pimp's Poem by Thomas Sowell -- Capitalism Magazine:
"MY FELLOW-ECONOMIST WALTER WILLIAMS has for years kept track of how much money it would take to lift every American man, woman and child in poverty above the official poverty level. That sum has consistently been some fraction of the money actually spent in 'anti-poverty' programs. In other words, if you gave every poor person enough money to stop being poor, that would cost a fraction of what our welfare state programs and bureaucracies cost."

I first heard the term Inner City Poverty Pimp just a few weeks ago and thought it was very apropos of today's race hustlers. My delight at discovering such a new and refreshing phrase was short lived when I came across this article by Thomas Sowell describing the ICPP phenomena. That piece was published in 2001 from an original 1998 work. No matter, it's a great observation on America's Race Hustlers who seem to own Federal, State, and Local officials. Own may be a poor choice of words, petrify and extort are more fitting.

Monday's Reverse Repo Test?

Monday's Reverse Repo Test? - The Market Ticker: 
"Are people really this dumb over at The Fed? It appears so, and begs the question - how big of a disaster are we about to undergo?"

Denninger asks an interesting question, and I think the answer is staring us right in the face.
The Banks Are Broke. Not just in the good old US of A, but in all of the Western World. Savers in the US are not the only ones that are going to be "holding the bag". China and the Arabs are going to be very pissed when they can't dump their worthless paper fast enough to avoid massive losses. Right now they have been content with slowly divesting themselves of "fiat currency" so as not to start a panic. But sooner or later someone is going to blink and the whole house of cards is going to collapse.
Just Sayin.

Bank Fees For Timely Credit Card Payments - USATODAY.com

Latest bank fee is for paying off credit card on time every month: 
"Starting next year, Bank of America will charge a small number of customers an annual fee, ranging from $29 to $99. The bank has characterized the fee as experimental. But card holders who have never carried a balance or paid late fees could be among those affected.
Citigroup, meanwhile, has started charging annual fees to card holders who don't put more than a specific amount on their cards, typically $2,400 a year. Other banks are charging inactivity fees if customers don't use their credit cards during a specific period of time. You heard that right: You could be spanked for staying out of debt."

What can you say about this one? The Fed collects taxes from us, gives the money to the banks so that they can stay in business. The banks take your tax money that they get for next to nothing and charge you 5%+ to borrow it for Mortgages, and 16-24% to borrow it on a Credit Card. Not being satisfied, they charge you fees if you don't use your Credit Card enough, and questionable overdraft fees on your own Debit card use. Then to top it all off they pay their executives outrageous bonus' for all this misuse of Your Tax Money.
I've been a capitalist all my life, but this is "beyond the pale".

Wall Street's Naked Swindle

Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers Wall Street's Naked Swindle: by Matt Taibbi

A scheme to flood the market with counterfeit stocks helped kill Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers — and the feds have yet to bust the culprits

"The new president for whom we all had such high hopes went and hired Michael Froman, a Citigroup executive who accepted a $2.2 million bonus after he joined the White House, to serve on his economic transition team — at the same time the government was giving Citigroup a massive bailout. Then, after promising to curb the influence of lobbyists, Obama hired a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist, Mark Patterson, as chief of staff at the Treasury. He hired another Goldmanite, Gary Gensler, to police the commodities markets. He handed control of the Treasury and Federal Reserve over to Geithner and Bernanke, a pair of stooges who spent their whole careers being bellhops for New York bankers. And on the first anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, when he finally came to Wall Street to promote "serious financial reform," his plan proved to be so completely absent of balls that the share prices of the major banks soared at the news."

In the spirit of full disclosure, this is an article from The Rolling Stone written by Matt Taibbi, both lean way left of center. That said, on the subject of Wall Street these days I am starting to pay close attention to what the left has to say. Their intent for what they say may be different than mine, but the observations ring true.