A Lesson in Economics

The Senator from Montana was obviously angry. "Don't you know who I am?" he said, tapping himself in the chest.

The Federal clerk assigned to dispense the day's ration of bread laughed. "You're just another Jon to me, pal." He gestured with his right arm. "What've you got to trade?"

The Senator whipped out a hundred dollar bill and slapped it down on the countertop. "I shouldn't even have to stand in this line. I'm a US Senator. I was promised a free ride."

"In return for your vote on...what?" The clerk looked at the hundred and shook his head. "Sorry, I can't take that."

"What do you mean?" the Senator snapped, his face reddening now. "That's a hundred dollar bill."

The clerk sniggered. "Well, it was yesterday, but today it's just toilet paper thanks to you and your buddies in Congress spending those like there was no tomorrow. News flash: tomorrow's here."

"But my family's hungry. I promised I'd bring them something to eat."

The clerk waved at the somber people in the long line stretching around the corner behind the Senator. "Their family's have been hungry a lot longer, thanks to you and your tax and spend policies. Now, if you don't have anything of value to trade, you need to step aside, before things get ugly like they do almost every day when the bread's gone."

"Do they have to come up with something to trade?" the Senator asked.

The clerk shook his head. "They're all unemployed, on welfare now. You, on the other hand, made too much money last year to qualify, or so it says right here on my computer records."

The Senator dug in his front pocket and produced a gold piece. "That ought to buy me at least a thousand loaves of bread."

"Really." The clerk grinned and shook his head. "Hate to give you a lesson on economics, Senator, but that gold piece is only worth what the supplier of whatever it is you need says it is. And it's only worth one loaf of bread today."

"You can't do that."

"Funny, that's what all those voters in line behind you told you and your friends in Washington, but you weren't listening, were you?"

A man yelled out, "That ain't our Senator, is it?"

A woman cursed and other derisive voices rang out, epithets began to foul the air.

"Aw, hell, just look what your presence here has done," the clerk said, waving forward the line of armed men standing guard over the daily ration of bread on racks. "I think you better go, pal, before the riot starts." He looked up at the Senator. "So, you want a loaf of bread or not?"

The Senator dropped the gold piece on the counter in front of the clerk. "You're going to pay for this," he said ominously, snatching his loaf of bread from the clerk.

"I'm going to pay for this, how?" the clerk asked. "You and Congress gave away your power when you sold out our nation. This is the change you created. And now, you don't like it?"

"But I'm a US Senator."

"And that means what to the new world order ruling from Europe?"

"Well..."

"Look, pal, you really need to move along."

"You can't rush me off like that. Don't you know who I am?"

"I don't care who you are," the clerk said testily. "I'm just a working man, trying to feed my family. Do you know what I take home in return for risking my life to dispense this bread each day?" He didn't wait for the Senator to respond. "A loaf of bread. And my wife has to stand in line for hours like the rest of these people and hope the clerk working for his loaf of bread doesn't run out of shoes or socks or toilet paper for my kids before she gets to the front of the line. Welcome to the reality you created, Senator. We're all in this third world together now." He held up the gold piece. "And to think you were so smart that you actually gave a lowly working man the power to decide on a daily basis how many loaves of bread an ounce of gold will buy."

Someone behind the Senator yelled, "Traitor!"

"Elitist," another screamed.

"Shouldn't be in this line, should you?" a third bellowed. "What's the matter? Your taxpayer feeding trough empty now?"

"You sold us out," a fourth shouted. The angry murmurs grew louder, the crowd pushing forward, jostling the Senator. The civilian guards dressed identically in brown leveled their weapons.

The clerk leaned over the counter and said to the Senator, "I'd run if I were you. Those people behind you, the ones you screwed over time and time again, are hungry and desperate. And you know what they say about hungry, desperate people, don't you?"

"Don't you have somewhere I can go?" the Senator said nervously, clutching his loaf of bread to his chest.

"You wouldn't like the answer now any more than you did then," the clerk replied.

Of Credit Cards and Big Bad Wolves

Act One: Enter the Wolf

Once upon a time, a dizzy blonde forgot her payment to the big bad wolf known as Bank of America (BOA). In her defense, it was the silly season between Thanksgiving and Christmas and she simply forgot to make the payment. On December 7th, 2007 a day that will certainly live in infamy, she realized she'd forgotten the payment, which was now 7 days late. So, being an individual more than willing to take responsibility for her mistake, she paid over double the minimum payment plus the late fees, and since she'd never been late on a payment before, thought that was the end of it.

But the big bad BOA wolf was having its own problems at the time with losses in the sub-prime mortgage market, like other wolves such as Washington Mutual (WAMU), and since our blonde had made this "error," the BOA wolf decided that she, and thousands of others, should help the big bad wolf cover its losses. The blonde received notice with her next statement that the interest on her balance was being raised--to 31.74 percent--but if she paid on time like a good little blonde for six months, the big bad BOA wolf would "review" her account.

When she called the BOA wolf's customer service line, the blonde discovered that "review" didn't mean the interest rate was going down after six months. Oh, no. It just meant "review" as in "we'll continue to shaft you as long as we want and you can't do a damn thing about it." Well, the blonde decided to fight back in a totally remarkable way. She refused to pay. She called customer service a second time to let them know that she wasn't going to pay what amounted to usurous rates and that she didn't care about her so-called credit rating, a cattle prod if ever there was one, created by lenders to herd frightened sheep into the slaughter pens of big bad wolves all over the country and the world.

The blonde did her research and spoke to a friend who's worked in the banking industry for over twenty years to find out what, if anything, the big bad BOA wolf could do to her for refusing to pay. The BOA wolf could garnish the blonde's wages, but the banking industry expert had never heard of any wolf doing that because it's just too darn expensive for the wolves, having to get a lawyer in the blonde's home state, etc. The big bad wolf also could, in theory, serve a writ on the blonde's bank and clean out her bank account, but the banking industry expert hadn't ever heard of that being done either, again, because it's too cost prohibitive for the wolves. Outside of ruining the blonde's credit rating, there was little else, if anything, the big bad BOA wolf could do.

So, our courageous blonde did not pay. And the sky did not fall. But, this isn't the end of the story by any means.

Act Two: A Classic Bait and Switch.

After ignoring repeated calls from the BOA wolf's collectors, and thanking God for caller ID every time, our blonde had a fit of conscience. Never one to stiff anyone she owes, even a big bad wolf--unlike all the big bad wolves who had no qualms about gorging themselves on fresh cash at the taxpayers' bailout trough--the blonde decided to work out a deal with the BOA wolf. The BOA wolf agreed to settle for half of what was owed, to be paid off in thirty dollar installments over the course of 60 months. Fine and dandy. The BOA wolf cashes the first payment. Two weeks later, a representative for the BOA wolf calls and says thirty isn't enough.

"Federal law won't let us accept less than eighty dollars a month," Eric, the BOA rep, said.

"Cite me the statute," the disbelieving blonde replied.

Eric didn't know what the specific statute was, so the blonde asked to be transferred to someone who does. He refused to transfer the blonde, even to his supervisor, for at least five minutes of bickering and gnashing of teeth, until finally he relented. Eric's supervisor offered to take fifty a month instead of the eighty (and whatever happened to the "federal statute" requiring eighty? Eric's supervisor dodged that question.) The blonde refused to pay more than thirty because, to her way of thinking, she and the BOA wolf had made a deal and the wolf should honor his end. The BOA supervisor refused to take thirty. The blonde now keeps that money in her pocket. And still the sky did not fall.

The blonde had a similar run-in last year with HSBC, where they were going raise her interest rate to the high 20s, which she also refused to pay and let them know it on at least three different phone calls. HSBC then perpetrated their version of the bait and switch, promising the blonde 9% interest on her remaining debt, if only she would pay X amount by a certain date, and then make timely payments until the debt was satisfied. She met this wolf’s requirement, but then the HSBC rep said they couldn’t honor that deal either. And so the blonde kept her money in her pocket while HSBC, BOA, WAMU, CITI Bank, and other wolves lined up at the taxpayers’ trough to feed on the fresh meat supplied by our own Congress and President.

New credit card regulations are due to take effect in February 2010. However, these "new" regulations are to be interpreted and put into practice by the leader of the wolf pack, the Federal Reserve. There is nothing to prevent the wolf pack leader from interpreting the provisions this “new” law to the wolves’ own advantage, or “re-interpreting” the provisions at any time in the future, perhaps when the economic mess these greedy wolves got us all into has abated some, or maybe when the fresh meat in the bailout trough is thoroughly exhausted.

Distrustful of all banks now, with good reason as illustrated above, the blonde feels at this point in time that she’d rather owe the wolves than beat them out of it. And since the economy has taken a nosedive and the blonde has her own little cub to raise and a mortgage on their small den to satisfy, those wolves will just have to wait their turn, if it ever comes.

To the blonde’s way of thinking, the wolves, with the not-so-hidden support of our Congress and President, will continue to feed as long as consumers everywhere fear to fight back in the only language these wolves understand--money.

Ronald Reagan on Socialized Medicine

His words are as true now as they were when first he spoke them. Write your senators and representatives, even if you think it will do no good. At least then, after we kick them all out, they can't say they never heard from us.

Lip Service by the President

Lip service--that's what I heard in the President's speech last night. That, and a signal to the Taliban that the US will tuck tail and run in eighteen months.

This is just like telling the tenants in a low-rent housing project that the police force will be leaving in eighteen months--after eight years of turf warfare.

And sure, we're going to beef up our police force, but then we're leaving.

If I were the Taliban gang, I'd be sitting back and toasting our Police Chief for telling us his plans.

What a moronic thing to announce to the world.

Why, it's as if Obama doesn't realize that the world is, and always has been, a ghetto. We have our turf, others have theirs, and what you do on your own turf is, and should be, largely your own business. That is, until your gang crosses into our turf to kill our gang, as al Quaeda did on 9/11. Then, we're perfectly justified in leaving our turf to kick your assets on your own turf.

Instead of dragging this war on for eight years to all but virtually announce that we're going home, we should've kicked major butt and had the job done in less than a year or two. We should've brought all our resources to bear and finished it.

You know, if we'd only gone all the way to Bagdad in the first Gulf war and really kicked Sadam's butt, the bullies of the world would think twice before messing with us. But we didn't. And now they're messing with us again, encroaching on our turf, especially with our hood leader being so visibly weak and all. That's where playing politics in a ghetto gets you. Negotiations with bullies do not work. That's a simple fact. Reality.

As an American, I was insulted by the lip service Obama paid to "who we are" and paying down the deficit and small business rebuilding our economy and all that other crap his speech writer threw in to try to make him appear to love this country.

Ok, if he's suddenly in love with America and knows just exactly "who we are", why is healthcare reform still being debated in the Senate? Why did Cap and Trade pass the House? Why is he running off to Copenhagen to a debunked Climate change summit or to collect a prize he surely hasn't done one single thing to earn? Why is he holding a "jobs summit" with a bunch of people who have yet to create a single job between them? Hello? The words passing his lips don't begin to equal his actions, or lack thereof. Why isn't he saying to Congress--we can't spend any more money or pass any more legislation until this deficit is under control? Why? Because he doesn't believe one word of what he said last night. That's not his puppetmaster's true agenda.

The man reads the speech his handlers think will appeal to the American People wholly fed up with his lies. And he reads the speech without any emotion, without the emotion the strength of his convictions would provide, if he had any. Then he caps that off, this muslim marxist/socialist puppet in drag, by saying God bless everyone and America. And that, too, was highly insulting, at least to my way of thinking. And feeling.

If he'd shouted Allah Akbhar, I might've believed at least one line of that crap last night. The only thing I heard was lip service to the political forces in America. And a promise that we're going to spend even more American lives and money on a war to which the only end result that Obama dared commit was tucking tail and running like we're all as weak of mind and spirit, and love for our country, as he.

I've got one word for Obama this morning: Traitor.

I wish he'd roll up his road show and go home to Indonesia or Kenya or wherever he wants me to believe he grew up, because he sure didn't grow up here on my turf--America, land of the free and home of the brave. And God bless us all in our efforts to survive this disaster named Obama. We're going to need all the help we can get.

A Thanksgiving Prayer

Lord God of all the Living Universe, God of Whom there is no image,

--Thank you for the Constitution of these United States, for once we knew we should be free.

--Thank you for the men and women of the Armed Forces who offer their lives in defense of America--no greater sacrifice is found.

--Thank you for our children, our future. May we not disappoint them--or you.

--Thank you for good friends and sworn enemies. Both teach us more about love and hate, trust and dishonesty, than we ever learn in church or school.

--Thank you for the athiests who daily prove your existence, lest their clamoring voices be raised against nothing but thin air.

--Thank you for what's right in our world, and what's wrong, that we may better know the difference, that we may all find the purpose--large or small--to our lives.

--Thank you.

Touching a Raw Nerve at the LA Times

The LA Times posted an "article" entitled Google won't exclude distorted Michelle Obama image from search and there were maybe ten or fifteen comments, mostly asking why this was news and what's wrong with free speech. Then I posted the following comment and in the time it takes to read said comment, all the comments were gone, as if the LA Times had never allowed comments on the article. So, did the following touch a raw nerve? Or was it too close to the truth? You be the judge. Could've been a technical glitch, but the timing's incredible, and the last time I checked, the comments had not been restored.

My comment:

Gee, LA Times, did you want everyone in the world to view the image? That's all you've accomplished here, in addition to revealing your pseudo-elitism by thinking you're big and bad enough to tell Google where it ought to stand on free speech. So, does this mean you're against free speech? Or is speech only free when it criticizes those you hate versus criticizing those to whom you would surrender your rights as well as the rights of all American citizens.

You people are moronic. Perhaps if you spent as much time studying the Constitution as you do looking for flaws in others, you'd get an idea of why newspapers are losing readership, yours included. God knows few working at your paper have actually studied journalism.

Get off your high horse and do some real reporting for a change. Start looking at the bigger picture, the one beyond Obama. You'll be amazed at what you find. Hell, why not Google George Soros and the Bilderberg Group for starters? See how much practice Soros has at collapsing a country's currency, then ask yourselves if Bernanke of the Federal Reserve has quit printing dollars yet? Then ask yourself why he hasn't? Why not ask why he attended the Bilderberg Group's annual meeting in 2008? Or why Tim Geithner's a regular guest? George Soros last attended in 2002 I believe, but don't ever doubt that he's not well-represented.

Maybe if you dug a little, you could report truth instead of opinion and increase your readership. Unless, of course, you want to be bailed out by Soros and Co. using taxpayer's money--until the dollar's worth less than toilet paper, I might add. You better hurry and do something because you're going to be in the same boat as all the rest of us if you don't. Then you'll wish you'd done some real reporting. Oh well, I'm sure there will be a public works job for you all somewhere. And to think you could've stopped what's coming down merely by seeking and reporting the truth.

I used to believe in newspapers and reporters. Until they sold their souls to make a puppet a king.

Make Your Puppet a King

If you, above all else, wanted to make your puppet king of a free people and resources were no problem, how would you do it?

Fund anti-freedom organizations to slam these people from all political sides, every day virtually a new issue brewing a new fight, keep all of them distracted and/or afraid so they don't have time to see what you're doing to them; threaten their freedoms, threaten to redistribute the wealth from those who work to those who don't; turn the have-nots against the haves and vice versa, make sure you do nothing to create jobs so that people get hungry and desperate; tank the currency so that it's worth less and everything costs more; spend, spend, spend the People's money to create a need to raise taxes across the board; dither on the important issues without actually doing one single thing to solve the problems; by doing nothing, encourage violent class warfare to break out so that your puppet can declare martial law and suspend elections. Voila, you have now made your puppet a king.

Consider this:

*Since Obama took office we have a spend, spend, spend Congress creating a tax debt our children's children cannot pay.

*We are fighting with each other over the war in Afghanistan, over health care and cap and trade, fighting over whether a terrorist act like the one committed at Fort Hood should be called just that--a terrorist act--while the administration announces plans to try the mastermind of 9/11 as a common criminal, and causes yet another new controversy.

*We've lost six million jobs and the economy is in the tank, and Obama announces a useless "job summit" to be held between his numerous globe-trotting trips on our dime--this is another way of doing nothing while people get hungrier and more desperate.

*Our dollar is worth less every day and prices are rising while Bernanke of the Federal Reserve continues to print money like we've got it and will, if not stopped, devalue the currency to the point where toilet paper is worth more.
*The haves are growing angry at the have-nots for not wanting to support themselves; the have-nots are already mad at the haves for standing in the way of their "promised" free government ride.
*Meanwhile Obama and Pelosi and Reid steer more billions of tax dollars we don't have to organizations whose primary goal appears to be the destruction of the American way of life.
*Too few are taking the time to look at the larger picture because we're all too preoccupied--distracted--fighting amongst ourselves.
The bottom line is this: If class or civil or racial warfare = martial law, a puppet becomes king.

Soros is the puppet master; Obama, Pelosi, Reid and others of both political parties are merely dancing to his tune. If we pawns don't get off this dance floor and start focusing on the true enemies to America, we'll wake up one day to discover we the People--republican, democrat, conservative, liberal and independent alike--no longer have any skin left in this game.