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A Letter To Congress
from reader T. Willerson
Letter to congress
Dear Congressman:
It’s here: Your moment at the plate. You’ve whiffed more than a few … and, yes, we’re counting. But you’ve been gifted another at-bat, and the President’s tired. Seventh inning stuff is coming out of his teleprompter, and this full-count fastball will be straight, level, and slow. You won’t see another one like this for five years.
An embattled first term president is faced with an outcome that he must, at all costs, prevent, and he’s done very little ground work ahead of it. He is about to become the first President in American history to preside over a default on the national debt, unless you vote to let him raise the limit on the financial burden we leave our children. He would ultimately be crazy to deny any reasonable option, absolutely anything, rather than live with the outcome of his refusal. Politically speaking, he’s whispered a prayer to the Greek God of Imprudence and Fiscal Insanity, raised a one-finger salute to the nation’s savers through the sunroof of a stolen golden Beemer, and revved it toward the draw-bridge that you were elected to control.
Graphic by John Lohman
America’s debt has been moving straight up since the early 1980s. In the beginning it was ok. Debt is not, in itself, a bad thing, and a reasonable amount of leverage on the balance sheet can be positive for any entity, including the United States. But we’re well past that threshold. Researchers Reinhart and Rogoff, in their exhaustive recent work, This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, show that, historically, when debt in an economy gets above .9x, or 90% of GDP, the interest burden creates a negative cycle from which nations struggle to recover. If we include the unfunded liabilities we’ve committed to in order to support programs like Medicare and Social Security, the United States of America’s financial obligations represent 8.7x, or 871% of GDP, almost 10x the amount that Reinhart & Rogoff determined lead to ultimate economic failure. In terms that are much easier to identify with, this comes to a debt of $1,386,340 for every family in the US! When you consider the average family’s ability to pay, it all begins to rhyme with those 2007 no - doc mortgages, doesn’t it? In fact, if the US was a corporation, we’d be in bankruptcy proceedings and you, kind sir, would be holding a pink slip, a legal summons, and a scrap of paper with Dick Fuld’s cell phone number on it for advice on staying out of jail – because the truth is that he is no more guilty than you, and you no less than him, and we can stop kidding ourselves whenever you’re ready.
But, politically, you ask… what can really be done? After all it’s always the other guy. You know, that, sniff - sniff…, mean congresswoman from a lunatic district who disagrees. It’s her fault. She doesn’t understand math. And she’s just intractable. Intractable! She believes that America’s social contract (I can’t find that in the constitution… ) is more important than the critically important task of shooting Tomahawk missiles at other parents’ kids to support… uhhm… different kids that we don’t really know, in a war that’s only sort of, well... a war. I mean, the nerve of that… woman. And there are others like her. And there’s an election coming up every two years. A bigger one every four. Wait… what in God’s name did that lunatic McCain just say? … Anyway, progress is too much to expect, and after a couple years of trying, you just… roll with the punches… do what you can… Right?
When it’s time for that morning look in the mirror, you tell yourself it’s harder than you thought. Too much of it seems bigger than the promises you made to get there. In the face of disagreement, in the thrall of tight votes and divided leadership, you simply can’t get it done the way you’d hoped. So you parse the polls, you chase the cameras, you fondle your constituents, and you wonder what the view looks like from the upper chamber. You ultimately retire to the lobbying job, with one hell of a pension, and live in a way that you despised before you realized what two kids in college, vacations in Europe, and a wife with a strappy Jimmy Choo habit would cost. You’ve kicked the proverbial can down the road, and maybe you tell yourself that it’s all our political system will allow. And so it goes.
Or you find your moment - that point of crisis when rare circumstances put the bat in your hand, and you have the leverage to make a change - the kind of change that’s identified by far more than a focus-grouped slogan; the kind that alters the course of history. You can do it by simply standing firmly for the principles upon which you were elected.
To blame you for catastrophe, legislators first have to explain the rejection of an acceptable alternative. Barack can load the teleprompter with the righteous indignation of his Father’s Dreams and level each syllable with a stage actor’s grace. The senate can whine and Harry Reid will triangulate desperately toward that elusive line between patriotism and pandering, sensitivity and simpering, missing every second and third step along the way. You’ll have to hold through the deluge because the bully pulpit wins the news cycle, but an administration bears the blame. Deflecting reporters is a privilege of the political class, but a President is beholden to history.
Certainly you could play for a single; just get a runner on base and hope like hell that the relief pitcher isn’t as strong as he’s been for the last ten years. You could pick and pry and get just enough to say you won; aim for destabilization in the next election, and keep looking for your next shot. You could bunt something unintelligible and complicated enough to confuse the anchorman and the AARP, pick the flowers from the fertilizer, and beseechingly extend the mess into the camera lens. You could head for the primrose path with a pension and the lobbying job, and wonder, in weak moments, what your grandparents would say about abdication of duty.
Or you could rise to the challenge and do something meaningful - something that would answer that cynical question, the one that is on the lips of a generation raised to mute sound bites and soapboxes with the bored sweep of a pointer finger, but whose votes elected this President. Their question: What does any of it really mean?
If not now… when? Whether you win the next election or not…whether the next news cycle gives you a boost or not…. Will you get this chance again? The President is in a bind that no speech, no dog-wagging war, no bill, and no mindless populism can change. His back is against the 2012 wall and this time the outcome is binary. He knows it. He absolutely has to have you help him raise the debt limit.
This is legacy stuff, and it doesn’t matter which side of the aisle you claim, so keep it simple. Leave out the social invasions. Stay out of bathrooms, bedrooms, churches, and doctor’s offices. Cancel the earmarks and the garbage. Skip the things that sound good but won’t work. Shoot straight and don’t strut. Do it early. Do it clearly and forcefully, but respectfully, and explain it with logic that doesn’t require lies. Deliver it in a way that leaves no doubt about your goals, your intent, or your resolve, and leave the cigars at home. Let your most aesthetic, most intelligent, most media-savvy person front it, and limit the bill to one page.
Send the President a bill that says Federal debt, in all forms and definitions, must be less than 60% of GDP by 2016, less than 50% by 2020, and less than 40% by 2024, or, in each of those years, a bi-partisan group will cut Federal Funding at the strategic, and line item level, until the goal is met. Furthermore, debt must stay below the benchmark thereafter, short of a Declaration of War or National Emergency supported by a two thirds vote of both houses of congress. And in the case of temporary exception, anything over the maximum must receive the same two-thirds vote each year or immediately go back to the limit via the same committee.
Barack will not like this choice, and he will thrash and froth. He’ll reload the teleprompter again and again in fiery waves of verbal and emotive genius that will make you question everything you believe, and, ultimately, your congressional reason d’être. But, in the end, a solution he hates will be better than having his name on the first and only default in the history of the United States.
So plant your feet and point your finger at the bleachers. Tell the President that you don’t intend to change a word because a default now is no different than a default later, and you’d rather see him get the credit. Give him a clear choice and a good look at the filthy cesspool that lies in wait on the other side of the decision, and let him decide whether to court disaster. Then take him to the wall.
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We should all send this to every member of Congress. Maybe after they recieved a few thousand of these, each, the message might sink in...
This letter is a fine example of a very well crafted and eloquent exercise in futility.
It makes two tragic assumptions that undermine the goal of the letter:
1) that we live in a democracy
2) that there is any desire whatsoever for fiscal responsibility.
The debt ceiling WILL be raised.
The money printing WILL continue.
Inflation will soon become Hyperinflation because that IS the plan.
The banks will ultimately unload all of their toxic debt on the government at full value...and the government will unload this debt on the backs of the people until those backs are broken.
This will not be the tragic result of misguided policies, but rather it will be the successful implementation of the plan currently being carried out.
To believe otherwise is to be naive.
+1 exactly. Our current situation is the result of a well-executed plan, not a series of blunders.
Well young fella, accept or fight. What ya gonna do? Milestones
Acceptance is the path of the weak.
Fight is the response of the Brave.
Flight is the action of the wise.
I'll take option C.
bawk,bawk, bawk. A wise choice for one with wings but man has none. Milestones
You are correct. I will not be retiring in the U.S. I don't know why more people here don't discuss leaving.
The number one rule of the 2nd ACR (HOF) was "no one leaves the excarpment alive." If you do not fight here, then where. The battle lines are drawn. To flee is another form of slavery. No thanks.
Long live the Queen!
Remember the study of Psychohistory? Hari would not appear for this event. This is in the 96% range of probability for what was expected 15 years ago for this time period. The looting simply continues as expected with better than average result for the empire. The outer planets begin the revolt. Sorry Dr. A.
Default
Seriously, this money can never be repaid so anything other than a default is just kicking the can. Only difference is do we want to default on 14 trillion or 18 trillion?
All debts WILL be paid...but the value of the currency with which it is paid will be near Zero.
They promised they'd pay you in dollars...they never promised those dollars would have any value.
That kind of default is too slow, so hurry it up.
It will go from a whisper to a scream in the blink of an eye.
Like Zim Dollars?
That's right... All debts will be repaid with currency worth zero. So max out those credit cards, get the biggest mortgage you can, buy a car with the fattest loan you can get. Then, sit... and wait. Pay them back with the worthless crap currency they loaned to us.
You got er Toyota! Milestones
Do you yet see, TD, that what you propose the congressman do is not only impossible now, but always will be??
Do you yet see that the disUnited States is too diversified, with too many people in it that have so many different views, ideas, opinions, logical forebrains contaminated with emotions, so much that is important to some and not to others??
Do you realize that the experiment in the idea of a united AMERICA has failed, dismally, a long time ago?? That these 535 people who rotate thru our Capitol building are just a prehensile tail of a concept, and that idea of an elected government by, for and of the people only existed if at all for a very short time??
Maybe by intention or by accident, the result is the same: a few plutocrats have been ripping off the people for two centuries.
Here instead is what a courageous man would say to a full session of Congress:
St. John's Church, Richmond, Virginia
March 23, 1775.
MR. PRESIDENT: No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do, opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely, and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfil the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offence, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves, and the House? Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with these war-like preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask, gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free² if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending²if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!
They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations; and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable²and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace²but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
anony-it would be useful for those observing (one might hope absorbing, but...) for you to cite a) source (w/e.g. linkz, since the internet is as it is, and b) cite the author of these thoughts. Pat doesn't need the props, but others would i) accept your point (better) and iii) even investigate (since there are many here who can't/won't comprehend).
my second point is that it is not TD's job, but rather all of us'unz. Either way. Campaign on several fronts. TD do'oin his job-presenting points of view for all y'all (and this tiny little piglet) to figure out.
to your point: there's not enough love to go around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pkVLqSaahk
u tell me why in current circumstances (especially w/the propaganda) this is the land of confusion?
not smacking down, inquiring minds wish to converse.
- Ned
Don't have a link, but the speech is obviously that of Patrick Henry of Virginia, around 1775.
Had to memorize the final paragraph in high school.
It was a different world.
And, a li'l modern update to that 80s prophecy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV4oYkIeGJc
(This is the version by Disturbed)
Goodbye blue sky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0v07InoFiU
YOU FRIGGIN IDIOT! Milestones
A fine post.
I read this over about three times and each succeeding time it felt almost as though I could hear Patrick Henry's voice booming out to the Congress with a passion and gravity that no one, in any speech thereafter, has ever truly heard.
And its a damn shame. All we get now are brain dead speechs filled with words that have no more that four syllables, for the sake of our "enlightened" citizens to understand as they wait impatiently for this "speech" to end, so that they can go back to their mindless t.v. and be told what to think, without even knowing it.
Bravo America.
This guy does know that the laws have to be changed, right? It's not like the Preznit can just decide to stop paying stuff because Congress tells him to cut the budget...
...right?
If the only choice (to stop the baby boomers from piling further debts on our children) is default, then I say
DEFAULT, BITCHEZ
I got no problem with default, it's coming one way or the other. If DC were destroyed in a meltdown, it wouldn't bother me at all.
I just don't like when people who seem to believe they're "serious" write this kind of stuff because it's so profoundly ignorant of how the system works. The author is supposed to be trying to offer a suggestion, but he didn't bother to learn anything about how this stuff works.
"It's complicated" is always the cry of people who don't want to do anything. I like the way that Alexander the Great Psycho dealt with the Gordian knot.
You should be trying to get us a King of the US then, obviously.
Did the last election help?? Did the election before that help??
Where are the young lions and brave hearts??
It is a bitch but we gotta keep on keeping on, to overcome.
Since Obama will demagogue any changes that had a real chance of getting America back on its feet, then there isn't much hope. By now the only people that think they are getting back "what they paid in taxes" when they collect Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and unemployment insurance are those who are of an actuarily unsound mind. Liberty unleashes productivity and human genius. Personal responsibility provides the motivation to keep the wolf from the door. By continuing to reward non productivity and punish productivity we will eventually collapse into Greece. It is just a matter of when.
Funny how our government always goes to war. War on Drugs, War on Poverty, War on Terrorism, War on Illiteracy, War on Crime. All of these "wars" yet not one politician has declared a "War on Debt". It would be a catchy phrase for one of them to use but I don't think any of them want to be beholding to that kind of war. The one that we could actually win and would benefit the U.S. more than any of these other fake wars. It will make a catch campaign slogan for the one who steals it.
Whatever we declare war on, we get more of it. I sure hope they don't declare a war on debt, we can't handle any more of that!
+ 1000% debt-to-GDP
Amen brother!
I guess this is the DENIAL phase where most still believe there is hope. Next comes ANGER.
Oops! That doesn't sound good.
Grief stages: shock, denial, bargaining, depression, anger, remorse, sadness, hurt, loneliness.
We are reappropriated slaves to be exploited by our Masters.
Denial is done, for most of us here. Acceptance and preperation need to be the points that we focus on. Let the herd do as it will, we can only give guidance to those that are willing to listen.
Food, Guns and Ammo, Bitchez
(1) If congress kicks it down the road, the next congress, faced with threats of killing old people and children will simply pass a new bill changing this bill. Sorry that simply will not work.
(2) Refusing to raise the debt ceiling is not default, we continue to pay our interest with the tax revenues, no problem.
(3) We don't have time to wait until 2016 to have firm targets. By 2016, at this rate, we're DOA.
embattled is such a good word.
- Ned
I wish the president were embattled.
He is weak, a fake and a liar. He is beleaguered, the opposite of embattled.
A real national leader would certainly be 'embattled', dressed in full armour and ready to ride to war.
From Henry V:
Messenger
Constable
Unless this letter contains check for a large sum in a non-profit fund controlled by the politician, nobody will read it.
When jews wrote letter to hitler, they just made it easy for Nazis to identify where they live. Smart jews all jumped ship and got the heck out of Nazi occupied lands.
Many young educated Americans and western Europeans are looking for the next new world.
+ mars
LETTER TO THE TAXPAYERS
uh, fuck you. Im rich bitch!
the prez
Make no mistake, they will print because it is the best 'of the worst' solutions. If congress doesn't vote to lift the debt limit, the bankers will force them to by letting gravity take control of the stock market. It's as simple as that.
I don't know why many of you expect congress to act. It's far too late and complex to deal with at this point.
Social Security is easily solved. Just raise exemption ceiling. The program is solvent, it is just that we now owe a lot of stolen SS money that was used to fund tax cuts.
Health care has somewhere between 20 and 35% per profit drag. Pubs want to expand the profit and cut the benefits. This is all part of the stupid idea that tax cuts pay for them selves which has wrecked the country.
At least Keynes believed in math.
with healthcare inflation of 5 percent per year cutting out all profits from health care delays the problem seven more years. Doctor salaries are twenty percent of health care dollars. Cutting doctor salaries in half delays the problem two more years. Social security might be solvable.
Hmm....someone junked you.
They must not be able to understand math.
"we now owe a lot of stolen SS money that was used to fund tax cuts"
Who is this "we" you are talking about?
Could it be the children who never had a chance to vote on all this? How do they "owe" you all that stolen SS money?
Fuck you boomers..Go to fucking hell with your selfish sanctimonious bullshit.
---FY
boomers eat their children/grand children.
theres some demagoguery for ya
I'm a boomer. I've been forceably made to pay into the system for over 30 years. I'm not expecting, nor will I demand to receive any of it. I know I'm going to end up in a van down by the river. I accept that my generation perpetrated this bullshit, or allowed it to run unchecked. I would rather you young ones, my son, live free or die.
capitolism is about rich people/poor people/certificates/and global power
.
NOT FAMILIES
Eventually the USA will default on some or all of the debt owed to the Fed.
This will be deemed the least undesirable option. The Fed will take losses, which will kick in its recent provision not to remit profits to the Treasury until it has been paid back for all accumulated losses.
And there you have it. A nation running directly on fresh-printed vapor. Creditors will get back dollars for every dollar they lent though.
I have to leave now, but remember when the time comes gasoline plus styrofoam will stick to anything. You cannot get it off.
Your debt/GDP can be infinity when you borrow the money from yourself. After all, that doesn't cause inflation because you are just paying yourself back. Bernanke said so. In fact, if you just use gold as your basis for inflation/deflation then everything Bernanke says makes perfect sense.
Therefore, QE 1+2 is not causing inflation. It's actually causing deflation.
Job 1 is getting re-elected. Whatever it takes. End of story.
Can't wait to experience what the Hope&Change rehash tastes like...
Yummy!
Can someone with too much time on their hands plot bank failure (in sum of assets under management), as a chart, versus QE1 and QE2,
Banks dropping like flies today!
To borrow from Mr. Hayek.....we are on "the road to serfdom". The Great Community Leader's plan: if he can't re-distribute wealth then let it all crash... from the rubble a new socialist state will emerge and the Great One will be there to give us new "Hope and Change". Or, we can bite the bullet, since the imbeciles in Congress cannot agree on anything, a starter would be a 10% across the board reduction in all gubmint spending. In exchange for a deficit ceiling raise: a balanced budget; an end to Obamacare (get competition in by allowing interstate choices), bring home troops, raise Soc Sec age for retirement; a real domestic Energy policy, including Thorium reactors; end QE, fix housing ( no more Barney, Fannie or Freddie), new Fair Taxation, get the Feds out of our schools, close the border, get the money back the banksters are holding to cover their asses for all the bad loans made and use it to give incentives to industry to revitalize infrastructure in this country. Lastly, a constitutional amendment for term limits for all CONgress. Such a deal...
Utterly pointless post. Nothing will stop what's coming.
Metaphysically speaking?
Me thinks that we could get rid of congressman and senators, and that includes the electoral college and leave the voting up to the people, we have a system in place that already allows for such an important task to be handled securely; the US electronic monetary system, let me explain.
The sole purpose of our elected officials is to carry the message of the people from their respective districts to Washington... I say FOK DAT we don't need you any longer, because of this thingamagig called the internets.... see we can just go to a secure website and vote, and the outcome is what the outcome is, no questions asked.
I wonder how much money could the deficit be offset by firing you money hogs in washington, the benefits you enjoy, and the free lunch you steal from american children every second.
Now some are going to argue that the American people are not capable of deciding on such matters, or if you have a better argument, I would like to hear it, and we can have that discussion via a SKYPE session, a medium that truly does make for open and fair debate, and then again vote on that.
Let me ask you one simple question, which is more secure, buying a $1.50 candy bar with a credit/debit card or you election vote?
KISS - we all know what this means, and I'm so tired of.... wanting my voice heard, and not dismissed like you little people just don't get it YOUR NOT IMPORTANT, well as long as I'm paying my taxes we are going to want to start doing things are way.
Tell me what difference does this site, or any other site make in the big scheme of things, are we going to really find HOPE AND CHANGE by whining about it in a blog. You see what gets the attention of world leaders, or is all that MSM bullshit as well?
I am so frustrated that I can't bring myself to structure a well though out argument, other than to say if you stip a mans' ability to speak out and be heard, you leave him with only one form of communication.
Driver license or state id card, add a VIN(voter pin number) loggin with your id number zipcode and VIN, and cast your vote.
A VOTING APP - DUH!
Oh and another thing, I just filed and PAID my taxes via the internet, and thats seems safe enough for the IRS, so I don't want to hear any excuses. Now do America a favor Step down and in doing so save our republic!
"Me thinks".
ZH the home of the Shakespearean commentators.
Shakesspear, you have my meaing confused with that fancy nancy from over in "yourapeein" times I would prefer SIR to be recognised as a backwoods redneck with a hankerin for simplicity - YO FUCKTARD OUT!
From a technical standpoint this is totally do-able, and quickly. I agree that Americans can be trusted to make critical decisions.
"the people" voted for the Great One........
Until I'm required to vote by law, the system remains flawed. - Write that down!
Tyler you could not have put it better. You can see the winners in this contest. It is always the banksters, the puppet masters since we have the best government money can buy. One picture is worth a thousand words, The Pyramid of Capitalism.
http://lonerangersilver.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/pyramid-of-capital-syst...
Geithner gives some companies pass on new rules
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Geithner-gives-some-companies-apf-31871541...
hang all the bastards in Congress. Congress is a whore house and nothing more than to seel America to others. This has been going on long enough.
I kid you not that a commercial just came on touting a government program that gives away a free cell phone with minutes to anyone on foodstamps or medicade. Gee hard to imagine how America has a debt problem.
Yup, seen that one, thought maybe it was an SNL skit - but went and found the website.
They call it "Safelink" because you just can't be "safe" without a gub'mint subsidized cell phone:
https://www.safelinkwireless.com/EnrollmentPublic/program_info.aspx
My local pizza joint says "We gladly accept EBT" (food stamps debit card) in their ad for a large pepperoni pizza with a 2-liter Pepsi.
Now the crackheads can at least feed their kids. They are too high to be able to figure out how to cook a healthy meal, so I guess pizza and a Pepsi for Johnnie is the best we can hope for the children of stupid parasites.
The livestock don't realise that the phone is actually an electronic tag to track them down when the work camps open. Who said the feds are stupid?! Too funny!
GO vote they say, yeah right, WTF. Start hanging the bstards and clean the system. Don;t spare the family.
More Congressional Vegetables please!
I ain't fucking around (voting) anymore. I am out!
+1
Way too many dumb assholes.
Nice letter, but I prefer this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JGp7Meg42U
Fuck that. Won't work, they will change the terms later as they always do. An immediate default is the spanking that's needed.
Henceforth, due to extreme displeasure and failure with QE2 and the prior one, in the future in order to mainain its cloak of discretion and and secrecy, and in keeping-in wwith the smoke and mirrors theme....the next one shall be known simply as the printing of money.
the Fed.
My line when I was a cold-calling broker was "Reach into your pocket, get a grip on that Louisville Slugger, and step up to the plate."
The only people in Congress with Cajones these days are Republican women like Michelle Bachmann, and they have painted her into the corner with the flakes, so we are truly doomed.
Dear Taxpayer,
Shut the hell up ...and pay your taxes.
Sincerely,
Your Congress(man/woman)
I've written to plenty of congressmen and women and made phone calls. These letters are read by staff; the calls are answered by staff. The politicians don't care about the opinions of their constituents. They take orders from their big donors, the multinational corporations.
The biggest fucking shock of the Royal Wedding was that Obama and the wife were not there lapping up the limelight as they love to do!
They were not invited. The Syrian ambassador and the President of the United States, disinvited both... What is it the Queen knows? Oh that's right, the usurper in chief is personally a rude, dodgy, untrustworthy sop to corporate interests and you leftists eat him up as he sells your pink butts down the river.
Lord a mercy does anyone take Econ 101 anymore? If we don't raise the Debt ceiling we will not be defaulting on the National Debt. All that means is no more borrowing. We can only spend what is coming in in Tax receipts and things will have to be prioritized.
There is enough disinformation out there already without adding to it.
The UNITED STATES is a corporation and the people of the united States is not responsible for its debt. Good luck getting the people to pay. Taxation without representatation of the people is not our style. The congress has represented the corporations; let the corporations pay this debt.
When TSHTF, the only metal that will be precious will be lead.
the voice of reason has strep throat and the debt ceiling antibiotics aren't working. if we stop taking the pill of course some will die but not all.
The dollar has devalued against the Mexican peso by 8% in the last 35 days. The Economist newspaper in Mexico is calling it the Superpeso. It is not that the peso is going up, it is that the dollar is going down. Be prepared buy physical silver/gold.
http://lonerangersilver.wordpress.com/2011/04/30/u-s-gets-c-credit-ratin...
I thought the USD depreciating against the Real was a worrying development, but the USD depreciating against the Peso is the sign the apocalypse is truly upon us.
Careful what you wish for. If Congress actually does something bold to get the country back on track, there will be no bid for precious metals...
so now we are looking at an abortion that lived, can you do the right thing and tighten your belt even if it strangles you? consider the act a permission for the future to breathe. our founding fathers have left us, are we supposed to blame society or the world and stop growing even if it might mean we'll fit into shackles better? wherein does strength lie? comfort, conveInence? those tributaries will bleed us dry. if the transplant is not existential it will remain rhizome never to see the sun.
you have the secret of why we don't speak lizard, and why the yucatan is nothing more than a place for spring breakers.
All we really have to do to avoid another event is stop acting like american badasses. I have met people from around the world, and they are capable of having a currency other than our our myopic USDs, and much more so, shiny metals.
Meaning: PMs are for Pimps!
this full-count fastball will be straight, level, and slow
Played ball lefty longball hitter, above should have read:
this full-count "85 mph fastball, straight, belt high, and inside"
(Not slow)
85 mph is the low end of the major leagues ... put on the big-boy pants and start throwing 92 or better if you want to make the grade.
Conyack (vs) Stotch { Ok really!} Cognac (vs) Scotch ;single malt. HMMM. Smiles. Me like BoE thoughts!
the only place Palin needs to be in the white house is down on her knees sucking OBAMAS monstacong.
I see MSNBC has had the forked cock of Satan up your ass impregnating you with bullshit.. By the way its leaking out your ears..
the serpent of discontent showed us the fruit of knowledge, should we let it rot before it hits the ground? i think the sin lies in not tasting.
I can't can't wait until the off-shore corporate profit ; (Q/A) comes up in q-3, as qe-2 cover your ass! What a joke!
I see some big trends breaking, and some stop hunting Sunday/Monday. The real gains are in headline inflated (REAL MONEY) sectors.
We need truthful answers and we are not going to get them. The puppet masters treat us like sheep. Nothing much has changed since the time of the money changers at the temple. Forget about the controlled press.
http://lonerangersilver.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/buy-silver-today-at-a-d...
Nice post Jovil. I got maybe 8-10 hours of sleep this week. I usually interject, but I am certain a lot of other traders are perplexed as well. Fading a trade is OK in smalls!
the basal metabolic rate of being is not a starvation ethic, especially considering that technology is a fortification of all things well contrived. end the superfluous, it is the beginning of a cancer of the I. and the last thing you want to divide without design is sight. stop the built to break consumerism, the zombie escalator. bring back the craftmenship that is a ship of men vested to cut the unforgiving blue in search of a new world all can live peacefully upon. it can happen, in my opinion it has locked itself to a lining of blood with a 9 month timeline. be the seed of enlightenment. the foundry is love, it's forge will melt all anger into productivity.
sail those blue seas my freind. I hope you find and ingest spicy food instead of shiny metal.
DeepCoverPost®
Private Message System for the informed.
~D'jeanSplicer
Another schizophrenic like Michigan independent.
For you guys who don't know what this is, this
type of thought pattern is called loosening of associations.
He has been in a hospital before. Trust me.
We now have two obvious schizophrenics who have found zero hedge.
Michigan Independent and now this dude.
Hey, Doc, question, curious about your take:
If a piece of software convinces a psychiatrist that it's insane, has it passed the Turing test?
Oh no you didn't!
where is the like button? because i think your comment deserves a little operant conditioning.
junk^3, nothing worthy of a recycle
Hey there, I'm new, hello.
Speaking of Congress, Rand and Ron Paul, Campaign for Liberty launched an "Audit the Fed Action Bomb" today hoping to collect $150K to install Audit the Fed Banners, 24/7 on Google, Drudge Report, Rassmussen, etc.; Start a cold-call phone bank; drop hundreds of thousands of pieces of mail; email, press releases.
http://chooseliberty.org/atf_bb.aspx?pid=abnd3
Could this work? Is it a waste of time?
hemlock will always have a better key, reteething to meet the counterpoint, socrates died so you, should you chose to brave the truth speak... before that act requires permission. because at that event horizon you'll wish you had not even the slight glimpse of the light. be the lock that will not permit lies to break it. the tree of enlightenment will never bear fruit if the enduring idea prunes the apex.
Except... failure to raise the debt ceiling does not cause default.
Default can only occur on instruments to which the government is legally and contractually bound to pay - interest on US Treasuries and maturing Treasuries.
The United States takes in about $2 trillion in taxes per year. The United States pays out a couple hundred billion in interest per year. Ergo, the tax base is more than sufficient to avoid default.
So what's all the screaming about? It's the non-interest part of the budget that Obama wants to keep floating. He's spendind $3.3-$3.4 trillion per year and after interest expenses he has about $1.6-$1.7 trillion in taxes.
Thus, what refusing to raise the debt ceiling really means is... nearly instant balanced budget. There's no need to call for a balanced budget amendment. Just stop raising the debt ceiling and there you go. Of course when the checks stop rolling into LA, Chicago, and New York, I'm not sure I'd want to be within 100 miles of those places, but hey, you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs, right?
The Usurper has already landed in Marseilles...
A Letter to Congress
Hello Congress,
We need more money. We ran out again. This is the last time, though. Double pinky swear.
Sincerely,
Timmay
@ Texas GunSlinger
FYI: Most people in the world have a mass-religion family line.
Stirring up a “non-existing disagreement” is puke.
the glass ceiling. shall we break it or try to contain the pathogen? break in case of an emergency or a controlled burn?
and as dave sim said, a government remains soluble as long as it can afford the points.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npQj_wxGgaE
stay smART. fistacuffs against the lockdown.
It is children, or me me?
Let's stop this silly nonsense about children---who paid for all this infrastructure that's already in place? If the children had to pay 100% of the cost of future infrastructure, they would go broke or live like Barbarians in 400 AD. We had generations and prior generation pay and built up all the things that go into civilizations. In Europe, they're still using roads built by the Romans! I live in Nevada and drink tap water, thanks to folks who lived in 1930s and built the wonderful Hoover dam, that I paid 0. In fact, almost all the things that exist now: roads, hospitals, schools, universities were built and paid for before anyone under 30 was even born.
It's has always been the case that future generations benefit from the toils of prior generations.
In the meantime, 1,000,000 boomers apply for shit mopping p-t jobs at Mcdonalds after spending all their lives building America up.
I agree linrom. When I started paying social security in the 1970's I didn't like it. I knew I could have invested it myself and have been much better off. I also knew that it might not even be there for me someday. But I was smart enough not to blame everyone older than me for it. If it makes these young people happy I am sure I will never get back what I put into it either. Means testing will come. Responsible people who lived within their means and saved will be penalized. The talking heads from all of the think tanks agree. Enough of this silly boomer hatred nonsense. We never voted for it and many will be victims too. I'm tired of reading your posts.
In Australia SS is means tested. The Institute of Actuaries did a study some years ago and found that it cost more to admiinistrate the means testing than it would to pay all comers.
tautology is the new msm gospel, and i guess all believers are well read. stop going to mass, media and maybe you will wear the volume button off of a proverbial truth. the book mark for common knowledge puts the spine of your know in scoliosis, stand tall and then maybe you will hear it.
"raised a one-finger salute to the nation’s savers through the sunroof of a stolen golden Beemer, and revved it toward the draw-bridge that you were elected to control".
Please dear God let him be entering the Lincoln Tunnel in a 7 series. NO PEDESTRIANS ALLOWED.
Bonfire bitches!!!!!!!
The laws of downward mobility are upon us all.
Fail. Fuck the debt. End the Fed.
Throughout history, governments have fought against the use of sound money. http://mises.org/daily/5212
Recall Keynes's erroneous prediction that within a century people's material wants would be satiated. When that happened, the demand for capital (to finance consumption) would plummet and rentiers (people who live on income from passive investments, such as stocks or bonds, and thus are hoarders) would be wiped out--a prospect that delighted Keynes, who looked forward to "the euthanasia of the rentier," though fortunately he did not mean this literally. He questioned free trade--that holy of holies of conventional economists--by pointing out that a country whose people had a low propensity to consume could stimulate investment by depreciating its currency so that its exports were attractive, because that would encourage its industries to invest in producing for foreign consumption and therefore to employ more workers. The country would accumulate foreign currency that it could use to invest abroad--the policy that China has been following lately, with pretty good results. He even had kind words for usury laws, arguing that they had reduced interest rates and thus discouraged hoarding.
Companies are now unable to lay anymore workers off to preserve net income numbers whispered lovingly to sell side analysts.
currency is no longer current but those that believe in it will drown, what is the credit line of merit? how mant points should ingenuity pay to be alive in this day and age, hate to see the sun set on the brightest minds.
default wears a ring of fire and it's stone has a fukishima glow, the marriage of profit and externalities. who is going to ask for divorce and what court is going to honor it?
so who needs to fall on a blade? i say no one, but some one needs to know how sharp the blade they were spared from is, something worthy of study; if you want to beat the causality of circumstance and be not a victim of face you need to stop wearing a mask. or is that old shit that only i can smell? accountability in japan is the hilt of a renaissance of power, the divine wind has swept the deitritus to the sea, unfortunately the half life is older than any language we speak. but the pen will drink the ink if you will write the truth.
Take Washingtons portrait off of the the fiat dollar and replace it with rmn. the better to wipe my ass with, both sides with the federal reserve on the reverse.
Stuxnet Virus the Fed and it all ends tomorrow - Black hats will be the white hats by sunset, and not a drop of blood need be shed - instant Jubilee, wiping out all records and all debt.
A neighbor who is a network security expert says this could be the black swan that could land; with a greater probability than a Yemeni crossing the southern border with a dirty bomb, with greater impact - imagine a Ted Kaczynski with a Phd in virus programming and a boner for Bennie boy.
Live by the sword (technology), die by the sword (technology). It ain't too late to take some Ag classes or learn how to fish/hunt. Cus that God Damn Button is about to be pushed - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzaju2I7LbI - Rush Hour (4 second version)
Otherwise I'll have to convince William Banzai to make a bumper sticker that reads "Laws and Taxes are for Peons and Peasants" and we can all live unhappily thereafter for many generations.
We should all get a boner for Liberty or get used to the feel of heavy chains around our feet, hands and necks.
Junk me if you like but I'd use that extra mouse click to order more silver, ammo, seeds, food, extra propane tanks, booze, smokes and TP - 'cus that's about the same amount of time it took for the tsunami to wipe out Miyagi Prefecture or tornados to do in some Alabama cities.
stux pushed the refine 6 months, i had the luxury of tasting my next breath. it was fun.
Only the currency is born digital. Too, they have the Rabbis carve all recordings in the granite tablets that Stuxie can only gaze upon from his tangent universe.
It's funny you bring up T. Kaczynski as he argued that machines would undoubltly be our downfall, much like a skynet programme and that if controlled by the elites would be used against the population to control and sheppard them. He was actually one of us with one slight twist, he resorted to violence instead of blogging. On a side note my father actually evaluated one of his mathmatical theories before he slipped over the edge. It was strange to see and hold a paper in my hands written by one of the classified crazies of our time.
Only one Congressman in MT. Critical Shit on the VOTE.
Mr. Ron Paul won in the polls. Trashed Mc Cain (the war monger). I'm all about guns and ammo and resources. Bring it on. States RIGHTS.
Stay up all night. We as a NATION(states rights) can talk about THE situation. Fiscial responsibilty. Expose the Fed for what it is. Remember Aug15,1971. The NIXON SHOCK.
Thanks, Tyler this is more enlightening than an econmonics (boggis) course at a prestgious University. Students save your Fiat dollars enter this site. All the carts you need to know.
University of Texas' Auerbach on Fed Policy, April 26April 26 (Bloomberg) -- Robert Auerbach, a professor of public affairs at the University of Texas, talks about Federal Reserve monetary policy and the outlook for Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's first news conference following the two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee tomorrow. Auerbach speaks with Mark Crumpton and Michael McKee on Bloomberg Television's "Bottom Line." (Source: Bloomberg)
MUST WATCH, FED SHREDDING ORIGINAL SOURCE MATERIAL, ENTIRE VIDEO MUST WATCH.... SHREDDING REVEALATION begins @ 4:40 MARK BUT WATCH IN ENTIRETY
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/69042262//
"But, in the end, a solution he hates will be better than having his name on the first and only default in the history of the United States."
The author lost all credibility with this statement. The U.S. has defaulted on its debts several times throughout our history.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/fearing-another-u-s-debt-de...
One link, but there are more out there if you care to find them.
Don't get your tits twisted up too tight.
Even the article you referenced includes the premise that Nations don't remember these things and even documents an apology from the Japanese government who wrongfully defended a clean record. Do you think a default is a non-event? I can understand someone like you probably does.
To say the author "lost all credibility with this statement", not only reveals your wrong thinking bias on the topic, but your immaturity and in ability to accept various facets of the problem the citizen (read salves) face under the control of a plutocracy destroying an economy and Republic.
In short: Your one of the problem people, so I for one, would greatly appreciate it if you would stand on the tracks and read the serial number off the front of an oncomming freight train as soon as possible, so we can get on with fixing things. (Take plenty of cash, and a few of your clueless club members with you.)
alexander bullhorn jones is always spouting off that he predicted 911. that is a big lie. he stole the idea from bill cooper......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTjPGy2k_U&feature=youtu.be
So what? That broadcast was only 3 months before 911 ... Warren Buffett knew about it 12 months beforehand, and the neo-cons in the government knew about it more than 2 years beforehand!
If Alex Jones got the idea from Bill Cooper (and ran with it ... while 90% of the tax livestock still believe it was carried out by some goatherder from a cave in central asia), who told Bill Cooper? And who told the guy that told Bill Cooper?........
Is there some prize in the offing that you are worried Alex will claim?