This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

Things That Make You Go Hmmm - Such As Keeping It Real

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Grant Williams summarizes: "So, keeping it real, what happens now? Well, the debt ceiling will get raised - most likely this weekend - and the usual photo-op of sycophants cheering and applauding behind a podium will be all over the news, but the raise will be just another step on the road to financial ruin for the United  States if it continues to layer fresh debt upon existing debt as a way to solve its problems and turns to printing presses and raised ceilings as the balm of choice. In this kick-the-can culture we now live in since the events of 2008, it’s never that difficult to figure out WHAT the powers-that-be will do (simple: whatever short-term fix involves the least short-term pain to banks and to their own chances of reelection), but it seems to be getting harder to ascertain WHEN they will do it. This is all well and good, except sooner or later they will wake up and find that the adults have decided enough is enough and they’ll vote with their money...So tell me - and keep it real - would YOU lend money to a country with THOSE debt dynamics that is being run by a bunch of incompetent, bickering grandstanders if it DIDN’T possess the world’s reserve currency? Me either."

Full Things That Make You Go Hmmm, July 31 edition (pdf)

Hmmm Jul 31 2011

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Sun, 07/31/2011 - 14:47 | 1510203 Id fight Gandhi
Id fight Gandhi's picture

CNN is "worried" about the Asian markets opening. Nuts.

Just shove some piece of shit, devalue, kick the can so the Dow doesn't fall any more and the hedgie funds don't lose on their momo stocks.

Fuck this.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:33 | 1510306 Id fight Gandhi
Id fight Gandhi's picture

Mainstream discussion of the stock market? Just fear mongering of stock market drops, on CNN I heard the bald guy say the market lost 700b in market cap!!! (several times) Oh no!!!

But 90% of the wealth there is held by 10% And the Dow is still up 2000+ even after the drop from one year ago.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:16 | 1510361 grey7beard
grey7beard's picture

>> But 90% of the wealth there is held by 10%

But don't they provide the jobs?  Unless they are able to keep vacuuming all the wealth from the middle class, virtually tax free, they'll stop providing jobs.  Not that they've done a good job of making jobs, but it's a good argument simple minded people are able to repeat.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:03 | 1510412 CrockettAlmanac.com
CrockettAlmanac.com's picture

Not sure I follow. Help me out.

Where do you believe jobs come from?

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:50 | 1510479 Things that go bump
Things that go bump's picture

When a mommy and daddy love each other very very much.....

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:41 | 1510317 km4
km4's picture

"If debt is the problem, how is more debt the solution"?
- Ron Paul

This makes too much sense !

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:49 | 1510328 narapoiddyslexia
narapoiddyslexia's picture

Obviously, Ron Paul is not a team player. QED, he is a dangerous demagogue.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:03 | 1510351 Sledge
Sledge's picture

 

 

hey...its a secret...don't tell anyone. Even the media doesn't know it yet, but RP will be the next POTUS by a FRIGGIN' LANDSLIDE!  The "official MSM/banksta polls" show this dude in the lead.....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoU41UwL5LI

 

HAHAHAHAHA

 

 

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:40 | 1510385 Ramboy
Ramboy's picture

Ron Paul wants us all to go back to living on the little house on the prarie

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:54 | 1510399 narapoiddyslexia
narapoiddyslexia's picture

You lost me. What's a prarie? I can't find a definition anywhere. Is it, like, an asteroid? 

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:05 | 1510420 CrockettAlmanac.com
CrockettAlmanac.com's picture

Making everyone do exactly the same thing is the collectivists' dream, not Ron Paul's. Ron wants you to do anything your heart desires as long as you don't hurt other people or damage their property. What's wrong with that?

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:33 | 1510460 Freewheelin Franklin
Freewheelin Franklin's picture

I junked you...just for being a DUMBASS.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 19:06 | 1510727 Ramboy
Ramboy's picture

He wants an end to credit which essentially means, "I'll trade you that pig fat bar of soap for my hankerchief I knitted last night".  Surprised the guy doesn't wear knee high white stockings with a braided bowtie hair lock.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 21:02 | 1511035 CrockettAlmanac.com
CrockettAlmanac.com's picture

Lend me all your money. Then go borrow some more money and lend that to me as well. I'm going to waste all that cash on frivolous things and leave you high and dry.

But if you refuse to do it then you are one of those bad people who doesn't believe in credit. Maybe even a Teabagger!

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 14:47 | 1510205 Albertarocks
Albertarocks's picture

To answer your question, "NO!"  I made that decision in 2001.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:20 | 1510257 hedgeless_horseman
hedgeless_horseman's picture

 

 

 

So tell me - and keep it real - would YOU lend money to a country with THOSE debt dynamics that is being run by a bunch of incompetent, bickering grandstanders if it DIDN’T possess the world’s reserve currency? Me [n]either.

 +1.  

No treasuries

No GM vehicles

No credit card debt

No television

No shopping at Wal-Mart

No entitlements

Soon no mortgage

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:22 | 1510282 dizzyfingers
dizzyfingers's picture

If I catch your meaning, we should NOT go along to get along. I'm for that.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:53 | 1510335 narapoiddyslexia
narapoiddyslexia's picture

I'm on board with all that, but for one thing. I am unable to get through the North American Winter without GolTV.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 14:53 | 1510214 RobotTrader
RobotTrader's picture

 

 

Cramer fear-mongering on Meet The Press, talking about financial meltdowns, huge losses in 401(k) accounts, etc.

Tom Brokaw looks white as a sheet.

Man, they know how to whip up the fear.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 14:56 | 1510225 No Bid
No Bid's picture

you watch cramer?  never would have guessed...

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:40 | 1510316 tip e. canoe
tip e. canoe's picture

indeed they do.   on this we can agree.   how's your yoga practice?

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 14:54 | 1510218 ThisIsBob
ThisIsBob's picture

So we are going to get to borrow some more money to pay interest on some money we have alrerady borrowed.  How does that work?

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:08 | 1510250 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

You didn't really pay attention he? :)

WE ARE GOING TO IGNORE THE DEBT AND DEFICIT FOR 2 FULL YEARS!

Isn't that great?

Economics 101!

Excersise:

You get 5 dollars when you go to work, you're car uses 4 dollars in gas to get to work, your lunch costs 3 dollars, you smoke 1 pack of smokes a day that costs 2 dollars, you don't work that much so you gamble online and lose on average 2 dollars a day. HOW MUCH DID YOU MAKE THAT DAY?!

 

 

YOU MADE 5 BUCKS!!!

It's not like I asked how much you spend right?

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:24 | 1510285 dizzyfingers
dizzyfingers's picture

I read recently that the plan is to kick the can down the road 75 years.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 19:15 | 1510760 Ramboy
Ramboy's picture

Try 750 years.  The Romans did it for 2000 years.  We're far from the end.

Really pathetic that you people are talking this up like the second coming of Christ and Armegeddon

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:06 | 1510421 Sunshine n Lollipops
Sunshine n Lollipops's picture

Man, SD, if cigarettes were $2/pack, I might have to think about takin' up smoking again.;>)

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:13 | 1510424 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

and if you make 5$ for a full days work, you might wanna look for another job to :)

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:08 | 1510221 Voluntary Exchange
Voluntary Exchange's picture

 

Lysander Spooner

A Letter to Congressman Thomas F. Bayard

(1882)

 

 

Note

The idea that a group of people can produce laws for millions of human beings is a quite recent invention, which can be ascribed to the period called the age of the masses.

In the past, the king and his courts administered the justice but the law was the result of the customs (the mores) of the people, formed through continuous interactions and by the general acceptance of specific ways of behaviour. Somebody called it "natural law" meaning that it was shaped according to human nature and on the bases of voluntary intercourses.

In this letter to Congressman Bayard, Lysander Spooner presents the reasons why the idea that "some four hundred men should, by some process or other, become invested with the right to make laws of their own" is an absurdity besides being a form of tyranny. And those reasons are still valid now more than ever.

 

 

A LETTER TO CONGRESSMAN THOMAS F. BAYARD
CHALLENGING HIS RIGHT - AND THAT OF ALL THE OTHER SO-CALLED
SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS - 
TO EXERCISE ANY LEGISLATIVE POWER WHATEVER
OVER THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES

 

Sir - I have read your letter to Rev. Lyman Abbott, in which you express the opinion that it is at least possible for a man to be a legislator (under the Constitution of the United States) and yet be an honest man.

This proposition implies that you hold it to be at least possible that some four hundred men should, by some process or other, become invested with the right to make laws of their own - that is, laws wholly of their own device, and therefore necessarily distinct from the law of nature, of the principles of natural justice; and that these laws of their own making shall be really and truly obligatory upon the people of the United States; and that, therefore, the

All this implies that you are of the opinion that the Congress of the United States, of which you are a member, has by some process or other, become possessed of some right of arbitrary dominion over the people of the United States; which right of arbitrary dominion is not given by, and is, therefore, necessarily in conflict with, the law of nature, the principles of natural justice, and the natural rights of men, as individuals. All this is necessarily implied in the idea that the Congress now possesses any right whatever to make any laws whatever, of its own device - that is, any laws that shall be either more, less, or other than that natural law, which it can neither make, unmake, nor alter - and cause them to be enforced upon the people of the United States, or any of them, against their will.

You assume that the right of arbitrary dominion - that is, the right of making laws of their own device, and compelling obedience to them - is a "trust" that has been delegated to those who now exercise that power. You call it "the trust of public power."
But, Sir, you are mistaken in supposing that any such power has ever been delegated, or ever can be delegated, by any body, to any body.
Any such delegation of power is naturally impossible, for these reasons, viz:

1. No man can delegate, or give to another, any right of arbitrary dominion over himself; for that would be giving himself away as a slave. And this no one can do. Any contract to do so is necessarily an absurd one, and has no validity. To call such a contract a "constitution," or by any other high-sounding name, does not alter its character as an absurd and void contract.
2. No man can delegate, or give to another, any right of arbitrary dominion over a third person; for that would imply a right in the first person, not only to make the third person his slave, but also a right to dispose of him as a slave to still other persons. Any contract to do this is necessarily a criminal one, and therefore invalid. To call such a contract a "constitution" does not at all lessen its criminality, or add to its validity.

These facts, that no man can delegate, or give away, his own natural right to liberty, nor any other man's natural right to liberty, prove that he can delegate no right of arbitrary dominion whatever - or, what is the same thing, no legislative power whatever - over himself or anybody else, to any man, or body of men.

This impossibility of any man's delegating any legislative power whatever, necessarily results from the fact that the law of nature has drawn the line - and that, too, a line that can never be effaced nor removed - between each man's own interest and inalienable rights of person and property, and each and every other man's inherent and inalienable rights of person and property. It, therefore, necessarily fixes the unalterable limits, within which every man may rightfully seek his own happiness, in his own way, free from all responsibility to, or interference by, his fellow men, or any of them.

All this pretended delegation of legislative power - that is, of a power, on the part of the legislators, so-called, to make any laws of their own device, distinct from the law of nature - is therefore an entire falsehood; a falsehood whose only purpose is to cover and hide a pure usurpation, by one body of men, of arbitrary dominion over other men.

That this legislative power, or power of arbitrary dominion, is a pure usurpation, on the part of those who now exercise it, and not a "trust" delegated to them, is still further proved by the fact that the only delegation of power, that is even professed or pretended to be made, is made secretly - that is, by secret ballot - and not in any open and authentic manner; and therefore not by any men, or body of men, who make themselves personally responsible, as principals, for the acts of those to whom they profess to delegate the power.

All this pretended delegation of power having been made secretly - that is, only by secret ballot - not a single one of all the legislators, so-called, who profess to be exercising only a delegated power, has himself any legal knowledge, or can offer any legal proof, as to who the particular individuals were who delegated it to him. And having no power to identify the individuals who professed to delegate the power to him, he cannot show any legal proof that anybody ever even attempted or pretended to delegate it to him.

Plainly, a man who exercises any arbitrary dominion over other men and who claims to be exercising only a delegated power, but cannot show who his principals are, nor, consequently, prove that he has any principals, must be presumed, both in law and reason, to have no principals; and therefore to be exercising no power but his own. And having, of right, no such power of his own, he is, both in law and reason, a naked usurper.

Sir, a secret ballot makes a secret government; and a secret government is a government by conspiracy; in which the people at large can have no rights. And that is the only government we now have. It is the government of which you are a voluntary member and supporter, and yet you claim to be an honest man. If you are an honest man, is not your honesty that of a thoughtless, ignorant man, who merely drifts with the current, instead of exercising any judgement of his own?

For still another reason, all legislators, so-called, under the Constitution of the United States, are exercising simply an arbitrary and irresponsible dominion of their own; and not any authority that has been delegated, or pretended to have been delegated, to them. And that reason is that the Constitution itself (Article 1, Section 6) prescribes that:

"For any speech or debate (or vote) in either house, they (the Senators and Representatives) shall not be questioned (held to any legal responsibility) in any other place."

This provision makes the legislators constitutionally irresponsible to anybody; either to those on whom they exercise their power, or to those who may have, either openly or secretly, attempted or pretended to delegate power to them. And men who are legally responsible to nobody for their acts, cannot truly be said to be the agents of any body, or to be exercising any power but their own; for all real agents are necessarily responsible both to those on whom they act, and to those for whom they act.

To say that the people of this country ever have bound, or ever could bind, themselves by any contract whatever - the Constitution, or any other - to thus give away all their natural rights of property, liberty, and life, into the hands of a few men - a mere conclave - and that they should make it a part of the contract itself that these few men should be held legally irresponsible for the disposal they should make of those rights, is an utter absurdity. It is to say that they have bound themselves, and that they could bind themselves, by an utterly idiotic and suicidal contract.

If such a contract had ever been made by one private individual to another, and had been signed, sealed, witnessed, acknowledged, and delivered, with all possible legal formalities, no decent court on earth - certainly none in this country - would have regarded it, for a moment, as conveying any right, or delegating any power, or as having the slightest legal validity, or obligation.

For all the reasons now given, and for still others that might be given, the legislative power now exercised by Congress is, in both law and reason, a purely personal, arbitrary, irresponsible, usurped dominion on the part of the legislators themselves, and not a power delegated to them by anybody.

Yet under the pretense that this instrument gives them the right of an arbitrary and irresponsible dominion over the whole people of the United States, Congress has now gone on, for ninety years and more, filling great volumes with laws of their own device, which the people at large have never read, nor even seen nor ever will read or see; and of whose legal meanings it is morally impossible that they should ever know anything. Congress has never dared to require the people even to read these laws. Had it done so, the oppression would have been an intolerable one; and the people, rather than endure it, would have either rebelled, and overthrown the government, or would have fled the country. Yet these laws, which Congress has not dared to require the people even to read, it has compelled them, at the point of the bayonet, to obey.

And this moral, and legal, and political monstrosity is the kind of government which Congress claims that the Constitution authorizes it to impose upon the people.
Sir, can you say that such an arbitrary and irresponsible dominion as this, over the properties, liberties, and lives of fifty millions of people - or even over the property, liberty, or life of any one of those fifty millions - can be justified on any reason whatever? If not, with what color of truth can you say that you yourself, or anybody else, can act as a legislator, under the Constitution of the United States, and yet be an honest man?

To say that the arbitrary and irresponsible dominion, that is exercised by Congress, has been delegated to it by the Constitution, and not solely by the secret ballots of the voters for the time being, is the height of absurdity; for what is the Constitution? It is, at best, a writing that was drawn up more than ninety years ago; was assented to at the time only by a small number of men; generally those few white male adults who had prescribed amounts of property; probably not more than two hundred thousand in all; or one in twenty of the whole population.

Those men have been long since dead. They never had any right of arbitrary dominion over even their contemporaries; and they never had any over us. Their wills or wishes have no more rightful authority over us, than have the wills or wishes of men who lived before the flood. They never personally signed, sealed, acknowledged, or delivered, or dared to sign, seal, acknowledge, or deliver, the instrument which they imposed upon the country as law. They never, in any open and authentic manner, bound even themselves to obey it, or made themselves personally responsible for the acts of their so-called agents under it, They had no natural right to impose it, as law, upon a single human being. The whole proceeding was a pure usurpation.

In practice, the Constitution has been an utter fraud from the beginning. Professing to have been "ordained and established" by "We, the people of the United States," it has never been submitted to them, as individuals, for their voluntary acceptance or rejection. They have never been asked to sign, seal, acknowledge, or deliver it, as their free act and deed. They have never signed, sealed, acknowledged, or delivered it, or promised, or laid themselves under any kind of obligation, to obey it. Very few of them have ever read, or even seen it; or ever will read or see it. Of its legal meaning (if it can be said to have any) they really know nothing; and never did, nor ever will, know anything.

Why is it, Sir, that such an instrument as the Constitution, for which nobody has been responsible, and of which few persons have ever known anything, has been suffered to stand, for the last ninety years, and to be used for such audacious and criminal purposes? It is solely because it has been sustained by the same kind of conspiracy as that by which it was established; that is, by the wealth and the power of those few who were to profit by the arbitrary dominion it was assumed to give them over others. While the poor, the weak, and the ignorant, who were to be cheated, plundered, and enslaved by it, have been told, and some of them doubtless made to believe, that it is a sacred instrument, designed for the preservation of their rights.

These cheated, plundered, and enslaved persons have been made to feel, if not to believe, that the Constitution had such miraculous power, that it could authorize the majority (or even a plurality) of the male adults, for the time being - a majority numbering at this time, say, five millions in all - to exercise, through their agents, secretly appointed, an arbitrary and irresponsible dominion over the properties, liberties, and lives of the whole fifty millions; and that these fifty millions have no rightful alternative but to submit all their rights to this arbitrary dominion, or suffer such confiscation, imprisonment, or death as this secretly appointed, irresponsible cabal, of so-called legislators, should see fit to resort to for the maintenance of its power.

As might have been expected, and as was, to a large degree, at least, intended, this Constitution has been used from the beginning by ambitious, rapacious, and unprincipled men, to enable them to maintain, at the point of the bayonet, an arbitrary and irresponsible dominion over those who were too ignorant and too weak to protect themselves against the conspirators who had thus combined to deceive, plunder, and enslave them.

Do you really think, Sir, that such a constitution as this can avail to justify those who, like yourself, are engaged in enforcing it? Is it not plain, rather, that the members of Congress, as a legislative body, whether they are conscious of it or not, are in reality, a mere cabal of swindlers, usurpers, tyrants and robbers? Is it not plain that they are stupendous blockheads, if they imagine that they are anything else than such a cabal? Or that their so-called laws impose the least obligation upon anybody?
If you have never before looked at this matter in this light, I ask you to do so now. And in the hope to aid you in doing so candidly, and to some useful purpose, I take the liberty to mail for you a pamphlet entitled:

"NATURAL LAW; OR THE SCIENCE OF JUSTICE; a Treatise of Natural Law, Natural Justice, Natural Rights, Natural Liberty, and Natural Society; Showing That All Legislation whatsoever Is an Absurdity, a Usurpation, and a Crime. Part 1."

In this pamphlet, I have endeavored to controvert distinctly the proposition that, by any possible process whatever, any man, or body of men, can become possessed of any right of arbitrary dominion over other men, or other men's property; or, consequently, any right whatever to make any law whatever, of their own - distinct from the law of nature - and compel any other men to obey it.

I trust I need not suspect you, as a legislator under the Constitution, and claiming to be an honest man, of any desire to evade the issue presented in this pamphlet. If you shall see fit to meet it, I hope you will excuse me for suggesting that - to avoid verbiage, and everything indefinite - you give at least a single specimen of a law that either heretofore has been made, or that you conceive it possible for legislators to make - that is, some law of their own device - that either has been, or shall be, really and truly obligatory upon other persons, and which such other persons have been, or may be, rightfully compelled to obey.

If you can either find or devise any such law, I trust you will make it known, that it may be examined, and the question of its obligation be fairly settled in the popular mind.
But if it should happen that you can neither find such a law in the existing statute books of the United States, nor, in your own mind, conceive of such a law as possible under the Constitution, I give you leave to find it, if that be possible, in the constitution or statute book of any other people that now exist, or ever have existed, on the earth.

If, finally, you shall find no such law, anywhere, nor be able to conceive of any such law yourself, I take the liberty to suggest that it is your imperative duty to submit the question to your associate legislators; and, if they can give no light on the subject, that you call upon them to burn all the existing statute books of the United States, and then to go home and content themselves with the exercise of only such rights and powers as nature has given to them in common with the rest of mankind.

Lysander Spooner
Boston, May 22, 1882

 

 

(Here is a link to that natural law pamphlet):

http://www.panarchy.org/spooner/law.1882.html

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:15 | 1510262 PaperBugsBurn
PaperBugsBurn's picture

Absolutely correct. But mention direct democracy on this site and the trolls go nuts. Who else but a majority of us can make legitimate decisions? DUH!!!!

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:35 | 1510304 Voluntary Exchange
Voluntary Exchange's picture

Actually if you understand Spooner, I would say that anyones "legitamate decisions" can only extend to their own individual boudaries and rights according to natural law and a "direct democracy" has no more authority than any other ursupation of power invented by men. 

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:46 | 1510323 PaperBugsBurn
PaperBugsBurn's picture

Would you agree that a group of beings are more effective as a group than as individuals? I would prefer no government to what we have now but united in legitimate and good faith based common cause we can accomplish much more.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:04 | 1510350 Voluntary Exchange
Voluntary Exchange's picture

Yes. I would agree that a group is better, as long as it is based on voluntary consent and voluntary exchange (like a contract for defense or a contract for conflict resolution services amongst groups of people).  

Just as long as you don't to try to force anyone else who does not agree with you and who has not harmed you! Just as long as you don't try to make your way a forced MONOPOLY! Just as long as you only use proportuante force as a last case legitamate response to those who unjustly initiate agression or fruad or theft against you and even then you would probably end up better off trying to work out some kind of arbitration with your "adversaries", but that is another subject for another time. 

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:30 | 1510292 dizzyfingers
dizzyfingers's picture

Rules for ruling...ooops, "serving" in the Senate should be

1. No salary and no benefits.

2 One one-year term only, never to be repeated.

3. No members of the same family may serve until the fourth generation after the first family member served.

4. Committing treason (taking bribes is treason) will be punishable by death; trial by civil jury not by the senate.

 

 

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:42 | 1510386 Ramboy
Ramboy's picture

women couldn't vote in 1882

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 18:41 | 1510624 GeoffreyT
GeoffreyT's picture

That's an excellent piece, and a good warmup for "No Treason: the Constitution of No Authority" by the same author... and "Our Enemy, The State" by Albert J Nock. And Bastiat, Proudhon, Molinari, Rothbard, Spencer... all the way back to Diderot and de la Boétie.

This is the thing that most folks don't grasp - the intellectual tradition of voluntaryism/anarchism (or as I prefer to call it, kratoclasty) is long and storied and includes some super-sharp minds. But by dint of curriculum-selection processes, most students will never read them.

In fact one can go through the an entire economics degree without ever readin ANY such material - and leave thinking that the two-asset CAPM is a definitive rendition of reality. Thankfully, my path as an udnergrad was far more interesting than the poor schlubs in US grad schools doing itnermediate mathematics. I count myself as SUPER fortunate to have been taught by three unheralded giants:

  • Peter Dixon (one of the world's pre-eminent CGE modellers, who will likely be Australia's first Nobel Prize winner in Economics: student of Leontief, and my old PhD supervisor),
  • Ross Parish (a friend and colleague of Hayek, and the man who converted me from an Accounting major to an Econ major after one lecture) and
  • Ian Ward (a Marxist who taught "Comparative Economic Systems" and "Capitalism: Contrasting Views" when I was an undergraduate).

It was Parish and Ward whose reading lists included a huge amount of literature that is simply not on the radar of most Econ students - particularly not those who favour a relatively 'technical' approach to economics (as I did). Reading about Sortition and the kleroterion (Parish), and the problems of Ota Sik's "New Economic Model" market-socialism (Ward), was far more interesting than trivial mathematical gymnastics (eg the 'overlapping generations' stuff in Blanchard and Fisher or optimal control and calculus of variations in Kamien & Schwartz).

Parish's class had Bastiat, Nock and Spooner on its (exhausting) reading list; for that alone I will be grateful, long after I turn into a computer thanks to the Singularity.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 14:55 | 1510222 caerus
caerus's picture

What we need, is debt sealing...

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 14:58 | 1510233 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

actually.... I've invested quite a lot of money in PM's :)

Obama made my weekend, my month by raising the debt target. It was the most likely outcome and is the most bullish case for PM's.

 

 

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:06 | 1510247 Id fight Gandhi
Id fight Gandhi's picture

That tradition stuff?

You need momos like cmg that keep hitting all time highs even after they miss their earnings and lower projections. Can't lose market!

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:18 | 1510271 caerus
caerus's picture

agreed...short cmg myself...guess I'll have to wait a bit longer...traaaadition!

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:29 | 1510291 caerus
caerus's picture

You're right of course...long PMs myself...imo additional debt bad for the country, good for PMs...so we're both right...I think

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 14:55 | 1510223 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

It's not our money. It's the banks money. And the banks got their money from the state.

Second, the money is safe if you buy short term bonds to 2013.

And where would you put your money if you had to invest 100 billion? Europe? HAHAHAHAHA! Or communist Azia? HAHAHAHAHAHA

 

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:07 | 1510248 Azannoth
Azannoth's picture

What do you mean with communist Asia ? They might speak of communism but they don't have it, as some1 living in Europe you should know better

I feel like a whore everytime I go to work knowing that some phuking fat dumb Hartz IV bum will be getting a good slice of what I make this day

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:15 | 1510263 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

Any country that doesn't care about the individual is.... WHAT THE HELL AM I SAYING!

Yes your right but in a investment perspective, communist countries are not a safe place to invest. They flip switches a lot faster than our countries. And that makes it a bit more safe.

Second, I know shit about the chinese stockmarket AND SO DOES EVERYBODY ELSE! NOBODY knows shit about the chinese markets besides what they read on some internet pages and I don't buy all that shit. I would never invest in Azia. I need to know the companies I invest in, see them, try their stuff that they sell.

 

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:44 | 1510466 Pay Day Today
Pay Day Today's picture

"I would never invest in Azia.I need to know the companies I invest in, see them, try their stuff that they sell."

 You've never seen an iPhone before?

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:52 | 1510482 KowPie
KowPie's picture

Where's "Azia"?

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 23:26 | 1511449 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

East of the Sun and west of the Moon... :>D

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:16 | 1510269 Manthong
Manthong's picture

"the money is safe if you buy short term bonds to 2013."

Likely so, but only if nothing unforeseen occurs.

What was that the Bernank was saying about tail risk?

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:59 | 1510345 narapoiddyslexia
narapoiddyslexia's picture

He was speaking about the risk he wouldn't get any tail, which has always been quite large.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:44 | 1510468 Dugald
Dugald's picture

Why cuz, you just send it right on over to Orstralia, n we take care of it for yers reeeel gooood.......Squaredinkum!

 

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:45 | 1510469 Prometheus418
Prometheus418's picture

If I had to invest $100 billion, I'd be buying arms from Russia and building a private army of suitable strength to take and hold a landmass at least the size of one state, carefully choosing the location for it's prospective value as a self-sustainable independant nation. 

But hey, that's just me.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:11 | 1510255 JW n FL
JW n FL's picture

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/191647.html

Commies are Not! the Problem!! the Jews!!! are the Problem! They own our Government!

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:24 | 1510278 PaperBugsBurn
PaperBugsBurn's picture

I am a rabid anti-bankster and would gladly take the post of executioner during any revolution at no charge and am aware of the Rothschild scum and their history...but it's not the "jews" (Khazars, really) but an elite few. Yes a lot of the Khazars are in it up their necks see:

shankradioworldwide.typepad.com/shankradio_world_wide/2009/02/jews-created-opium-trade.html

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Drug_War/DOPE_INC.html

but like the man said, let's keep it real.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:48 | 1510294 coded language
coded language's picture

Not all Jews are participants in the global shit show that is occurring.  A more accurate label for the people perpetrating financial terrorism is Zionist Jew. A small but powerful bunch who have fucked up morals and value systems.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:33 | 1510305 dizzyfingers
dizzyfingers's picture

Please post the data supporting that assertion.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:36 | 1510379 JR
JR's picture

Not all Jews, in any way of course, support the tyranny that has gripped the U.S. financial system.  But if the critical positions held by Jews affecting our currency, foreign policy, communications, corporate ownership, and leveraged ownership of key domestic/multinational industries were held by any other single racial group, American citizens would be in open revolt against their government.

A quick check on the Internet provides a partial list of persons, by race, who are decision makers in the U.S. economy; obviously this list I found needs to be reviewed and updated, as many nominees by Obama, for example, such as Robert Hormats, a vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, have been added or replaced in top economic positions. Hormats (Jewish) was named under secretary of state for economic, energy and agricultural affairs, to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (White European); and Ron Bloom (Jewish) has replaced Steve Rattner (Jewish) as car czar; and the appointment of Cass Sunstein (Jewish) as White House information czar is missing  :

Who Controls the US Economy?

by holyland » Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:12 am

Benjamin S. Bernanke(Jew) – Chairman, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System
Donald L. Kohn(Jew) – Vice Chairman, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System
Stephen Friedman(Jew) – Chairman, Board of Directors, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
William C. Dudley(White European) – President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Timothy F. Geithner(Jew) – Secretary, United States Department of the Treasury
Neal S. Wolin(Jew) – Deputy Secretary, United States Department of the Treasury
Gary F. Locke(Chinese) – Secretary, United States Department of Commerce
Steven Chu(Chinese) – Secretary, United States Department of Energy
Hilda L. Solis(Mestizo) – Secretary, United States Department of Labor
Lawrence H. Summers(Jew) – Director, National Economic Council
Christina D. Romer(Jew husband: David H. Romer) – Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers
Paul A. Volcker(Jew) – Chairman, Economic Recovery Advisory Board
Ron Bloom(Jew) – Senior Counselor for Manufacturing Policy, President
Steven L. Rattner(Jew) – Director, Presidential Task Force on the Automotive Industry
Jared Bernstein(Jew) – Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser, Vice President
Neil M. Barofsky(Jew) – Special Inspector General, Troubled Asset Relief Program(TARP)
Kenneth R. Feinberg(Jew) – Special Master for Executive Compensation, U.S. Treasury Department
Ronald Kirk(Black) – U.S. Trade Representative, Office of the United States Trade Representative
David R. Obey(White European) – Chairman, United States House Committee on Appropriations
Henry A. Waxman(Jew) – Chairman, United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce
Barney Frank(Jew) – Chairman, United States House Committee on Financial Services
Nydia M. Velázquez(Mestizo) – Chairman, United States House Committee on Small Business
Charles B. Rangel(Black) – Chairman, United States House Committee on Ways and Means
Daniel K. Inouye(Japanese) – Chairman, United States Senate Committee on Appropriations
Christopher J. Dodd(White European) – Chairman, United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Max S. Baucus(White European)- Chairman, United States Senate Committee on Finance
Mary L. Landrieu(White European) – Chairman, United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Robert B. Zoellick(Jew) – President, The World Bank
Dominique Strauss-Kahn(Jew) – Managing Director, International Monetary Fund(IMF)
John Lipsky(Jew) – First Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund(IMF)
Jacob A. Frenkel(Jew) – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Group of Thirty(G-30)
Peter R. Orszag(Jew) – Director, Office of Management and Budget(OMB)
Douglas W. Elmendorf(Jew) – Director, Congressional Budget Office(CBO)
Douglas H. Shulman(Jew) – Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service(IRS)
Jon D. Leibowitz(Jew) – Chairman, Federal Trade Commission(FTC)
John E. Bowman(Jew) – Director, Office of Thrift Supervision(OTS)
Sheila C. Bair(Jew) – Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation(FDIC)
John C. Dugan(White European) – Comptroller, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
Karen G. Mills(Jew) – Administrator, Small Business Administration (SBA)
Mary L. Schapiro(Jew) – Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC)
Gary G. Gensler(Jew) – Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission(CFTC)
Richard G. Ketchum(Jew) – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority(FINRA)
Daniel J. Roth(Jew) – President and Chief Executive Officer, National Futures Association(NFA)
W. Robert Felker(Jew) – Chairman, National Futures Association(NFA)
Craig S. Donohue(White European) – Chief Executive Officer, CME Group
Terrence A. Duffy(White European) – Executive Chairman, CME Group
Duncan L. Niederauer(Jew) – Chief Executive Officer, NYSE Euronext
Jan-Michiel Hessels(Jew) – Chairman, NYSE Euronext
Robert Greifeld(Jew) – Chief Executive Officer, NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
H. Furlong Baldwin(Jew) – Chairman, NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
Lloyd C. Blankfein(Jew) – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Gary D. Cohn(Jew) – President and Chief Operating Officer, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
James P. Gorman(Jew) – President and Chief Executive Officer, Morgan Stanley
John J. Makhoul(Lebanese) – Chairman, Morgan Stanley
James L. Dimon(Greek) – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, JPMorgan Chase & Company
Vikram S. Pandit(Indian) – Chief Executive Officer, Citigroup
Richard D. Parsons(Black) – Chairman, Citigroup
Brian T. Moynihan(White European) – President and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America Corporation
Walter E. Massey(Black) – Chairman, Bank of America Corporation
John G. Stumpf(Jew) – Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Wells Fargo & Company
http://theinfounderground.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=10934

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:18 | 1510436 equity_momo
equity_momo's picture

Discussing the Jewish cabal at the heart of American power is the blue glowing 3rd rail of all 3rd rails. Its the ring of rings. You cannot even whisper it without being attacked as a racist. We will not progress as a society until there is real freedom of speach and a willingess to talk without guilt. Political correctness did as much for this country as out of control govenrment spending and a brainwashing education system.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:53 | 1510486 hedgeless_horseman
hedgeless_horseman's picture

Jamie Dimon is Greek, not Jewish?  Does Sandy Weill know this?

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:55 | 1510493 KowPie
KowPie's picture

Spot on with that assessment. I want to retch every time I hear the term "politically correct". Is it politically correct to say that?

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:54 | 1510490 Dugald
Dugald's picture

Well there you go, here is the reason its all buggered-up, you let a Greek into the club, (and a few other ring-in's)

James L. Dimon(Greek) – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, JPMorgan Chase & Company

Now go fix the problem!

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:19 | 1510276 gniuz
gniuz's picture

Be more subtle, it's the asjkenazi jew. And they don't just own your government, they own the world.

Wealth transfer 2.0

Freedom only exists in your head

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:20 | 1510279 dizzyfingers
dizzyfingers's picture
NO!!!
Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:31 | 1510284 snowball777
snowball777's picture

Obligatory links...

Elevaters - Let's Get Real

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN9E-C4-RC0

Johnny Cash - What is Truth?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0KQWTBljjg

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:40 | 1510293 JustPrintMoreDuh
JustPrintMoreDuh's picture

x-axis = time

y axis = debt

 

Vertical asymptote b-b-b-bitchez!  

 

Love TPTB

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:30 | 1510296 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Bingo Tyler. The rating agencies are now exposed for the fraud. Alphabet soup agencies will just ignore.. hoping the budget will not get cut. Fucking circus carnival.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:52 | 1510324 slewie the pi-rat
slewie the pi-rat's picture

here's what we did to the folks at the libyan TV last nite (Paste fr morgan strong's news summary/tripoli post):

CNN) - NATO strikes killed three employees of Libya's state broadcaster in Tripoli Saturday and wounded 15 others, Libyan officials said.
The pre-dawn strike targeted the facilities of the Libyan Broadcasting Authority, said Khaled Bazelya, the director of state television's English channel.
He described the attack as "an act of international terrorism" and a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

NATO claimed responsibility for the bombing raid on state television headquarters. Just a few hours after the attack, the alliance said it was aimed at "silencing (Muammar) Al Qathafi's terror broadcasts."

The precision air strike disabled three Libyan state TV satellite transmission dishes in Tripoli, NATO said.

"The strike, performed by NATO fighter aircraft using state-of-the art precision guided munitions, was conducted in accordance with the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973, with the intent of degrading Al Qathafi's use of satellite television as a means to intimidate the Libyan people and incite acts of violence against them."

Bazelya spoke to international reporters at brief news conference surrounded by state television employees, just hours after the Libyan capital was pounded by a rare, day-time round of air strikes. (my emphasis.  happy ramadan, tripoli!  what a veritable wealth of military targets there must be!)

Bazelya appealed to the international community for protection of Libyan journalists and said working for the Libyan government does not make them a legitimate target.

"We are the employees of the official Libyan TV," he said. "We are not a military target, we are not commanders in the army and we do not pose a threat to civilians. We are performing our job as journalists representing what we wholeheartedly believe is the reality of NATO's aggression and the violence in Libya."

NATO jets struck three buildings within the broadcaster's compound, he said. NATO did not report casualties. (End Paste)

USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!

oh...about those bonds...  i'm just not sure...  i can't figure out what's the best thing to do...  let me think about for another 65 years and get back to you, ok?

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:49 | 1510329 JR
JR's picture

Deficit spending and QE have almost exclusively benefited the financial services sector.

So far, the winners from quantitative easing have been banks who’ve bounced back enormously into profit from the 2008 crash guaranteeing that bankers’ bonuses never went away; governments whose deficits were basically paid for by quantitative easing (printing), and financial assets where the QE funds have been invested, including the stock market and commodities such as foodstuffs and metals.

According to a report by Finance for the Future in the article Green quantitative easing: Paying for the economy we need, losers have been pensioners and savers who’ve suffered from long periods of low interest rates and small and medium-sized businesses because they don’t have direct access to the QE money. (I include private sector wage earners who've suffered from health insurance cost increases, stagnant wages and inflation.) 

Certainly the economy did not see an “easing” benefit from Fed and government “intervention” – investments in jobs, infrastructure, products and services have continued to atrophy and/or collapse.

The craven appetites of globalists make them constantly needy of the taxpayers’ money – so much so it's brought a debt-ridden American economy down to its knees. As Solomon said and as the Rothschilds who've commandeered control of the world’s reserve currency well know: “The borrower is servant to the lender.”

Only the insiders know exactly where all the counterfeit QE is – whether in circulation or in bank vaults still waiting to be loaned out and to whom. Hyperinflation still looms in America’s future. But one thing is certain and that is that the funds have not resulted in new bank lending to the general public.

It’s long past due for the Congress and the President of the United States to sober up and abandon their destructive course with the bankers. It is only through habits of financial sobriety and industry that society increases its strength and increases its wealth.

Social planning by government and redistribution of wealth leads to oppression, not to mankind’s God-given rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Here is “The Process of Inflation” as described by Secretary of Treasury Robert B. Anderson April 4, 1959 :

“Now suppose I wanted to write checks of $100 million starting tomorrow morning, but the Treasury was out of money.  If I called up a bank and said, ‘Will you loan me $100 million at 3-1/2 per cent for six months if I send you over a note to that effect?’ the banker would probably say, ‘Yes, I will.’  Where would he get the $100 million with which to credit the amount of the United States Treasury?  Would he take it from the account of someone else? No, certainly not. He would merely create that much money, subject to reserve requirements, by crediting our account in that sum and accepting the government’s note as an asset.  When I had finished writing checks for $100 million, the operation would have added that sum to the money supply.

“Now certainly that approaches the same degree of monetization (creating money) as if I had called down to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and said, ‘Please print me up $100 million worth of greenbacks which I can pay out tomorrow.’”

America is on a destructive course; unless individuals are left free to manage their own economic interests, the Fed’s banker-planned economy of special privilege will go the way of all socialist-planned economies – into the dust bin of history.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:03 | 1510349 narapoiddyslexia
narapoiddyslexia's picture

That phrase "subject to the reserve requirments" is complete bullshit. They loan money, they go looking for reserves. Does anyone remember the difference between mark-to-market and that other method, umm, what was it? Mark-to-bullshit? 

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:39 | 1510384 snowball777
snowball777's picture

And if that doesn't work they do the Repo 105 Foxtrot.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:52 | 1510396 JR
JR's picture

I remember Mogambo Guru calculating figures provided three years or so back from Prudent Bear, indicating the Fed was keeping about 1/4 of 1% in deposits as "fractional" reserve money in its system, i.e. 25 cents in receipts for every $100 of debt creation.

Mogambo Guru calculated that to be .0002% back in '09, i.e., just enough for the Fed central bankers to say America is on a fractional-reserve system, albeit .99975% was thin air

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 15:50 | 1510330 franzpick
franzpick's picture

A debt ceiling increase of 2.8 T on the current 14.3 T is 19.6%; if gold continues to track the debt ceiling, as in the best-chart-I've-seen-this-year, below, AU should rise to $1945/oz. within 18 months:

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/gold-rise-143-trillion-us-debt-limit-increase-%E2%80%93-bloomberg-chart-day

But gold has been rising even faster, at $28/month over the last 30 months, which if continued puts AU at $2131 in 18 more months.  Nice work Congress, and keep those compromises coming.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:22 | 1510367 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

I do lend money to them but only because I am trying to bankrupt the SOBs.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:34 | 1510376 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

the adults have decided enough is enough and they’ll vote with their money

I love the guy's optimism, but I don't understand why he'd make a claim like this.  "The adults" aren't individuals, they're businesses.  And it's not "their money"--it's the money of the population that bought into the notion that you could trust someone else to take your money and they'd give you back more in the future.  Pension funds, investment banks, financial companies--they literally *cannot* vote against the dollar with the money they control because doing so ENDS the money they control.

All bets are on the US government's ability to maintain the global financial system.  They can't divest any more than people unhappy with life on Earth can move to another planet to live.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:38 | 1510382 Cman5000
Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:48 | 1510393 Eireann go Brach
Eireann go Brach's picture

And the difference between Obama and 5 year old child running a lemonade stand?

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 18:00 | 1510504 KowPie
KowPie's picture

The 5 year old child usually makes a profit.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 19:21 | 1510781 WmMcK
WmMcK's picture

The former can regulate the latter into bankrupcy? /sarc

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:50 | 1510395 carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

How's this for a TRIGGER IDEA:? If there's no long-term deficit reform, all current members of Congress barred from running again.

http://twitter.com/LisaDCNN

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:13 | 1510427 Mike2756
Mike2756's picture

They won't have to worry about running if they screw this up, a rifle trigger will be the voters next "trigger".

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:53 | 1510397 trentusa
trentusa's picture

U know who I like making fun of even more than Jews? The French.
Have you heard of that new ice cream they're selling at Kroger? It's called 'Let's Bomb the French vanilla.'
Also good stuff: 'Lets-Declare-War-on-Libya chocolate,' bc Texas needs more parking...

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 16:59 | 1510403 trentusa
trentusa's picture

seriously folks, the idea of having duly elected representatives IS a GREAT idea, k? A representative democracy is not EXACTLY the same thing as a democracy, or even better, a REPUBLIC, but we want a step forward to direct representation not a step back into monarchy or anarchy. Rite?

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:02 | 1510410 Waterfallsparkles
Waterfallsparkles's picture

Acting like serious Drug Addicts.  The slow process in getting another fix is causing severe withdraw symptoms.

How many addicts on Heroin would promise the world to get another fix?

Are the Bankers and Wall Street any different from Heroin Addicts?  They need American Tax Payer Money to continue to live at the top of the Piramid.  Above all of us Middle Class peons. 

Isn't it great that our Congress and Senate continue to give them our life blood and all of our Money.  Until we are so in debt that we will never get out.

Of, course when all of the Money American Tax Payers have has been transferred to them.  The Country will go Bankrupt and they will buy every American Asset for pennies on the dollar.

The shame of it will be is we the American Taxpayers gave them the Money to buy the US of A.  And leave us as Serfs on our own Land.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:07 | 1510418 trentusa
trentusa's picture

to paraphrase Jefferson, I believe. ...the American Taxpayers gave them the Money to buy the US of A.  And leave us as Serfs on our own Land...

The internet and sites liek ZH are spreading dawning awareness faster everyday. Congress right now is the brightest beacon of hope.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:16 | 1510433 trentusa
trentusa's picture

I'm in the middle of some ongoing tech issues, damnit thank u very much not that its any of yer bizness but i'm trying to learn linux, and just stopped by to try to get the skinny on what's going on with the debt package.

      TV says its about to get passed & then nevermind it's off again and now Asian are markets opening in a few mins

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:23 | 1510443 oobrien
oobrien's picture

I can't believe that some of you guys thought Amerika would default.

I bet you belive that professional wrestling is real, also.  And let's not forget Santa Clause.

The whole game is rigged.  It's just a bunch of bullshit.

http://geraldcelente.proboards.com

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 18:00 | 1510510 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

I find this belief strange, too...

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 19:23 | 1510788 WmMcK
WmMcK's picture

You can't fool me, there is no Santa/sanity clause.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:27 | 1510452 bbq on whitehou...
bbq on whitehouse lawn's picture

Know what makes me go Hmm. That Americans can't agree on a benchmark, a lowest standard.

These are my 2.

1. Every American should get to eat once a week, paided for by the local/state and federal governments. (take a blood test and see if they have eaten in the last week if not then they are fed.)

2. No burning of women and children alive. We can limit it only to American women and children if support is lacking.

But we still cant even agree on this benchmark, or morality bar.

I would encourage everyone to come up with their own lowest standered of morality and im willing to bet it will not have the votes to pass our congress.

Since the US has NO morality or moral benchmark how can we expect anything more then what we have seen in congress and by the president?

 

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:31 | 1510458 thetrader
thetrader's picture

hmmm, the Debt Ceiling and the Neon Swan

nothing unexpected....

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:43 | 1510465 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

Blah, blah, blah.  All the solutions and consequences involve pieces of paper that are worthless.  Their is "value" in the derivatives market only if you believe in unicorns.  Good luck to all those paper pushing fucknuts when they try to redeem their paper.  Got physical?  You better, because when the system goes down we will all find out who's time and "work" really adds value to the economy.  Pushing paper adds NO real value.  Crash the fucking system already so that compensation can return to people who are actually worth a shit.  Let the lazy starve already.

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 17:58 | 1510502 AldousHuxley
AldousHuxley's picture

...When you finally wake up (put on the sunglasses) you will realize that your freedom is? a facade...

 

Movie They live where he sees the real world, the other reality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqi5KGljJZk

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 18:51 | 1510667 lelouch
lelouch's picture

One of these days, printing a $1 bill from my deskjet is going to cost more than a real $1 bill ....

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 19:07 | 1510736 flfshrmn
flfshrmn's picture

This just in.......It appears President Obama has just achieved the $1bil. high water mark he himself established for his re-election campaign.

Re-election campaign theme: "To-night -we're gon-na- ponzi -like- its 19-99!"  C'mon everybody sing it.......

Sun, 07/31/2011 - 21:33 | 1511191 carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

For part 2 of deal if committee fails to get $1.2T in deficit cuts, it wld trigger across-board cuts to make up difference.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 04:15 | 1667239 chinawholesaler
chinawholesaler's picture

Inflatable Products
Name Card Holder

Wholesale Raincoat
Wholesale Playing Card
Promotional Gifts

Wholesale Glove
Lady Beauty Care
Mouse Pad

Wholesale Mat
Baby Products Suppliers
Promotional Products

Business Gift
Safety Products
Wholesale Mirror

Wholesale Pen
Wholesale Flashlight
Computer Accessories

Hair Products
Arts Crafts
Reflective Safety Vest

Safety Suppliers
Wholesale Vuvuzela
Wholesale Mug

Wine Set
Wholesale Radio
Wholesale Candle

Poncho Raincoat
Wholesale Clap Hands
Promotional Gifts

Beauty Equipment
Recorder Pen
Wholesale Pedometer

CD Holde
Garden Decorations
Wholesale Tellurion

Wholesale Umbrella
Wholesale Poncho
Wholesale Lighter

Wholesale Cup
Silicone Products
Wholesale Massager

Wholesale Swimming Products
Wholesale lable
Wholesale Keyboard

China Wholesale

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!