In desperation, the German people turned to a party of thugs. Thugs who supported the "working man." Thugs who supported the downtrodden. Thugs who spoke of a great new Germany, created by the modern ideals of socialist economy, and ready to stand up to those who had imposed this burden. The creative minds of those thugs convinced their people that the Jews were to blame for their circumstances. By every right, it seems, those thugs believed this to be true. They didn't understand the economics of debt any more than people here do today. So to them, it was perfectly reasonable to believe that the blame lay with a peaceful, yet separate population that lived among them.

Today, in this country, a burden of debt is weighing down our economy. An economic philosophy largely ignored by our institutions of higher learning explains how this happens, but our "experts" are not familiar with this philosophy. Those who are have seen this situation coming. They warned of the dotcom boom and bust. They warned of the housing bust. Their warnings came true. And today their warnings are more dire than ever. Prevailing economic thought teaches us that we need to "stimulate" the economy to launch into true recovery. However, those who predicted our current predicament tell us that the root of the problem is debt. Stimulus creates more debt. And you can't solve a debt problem with more debt. Not unless your end goal is to go bust.

And that's exactly where we're headed. But going bust for a nation isn't the same thing as it is for an individual, or even a large corporation. When you or I go bust, we file bankruptcy, our creditors don't get paid, we have difficulty getting credit for a while, and our slate is wiped clean. For corporations it is similar. Most often pieces of the corporation are sold off to those that can make good use of it's components. But when a nation goes bust the whole society is left in limbo. Chaos ensues.

Today, across Europe, where the debt crises is even more advanced than it is here, public labor unions are organizing and executing protests against the austerity measures those governments are instituting to avoid economic collapse. Just as we have seen here recently with teachers unions in Illinois and New Jersey, student groups in California and others. These are the forces that are organizing today. They haven't created a scapegoat like the German thugs of the 20's and 30's yet. But the keyword is, yet. They are putting pressure on our nation and the nations of Europe to not cut back spending. They want the debt load to continue, regardless of whose back it's put upon. This debt can only lead to catastrophe.

And when catastrophe is realized and a nation goes bust, someone always rises from the ashes. History teaches us that it's usually those who are already organized. And of those who are organized, usually the most ruthless prevail.

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1. According to Mike Shedlock at Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis, the most populous state in the nation wants to fund it's budget shortfalls with returnables. Seinfeld jokes aside, when are these jokers going to get it?

   Perez calls his plan "unique and creative approach." Governor Schwarzenegger called it "legal gymnastics." I call it "fiscal insanity".

2. David Hersanyi at Reason.com writes about the controversy surrounding Rand Paul's statements regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

   I wonder if the mainstream media feels like it found a magic bullet to shoot down libertarian-type candidates by raising questions about their beliefs regarding legislation designed to control how citizens behave, when their behavior might not be politically correct. They're smart enough to know that 99% of the public has no idea what the specifics of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stated, but that most listeners will equate such a statement with thinking that the politician is opposed to civil rights in general. The laughable part of this is that this demagoguery obscures the point that most mainstream politicians couldn't give a rat's rear end about civil rights and the politicians these questions are targeted to discredit would do far more to restore civil rights to this country than any of those crooked hacks currently in office ever would.

   Agree or not, shouldn't Americans armed with historical perspective be able to engage in constructive dialogue about the positive consequences—and some of the negative complexities—of legislation from 1964? (I know. Just kidding.)

   Some critics eagerly blasted "naive" libertarians, and others, like Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, used Paul's "extremist position" to wring their hands over the coming Republican crusade to overturn the Civil Rights Act—which fits neatly into an arching (and largely imagined) narrative that puts America squarely in the mid-1960s.

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1. Vox Day at World Net Daily writes about republican government, corruption and public unions.
   

   This goes well beyond ideology. Even the liberal media's standard bearer, the New York Times, was appalled to discover that New York is home to several ex-government employees who retired in their 30s whose pensions now pay them more than $100,000 a year. This is legal, contractual and totally unconscionable. No retired policeman can reasonably claim to have ever put his life on the line to the extent that a Marine Corps private making one-quarter as much while stationed in Afghanistan or Iraq does.

2. David Harsanyi at Reason.com has an interesting take on net neutrality.
   

   I know it sounds wonderfully fair. But the reality of net neutrality makes as much sense as mandating that tricycle riders have the same rights and privileges as cars and trucks on our roads—highway neutrality.

   The FCC promises it doesn't have any intention of controlling Internet content, only of making access fair. But empowered with the ability to regulate the flow of online traffic, it offers a semantic, not substantive, excuse for a power grab.

3. Here is an interesting little song by Tim Miller, inspired by a family that fell victim to predatory lending practices.
   
   
4. Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker talks about debt and the economy in Kuttner Has Been Lobotomized.

   We had the inflation. Punishing, cruel, ridiculous inflation. Yeah, I know, you don't think it happened because it was "only" a doubling of gasoline and diesel prices in a five year span (well, actually, it was closer to a tripling, but who's counting, right?)

   Of course this very same inflation showed up in other things, like houses and stock prices. This made people "feel rich", but in fact they were not, because their wages did not accelerate at anywhere close to the same rate, nor could they.

5. Mike Shedlock at Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis writes today about commercial real estate foreclosures and rental property woes.
   

   Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon is a complete fool, unless of course he is pandering to voters, perpetually buying votes to get re-elected.

6. Radley Balko at Reason.com points out several lessons police and local governments (and even cable network A&E) might learn from the Detroit raid that resulted in the death of a little girl.
   

   With many of these shows, the police department gets veto power over what footage makes it on the air. So you won't be seeing footage of many mistaken raids. That said, A&E should air the footage of this raid to show that the violent tactics these shows repeatedly glamorize can and do have tragic consequences. If the network has any guts at all, it will make sure the same episode looks at the possibility that the presence of its own cameras contributed to the death of a little girl.

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Or was he? Time will tell. But he never got to see much of that out of me.
Now, I just trudge along the tip of the corporate spear and enjoy the love of my family and friends. Not a bad gig if you can get it, but work sure doesn't fulfill me.

Corporate structures and political entities are repulsive to my humours. I thrive on merriment and conversation, and I've never met a sinner that wasn't a mirror.
But I believe in an almighty creator named Yaweh (or sounds to that effect) and I believe in a king of corruption, deception and death named many things. And I believe that Yaweh personified the human part of his infinite existence in a man named Yeshua who settled some old blood feuds with the deceiver and advocated for us to Yaweh. We can learn his simple truth in order to inherit his eternal kingdom with him through love in all its many splendors, as it was shown to us through his life here. The King of Righteousness is my Sovereign. And that's all I got to say about that. Unless you want to discuss it, of course.

I think that those who assert cooercive authority over me are usurpers, except on the most tactical level. Cops are just the cannon fodder for the ruthless rulers of this wicked world, and I wish them no harm. But, I haven't perfected my forgiveness powers to the point that I can wish no harm to the "Great Architects" of this coming holocaust, if you know what I mean

Favorite Movie: Revenge of the Sith
Favorite Book: Rulers of Evil
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Song: Six Sixty Six by Frank Black and the Catholics
Favorite Band: Pixies
Favorite Singer: Don Francisco
Favorite President: whichever one had the shortest reign
Favorite Country: Beyond the frontier
Favorite Memory: 05181999, the day I separated from the US Air Force
2nd Favorite Memory: 6/1/1993, my last day of high school
Favorite Beer: Never met a beer I didn't like
Favorite TV Show: Breaking Bad or The Venture Brothers, toss-up
Favorite Female Body Part: Breast
Favorite Game: Civilization IV
Favorite Food: I am a glutton

What are some of your favorite things?

Well, now that I've gotten all the crazy out there; It's a pleasure to know you all and I look forward to sharing, fellow travellers.

Hazim

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The ideas that begat this nation were born of the age of reason, by the collective yearning of men to be free from tyranny. Free from the coercive hands of the elite class of men, who all through time have forced their lessers into servitude, sometimes by economic circumstance, sometimes by the force of hands, sometimes by the threat of imprisonment. These men attempted to create a government, limited in size and scope, and strictly balanced in power, as they knew the nature of power is to feed on itself and grow. They were educated men, and they knew the tales of history well. Power always grows. And the power of the state is the opposite of freedom. Always. Every time.

Not even 250 years from the founding of this experiment in freedom, the nation it created is gasping for its final breath. In one sense, the experiment was a success. It created an incredibly prosperous nation, with an unprecedented expansion of the standard of living. Nowhere has the world in its history, ever seen an expansion of wealth so thorough, with benefits apparent through all strata of society. Yet in the end it has failed.

Its failure began when it first shed the limits of its Constitution, believing that increasing the power of the central government would allow it to more good for more people. But the lessons of history were lost. The notion that power breeds corruption was ignored. And as the central government amassed more power, it attracted the sharks of great wealth. The more power the central government had, the more it could do for those who were willing to purchase its representatives.

Until recently the depths of the corruption were doubted. Allegations of conspiracy were derided. But now the writing is on the wall. It's as plain as day for all to see. Great financial institutions, having gained control of purse strings of the nation, converted a nation of great production into a nation of great debt. Debt that these few select owned. And now that the people have been bled to their limit, they have written themselves a blank check from the national treasury, hopelessly burying the nation in debt. A debt it can't hope to ever repay. There is no possible way to explain this without the existence of corruption and conspiracy so pervasive that it flows through the system unchecked.

And now the end is upon us. The last great bastion of our freedom is dying an ugly death. Another monstrous law, thinly veiled under the guise of providing health care, but actually intended to raise yet more revenue from the American people. The country is drowning in debt as the Financial parasites feed on the Treasury and more money is needed to keep them going. Now Congress will take it directly from the people. What's worse, is that they will do it without even going through the charade of a vote. Power has grown to a point where the pretense of representation is no longer even attempted.

Once the land of the free and the home of the brave, America is now the land of the tired. And the bankers expect us to bow down to their new rule. They're not even trying to hide it anymore.

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Yes, I know all about the stock market rally from last March. I know all about the claimed GDP "improvement." But I also know that we got both by adding more than $2 trillion in debt to the United States - or roughly 14% of GDP - over the space of the last 18 months. That's about 10% of GDP annualized, and incidentally, a 10% GDP contraction is the common economist's definition of an Economic Depression.

So let's cut the crap - we are in a Depression right now. We are pretending we are not, just like you can pretend you didn't really lose your job so long as your credit card does not reach its limit. We have been in that depression for about 18 months and there is no evidence that we will exit it, as we have yet to find a way to pull back the deficit spending without an instantaneous collapse in the economy.

Yet at some point we must and will stop. We will either do so of our own volition, or we will do so when the cost of borrowing skyrockets, as others get tired of funding our profligacy. If we attempt to "print" our way out of it the cost of petroleum products will shoot the moon and destroy our economy anyway.

Follow this link to read the whole article. It will be time well spent.

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