For the most part I try to avoid politics on this blog since the political system itself is beyond broken and everyone smokes their own brand of bullshit anyway, but after Sen. Ted Cruz filibustered Obamacare last night by reading "Green Eggs and Ham", I was trying to wrap my head around the Republican agenda at this late juncture.
Let's see:
1) A doubling in the defense budget since 2000 - no problem
2) Two interminable wars in the Middle East costing trillions - no problem
3) A tax cut for the ultra-wealthy who already hold untaxed trillions offshore - no problem
4) Allowing companies to send millions of jobs overseas - no problem
5) A massive bailout for Wall Street, burying the world economy - no problem
6) Expanding the Fed balance sheet by several trillion to inflate the stock market - no problem
But:
Health care for uninsured children and uninsured workers?
No fucking way !
Overconfident Buffoons Running Amok
And lest I point out the obvious, that had the above policies (1) through (6) never been followed, none of the issues that I describe non-stop on this blog would even exist (at least for the U.S.). Unfortunately, the Republican agenda has been overwhelmingly responsible for hobbling what was once a very powerful nation. I know there are still many people who would disagree with that assertion, and they are the ones causing all of the fucking problems. The longest artificially sustained economic expansion in history has yielded a massive over-abundance of sociopathic frat boys hell bent on pushing the U.S. ever closer to the abyss. Suffice to say, the history books will not pull any punches on today's legions of over-confident buffoons running amok, fueled by nothing more than out of control greed, hubris, and an extremely persistent inability to face reality.
[Original Post: September 19th, 2013]
Taper Foodstamps
In the very same week that Bernankenstein promised to continue pumping $85 billion of newly printed dollars every single month indefinitely into financial markets to keep millionaires and billionaires fat and happy, the U.S. House of Representatives just voted to cut food stamp subsidies by $39 billion over the next decade. That decade's worth of food stamps aid equates to a mere 2 weeks worth of monetary stimulus. Of course, the bill still needs to pass the Senate, but the fact that it passed the House shows the hardened callousness of the so-called Tea Party caucus. Of course apologists for the system would say that the $39 billion is fiscal stimulus aka. tax money whereas the $85 billion is monetary stimulus aka. printed money, which is an asinine argument to actually rationalize money printing; moreover, in a world where the Federal Reserve steps in to buy government bonds every month and hence monetize the U.S. fiscal deficit on a dollar for dollar basis, that argument is total bullshit. In order for any of the monetary stimulus to ever be recovered, the Fed would first have to start tapering the $85 billion in monthly outlays, something it just proved incapable of doing. In the meantime, indefinite money printing is a flat tax on everyone in the form of higher food and energy prices. Oil prices jumped 2% on Bernanke's announcement.
Taper Medical Coverage
Having tackled foodstamps, the House of Reps is now taking on the task of defunding Obamacare. They don't have a plan of their own to cover the ~50 million or so Americans without medical coverage, but they've made it their overriding mission to destroy the one they already approved. They are planning to use the looming government shutdown and funding crisis as a bargaining tool to kill a program that would give medical coverage to people who don't have jobs and millions of working people whose employers don't provide medical coverage. Of course the masses at large have been brainwashed into believing that the program is somehow bad for the country, even though almost all of the jobless would benefit from it and many of the uninsured working people would also benefit. Everyone in this country knows someone who can benefit from this program, many of whom are children. I know more than a few right wing Republicans who don't support the program even though their own businesses don't provide medical coverage for most of the employees - only for the top earning ones. The land of "In God We Trust" is going full godless.
Taper Student Loans
Two weeks ago, Congress tapered student loan access by tying the interest rates to the financial markets. Over time, that could more than double the current ceiling on student loan interest rates from 3% to 8% and ultimately lead to an inevitable meltdown in student loan debt i.e. the only type of debt in the U.S. that can't be discharged in bankruptcy. The bloated buffoons in Congress did nothing to tackle the real issue which is the total unaffordability of college education which has outstripped the rate of inflation for decades. All they did was to make it more likely that the middle class can't afford higher education and will therefore slip further behind the socioeconomic eight ball. Soon there will be no need to outsource to China, since there will be ample impoverished factory slaves available right here at home.
Tapered Character
The most mind-boggling aspect of this entire fiasco is that all of these calls for tapering of "social" (aka. anti-riot) programs emanating from the Lost Boys of the Idiocracy, are coming at a time when global wealth has never in human history been higher. Global billionaire wealth hit an all time high this year. If, despite record wealth, the greedbots of this planet still can't afford the bread crumbs falling off the table, then that portends extreme dislocation on the other side of the "reset". And the real fun of course will come when the Idiocracy at large realizes that after decades of having selected game show hosts to run government, business, and every other position of power, there is a massive shortage of character people now groomed for leadership. Then the chasmic vacuum in leadership that has been merely papered over by money printing, will be fully evident to even the most ardent of Kardashian watchers. I suggest that the underwear will be mighty stained at that juncture.
http://ponziworld.blogspot.com/2013/05/bailing-out-ponzi-capitalism-winners.html
We are heading for anarchy at light speed and the dumbfucks in power are doing everything possible to make it happen as quickly as possible. I can't think of anything they could do to further hasten the collapse, but I will give it more thought. I would suggest that pumping a trillion dollars into the stock market in the past year while telling outsourced working people that there is no money available to feed their kids, is a huge step towards releasing the vast reservoirs of pent up rage that will eventually be unleashed against the self-absorbed elitists running the status quo. Apparently, the "Foodstamps Plus" anti-riot economic stimulus program has become too expensive now that profit margins have crowded out every other type of income. Unfortunately, today's "Best and Brightest" are neither, they are massively corrupt weak-brained frat-boys incapable of making decisions that have a shelf-life longer than one election campaign. Meanwhile, this road to hell is being paved by mindless conformists desperate to assume that "all of this" corruption and malfeasance is just business as usual. As long as the conversation sticks to sports and entertainment, then it's plausible deniability all around.
http://ponziworld.blogspot.com/2013/05/bailing-out-ponzi-capitalism-winners.html
Rome Was Destroyed First From the Inside, Then From the Outside
The weakening and ultimate collapse of Rome began internally with a stagnant economy, decadent society, and massively corrupt political system. Then the over-extended frontier was breached, leading to the sacking of Rome by various barbarian hordes - one after the other taking turns. Who the hell needs a dozen aircraft carrier groups circling the globe when the Naval yards are not even secure within the nation's capital? All of the money being poured down the drain for America's Military Industrial Complex has only made the country less secure, not more. It created an unmitigated disaster in the Middle East while at the same time domestically it starved average working people of resources. America's worst enemies right now are the elitists at the top of the pyramid who have directed all resources to themselves leaving literally nothing left over for the vast majority of citizens. The only reason rioting hasn't already started is because society at large has been systematically dumbed down by junk food and junk culture to the point of being too complacent and too brainwashed to realize that their entire future is being liquidated. Ironically, the ever-mesmerizing Dow is truly the linchpin. When the Dow inevitably collapses, then the masses will awaken from their narcoleptic food coma only to realize that the past four years was nothing more than a fucking illusion and that the jobs are gone and they ain't coming back.
We are heading for anarchy at light speed and the dumbfucks in power are doing everything possible to make it happen as quickly as possible. I can't think of anything they could do to further hasten the collapse, but I will give it more thought. I would suggest that pumping a trillion dollars into the stock market in the past year while telling outsourced working people that there is no money available to feed their kids, is a huge step towards releasing the vast reservoirs of pent up rage that will eventually be unleashed against the self-absorbed elitists running the status quo. Apparently, the "Foodstamps Plus" anti-riot economic stimulus program has become too expensive now that profit margins have crowded out every other type of income. Unfortunately, today's "Best and Brightest" are neither, they are massively corrupt weak-brained frat-boys incapable of making decisions that have a shelf-life longer than one election campaign. Meanwhile, this road to hell is being paved by mindless conformists desperate to assume that "all of this" corruption and malfeasance is just business as usual. As long as the conversation sticks to sports and entertainment, then it's plausible deniability all around.
Deflation v.s. Hyperinflation One More Time
Lastly, the difference between the deflationists like myself versus the hyperinflationists in the majority, comes down to one simple question. If you believe that this entire liquidity driven bubble is doomed to collapse just like the last two, but with far greater force, then you are a deflationist. Because there will be accountability this time around driven by blind rage, hence no fourth bubble for millionaires and billionaires. Otherwise, if you believe that the greed and malfeasance can continue indefinitely, leading to a reflated economy with increased borrowing and lending, then you are a hyperinflationist who believes that somehow the $85 billion per month will find its way into the hands of the masses who are now being cut-off from food stamps.
Place your bets accordingly.
Place your bets accordingly.
