… could courageously admit that the U.S. government is flat outa money, proclaim the need to raise the retirement age to 70, endorse an overhaul of all “entitlements,” state that it’s time to tell the American people “we’re broke” … and then say … wait for it … wait for it … BECAUSE WE NEED THE MONEY… FOR WAR. War. Yeah. Not as in “defending our shores from foreign invaders.” But as in propping up inept dictators and their drug-kingpin families and sending computer-driven drones to kill women and kids because our peace-loving Democrat president thinks it’s a great idea…
Category: Money
Posts about being frugal, getting out of debt, staying out of debt, spending practically and splurging joyfully. This category may also contain posts about hard money and what the government is doing to all that “soft money” it creates.
Total follies: How wonderful! The federal government is going to pay for Medicaid expansion so we won’t have to. Seriously. If allegedly astute commentators spew stuff like that, it’s no wonder that 24 percent of Americans believe the fedgov has its own money supply, completely independent of taxpayers. (And we’re not talking about the famous printing press here.) And hey, while we’re still partying along on other people’s money, how about lifetime mortgages in which the principal is never paid? In the old days, I do believe we’d have called that “rent.” But Aussies are apparently up for it. And…
Okay, we all knew the Wall Street regulatory bill wasn’t really going to regulate Wall Street. And we could be sure that the new “consumer protection” bureaucracy the bill proposes wasn’t going to protect consumers, right? But there was still a shoe that hadn’t dropped. We hadn’t yet heard about the inevitable something in the bill, the teeny, tiny little let’s-not-mention-this provision that would turn out to be the real purpose of the upcoming new law. The shoe has struck. Via LRC.com, here it is: The bill, if it becomes law, would create the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and…
I tried. I did. I really tried to work up enthusiasm about Tuesday’s red-hot primaries. I mean, Arlen Spector being thrown out, Rand Paul being thrown in (maybe) … that oughta be exciting. Especially to an old political junkie like me — who started collecting politicians’ autographs when she was 12 (I still have my Richard Nixon) — who used to stay up into the wee hours to track election results — who, as recently as 1994 actually went to the local courthouse to be among the first to get precinct results. But no. Couldn’t even work up a good…
Does it seem to you that the world is about to shatter? That there is so much wrongness that “the centre cannot hold”? Ah well, a lot of us have had that feeling since we became aware of the Lies Our Civics Teacher Told Us. It’s dogged me on and off since Nixon removed the last gold backing from the dollar. The fall became inevitable then; we doomsayers just expected it to come quicker. But come it must. And these days, as mainstream economists continue to tout the return of prosperity while we watch catastrophe rolling onward with our own…
A modest prediction: We will never know the precise details of the “technical error” that caused Thursday’s stock market madness. We’ll be told something. It might even be truthful. But it won’t (OMG will I ever forgive myself for encouraging conspiracy theories?) be the whole story. And here’s a bet, though I wouldn’t stake much money on it (and in fact, I’m hearing already that I may be wrong): The theory they’ll end up with was the one that says a single trader mistakenly typed in billion when he meant million — something along those lines. Sort of like the…
You recall that “health-care” bill that had to pass so we could find out what’s in it? Well, Cato discovers yet another “mandate” in there that will land hard on every, single business person in the entire country. Weird one, too. Not exactly a paperwork reduction act. Yep, that was a “health-care” bill, alright. For the health of the IRS.
Some Monday morning cheer for ya — a.k.a. how things work in the real world of big money, big influence and big government: How Fannie and Freddie — among the chief engineers of the mortgage wreckage have become even more “important” than ever. How the Big O’s proposed regulations will make the biggest Wall Street firms more untouchable than ever. (Another take here.) —– On the smaller domestic scale — here at Last-Chance Gulch where there is little money, no influence, and only those bits of big government that come wandering randomly in now and then — house walls went…
If you watch the precious metals markets (and don’t we all, if we’re into preparedness, even if we can’t afford to do much with our observations), you’ve probably been hearing allegations of monstrous frauds festering beneath the surface. But as with so many doings in financial markets, the specifics of metals manipulations are arcane and … well, they hurt the brain. But I finally found a human-readable explanation. (And here’s another pretty good one from the inimitable Mogambo Guru.) Terrible news, if true, for people who have invested in gold funds or who are under the illusion that they own…
Two quick things: 1. In England a broke & jobless writer takes to the trees in an experiment in low-cost, low-impact self sufficiency. Very creative. 2. I think Joel “did” 419 better than I: “It’s Interesting Times Day!” And a third: 3. Radley Balko also does today proud.