Deficit

Greetings good citizen,

Naturally the rhetoric behind these mysterious ‘budget cuts’ appears to be as ill-informed as the rest of us are.

Is what’s happening now the end result of not reading what you’re being forced to vote upon?

Common ‘trick’ in modern politics…funny how one of the ‘advantages of democracy' was its alleged ‘deliberateness’, that everything was discussed and debated BEFORE it was put to a vote.

But (like many Republican budget appropriation bills) they get slipped into other, unrelated legislation and voted into law…’unwittingly’.

And that SHOULD BE illegal…but under our current system of ‘anything goes justice’, it is not.

So we are faced with (apparently) ‘indiscriminate’ cuts across social welfare programs…(gee, wonder WHO would have done THAT?) while the civilian branches of the military (that provide oversight) are bearing the brunt of cuts to the Pentagon’s budget.

Once again it looks like the Conservo-Whackos have been (as they will undoubtedly claim later) 'framed perfectly' for this crime against civilization.

We all know it’s those commie, (code) pinko, One Percent lovin’ LIBERALS that want to slash social security and throw poor, defenseless old people out in the streets!

Sure…

Liberal isn’t quite right…it’s those never met a tax cut they didn’t like LIBERTARIANS that ‘sneak’ stuff into other legislation so it can get passed into law unread and undebated.

In fact, the Libbies are so unpopular they can’t get a candidate elected beyond the state level.

And this ‘underhandedness’ is the reason why.

Their ideas (that even their rank and file are ignorant of) are so radical as to border on criminal.

You’d never voluntarily live under Libertarian rule but the cannibal capitalists (who already own everything) think it would be ‘fun’.

That’s why our bought and paid for justice system ignores ‘irregularities’ like unread legislation being slipped in with legitimate business and getting passed ‘en masse’.

Again our much-criticized corporate owned media has ignored this issue completely because their corporate masters want it this way.

The evidence that our government has been hijacked continues to mount while the vaunted ‘4th Estate’ remains mute.

Even more bizarre is how if you read this fact on the Internet, it automatically becomes a conspiracy!

Only the paper you pay two bits for tells you ‘the truth’ (as our corporate masters see it…reality be…oh well.)

And somehow this is NOT a ‘conspiracy’…

Let’s set aside the fact that nobody knows/can explain where these ‘budget cuts’ come from (although we can guess fairly accurately.)

And turn our attention to ‘the deficit’ (that the Republicans have quintupled since Reagan took office.) [And somehow this escapes being a conspiracy too…curious, don’t you think?]

If we start from the basis that ALL MONEY IS FUNNY and compound that with the fact that MOTHER NATURE DOESN’T HAVE A CASH REGISTER we have to ask the obvious question ‘WHAT DEFICIT?’

Actually no such thing exists…it is ‘faulty accounting’ driven by capitalist economics but the ‘conservo-whackos’ like to pretend it matters!

How unfortunate is it that this whole charade is a power trip made worse by extreme mis-management?

Even more disturbing is how this entire ‘conspiracy’ to push our current civilization off of a cliff can be chalked up to ‘Social Darwinism’ by the very ones who have been marked for extinction!

Even more ironic is how they’ve marked themselves (although in most cases their parents did it for them.)

Naturally I’m hoping for a public debate…how sad is it good citizen that my chances of success are roughly equal with Bradley Manning’s chances of being acquitted (despite not having committed a crime.)

Once again I end a piece with the admonition ‘what happens next is up to YOU!

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

Bucket

Greetings good citizen,

Nothing is more poignant than the daily headlines for driving home the point that our civilization is scroomed!

We need look no further than the top story in the business section for proof:

DealBook
Obama’s Nominee for S.E.C. Tries to Allay Skepticism
By BEN PROTESS

Mary Jo White, President Obama’s choice to lead the agency, is telling Congress she can avoid conflicts of interest despite her Wall Street clients.

I’m not kicking the poor woman in the shins but who do you place in a sensitive position like that who ISN’T an ‘insider’?

My ‘problem’ with this choice is not the chosen but the chooser, who has proven to be Wall Street’s boy from day one.

We have already witnessed some well qualified appointees resign in frustration…and if this woman has integrity it is likely she too will go the way of her predecessors.

But it gets better:

The budget cuts scheduled to start taking effect on Friday would affect all facets of the federal budget, including aviation and military spending.
Austerity Kills Government Jobs as Cuts to Budgets Loom
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM

The federal government is cutting back at a pace exceeded in the last half-century only by the military demobilizations after the Vietnam War and the cold war.

Graphic: Austerity Is Here

Um, that last headline is a bit deceptive considering the government has been spending at an ‘unprecedented clip’ since this whole ‘War on Terra’ thing got started.

How ironic is it that if they were serious about reducing ‘terrorism’ in the world they’d make their most promising progress by slashing their own budget?

Not only has the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan lasted TWICE AS LONG as WWII but it has also been TWICE AS COSTLY!

Yet you don’t hear the conservo-whackos screaming to cut the Pentagon’s budget, do ya?

No, instead we get headlines like this:

Durable Goods Orders Drop as Aircraft Demand Falls
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 47 minutes ago

A sharp drop in demand for commercial aircraft caused overall durable goods orders to drop 5.2 percent last month, but orders for core capital goods like machinery, equipment and software rose 6.3 percent.

How ironic is it that the same sort of ‘phenomenon' accounts for the recent ‘surge’ in home prices (after years of flat lining.)

When the whole economy is deader than a door nail, a 5% reduction in orders for commercial aircraft really spanks you in the bottom (line that is.)

Housing prices are up ‘relative to what they were last year’ (and not 6 years ago when things were booming.

It may be ‘the biggest increase’ SINCE then but what are they really saying?

I saw some twit last night proclaim that if they could keep up the pace the current ‘inventory’ would be ‘sold out’ in just 4 months.

What a crock! Guess who’s buying all of the houses?

Why it’s our old pal Flipper, (betting he’s finally going to find renters at long last!)

Guess what?

Flipper is…WRONG AGAIN!

And like the last ‘bubble’, Flipper is going to ‘walk away’ when the renters fail to materialize.

But our next headline shines a light on the current state of economic affairs:

DealBook
Regulators Block Ryanair’s Latest Attempt to Buy Aer Lingus
By JAMES KANTER 19 minutes ago

As the European Commission blocked the attempt by Ryanair for competitive reasons, the Irish carrier reiterated that it would appeal the decision in court.

In a ‘saturated market place’ the most you can do to boost the bottom line is ‘buy market share’ (by buying our the ‘competition’…then sticking it to the customers!)

Turning down this merger is the right thing to do…however, it isn’t over yet.

If you can’t soak the public you can always take the sure route of soaking the government:

EADS Profit Soars 19 Percent
By NICOLA CLARK 7:28 AM ET

The company says it made about $1.56 billion in 2012 thanks to commercial aircraft sales, even though its military segment struggled amid budget troubles in the United States and Europe.

What’s the old saying, ‘war is good business.’

Wrecking stuff then getting paid to rebuild it…can’t beat that racket.

It’s a ‘self-reinforcing circle’.

Better shake a leg here, we’ve still got a lot of ground to cover.

Fed Defends Stimulus in Testimony to Senate
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM

Ben S. Bernanke told senators that the central bank saw its campaign as necessary and effective, reassuring them that its benefits outweighed any risks.

Economix Blog: Does Bernanke Have the Best Inflation Record? | By Unemployment, Not So Good
Home Sales and Bernanke Calm Market

How does Helicopter Ben justify bailing out the world’s financial system (to the tune of 22, we don’t have ‘em, trillion) to a financially incompetent legislative body?

If there were a half a brain between the 500 plus of ‘em, they’d know the system was bankrupt without even asking ‘the Bernank’…

The only reason the home sales are calming the market is because they (the corporate owned media) believes the average citizen is too stupid to figure out there is no ‘recovery’ in the housing market (nor will there ever be!)

And again we are expected to be shocked by this latest revelation:

News Analysis
Italian Deadlock Rekindles Anxiety About Euro Zone
By LIZ ALDERMAN and JACK EWING

The apparent political gridlock signaled by its elections raises new fears that the euro crisis may be far from over.

European Markets Dip Amid Uncertainty
Italian Parties Maneuver After Electoral Split

Does ANYONE truly believe the Euro-zone crisis is over, seriously?

Then we have this ‘gem’:

Officials have recommended that nuclear plants like Nine Mile Point in New York install new safety equipment.
Post-Fukushima, Arguments for Nuclear Safety Bog Down
By ERIC LIPTON and MATTHEW L. WALD

A dispute is developing between the nuclear industry and regulators, and among the regulators themselves, about the necessity of more safeguards at power plants.

Graphic: Tasks Remain for the American Nuclear Industry

Let’s ‘cut to the chase’…the only ‘safe’ nuke is a cold one…but if you shut down the nukes without first installing adequate renewables the entire grid would shut down in less than a day.

Better to let the candle remain lit than to curse the darkness.

And finally:

DealBook
Wall Street Pay Rises, for Those Who Still Have a Job
By SUSANNE CRAIG 6:39 AM ET

The average cash bonus for people employed in New York City in the financial industry rose by roughly 9 percent, to $121,900, in 2012, the New York State comptroller said.

U.S. Banks in 2012 Posted Highest Profits Since 2006,

The Litany of Woe was quite detailed today, a rather good ‘capture’ if I must say so myself.

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

New

Greetings good citizen,

The stock markets are all bleeding the artificial gains they made during the fictional ‘fiscal cliff’ debacle so we’d opine ‘nothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’.

On the other hand we have the ‘Platinum coin’, er, ‘threat’ pounding the gold markets.

There’s nothin like this sort of silliness to prove my point that all ‘money’ is funny! (And if we get any further from money’s ‘one useful purpose’ than we already are then our civilization will be swimming in money when it collapses…think Zimbabwe.

Do I need to explain that the collapse will be due to money being rendered ‘useless’ to a majority of society?

Dangerous stuff, especially when ‘mishandled.’

And speaking of ‘mis-handling’:

Rescued by a Bailout, A.I.G. May Sue Its Savior By BEN PROTESS and MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED A lawsuit claims that the rescue by the government deprived A.I.G.’s shareholders of tens of billions of dollars and took private property for public use without appropriate compensation.

Should AIG ‘win’ its case against the US, I propose the judge be lynched on the spot (along with the attorneys for the prosecution!)

You already know there won’t be a jury involved in such a ridiculous case, it will be a judges decision like it always is when the One Percent rapes the public with its frivolous lawsuits.

How ironic is it that some people (and we’re talking about the permanently brain damaged here) think suing the ‘over-reaching’ government is no less than it deserves.

That’s how ‘brainwashed’ the corporate owned media has the few who don’t possess the capacity to think for themselves.

The company would have been a smoking pile of ashes if it hadn’t been for the ‘taxpayer bailout’ it received. Would the jokers have tried to sue the government for NOT helping had that been the case? Sure looks that way.

Naturally, doesn’t this begs the question of who is the psychopath who thought this was a ‘good idea’?

Shouldn’t s/he be ferreted out and institutionalized as being a ‘menace to society’?

But wait, we have even more ‘bad news’ from the crippled and broken ‘banking sector’.

In Deal, Bank of America Extends Retreat From Mortgages By JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG and PETER EAVIS The problems at Bank of America have cut down its mortgage ambitions, ceding market dominance to Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase. DealBook: Banks to Pay $8.5 Billion to Speed Up Housing Relief

The only question remaining good citizen is how long will it be before the mortgage industry becomes so unprofitable that it is abandoned altogether?

The term ‘qualified buyer’ is a joke because today’s youth aren’t paid enough to buy a pup tent on a postage stamp. Add to that how motor vehicles hasn’t fallen despite a significant drop in demand...

Did I mention out economic model is FUBAR, as exemplified by the piddling figure the banks are contributing to ‘speed up’ housing relief’ vs. the $700 BILLION congress GAVE THEM five years ago?

We don’t even want to know what happened to that and several TRILLION more, it would only make your little head hurt.

This is way beyond WTF!

Speaking of which, what about that ‘recovery’?

Euro Watch
Unemployment Climbs in Euro Zone By DAVID JOLLY 9:30 AM ET The jobless rate in the 17-nation bloc rose to 11.8 percent in November, a month in which German exports, imports and industrial orders all declined.

What’s this??! It’s been five years! All of the economists are predicting 3 to 5 percent GROWTH this year!

How can the Eurozone be in the dink? Didn’t they get the memo?

Or maybe it’s time we stopped listening to clueless economic cheerleaders who are well paid for their totally unqualified opinions.

Yes, Bubba, they get away with being wrong 99% of the time because their fall back position is ‘it’s just ‘my opinion’…and they know they’re full of crap when they make these sunny ‘predictions’.

They literally get paid to…well, if it’s manure and you know it it’s a lie!

Last on today’s hit parade is this reminder of why our economic system is on ‘life support’.

Bags of contaminated soil outside the Naraha-Minami school near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In Japan, a Painfully Slow Sweep By HIROKO TABUCHI Much of Japan’s post-Fukushima cleanup is primitive, slapdash and bereft of the cleanup methods lauded by scientists as effective in removing radioactive cesium.

Seriously good citizen, outside a school? Let’s hope for the children’s sake it’s outside an ABANDONED school! (The corporate owned media do love to ‘tantalize’ its audience by omitting critical details.)

While Mother Nature appears to have methods of ‘sequestering’ radioactivity from the environment that our scientists don’t yet understand, we can only wonder what constitutes an acceptable clean up of these extremely hazardous compounds? (Because the article infers such methods exist…)

Insanity aside, this post marks the start of my ‘cleaning up my act’ so I can reach a wider audience. It will also serve as the first post on a non-fire walled edition of A Simple Plan.

How sad is it that there will still be posts made to the fire walled version of the site…pig that I am! Hopefully my readers follow me for my insights and not just my colorful speech!

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner