Recent comments

  • I disagree that 95% of the media represent 5% of real people.

    I believe the rank and file of the media do WANT to represent the real people, but they are employed by their management (masters) and management of media, i,e. media corporations are most likely incorporated offshore, if not in Delaware. My goal here is to draw your attention to the book: Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxon: (available on Amazon). These are the powerful corporations and individuals through which lobbying money flows to organizations, think tanks and politicians. If the money doesn't benefit them directly, it benefits their campaign war chests. It is estimated that 550 offshore entities comprise the major banks and hedge funds. Read about how they manipulate the world to evade taxation.

    The REAL media (the reporters and editors) DO want Mr. Obama to prevail in the ideals of restoring justice and fairness, however, Mr. Obama, if he is not captured by his donors, is probably well aware that he and his family is disposable, one way or another. Small money and motivations = small thugs that go to jail. Big money and motivations = thugs with a lot more finesse and distance, able to paper things over and are global in reach. Too big to fail = to big to get caught.

    So don't blame the media. They don't make the money you think they do. The average reporter probably makes no ore than $30-50k, unless you're in the big leagues or front a show of some sort. TREASURE ISLANDS by Nicholas Shaxon.

    Reply to: Federal Reserve's Foreign Banks & Rich Housewives Discount Window Pig Trough   13 years 7 months ago
    EPer:
  • I disagree that 95% of the media represent 5% of real people.

    I believe the rank and file of the media do WANT to represent the real people, but they are employed by their management (masters) and management of media, i,e. media corporations are most likely incorporated offshore, if not in Delaware. My goal here is to draw your attention to the book: Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxon: (available on Amazon). These are the powerful corporations and individuals through which lobbying money flows to organizations, think tanks and politicians. If the money doesn't benefit them directly, it benefits their campaign war chests. It is estimated that 550 offshore entities comprise the major banks and hedge funds. Read about how they manipulate the world to evade taxation.

    The REAL media (the reporters and editors) DO want Mr. Obama to prevail in the ideals of restoring justice and fairness, however, Mr. Obama, if he is not captured by his donors, is probably well aware that he and his family is disposable, one way or another. Small money and motivations = small thugs that go to jail. Big money and motivations = thugs with a lot more finesse and distance, able to paper things over and are global in reach. Too big to fail = to big to get caught.

    So don't blame the media. They don't make the money you think they do. The average reporter probably makes no ore than $30-50k, unless you're in the big leagues or front a show of some sort. TREASURE ISLANDS by Nicholas Shaxon.

    Reply to: Federal Reserve's Foreign Banks & Rich Housewives Discount Window Pig Trough   13 years 7 months ago
    EPer:
  • Thanks. We've looking a lot more like latter day Rome than the Republic of Venice during it's centuries long era of prosperity and tolerance. I truly hope we get rid of these lousy leaders and see an expression of the values and work ethic of the vast majority.

    Reply to: ForeclosureGate Deal - The Mandatory Cover Up   13 years 7 months ago
  • ForeclosureGate is a prism through which we can view the general decline of any semblance of legal and equitable behavior by the ruling class. Everything must be in service of their goals. When they get caught, the same philosophy applies. They just make a law or cut a deal and it's "Get out of jail free!"

    There should be more press on this. The CBS 60 Minutes story was excellent but notable in it's unique perspective. Keep talking and sharing. The internet provides a way to get the word out that can't be stopped, although they will continue to try.

    When the law is just for the majority and a tiny minority claims and receives exemptions again and again, the law is seen as their province. That can't last long before we are underwater in the worst way.

    Thanks for your comments.

    Reply to: Beyond ForeclosureGate - It Gets Uglier   13 years 7 months ago
  • But aren't they the same multi national corporations that want American military protection and use of their resources when they get threatened out in that same big bad world?

    We should charge them for protection! A big chunk of our tax dollars and deficit spending are appropriated for defense spending. Just think. Tighten up our budget and get them thinking of either moving (good riddance) or coming back home and putting their money where their security originates.

    Reply to: Government Finally Shows What We Already Know - Shipping Jobs Overseas is a Big Problem!   13 years 7 months ago
    EPer:
  • READ Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxon: Tax Havens and the Men Who Stole the World. The pieces fit in nicely with this whole story.

    I knew a very rich man (almost a billionaire) who loaned money on houses - not seconds, only first mortgages. He taught me how he did it. He told his prospective borrower that he "collected houses". His rates were kneecap rates for people in trouble. His favorite phrase: I believe in the golden rule. Those that own the gold makes the rules. Needless to say, I learned quite a bit by watching. He almost always ended up with the house.

    Reply to: Beyond ForeclosureGate - It Gets Uglier   13 years 7 months ago
    EPer:
  • That's definitive analysis, thanks to the BEA and your clear exposition.

    When will they just move overseas entirely?

    When there's no market to buy their products here.

    We're just a number or too to them.

    This should go viral.

    Reply to: Government Finally Shows What We Already Know - Shipping Jobs Overseas is a Big Problem!   13 years 7 months ago
  • Firstly, not everybody working at the Fed is "evil" and in fact this site uses some pretty damn awesome economic analysis and graphing tools from them, so they have a warm fuzzy in my heart just for that. But they employ thousands of economic researchers and such, so it's not all bad here.

    But here's the ultimate question, do you really, I mean REALLY, want the Fed to be under the control of Congress or the administration?

    The reason I ask that is because our Congress and the administration is so damn corrupt, they might as well put the G.E. logo in neon lights over the White House and put a gigantic LCD revolving ad like what's in Times Square saying "Goldman Sachs" over the Senate. For that matter, why not call the House of Representatives Koch Brother's Hall and you can have a few areas labeled illegal alien's lounge area.

    I mean seriously, it's so corrupt we have budget proposals that cannot add 1+1 and going onto talk shows and lying their heads off. I mean literally, rewriting history, trying to claim Bush created jobs and reduced deficits.

    I get that we're in the frying pan, but isn't the current proposed solution the fire?

    Congress had their chance, multiple times, to enact financial reform and what they did was basically keep the "status quo" and make TBTF ....bigger. Financial sector is now 60% of the economy and that is obscene.

    I think it's way more important to get corporate and special interest money 100% out of our government and all lobbyists shipped off to Gitmo.

    If we had real representation or a democracy, I hear ya brother, but handing the Fed directly to multinational corporations more than it is....

    Reply to: Federal Reserve's Foreign Banks & Rich Housewives Discount Window Pig Trough   13 years 7 months ago
    EPer:
  • It is a bit more on the theory side.

    I got an email from a colleague of mine, an activist attorney who excellent on just the subject you raised. He talked about remedies in the system that require action by officials. I expect that he will be writing an article for EP soon and outline actions that can flow from what you have observed. Probably out Tuesday or Wednesday next week. I'd characterize it but it's better to get the whole thing explained by someone with considerable expertise.

    Thanks for sharing that raw data. When you can just eyeball the record and see it's flawed, it's time to educate the rulers, get them to earn their money.

    Reply to: Beyond ForeclosureGate - It Gets Uglier   13 years 7 months ago
  • I'm not sure that my house becoming collateral for the dollar in my pocket is necessarily an evil or mistaken idea.

    Isn't that how money got started in the colonies way back in the 1700s?

    The problem isn't the idea of monetarism. The devil is in the Fed details, no?

    I can't get a loan to refinance my house, but the bank can?

    Reply to: Beyond ForeclosureGate - It Gets Uglier   13 years 7 months ago
  • An intelligent young person of my acquaintance asks this:

    "The discount window - is that like the returns and exchange counter?"

    That's what we need. Take the Fed back and return it to the Congress. Let's exchange the Fed for something else. Like, you know, a later and better version. You don't like your cell phone? Exchange it for a better one. Don't like the WTO? Exchange it for a better one.

    I think that the concept of exchanging one system for another could make sense to most people. I used to say that I was for eliminating the Fed. Now I am saying that I am for exchanging the Fed for something better.

    The problem is that you can exchange one bank for another and it's all the same bank. Just like you can exchange the one political label for the other - and nothing gets any better.

    I don't like my ETF's performance, so I'll trade it in on another. Well, that's okay, but it won't turn the market around, much less the economy.

    Reply to: Federal Reserve's Foreign Banks & Rich Housewives Discount Window Pig Trough   13 years 7 months ago
  • "And it all coincidentally comes for us at a time when the man in the White House represents the culmination of all the hopes and dreams for 95% of the media, so they don't want to touch anything that makes him look bad."

    Yep. 95% of the media, which represents 5% of real people.

    Reply to: Federal Reserve's Foreign Banks & Rich Housewives Discount Window Pig Trough   13 years 7 months ago
  • The Fed has a whole lot of momentum going for it. Fed mass is huge. So the force to move it is similarly huge.

    Nobody likes banks. Most liked banks are local banks, but nobody pays attention to the complicated hoaxes and scams whereby independent banks get swallowed up until it's too late.

    For many many decades, the Fed was accepted as necessary because Congress could not be trusted with monetary policy. That was taught as doctrine at nearly every university. (It probably still is!) The idea that Congress can't be trusted with control over monetary policy still seems not unreasonable. On the other hand, it now appears that the central bankers also cannot be trusted with monetary policy. I think most people really understand that now.

    Negative thinking never inspires positive program.

    Nobody can imagine that there is any other way to do things. They either think that a central bank is necessary, or if they don't think that, then they think that the answer is the gold standard. For years now, you could never convince anyone that there was any reason to discuss balancing the federal budget, since "they can print as much money as they want." So nothing to talk about. It was all much ado about nothing. Is there gold still in Fort Knox? Nobody knows. Very few people understand money or monetary policy at all. They suspect money unless they can think that it is "backed up" by gold. Even a pretty good egg like Ron Paul seems to believe that "the gold standard" is some kind of panacea. Many people vaguely believe that there a grand central bank in Switzerland that controls everything - tied in with the Illuminati.

    Probably a part of the problem is the idea that money - the medium of exchange - is intrinsically evil. Many people, if you discuss topics like the Fed with them, they will quickly tell you that what they would prefer to live in a system of barter, with no money involved. Otherwise, they seem to assume that OF COURSE THE FED IS EVIL, WHAT ELSE COULD YOU EXPECT?

    Bottom line, as pointed out by Daniel Willingham in his book "Why Don't Students Like School?" - thinking requires effort and people avoid it whenever they can.

    BUT DON'T GIVE UP HOPE - The Oregon State Bank bill has moved out of committee in the Oregon Senate where it was likely intended to die.

    Oregonians for a State Bank

    Reply to: Federal Reserve's Foreign Banks & Rich Housewives Discount Window Pig Trough   13 years 7 months ago
  • According to e-mail received today from Steve Hughes of Oregonians for a State Bank, the bill has moved out of committee with a bi-partisan vote of 4-to-1. Thanks to popular input and grassroots activists, the idea moves forward in Oregon, despite what amounts to a news blackout by the mass of corporate media. Is the corporate media circus becoming as irrelevant to most as it has been to me for some years now? I think there's something to be said for plain old newspapers (like the family-owned Register-Guard of Eugene and surrounding area), and, like, Bloomberg, but tv news like FOX, CNN, ABC ... who cares?

    Reply to: Unemployment 8.8% for March 2011   13 years 7 months ago
  • Checking out Economic Populist today, I note that Buddy Roemer supporters have placed an ad, but I also see that at the TownHall poll pop-up that asks people to pick their favorite Republican presidential candidate, Roemer is absent - although there are some 18 others shown with their photos.

    This despite that Roemer did appear at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition on March 7, to which presidential hopefuls were invited, while several of the 18 presidential hopefuls represented at the TownHall poll page did not appear there and, I believe, have yet to announce themselves as in the running.

    Interesting - and puzzling.

    Reply to: There Goes Another Populist - Senator Jim Webb, Virginia, Not Running in 2012   13 years 7 months ago
  • please contact me re public land record off line at mcfid1 at gmail.com, thank you.

    Reply to: Beyond ForeclosureGate - It Gets Uglier   13 years 7 months ago
    EPer:
  • I'd like to discuss further with you. Please contact me re public land record off line at mcfid1 at gmail.com, thank you.
    cm

    Reply to: Beyond ForeclosureGate - It Gets Uglier   13 years 7 months ago
    EPer:
  • Reply to: The Crazies versus the Sleepwalkers - Big Budget Showdown   13 years 7 months ago
  • Spending caps are a gimmick, not a solution.

    The balanced budget amendment is a complicated issue, but definitely no panacea. It's a band-aid non-cure for a systemic disease. (I support elimination of the Federal Reserve and monetary policy set by law per the Constitution. I subscribe to the American Monetary Institute.)

    As for policy riders, they are part of the problem. No riders, no holds, no omnibus legislation, no earmarks. Clean legislation, issue by issue. That's how Congress should do its work. That's how members of Congress can be held responsible.

    Australia has almost no public debt of any kind. We should set that as our goal for the USA. With across-the-board tariff (or VAT), it can be done over time. At this point in time in the USA, federal and other public debt should be the issue, not the debt ceiling.

    Here's the equation of proportionality:

    Just as term limits, for offices subject to regular elections, amounts to "STOP ME BEFORE I VOTE AGAIN!" for the electorate,

    SO ALSO:

    The balanced budget amendment or debt ceiling legislation amounts to "STOP ME BEFORE I TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE DUTIES I HAVE ACCEPTED UNDER THE CONSTITUTION" for members of the Congress!

    Reply to: The Crazies versus the Sleepwalkers - Big Budget Showdown   13 years 7 months ago
  • If you what started the residential real estate problem , check out
    Public Law 106–122
    106th Congress
    An Act
    To amend the Federal Reserve Act to broaden the range of discount window loans
    which may be used as collateral for Federal reserve notes.
    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
    the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the
    third sentence of the second undesignated paragraph of section
    16 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 412) is amended by
    striking ‘‘acceptances acquired under the provisions of section 13
    of this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘acceptances acquired under section 10A,
    10B, 13, or 13A of this Act’’.
    Approved December 6, 1999.

    Go check out what 10 B is in the Federal Reserve Act. The FED can use residential mortgages as collateral for NEW Federal Reerve Note Issues. Meaning .. How did you house become the collateral for the dollar in your pocket?

    Reply to: Beyond ForeclosureGate - It Gets Uglier   13 years 7 months ago

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