“This the United States of America and, you know, we don’t manage our affairs in three-month increments. You know, we don’t risk U.S. default on our obligations because we can’t put politics aside,” Mr. Obama told reporters at the White House yesterday.
So predictable and so boring. Same old tired diatribe that evil conservatives want to starve granny, push snot nosed orphans out into the streets, take away the canes of the crippled, despoil the pure waters, and summon a plague of locusts to scourge the land. May multiple calamities rain down upon anyone who falls for this bleeding heart drivel.
He is shameless.
And I’m always amazed by how he always speaks in terms of “I” rather than the standard politician-speak “we.” Always.
“I” can’t guarantee those checks will go out…
McConnell announces fallback plan: Let’s give Obama the power to raise the debt ceiling himself
Surely, there are people out there, even among “seniors” and Democrats, who are going to ask themselves this question: “If we can’t guarantee retirees will continue to get their Social Security checks without borrowing more money, what the hell are they doing with all those Social Security taxes?”
Well, Obama has officially denied the existance of the “Social Security Trust Fund” since that is the first thing to go. Obviously there is no money in it if Grandma’s check is delayed. If anything good comes out of this, it will be this myth officially BUSTED.
It’s so unfair since Granny’s the one who actually ate her peas. It was her children and grandchildren who began pushing the peas to one side of the plate, then hiding them in the napkin or even dropping onto the floor under the table, hoping the dog would take care of them.
We should be ashamed of ourselves. Let a thousand bandaids be ripped off, all at once!
SS is, and always has been, no more than a ponzi scheme.
We have about 139,000,000 tax payers. We have about 65,000,000 people on SS and other aid. How can it stand?
“McConnell announces fallback plan: Let’s give Obama the power to raise the debt ceiling himself.”
This reminds me of my favorite P.J. O’Rourke quote:
“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”
This is how power is used to make people become useful, regardless of who they think elected them.
This is how Democrats have always played the game. And Republicans have yet to find a counter, in all the decades that they got busted on this strategy.
This evening I was watching the Meryl Streep remake of The Manchurian Candidate. In it, Shaw — the Candidate — says in a political broadcast:
“Somewhere right now, in some small American town, his grandmother is standing in her kitchen.
She’s got her medicine bottle in one hand, she’s opening the refrigerator with the other and she’s thinking:”I can pay for my medicine…or I can pay for my dinner.I can’t do both.”
I don’t believe that our mothers and grandmothers should have to face that kind of decision, not in this country.”
Earlier times would have called these sort of remarks by Obama “Waving the bloody shirt.” Not now. Instead we wave the impoverished granny. It’s so nice when the president imitates Hollywood.
McConnell’s “plan B” shows that the Rupublicans recognize that if they become a party to raising the debt ceiling while Obama is in office they will get nothing in return. This demonstrates that the GOP is not naive and that, there is absolutely no trust in the Democrat’s promise spending cuts in exchange for increasing the credit limit. It really is a huge subtle slap in the face to Obama. However, Obama will not feel the sting until November 2012.
Stark,
I hope he starts to get nervous when he sees the campaign ads that will be coming. Expiration dates, anyone?
Amazing monologue about what she ‘thought’ liberalism was all about (ie what she already had but didn’t know it…) and what it turned out to be upon investigation…
Who are these people that supports a party that tells old people their support is in jeopardy and tells kids the planet has a fever? I get literally sick to my stomach thinking about the people i know that support this crap.
The money quote is :
“Nice pension you have there; sure would be a shame if something was to happen to it…”
I have got myself in a position in which my income is from USN retirement and SS.
They hate me, not personally, but as a statistic, because I have lived too long and I am a drain on those systems. I feel a little bad about that, but not bad enough to remove myself from the rolls.
But, I will say this to Obama. Do your worst. Just to call your bluff, I will cheerfully dip into the savings that are intended to support my wife after I do leave these earthly rolls. Everybody has that nest egg tucked away for such eventualities as government collapse, or to to try leave something for the kids (if gummint doesn’t steal it). Don’t they?
Or to that little man with the big mouth, I would just quote that famous fictional American—“Make my Day”.
It is not because men have made laws that personality, liberty, and property exist. On the contrary, it is because personality, liberty, and property exist beforehand that men make laws.… [Law] is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense.… So long as personal safety was ensured, so long as labor was free, and the fruits of labor secured against all unjust attacks, no one would have any difficulties to contend with in the State. (The Bastiat Collection pp. 47—48)
I have already experienced the reality of what it means when a retriement “contract” is broken. When I retired there was a company pension fund with a lot of money ($billion$) in it, earning investment returns, dedicated to paying pensions to all those who retired from the company. Well, after 9/11, the company fell on hard times and filed for bankruptcy. Because there was not enough money in the pension fund to pay the promised pensions, the bankruptcy court allowed them to divest the pension fund to the PBGC (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.). The PBGC then took two years to analyse the money available and those who were owed. They then reduced the pensions so that they could be paid with the money available. We all took hits and have had to reduce our living standards. This was quite a shock, but people, for the most part, simply readjusted their lives to the new realities. When you’re retired, it is too late to start over, although some have taken on part time work or started small home businesses if they were able. I’ve taken up short term day trading to make a few bucks.
That sad story is what is happening to Social Security, Federal pensions, and all kinds of other state and local government pensions. What has not yet happened is the recognition that the money is not there to pay out the benefits at the level promised. The attitude seems to be that, if we can just keep things afloat long enough, eventually the economy and stock market will recover and make us whole. Not with the policies that the Obamites are pursuing.
In Greece, Ireland, and othe European countries they have had to recognize the financial facts and have started their “PBGC reset” of pensions and other entitlements. There has been rioting in Greece. It is the enraged reaction of people who were promised something and then had it taken away. Rioting is useless because iot will not magically produce the money to pay the benefits.
Well, life is a risky business. We should all be skeptical of promises from private companies and governments. Especially governments because they have no money except what they can tax away from citizens. They produce no wealth. They can set the conditions for wealth creation, but this government wants to only redistribute it or waste it.
I was overjoyed when IRAs and 401ks became legal. In spite of promises from my company, I had a nigglling idea in the back of my head that it could all go away. If not for my IRA, the reset we had to make would have been more painful. When you know all the responsibility for your future rests in your hands, it tends to sharpen your mind, make you a better money manager, and make you more responsible. If you reach old age and have nothing to show for it, instead of blaming someone else for stupidity or corruption, you can just look in the mirror. That, unfortunately, is not what we have today. So many promises to so many people and it’s all smoke an dmirrors.
If they withhold SS payments, it will not surprise me. At this point nothing Obama does is a surprise. He is a despicable ideologue and Mitch McConnell is exactly right. There will be no deals made on real debt reduction while he is President. Making him take responsibility for raising the debt ceiling is the right thing to do.
“This the United States of America …”
Great news. Those remedial briefings are paying off. Next up: the number of states.
Occam’s Beard,
Ouch!
We should all be skeptical of promises from private companies and governments.
This.
I’ve taught my boys exactly this principle – never trust – or even take seriously – any promise of this type. Even if those maknig the promise are honorable (hey, it could happen) and mean to keep it, they could and probably will be gone at the operative time.
Cash and carry is the way to go. I don’t want to hear about “jam tomorrow.” Give me today what I’ve earned today, and then we go our separate ways. No open accounts.
Reciprocity is the key to human interactions. Would an employer pay you today, in return for your promise to work sometime in the future?
The question answers itself.
What has not yet happened is the recognition that the money is not there to pay out the benefits at the level promised. The attitude seems to be that, if we can just keep things afloat long enough, eventually the economy and stock market will recover and make us whole. Not with the policies that the Obamites are pursuing.
to which i let Bernanke respond:
Bernanke said in prepared remarks that the economy is growing more slowly than expected, and should that continue the central bank stands at the ready with more accommodative measures.
“Once the temporary shocks that have been holding down economic activity pass, we expect to again see the effects of policy accommodation reflected in stronger economic activity and job creation,” he said
“However, given the range of uncertainties about the strength of the recovery and prospects for inflation over the medium term, the Federal Reserve remains prepared to respond should economic developments indicate that an adjustment in the stance of monetary policy would be appropriate.”
Markets reacted immediately to the remarks, sending stocks up sharply in a matter of minutes. Gold prices continued to surge past record levels, while Treasury yields [cnbc explains] moved higher as well.
of course the dingbats are saying “see, the stocks went up” as they are economically illiterate and dont get spending a dollar while its worth 25 cents rather than 5 cents…
But some analysts pointed out that, while Bernanke was suggesting the Fed might add stimulus, he also was saying that the current “soft patch” may prove temporary.
“The bottom line is that he has to say he will respond if needed, but it seems he’s saying it more as lip service than anything because ultimately he still expects that this slowdown was temporary,” said Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist for RBS Capital Markets in New York.
So its not hard to see that people assume validity then throw each sides dirty underwear at each other until something ‘sticks’…
JJ,
You were smart.
I’ve also been setting up multiple sources of retirement.
I advise anybody ESPECIALLY people with a CALPERS retirement (CA) to set aside significant amounts for your future on top of your supposed retirement.
To not do so is at your own peril.
I’m AMAZED at the number of managers at the state of CA who when 3 day furloughs hit had to foreclose on their homes, couldn’t meet house payments, couldn’t figure out a way to make their budget work.
I’m amazed to hear the number of people (who work at the state) who carry large balances on their credit card, who do not have ANYTHING set aside for their future.
All financial planners will tell you you should have 6 months pay set aside for emergencies (fairly liquid).
They will all tell you to diversify.
They will all tell you not to carry balances on your credit card.
These people I’m talking about have worked at the state 20 years!!! Their attitude costs them dearly and will cost them.
Their attitude costs them dearly and will cost them.
No Tovarish, they will cost all of us dearly…
No Stalin,
I make my future. 🙂
I wonder whether the Dems realize that under Schré¶eder, the Germans did reform their retirement policies, increasing the age of eligibilty one month at a time so that people can plan on working longer. the provinciality of Obama & crew becomes obvious when they don’t even know that a died-in-the-wool social democracy like Germany had to cut back. reforms were also made on health care and welfare. The latter still have problems, but at least some steps were taken.
“Gold isn’t money,” Bernanke said
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Rep. Ron Paul, Republican for Texas, asked Bernanke why a capital injection of more than $5 trillion “hasn’t done much” to help the consumer, who makes up about two-thirds of GDP in the U.S., and prop up the economy, while it helped boost corporate profits. “You could’ve given $17,000 to each citizen,” Ron Paul claimed.
————————————————-
This should show that hiring economic illiterates (communists by any name) to run a capitalist enterprise, means it will collapse and fail for several fundamental reasons… too numerous to list here…
but in this case, what is clear is that an academic is not a competent person to actually run anything. they feign competence, invent excuses, completey have no common sense, follow fads pretending erudition doing so, completely ignore the despotic, can shut their consciousness off clinically, are willing to happily experiment on children (calling it social engineering), sell others down the river, and have very little concept of reality, except for what they read… which tend to be descriptions of reality by the other out of touch people.
[we would do better to be lead by humble engineers, than academics pretending engineering of society with hubris bordering on the criminally insane]
Bernanke, clearly on the defensive, told Rep. Ron Paul that his institution hadn’t spent a single dollar, rather, the Fed has been a “profit center” according to the Chairman, returning profits to the federal government.
Now count me a bit strange, but since when is a state allowed to make ‘profit’, and if it does, since when does a representative state get to keep such..
As Bernanke began to sermon Rep. Paul on the history of the Fed (“we are here to provide liquidity [in abnormal situations],” the Chairman said), he was interrupted.
“When you wake up in the morning, do you think about the price of gold,” Rep. Paul asked.
After pausing for a second, Bernanke responded, clearly uncomfortable. That he paid much attention to the price of gold, only to be interrupted once again.
“Gold’s at about $1,580 [an ounce] this morning, what do you think of the price of gold?” asked Rep. Paul.
A stern-faced Bernanke responded people bought it for protection and was once again cut-off, with Ron Paul once again on the offensive.
“Is gold money?” he asked. Clearly bothered, Bernanke told the representative “no, gold is not money, it’s an asset.
Treasuries are an asset, people hold them, but I don’t think of them as money,” said Bernanke.
so mr academic genius… if Gold is not money, and money is not money, then what is it? ah.. Potemkin ideas that you play with to move material and control the means of production, no tovarish?
We have a man in charge of the finances measuring in trillions and he has no idea what VALUE is, and what FIAT is, etc…..
funny thing about his ‘Asset’, it behaves completely different than any other ‘asset’.
then again. to him an asset is a tiny donkey…
I bet there is no more gold in fort knox as its just an asset, and one can sell off all assets… and get what in return?
the idea that gold is not money, but an asset…
and thats the mind of the head financier…
shows that when i step into my tiny 47″ x 57″ office, i am actually stepping out of the asylum run by what?
Rep. Ron Paul again jumped in, noting the long history of gold being used as money, and then asked Bernanke why people didn’t hold diamonds, clearly hinting at his fiat money criticism of the U.S. monetary system.
The Fed Chairman told Rep. Paul it was nothing more than tradition, and, as he was attempting to develop his argument
so people around the world are buying tons of protection for tradition…
and yet these are the same people that despise santa clause and the easter bunny…
[Chairman Bernank]
Who, day and night, must scramble to do the printing,
Feed the banks and trusts, say his daily lies?
And who has the right, as master of The Fed,
To have the final word in DC?
The Chairman, the Chairman! Tradition.
The Chairman, the Chairman! Tradition.
[Mama Frank]
Who must know the way to make a proper hearing,
A queer hearing, a kosher hearing?
Who must raise the debt and run the hearing,
So Chairman’s free to cook the nation’s books?
The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!
The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!
[Congressmen]
At three, we started Hebrew school. At ten, we learned to lie.
I hear they’ve picked a district for me. I hope it’s pretty.
The Congressmen, the Congressmen! Tradition!
The Congressmen, the Congressmen! Tradition!
[Bankers]
And who does Mama owe for money and young dicks,
Preparing laws to bailout whoever The Chairman picks?
The Bankers, the Bankers! Tradition!
The Bankers, the Bankers! Tradition!
by hedgeless_horseman
if i were a wealthy man!!!!
I make my future.
So we let you believe…
Stalin…
One does not make a future in a lifeboat of fools…
🙂
Social Security is Entitled spending and needs no further legislation.
It legally comes directly from its OWN tax fund — not the General Treasury Account.
Even at this time FICA taxes collected exceed expenditures.
The excess is used to purchase US Treasury Bonds on the same terms as the rest of the auction.
These bonds are held in electronic form in an account at the US Treasury. This account is the ‘lockbox’ of ill repute.
The FICA taxes are NOT sent to the General Account until they step through this T bond buying mechanism.
That’s how the US Government shifts the taxes around.
The official Treasury debt bandied about includes this intra-governmental position which is mathematically required under the law.
So it is entirely false that the Wan can shut off Social Security. It’s on autopilot.
There is no legal way for the Resident to shut off the payments. The money is always going to be there and they are mandated.
The threat to SS is in the near future — but well after 2012.
Leave a Reply
HTML tags allowed in your
comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>
“This the United States of America and, you know, we don’t manage our affairs in three-month increments. You know, we don’t risk U.S. default on our obligations because we can’t put politics aside,” Mr. Obama told reporters at the White House yesterday.
So predictable and so boring. Same old tired diatribe that evil conservatives want to starve granny, push snot nosed orphans out into the streets, take away the canes of the crippled, despoil the pure waters, and summon a plague of locusts to scourge the land. May multiple calamities rain down upon anyone who falls for this bleeding heart drivel.
He is shameless.
And I’m always amazed by how he always speaks in terms of “I” rather than the standard politician-speak “we.” Always.
“I” can’t guarantee those checks will go out…
McConnell announces fallback plan: Let’s give Obama the power to raise the debt ceiling himself
Surely, there are people out there, even among “seniors” and Democrats, who are going to ask themselves this question: “If we can’t guarantee retirees will continue to get their Social Security checks without borrowing more money, what the hell are they doing with all those Social Security taxes?”
Well, Obama has officially denied the existance of the “Social Security Trust Fund” since that is the first thing to go. Obviously there is no money in it if Grandma’s check is delayed. If anything good comes out of this, it will be this myth officially BUSTED.
It’s so unfair since Granny’s the one who actually ate her peas. It was her children and grandchildren who began pushing the peas to one side of the plate, then hiding them in the napkin or even dropping onto the floor under the table, hoping the dog would take care of them.
We should be ashamed of ourselves. Let a thousand bandaids be ripped off, all at once!
SS is, and always has been, no more than a ponzi scheme.
We have about 139,000,000 tax payers. We have about 65,000,000 people on SS and other aid. How can it stand?
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
“McConnell announces fallback plan: Let’s give Obama the power to raise the debt ceiling himself.”
This reminds me of my favorite P.J. O’Rourke quote:
“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”
This is how power is used to make people become useful, regardless of who they think elected them.
This is how Democrats have always played the game. And Republicans have yet to find a counter, in all the decades that they got busted on this strategy.
This evening I was watching the Meryl Streep remake of The Manchurian Candidate. In it, Shaw — the Candidate — says in a political broadcast:
“Somewhere right now, in some small American town, his grandmother is standing in her kitchen.
She’s got her medicine bottle in one hand, she’s opening the refrigerator with the other and she’s thinking:”I can pay for my medicine…or I can pay for my dinner.I can’t do both.”
I don’t believe that our mothers and grandmothers should have to face that kind of decision, not in this country.”
Earlier times would have called these sort of remarks by Obama “Waving the bloody shirt.” Not now. Instead we wave the impoverished granny. It’s so nice when the president imitates Hollywood.
McConnell’s “plan B” shows that the Rupublicans recognize that if they become a party to raising the debt ceiling while Obama is in office they will get nothing in return. This demonstrates that the GOP is not naive and that, there is absolutely no trust in the Democrat’s promise spending cuts in exchange for increasing the credit limit. It really is a huge subtle slap in the face to Obama. However, Obama will not feel the sting until November 2012.
Stark,
I hope he starts to get nervous when he sees the campaign ads that will be coming. Expiration dates, anyone?
Amazing monologue about what she ‘thought’ liberalism was all about (ie what she already had but didn’t know it…) and what it turned out to be upon investigation…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8IyJ5xNZ7o&feature=player_embedded#at=70
Who are these people that supports a party that tells old people their support is in jeopardy and tells kids the planet has a fever? I get literally sick to my stomach thinking about the people i know that support this crap.
The money quote is :
“Nice pension you have there; sure would be a shame if something was to happen to it…”
read the whole thing:
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2011/07/12/look-what-we-made-the-obamacle-do/
I have got myself in a position in which my income is from USN retirement and SS.
They hate me, not personally, but as a statistic, because I have lived too long and I am a drain on those systems. I feel a little bad about that, but not bad enough to remove myself from the rolls.
But, I will say this to Obama. Do your worst. Just to call your bluff, I will cheerfully dip into the savings that are intended to support my wife after I do leave these earthly rolls. Everybody has that nest egg tucked away for such eventualities as government collapse, or to to try leave something for the kids (if gummint doesn’t steal it). Don’t they?
Or to that little man with the big mouth, I would just quote that famous fictional American—“Make my Day”.
It is not because men have made laws that personality, liberty, and property exist. On the contrary, it is because personality, liberty, and property exist beforehand that men make laws.… [Law] is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense.… So long as personal safety was ensured, so long as labor was free, and the fruits of labor secured against all unjust attacks, no one would have any difficulties to contend with in the State. (The Bastiat Collection pp. 47—48)
I have already experienced the reality of what it means when a retriement “contract” is broken. When I retired there was a company pension fund with a lot of money ($billion$) in it, earning investment returns, dedicated to paying pensions to all those who retired from the company. Well, after 9/11, the company fell on hard times and filed for bankruptcy. Because there was not enough money in the pension fund to pay the promised pensions, the bankruptcy court allowed them to divest the pension fund to the PBGC (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.). The PBGC then took two years to analyse the money available and those who were owed. They then reduced the pensions so that they could be paid with the money available. We all took hits and have had to reduce our living standards. This was quite a shock, but people, for the most part, simply readjusted their lives to the new realities. When you’re retired, it is too late to start over, although some have taken on part time work or started small home businesses if they were able. I’ve taken up short term day trading to make a few bucks.
That sad story is what is happening to Social Security, Federal pensions, and all kinds of other state and local government pensions. What has not yet happened is the recognition that the money is not there to pay out the benefits at the level promised. The attitude seems to be that, if we can just keep things afloat long enough, eventually the economy and stock market will recover and make us whole. Not with the policies that the Obamites are pursuing.
In Greece, Ireland, and othe European countries they have had to recognize the financial facts and have started their “PBGC reset” of pensions and other entitlements. There has been rioting in Greece. It is the enraged reaction of people who were promised something and then had it taken away. Rioting is useless because iot will not magically produce the money to pay the benefits.
Well, life is a risky business. We should all be skeptical of promises from private companies and governments. Especially governments because they have no money except what they can tax away from citizens. They produce no wealth. They can set the conditions for wealth creation, but this government wants to only redistribute it or waste it.
I was overjoyed when IRAs and 401ks became legal. In spite of promises from my company, I had a nigglling idea in the back of my head that it could all go away. If not for my IRA, the reset we had to make would have been more painful. When you know all the responsibility for your future rests in your hands, it tends to sharpen your mind, make you a better money manager, and make you more responsible. If you reach old age and have nothing to show for it, instead of blaming someone else for stupidity or corruption, you can just look in the mirror. That, unfortunately, is not what we have today. So many promises to so many people and it’s all smoke an dmirrors.
If they withhold SS payments, it will not surprise me. At this point nothing Obama does is a surprise. He is a despicable ideologue and Mitch McConnell is exactly right. There will be no deals made on real debt reduction while he is President. Making him take responsibility for raising the debt ceiling is the right thing to do.
“This the United States of America …”
Great news. Those remedial briefings are paying off. Next up: the number of states.
Occam’s Beard,
Ouch!
We should all be skeptical of promises from private companies and governments.
This.
I’ve taught my boys exactly this principle – never trust – or even take seriously – any promise of this type. Even if those maknig the promise are honorable (hey, it could happen) and mean to keep it, they could and probably will be gone at the operative time.
Cash and carry is the way to go. I don’t want to hear about “jam tomorrow.” Give me today what I’ve earned today, and then we go our separate ways. No open accounts.
Reciprocity is the key to human interactions. Would an employer pay you today, in return for your promise to work sometime in the future?
The question answers itself.
to which i let Bernanke respond:
of course the dingbats are saying “see, the stocks went up” as they are economically illiterate and dont get spending a dollar while its worth 25 cents rather than 5 cents…
So its not hard to see that people assume validity then throw each sides dirty underwear at each other until something ‘sticks’…
JJ,
You were smart.
I’ve also been setting up multiple sources of retirement.
I advise anybody ESPECIALLY people with a CALPERS retirement (CA) to set aside significant amounts for your future on top of your supposed retirement.
To not do so is at your own peril.
I’m AMAZED at the number of managers at the state of CA who when 3 day furloughs hit had to foreclose on their homes, couldn’t meet house payments, couldn’t figure out a way to make their budget work.
I’m amazed to hear the number of people (who work at the state) who carry large balances on their credit card, who do not have ANYTHING set aside for their future.
All financial planners will tell you you should have 6 months pay set aside for emergencies (fairly liquid).
They will all tell you to diversify.
They will all tell you not to carry balances on your credit card.
These people I’m talking about have worked at the state 20 years!!! Their attitude costs them dearly and will cost them.
No Tovarish, they will cost all of us dearly…
No Stalin,
I make my future. 🙂
I wonder whether the Dems realize that under Schré¶eder, the Germans did reform their retirement policies, increasing the age of eligibilty one month at a time so that people can plan on working longer. the provinciality of Obama & crew becomes obvious when they don’t even know that a died-in-the-wool social democracy like Germany had to cut back. reforms were also made on health care and welfare. The latter still have problems, but at least some steps were taken.
“Gold isn’t money,” Bernanke said
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Rep. Ron Paul, Republican for Texas, asked Bernanke why a capital injection of more than $5 trillion “hasn’t done much” to help the consumer, who makes up about two-thirds of GDP in the U.S., and prop up the economy, while it helped boost corporate profits. “You could’ve given $17,000 to each citizen,” Ron Paul claimed.
————————————————-
This should show that hiring economic illiterates (communists by any name) to run a capitalist enterprise, means it will collapse and fail for several fundamental reasons… too numerous to list here…
but in this case, what is clear is that an academic is not a competent person to actually run anything. they feign competence, invent excuses, completey have no common sense, follow fads pretending erudition doing so, completely ignore the despotic, can shut their consciousness off clinically, are willing to happily experiment on children (calling it social engineering), sell others down the river, and have very little concept of reality, except for what they read… which tend to be descriptions of reality by the other out of touch people.
[we would do better to be lead by humble engineers, than academics pretending engineering of society with hubris bordering on the criminally insane]
Bernanke, clearly on the defensive, told Rep. Ron Paul that his institution hadn’t spent a single dollar, rather, the Fed has been a “profit center” according to the Chairman, returning profits to the federal government.
Now count me a bit strange, but since when is a state allowed to make ‘profit’, and if it does, since when does a representative state get to keep such..
As Bernanke began to sermon Rep. Paul on the history of the Fed (“we are here to provide liquidity [in abnormal situations],” the Chairman said), he was interrupted.
“When you wake up in the morning, do you think about the price of gold,” Rep. Paul asked.
After pausing for a second, Bernanke responded, clearly uncomfortable. That he paid much attention to the price of gold, only to be interrupted once again.
“Gold’s at about $1,580 [an ounce] this morning, what do you think of the price of gold?” asked Rep. Paul.
A stern-faced Bernanke responded people bought it for protection and was once again cut-off, with Ron Paul once again on the offensive.
“Is gold money?” he asked. Clearly bothered, Bernanke told the representative “no, gold is not money, it’s an asset.
Treasuries are an asset, people hold them, but I don’t think of them as money,” said Bernanke.
so mr academic genius… if Gold is not money, and money is not money, then what is it? ah.. Potemkin ideas that you play with to move material and control the means of production, no tovarish?
We have a man in charge of the finances measuring in trillions and he has no idea what VALUE is, and what FIAT is, etc…..
funny thing about his ‘Asset’, it behaves completely different than any other ‘asset’.
then again. to him an asset is a tiny donkey…
I bet there is no more gold in fort knox as its just an asset, and one can sell off all assets… and get what in return?
the idea that gold is not money, but an asset…
and thats the mind of the head financier…
shows that when i step into my tiny 47″ x 57″ office, i am actually stepping out of the asylum run by what?
Rep. Ron Paul again jumped in, noting the long history of gold being used as money, and then asked Bernanke why people didn’t hold diamonds, clearly hinting at his fiat money criticism of the U.S. monetary system.
The Fed Chairman told Rep. Paul it was nothing more than tradition, and, as he was attempting to develop his argument
so people around the world are buying tons of protection for tradition…
and yet these are the same people that despise santa clause and the easter bunny…
[CNBC]
Tradition, tradition! Tradition!
Tradition, tradition! Tradition!
[Chairman Bernank]
Who, day and night, must scramble to do the printing,
Feed the banks and trusts, say his daily lies?
And who has the right, as master of The Fed,
To have the final word in DC?
The Chairman, the Chairman! Tradition.
The Chairman, the Chairman! Tradition.
[Mama Frank]
Who must know the way to make a proper hearing,
A queer hearing, a kosher hearing?
Who must raise the debt and run the hearing,
So Chairman’s free to cook the nation’s books?
The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!
The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!
[Congressmen]
At three, we started Hebrew school. At ten, we learned to lie.
I hear they’ve picked a district for me. I hope it’s pretty.
The Congressmen, the Congressmen! Tradition!
The Congressmen, the Congressmen! Tradition!
[Bankers]
And who does Mama owe for money and young dicks,
Preparing laws to bailout whoever The Chairman picks?
The Bankers, the Bankers! Tradition!
The Bankers, the Bankers! Tradition!
by hedgeless_horseman
if i were a wealthy man!!!!
So we let you believe…
Stalin…
One does not make a future in a lifeboat of fools…
🙂
Social Security is Entitled spending and needs no further legislation.
It legally comes directly from its OWN tax fund — not the General Treasury Account.
Even at this time FICA taxes collected exceed expenditures.
The excess is used to purchase US Treasury Bonds on the same terms as the rest of the auction.
These bonds are held in electronic form in an account at the US Treasury. This account is the ‘lockbox’ of ill repute.
The FICA taxes are NOT sent to the General Account until they step through this T bond buying mechanism.
That’s how the US Government shifts the taxes around.
The official Treasury debt bandied about includes this intra-governmental position which is mathematically required under the law.
So it is entirely false that the Wan can shut off Social Security. It’s on autopilot.
There is no legal way for the Resident to shut off the payments. The money is always going to be there and they are mandated.
The threat to SS is in the near future — but well after 2012.