Down we go

The Dow Jones Industrial average just passed below 11,000. Considering inflation, the markets at this point are negative for the past nine years!

by Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments) on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 11:49:44 AM
 

Illegal Immigration! McCains saga continues..?

It's a sad situation when neither Presidential Candidates can be trusted, to do the right thing for the American people. For three decades our political opportunists have  been puppets to the highest bidder and a whole conglomerations of special interest groups. McCain stating that he would propose no path to citizenship, until the border was fully enforced? However how can this be when potentate Democrats are straining to gut border funding now? Then the path to citizenship is too easy, when hundreds of thousands have waited in line forever to get an entry visa? 

Every lawbreaker who entered through the back door, jumped ship or overstayed their visa, should be required to go home and apply. I personally and 80 percent of the American people, think a small pittance fine, criminal record investigation is far to easy.   
We should endorse the federal SAVE ACT (H.R.4088) that would add real, razor sharp teeth to state immigration laws.

We need more enforcement to stop the interdiction of trucks bringing in drugs and illegal immigrants into America. Funding is being cut by the Democrats, so they can gut the border fence and stop the enactment of the Federal SAVE ACT. An army of ICE agents, twenty thousand more border patrol along with massive funding, to supply helicopters, spy probes and other equipment for internal enforcement. This will include extra funding for police departments around the country, to train more officers in Immigration enforcement.  The e-verify data base the Fed's are using has a 90.5 success rate. It would be a major deterrent against pariah employers, who hire illegal workers. Its pennies of what taxpayers are unknowingly spending now.

We need 'zero tolerance' enforcement, that will give maximum arrest and detainment of predator employers of illegal immigrants. Join www.NUMBERSUSA.com for free and assist in stopping illegal immigration.

by Dave Francis (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 8 comments) on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 1:17:12 PM
 

Dave

In the end, the voter must always be held to the highest accountability. We have poor leadership because we elect poor leadership. We elect poor leadership because we go with the person who promises the most and asks the least from us.

We also elect the politician that promises growth, growth and more growth. That means greater immigration is required to expand the consumption that is the engine of growth.

Until such time that the general populous realizes that growth is not the answer, but instead the problem, nothing will change. Our two presidential contenders promise growth.

Thanks for the good comments.

by Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments) on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 1:26:10 PM
 

THE BAD APPLE OR THE ROTTEN ORANGE?

The main political parties put up hacks that cower to the Builderbergs

and CFR's and you want us to choose?

The immense burden you put upon us is greater than that of Atlas'.

We are just human, while the Illuminati are inhuman.

The fight is not to be won at the polls. The fight is at the level of the

mind. We have become hypnotized by the cathode ray tube of television

and the of radio right wing propaganda. How many will turn off these

weapons of corporative manipulation. Tell me how many have actually

watch zero hours of tv and radio. Probably none other than myself.

Then do not complain about our enslavement when you bring your

own chain and ball.

The fault is not in the stars Horatio, it is within ourselves.

Perhaps the Lindsey Lohan stories will not be told to us, and we will

 feel all alone.

by Wolfie (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 31 diaries, 1185 comments) on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 4:39:06 PM
 

I Must say

I was pretty much with you till the end.

".... exponential growth and infinite consumption..."

This needs to be explored a bit more.

Having been an expat for the last 23 years. I visit the US infrequently.  But each trip I make I see a progressive trend where  the country looks more and more like a 3rd world nation.  Perhaps because Asia in this period has grown more modern.  But I live in a region of high growth and increasing consumption, and America looks quite different.

Growth generally translates into new infrastructure which facilitates more growth.  Our infrastructure meanwhile simply is allowed to crumble.  New infrastructure like Bostons Big Dig makes you wonder if this country would have been able to build the trans-continental railroads under our current economic system.  Bridges collapse.  Levees fail. High rises collapse due to fires.

So I see little evidence of exponential growth in the US.  What growth their has been, and it's hard to quantify since the government indicators are now full of hedonic adjustments that disguise the reality, seems to be limited to  the 100 million population growth as a result of immigration (legal and illegal) and their children that are born here (who become citizens regardless of their parents legality).  Fertility rates have been at or below replacement level for 30 years, so our population should have stabilized at 200 million if not for immigration (immigration is necessary when the real productive economy is growing, not when it is shrinking)

While we were importing growth through immigration, we were exporting our production and productive economy overseas, following the neo-liberal economists Globalization and Free Trade mantra.  This meant fewer manufacturing jobs, and required that we import much of what we consume (ex food and energy).  The new jobs that were created to replace these manufacturing jobs which had decent pay and benefits,  involved handling a bed pan or serving fries and were not with great salaries or benefits.

But what masked this was the growth in the credit market debt bubble which was allowed to assume massive proportions with cheap credit and sub-primes to those who no longer had the income to maintain their living standards or own a home.

You see Mike, if you look back to the late 60's, what you saw was a middle class which could support 5-6 kids, with one member of the household working in a job which provided health care and pension, and have decent savings.  Today, middle class households require 2 incomes, working 2-3 jobs, raising 1-3 kids,  with little savings and having to go into debt to maintain the living standards they had growing up.

So these middle class households were hardly doing better than the previous generation.  However, they were fed the mantra that all is well, economic growth was good, inflation was low.  So when they got a 3 % salary increase, and CPI came out with it's lie that inflation was 2%, they said, say-hey, I am ahead of inflation, not knowing CPI was understaing inflation by 3%.  Yes Mike, real wages have dropped over the last 30 years.  Household incomes have been stagnant, despite the fact that households were working 2-3 jobs and not 1 job.

So I can see the exponential growth and infinite consumption, but it seems limited to  FIRE  Industries and Big Government.  This growth was made possible only by sucking the tangible wealth from those in the 20-90% income brackets and replacing it with fictitous capital and debt.  The middle class has now been well consumed, and the growth in the fictitous capital created by this consumption can not be sustained, because the middle class did not have infinite wealth, and no longer has the means to create new wealth since the productive economy is MIA.

A service economy can not exist without a productive economy.  The economy has been running on fumes (credit).  The only way out is to bring back a productive economy.  This is not possible with our current economic system. 

The truth politicians must speak is the Fed must die an unpleasant death. A new banking system must replace it where government issues the money on behalf of the people and loans it out to companies to rebuild infrastructure and build up our manufacturing base which will create jobs.  Commercial banks will continue to make loans, but will operate in a competitive market, and not in a monopoly market.  This needs to be a Global movement.   The current banking system where government must borrow from private central banks started in 1694 with the Bank of England.  After 300 years of wars, depressions and other failures, it's time to change it.

They won't speak this truth, because bad things happen to those who go up against this system.  Think Jackson (failed attempt), Lincoln, McFadden (after 2 failed attempts) and JFK.

And yes, it is a conspiracy the consensus reality denies exists.

by pft (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 466 comments) on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 8:07:51 PM
 

Economic collapse

Today I learned that the bank I have my mutual fund in has failed.  No wonder they shut me out of my online account two weeks ago.  Too many bad mortgages.  I never thought I would live to see bank failures in my old age but here it is.  I do believe our economy is about to collapse like a house of cards.

by macdon1 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 99 comments) on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 9:45:05 PM
 

THIS WAS ALL PLANED

THE WARS TO STEAL OUR TREASURE, OPEN BORDERS TO DESTROY THE LIVING WAGE, FREE TRADE NAFTA ETC, TO DESTROY THE MIDDLE CLASS, AND THE PRICE OF OIL IS OUR NEXT SILENT FALSE FLAG EVENT. IN ORDER FOR THE GLOBAL ELITE TO GET FULL CONTROL OF THE WORLD, THE U.S.A NEEDS TO BE NEUTRALIZED, AND OUR CONSTITUTION DESTROYED, AS YOU CAN SEE IT IS HAPPEN AS WE SPEAK. THEY WANT THE NORTH AMERICAN UNION, WITH GLOBAL LAWS ABOVE OURS, THEIR PLAN IS ALMOST COMPLETE. AND THIS 2008 ELECTION, WITH THE TWO GLOBALIST PAWNS THAT WE ARE GIVING TO PICK FROM WILL BE THE LAST NAIL IN THE COFFIN OF AMERICA. WOULD SOMEONE LIKE TO ADD TO THIS FEEL FREE. THIS WHAT I SEE.

by RICH SHA (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 106 comments) on Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 3:24:30 AM
 

Give me a foreign beer.

That great American icon "Bud" is being sold to people overseas who's money has value.

by tjb (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 212 comments) on Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 7:55:34 AM
 

PFT

The U.S. with our 4.8% of global population consumes 25% of all fuel produced on earth and 30% of material. Should you care to do the math over the period that you described it will appear as a text book example of exponential growth and consumption.

Secondly, you seem to be arguing that foreign born people should not be considered in the exponential equation, as the birth rate in the U.S. has fallen to the level of zero population growth. I don't understand your logic (or lack of) people are people and consumption is consumption.

by Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments) on Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 9:08:32 AM
 

Well

What can I say really.  Exponential means rapidly increasing over time, and you provide as an argument that it is exponential - one data point.  So let me help.  

In 1970, per capita energy consumption was 330.9 MMBTI.  In 2005 it was 337 MMBTU. Hardly exponential.

http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/89923.pdf 

Here is household energy consumption from 1978-2001

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec2_14.pdf

See any exponential growth.?

 How about motor vehicles?

 http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec2_22.pdf

 Nope.

As for foreign born people, I am just saying they explain the growth.  It's not that people are consuming more, it's that we have more people as a result of our immigration policies.  Increase the population 50%, increase consumption 50%.  However, the US population is not increasing exponentially, neither is growth, nor consumption infinite, and good paying jobs are being exported to Asia while new jobs in the us call for handling bed pans, serving fries and ringing up sales paid for with debt.

Wealth and energy consumption are directly correlated.  At the end of WW II, the US had 50% of the worlds wealth with 6% of the population,  Today it uses 25% of the worlds energy consumption and 20% of global GDP, and 4.8% of the population.  Exponential growth is happening elsewhere, but it hasn't been happening in the US for the last 40 years.

That was the plan. Zbig Brzezinski, cofounder of the Trilateral Commission  in 1973 wrote in his book in 1970 that America would have to reduce it's living standards and give up it's currency as part of the globalization process.  The reduced living standard has happened, but there is more to come, and this will affect the 80-95% class, since the middle class is already toast.  The currency goes during Obamas term in office.  BTW, he is being backed by Zbig Brzezinski.  Must be a coincidence.

by pft (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 466 comments) on Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 7:37:33 PM
 

It was the economic

underpinnings in the U.S. that were adopted early on and which required expanding endlessly that is far more culpable for our current economic situation than that of a well thought global conspiracy.

The U.S. home building industry for instance is reliant on an ever expanding population due to the "durability" aspect of housing. Well built homes can last more than 100 years. Therefore, without an ever expanding population base, market saturation would occur and the industry would slow to a near stop.

This same economic principal can be applied to any product that falls in the category of "durable goods." We must have growth and therefore our politicians promise us that growth. I should point out that every depression that has ever occurred was preceded by a drop in the production of durable goods.

However, continual expansion in a finite or given space, eventually becomes mathematically impossible, while at the same time maintaining a constant standard of living.

The U.S. in my studied opinion has reached zenith for that premise. Middle America will necessarily experience a reduced living standard until such point that the promise of growth is seen for what it really is; the problem rather than the solution.

by Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments) on Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 9:30:51 AM
 

If you

Mean the Fed and other similar central banking schemes we have tried, I agree.  Our growth has been to feed the private banking beasts.  There has been no little or no growth for 40 years at the bottom 90%, when removing the hedonic adjustments that try and disguise this.  The other issue of course is the country has went fascist and we are essentially cannibalizing ourselves.  The middle class is being eaten alive.

I have spent over 20 years in Asia helping take away Americans jobs, so as long as you are content to live simple and well, let me tell you, if you plan to live long, you better learn Mandarin.  

by pft (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 466 comments) on Sunday, July 13, 2008 at 1:40:12 AM
 

Sunshine through the rain

There was a 4 step plan to take down a country and buy off its assets for pennies on the dollar leaving a population with 3rd World jobs, no middle class, and an amoral elite running things with a bottom line where only profit for themselves matters type of attitude.  This has been used on other countries like in South America.  Grep Palast explained it in a radio/web interview by Keyes.  This was while Bush II was steeling his first election and PNAC was being put in place by the Neocons.  Well, here we are at the edge of the final blows where Congress sells off our national forests and other national assets in order to pay for their blunders/wars/Congressional and corporate looting and they think it will insure their futures.  The dollar is becoming toilet paper in value.  The population is disoriented and scrambling just to keep their families together, housed, fed, clothed and with no health benefits or retirement to count on.  Well, that's the bad news.  The best we can hope for at this point is that it ends up not as bad as it could have been.  Looks like it is going to be that bad thought, but it will just take a little longer to happen.  A "soft landing" is what economists call it.  It isn't that soft as we are now seeing.

However, back in the late 60s/early 70s, there was a movement predicting the outcome of this mess and what to do about it.  Tune in and Drop Out.  Remember that?  Some of us do.  It was not just about drugs.  

I left California for some family land in Minnesota to start a family-and-friends commune and live off the land and off the grid - and by the Canadian border which was important to the draft age men in our group.  It failed due to a male power struggle.  But, it was a solution to surviving this economic/political mess.  Make the least interaction with Corporate America as possible.  Grow it, sew it, make it as much from scratch as you can.  Take a look at what you want and only do it if it is an actual need and keep it practical and simple and make sure it interacts with corporate America the least possible.  Get off the grid and out of the Ant Hill (i.e., cities.)  Grow your own.  It meant more than pot folks.  Tune in and Drop Out.

I have not accomplished it still as much as I need to, but I am trying once again trying with focus.  Due to my own moral choices, I cling to the last rung of the economic bracket, so it just takes longer for me than for someone with more funds/access.  Look into it yourself.  You can do it for you and your family and "plant a row" for someone else.

The sunshine through this rain of terror on our lives by this government is that I am probably happier and feel more free and content than I have been since I tried to Drop Out before, back in the late 60s/early 70s.  It is sort of a back to my roots sort of feeling/life.  I have remembered what it felt like back then and it was good/is good.  It takes a lot of work but it is satisfying work where you see more of the rewards for your efforts and can feel good that it did no harm.  Try it.  You'll like it.  Tune In, Drop Out, Do the Least Damage Possible, Be Here Now.

Regarding getting rid of your TV:  That is like burning books because one led you astray.  Don't get rid of your TV, switch to satellite and get Free Speech TV and Link TV and watch Democracy Now for your news and their other specials to keep you informed, listen to Air America on the radio/internet and read, read, read nonfiction for information on what's happening and what to do about it.  Just do not watch "Network TV" like Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS and mute commercials or record your program and watch it without the commercials, and, demand the airways remain the people's airways with free air time for our public information as it is meant to be.

And, regarding the border issue with all that milatarism on the border stuff - try living in that war zone with lawless helicopters close in over your head multiple timesof the day and night.  Try seeing as many border patrol vehicles as civilian vehicles on your local streets.  Try having multinational-corporate multinational-mercenaries infiltrating every aspect of this border patroling with some foreigner mercinary contractor pointing that gun at your face.  Try feeling like surveillance cameras are at every window and on every street corner and it being reality.  This border fence has split off Native American families, Mexican American families, German American families, and just plain American families who for years have had residences and lives and families on both sides of the border before the fence.  Plus, it broken up the free ranges of herds of donkeys plus cut off cougars free range territories, et cetera.  If you were Kumeyaay (Native-American) and they put a fence through your land and separated you from your great grandparents and aunts and uncles, you would see how inhuman this is.  Bust the employers of illegals.  Don't imprison everyone else inside your border fence with militarization of the border.  Put employers out of business who employ illegals.  All that border fence/militarization money could be spent on a system of verification to sort out who has a right to be employed in this country and who does not.  It all comes down to corporate/congressional greed and macho posturing.   Don't be a cheerleader.  See the world through the eyes of those families torn apart by that fence.  "Tear down that wall" Bush!

by ljs (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 55 comments) on Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 10:11:29 AM
 

ljs

Your comments were nothing short of terrific. The truth is difficult to arrive at when the trail leads to ones own back door. As the Swedish camera maker, Hasselblad said, "You can't beat the system." I disagree, you can in fact beat the system or at the very least, learn to live well within the system.

As I stated above, our system of economics was always temporary as it defied physics and reason. But that does mean that we have to participate in the system. Live simple, live well and live long.

by Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments) on Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 12:07:59 PM