TINFOILHAT: BHO44 targets IRS/401Ks

Thursday, April 25, 2013

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324050304578412932073225110.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet

REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Updated April 12, 2013, 12:13 p.m. ET

Now He’s After Your 401(k)
The White House pulls a switcheroo on retirement savings accounts.

*** begin quote ***

Thus do our political betters now feel free to define for everyone what is “needed” for a “reasonable” retirement. Not to be impertinent, but does this White House definition include being able to afford summers at age 70 at Martha’s Vineyard near the Obamas?

The feds may think $3 million is all you need after a lifetime of work, but that’s roughly the value of a California police sergeant’s pension if she works for 30 years, retires at age 50 and lives to normal life expectancy.

Out in the private economy, people generally have to work longer than that before they retire, and some of them do manage to save significant amounts. We’re talking about people who work for decades and abstain from buying the bigger house or the new car so they can contribute the maximum to their 401(k)s or IRAs. The people who defer gratification and build a nest egg to avoid becoming a burden on their kids or their fellow taxpayers. The people whose savings finance productive enterprise. You know, the bad guys.

*** and ***

The Administration’s political motive here is two-fold: First, it’s a redistributionist play and a revenue grab. But for many on the left it’s also about reducing the ability of individuals to make themselves independent of the state. They have always disliked IRAs, just as they oppose health-savings accounts, because over time they make Americans less dependent on federal entitlements or transfer payments. 

*** end quote ***

Yeah, I know you all think I have a tin foil hat! So what.

Now the Wall Street Journal is in the same genre?

My concern is this is the first step towards exchanging your IRA/401K for an “enhanced social security benefit”.

I read somewhere that there is 14T$ in such plans. Held and controlled by ~2100 “custodians”. And the Gooferment needs about 13T$ to get back on an even keel.

Remember what happened in Cyprus?

Yeah, and I have a tin foil hat.

Argh!

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POLITICAL: Taxation Is Theft

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

http://lewrockwell.com/napolitano/napolitano96.1.html

Taxation Is Theft
by Andrew P. Napolitano

*** begin quote *** 

With a tax code that exceeds 72,000 pages in length and consumes more than six billion person hours per year to determine taxpayers’ taxable income, with an IRS that has become a feared law unto itself, and with a government that continues to extract more wealth from every taxpaying American every year, is it any wonder that April 15th is a day of dread in America? Social Security taxes and income taxes have dogged us all since their institution during the last century, and few politicians have been willing to address these ploys for what they are: theft.

*** end quote ***

This is a Libertarian mantra!

“Taxation Is Theft”

Coke versus Pepsi. McD’s versus Burger King. HomeDepot versus Lowes.

I get a choice.

With Gooferment, no choice. I have to pay for everything — even if it’s morally reprehensible, even if I don’t want it, even if I can’t use it.

Why? Because some number of Sheeple, politicians, or bureaucrats decide what’s good for me.

Wrong!

I may make bad choices, but they are MY choices!

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: No safe store of wealth

Sunday, April 7, 2013

http://www.deviantinvestor.com/3506/3506/

A Tipping Point In The Financial System
Posted by Deviant Investor on April 4th, 2013

*** begin quote ***

In my opinion, the sign that a tipping point has occurred in the financial system is the real story:

* The veil of banker honesty has been lifted. The EU/IMF/ECB will do whatever is necessary to support the banks, even if it means they will confiscate (tax, steal, bail-in) customer deposits.

* Customer deposits are NOT assets held in the bank for safe-keeping, but are liabilities of the bank and are not guaranteed to be made whole.

* Billions of dollars were removed prior to the Cyprus freeze, so insiders clearly knew in advance of the ordinary depositors (see below). There is no “level playing field” when billions of dollars/euros are in play.

* According to Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Dutch finance minister and Euro Group President, this is “the template for any future bank bailouts.” In other words, your deposits are considerably less safe than you thought. Your bank could fail, and your deposits might be used to compensate for derivative losses or other losses that the bank incurred.

* The FDIC in the US, as well as England, Canada, and New Zealand, has announced similar policies, agreements, and plans to confiscate deposits in the case of an emergency. Is this a sign that an emergency is not only possible but probable and imminent?

* Confidence in the banking and financial system has been seriously damaged, perhaps irreversibly.

*** end quote ***

So a new definition of “counterparty risk” has appeared.

There is no safe store of wealth.

(There really never was, but there was an illusion.)

One has to think very carefully about keeping balances in banks.

imho

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MONEY: Pensions in the bulls eye

Sunday, March 31, 2013

http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/poverty-hits-the-suburbs/

WND EXCLUSIVE
Poverty hits the suburbs
Disturbing stats show dangers overlooked as Wall Street bulls run wild

*** begin quote ***

He calls “the great 401k experiment of the past 30 years” a “disaster,” and says the actual average 401(k) balance for 65 year olds is closer to $25,000 than the $100,000 claimed by the retirement industry. Siedle predicts, “a catastrophic outcome for at least a significant percentage of our elderly population is inevitable.”

He is just as pessimistic about pensions, warning, “Americans today are aware that corporate pensions have been virtually eliminated and that the few remaining private, as well as the nation’s public pensions, are in jeopardy. Even if you are among the lucky few that have a pension, you cannot rest assured that it will be there for all the years you’ll need it. Whether you know it or not, someone is busy trying to figure how to screw you out of your pension.”

*** end quote ***

Obviously, the individual will have to save for themselves.

And, it’s in things that will retain value.

Not numbers on a bank statement.

Productive assets.

Bullion.

Bullets, bandaids, beans!

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QUOTE: Not enough to cover the giant web of obligations

Thursday, March 28, 2013

“What remains are games of musical chairs, Ponzi schemes, frauds, swindles, stonewalls, ruses, ploys, scams, dodges, bluffs, subterfuges, QE martingales, interventions, rehypothecations, pretenses and other modes of evading or disguising reality. The reality is that there is not enough real wealth to go around, certainly not enough to cover the giant web of obligations that masquerades as ‘money.’” – James Howard Kunstler in an essay titled The Cyprus Fiasco Is A Metaphor For The Entire Global Financial System

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PRODUCTIVITY: Intergenerational war

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

http://changethis.com/34.05.Generational

http://changethis.com/pdf/34.05.Generational.pdf

Turning the Generational Dial: A Plea to Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y By Carol Orsborn, PhD

*** begin quote ***

Carol Orsborn argues that instead of participating in a complicated generational tug-of-war of who is more relevant, Gen X and Gen Y must learn from Boomers because these following generations will also face the same elongated lifespans and increased vitality…and buying power.

*** end quote ***

Interesting that today’s Gooferment fiscal stupidity is a direct assault on the future generations’ pocketbooks and wallets.

And they don’t see it.

Or they don’t understand.

Argh!

–30–

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Just a calibration problem; baloney!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

http://myfox8.com/2012/10/23/guilford-county-voters-say-they-voted-for-the-wrong-candidate/

Guilford County voters say they voted for the wrong candidate

Posted on: 8:14 pm, October 23, 2012, by Brandon Jones

*** begin quote *** 

On Monday, several voters complained that their electronic ballot machine cast the wrong vote. All the complaints were made by people who voted at the Bur-Mil Park polling location.

One of the voters, Sher Coromalis, says she cast her ballot for Governor Mitt Romney, but every time she entered her vote it defaulted to President Obama.

“I was so upset that this could happen,” said Coromalis.

Guilford County Board of Elections Director George Gilbert says the problem arises every election. It can be resolved after the machine is re-calibrated by poll workers.

“It’s not a conspiracy it’s just a machine that needs to be corrected,” Gilbert said.

*** end quote ***

Wasn’t it Stalin who just wanted to count the votes?

Convenient that they error favors the D.

Sounds like ”barbara streisand” to me!

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GOLD: Fort Knox; a national joke on the taxpayers

Saturday, October 27, 2012

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-16/fort-knox-an-impregnable-monument-to-security-theater.html

Fort Knox, an Impregnable Monument to Security Theater
By Michael O’Malley Oct 16, 2012 1:04 PM ET

*** begin quote ***

President Franklin D. Roosevelt used a similar trick when he authorized the construction of the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Roosevelt took the U.S. off the domestic gold standard in 1934. Although the nation remained on the standard in international exchange, the Gold Reserve Act made it illegal for private citizens to hold “monetary gold” — that is, coins or bullion. Banks had to transfer to the U.S. government any title to gold reserves they held, in return for dollars. Individuals could still own gold jewelry and keep their gold dental fillings, but anyone owning monetary gold had to sell it to the government.
Psychic Compensation

In speeches explaining the change, Roosevelt paradoxically stressed the importance of gold reserves.“By making clear that we are establishing permanent metallic reserves in the possession and ownership of the federal government,” he told Congress in 1934, “we can organize a currency system which is both sound and adequate.” But the U.S. already had “metallic reserves” — the act had actually eliminated that gold’s legal function.

*** end quote ***

So what’s in there? And, who owns it?

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Suppressing the military vote

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2012/10/running-out-military-voting-clock.html

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

Running Out the Military Voting Clock

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wants to know if the military’s voter assistance offices are working–and he’s asking for an immediate answer. More from Air Force Times:

*** begin quote ***

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has directed military officials to provide him a report by Oct. 19 verifying that each of the 221 installation voting assistance offices is appropriately staffed to meet the needs of troops.

He gave officials three days to get it done; the memo was issued Oct. 16 to the service secretaries, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and chiefs of the combatant commands.

“We must do all we can to ensure that service members know the steps necessary to vote, particularly those service members deployed or based away from home. This issue must be addressed immediately,” he wrote.

Mr. Panetta issued his directive after the DoD Inspector General reported it could not reach about half of the voting assistance offices by phone, despite repeated attempts. Members of Congress have expressed similar concerns.

At first blush, the SecDef’s actions seem to be a model of bureaucratic urgency and concern. A three-day suspense for this sort of survey is virtually unheard of along the E-ring. So, a lot of action officers will be burning the midnight oil for the next few days to give Secretary Panetta the information he requested.

But in reality, Mr. Panetta’s demand is little more than a farce. The IG report was issued in late August–almost two months ago. Why did the Defense Secretary wait so long to issue that last-minute tasker?

*** end quote ***

Sorry, but this is “cheating”. All’s fair in love ‘n’ war.

At least in Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, soldiers couldn’t vote until they became a vet.

As a vet, I find this disgusting.

Argh!

—30—

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TINFOILHAT: Pearl Harbor was an “inside job”

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/10/the-american-and-british-government-knew-down-to-the-day-of-the-coming-japanese-attack-on-pearl-harbor-and-let-it-happen-to-justify-american-entry-into-wwii.html

The American and British Governments Knew – Down to the Day – of the Coming Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor … And Let It Happen to Justify American Entry Into WWII

Posted on October 15, 2012 by WashingtonsBlog

Military Officers and Code Breakers Speak Out … On Camera

*** begin quote ***

But a full and honest account of World War II shows that some big American banks funded the Nazis. And America dropped nuclear bombs on Japan when top U.S. military officials said it wasn’t needed.

And – as shown below – we probably knew about the coming Pearl Harbor attack, but let it happen to justify America’s entry into World War II.

The White House apparently had – a year before Pearl Harbor – launched an 8-point plan to provoke Japan into war against the U.S. (including, for example, an oil embargo). The rationale for this provocation is that the U.S. wanted to aid its allies in fighting the Nazis and other axis powers, and decided that an attack by Japan would be the most advantageous justification for the U.S. to enter WWII.

Moreover, Honolulu newspapers warned of a possible attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor:

Indeed, as the following must-watch BBC documentary – with interviews with many of the main players, including military officers and code-breakers – shows, the American and British knew of the Japanese plan to attack Pearl Harbor — down to the exact date of the attack — and allowed it to happen to justify America’s entry into World War II:

And see this short essay by a highly-praised historian summarizing some of the key points. (The historian, Robert B. Stinnett, a World War II veteran, actually agreed with this strategy for getting America into the war, and so does not have any axe to grind).

*** end quote ***

I read Stinnett’s book many years ago. I was convinced with the “smoke” from the gun he laid out in the book.

Now we have testimony!

Seems like this one for the Tin Foil Hats.

Maybe the people won’t be so quick to dismiss suspicions.

Sad that so many people died and so man lives disrupted for so many generations.

We can’t total up all the costs.

Time to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

— 30 —

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INTERESTING: IRS Scammed

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/feds-uncover-massive-fraud-irs-scammed-out-of-billions/

Business Feds Uncover Massive Fraud, IRS Scammed out of Billions
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 8:05pm by Becket Adams

*** begin quote ***

Federal authorities have uncovered a widespread scheme that may have defrauded the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) out of billions of dollars using the stolen identities of Puerto Rican citizens, according to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal.

“The perpetrators of the scheme, authorities say, swipe the Social Security numbers of Puerto Rican citizens, who don’t have to pay federal income tax—and are less likely to be on the IRS radar—and use their information to file fake returns,” the report adds. ”In some cases, they enlist U.S. mail carriers to intercept the refund checks that are disbursed [emphasis added].”

Dating back to 2007, the plan involves participants from both the U.S. and Latin America. Two sources claim the scheme was led by a group from the Dominican Republic. And although prosecutors have managed to obtain several convictions, they don’t think they’ve come close to catching the operations “top players.”

*** end quote ***

Can’t believe that the IRS was scammed?

One out of three medicare dollars spent in FL is fraudulent.

Once the Gooferment gets involved fraud, corruption, and losses are assured.

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POLITICAL: National Popular Vote would enable fraud

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=374709

Why National Popular Vote is a bad idea
Posted: December 05, 2011
Phyllis Schlafly

*** begin quote ***

Moving quietly under the cover of the presidential debates and the enormous publicity given to the Republican nomination race is a plan to change how U.S. presidents are elected. It would bypass the procedure spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, which has been used successfully for over two centuries.

The Constitution prescribes how we elect our presidents. It is a mirror image of the Great Compromise. Designed by the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the Great Compromise brought together the large and small states by means of a national Congress, with the House of Representatives based on population and the Senate based on state sovereignty.

Likewise, when the presidential electors meet in gatherings known as the Electoral College, each state’s vote is equal to the sum of its House and Senate representation in Congress. Our Founding Fathers understood that America is a nation of both “we the people” and a federal system of states, so it allows all states, regardless of size, to be players in electing our president.

The plan to change this system is called the National Popular Vote. It obviously has a lot of money behind it because it is sending highly paid lobbyists around the country to persuade state legislatures to adopt the NPV plan.

NPV is an attempt to achieve the longtime liberal goal of getting rid of the Electoral College. Instead of proposing an amendment that would first need to be passed by Congress and then ratified by three-fourths of the states (38), NPV is a scheme to deviously bypass the grand design of our U.S. Constitution.

Learn why it’s crucial to preserve the brilliant concept handing down from our founders — read George Grant’s “The Importance of the Electoral College”

*** and ***

Remember our national trauma as we suffered through recounts in Florida where the margin between Bush and Gore was only about 500 votes? If the election is based on the national popular vote and it’s close, NPV would induce recounts in many or most of the 50 states.

*** and ***

People who pretend that the Electoral College system is undemocratic are not only ignorant of the history and purposes of the U.S. Constitution, but they probably don’t even understand baseball. Basing the election on a plurality of the popular vote while ignoring the states would be like the New York Yankees claiming they won the 1960 World Series because they outscored the Pirates in runs 55-27 and in hits 91-60. Yet, the Pirates fairly won that World Series, 4 games to 3, and no one challenges their victory.

*** end quote ***

Can you imagine the corrupt political machines having even MORE power?

Argh!

How stupid can “We, The Sheeple” be?

Corruption in Chicago can out vote everyone?

It’s a joke!

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RANT: “Big Church”, another failed concept

Thursday, August 18, 2011

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/diocese-of-orange-raises-bid-for-crystal-cathedral/

Diocese of Orange raises bid for Crystal Cathedral
By Marianne Medlin

*** begin quote ***

Garden Grove, Calif., Aug 11, 2011 / 05:59 am (CNA).- The Diocese of Orange upped its previous bid and signaled openness to new negotiations for the Crystal Cathedral after board members recently announced that the building is no longer for sale.

*** and ***

The liturgist for the Orange diocese, Monsignor Arthur Holquin, said July 26 that several changes would need to take place in order for the Crystal Cathedral to become a Catholic worship space.

Along with a central altar, a tabernacle and a baptismal font, the building would need a “cathedra” or bishop’s chair. While renovations are needed to the building, “not much deconstruction would be required and the iconic personality of the original architecture and design would, for the most part, be retained,” he said.

Purchasing the Crystal Cathedral is an attractive option for the diocese because it provides an instant solution to its building needs and would cost roughly half the $100 million price tag for the planned Santa Ana cathedral.

Though the diocese made an official $50 million bid for the Crystal Cathedral on July 22, the church’s board later voted against selling it and decided to appeal to church members and viewers to donate the funds instead.

*** end quote ***

Guess I just don’t understand.

Couldn’t God be worshiped in an appropriately decorated warehouse?

As far as the “bishop’s chair”, I have a old folding chair to donate. Won’t that hold a butt.

$100M$?

Reminds me of the French’s Maginot Line and Patton’s famous apocryphal remark “fixed fortifications are monuments to man’s stupidity”.

Maybe a cathedral is marketing? Of an idea who’s time has past. “Big Church” must join the dustbin of failed concepts like: Big Gooferment, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Labor, Big Biz, “Too Big To Fail” (2B2F), Social Security “Insurance”, the misnamed Federal Reserve Bank, Wall Street, Fiat Paper aka “monopoly money”, and all such stupidity?

It’s always sad when the illusions and delusions die. And all we are left with is the wreckage.

Is it too late to rebuild from the pieces?

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TECHNOLOGY: Test identity; not for drugs

Friday, July 29, 2011

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Man-with-nine-different-names-created–massive-benefits-fraud-from-Thailand-126005948.html

Man with nine different names created massive benefits fraud from Thailand
Dublin man jailed for social welfare fraud
By CATHAL DERVAN, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Friday, July 22, 2011, 8:04 AM

*** begin quote ***

An Irish emigrant has been jailed for orchestrating a massive social welfare fraud across the border counties – while living it up in Thailand.

Paul Murray swindled the Irish taxpayer out of half a million dollars using nine different names in an elaborate international hoax.

The 63-year-old emigrated to Thailand in the 1970s but returned home every three months to collect his fraudulent social welfare payments.

*** end quote ***

Interesting.

The gang known as the State of Florida wants to test welfare recipients for illegal drugs.

Here’s an idea. DNA test all welfare recipients to establish identity.

Here’s another. Eliminate the dole. Period.

The Gooferment: Immoral, ineffective, and inefficient. In example after example.

Let’s use technology to solve problems?

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TECHNOLOGY: Big professional Irish dance shows today use a “click track”?

Sunday, July 24, 2011

http://www.irishcentral.com/story/irishdance/go-feis–the-irish-dance-blog/countdown-to-ireland-the-show-red-carpet-premiere-125699878.html

Posted on Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 09:51 PM
Countdown to Ireland-The Show Red Carpet Premiere!

*** begin quote ***

IRELAND-The Show premieres Sunday, July 17th at the Granada Theater in Santa Barbara, California and FEIS AMERICA on IRISH CENTRAL will have exclusive coverage of the Red Carpet and Show!

*** and ***

Owen Barrington: The thing that makes Ireland-The Show special from most other shows is that we perform 100% completely live. Most big professional Irish dance shows today use a “click track” in which the taps are pre-recorded and the dancers dance on top of that. Dancing every night, completely live, without the assistance of pre-recorded taps, raises the level of difficulty because you must be spot-on every single show, there’s no other way around it. The benefits of dancing live though are a more genuine show and it gives us the freedom to change steps around at a moment’s notice if we feel it’s necessary.

*** end quote ***

Irish dance shows are faked milley vanilley syle?

I am shocked. and not the Captain Renault style either.

I’ll never look at another performance the same way again.

Now I know how my Mom felt when she found out that pro-wrestling was fixed.

I feel dirty.

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“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” Captain Renault in Casablanca

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POLITICAL: Trump nails the “birth certificate” issue

Thursday, April 7, 2011

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42469716#42469716

I think he nails the issue.

We just don’t know!

I’m not a fan of all of his policies, but the guy is honest!

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MONEY: Counter party risk … Gooferment style

Sunday, December 26, 2010

http://www.cnbc.com/id/40791768

Alabama Town’s Failed Pension Is a Warning

STATES, STATE, BUDGET, DEFICIT, PENSION, ALABAMA, PRICHARD, GOVERNMENT, MUNIS, MUNICIPAL BONDS

The New York Times
23 Dec 2010 | 04:39 AM ET

*** begin quote ***

This struggling small city on the outskirts of Mobile was warned for years that if it did nothing, its pension fund would run out of money by 2009. Right on schedule, its fund ran dry.

Then Prichard did something that pension experts say they have never seen before: it stopped sending monthly pension checks to its 150 retired workers, breaking a state law requiring it to pay its promised retirement benefits in full.

*** and ***

Far worse was the retired fire marshal who died in June. Like many of the others, he was too young to collect Social Security. “When they found him, he had no electricity and no running water in his house,” said David Anders, 58, a retired district fire chief. “He was a proud enough man that he wouldn’t accept help.”

The situation in Prichard is extremely unusual — the city has sought bankruptcy protection twice — but it proves that the unthinkable can, in fact, sometimes happen. And it stands as a warning to cities like Philadelphia and states like Illinois, whose pension funds are under great strain: if nothing changes, the money eventually does run out, and when that happens, misery and turmoil follow.

*** and ***

Current city workers could find themselves paying into a pension plan that will not be there for their own retirements. In Prichard, some older workers have delayed retiring, since they cannot afford to give up their paychecks if no pension checks will follow.

So the declining, little-known city of Prichard is now attracting the attention of bankruptcy lawyers, labor leaders, municipal credit analysts and local officials from across the country. They want to see if the situation in Prichard, like the continuing bankruptcy of Vallejo, Calif., ultimately creates a legal precedent on whether distressed cities can legally cut or reduce their pensions, and if so, how.

“Prichard is the future,” said Michael Aguirre, the former San Diego city attorney, who has called for San Diego to declare bankruptcy and restructure its own outsize pension obligations. “We’re all on the same conveyor belt. Prichard is just a little further down the road.”

*** and ***

A lawyer representing the city, R. Scott Williams, said that the city simply did not have the money. “The reality for Prichard is that if you took money to build the pension up, who’s going to pay the garbage man?” he asked. “Who’s going to pay to run the police department? Who’s going to pay the bill for the street lights? There’s only so much money to go around.”

*** and ***

And if a company goes bankrupt, the federal government can take over its pension plan and see that its retirees receive their benefits. Although some retirees receive less than they were promised, no retiree from a federally insured plan in the private sector has come away empty-handed since the federal pension law was enacted in 1974. The law does not cover public sector workers.

*** end quote ***

If a “company”, another legal fiction, failed this way, then the company’s executives and directors would be in jail. The only worse offense is to fail to pay “taxes”.

So why are NOT these Gooferment officials in jail for the holidays?

Where is the various “high level” Gooferments?

Where are all the Gooferment bureaucrats charge with protecting citizens from the various “Made-offs”?

Just because this is a Gooferment doing the defrauding, it should make NO difference.

It’s called counter party risk.

Immediately, the Federal Gooferment should force all subordinate gooferments to adopt “cash basis” conversion

Argh!

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NEWJERSEY: The pension mess

Saturday, December 25, 2010

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2010/12/tell-me-again-whos-at-fault-for-pension.html

Thursday, December 23, 2010
Tell me again who’s at fault for the pension mess

*** begin quote ***

The state treasurer announced today that the state pension shortfall is at an all-time high.

*** end quote ***

>It’s the shock doctrine or disaster capitalism at its best.

Be nice if these two terms were defined? Or, perhaps, these are terms d’art of the Liberal media. You can’t seriously define what has been going on in the USA since say about WW2, (although some little L libertarians woud argue the “turning point” was 1913 with the income tax, the FED, and the Seventeenth!), as “capitalism”! Maybe “mercantilism”, “federal socialism”, or “empirical nationalism”?

> We have a huge Great Recession, the worst in more than 70 years

I’d call it a depression. But then I’m out of work. So I guess since you’re drawing a check, it’s only a recessions.

>what a great opportunity to kill off public sector unions and all
>their pensions and benefits. Private sector wages have been falling or
>stagnant for years, private sector benefits and pensions have been hallowed >out or become extinct.

But weren’t public sector pensions raised when private pensions were supposedly higher? So it’s logical, that, when private pensions become “cash basis defined contribution plans”, public pensions change as well.

(Note for those that don’t read my blog, I thought that CTW’s failure to make pension contributions or address the problem was terrible. “Pensions and benefits” are a FRAUD perpetrated on the working class. Without getting into yucky details, a business can pay $X for a certain unit of work. Now out of that $X, if the business “pays” $Y for “benefits”, then the worker gets X-Y. But, their “benefits” are tied to their job. So, let’s use life insurance as a concrete example. And, let’s keep it simple, life insurance costs either the company or the employee X$. Why don’t we just let the employee buy hi s or her own Damn insurance? Cause the Gooferment, the Company, the Politicians and Bureaucrats all have a vested interest in screwing the worker. And, everyone plays along with the fiction that some how this is “better”. Not better for the worker when he or she gets laid off, downsized, or whatever euphemism for fired you want to use.)

> race to the bottom in which American workers must compete with Chinese
> or Indian workers who earn a few dollars a day and have absolutely no
> protections or benefits.

So, instead of moaning and groaning, we have to learn to compete by moving up the value chain. We have to clear the road blocks to successful competition: taxes, regulation, education, paradigms / memes, and energy.

>Teachers and other public sector workers did not cause the Great Recession

Well, maybe they did. They have permitted the dumbing down of society. And, their union is absolutely out of control in the incestuous relationship with the professional politicians. Finally, as voters, they participated in a process that was designed and accomplished the destruction of the USA.

>they will be made to pay the price for the crimes of the
> Wall Street criminals.

As we all are!

> Katrina was the disaster

of Gooferment!

>

We have to separate the Gooferment from “Education”. If we are to have any hope of saving “the American Experiment”.

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Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: The “machines” vote

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:30:09 -0700
From: Lauren Weinstein
Subject: Voting machines selecting default candidates

*** begin quote ***

Some voters in Las Vegas have noticed that Democratic Senator Harry Reid’s name is checked by default on their electronic voting machines. By way of explanation, the Clark County Registrar says that when voters choose English instead of Spanish, Reid’s Republican opponent, Sharron Angle, has her name checked by default. *Slashdot*, 26 Oct 2010 http://bit.ly/cBXWSj

[Reid won re-election, perhaps because of the strong Latino vote. PGN]

*** end quote ***

And, we trust “elections”. Why?

If voting changed anything significant, do you think the elite would permit it? Think USSR voting.

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Posted by reinkefj

GOVEROTRAGEOUS: More fraud reported

Thursday, September 2, 2010

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/economic-stimulus-cash-clunkers-feds-investigate-car-dealers/story?id=11498464

Feds Investigate ‘Cash for Clunkers’ Car Dealers
Government Auditors Find $94 Million in Rebates May Be Ineligible Due to Faulty Documents
By Gregory Korte, USA TODAY
Aug. 28, 2010

*** begin quote ***

The government is investigating at least 20 car dealerships it claims violated the rules of last year’s cash-for-clunkers program. Government auditors say up to $94 million in rebates may be ineligible because they lack the proper documentation.

*** end quote ***

Argh!

It was a bad idea form the start — destroying perfectly “good” cars — would be good enough for someone who doesn’t have a car or needs a cheap replacement — which “stole” future sales guaranteeing that future sales would crater!

Figure the handling costs of all the bureaucrats and now add the cost of fraud.

A disaster from end to end.

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MONEY: DC eyes the IRA and 401k pots of gold

Sunday, August 29, 2010

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=196173

WND Exclusive
Government wants your 401(k)
Hearings set on plan to require Treasuries in ‘automatic IRA’
Posted: August 26, 2010 11:03 pm Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi

*** begin quote ***

WASHINGTON – AUGUST 17: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner speaks during a Conference on the Future of Housing Finance at the Treasury Department on August 17, 2010 in Washington, DC. Secretary Geithner hosted the future of housing finance conference with industry experts, leading academic experts and other stakeholders. The Obama administration appears to be proceeding with a novel way of financing trillion-dollar budget deficits by forcing IRA and 401(k) holders to buy Treasury bonds by mandating the placement of government-structured annuities in their investment accounts. The requirement to invest private retirement assets has been cleverly buried within plans to create “automatic IRAs” that would mandate employer groups enroll all employees in 401(k) or IRA plans.

*** end quote ***

When the Gooferment needs trillions, where can it find it?

The retirement savings of the workers.

Think it can’t happen here?

Think again.

Remember FDR and the gold confiscation?

And all “they” have to do is tell the less than 2,000 “custodians” to send it in.

What Congress gives; it can take away. And, one should NEVER trust a politician. EVER!

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Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Moral Hazard

Monday, August 9, 2010

http://cafehayek.com/2010/08/successful-bailout.html

Successful Bailout? by Don Boudreaux on August 2, 2010

*** begin quote ***

Second – and more importantly – the chief economic case against the bailout was not that huge infusions of taxpayer funds and special exemptions from bankruptcy rules could not make G.M. and Chrysler profitable. Of course they could. Instead, the heart of the case against the bailout is that it saps the life-blood of entrepreneurial capitalism. The bailout reinforces the debilitating precedent of protecting firms deemed ‘too big to fail.’ Capital and other resources are thus kept glued by politics to familiar lines of production, thus impeding entrepreneurial initiative that would have otherwise redeployed these resources into newer, more-dynamic, and more productive industries.

*** end quote ***

“The broken window fallacy”
— Frédéric Bastiat Ce qu’on voit et ce qu’on ne voit pas (That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Unseen) 1850

I know for certain that the 5k$ that Obama robbed from my wife’s IRA could have been used to do something she wanted to do. Even if the bankruptcy only gave her a dollar, it was still HER dollar; not his!

Seizure by the Gooferment. Worked for FDR; worked for Obama. I won’t forget it either.

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Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Gooferment claims ownership of rain

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl2/collecting-rainwater-illegal.html

Collecting Rainwater Now Illegal in Many States as Big Government Claims Ownership Over Our Water
by Mike Adams

*** begin quote ***

Salt Lake City officials worked out a compromise with Miller and are now permitting him to use “their” rainwater, but the fact that individuals like Miller don’t actually own the rainwater that falls on their property is a true indicator of what little freedom we actually have here in the U.S. (Access to the rainwater that falls on your own property seems to be a basic right, wouldn’t you agree?)

*** end quote ***

I’m speechless. Why do we allow these idiots to rob us blind?

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Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Insurance companies screw dead vets!

Monday, August 2, 2010

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-28/fallen-soldiers-families-denied-cash-payout-as-life-insurers-boost-profit.html

Fallen Soldiers’ Families Denied Cash as Insurers Profit
By David Evans – Jul 28, 2010 10:00 AM EST

*** begin quote ***

Lohman, a public health nurse who helps special-needs children, says she had always believed that her son’s life insurance funds were in a bank insured by the FDIC. That money — like $28 billion in 1 million death-benefit accounts managed by insurers — wasn’t actually sitting in a bank.

It was being held in Prudential’s general corporate account, earning investment income for the insurer. Prudential paid survivors like Lohman 1 percent interest in 2008 on their Alliance Accounts, while it earned a 4.8 percent return on its corporate funds, according to regulatory filings.

“I’m shocked,” says Lohman, breaking into tears as she learns how the Alliance Account works. “It’s a betrayal. It saddens me as an American that a company would stoop so low as to make a profit on the death of a soldier. Is there anything lower than that?”

*** end quote ***

This is outrageous.

While it may be important to protect the grieving families from blowing their money all at once, screwing them is unacceptable.

Where’s the VA, DOD, the politicians and bureaucrats?

Where’s the VFW and American Legion?

If I was KING, (and I’m not; nor do I want to be), I’d require that the insurance company open 100k$ FDIC insured accounts for the beneficiaries.

Fraud is force. Theft is theft. Stealing form widows and orphans is really low.

A plague on all their houses. The karmic wheel should roll their way. May their “lawn” be full of crabs.

What’s the one about wildebeests and elderberry?

Argh!

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Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Competing currency is an inflation hedge

Thursday, July 29, 2010

http://www.connectmidmichigan.com/news/story.aspx?id=481793

Competing currency being accepted across Mid-Michigan
by Dan Armstrong
Posted: 07.12.2010 at 8:13 PM

*** begin quote ***

Jeff Kotchounian says he’s used this Ron Paul half troy ounce of silver to get $25 worth of gas from a local station. While the government and banks don’t accept them, many others do. So why is there interest in these competing currencies?

*** end quote ***

Pretty simple.

INFLATION!

The Federal Reserve Bank is going to enable the politicians and bureaucrats to inflate their way out of the debt.

Of course, those on fixed income, the poor, and anyone with savings in dollars will be totally screwed.

A silver round may make the difference between eating and not.

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Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: One slug is as good as another

Thursday, July 29, 2010

http://www.impactlab.com/2010/07/27/record-number-of-counterfeit-one-pound-coins-could-force-britain-to-reissue-entire-denomination/

*** begin quote ***

Their warning came as new figures indicated there were £41 million fake £1 coins in Britain – one in every 36 in circulation. This is a record level and suggests that the proportion of counterfeit coins had tripled in the last decade. The situation has worsened since last year, when one in 40 £1 coins were fake. Experts and MPs said the level of fakes were so high there was now a serious risk that consumer confidence in Britain’s most popular coin was becoming compromised.

*** end quote ***

There has to be something “funny” — funny peculiar; not funny hah — at the bureaucrats calling out that fake coins might undermine confidence in their fiat currency. <Just shaking my head in disbelief> What is the intrinsic value of their “real” fiat coin. It’s worth what someone is willing to give you for it. If it’s a fake, it’s still worth what someone will give you for it. So this should point out that there is no difference between the “Real” and “Fake” ones. Isn’t that “funny”? Like the stories of countries printing high quality fake $100 bills. Who cares? There’s nothing to be “faked” out of. When coins were gold, or even silver, there was something of value that you could be “faked out” of. Now one slug is as good as another. No?

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Posted by reinkefj

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