ECONOMICS: All pensions, IRAs, and 401Ks — as well as Social Security — many not be there to “retire” on

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2022/11/15/lost_retirement_horizon_why_401ks_are_not_ok_and_not_just_because_of_to_the_lousy_economy_864500.html#

Lost Retirement Horizon: Why 401(k)s Are Not OK (and Not Just Because of the Lousy Economy)
By John F. Wasik, RealClearInvestigations
November 15, 2022

*** begin quote ***

Fretting over your 401(k) lately? For all the current turbulence in these retirement plans – from their rocky recent market performance to asset managers’ politicization of their investments through the “environment, social and governance” agenda – the main problem lies in their flawed design decades ago, a range of retirement experts say.

They say many retirees – particularly the less well-off – are losing out because the tax-advantaged accounts favor the well-compensated who are better able to save; also, because of the plans’ temptingly relaxed borrowing rules, typically high fees, complexity, and a presumption of investing competence on the part of ordinary workers.

*** end quote ***

Let’s not overlook the fact that “social security”, in addition to being a racist wealth transfer program from poor minority men to rich white women, is un- or at least very under-funded. It seems unlikely that, at even the best rate of inflation of 2%, the “benefits” payment will be in “shrunken purchasing power’. In the case of “social security”, it’s likely to be reformulated as a “welfare” program with all sorts of income limits and regulations. The “golden rule” (i.e., he who has the gold makes the rules” means that the Gooferment will be making the rules. When the “can” (i.e., deficit, debt, interest expense) can no longer “be kicked down the road”, then Joe-SixPack will suffer. If I was young, I’d store my “wealth” in things the Gooferment can’t tax (i.e., precious metals in my backyard) or touch (i.e., all pensions, IRAs, and 401Ks are seized in exchange for “enhanced” social security “benefits”). It can happen here (i.e., FDR’s gold recall). Argh!

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TECHNOLOGY: Add your COVID vaccination … but should you? (IMHO NO!)

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4034897/posts

You can add your COVID vaccination certificate to the Apple Wallet… but should you?
TNW ^ | 2/2 | Callum Booth
Posted on 2/2/2022, 5:01:47 PM by nickcarraway

*** begin quote ***

Spoiler: Yeah, why not?

The modern world hurts my brain. Let’s take the news that Apple enables users to store their COVID vaccination certificates in the Wallet and Health apps as an example.

When I first heard about it, I was pumped. Flashing my QR code to enter a restaurant or grab a coffee would be far simpler if it sat in my Apple Wallet. Friends, the time I’d save!

But, of course, the world had something to say about that.

We talked to 4 successful entrepreneurs This is what they wish they knew before getting started

While putting my digital certificate of vaccination in an easy-to-access place is cool… is it safe? And because I can do it, does that mean I should?

Something that seemed simple on the surface is actually a minefield. I wanted some clarity on this issue.

*** and ***

COVID vaccine certificates in the Apple Wallet app: not a huge concern To put it bluntly: there are no obvious dangers of moving your vaccine certificate to the Apple Wallet. This does come with a large caveat though, as this is only true if you tightly control what apps can access your data.

In this way, vaccination certificates differ from digital IDs. The majority of the former are digital by nature, while the most common forms of identification (driver’s licenses and passports) are paper-based. Digitizing them opens a huge and wriggling can of worms — while the vaccine pass system could actually benefit from being incorporated into the Apple Wallet.

So, there you have it! A little bit of respite before the modern world messes with our heads again.

*** end quote ***

It’s just too easy for the Gooferment make this the digital version of “show me your papers”!

It’s a BIG “NO” for me.

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: THE COVID COUP has radically changed AMERICA

https://www.theburningplatform.com/2022/01/30/truth-or-covid-or-why-we-know-everything-theyre-telling-us-is-a-lie/

Truth or Covid? (or, “why we know everything they’re telling us is a lie”)
Guest Post by Michael Lesher

*** begin quote ***

1. THE COVID COUP HAS CONSISTENTLY RELIED ON UNCONSTITUTIONAL METHODS.

The first and most unmistakable clue about the real nature of the coup is its aggressive destruction of constitutional government.

Right from the start, it involved suspensions of the legislatures; from there it moved quickly to arbitrary rule by executive fiat (mask “mandates” followed by “vaccine passports”), and then indulged head-on in violations of constitutional rights, as in the imposition of mass “quarantines” without a court order – an illegal act even under “emergency” dispensation.

I have argued this in print for over a year and a half, so I won’t belabor the point now except to stress the complicity of mass media in the unprecedented assault on our basic rights. The most important lie, of course, has been one of omission: the press simply never mentions the absence of any constitutional basis for the repeated attacks on freedom.

But I would like to call attention to a small but very revealing lie that crops up every time the press reports a new COVID19-related “order.”

Last month’s story about sweeping new muzzling requirements in California was a case in point. “California is ordering a statewide mask mandate for indoor public spaces,” blared the Los Angeles Times. But “California” does not and cannot issue a “mandate.”

Promulgations of legal requirements belong to the appropriate organs of government – and that means that an honest report would have necessarily told readers how the mandate in question came to be. What body passed the law? Who signed it? Which agency issued the regulation, if it was a regulation, and what was the statutory authority for it to do so?

In my opinion, it was no accident that the Times never informed its readers that the new California “mandate” was a unilateral edict signed by Tomas Aragon, the head of California’s Department of Public Health – an edict that did not even attempt to identify any authority for such an action in California’s statutes or regulatory code.

I repeat: in a constitutional government, health regulations are always grounded in such authority; “mandates” that ignore this are violations of law at best, dictatorial usurpations at worst. And the propagandists in the media, though they know this, obviously do not want you to know it.

The same story – political crime furthered by media complicity – emerges just as clearly from New York’s latest assault on the Nuremberg Code. The fiat recently issued by the state’s dictator – officially, Governor Kathy Hochul – claims to acquire authority for a statewide “vaccine mandate” from New York’s Public Health Law, section 225.

But that statutory section does not address vaccination policy at all – and since the COVID19 “vaccines” do not even prevent person-to-person transmission, there is no legal way the section’s general language about “the preservation and improvement of public health” can be construed to give the state’s governor the power to force 5-year-old children to be injected with experimental drugs, as Ms. Hochul has ordered.

In short, the “governor” – the word really must be put in quotation marks at this point – is acting outside her legal powers. And if we had a political opposition and a functioning court system worthy of the name, she might be facing impeachment instead of routine accolades from the tame “liberal” press, which calls this democracy-wrecking child poisoner “a moderate Democrat.”

Consider, by contrast, the intense debate over the 1985 decision of New York State’s public health council to rewrite its regulations so as to force the closing of gay bathhouses. That decision – taken at the height of the AIDS outbreak – was denounced by liberals at the time and is sharply criticized by students of political history to this day.

Imagine the reaction if New York’s governor had simply written a unilateral order closing all gay bathhouses in the state, thumbing his nose at New York’s legislature and the whole existing regulatory system on the grounds that, in his view, New York faced an “emergency” that justified the suspension of democracy!

But that is exactly what has happened in states across the country – New York and my own state of New Jersey among them – for nearly two years: state executives have issued fiats suspending legal processes on the grounds of a hazily-defined “emergency,” and have followed them up with a series of unilateral decrees that drastically altered the lives of their citizenry – in direct defiance of their states’ constitutions.

You cannot support that and support constitutional democracy at the same time. The propagandists may not like to admit it, but when they sing the praises of mask “mandates,” they are celebrating dictatorship.

And the democracy-busters are everywhere. In New York City, outgoing Mayor Bill DeBlasio slapped a “vaccine mandate” on all municipal employees, topping off the outrage by extending the same requirement to 184,000 private business and organizations.

The mayor’s constitutional authority to order this assault on bodily integrity was so obviously shaky that a local judge promptly stayed his order. But that didn’t bother DeBlasio, who said, “I hope [this measure] will be emulated all over the country because it’s time to get even tougher to end the COVID era.” Got it? When you’re being “tough,” who cares about the law?

*** end quote ***

It’s a long quote but so accurate.

How do we get our freedoms back.

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POLITICAL: When does the American Empire collapse?

https://www.theburningplatform.com/2022/01/19/this-is-your-last-chance/

This Is Your Last Chance
Author Robert Gore Posted on January 19, 2022Economy, Politics, Social Issues

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The death knell sounded in 1971 when the United States government repudiated the last vestige of its promise to redeem its dollars for gold. Debt would be the coin of the realm. The bland term “financialization” hides the moral obscenity. Each year the nation’s debt has grown. Production, when netted against that debt, has shrunk, and an increasingly large portion of what remains is diverted to those who don’t produce. Washington decides who gets what, but it can’t command the what. That shrinks as productive virtue is penalized and theft, fraud, and violence are rewarded.

*** end quote ***

When the US dollar collapses?

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RANT: Does Gavin Newsom have Bells Palsy?

https://www.theburningplatform.com/2021/11/17/gavin-newsom-is-lying-about-his-vaccine-injury-and-heres-how-i-will-prove-it-to-you/

Gavin Newsom is lying about his vaccine injury and here’s how I will prove it to you
Guest Post by Steve Kirsch

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He’s a hypocrite. Not only did he lie about his vaccine injury, but his kids aren’t vaccinated either. He wants YOUR kids to be vaccinated, but he won’t vaccinate his kids. Here’s why…

Recently, I wrote a very popular article recently about Gavin Newsom being vaccine injured. It got over 250K views, my most popular article so far.

As expected, Newsom denied it:

Naturally, PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, and Newsweek immediately “fact checked” my article and deemed it to be false. Of course, none of them could explain why Newsom was a no-show at the UN Climate summit via Zoom. Not even for 5 minutes via Zoom!?! Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Not a very thorough fact check. And none of the organizations analyzed the before and after Newsom videos either by asking a prominent neurologist for their opinion. I guess it is hard to find competent help in the fact checking department nowadays.

Well, I just got confirmation I was right

Not only was Newsom himself vaccine injured and deliberately covered it up, but I found out that his kids aren’t vaccinated either. Want to know why? Because his wife is smart: she knows that vaccines are dangerous. She doesn’t want their kids to be vaccine injured. And she’s right! Good for her. Bravo!

But Gavin’s stance is horrible. He’s not just offering his advice on how you should care for your kids. The governor is dictating medical treatment for your kids based on what he believes. He’s forcing his opinion on your kids. But for his own kids? No way are they going to get vaccinated.

*** end quote ***

Sorry, but politicians and bureaucrats lie, cheat, and steal.

Two sets of rules — one for me and another for thee.

If the people of the Pepuls Republik of Kaliforkneeah accept this behavior then they deserve everything they get.

The only answer is secession.  Let everyone go their own way in peace.  The Federal Gooferment with its one size fits all policies just encourages bad behavior.

A plague on all their houses.  Why should we allow them such power to “LORD” over us little people.

As far as Newsome is concerned, “I wouldn’t believe you, if your tongue came notarized.” … attributed to Judge Marilyn Milian, but may have an earlier history.

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Why can’t the USA be more like Estonia?

http://www.impactlab.net/2017/12/17/estonia-the-digital-republic/

December 17th, 2017 at 11:54 am
Estonia, the digital republic

*** begin quote ***

Its government is virtual, borderless, blockchained, and secure. Has this tiny post-Soviet nation found the way of the future?

The Estonian government is so eager to take on big problems that many ambitious techies leave the private sector to join it.

*** and ***

I asked Kaevats what he saw when he looked at the U.S. Two things, he said. First, a technical mess. Data architecture was too centralized. Citizens didn’t control their own data; it was sold, instead, by brokers. Basic security was lax. “For example, I can tell you my I.D. number—I don’t fucking care,” he said. “You have a Social Security number, which is, like, a big secret.” He laughed. “This does not work!” The U.S. had backward notions of protection, he said, and the result was a bigger problem: a systemic loss of community and trust. “Snowden things and whatnot have done a lot of damage. But they have also proved that these fears are justified.

*** end quote ***

There’s a plethora of great ideas in this story. So many that it’s hard to absorb them in one sitting.

I love the citizen is in control of their data. 

In the USA would be IMPOSSIBLE without the (unconstitutional) Social Security “number”.

Why can’t “we” have all these benefits here?

Simple Crony Capitalism. What would all the “info protection”, credit reporting, Gooferment “suppliers”  and consultants to the Gooferment do? All those lost “campaign contributions”! 

And, imagine all the waste, fraud, and abuse that would be found.

If DJT45 wants to drain the swamp, then here’s how to do it.

Argh!

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RANT: Gooferment Motors bailout has cost over 32B$ dollars so far

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tom-blumer/2015/10/24/not-news-uaw-considering-plan-milk-unemployment-system-if-it-calls-gm

Not News: UAW Considering Plan to Milk the Unemployment System If It Calls a GM Strike
By Tom Blumer | October 24, 2015 | 10:30 PM EDT

*** begin quote ***

The news coming out of Detroit about near-deadline negotiations between the United Auto Workers union and General Motors has been pretty quiet. As the Sunday 11:59 p.m. deadline approaches, the Associated Press only has a four-paragraph blurb indicating that the union wants to get a richer package than it just garnered in negotiations with Fiat Chrysler. A Reuters report goes into detail about GM’s cost structure still being higher than that seen at Toyota’s and Nissan’s U.S. plants by about 15 percent and 31 percent, respectively. The New York Times is only carrying reports from the wires.

One note of substance about the UAW’s strategy covered at Bloomberg News — surely known to others following the industry who are filing bland reports — is that it plans to milk the unemployment insurance system in the event of a protracted strike.

To be clear, such a strike would appear to be very unlikely, if for no other reason than the fact that Americans remember that the Obama administration bailed out GM at a considerable cost several years ago. The final fully-loaded cost involved was $26.5 billion — not the $11.2 billion touted by the press last year. It’s safe to say that quite a few people would not take kindly to the idea of the primary beneficiaries of that unprecedented largesse walking out on their jobs when so many others are still unemployed and under-employed over six years after the most recent recession’s official end.

(Additionally, the linked $26.5 billion analysis appears not to have picked up the effect of the government permitting GM to carry forward $16 billion in tax losses incurred by the “old GM” into the “new GM” — even though “a business that undergoes a change in ownership usually has to forfeit the old company’s net operating losses,” which certainly happened during the bailout. At the statutory federal income tax rate of 35 percent, that decision alone cost the U.S. treasury $5.6 billion.)

*** end quote ***

Argh!

And the UAW isn’t happy?

Talk about Crony Capitalism.

Now they want to stick the taxpayer — via unemployment insurance — with the cost of their “strike”.

Guess no one remembers the current 18T+ national debt and the guesstimated 200T+ in unfunded liabilities that our posterity will have to deal with!

Argh!

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POLITICAL: Abolish the IRS

http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/2015/04/enough-is-enough-abolish-the-irs/

Enough Is Enough: Abolish the IRS
By Editor on April 12, 2015

*** begin quote ***

The income tax is absolutely crazy if one takes a moment to think about it. We’ve become so conditioned to accept it that we don’t even realize how ridiculous it is. The government taxes one for being productive, for creating income for one’s family, for doing one’s part to grow the economy. It doesn’t make any sense.

*** and ***

The IRS has also become a political tool as the Lois Lerner debacle illustrated. 

*** and ***

We should seriously consider a flat tax. Forget consider, we should institute a low flat tax tomorrow. 12.5% across the board. I could live with that (for right now.) 1 postcard on April 15th. No forms. Easy. Actually EZ.

*** end quote ***

I say 10%!

With reduction every year.

Until it’s zero.

Like Prohibition, “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs”, and the Federal Reserve, “We, The Sheeple” have allowed a lot of mistakes to be made.

Argh!

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POLITICAL: A very upsetting example

http://toprightnews.com/?p=761

Illegal Alien With 7 Kids Got Food Stamps, Housing & Social Security – for 20 Years (Video)
by Top Right News on January 18, 2014 in amnesty, Border Security, Economy, GOP, Immigration, Obama, Politics

*** begin quote ***

Illegal alien and mother of seven, Florida resident Marita Nelson, receives $240 in food stamps, monthly medications, $700 in Social Security and a housing allowance.

And she has been receiving government assistance for over 20 YEARS – ever since she illegally entered the U.S. by swimming the Rio Grande.

*** end quote ***

If this is true, then The Sheeple are fools.

This is unacceptable!

Why should the producers subsidize the moochers?

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MONEY: The falling dollar hurts real people; an ebb tide lowers all boats

http://www.mybudget360.com/us-standard-of-living-falling-us-dollar-impact-us-dollar-benefits/

Standard of living, meet falling US dollar – how a falling US dollar benefits banks at the expense of working Americans.

*** begin quote ***

There is certainly a cost to a falling US dollar. Many Americans are living the consequences of this multi-decade long trend. The Federal Reserve has only added fuel to this trend but many families are now realizing that there does come a cost to unrelenting debt based solutions to fiscal problems. Shopping at the local grocery store I’ve noticed that some items have doubled in the last few years. Fueling up is also more expensive. The issue with living on a low dollar policy is that eventually, you end up in a low wage capitalist system. The easy money slowly inflates away especially on global items. We are seeing this in the US in various arenas especially with higher education. The end result is that the standard of living for the vast majority of Americans has fallen dramatically in the last few decades.

*** end quote ***

The seems to be a basic stupidity in human beings as to the devastating impacts of “inflation” (i.e., counterfeiting by a central bank).

As an injineer, we can’t have a “standard” that varies. 

As a football fan, imagine if a yard was redefined each football season as 2% less. 35.28 inches. Easier to make a first down. Records would be meaningless. And, eventually, in 30 years, they’d play on a one inch field.

Absurd.

So why is it different for money?

In my lifetime, the “dollar”, whatever that is, has lost 99% of it’s value. Gasoline that was 30¢ per gallon was $3.75 last night. Has gasoline become more expensive? Those evil oil companies. No!!! Based on the price of silver, gas is actually ~30% cheaper. 

<<Those three silver dimes in 1960 bought a gallon of gas. Today those three dimes are worth about $6 (conservatively) to $10.50 (speculation). So either 28% cheaper or 65% depending upon your value of those dimes.>>

Why can’t “We, The Sheeple” see it?

And, in the general inflation (i.e., loss of value of the money), wages don’t go up. Those on fixed income are so screwed. And, the poor get poorer. Savings are a joke.

Also even the stock market gets “hurt”. Sure the stock prices go up, but never as much as the inflation rate. We’ve seen this in the Carter disaster. Then, stocks went up in the single digit %s, but the inflation was 25 or 30%. Hence the real value went down.

How does a tin foil hat view the world? Always price things in silver or gold. Makes it obvious.

A new men’s outfit in Rome was two ounces of gold. Today, you can buy a nice outfit for 3500$! Clothing has gotten “cheaper”.

A new car in the 60’s was 6 ounces of gold. (I know a bought a Chevy Nova brand new for 1200$). Today, 10,500$ won’t get you a new car. Cars have become more “expensive”. Gas we’ve already said has gotten “cheaper”.

What do you buy that’s changed?

Gooferment!!!

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GOLD: Something has to break

Dollar Alternative Anyone?

Home » Economy, News, Politics
Dollar Alternative Anyone?
29 FEBRUARY 2012 87 COMMENTS
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

Countries around the world have been actively seeking ways to not do business in dollars for the past few years. The U.S. dollar is the so-called world reserve currency, but the big question is for how long? China and Japan are beginning to shun the dollar in trade between the two countries. Mind you, this is the 2nd biggest economy in the world doing business without dollars with the 3rd biggest economy in the world. Russia and China, also, have an agreement to not use the dollar, and even India recently announced it would trade gold for oil with Iran. Additionally, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been calling for an alternative to the buck. The big push is not because the U.S. dollar is held in the highest regard but because it is losing its luster on the world stage. After all, the debt debacle facing America is worse than what the Greeks are facing according to a new report from U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions. (Click here to see for yourself.) Senator Sessions says every man, woman and child in the country is saddled with $44,000 in debt.

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So what is a poor retiree to do?

Your retirement savings get no interest. The stock market is dependent upon the inflation that the FED is pumping into it. And, that inflation has to come out somewhere — barf with the world rejecting the dollar as reserve currency or fart that inflation into the economy.

We have examples of hyperinflation in other countries. I lived through the Carter inflation of the 70’s.

Nickels, silver, and gold.

Seems obvious to me?

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