State Pensions Owe $5.17 Trillion – Total US Debt at 700% of GDP

March 31, 2010 · Posted in Government · Comment

Recently I posted something about the phenomenon of private credit contraction being more significant than public credit expansion.

In there in noted:

I’m also not sure to what extent other municipal and state pensions are covered in the flow of funds number, but I rather doubt they are included at all.

Now I came across some numbers:

Joshua Rauh, an economist at Northwestern University, and Robert Novy-Marx of the University of Chicago, recently recalculated the value of the 50 states’ pension obligations the way the bond markets value debt. They put the number at $5.17 trillion.

After the $1.94 trillion set aside in state pension funds was subtracted, there was a gap of $3.23 trillion — more than three times the amount the states owe their bondholders.

“When you see that, you recognize that states are in trouble even more than we recognize,” Mr. Rauh said.

That same article also points out something interesting about past patterns of debt blow ups throughout history:

Professor Rogoff, who has spent most of his career studying global debt crises, has combed through several centuries’ worth of records with a fellow economist, Carmen M. Reinhart of the University of Maryland, looking for signs that a country was about to default.

One finding was that countries “can default on stunningly small amounts of debt,” he said, perhaps just one-fourth of what stopped Greece in its tracks. “The fact that the states’ debts aren’t as big as Greece’s doesn’t mean it can’t happen.”

Also, officials and their lenders often refused to admit they had a debt problem until too late.

“When an accident is waiting to happen, it eventually does,” the two economists wrote in their book, titled “This Time Is Different” — the words often on the lips of policy makers just before a debt bomb exploded. “But the exact timing can be very difficult to guess, and a crisis that seems imminent can sometimes take years to ignite.”

This is important: What will break the federal and state governments’, and ultimately of course the taxpayers’, backbone, won’t be the officially declared debts, but the ones that are off the books.

So based on this, the total debt count in the US so far:

Total private+public debt as per flow of funds report: $52.5 trillion
+ Social Security & Medicare obligations: $43 trillion
+ State pension obligations: $5.2 trillion
= $100.7 trillion total debt or about 700% of US GDP.

“When an accident is waiting to happen, it eventually does …”

Amen to that!

Tags: pensions, public debt, state pensions

The Government’s Healthcare Takeover in Numbers

March 30, 2010 · Posted in Government · Comment

A friend just posted a neat list of new government offices and programs created by the new health care bill. Of course it opens up a beautiful playground of uncontrollable corruption for federal bureaucrats and lobbyists to make out like bandits, kindly funded by YOU, The People:

1. Grant program for consumer assistance offices (Section 1002, p. 37)
2. Grant program for states to monitor premium increases (Section 1003, p. 42)
3. Committee to review administrative simplification standards (Section 1104, p. 71)
4. Demonstration program for state wellness programs (Section 1201, p. 93)
5. Grant program to establish state Exchanges (Section 1311(a), p. 130)
6. State American Health Benefit Exchanges (Section 1311(b), p. 131)
7. Exchange grants to establish consumer navigator programs (Section 1311(i), p. 150)
8. Grant program for state cooperatives (Section 1322, p. 169)
9. Advisory board for state cooperatives (Section 1322(b)(3), p. 173)
10. Private purchasing council for state cooperatives (Section 1322(d), p. 177)
11. State basic health plan programs (Section 1331, p. 201)
12. State-based reinsurance program (Section 1341, p. 226)
13. Program of risk corridors for individual and small group markets (Section 1342, p. 233)
14. Program to determine eligibility for Exchange participation (Section 1411, p. 267)
15. Program for advance determination of tax credit eligibility (Section 1412, p. 288)
16. Grant program to implement health IT enrollment standards (Section 1561, p. 370)
17. Federal Coordinated Health Care Office for dual eligible beneficiaries (Section 2602, p. 512)
18. Medicaid quality measurement program (Section 2701, p. 518)
19. Medicaid health home program for people with chronic conditions, and grants for planning same (Section 2703, p. 524)
20. Medicaid demonstration project to evaluate bundled payments (Section 2704, p. 532)
21. Medicaid demonstration project for global payment system (Section 2705, p. 536)
22. Medicaid demonstration project for accountable care organizations (Section 2706, p. 538)
23. Medicaid demonstration project for emergency psychiatric care (Section 2707, p. 540)
24. Grant program for delivery of services to individuals with postpartum depression (Section 2952(b), p. 591)
25. State allotments for grants to promote personal responsibility education programs (Section 2953, p. 596)
26. Medicare value-based purchasing program (Section 3001(a), p. 613)
27. Medicare value-based purchasing demonstration program for critical access hospitals (Section 3001(b), p. 637)
28. Medicare value-based purchasing program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 3006(a), p. 666)
29. Medicare value-based purchasing program for home health agencies (Section 3006(b), p. 668)
30. Interagency Working Group on Health Care Quality (Section 3012, p. 688)
31. Grant program to develop health care quality measures (Section 3013, p. 693)
32. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Section 3021, p. 712)
33. Medicare shared savings program (Section 3022, p. 728)
34. Medicare pilot program on payment bundling (Section 3023, p. 739)
35. Independence at home medical practice demonstration program (Section 3024, p. 752)
36. Program for use of patient safety organizations to reduce hospital readmission rates (Section 3025(b), p. 775)
37. Community-based care transitions program (Section 3026, p. 776)
38. Demonstration project for payment of complex diagnostic laboratory tests (Section 3113, p. 800)
39. Medicare hospice concurrent care demonstration project (Section 3140, p. 850)
40. Independent Payment Advisory Board (Section 3403, p. 982)
41. Consumer Advisory Council for Independent Payment Advisory Board (Section 3403, p. 1027)
42. Grant program for technical assistance to providers implementing health quality practices (Section 3501, p. 1043)
43. Grant program to establish interdisciplinary health teams (Section 3502, p. 1048)
44. Grant program to implement medication therapy management (Section 3503, p. 1055)
45. Grant program to support emergency care pilot programs (Section 3504, p. 1061)
46. Grant program to promote universal access to trauma services (Section 3505(b), p. 1081)
47. Grant program to develop and promote shared decision-making aids (Section 3506, p. 1088)
48. Grant program to support implementation of shared decision-making (Section 3506, p. 1091)
49. Grant program to integrate quality improvement in clinical education (Section 3508, p. 1095)
50. Health and Human Services Coordinating Committee on Women’s Health (Section 3509(a), p. 1098)
51. Centers for Disease Control Office of Women’s Health (Section 3509(b), p. 1102)
52. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Office of Women’s Health (Section 3509(e), p. 1105)
53. Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Women’s Health (Section 3509(f), p. 1106)
54. Food and Drug Administration Office of Women’s Health (Section 3509(g), p. 1109)
55. National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council (Section 4001, p. 1114)
56. Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health (Section 4001(f), p. 1117)
57. Prevention and Public Health Fund (Section 4002, p. 1121)
58. Community Preventive Services Task Force (Section 4003(b), p. 1126)
59. Grant program to support school-based health centers (Section 4101, p. 1135)
60. Grant program to promote research-based dental caries disease management (Section 4102, p. 1147)
61. Grant program for States to prevent chronic disease in Medicaid beneficiaries (Section 4108, p. 1174)
62. Community transformation grants (Section 4201, p. 1182)
63. Grant program to provide public health interventions (Section 4202, p. 1188)
64. Demonstration program of grants to improve child immunization rates (Section 4204(b), p. 1200)
65. Pilot program for risk-factor assessments provided through community health centers (Section 4206, p. 1215)
66. Grant program to increase epidemiology and laboratory capacity (Section 4304, p. 1233)
67. Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (Section 4305, p. 1238)
68. National Health Care Workforce Commission (Section 5101, p. 1256)
69. Grant program to plan health care workforce development activities (Section 5102(c), p. 1275)
70. Grant program to implement health care workforce development activities (Section 5102(d), p. 1279)
71. Pediatric specialty loan repayment program (Section 5203, p. 1295)
72. Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program (Section 5204, p. 1300)
73. Allied Health Loan Forgiveness Program (Section 5205, p. 1305)
74. Grant program to provide mid-career training for health professionals (Section 5206, p. 1307)
75. Grant program to fund nurse-managed health clinics (Section 5208, p. 1310)
76. Grant program to support primary care training programs (Section 5301, p. 1315)
77. Grant program to fund training for direct care workers (Section 5302, p. 1322)
78. Grant program to develop dental training programs (Section 5303, p. 1325)
79. Demonstration program to increase access to dental health care in underserved communities (Section 5304, p. 1331)
80. Grant program to promote geriatric education centers (Section 5305, p. 1334)
81. Grant program to promote health professionals entering geriatrics (Section 5305, p. 1339)
82. Grant program to promote training in mental and behavioral health (Section 5306, p. 1344)
83. Grant program to promote nurse retention programs (Section 5309, p. 1354)
84. Student loan forgiveness for nursing school faculty (Section 5311(b), p. 1360)
85. Grant program to promote positive health behaviors and outcomes (Section 5313, p. 1364)
86. Public Health Sciences Track for medical students (Section 5315, p. 1372)
87. Primary Care Extension Program to educate providers (Section 5405, p. 1404)
88. Grant program for demonstration projects to address health workforce shortage needs (Section 5507, p. 1442)
89. Grant program for demonstration projects to develop training programs for home health aides (Section 5507, p. 1447)
90. Grant program to establish new primary care residency programs (Section 5508(a), p. 1458)
91. Program of payments to teaching health centers that sponsor medical residency training (Section 5508(c), p. 1462)
92. Graduate nurse education demonstration program (Section 5509, p. 1472)
93. Grant program to establish demonstration projects for community-based mental health settings (Section 5604, p. 1486)
94. Commission on Key National Indicators (Section 5605, p. 1489)
95. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 6102, p. 1554)
96. Special focus facility program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 6103(a)(3), p. 1561)
97. Special focus facility program for nursing facilities (Section 6103(b)(3), p. 1568)
98. National independent monitor pilot program for skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities (Section 6112, p. 1589)
99. Demonstration projects for nursing facilities involved in the culture change movement (Section 6114, p. 1597)
100. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (Section 6301, p. 1619)
101. Standing methodology committee for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (Section 6301, p. 1629)
102. Board of Governors for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (Section 6301, p. 1638)
103. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund (Section 6301(e), p. 1656)
104. Elder Justice Coordinating Council (Section 6703, p. 1773)
105. Advisory Board on Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation (Section 6703, p. 1776)
106. Grant program to create elder abuse forensic centers (Section 6703, p. 1783)
107. Grant program to promote continuing education for long-term care staffers (Section 6703, p. 1787)
108. Grant program to improve management practices and training (Section 6703, p. 1788)
109. Grant program to subsidize costs of electronic health records (Section 6703, p. 1791)
110. Grant program to promote adult protective services (Section 6703, p. 1796)
111. Grant program to conduct elder abuse detection and prevention (Section 6703, p. 1798)
112. Grant program to support long-term care ombudsmen (Section 6703, p. 1800)
113. National Training Institute for long-term care surveyors (Section 6703, p. 1806)
114. Grant program to fund State surveys of long-term care residences (Section 6703, p. 1809)
115. CLASS Independence Fund (Section 8002, p. 1926)
116. CLASS Independence Fund Board of Trustees (Section 8002, p. 1927)
117. CLASS Independence Advisory Council (Section 8002, p. 1931)
118. Personal Care Attendants Workforce Advisory Panel (Section 8002(c), p. 1938)
119. Multi-state health plans offered by Office of Personnel Management (Section 10104(p), p. 2086)
120. Advisory board for multi-state health plans (Section 10104(p), p. 2094)
121. Pregnancy Assistance Fund (Section 10212, p. 2164)
122. Value-based purchasing program for ambulatory surgical centers (Section 10301, p. 2176)
123. Demonstration project for payment adjustments to home health services (Section 10315, p. 2200)
124. Pilot program for care of individuals in environmental emergency declaration areas (Section 10323, p. 2223)
125. Grant program to screen at-risk individuals for environmental health conditions (Section 10323(b), p. 2231)
126. Pilot programs to implement value-based purchasing (Section 10326, p. 2242)
127. Grant program to support community-based collaborative care networks (Section 10333, p. 2265)
128. Centers for Disease Control Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
129. Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
130. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
131. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
132. Food and Drug Administration Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
133. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
134. Grant program to promote small business wellness programs (Section 10408, p. 2285)
135. Cures Acceleration Network (Section 10409, p. 2289)
136. Cures Acceleration Network Review Board (Section 10409, p. 2291)
137. Grant program for Cures Acceleration Network (Section 10409, p. 2297)
138. Grant program to promote centers of excellence for depression (Section 10410, p. 2304)
139. Advisory committee for young women’s breast health awareness education campaign (Section 10413, p. 2322)
140. Grant program to provide assistance to provide information to young women with breast cancer (Section 10413, p. 2326)
141. Interagency Access to Health Care in Alaska Task Force (Section 10501, p. 2329)
142. Grant program to train nurse practitioners as primary care providers (Section 10501(e), p. 2332)
143. Grant program for community-based diabetes prevention (Section 10501(g), p. 2337)
144. Grant program for providers who treat a high percentage of medically underserved populations (Section 10501(k), p. 2343)
145. Grant program to recruit students to practice in underserved communities (Section 10501(l), p. 2344)
146. Community Health Center Fund (Section 10503, p. 2355)
147. Demonstration project to provide access to health care for the uninsured at reduced fees (Section 10504, p. 2357)
148. Demonstration program to explore alternatives to tort litigation (Section 10607, p. 2369)
149. Indian Health demonstration program for chronic shortages of health professionals (S. 1790, Section 112, p. 24)*
150. Office of Indian Men’s Health (S. 1790, Section 136, p. 71)*
151. Indian Country modular component facilities demonstration program (S. 1790, Section 146, p. 108)*
152. Indian mobile health stations demonstration program (S. 1790, Section 147, p. 111)*
153. Office of Direct Service Tribes (S. 1790, Section 172, p. 151)*
154. Indian Health Service mental health technician training program (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 173)*
155. Indian Health Service program for treatment of child sexual abuse victims (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 192)*
156. Indian Health Service program for treatment of domestic violence and sexual abuse (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 194)*
157. Indian youth telemental health demonstration project (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 204)*
158. Indian youth life skills demonstration project (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 220)*
159. Indian Health Service Director of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment (S. 1790, Section 199B, p. 258)*

And of course the IRS will be given more powers of enforcement, because, you know, when you tack on government programs you kinda wanna get the guys with the guns involved, it’s completely inevitable:

A report on the New York Post website yesterday reports the IRS may hire as many as 16,000 new agents.This is estimated to add another $1 billion dollars to the federal budget. This is alleged by Republicans on The House Ways and Means committee. Under the Obama plan the IRS would be given new powers of enforcement. The IRS will be given the charge to see every American has “acceptable” health insurance. If your plan is not acceptable the IRS may be able to withhold your income tax return and or levy fines due to your non compliance. Everyone under the Obama plan will be required to purchase insurance. If you can’t pay for the insurance the subsidy to purchase will come through the IRS in the form of a tax credit. Under one version of the plan the money will come from a Health Choices Administration. Do we really want the IRS involved in assessing our health care and possibly releasing our tax information to other agencies?

He also aptly points us to this passage from this old and forgotten piece of paper:

“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” – Declaration of Independence

This, me friends, is the shape of things to come …

Tags: Government, health care, obamacare

Dare to Dream – Fall in Love with the Future!

March 29, 2010 · Posted in Philosophy · Comment

This is exactly what I tell people who say that we won’t see the elimination of governments and religions in our lifetime:

“So what?! :)”

Since when is that thing called our lifetime of any relevance when it comes to the course of history? I already see the stateless and rational society right here and right now, in my mind. I think through all its wonderful solutions and benefits every day and I do my part to contribute to a logical and consistent body of literature that may some day be of use in that society.

I don’t need to see it actually unravel before me in my lifetime. I am proud to be among its pioneers and I value every day that our cause gets advanced a little bit more.

We’re not in a hurry, folks. Why? Because time is on our side. In the long run rationality always prevails. This is what gives me happiness, hope and certainty.

So don’t hurt your head about the present day bromides of priests and politicians – they’re not worth it.

Stop shouting at them in front of their palaces – they won’t listen.

Instead, take your pride and walk away. Set yourself free in your own life by dealing with the people in your immediate surroundings. This truly is the first step toward a stateless and rational society.

Always remember: It’s not a matter of if it will happen, only when.

Tags: anarchism, dream, freedom, future, happiness, peace, stateless society, utopia, voluntaryism

How to achieve political freedom? It starts with personal freedom …

March 27, 2010 · Posted in Philosophy · Comment

Recently I asked a friend on the comment board here what the solution is to the phenomena of mass murder and mass theft perpetrated by the government.

The response:

That is a good question, and one for which I don’t know if I will ever have a great answer. All I hope is that I, over time, get somewhat closer to a good answer and never become satisfied with the answers I get. I do have a great respect and reverence for emergent order, decentralized planning, and free association. I also realize that the order that emerges can sometimes be counter productive and dangerous. Yeast is an amazing little factory and product of evolution. This doesn’t keep yeast from destroying itself by the very alcohol it produces when in a closed system.

As for mass murder, I think individuals should do whatever they reasonably think they can to prevent it. I know this is not as easy as it sounds. I worry that as long as a vast majority of the United States, or even the majority of world powers, support these actions that they will not change. I am supportive of the idea of putting “your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the all the apparatus” and making it stop, but even this I worry might be ineffective.

Although the anti-war movement in recent history has been (somewhat) quicker to respond and quicker to denounce (at least to some extent), there is definitely nothing of the sort of revulsion as took place with organizations like the Weatherman. Despite their literal willingness to do almost anything, it seems like it might have had little effect on the direction of the war. Massive distaste and dissatisfaction with war efforts is what seems to turn the tide, whether in Vietnam, Iraq, and (hopefully) Afghanistan. What will make large portions of the populace feel that revulsion BEFORE 8 years of war? That is one of the most important, if not the most important, questions out there. If you have a good answer I would love to here it. Hoping and working for the elimination of the state is one option, in my mind not the most expedient, effective, or necessarily beneficial, but I could be wrong.

I am aware of the arguments that a state apparatus has been necessary to create the atomic bomb and mobilize massive killing operations. Whether having a non-monopolistic society with competing systems of force would result in less violence and death is a complex and interesting one. States going through civil wars or with unstable governments often tern their genocide internally, those states that are strong and relatively stable tend to focus that genocide outward… not a great set of options.

Some states, such as Switzerland most famously, have managed to remain relatively separate from wars and genocides. As far as large wealthy states they do seem to be in the minority.

In a world that already HAS atomic weapons, I am curious what you think would happen to them and be their nature in an anarchistic society? If someone has a powerful atomic weapon, doesn’t that weapon represent a certain monopolistic power, or at least singularly threatening, access to force? This does not seem to me to be alleviated by more people having atomic weapons. Sure mutually assured destruction no doubt provides the vast majority with the incentive not to use one, but if someone has a death wish it only takes one or two nukes to create the most destructive single event in human history.

As far as mass theft, it mostly depends on what you are talking about. If you are referring to taxation, as I said before you can move to a country such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Singapore, Burma, Macau. They all have very low taxation rates and government spending is very small. As you said before, why should you have to move to escape taxation, etc? That’s like the mob!

Well, I don’t know why in an anarchist world you would be able to live wherever you wanted without consequence. If you want to live where it is sunny and humid, you move to Florida, if you want to live where there are low taxes move to Bahrain. In an anarcho-capitalist world (correct me if I’m wrong) no one guarantees that you get to live wherever you want without paying for it. Like I said before, if you want to live in a house that is part of a particular homeowner’s association, you are going to have to pay what everyone else does. If you don’t like it, you can move to someplace else more palatable.

If you are referring to corporate theft… well that is something on which I don’t wish to comment, as my knowledge and thoughts on the subject are not necessarily well-founded enough or thought-out enough to make me comfortable presenting them.

If you are referring to some other form of mass theft that I am not thinking of, let me know.

My response to this:

I don’t think I disagree with many things of what you said above.

Just a few comments:

I do think that mutually assured destruction is a great force for peace, simply based on historical evidence. No nuclear power has ever attacked another.

Regarding mass theft, yes, I was referring to taxation. Regarding your statement: “I don’t know why in an anarchist world you would be able to live wherever you wanted without consequence.” – You absolutely can’t, and never did I say that you can. In fact every single thing you do has consequences. All I am saying is that people shouldn’t be allowed to initiate violence or threat thereof in order to take your property.

To me, the answer to these problems lies in ourselves. We need to abdicate from the political process. Marching and demonstrating and angrily waving signs, as tempting as it is, is and has always been a complete waste of time in the larger picture of things.

The main purpose of what I do is happiness. You and I find happiness in seeking truth. We will most definitely not find happiness from shouting or marching or chaining yourself anywhere. We will also not find happiness from hurting our heads over all the political nonsense that the Krugmans, Bushes, or Obamas of this world are spouting day in day out. We will only become broken and deplorable little creatures that people will enjoy denouncing whenever they can.

What I will say now are not really my own original ideas, they are Stefan Molyneux’ ideas, but I happen to agree wholeheartedly:

True happiness and a better life comes from pursuing truth. To improve other people’s lives we need to spread the truth to people in our immediate environment, our friends and our family. Actively seek relationships with people who are as curious about truth as ourselves. If there are people in our life, be it friends or family, who staunchly cling on to the false, irrational and ultimately cruel and corrupt faith in governments and Gods, or who feel the need to physically or mentally bully us whenever they get a chance, then we have two options: We can get them out of your life, or we can continue to associate with them.

If we continue to associate them, that’s absolutely fine. But then we need not complain about the fact that the world is corrupt. If we can’t even get corrupt people out of our own lives where we don’t face gigantic repercussions, then how can we expect people to sever from the state where billions and trillions of massive special interests are involved? How can we expect to change the largest, most armed, most powerful government in the whole world by checking some boxes on a ballot or by yelling and waving signs at them, if we can’t even disassociate from a few irrational bullies ourselves?

That, to me, is the main task that lies before us. And it won’t take broad effect in 4 or 8 years, probably not even in our lifetime. But at least it will set us free in our personal lives immediately, and bring us a gigantic leap closer toward happiness and fulfillment. I for one find it much more exciting to be at the beginning of this movement than at the end of it.

Tags: personal freedom, political freedom

Healthcare – Monopoly, Cost, Sustainability, and the Final Convulsions of an Imploding Government

March 25, 2010 · Posted in General Economics · Comment

Some great comments from Stefan Molyneux:

Health care monopoly, high health costs, unsustainability & people opting for the $695 fine:

Health care mess in the UK, government bureaucracy, medical students’ debt, mandated charges & the last convulsions of an imploding system:

Cheaper health care, unions, subsidies, special interest groups & fighting tooth and nail:

Tags: cost, health care, health care sustainability, monopoly, special interest groups

Health Care Reform Nonsense – Don’t Hurt Your Head About It

March 23, 2010 · Posted in Government · Comment

Once in a while these days I happen to catch the talk on the news media about the passage of the health care bill. I see pictures of heroic congressmen and officials, and praise for their stunning “Victory”. I see talking heads on CNN and FOX news in the famous 4 headed hydras talking about a bill which they haven’t read.

Every single one debates this bill with such amazing certainty, it’s really quite amusing. Because nobody, not one single person, knows the full content of this 2400+ page monster.

I don’t know what specifically is in it because I have not taken the time to read through the entire bill, just as no single Senator or Congressman has, but one thing is for sure: it satisfies all the different lobbyists who needed to get their pork in order for their representatives in Congress to vote for the bill.

I wrote before what would need to happen in a hypothetical world where politicians really care about fixing health care in the US. (*chuckle*) Of course none of this is going to happen.

Politicians will do everything in their power to loot the public purse at an accelerating speed and government will continue its long lasting and inevitable growth.

There is no use in hurting your head about it or shouting at them on Capitol Hill. Talk to your friends and family about the truth behind what’s going on, try to enlighten those who are interested. Like I said before:

This train wreck is headed for a cliff and the public is cheering on its acceleration. The system will have to play itself out, and in the very process it is going to destroy itself.

All we can do is remain calm and collected, don’t stress over this madness. Educate yourself and your friends and family about the truth about Freedom, Peace and Happiness. Act upon it. Understand the concepts of Ethics, Human Nature, Government, and Liberty. Act upon it.

Once people understand the truth, society will be transformed into a viable, peaceful, and prosperous system.

Tags: health care

8 Years Later – Most Republicans Now Realize Iraq War Was a Mistake

March 20, 2010 · Posted in Foreign Policy · 1 Comment

From a Cato panel:

In a Thursday panel at Cato on conservatism and war, U.S. Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) and John Duncan (R-Tenn.) revealed that the vast majority of GOP members of Congress now think it was wrong for the U.S. to invade Iraq in 2003.

The discussion was moderated by Grover Norquist, who asked the congressmen how many of their colleagues now think the war was a mistake.

Rohrabacher:

“I will say that the decision to go in, in retrospect, almost all of us think that was a horrible mistake. …Now that we know that it cost a trillion dollars, and all of these years, and all of these lives, and all of this blood… all I can say is everyone I know thinks it was a mistake to go in now.”

McClintock:

“I think everyone [in Congress] would agree that Iraq was a mistake.”

Watch the clip:

… and see, because they were so abysmally wrong and foolish, it is very important for you to listen to everything they have to say now about Afghanistan. THAT war was stupid, THIS war is good. :)

Haha, Republocrats are such an adorable and funny little bunch …

Tags: iraq, iraq war, war

Total Credit And Loans – February 2010 (Update)

March 18, 2010 · Posted in General Economics · Comment

New data is in for the final weeks of February 2010:

The annual rate of decline is now at 6.7%

Tags: credit, loans, total credit

Death OR Taxes – The Gordon Kahl Story

March 16, 2010 · Posted in Government · Comment

I just wanted to post the moving and instructive 11 part series about Gordon Kahl, a tax protester and victim of pure evil and corruption. I wanted to write a brief indroduction about how people don’t want to see the violence of the state they live under and how maybe something like this story will at least give them a little bit of a different perspective on things. But that brief introduction took on a life of its own and is now a solitary post about childhood scar tissues. Who’da thunk? :)

Anyway, here’s the documentary:

Tags: fbi, gordon kahl, IRS, tax protesters, taxation, taxes

States and Religions – Scar Tissues From Our Childhood

March 16, 2010 · Posted in Philosophy · 9 Comments

People’s perception of government and religion is quite an interesting phenomenon.

Not so much with the younger generation (and by young I mean the young at heart, meaning those who are curious, open-minded, self-searching, truth-seeking, and still capable of rational thinking), but definitely with those whose minds have stopped accepting new or alien ideas and whose only aim it is to jam every concept and observation into their immutable and eternal mental box.

The scar tissue of an abusive childhood remains so long as one does not confront it openly and honestly. All of us have been subject to moral corruption at one point or another in our childhood. Bullying parents, teachers, and priests are those who lay the groundwork and fertilize the soil for obedient and irrational adults in the future.

To most of us, the fact that those who preached to us when we were young were morally corrupt individuals of the first order, is probably one of the scariest and most challenging things to admit. The more emotionally offended and upset one gets when confronted with such ideas, the more likely it is that he is suffering from this scar tissue. But from this unfortunately follows that those who have been most brutally corrupted, are actually least likely to confront their past!

This is why, when people exalt the imaginary concepts of the state and of God, all they really seek is justification for the irrationality and mental or even physical abuses experienced in their childhoods.

For if the state’s brutal depredations of mass murder and mass-theft are justified, then surely the moments when your mommy snapped and hit her completely powerless little one, or when daddy took your favorite toys away from you, were all comparatively minor and necessary means to getting you back in line … right?

If the faith in an all-knowing yet all-powerful, non-material yet conscious, living yet never born or ceasing, murderous yet virtuous, and thus completely contradictory and unproven entity is rational, moral and beyond questioning, then surely the moments when your parents told you to “Shut up!”, “You do what I say, not what you think is right!”, “Don’t ask!”, “Don’t think!”, and the like, were just consistent applications of the superiority of faith over logic and empirical evidence … right?

There is no better way to break the development of a curious and reasoning spirit!

Thus, when you outline to such scarred people the rather simple truths as to what it is that people who call themselves “The State” actually do day in day out, that they obtain their resources from people by shooting them if they resist the collection thereof, you will always confront immediate denial and aggressive rejection and complete ridicule of the idea. This is as sure as night follows day.

When you press people who suffer from religiousness on very simple logical and empirical inconsistencies and shortcomings about their belief in God and other superstitions, you can expect very similar reactions.

(To be sure: I am not saying this to offend people. Quite the opposite! I fully appreciate and understand that it is asking a lot of somebody to give up concepts that have served as the foundation of one’s entire world view. In fact, I am not sure there is a harder thing one could ask of somebody!!)

But it is impossible to evade simple truths. People will bombard you with everything conceivable to try and bend reality and justify the unjustifiable, reason through the unreasonable. They will come up with ten different tangents, all with the objective to get off the topic at hand as quickly as possible.

Why is that? Because they are in their subconscious not talking about “The State”, or “God”. They are talking about their childhood, their family and other authority figures who have molded and whipped their minds into obedience and conformity.

To them, it is not about discovering the truth. Their entire quest for supposed understanding, philosophical thoughts, and political positions is centered around the justification of the injustice and the reasoning for the un-reason that they suffered in their upbringing and their education.

Keep this in mind when talking to the majority of people around you. They will rarely ever be open to dealing with serious questions in a logical and consistent manner until they have dealt with and found closure about the injustice and irrationality that has dominated their own upbringing.

Tags: atheism, childhood, Education, family, Government, religion