This Government is Lying

How do I lie to thee? Let me count the ways.

Well, I can outright lie or I can tell a partial truth

or a partial lie or I can just not say something

that I should say because it is too important to not say.

I can deceive, deflect and divert.

I can make you look away while I barely say something

I should be emphasizing.

I can tell you something in a way

that makes it appear to be exactly what it is not.

I can tell you something in such a way that you would need

to be Sherlock Holmes and Albert Einstein to get at the real facts.

I can draw your attention to other situations and downplay the really important ones.

Or I can just reveal something in the dark of night when all are asleep

and hope that no one bothers to examine it in the light of day.

How can I lie to thee? All of these ways and a thousand more.

Oh believe me am I good at it.

What am I? Who am I? Where am I?

I am everywhere.

I am your government.

I am your president.

I am your senator.

I am your congressman.

I am your bureaucrat.

I am everywhere. I am nowhere.

I am a liar.

And I am good at it.

The USTreasury Department announced on Christmas Eve, when normal people are wrapping gifts and making meal preparations for family and friends, that it would provide an open ended, unlimited amount of funding capability to FNMA and FHLMC, otherwise known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These two entities are now wholly owned, entirely dependent borrowing/lending mortgage companies of your federal government. Without the Treasury support these entities would fail and bankruptcy would ensue. Without the federal support of these entities there would be virtually no home mortgage lending market in the United States. Just think of that situation. After hundreds of billions of dollars of wasted federal spending propping up everything from the aged senator from West Virginia to the welfare states of Michigan and California to two failed automobile companies (that statement is not quite true; the spending was mostly directed to the failed leadership of the United Automobile Workers) to bailing out the horrific Democratic Party leadership in the states of New York and Illinois and the indescribable meathead leadership of the body builder from Austria and his California public sector union loving Democratic Party apparatchiks, there is no independent residential home mortgage lending capability in the United States of America. Why is that you ask? Because the corruption of the leadership in the white house, federal reserve and the congress for the last 20 years coupled with the thievery of the boards of FNMA and FHLMC and the party apparatchiks they put in executive positions with salaries, bonuses and stock option at Wall Street levels, have destroyed the confidence of investors around the world in US home mortgages and related products. So, the USTreasury now is the American home lender. And, that situation is going to be with us for a long, long time. When was the last time that the boy president, (el presidente Niño for our Spanish readers) had a chat with us about this situation? By the way, what exactly is your house worth?

The prior issue could well bankrupt the country. Here is how you solve this issue going forward. A simple piece of legislation that requires all debt, all securities, all notes and claims, all liabilities issued by any entity, person, corporation or government agency/authority to carry, on every page of every document, at the very top and the very bottom, in bold face type at least twice the size of any font used elsewhere on the page, the following sentence, “This obligation is not and will not be guaranteed by the United States of America.” Then, of course, the people need to elect officials who can understand that simple sentence and will actually enforce it. In the meantime, hunker down for a long cold winter.

The Vote

Here is the vote. The 60 YEAs have voted to force all US citizens to purchase, under penalty of law, health insurance. These same 60 have taken an oath to “support and defend the constitution of the United States.” Not one can cite any passage in the constitution granting them the power, directly or indirectly, to force such a position upon any US citizen. One Senator was asked if he thought the vote was constitutional.  His response, "I'm not a lawyer."  These same 60 people used bribes, coercion, closed door deals and outright corruption with their special interest groups to attain passage of this legislation. If this country had even one Judiciary official with one ounce of backbone, the 60 would be indicted for crimes and misdemeanors and prosecuted as any one of us would similarly expect prosecution for such violation of oath and law. The best we can hope for is that they are retired in due course by the American voter to enjoy the massive perquisites, benefits and retirement payments they have voted themselves. In a culture with fundamentals and values, these 60 would be shunned and shamed and dispensed to the dustbin of ignominy.

YEAs ---60

Akaka (D-HI)

Baucus (D-MT)

Bayh (D-IN)

Begich (D-AK)

Bennet (D-CO)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Burris (D-IL)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kaufman (D-DE)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kirk (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Specter (D-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)

You can read the entire bill here:  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:6:./temp/~c111QodK5L::

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Dear Editor:

I am eight years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West 95th Street

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehended by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to our life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance, to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart a baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest men, nor the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory behind. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.


At a time of incredible challenge to values and fundamentals, we turn to this editorial written by Francis Pharcellus Church that appeared in the New York Sun on September 21, 1897 and say, simply, to our Creator, Thank You for this boundless world filled with beauty and joy.  We pray that Your light will shine upon the little minds of the Santa skeptics.

Good News of a Great Joy

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirin'i-us was governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!"

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Luke 2:1-20

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

"'Twas the Night Before Christmas"

By Clement Clarke Moore

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter,

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!

On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!

Global Warming?

Global warming is a touchy subject. Believers, perhaps, feel a sense of guilt and don't want the subject raised. By the way, here’s a challenge: What % of the atmosphere is carbon dioxide? 35/1000’s of a percent (.035%) will probably surprise you. Don’t feel bad – most people who think that governments should do “something now” don’t know. Carbon dioxide is considered a “greenhouse gas” along with water vapor. It is estimated that greenhouse gases cause the earth to be 60 degrees warmer than it would otherwise be, and that water vapor causes about 2/3rds of the effect. Also, remember that 50 years ago a lot of scientists where decrying “global cooling…, another ice age coming…”, and that government should do something about it “now !”.

But what about the skeptics? To hold that anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is a farce, you'd have to believe that governments around the world are colluding to extort a crippling tax on citizens and were in bed with those who might stand to pocket billions inventing and trading carbon credits. And you'd have to believe that an Academy Award winning Nobel Peace Prize recipient is either a mildly convincing actor...or a menace to humanity.

But that's not all. As of a couple of weeks ago, to suspect that AGW is a con, you must believe that private emails exchanged between climatologists responsible for providing the "consensus" data excluded dissenting viewpoints and manipulated evidence. In case you didn’t hear about the "Climategate" scandal, here's a very quick wrap: In late November, hackers broke into the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU) in England, one of the four official sources of global temperature data used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The exposed emails and files were then leaked to various media outlets and published on Al Gore's "Internet." The results were interesting... For example: "The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can't. The CERES data published in the August BAMS 09 supplement on 2008 shows there should be even more warming: but the data are surely wrong. Our observing system is inadequate." Professor Phil Jones, CRU director, has stepped aside from his post at the University, an independent investigation is underway there, and the Oscar-decorated Nobel Laureate mentioned above has canceled the lecture he planned to deliver at the crucial Copenhagen Climate Summit.

Estimates vary on how much a proposed "cap-and-trade" plan might cost. For the US this could be between $200-$350 billion, or roughly $1,750 - $3,000 per household. Remember this is on top of the costs for 2 dumb wars, TARP, bailouts, “cash for clunkers”, home-buyer incentives, ? trillion for an undefined bureaucratic national healthcare system, tax increases, a 1.4 trillion deficit, 14 trillion debt, and 104 trillion in unfunded liabilities, which you and your children must somehow pay.

President Obama himself said that energy costs were likely to "skyrocket" under his plan. Obama's transition team after last November's election, estimates that, "Economic costs will likely be on the order of 1 percent of GDP". (140 billion?) Critics, predictably, rebuke those figures, claiming that they are typically inflated and that their government would never spend that much money on a bogus scheme. (Remember Rumsfeld berating a journalist for saying our wars would cost $300 billion – he claimed that was ridiculously high.)

Lou Muno

TheFundamentals adds --  Thank you Lou for this essay on a timely topic.  We at TheFundamentals have a modest suggestion.  Let's make Washington DC a green town and ban all carbon emissions coupled with one of those famous "zero tolerance" government enforcement schemes..  Nancy P's jet would, of course, be grounded.  Who wouldn't like to see Nancy P stand in line and have her carryon baggage examined in full view of her fellow passengers?

Learning our ABC's

America has changed. The country has redefined itself and has redefined its fundamentals.

Today, America’s ABC’s are: Apparatchiks, Bureaucrats and Congress. Americans are now beholden to their representative democracy in ways never anticipated by the Founders. It is most interesting to read and reread the Declaration of Independence, written and adopted in 1776, a mere 233 years ago. The Declaration is a series of complaints and observations and anecdotal views of life as experienced by independent thinking citizen colonists. These folk worked hard to gain control over their lives. They wanted economic and personal freedoms, unencumbered by the kings men and those favored by the kings apparatchiks. They wanted to be able to engage in commerce without the interference and burdens imposed by the crowns bureaucrats. They wanted to be able to enjoy the privacy and security of their homes. They did not wish to be subject to the demands and vagaries of the armed kings men. Simply stated they sought life, liberty and property. These were the fundamentals that all men have sought. These are the fundamentals that fulfill men in their roles as fathers, husbands and providers and relieve the burdens of women in their roles as mothers, wives and providers. These are the necessities for all men and women who are independent in their thought and word and action. These are the rewards of hard work, discipline, frugality and sacrifice. These are the opportunities that are due educated, law abiding, God fearing citizens. This was the ABC’s of life for decades in the US of A.

Today, 22 million people are employed at various tasks at various levels of government across the US. 22 million people depend on the other Americans to earn enough money to provide for their compensation. Just think of that simple fact. The entire workforce in America, when working, is about 150 million people. Today it is quite a bit lower; approximately 135 million people. If you subtract the 22 million people who depend on others for their compensation, that means that 113 million people are working to provide food, shelter, clothing, health care, education and multiple levels of taxation for themselves and their families on their earnings. These very same people also pay for the food, shelter, clothing, health care, education and savings/pensions of the 22 million people who are employed at all levels of government. One in five feed at the public trough. Look around you. Do you know five people who do not work for any government? If yes, those five are supporting one government employee. In the old Soviet Union, many of these government types were called “apparatchiks.” They were engaged in the tasks of politics or bureaucracies or both. In the US we tend to call them presidential appointees, special interest personnel or bureaucrats. They are not known for their work ethic, their efficiency or their productivity. How can you identify them? They get more vacation, more days off, more paid holidays, more compensation, better health care and benefits and much more generous pension plans than the people who pay their compensation. That is an important point; let’s repeat it. They are better paid, better benefitted and better pensioned than the people who pay their compensation. Ponder that simple fact for a few minutes today.

Who figured out such a program? Well, the Founders did. They call it “representative democracy.” We call it Congress. Congress; the 50 mini congresses in the states and the many micro/mini political entities within the states pass the laws that create the jobs and the wages and the benefits and the pensions for 22 million.

So, that is today’s history lesson. The evolution of America’s ABC’s. A = apparatchik. B = bureaucrat. C = congress. The Congress just passed a bill funding America’s apparatchiks and bureaucrats in ten cabinet departments at a record high $1.1 trillion for one year. It is called HR 3288. Details and comments from Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation are available at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/wm2728.cfm  Per USA Today, 19% of the federal employees will earn more than $100,000.00 per year. A record! The average federal employee makes $71,000.00 per year. The average private sector employee - $40,000.00 per year. These new ABC’s have an interesting reality. Every five earners get to support one government employee. And you and your fellow earners are, on average, paying that government employee more than you are making. A lot of people were attracted to the rhetoric of the organizer and his growing, costly government. TheFundamentals wonders how attractive these very same folk find this reality. Hopefully some will keep these facts in mind on November 2, 2010.

Pudgy Larry and the Walking Dead

In less than 60 minutes yesterday morning the Sunday talk shows, inadvertently of course, put on a display of America’s dearth of leadership. A good digital editor could do a five minute You Tube presentation and stick it in a time capsule to make life easy for future historians looking back and analyzing the mess that is now America.

First we had little Larry Summers looking fat, pudgy and disinterested. Barely containing his disdain for the ignorant questions being posed he avoided any form of direct response and regurgitated incoherent blatherings designed to say “We’re the good guys; the fools are to blame.” To wit: The Obama administration has inherited the eight trillion dollars of future debt that will occur. Huh? We all know by now that the Obama administration is a self designated garbage crew, on the scene to clean up messes created by their predecessor. Apparently this means they either did not understand the situation they asked to take over or they want to deflect any current or future responsibility for dealing with it. Neither case bodes well for those being lead. But the future messes are also not of their doing? The $787 billion of payments to labor unions and public sector employees across the land is the problem of the Bushies? The $1.1 trillion that the organizer is about to bestow upon a few hundred thousand bureaucrats and apparatchiks earning almost double the average American paycheck; many of them making more than $100,000.00 per year. That’s Bushies fault too? Huh? Remember that pudgy Larry was fired by the faculty of Harvard, a group that bears more than a small amount of responsibility for the messes in Washington DC and Wall Street USA. No honor among thieves in Cambridge.

Enough about pudgy Larry because the pudgette Romer showed up on another channel. We have to plead guilty to not having a clue about what she said. We don’t even know what she does. We are unable to watch her so we take a lesser plea of nolo contendere. Perhaps a more tolerant observer would care to step to her defense. But we have one simple observation: There is a great opportunity for a weight watchers franchise in Washington DC.

But the Sunday piece de resistance was the return from the dead of the vampire Greenspan. This one creature bears more responsibility for the messes with the possible exception of Bush II and Lon Cheney. Seated to the right of the undead was the charlatan cum perfomer known as Cramer. This is the fool who helps you lose, ‘er we mean invest, the few remaining dollars in your IRA and 401k. When we saw this lineup we promptly turned up the volume. Oh boy we thought this is gonna be good. Cramer has on occasion derided the undead for many mistakes and bad judgments and here they were, seated together in bright daylight. The undead was going to catch it now. Oh boy. Wait until Cramer starts in on him. This is gonna be good. And then….NOTHING. Not a word. NOTHING. NOTHING!!!!

And then, later in the day, who pops up but the great leader himself. Just a few years ago he was hustling favors in the Illinois legislature, a hotbed of fiscal responsibility and the development of great leaders. Now he's solving global warming, health care, military strategy issues and creating jobs.  What does he say?  He blames it on the bankers. What? He bailed them out didn’t he? Why didn’t he fire them? Why didn’t he break them up? Why didn’t he bring in new leaders, some of his cronies from Springfield Illinois perhaps? He’s ready to sign the bill giving pay raises to the apparatchiks and bureaucrats making hundreds of thousands of dollars. A pay raise?  Is that Bushies fault too? His jobs plan is a verbatim copy of the proposals from the AFL CIO. Ask a businessman if he goes to the AFL CIO for advice on how to compete and sell more products. Don’t jobs have something to do with competition and selling more products?

What image do these people see when they look in a mirror? Do they cast shadows? What are they doing up and about in daylight? Have you seen any of them in church recently?

Girlfriends and the Constitution

Todays subject is our weaknesses that make us human or, more likely, our humanity that makes us weak. What can we learn from the current reminder(s) of this situation?

There are two lessons that come to mind. One is that we are all sinners. And two is that we will be treated by people on the way down in a manner similar to how we treat people on the way up, unless mitigating circumstances mitigate.

Why do we elevate some as if they are different from the many? Is it because we are afraid to rely on ourselves? Why do we languish power and glory on a few even though they fail as do we all?   Who came up with this idea of representative democracy?  Does it still work as the founders intended?

In a democracy power comes from and is given by the people. We all know that. Ask any Chicagoan and they will tell you that it is so. The people giveth; the people taketh. There is no such thing as embedded power. It can be removed at any time. It happens all the time. For example, Johnny Reid Edwards was the elected senator of North Carolina. He wanted more. He embraced the message of the poor and the downtrodden in order to get more. When he took his show on the road it went caput. Was this the result of the wisdom of the people? Or the failure of the man? Another fellow tapped his shoe in the toilet stall, supposedly, and he inherited the wind. He was discovered by the toilet stall police. One other fellow, well really quite a few, went around grabbing and groping and he/they found a similar result. But then another fellow discovered a pleasurable way to pass time in his egg shaped office with his pants around his ankles and he still prances around with great accolades as does his “stand by your man” woman. One fellow was out hiking; well he was hiking somewhere writing sweet nothings for later publication. Last week we discovered that another one of these fellows, when not engaged in promoting his voluminous health care plan, promoted his paramour for a major government assignment. What? She was qualified so he says. Oh. Well that sure makes it OK.

Have you noticed how silly they all look? Or is it the people who put them there that look silly?

What can we learn from these men with their feet of clay?  Why do we pay them to represent us and they use the power and position to act like high school Lotharios?  What can we do?

Perhaps nothing more than this: Term Limits.  The Term Limit amendment to the US Constitution should contain the following ingredients:

• Limit on cumulative elected tenure in federal position; twelve years would make sense
• Not eligible if you have ever received or intend to receive any form of payment from any form of special interest group
• No pension accrual for any time in elected office.  Let's get the service concept back in "public service"

Girlfriends and the Constitution; strange bedfellows.  Great opportunity for real change.

Does the Constitution Empower Congress to Monetize the Mess?

If we could all just print money when we needed some. Paradise. Garden of Eden. Surely the Founders must have understood this simple concept.  So, why didn't they empower Congress to specifically do it?

America's treasury has been borrowing from anyone with investible funds. As of today the total borrowed is $12,086,172,114,368.23. The treasury separates the total into two categories – public and intragovernmental . The public amount is $7,709,786,826,316.90 and the intragovernmental amount is 4,376,385,288,051.33. The Debt Held by the Public is all federal debt held by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, foreign governments, and other entities outside the United States Government. Intragovernmental Holdings are Government Account Series securities held by Government trust funds, revolving funds, and special funds. The latter category is mostly monies involuntarily paid into social security by US workers for their retirement and then spent by the government on all their countless programs and plans. Don’t kid yourself. The government collects money for “social security” purposes and spends it on current programs, bureaucrats and their massive spending programs. When they spend this money for reasons for which is was not forced out of your and my paycheck, they issue a security and add it to this debt category. More recently the government has just taken to issuing securities and printing currency in order to avoid going into the public market and asking for more and more money from Americans, Chinese and others around the globe. This is what TheFundamentals calls “monetizing” the mess.  It is not an "enumerated power" granted in the US Constitution.

All economics are based on wealth creation. Money is worthless paper if not supported by wealth creation. Wealth creation is growing/extracting something from the earth and/or making something out of what is grown/extracted. When there is wealth creation; paper money has value. When paper money is created without underlying wealth creation there is a house of cards, a hall of mirrors. TheFundamentals calls this a “mess.”

Total debt of $12 trillion has now approached the actual annual total output of the nation’s goods and services. No one really knows when it becomes so much that the pile of debt collapses and no one will lend any more money and those who did lend want their money back (this is the usual collapse sequence in so-called Ponzi schemes.) Mr. Bernard Madoff, TheFundamentals choice for USTreasury Secretary, can and should write a book about the mechanics of his collapse and call it – “I told you so.” When it happens; it happens fast. This current government is thinking that they can always just print more currency to pay back the claims if it ever comes to this collapse situation. This viewpoint only means that they have selectively read history. The damage to a large country, with over 300 million non homogenous citizens, is going to be making some new news.

In comes the new administration with no wealth creation experience. They have no real life experience. They don’t even grasp the situation other than to blame the predecessors. Then they promptly rehire the gang that caused the mess and spend even more money they don’t have for their wars and entitlements and bureaucracies and employees and pensioners. Borrow/Print/Spend/No Debt Repayment. They say they must do this to prevent a collapse. So they pursue fiscal and monetary policies that are proven to produce a collapse with the rationale that they need to do it to avoid a collapse.

Follow the growing debt at http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np  This is the official USTreasury debt website. They call it “the debt to the penny...” They should call it “Monetizing the Mess.”

TheFundamentals published its first posting on Wednesday, February 4, 2009. On that day, the total debt was $10,669,192,308,562.45. Since then, 309 days have passed and the debt has increased by $1,416,980,000,000.00. TheFundamentals asks YOU, the taxpayer, these simple questions – “What do YOU have to show for the $1.4 trillion in debt accumulated in 309 days that YOU have passed along to yourselves and your children and their children?” Would you be willing to forgo any of the things YOU identified above? Are you satisfied with the choice that YOU have made in selecting the government officials and the spending activities they enact? Are YOU willing to replace them with prudent individuals who will enact programs of sacrifice and frugality and start repaying the debt?  Can WE find these individuals who read and understand the Constitution and who will abide by its words and meanings?

Does the Constitution Empower Congress to Bankrupt the United States?

In previous essays and articles, TheFundamentals has cited the USConstitution with emphasis on Article I, Section 8 which specifies the Powers of Congress (please refer to TheFundamentals, June 8, 2009,”Enumerated Powers” for all eighteen powers.) The first sentence of this section gives Congress the power to….pay the Debts. Here is the entire wording of the first of eighteen powers given the US: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States. “To pay debts.” The constitution leads with: to pay debts! The second sentence gives Congress the power to….borrow money on the credit of the United States. It is interesting that the order is first, pay the Debts and, second, borrow money. However, there is no mention of Congress having the power to accumulate debt and not repay it. Also, there is no mention of Congress being able to build debt to a level that would reasonably precipitate a bankruptcy. There is a requirement in the following Section 9 requiring that “…a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.” The founders knew that they had better require transparency even back then.

So, Congress has the power to borrow on the credit of the country (there is no other way to interpret this phrase; it assumes the responsibility of the congress to maintain the “credit” of the United States) and the power to pay Debts and a regular accounting of receipts and expenditures must be published. But, nothing about the power to bankrupt the country.

How about a simple Constitutional Amendment to clear up the issue? Could be worded as follows:

“All Debts of the United States must be repaid within 10 years of their creation and the total of all Debts owed by the United States to persons, entities or agencies, foreign and domestic, cannot exceed, in total, two times the current annual total tax receipts of the United States.”

Pay back the Debts, Congress. It is one of your limited powers and you need to become much more proficient at exercising it. You are not empowered to bankrupt the country. You are responsible for the credit of the country. Stop spending now; pay down the debts that you have created before you bankrupt the country.

Simple Truths and Jobs Czars and BBernanke

"Government has never increased the standard of living of one single human being in civilizations history.  For some reason, that simple truth has evaded everybody."  Steve Wynn, October 11, 2009, Fox News.

Go to:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZcMzL0Hx9M&feature=related  and listen to Mr. Wynn speak simple truths.  Then click on:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdrxfFFeMbc&feature=related and catch a bit more of his simple truths.

For these simple truths, TheFundamentals recommends that Mr. Obama designate Mr. Wynn, America's "JOBS" czar. 

For a simple truth teller, we suggest a visit to:  http://rumbunter.com/2009/12/03/why-we-love-jesper-parnevik-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-elins-twin/  The applicable expression is, "In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king."  Jesper Parnevik is TheFundamentals "one-eyed" man of the month; heck, make it the year inasmuch as we are almost through with 2009.  His brief comments about current events speak volumes.  A visit to this site will also produce one of the most creative explanations of all time for missing a putt.

Last comment (after all it is Friday and there are chores waiting to be done.)  One of Washington DC's premiere failed bureaucrats has been renominated for another four year term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank.   This job is now the resting place for that very special type person who could not hold even an entry level job in a competitive environment.  Picture a bus going off a cliff and the driver jumping out at the last minute.  That driver is AGreenspan.  Now, picture the bus plummeting into the abyss and a passenger on the bus, gleefully grabbing the steering wheel, oblivious to the unfolding events around him.  That is BBernanke.

Two winners - both survivors in competitive environments - SWynn and JParnevik.

Two losers - ne'er-do-wells in the rabbit hole called Washington DC.

The 800# Gorilla in the Room

Today the organizer and over 100 of his really smart friends are going to engage in what sociologists call a “circle jerk” and discuss viewpoints on job creation. Yesterday, TheFundamentals modestly proposed the cancellation of this therapeutical nonsense but, alas, our voice was ignored. So, we boldly go forth with more about the organizers “jobs summit.”

Read the following plan summary to be proposed today by a key meeting participant:

1. Extend the lifeline for jobless workers

2. Rebuild America’s schools, roads and energy systems

3. Increase aid to state and local governments to maintain vital services

4. Fund jobs in our communities

5. Put TARP funds to work for Main Street

Can you guess which special interest group is responsible for this plan? Tick – tock; tick – tock. Okay, time’s up. Here’s a clue. You can read the entire plan at: http://www.aflcio.org/issues/jobseconomy/jobs/americaneedsjobsnow.cfm

The AFL CIO thinks that the best way to create jobs in to keep paying people to not work (#1 above) and spend more money on those ever so productive municipal projects and bureaucrats (#’s 2-4 above) and then set up a bureaucracy to take applications from small and mid size businesses and establish a bunch of rules and employ lawyers to oversee their activities (#5 above.)

Is there anything in the AFL CIO five step plan to encourage competition? Is there anything in the five step plan to get people to leave areas where there are no jobs and move to areas where there are jobs? Is there anything in the plan to limit rules, laws, taxes and other forms of government interference with the small and mid size businesses that create jobs? Is there any mention of product and service quality? Product and service features? Distribution? Limits on lawsuits?

Today, the AFL CIO will present its five step plan. They are the 800# gorilla in the room. Their goofy ideas have already spawned the $787 billion giveaway stimulus spending plan that is paying people to not work and paying thousand of municipal and state bureaucrats to interfere with the natural inclination of free enterprisers to create jobs. The AFL CIO wants more of the same. More government spending and more bureaucrats messing up the jobs creation process. The money the AFL CIO needs to fund its five steps will add to the national debt. More debt will bring the country closer to bankruptcy. The closer the US gets to bankruptcy the fewer jobs will be available. What word(s) define those who wish to bankrupt the country? Foolish? Idiotic? Gorilla?

If Mr. Steve Wynn is not in attendance today, who will tell the AFL CIO to go home, lower their wages and benefits and get to work. Who will tell the organizer to stop government spending and reduce laws, regulations, taxes, lawyers and bureaucratic interference with real job creation? Who will tell the organizer that tax credits tied to new American jobs will produce jobs for a fraction of the cost of government spending programs? Who will speak truth to the gorillas and the fools and the idiots?

Jobs Summit

The US of A does not need a jobs summit; it needs an intervention.  It does not need a group therapy gathering of 100+ to blather about jobs; US free enterprisers are quite good at competing and creating jobs. The government of the US of A needs an intervention. Just as a chronic alcoholic needs an intervention to apply the two by four to the head as a wakeup call so does this government need to listen to US free enterprisers administer a four by eight to their political craniums about how destructive government behavior has destroyed the American competitive machine. And the man equipped to lead the free enterprisers is Steve Wynn. If Steve Wynn http://www.wynnlasvegas.com/ is not in attendance at tomorrows “jobs summit” forget about it. It’s a waste of time. No Wynn means more Obama obfuscation. Obama learned this ploy bowing at the altar of RDaley and Daley’s low IQ sycophants.

Let’s remind ourselves of a fundamental. Competition is the goose producing the golden egg. This is so fundamental that Mr. Obama needs to write it on the foreheads of all his minions so that every time he has a summit or a group therapy session or one of those picture opportunities where he gathers 100 people in a room, he can stay on message – If you want jobs encourage competition. How do you encourage competition? Simple. You control government spending, deficits, taxes, rules, laws, debt and those special interest groups that stifle competition such as unions, trade associations, lawyers and public payroll employees. Don’t like competition. Encourage government, lawyers, regulations, unions and bureaucrats. Pretty simple, huh?

Competition, Mr. Obama is the answer. It’s the solution. Summits, Mr. Obama are the problem. This is a tough one to grasp for a fellow with no real experience. We have terrific empathy Mr. Obama for your naiveté and your lack of basic understanding of competition. But you will not get the right answers from the Chicago people who surround you and no, Mr. Obama, you will not get good advice from the likes of HWaxman, BBernanke, CRangel and NPelosi. They, like you, have no real life experience. Remember Mr. O, TheFundamentals defines Real Life Experience (see TheFundamentals, July 29, 2009) as at least five years working in a competitive environment where you can get fired at any time for no reason. Try running a company – big or small and call on clients and prospects. You will learn fast what it is and how to compete. Or you’ll be fired.

You want real jobs? Jobs than pay taxes; not consume taxes? Just ask Mr. Steve Wynn. Frankly Mr. O, bag the summit. Just meet one on one with Mr. Wynn. Here is his toll free number (877) 321-WYNN. Tell him TheFundamentals recommended him. Make him your “JOBS” czar.

Competition = Jobs = Growth

It’s a fundamental.