Have We Got an Investment for You?

Here is the opportunity –

Risk free, never in history has anyone lost one cent investing in these investments –

Three options:

            Option one – one year – guaranteed return of your capital plus .14%.  Yes, that is correct.  You get your money back in one year and, let’s say you invest $1,000.00, you also get $1.40 of interest* (which will not even pay the taxes on a pack of cigarettes)

            Option two – ten years – guaranteed return of your capital plus 2.00% annual return.  So, let’s say you invest $1,000.00 – you will get an interest check of $20.00 each year for the next 10 years and then you will get all your money back – 10 years from now.  If you did this 10 years ago, inflation would have rendered your $1,000.00 to be worth $798.00.

            Option three – thirty years – guaranteed return of your capital plus 3.2% annual return.   Just think, instead of receiving a paltry $20.00 each year for 10 years, if you commit you money for 30 years, this investment will give you the much larger return in the form of an annual interest payment of $32.00.  Oh, be still my heart.  In case you’re wondering – 30 years renders your one grand worth about $383.00.  Just gotta love those boys at the fed, huh?

Who is the lender willing to offer such magnificent returns for you investment dollars?

Who could possibly have the gall; er, we mean the chutzpah; er, we mean the naiveté; er, we mean the cheapness to offer anyone returns of pennies – or maybe a few dollars for an investment going out 10 or even 30 years? 

No one wants to buy this crap – to put a not so fine edge on it.  You’d have to be certifiably nuts to buy this crap.  Or, in case you still believe that Uncle Sam is your fairy godmother and the Easter bunny and Santa Claus – you must be a democrat.   Are you democrats lining up to buy this investment?

So, who is buying US government bonds, bills and notes with these minuscule rates of return?

Three guesses – first two don’t count.  No, Bill and Hillary are not buying them.  Unless they’re nuts.  No Michelle and Barry are not buying them, ditto.  (Extra credit – no little Timmy and Janet Napolitano and Leon Panetta (aka Mr. Bureaucrat) are not buying them, ditto/ditto.)  No one with a functioning brain cell left would touch this crap.  So who buys it?

Last guess – think the man with the golden touch – the Midas touch – the fellow who knows all – sees all – computes all – models all – and then buys this crap with someone else’s dough.  Pretty courageous isn’t it?  Not with his dough but with someone else’s dough.  And he buys trillions of dollars of this crap. 

So what to do now that you know who buys this crap?  Oops, we didn’t name the buyer we got so excited describing him – he is the man with the plan – none other than Barry Obama’s, aka Mr. Debt’s, man with the dough – helicopter Ben Bernanke.

Fast forward to today – Ben owns $3 trillion of this crap and – you will not  believe what we are about to tell you – Ben is buying more – a lot more - $80 billion each month – he wants to buy at least one more trillion this year alone.

Certifiable?  Schizoid?  Insane?  Nutso?  You tell us?  We wouldn’t touch this crap with our worst enemy’s money. 

But let’s stay focused.  Ben must dump this crap soon.  Sell it to someone.  Who will buy this crap?  Will anyone ask Ben that question?  Nope.  Will anyone think that these low rates can last?  Ask Ben that.  Will you?  Nope.   So what is Ben going to do?  We’ll tell you what he is going to do – he is about to bankrupt the Federal Reserve Bank.  Or print more money to pretend that he didn’t.

Bernie Madoff and Ben Bernanke – two peas in a pod.  Boy they sure had a good thing going for a while didn’t they?  As they say in some circles – such a deal.

 

*In case you were wondering, your thousand bucks would have been worth $984.00 when you got it back after one year – and that’s if you buy the government’s inflation numbers.

Skinny Dipping

Our great leader, Mr. Obama - henceforth referred to as Mr. Debt, has embraced an old and quite rich man from Omaha, Nebraska – Warren Buffett.  He has embraced him because Warren figured out that a government spending lots of money it did not have was good for business – particularly Warren’s business and Mr. Debt likes people who embrace his propaganda.  This does not make Warren a bad guy, just a self focused guy, but we are not here today to analyze Warren’s motivations as much as we are to analyze one of Warren’s tidbits of wisdom.

Warren said something like this – you don’t know who is swimming without a bathing suit until the water recedes.  Now we think what Warren had in mind was that those who are exposed usually aren’t exposed until something changes or goes bad.

Mr. Debt and his chief propagandist, David Axelrod, missed this message – they didn’t miss Warren’s message about raising taxes on the well to do and spending gobs of money on Warren’s businesses, however.  Selective message acceptance may well turn out to be Mr. Debt’s undoing but we think there will be such a long list of suspects for his undoing that prioritizing the causes as he begins term two is a waste of time.

Back to this bathing suit metaphor and its applicability to Mr. Debt’s government.  Obama’s federal government is swimming without a bathing suit on and has been for some time.  This risqué behavior – let’s just call it “skinny dipping” for the remainder of this lecture, is not a democrat problem – it is a bipartisan problem.  Federal government skinny dipping has been building for a long time and, over this long time, the water may have gone out a bit, but never quite far enough to expose that area north of the knees and south of the navel.  Until a few years ago.  Then some of the swimmers panicked when the water receded a bit – they blew the whistle out of fear.  And forced everyone out of the water.  Those millions of well padded government employees who had been out there naked were suddenly exposed.   We could all see that they were not properly dressed – we really mean trained, managed, disciplined, effective, and productive.  They were inept.

You see, when the water is high and all are covered, no one knows about the bathing suit issue – or, to speak more plainly, when times are good a non functioning government is of little concern because everyone focuses on the positive.  When times are bad, the non functioning government suddenly becomes very visible to all – that area north of the knees and south of the navel is exposed for all to see.  And it is not a pretty sight.

We have previously observed that short of an alchemists dream solution – turning water into oil or platinum trillion dollar coins, our skinny dipping government is going to continue to have its privates on display until one of two things happen – financial disaster and shutdown, or, financial shutdown and disaster.   There is a third possibility but it would involve wearing a bathing suit – getting rid of all the bad and wasteful government spending schemes.   We know one thing for sure – bathing suits are not in vogue for the next four years.

Making Money Off Debt

Let us imagine for a minute that you are an American propagandist – actually own a company in the business of figuring out how best to sell something to an audience and you are not restrained in any way – don’t have to tell the truth, much less the whole truth, about what you are selling or what the other gals and guys are selling – you can literally say anything you wish to about your product, makes no difference if what you say is true or accurate or complete.   And you can say anything you wish to about the other product(s).   Makes no difference if what you say is factual or even accurate.  The libel and slander laws essentially do not apply.

Now while you are doing this figuring out how to sell your product you also are in the business of making money – lots of money.  We are not talking hundreds of thousands of dollars for yourself and your partners, we are talking millions – lots of millions of dollars just for managing a message and getting that managed message out into the media and be free of consequences in the process. 

Almost sounds too good to be true doesn’t it?

Now, let’s get specific – your product is deficit spending and debt – and not just a little debt – the biggest, largest, hugest ever pile of debt.  That is what you want your audience to buy – one big stinking pile of debt.  The other guys are selling little or no deficits and debt – what used to be called “balanced budgets” and living within ones means and paying as we go. 

Which product would you rather be selling?  Deficits and debt or discipline – balanced budgets?   Remember, you can be undisciplined in selling undisciplined behavior – say almost anything you want to say!

AKPD Message and Media is selling deficits, debt and the one sure thing that comes from their debt and deficits that they will never mention – destruction.  And here is how they plan to sell you on debt – they will say the other guys and gals – the ones who are selling balanced budgets and discipline are bad people.  No one likes them.  They stand in the way of change.  And hope.  And moving forward.  They are the unpopular ones.  They are the bad guys.   They don’t care about the old and sick – the poor and lame.  Don’t vote for them – vote for us – the good guys – the ones with hope and change going for us – the ones who care.

They will never mention debt – the burden of debt – the ultimate outcome of debt which is destruction.  They will talk about hope and change; moving forward and the bad people – the ones who stand in their way – the republicans – the ones who suggest discipline but we doubt that AKPD will ever mention discipline.

How much selling will AKPD have to do to make it work?  Not much – they already have a 51% coalition of blacks, Latinos and white gals who don’t seem to care about deficits and debt.   Why don’t they care you may ask?  Complicated answer because not all have the same reason(s) – some think it is their due – their time to get a piece of the pie regardless of consequence – some see it as too good to be true but why question free stuff; grab it while it’s there and some just don’t think – they just do.  They have been trained to do what they are told.

Here is our question?  No, it’s not about who will win, at least not today.  We would like to know how much AKPD is being paid to sell deficits and destruction under the guise of blaming the republicans for everything?    That’s all.   AKPD is managing a message and darn near the entire media complex buys it (at least the portion we call – the Hollywood media) and they have set out to change the world - and here is what their founder says about change:

“CHANGE IS SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO FIGHT FOR.  Change is never easy.  We are going to have to work for every vote.  The change we need is worth the struggle.  It’s worth the fight.”  – David Axelrod, Founder

We get it David – it’s worth the fight.  We just want to know how much is it worth to you? 

 

The Obama Legacy - DEBT

 We watched the fellow with the “message and media” company on TV the other day and could not help but observe how silent he was – the others around him were vocal and vibrant – offering more “inside the beltway” nonsense about this and that and other foolishness that has no relationship with any American actually working or trying to work or saving money or raising children or taking care of aging parents.

The propagandist Axelrod was very quiet – and it does not take a lot of deep realization to realize why – the second batch of four years has begun and “hope and change” may still pass over his lips but, unless you are a big fan of mayors Daley and Emanuel and congressman Pelosi and governor Christie, you know that the game is over – he, their glorious leader, Obama, should have exited and not done years 5 – 8.

Years 5 – 8 will be a disaster.  Yes, mom and dad and grandma and grandpa; a frigging, unmitigated, full blown, up to his ears, failed presidency.

No one will hang on the affordable care act or the gays in the military enlightenment or joy, to the world, boys can marry boys and girls can marry girls – oh, hallelujah, deliverance is upon us.  Sorry, coalition of the wanting – you may even yourselves be a tad surprised at how this nonsense disappears in the face of burgeoning, burdensome, overwhelming debt.

The child Axelrod was thinking – you could see his withdrawal and his ponderance, about the simple fact that change and hope or vice versa is just rhetoric – debt is permanent, lasting, and very, very much on the minds of the adults  who have to deal with it tomorrow and the day after.  You see these foolish men and their myopic economists will move on but they will not be taking the debt with them.

Debt does not rise above itself on the wings of hope and debt does not disappear in the winds of change.  Debt is a real stinker and all Axelrod and his boss have to offer is four more years of rising, geometrically, ever-rising debt.  And even the child Axelrod knows he is in trouble with the few remaining adults in the room who will have to deal with the debt.

They have not fixed one problem in the American economy – not one.  They have not saved the automobile industry or the banking industry or made the waters safe for middle class Americans to invest and compete.  They have talked as if they have but the only remaining residue of their four years about to become the seemingly endless fifth year followed by six and seven and then finally eight is –

 

DEBT

They have spent, borrowed and printed us into the chains of debt while others have cut back; rebuilt their economies and actually encouraged wealth creation – the simple act of making something.  God love these inaugurated clowns because the historians sure as all heck will not.  We think you will be seeing much less of Axelrod in the months to come.  Obama may find himself escaping to the golf course or Hawaii or wherever, whatever.  But one thing will not be going away – great leader’s legacy – great leader’s droppings – one huge steaming pile of –

DEBT

"...the backs of our children and grandchildren."

Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about America’s debt problem.  The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies.

Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 trillion to $8.6 trillion. That is ‘‘trillion’’ with a ‘‘T.’’ That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers.

And over the next 5 years, between now and 2011, the President’s budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion. Numbers that large are sometimes hard to  understand. Some people may wonder why they matter. Here is why:

This year, the Federal Government will spend $220 billion on interest. That is more money to pay interest on our national debt than we’ll spend on Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. That is more money to pay interest on our debt this year than we will spend on education, homeland security, transportation, and veterans benefits combined. It is more money in one year than we are likely to spend to rebuild the devastated gulf coast in a way that honors the best of America.

And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on.

Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America’s priorities. Instead, interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans—a debt tax that Washington doesn’t want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies.  But we are not doing that. Despite repeated efforts by Senators CONRAD and FEINGOLD, the Senate continues to reject a return to the commonsense Pay-go rules that used to apply. Previously, Pay-go rules applied both to increases in mandatory spending and to tax cuts. The Senate had to abide by the commonsense budgeting principle of balancing expenses and revenues.

Unfortunately, the principle was abandoned, and now the demands of budget discipline apply only to spending.  As a result, tax breaks have not been paid for by reductions in Federal spending, and thus the only way to pay for them has been to increase our deficit to historically high levels and borrow more and more money. Now we have to pay for those tax breaks plus the cost of borrowing for them. Instead of reducing the deficit, as some people claimed, the fiscal policies of this administration and its allies in Congress will add more than $600 million in debt for each of the next 5 years. That is why I will once again cosponsor the Pay-go amendment and continue to hope that my colleagues will return to a smart rule that has worked in the past and can work again.

Our debt also matters internationally.  My friend, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, likes to remind us that it took 42 Presidents 224 years to run up only $1 trillion of foreign- held debt. This administration did more than that in just 5 years. Now, there is nothing wrong with borrowing from foreign countries. But we must remember that the more we depend on foreign nations to lend us money, the more our economic security is tied to the whims of foreign leaders whose interests might not be aligned with ours.

Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally.  Leadership means that ‘‘the buck stops here.’’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. (emphasis added by TheFundamentals)

America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.  I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.

SENATE March 16, 2006

Source:  http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2006-03-16/pdf/CREC-2006-03-16-pt1-PgS2236.pdf

 

This Promiscuous President

He lectures others about financial responsibility – don’t dally with the debt limit – the country’s financial standing – our obligation to pay our bills on time while spending trillions that no one has or will ever have – while piling up debt that can never be repaid – while running a government that has an economic track record of accomplishment languishing in the highest ever number of continued unemployed in modern history and the highest ever levels of unemployment among his own community and particularly the youth in his own neighborhood.

He lectures white people about guns and violence and crime while ignoring record levels of youth violence, shootings and murder within blocks of his own personal residence.  He would never think of walking the streets of his neighborhood without a platoon strength of taxpayer funded armed guards for protection.   

He supports birth control for young women and abortion on demand – all paid for by the declining number of citizens who still have jobs.  When tax revenues fall short to pay the “women’s health care” invoice, he borrows more and orders up truckloads of printed currency from his only too willing lemmings at US treasury and the federal reserve.

He supports gun control legislation to create more criminals out of law abiding citizens under the charade of reducing violence when he comes from a city, county and state with the most aggressive gun control laws in the entire country.  What have those laws produced?  More violence and more youth killings and more despair in his own town than anywhere in the nation.  His lecture with these facts – nothing.  He acts as if more laws making more law abiding citizens criminals will change the situation.  He is too afraid to lecture his own people – his own voters about personal and financial responsibility and discipline; education, work skills, reliability and dependability and instead acts as if it is a country wide problem.  It’s not; it’s a problem in his community.

He supports public education run by unionized personnel for all but his children and the children of those who have brigades of taxpayer paid armed escorts to accompany their children to schools where even more armed guards are deployed on site.  Yet he dismisses a suggestion that everyday folk and their children have even a modicum of the same safety in the schools their kids attend.

He will not travel anywhere without armed guards carrying automatic weapons while telling unarmed citizens to trust government.  Trust government?  It’s not government paying for his guards, its citizens who seek their own safety and survival.

The definition of promiscuous is not limited to reckless sexual behavior, ala Clinton – it means lacking standards and values; random, indiscriminate, confused behavior.  Mr. Obama is a man without standards and values.  He preaches to those who seek to correct improper behavior – self elevating while continuing a pattern of irresponsible conduct.  He acts as if he is a role model when he lives the existence of one with no financial standards – no fiscal discipline and no sense of obligation to repay debts.  Why is this man not lecturing us about balancing the budget; reining in federal spending; repaying the debt?

It does not matter where you examine his “do as I say, not as I do” form of leadership – deficits, debt, no accomplishments in his own neighborhood or town or county or state – just more debt and more unemployment and more children born to children with no family formation and no pattern of education or discipline – and more violence and more anti social behavior; wherever you examine his record it will display an indisputable pattern of deterioration.  He has graduated from a bad city/county record to a bad state record and has now brought this record of deterioration to the entire country.

Mr. Obama is a confused man – he is not driven by values and standards – he is driven by momentary satisfaction – and by a vanity not present in disciplined individuals.  He is the president of the United States and he is a promiscuous man.  He is America’s promiscuous president.

AKPD Message and Media – American Propagandists

“CHANGE IS SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO FIGHT FOR.  Change is never easy.  We are going to have to work for every vote.  The change we need is worth the struggle.  It’s worth the fight.”  – David Axelrod, Founder

“At AKPD, we’re proud of our history. And we think when you get to know a little about where we have been, you’ll have a better sense of the unique strategy, discipline and creativity we bring to our work.

David Axelrod began his career as a journalist, and before long he was the Chicago Tribune’s political editor and columnist, the youngest person in the paper’s history to hold those positions.

But Axelrod’s passion was politics. He left the Trib and managed Paul Simon’s upset victory for the U.S. Senate in 1984. Following that race he founded Axelrod and Associates, which later became AKPD Message and Media.

He launched the firm with a mission—to provide superior strategic and communications advice and advertising for Democratic candidates and causes, and to do so with a sense of purpose and passion for ideals that underlie Democratic campaigns.  (emphasis added by TheFundamentals)

His expertise as a journalist proved invaluable and he assembled a team of experts to advise candidates on news coverage, fighting campaigns in the papers and on the evening news as a prelude to masterful campaign advertising. John Kupper left a press secretary post on Capitol Hill to join Axelrod in this new venture, and for the past 20 years Kupper has been widely recognized as one of the nation’s experts in crafting and delivering campaign messages.

Axelrod’s vision of a unique approach to political consulting was put to work in dozens of races throughout the country. And as the firm stacked up win after win, the political world began to take notice. Axelrod was dubbed the most successful political consultant “between the coasts.”

As the firm grew, new talent joined the cause. David Plouffe, a successful Executive Director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and manager of Presidential and U.S. Senate campaigns, joined the firm as Senior Strategist and managed Washington, D.C. operations. John Del Cecato, a seasoned press secretary and veteran of battles in New York City and throughout the country, caught Axelrod’s attention and demonstrated a talent for writing and producing ads.

With a powerhouse team and a proven approach, bigger races and bigger wins followed. Governors, Senators and candidates for President looked to AKPD for message and media expertise. And the firm’s clients kept winning.

In 2007 the AKPD team was faced with a daunting challenge. As Americans grew weary with the Bush era, an unprecedented hunger for hope and change swept the nation. Illinois’ brilliant and charismatic junior Senator captured the nation’s attention. Axelrod had an early sense of the profound discontent driving the mood of the nation, and like others, he saw qualities in Senator Obama that fit the needs of the country at this extraordinary moment.

Senator Obama became a candidate, and hired Plouffe as Campaign Manager and Axelrod as Chief Strategist. A campaign was born. Axelrod and Plouffe reached out to Larry Grisolano, a leading California consultant and a veteran of Presidential campaigns, to serve as Senior Strategist, directing all opinion research and paid media for the campaign. Kupper helped with state and national strategy and helped direct message strategy for speakers at the Democratic National Convention. Del Cecato wrote and produced some of the campaign’s most memorable and effective television ads, and helped develop the campaign’s overall message strategy. Del Cecato’s ads captured the unique voice and charisma of the candidate and delivered a sharp compelling message.

The rest of the story is well known.”  

This entire posting is sourced from:  http://akpdmedia.com/

An Essay on Propaganda

May we start with a question  – what first comes to your mind when we say or you hear the word “propaganda?”  And by that we mean – a negative connotation, perhaps?  Positive?  A specific incident or example (e.g. Nazi propaganda about Jews?)  Political advertisements?  Government announcements?  TV advertising?

Just catalog your response in your memory as we proceed, please.

In order to write this essay we went to a website – www.preservearticles.com and searched the word – propaganda.  Our purpose was to seek out and encapsulate what others have had to say about this word and its meaning to them.  And then share it with our readers.

First, we ran into an article itemizing the “agencies” of social control meaning the influencing components of our society.   Here they are:  family, neighborhood, church, religion, the school, law, administration, force, public opinion, propaganda.  Here is their description of propaganda –

“Propaganda is a systematic attempt by a individual or individuals to control the attitudes of people through suggestions and consequently, their actions. With the development of means of mass communication, propaganda has become an effective means of social control. The state controls the people through this powerful means of social control namely propaganda.” 

Source:  http://www.preservearticles.com/201102224106/10-important-agencies-of-social-control.html

A different essayist summarized the “agencies” of propaganda, meaning the various distribution forms and outlets for propaganda  –

Press, platform (speeches), broadcasting, cinema, educational institutions, legislature, political parties.  Source:  http://www.preservearticles.com/201106278680/7-different-agencies-which-can-mould-public-opinion.html

TheFundamentals does not entirely subscribe to the above definition, or frankly even the seven “agencies” listed above, because they are too limited and do not reflect the most basic of all agencies – those of economic survival.   In other words – job, workplace, employer, fellow employees, union organizations, corporate culture, etc.   Also, there are factors in the nature or content of propaganda that are too important to be lumped in the ambiguous phrase – “control the attitudes of people through suggestions….”  So, with this reservation in mind, we went to an essay that deals very specifically with the workings of propagandists and their techniques and goals. 

The following quotes come from this essay about the workings of propaganda in a society or culture (source:  http://www.preservearticles.com/201108019649/685-words-essay-on-value-of-propaganda.html)

“The most effective propaganda is often completely truthful, but some propaganda presents facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented.

Propaganda has become more common in political contexts, in particular to refer to certain efforts sponsored by governments, political groups, but also often covert interests.

Propaganda, in a narrower use of the term, connotes deliberately false or misleading information that supports or furthers a political (but not only) cause or the interests of those with power. The propagandist seeks to change the way people understand an issue or situation for the purpose of changing their actions and expectations in ways that are desirable to the interest group.

What sets propaganda apart from other forms of advocacy is the willingness of the propagandist to change people's understanding through deception and confusion rather than persuasion and understanding. The leaders of an organization know the information to be one sided or untrue, but this may not be true for the rank and file members who help to disseminate the propaganda.

Common media for transmitting propaganda messages include news reports, government reports, historical revision, junk science, books, leaflets, movies, radio, television, and posters. In the case of radio and television, propaganda can exist on news, current-affairs or talk-show segments, as advertising or public-service announce "spots" or as long-running advertorials.”

In our next several essays we are going to see if we can create an understanding about the state of propaganda as it exists in the United States of America today.  We will also look at some of the implications of controlling messages and media for hidden purposes – hidden interests – those who fall into those groups mentioned above – “...political cause or the interests of those with power.”

This is a lot to digest in one essay – a look at the propaganda process – and the agencies of social control in a society – and the workings of propagandists.  We think of propaganda as a manipulation of both message and media - perhaps for good purposes; perhaps not.  We hope these essays will help us understand propaganda; perhaps even change the way we experience propaganda.  More to come.

 

Oops, there goes Joe Biden under the bus….

Best to sing those title words to the music of “High Hopes” – as in “oops there goes another rubber tree plant…”

What can one say that hasn’t already been said about poor old Joe?

Not too bright.  Bit of a snatcher when it comes to other people’s speeches and thoughts.  Promoted way beyond his intellectual processes?   

Joe is pretty good at parroting the party line – most certainly absorbs the APKD propaganda quickly and can usually regurgitate at the right moment – although we have all witnessed his malapropisms when the timing/location/subject matter is not lined up properly by his handlers or he had a few too many stops along the campaign trail.

But why would this hack politician want the job of vice president?  Well it is a silly question.  We can think of a lot of reasons but none quite as applicable as the Peter Principle – most rise to the job that is beyond their capabilities.  And Joe is America’s poster boy for the lack of meritocracy in our politics.

Joe used to snitch other people’s speeches – their lines, their thoughts, their concepts and pass them off as original thoughts of his own.  But he got busted several times and he seems to have stopped that bad boy behavior.  So, just as things are going along quietly, his boss flips him the one job that even Joe may see as a big minefield.  Too bad Hillary already took the call in sick approach otherwise Joe could have feigned some form of passing illness.  Do you think the fearless Hillary (remember when she flew into that imaginary war zone, dodging bullets?) will help Joe on this issue?

You see what Joe has been asked to do is just a little thing like taking on the vast majority of law abiding Americans who intend to keep their weaponry regardless of how APKD propagandists describe such weaponry.  Brave Barry Obama decided it was time to clean up the “violence” problem in white America (clever on his part – mask the real violence problem in America is his own back yard – literally his African American neighbors who kill each other at 6 times the pace of white America) and he has assigned Joe the task of accomplishing this job by taking away “assault” weapons from white America – by the way APKD has told Barry to call these guns – weapons of war.  Bully it up a bit – makes you think of drones and missiles and RPG's and anti tank weapons and so on –  why not – usually works with ABC, NBC, PBS and CBS.

Well, back to Joe.  Barry knows he has an issue to ride for a while.  But he is afraid of this issue so he flips the job to Joe and you know Joe is wondering – WTF?  What do I do now?  Can I go on vacation?  Can I get one of those easy concussions and take a month or so off?  WTF am I supposed to do with this job?  Cripes, this isn’t what I had in mind for the next four years.

Well, Joe here is what we would suggest.  Google it and see if someone else has been put in this spot by their boss and see what they said/did.  Then copy it.  Worked in the past.  May just work again.  But remember Joe, your job is to carry Barry's water or whatever other slop he puts in that bucket.  Your old buddy Chuck Hagel may be having similar thoughts today (clever Barry decided to name this “republican” to cut defense spending – let’s see how that one works out.)  In the meantime, good luck, Joe – watch out for the wheels on that bus.

Cure for the New York/New Jersey Beach Boy Blues

The beach boys we are speaking about are not old California wannabe surfers.  They are two hot shot, east coast politicians with a new found expectation of free federal money (is there any other kind?) to rebuild their ocean and water front coastal home, business and infrastructure improvements that found themselves directly in the predictable path of a low pressure natural occurrence named, appropriately, Sandy.  We once knew a tempestuous gal of the same name.  As we recall, she was a tad costly but never in the 10 digit category.

So, back to these two boys and their whining expectations.  They have tallied the damage and now are sitting on their hands; well in one case; hand sitting could produce significant carpal bone damage, wailing about the failure of Uncle Sam to send them some money.  Oh boo-hoo-hoo, they just can’t get anything done without some of that always available, low or no cost, federal money.  But we, at TheFundamentals, have a plan - a cure – a simple way out of this fix they are in and it can be accomplished with just a little effort from within their own state boundaries.

In New York, there are several very large public employee pension funds – ditto for the home state of the morbidly obese, used-to-be belt tightening and always ready with a simple answer – Chris Christie (more about him later and our major mea culpa to our readers for massively misleading them about this character.   When we make a mistake, it is a big, fat one; that’s for sure.)  Now these pension funds are overflowing with lots of taxpayer dollars which always seek good investments.  And what better investment that rebuilding the homes, businesses and infrastructure of the New York and New Jersey beachfront communities?  By investing their billions of dollars in these home projects they will not only guarantee the ongoing availability of those high paying, highly benefitted, and really well pensioned “public jobs” but they will also rebuild the tax bases in the Sandy-damaged communities.  So, you see, it is a win – win – win; the last win is for us federal taxpayers who don’t reach in our pockets to waste; 'er, we mean, invest our hard earned dollars in boondoggle projects staffed with overpaid, underworked unionized labor and their supportive friends with names like Soprano, Bonanno and DiMeo.

What we wonder about is why are Cuomo and Christie so anxious to beg the feds for something when they could do it on their own?  This brings us to our massive mea culpa.  We screwed up – really big time and we apologize to our readers.  We bought into this Christie guy’s rhetoric – his bologna – his tough talk.  In our defense, we offer this quote from him:

“We must and we will shrink our government, and that means making some tough choices, tightening our belts.”  CChristie, before le deluge

We have learned a lesson.  Frankly it is a mistake to ever anticipate politician’s actions before they are tested in trying times.  Both these guys are politicians – not businessmen.  We don’t think this policy need be applied to private sector individuals, who have proven themselves in difficult circumstances, but we bought into Christies bluster and his bulliness and we were dead wrong – about him and his commitment to personal responsibility and good fiscal governance.

In the meantime, and this really is wishful thinking, the feds should tell Christie and Cuomo to use their own pension funds and stop whining.  Get to work.  Both have the money in their backyard – use it.

 

The Deal

Here are the key components included in the new deal –

·         Marginal tax rates increase to 39.6%, up from 35%, for individuals earning $400,000.00+ and for couples earning $450,000.00+

·         Dividend and capital gain tax rates go up to 20% from 15% for the same earnings levels as above

·         Establish a permanent tax rate of 40% on estate values exceeding $5 million

·         Index the alternative minimum tax for inflation

·         Phase out exemptions and deductions for individuals earning $250,000.00 and couples $300,000.00

·         So-called payroll tax (social security premiums) goes back to 6.2% on individual earnings up to $113,700.00

·         Supplemental unemployment payments extended for one year

·         Postpones 27% reduction in payments to Medicare providers (if you haven’t seen this one, read about it – your president was willing to cut medical payments up to 27% for those who paid into the system in order to provide medical coverage to those who didn’t pay) 

What is not included in the new deal? 

·         Basically nothing to reduce government spending which is the cause of the deficits and the escalating debt

Such a deal, huh?  The deal passed the senate by a vote of 89 – 8.  They thought it was a good deal.  This got us to thinking of another recent good deal – investing in Bernie Madoff.  If one were to draw a comparison and look at the senate through Bernie’s eyes, as a source of new “investors,” Bernie would conclude that he had 89 certain suckers.  Of the eight who did not vote for the new deal, 2 didn’t think it was generous enough – so Bernie would call these two – super suckers and he would just jack up the bogus return numbers and they would be on board the next day.  Which leaves 6 senators, out of 99, who see the new deal for what it is – a Ponzi scheme.  The world’s biggest Ponzi scheme run by Obama, Bernanke and 89 senators and, just in, 256 members of the house.  They voted for the Ponzi scheme too.

It’s a brand new year but same old stuff.  Here is some wording that should’ve/could’ve been added to the bill that would have given it some discipline:

“Over the next four years, the budget deficit must be brought to zero by reducing spending to meet revenues according to the following schedule:

Fiscal 2013 – no more than $900 billion deficit

Fiscal 2014 – no more than $600 billion deficit

Fiscal 2015 – no more than $300 billion deficit

Fiscal 2016 – zero deficit – BALANCED BUDGET

Taxes can be raised on those earning less than $250,000.00 at any time during this four year period.  No additional taxes on the $250,000.00+ group and no new revenue schemes permissible.   All deficit reductions must come from spending.  If they do not occur, anyone receiving a payment from the US government in any form will be taxed up to 25% of the amount of the payment until the deficit reduction target is attained.  Such taxation will be calculated by a independent third party (we suggest Google, Amazon or IBM using escrow accounts) and applied equally across the board – politicians, employees, contractors, food stamps, etc. – everyone but social security and Medicare recipients because they have mostly funded their payments through years of premium payments.”

 What does this deal mean?  Endless harping and future propagandization going forward with the Obama gang claiming the high road (?) of more government spending (they will call it making investments) and protecting the non taxpayers (more food stamps and other welfare payments) and more deficits and more debt.  We can safely say that most democrats don’t care a whit about the debt that is being acquired endlessly and they never will.  It is up to the republicans to make the case and make it again and again and it will be a difficult job with the AKPD propaganda machine fully blaming the republicans for everything – past, present and future.

And for this reason alone, we thank the few republicans who did stand up for discipline – we think they are in a thankless position – they do not have a good propaganda machine to counter the AKPD manipulation of message and media and they do not have the support of the mainstream or Hollywood media in their efforts to reduce government spending; reduce deficits and reduce the growth of debt.

 

It is time to call this new deal what it is - war on America's taxpaying, middle class.  There is only one rule of engagement in this war - take no prisoners.  If you find yourself in this group, a possible resolution for the New Year could be - Look out for yourself and your family.  Your government is set on destroying your assets; your income; your net worth.