America's Most Powerful Democrat(s)

Who are America’s most powerful Democrats?  Regardless of position or party affiliation.  Who are those few folk who are delivering the package – the goods – the results – for the agenda of the Democrat party?

That is the subject of today’s essay.  We took a poll, just like the Democrats do and just like their media advisers advise them to do.  The poll returned the following big names as the most powerful Democrats in America today:

1.     Barack Obama (of course)

2.    Joe Biden (not, of course)

3.    Harry Reid (makes sense)

4.    Nancy Pelosi (ditto)

5.    Rahm Emanuel (does not make sense)

6.    Dick Durbin (makes even less sense)

7.    Chuck Schumer (now we are at the bottom of the sensibility range)

Some others who got a few votes – George Soros, Hillary and Bill (we have a special pictorial essay devoted to them coming up soon), James Carville, Al Sharpton, Warren Buffett, Valerie Jarrett and Keith Alderman(?).  We didn’t list them because we cannot be sure if their names were being proposed seriously or someone was dissing our polling effort.

In any event that’s about it – not exactly a lineup that will flutter the heartbeats of a culture focused on self involvement; self comfort and self satisfaction.

TheFundamentals now offers its own candidates for this position – most powerful Democrats in America today.  The list is brief; very, very brief:

1.    Ben Bernanke

2.    David Axelrod

That’s it folks.

Actually we are not certain that we even listed them in the proper order. We can make the argument that David is the key Democrat in America today.  His propaganda machine has rendered the opposition, such as it is, impotent.  David defines republicans instead of republicans defining themselves.  In so doing, David has been able to produce a small margin of victory for those listed above and their minions.  While accomplishing that needed result, he has successfully diverted attention from every meaningful situation affecting America today.  Without David’s accomplishments, the republicans would be meandering around the halls of power trying to figure out what to do and who to pay off for their electoral successes.  So, is David the most powerful Democrat in America today?

Well, Ben gives him a good run for his money – pun very much intended.  David has made millions doing what he is very good at – but Ben has the real money.  He controls the world’s reserve currency which is a fiat currency and regardless of that always precarious situation that accompanies any reserve currency not based on anything tangible, Ben has financed the unlimited promiscuity of the people that David got elected.  Without Ben, America would, perhaps, have been on the road to repair while the world languished in their excessiveness and promiscuity.  But, Ben stepped in – actually was terrified of taking a little heat from David, and printed US currency to buy up the debt produced as the politicians and bureaucrats, saluting their public employee union masters, spend at the rate of almost $10 billion each day to hold onto their very precarious positions.

Ben is leaving his job soon (February 2014) – so don’t worry – the stuff will not hit the fan for a few more months.  David has already left – he now works for America's biggest propaganda (‘er, we mean communications/information distribution) company.  You know it as NBC/Comcast or its new name – Xfinity which we think was chosen to accomplish one task – most Americans hate Comcast so what does a massive monopoly do when faced with the reputation for overpriced, lousy service and product?  Yep, change their name.  David now works for America’s communication monolith – he now has the biggest, loudest most ubiquitous microphone/Internet delivery system to get the Democrat message out.  Ben is just leaving – getting out of town before his fiat, reserve currency house of cards collapses.

David is America’s most powerful Democrat.  Watch him on America’s information and delivery network – Comcast (‘er, we mean Xfinity.)  Maybe Ben will get a job there too!

 

American Jurisprudence - Florida Style

If you can be led by those who determine programming at Comcast/NBC, you are getting a close up, daily, of the trial of one young man who killed an even younger, young man.  At issue, perhaps, is the circumstances of the killing.  The victim can't speak - the survivor claims self defense.

Did you know that not all that long ago, just three years ago, in the same state, a bit further south, a very similar situation arose late one night?  The news story of this event can be read at -  http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100420/article/4201060

In this case, the victim also was not available for the trial.  As a matter of fact there never was a trial.  You see, the survivor was a police officer who decided to pursue the person(s) who rang his doorbell late at night and then ran away - after grabbing his gun which he used on the unarmed prankster/victim when he claimed his life was endangered.  That is all it takes - the simple claim that "I felt I was in danger" and - no public hearing; no trial; no nothing.  If you are a police officer.

Is that right?  This obvious double standard?  Is it wrong?  This obvious double standard?

We don't know - frankly we don't have a clue (pun intended.)  The clues all support the conclusion favorable to those who perform the self examination (bureaucrats call this an "investigation.") 

What we do know is that in the "black community" this so-called "double standard" is on trial today; the one being vigorously covered by Comcast/NBC.

When we read the US constitution we do not see any provision for any double standard in our legal system - anywhere in the country.  Most certainly Florida is not permitted a legal system that treats one situation different from a similar situation.  We see the opposite - equal justice under the law for all.  But, obviously, there is a double standard.

We do not know if this politician/bureaucrat/union boss/prosecutor/judge decreed set of "double standards" in American jurisprudence is a reason, perhaps even a major reason, for the breakdown in much of America's black, minority, struggling communities in almost every state in the country.  We do know that those in America's black communities who can get away from this and other circumstances of the blighted black communities do so - they do so in large numbers.  It has happened in Detroit - is happening now as we speak in Chicago - and will continue to happen across the land.  The distrust of America's legal system is systemic in these struggling communities. 

By the way, the victim in the police shooting noted above (the one you probably never heard about) was white.  But you didn't even know that did you?  Why didn't Comcast/NBC cover that story?  We know why they didn't cover the trial - there never was one.  We also have a pretty good idea why they ignored the story.  Do you?

One other thing we don't get about this whole situation - why does the black community, almost to the point of unanimity - those who escape the ghettos and those who don't, continue to offer electoral support to the very same cabal - the politicians/bureaucrats/union bosses/prosecutors/judges/Hollywood media who impose this "double standard" on them?  Do you understand why they do this?

Pork Belly Futures

A pork belly is a term of convenience, first coined by pig farmers and commodity traders to designate that part of the porcine creature from whence comes bacon.  Pork bellies are a mainstay of the Asian diet.  The Chinese love pork bellies – so do others.

Now what, on earth do pork bellies and bacon have to do with an essay website devoted primarily to financial and fiscal responsibility?  To financial and fiscal discipline?  To living within ones means?

Please read on.

Why are the Chinese buying America’s largest pork producer – Smithfield Foods?  Well the Chinese are several things for certain – they are numerically huge – over one billion of them and they are growing.  Two, they are forward planners, something Americans have never developed the patience for – it was once upon a time called long range planning.  For the Chinese a thirty or forty or even fifty year time period has the same relative time and attention span that an American teenager will assign to a long awaited social event occurring this coming weekend.  The Chinese know that things unfold over years – over decades – over centuries.

Oh, and one more thing about the Chinese – they love pork – the belly, the loin and even the parts closer to the ground.  They eat more pounds of pork per person – a lot more – today that we Americans eat of our rooting, snouty four legged friends.

So when the Chinese do something involving a group of people that they do not particularly admire and envy one could sit back, observe, think about it and maybe learn something.  We prefer to do that “sit back, observe and think about it” activity in the form of essays – and asking some questions.

So, here goes with our questions:

1.    How would you like to be Japanese today? You disarmed 70 years ago – were forced to accept the occupation of American troops.  They became your protector.  They wrote your constitution – established their form of governance on your island(s) nation and they have insulated you from external threats from those who may harbor ill will or ill something toward you and your past imperial designs and behavior.  One of those who may harbor ill toward you is that looming giant – that massive mountain of humanity with their insatiable appetite for pork and with the long view toward everything.  In the past you did not treat them well.  They remember.

2.    How would you like to be an Israeli today?  Again, your protector has just been designated to be the official pork producer and pork droppings processor for the growing Asian and world force seeking power, perhaps even domination in its rather large sphere of influence.  You, of course, don’t inhabit this sphere – you inhabit a sphere dominated by the world’s second largest growing and very angry group of tangling religious dominated zealots who just happen to envision you in the same ultimate destination as that of the billions of pounds of pork consumed by the Chinese.  You too look to America for support – America is busy feeding the Chinese and cleaning up the mess left behind.

3.    How would you like to be Canadian or Australian or a New Zealander or, for that matter, a Brit – a citizen of the mother country, today?  What does history have in store for these long standing allies of China’s designated pork producer and porcine waste disposal unit?  Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall in the high halls of government power in these countries that watch America take on tasks like becoming China’s feedlot and contemplate just what this means for you in 30, 40 or 50 years from now?

4.    How would you like to be a citizen of China’s pork producer/waste disposer and be looking forward to a country side of flowing, smelly, difficult to dispose of pork droppings (fecal matter)?  On the other hand, who knows, that could well be the least of your problems, huh?

The Chinese today annually consume about 85 pounds of pork per person – they love the stuff.  Their vision goes out 30, 40, even 50 years from now.  They see America as a good place to grow pork – and leave the droppings behind.  Americans eat about 50 pounds of pork today – per capita consumption for Americans has actually declined a bit – your government attributes the decline to the growing Latino population which is a bit less pork inclined.

Source:  http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/326138/ldpm13001_1_.pdf   (everything you ever wanted to know about American pork consumption, and more...)

For those of you who like to read between the lines, you will detect that this essay is not about bacon, or pork bellies or even pig droppings although all those events do raise the question about just who in America has the foresight, the planning interest to match that of the patient but focused folk in the far east and the middle east.  This is an essay about time – about trends – about relativity – about long memories and short sighted people lacking the patience gene – about friends and allies and the future – and the knowledge that those thousand mile trips do indeed get accomplished one small step at a time.  Or one not-so-small dropping at a time.

 

 

Patriot and Traitor – Captain Nathan Hale (1755 – 1776)

Today we hear politicians, bureaucrats and observers by the thousands bandying about terms such as treason and traitor – espionage – sedition.  Well, we would like to tell you about a young man who was called both a patriot and a traitor.  What follows should be taught in every school in this county – if you seek a hero, read on, read about Captain Nathan Hale as told on the webpage’s of the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the America Revolution –

http://www.connecticutsar.org/patriots/hale_nathan.htm

“Nathan Hale, a martyr soldier of the American Revolution, was born in Coventry, Conn., June 6, 1755. When but little more than twenty-one years old he was hanged, by order of British General William Howe, as a spy, in the city of New York, on September 22, 1776.

“Nathan Hale’s father was Richard Hale, who had emigrated to Coventry, from Newbury, Mass., in 1746, and had married Elizabeth, the daughter of Joseph Strong. By her he had twelve children, of whom Nathan was the sixth.  He sent to Yale College at one time his two sons, Enoch and Nathan, who had been born within two years of each other.

“In his commencement address Hale had considered the question whether the higher education of women were not neglected. And, in the arrangement of the Union School at New London, it was determined that between the hours of five and seven in the morning, he should teach a class of “twenty young ladies” in the studies which occupied their brothers at a later hour. 

“He was thus engaged in the year 1774. The whole country was alive with the movements and discussions which came to a crisis in the battle of Lexington the next year. Hale, though not of age, was enrolled in the militia and was active in the military organization of the town.

“So soon as the news of Lexington and Concord reached New London, a town-meeting was called. At this meeting, this young man, not yet of age, was one of the speakers. “Let us march immediately,” he said, “and never lay down our arms until we obtain our independence.”

“He was commissioned as First Lieutenant in the Seventh Connecticut regiment... Hale marched with the regiment to New London, whence they all went by water to New York. On that critical night, when the whole army was moved across to New York after the defeat at Brooklyn, the regiment rendered effective service.

“Washington had been driven up the island of New York, and was holding his place with the utmost difficulty.  On September 6th he wrote, “We have not been able to obtain the least information as to the enemy’s plans.” In sheer despair at the need of better information then the Tories of New York City would give him, the great commander consulted his council, and at their direction summoned Knowlton to ask for some volunteer of intelligence, who would find his way into the English lines, and bring back some tidings that could be relied upon. Knowlton summoned a number of officers, and stated to them the wishes of their great chief. The appeal was received with dead silence.

“But Nathan Hale, his youngest captain, broke the silence. “I will undertake it,” he said. He had come late to the meeting. He was pale from recent sickness. But he saw an opportunity to serve, and he did the duty which came next at hand.

“Hale landed while the city was in the terror of the great conflagration of September 21st. In that fire nearly a quarter of the town was burned down. The English supposed, rightly or not, that the fire had been begun by the Americans.  Two hundred persons were sent to jail upon the supposition that they were incendiaries. It is in the midst of such confusion that Hale is taken to General Howe’s head-quarters, and there he meets his doom.  No testimony could be stronger against him than the papers on his person. He was not there to prevaricate, and he told them his rank and name. There was no trial, and Howe at once ordered that he should be hanged the next morning.

Early the next day he was led to his death.  He asked for writing materials... He wrote two letters; one to his mother and one to a brother officer. The Provost-Marshal destroyed the letters, and assigned a reason that the rebels should not know that they had a man in their army who could die with so much firmness.”

Aside - Please reflect on that statement for a moment.  The British officer was afraid that knowledge of Hale’s courage would embolden the rebels – the Americans; the traitors; the patriots.

“Hale asked for a Bible, but his request was refused. He was marched out by a guard and hanged upon an apple-tree in Rutgers’s orchard. The place was near the present intersection of East Broadway and Market Streets. Cunningham asked him to make his dying “speech and confession.

“I only regret,” he said, “that I have but one life to lose for my country.”

The Know Nothings - FBI Chief Mueller Displays His Ignorance and ...

What word(s) can describe this ill prepared know-nothing?  Clown?  Arrogant?  Contempt for and, perhaps, of congress?  How about just another dopey, overpaid, unaccountable bureaucrat.  Listen to this pathetic man who is in charge of America's premiere police agency display his ignorance - or his contempt for a government accountable to the people - or both.

 

 

 

Kevin Cullen, co-author, "Whitey Bulger", recently stated, "The FBI needs an enema."  Does Obamacare cover it?



In His Own Words - Kevyn Orr Describes the Detroit Situation

Attorney Kevyn Orr - Detroit's Emergency Financial Manager

 

It is neither hyperbole nor propaganda when TheFundamentals describes the simple finality of our founding principle:  Deficits = Debt = Destruction = Detroit.  Detroit is living in this situation and this one man has the task to clean up the destruction.  We can only wish him well - and to all the elected officials and hired bureaucrats and their public employee union masters in Illinois and elsewhere, offer this observation - it is only a matter of time.

DEBT - Much Worse Than We've Been Informed

Please ignore the link below for now, just read on, we'll come back to it:

 

http://www.iop.harvard.edu/sites/default/files_new/research-policy-papers/states%20project2012_Part1.pdf

  

TheFundamentals consistently brings you two reminders -

 

One, at the very top of our website page - you can read what America's number one military man had to say during a time of great wailing and hand wringing over the various threats to America's national security.  Some said it was fundamentalist Islamics.  Some said it was WMD.  Some said it was government bureaucrats (put us in this category).  Some said it was global warming.  Some said it was high sugar content soft drinks - cigarettes - cheap whisky - California wine - rap music - Hillary Clinton's pant suit color schemes.  In a few very understandable words, Admiral Mullen delegates all these other concerns to second place, or lower, status and focuses our attention on the key concern:   DEBT.

 

Always.  Always, remember:   Deficits = Debt = Destruction.

 

Our second reminder is in the right column.  The up-to-the-minute debt tally reminder.  At this very moment we are drafting this essay, the debt tally reminder says we owe:  $16,738,767,256,596.67

 

If you look now, it is most likely higher.  The debt goes up and up and up which means the threat to our national security goes up and up and up.  Stop blaming the Muslims - blame the bureaucrats who overreact to the Muslims which is why this essayist says its government bureaucrats who are to blame.

 

Into this fray now arrives additional information and it is not good.

 

We vaguely know that the federal reserve is buying up debt - a lot of it at very low interest rates.  Never a good idea.  Common sense would tell you that no one should be buying up any debt issued at a historic low point in interest rates.  The reason is simple - when rates rise, the value of the debt declines.  Regardless, the geniuses at the federal reserve keep buying more and more debt.  Meanwhile our savings keep losing value.

 

But lets get to the heart of the matter, as the Eagles would say.  We frequently compare our debt level to GDP or national income or some such metric to show that we are not as bad off as others.  You know who the others are, the usual suspects:  Greece, Italy, Spain, Somalia, etc.  We always say - we're not there - we're not like you - we are in control of our situation. 

 

Nonsense.   Pure, unadulterated propaganda.  Be it David Axelrod or his mouthpiece, Barack Obama.  Be it Ben Bernanke or his mouthpiece, Barack Obama.  Be it John Maynard Keynes, Paul Krugman and their mouthpiece, Barack Obama.  The situation is dire.  And here is why.

 

America has a lot more debt out there than is represented by the number the federal government discloses - $16,738,767,256,596.67.  We have 50 states and we have hundreds of cities, counties, school and park districts and they all have one thing in common - debt.  They love to issue debt.  They have gone crazy issuing debt.  And, on top of issuing debt we can account for - they create future obligations which are much more difficult to count.  How much you ask?   Well, remember that link at the top of this essay - please go back and click on it now.

 

That link takes you to this report which tells you the following:

 

• The states spend $2.5 trillion annually, employ 19 million people or 15% of all working Americans. 

• They estimate than nearly every state in America has accumulated future obligations of between 1 and 3 trillion dollars.  (Aside:  many of these states today are insolvent - obviously many more are on the road to insolvency.  The road to insolvency leads to bankruptcy.) 

• The report includes a chart showing the ten best states for dealing with their employee pension obligations and the ten worst.  We encourage you to click on the report link and, at a minimum,  read this chart.  If you care to know where commerce and income and employment and economic growth will most likely be occurring and where it most likely will be struggling - glance at the chart.  Caution:  teaser to follow.  Guess which of the ten worst states has the highest unfunded pension liability?  Hint:  it has something to do with your great leader and no, its not Hawaii.

 

This report is an indictment of America's governing personnel.  There is no other way to look at it - those of us who work in the private sector - who go about our business, pay our taxes, hold up our end of the compact - have been taken to the cleaners by those we have elected to office and those who we have hired and paid to run the public sector while we run the private sector.

 

The report doesn't say it quite as directly as we just did but here is a direct quote from the report: 

     "States do not account to citizens in ways that are transparent, timely, or accessible."

 

In other words, they deliberately mask and delay reporting facts and then they withhold the information so that we don't really know what is going on.  If you are part of the 49% that attempted to change things in November 2012, good for you.  We encourage you to stay the course.  If you are part of the 51% that voted for the majority party candidates and, this is important, consider yourself an INFORMED voter, all TheFundamentals can ask of you is this, "What are you possibly thinking?  What does it take to get you to wake up?"  You have now been informed!

 

 

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