Our English friends (well little more than half of them) teach us a lesson

So, about 52% of 70+% of England’s eligible voters turned out and simply said, “Enough.”  “We have had enough of this nonsense.”

So what did they mean by nonsense we ask?

Well, not necessarily in order, this is what we think/have read/and sometimes even believe:

·         They are not particularly impressed; well that doesn’t quite capture it; we’ll try again.  They find government bureaucracies do be crap holes occupied by crap heads with one common similarity – unneeded and way, way overpaid

·         They also would prefer a community that has some similarities to them; well maybe that doesn’t quite capture it either.  Let’s try this:  they are sick and tired of nonsensical outsiders who adhere to nonsensical ways.  Very different from themselves

·         So, does anyone see a basic similarity in the above two items?  We think we do – the commonality is this – people need to work for a living; raise their children with some common interests and, very important, they need to be able to save some money and take care of their personal and public interests above the priority of government employees and politicians who simply are not needed

·         So let’s add one more item to this list – it is time to end government employees (most all the different types and hypes) and their nonsense that takes a lot of money from various groups and gives it to themselves and others in whom/with whom/and by whom they can buy votes on various election days

·         Simply stated, most every “democracy” and public form of government – of, by and for the people, today is simply not.  They are run by hundreds of thousands (in America’s case, millions of overpaid, unneeded government employees) who simply need to be terminated/fired/gotten rid of

·         Here, BTW, is a one sentence remark coming from the 6/24/2016 WSJ article written by Quentin Letts (a Brit mind you):

“The referendum result is a tremendous kick in the knackers for Britain’s centrist ruling elite. Many of those supporting continued membership in the EU were politicians, academics, lawyers, big-business leaders, church leaders and well-paid journalists.”

·         So, we ask you – “…politicians, academics, lawyers, big-business leaders, church leaders and well-paid journalists.” – should/are they running America also?

·         Can we (Americans that is) get rid of these idiots?  Who knows; it sure will not be easy.  The damage being done will most likely continue.  But, for a moment; this brief passing moment; about 52% of England’s voters simply told them – bye, bye.  We had it.  You stink and we want you gone…

Wait until you see/hear/watch/observe these clowns and their many supporters as they build their reaction (again, please see Mr. Letts list of the idiots above) and seek to kill this effort on the part of a slight majority of voters to end the misery and wastefulness.

Six months ago ....

…. we wrote and displayed our last essay.  It was about the failure of current public schools, in our large cities; which are actually displayed, to succeed in developing good reading skills in their students.  At the 8^th grade level.

We ask you this simple question – have you heard any commentary from Hillary Clinton about this situation?  About this problem?

Or from most of the major Republican senators and congress men/women?  As well as their Democrat wonderments?

How about this – do you read about this situation regularly and thoroughly in your local paper or do you follow it on your local news cast and other forms of information shared sources of interest and news?

Has Paul Ryan spoke about this situation?  Sought legislation to end it – to get rid of teachers and their unions and their failure to accomplish what is not very difficult to do?

What about your house representative or either of your senators?  Are they regularly and diligently communicating to you just how important it is to them to fix this situation?  Are your local and state elected officials and the many, many well paid and so well protected employees working hard to put an immediate end to this horrible situation?

Here is the situation just as we presented it six months ago –

A new fellow has arrived on the scene in the last 12 months.  He brings the audacity; the disgusting vigilance; the miserable communication and the reckless suggestions that many, maybe even most, of our government elected folk and our government hired folk and their millions of other well paid and unionized and extremely outspoken fellow whatever you call them – are a problem – desperately in need of extreme resolution and vigorous removal.   What happens?

The community – the media – the elected folk – the ones who actually are paid for creating and extending and expanding the mess we live in – say “He’s got to go.”  “Get rid of him.”  “He is the problem.”  "I can't support him."

Go figure, folks.  We are living in a s***hole and most of us apparently are quite okay with it.  And Hillary and her boy Bill have made millions; actually well over a hundred million dollars, and the s***hole just keeps getting worse.

Boy, it will be fun watching Barack build his wealth wont it?

War on kids

Who would have ever thought that the government of the United States of America would one day force large groups of kids to attend schools which do not educate?  At the same time it builds record levels of unrepayable debt so that senior citizens and millions of unionized unproductive government “workers” can enjoy record level paychecks, benefits, entitlements and pensions?  And that it passes that debt – yes, it makes no attempt at even stopping the rise in the debt – along to kids and their yet to be born progeny?

That is the United States of America, today.

 

Every species has one task – reproduce and teach their young to survive.   For homo sapiens those survival lessons used to have to do with hunting, gathering and then agricultural matters and some related lessons.  Today those survival lessons have to do with reading, writing and arithmetic as well as a few other advanced skills.  The basis of survival today is good reading skills.

If you live in an urban community – this government is not teaching most of its young how to “read”:

Source:  http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/

We will spend more time on this “report card” in the near future but you should know this – there are several groups in the American government responsible for this horrendous outcome:

·         American Federations of Teachers (AFT)

·         National Education Association (NEA)

·         The Democrat Party (guess who the NEA and AFT have "endorsed" for president?)

·         The US Department of Education

All can proudly display a “mission accomplished” banner at their fancy headquarters filled with very well compensated “bureaucrats”.  They have accomplished what no one would have ever expected in America – mandatory attendance at schools that do not educate.  This is American corruption at its pinnacle.

More to come…….

Tough questions

"People who want to be President of the United States should be able to answer tough questions,"  says CNBC.  Who would disagree with this statement?  Not us. 

It just has nothing to do with the issue – the statement is a typical, low rent, commercial deflection that now characterizes American media.  We could spend the remainder of this essay listing low rent, typical, commercial lies, distortions, deflections and deception coming from NBC/Comcast.

We could begin with their horrible customer service – their corrupt monopoly – their high cost, low quality “packaged” programming.  But we won’t – instead we offer them and their fellow travelers a few “tough questions”:

·         Size and incompetence of government – separate debate needed. We cannot think of one media organization that is not completely conflicted on this topic. All of them –  PBS, NBC/Comcast, ABC/Disney/ESPN, CBS, CNN, Fox and all their book publishing subsidiary companies and Hollywood content producers need the government to deficit spend/build debt to survive.  Have you ever heard one debate question based on this obvious fact?

·         Government unions.  They need to go.  Completely.  Same problem as above – all the media outlets depend on government, bureaucrats and their vast unionized bureaucracies for press releases, “news” conferences and an endless stream of government “information” to fill their 24/7 repetitive programming and give their “personalities” something to read.   Our suggestion – combine this topic with the previous topic – buy TV time and go at it.  Record ratings will result.

·         Specific bureaucratic failures – there are many – veterans administration, IRS, departments of justice and state lead the discussion.  America needs a media that constantly probes this dismal failure.  For the other bureaucracies – the only debate should be – cutback (how much?) or eliminate. 

·         Debt.  Goes without saying that we need sensible, thoughtful ideas and proposals about government debt across the country and how to reduce it.  We would pose the debate question as follows:  just how much debt should be placed on each American child to support our free ride today?

·         Immigration.  We have heard a lot about it.  There is one law that now dominates immigration policy – it needs to be changed and one bureaucracy that dominates the implementation of immigration policy – it needs big change.

·         Urban public schools or what we call – The Democrat Party’s (as well as AFT and NEA) war on African American kids.  The reading skills results have just been released – these kids can’t read.  Gee, why are so many unemployed?  Did one of the CNBC clowns pose a question about this fact?  Must not be “tough” enough topic, huh?

·         Islam.  Put it on the table.  Lets open it up for discussion.  The debate topic can be simply stated – is there a place for Islam in a free, constitutional democracy?  If so, how to manage it and its followers.

·         Taxation.  The IRS simply is not compatible with a growing competitive economy in the 21^st century.  It needs to go.  Only the republicans are willing to offer tax policy changes and the media, as you saw, will destroy any mention of alternatives. 

·         There are some more – our legal system is a burden too much for a fast paced technological society.  Most of our laws and legal principles are badly out of date.  Militarization of local police forces must be reversed.  Large portions of our urban communities are refugee camps – entirely without an economic foundation.  The Fourth amendment has been discarded.    Democrats will not touch any of these topics – the CNBC clowns dare not bring them up.

We could care less what happens to Carl, Becky and John and their support staff.  They are simply not qualified to have anything to do with a serious discussion (one might wish to contemplate the obvious transference of this truth to their day job performance.)

Unfortunately for America, the same is true of their industry.  This industry is the mouthpiece of the American government and its dominant political party – the democrats.  Investigate, look into, open up any portion of its corpus and you will be overwhelmed with “tough question” possibilities.  They dare not touch them.

Short end of the Stick

We think there is such a thing as a thinking democrat.  An informed democrat.  A fact based democrat.  We just find it hard to find him/her. And we are not looking for a bunch of them.  Maybe just a couple.  They may not be extinct but they sure are endangered.  We grasp why so many democrats are not informed; unthinking; ignorant of facts.  We also grasp, and this may be the killer, why they don’t want change or experimentation or even thought/analysis/the possibility of innovation and change.  It is way too scary for their simple message – blame for all things rests with the well to do; those who will not share and open up both opportunity and rewards to the disadvantaged; the victims; the downtrodden.  Best to fight to the bitter end if necessary; literally destroy rather than retreat if needed, because otherwise the well to do will take it all and leave nothing but the short end of the stick for everyone else.

About half the country, consisting mostly of new citizens as well as urban challenged citizens and unthinking, minimally informed youth – well, they buy into this propaganda even though they are well fed; incredibly well entertained; have more opportunity that any group in world history and, this could be the problem, are laden with communication devices and other forms of electronic digitalized conveniences that now occupy much of their waking hours.  Oh, one more thing about them, and this may be the killer, they are phenomenally incurious.

This last characteristic, “incuriosity”, is and should be a concern.  When anyone just buys into someone else’s “bs” the likelihood of trouble rises.  If nothing else, the young should be concerned about debt.  The oldsters have no plan much less intention to do anything about it – and we mean oldsters at both ends of the stick.  If the youth were a tad curious, they would know that you could abscond with all Warren’s wealth and toss in the wealth of the Walton’s and the Gates and all those fancy silicon valley “entrepreneurs” who provide all those digitalized electronic convenience devices – and you still  would have a giant steaming pile of debt for the kids to payoff.

So, youth of America, here’s the deal –

You can either start to focus on it – make the oldsters pay it down, or…

…you can let us keep building it as we certainly will – unrepaid debt rises as sure as that tinder app is gonna get you hooked up sometime this weekend – and try to pass it along to your kids, if you have any but, and yes we know you are not going to process this, the reason you can’t find good jobs and the reason you too have a big pile of steaming student debt – it is all traceable directly; yes all the evidence points just one place – the very government that you support when you give them your unquestioning, incurious, ignorant support.

There is no magic bullet to deal with debt.  Printing money?  Like the Fed idiots have been doing?  Never works.  Never.  Adding to debt and letting inflation reduce its burden?  Find one example of that working.  Just one.  Miracle discoveries to make it go away?  Well, no one said you were smart or curious or inclined toward doing some research and analysis.  But no, no miracles for you youngsters – just more and more debt.  You have a vote and you keep asking for the short end of the stick.  Is there an app for that?

Debt for Dopes

Please read the following words and then guess where they were printed –

“Florida Coastal (School of Law) charges nearly $45,000 a year in tuition, which, with living expenses, can lead to crushing amounts of debt for its students. Ninety-three percent of the school’s 2014 graduating class of 484 had debts and the average was almost $163,000 — a higher average than all but three law schools in the country. In short, most of Florida Coastal’s students are leaving law school with a degree they can’t use, bought with a debt they can’t repay.

If this sounds like a scam, that’s because it is. Florida Coastal, in Jacksonville, is one of six for-profit law schools in the country that have been vacuuming up hordes of young people, charging them outrageously high tuition and, after many of the students fail to become lawyers, sticking taxpayers with the tab for their loan defaults.

Yet for-profit schools are not the only offenders. A majority of American law schools, which have nonprofit status, are increasingly engaging in such behavior, and in the process threatening the future of legal education.

Why? The most significant explanation is also the simplest — free money.”

Are you thinking, some conservative “think tank?”  Maybe Fox news website?  Rush Limbaugh?

You can read the entire article at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/opinion/sunday/the-law-school-debt-crisis.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0

Some more highlights as one reads about this Obama fiasco:

·         Forty-three percent of all 2013 law school graduates did not have long-term full-time legal jobs nine months after graduation, and the numbers are only getting worse. 

·         In 2012, the average law graduate’s debt was $140,000, 59 percent higher than eight years earlier.

·          This reality has contributed to the drastic drop in law school applications since 2011, which has in turn exacerbated the problem — to maintain enrollment numbers, law schools have had to lower their admissions standards and take even more unqualified students. 

·         These students then fail to pass the bar in alarmingly high numbers — in 2014, the average score on the common portion of the test was the lowest in more than 25 years.

Debt for dopes.  Stupid people getting free money to do something unneeded for which they are eminently unqualified.  Lawyers are today’s “self-esteem” momma boys.  Surrounded by recognition, awards and good grades unless the school has opted out of traditional grading schemes, but unable to tie their shoe laces much less represent or defend a client.  Obama wants to let his people go – free them from jail. Well, he has the legal program to accomplish his objective – cram the court system with nincompoops who are incapable of providing a good defense so that the appellate courts can throw out their convictions on the basis of “ineffective assistance of counsel.”

Meanwhile if you are a taxpayer, America’s one true endangered species, you are paying for this.

Corruption in America…and why you never hear about it

There are two levels of corruption in America.

1.    Low/mid level, and

2.    Large scale

America is blessed with an abundance of both.

 

Low or mid level corruption is the stuff of human nature.  Either through “enticement” or simple “extortion” and force – we humans love corruption.  The chance to make a buck off someone who controls, owns or otherwise can influence something.  At the personal level people make little corrupt deals all the time.  Move up to an organization or a larger gathering, such as a union or a corporation; school district or government council or some such opportunistic group and the dollars involved become significant.

Just a week ago we were treated to one more low/mid level corruption deal in Chicago.  The boy mayor finds a crooked administrator who he “vetted” and tells his handpicked school board to hire her.  She gets a big paycheck, but not enough for her so she promptly enters into a “no-bid” contract with a huge kickback.  She is so ignorant that she actually documents the transaction – leaves an electronic trail.  Who hired this ignorant, corrupt “public servant?”  Corrupt mayor; corrupt school board; corrupt contracting businesses.  We call this common, low/mid level corruption.

In certain places, on our fair earth, all these characters would be summarily gone.  We mean, literally, gone.  Particularly in certain Asian as well as Islamic cultures, this form of petty corruption results in a death sentence – summarily delivered.  No appeals; no extended court and other legal shenanigans – just like the queen of hearts – off with their heads (or maybe a bullet to reduce the mess.)

Here in America, we have a different system of “justice” or resolution.  If you have the power, and the attorneys, as well as the support of larger scale corruption (we will get to that in a minute) you skate.  Live to corrupt someone or something tomorrow.  America does not believe in swift and permanent resolution to corruption – unless you are powerless and the popular sentiment is overwhelmingly against you.

On to large scale corruption (LSC) – it is worthy of its own category.  It costs everyone a ton of money.  Not just a few hundred thousand here and there; or the occasional $20+ million dollar Chicago deal described above.  No, LSC in America cost billions of dollars.  Hundreds of billions of dollars.  Trillions.  Every citizen pays.

Almost always it involves the following cast of characters:

·         A large political party – say, the democrats or the republicans

·         A large organization – say a teachers union or several government employee unions (unions love LSC) 

·         Large business also loves a corrupt opportunity – usually their favorite is elimination of competition.  Nothing like controlling a wide open commercial situation to charge more and deliver less (think of a cable TV company or beer company.)

With few exceptions, LSC has these characteristics:

·         Legality.  Not moral legality; real litigation proof legality.  They get government to legalize their situation.  That is the needed component of LSC – you can’t go to jail or get your head chopped off (figuratively of course in America) because your are operating within the law.

·         Characterized as a public good.  It is anything but – the scheme is never in the public good but it is presented in such fashion as to appear to benefit those who must pay for it.  Lies.

·         Never allow the public a direct voice or vote to stop it.  Because they might.  LSC operators always find ways, legal mumbo jumbo, to not let the people become organized to put an end to LSC.

·         LSC is a Ponzi scheme; it must continue to expand to survive.  LSC depends on finding new sources of funding because the money coming in is not invested for the future – it is distributed; spent; gone today.  There is no public or future good associated with LSC.

·         Charge more and deliver less – every time.

·         Intimidation – worthy of its own essay.  There are so many ways to intimidate – from simple silence, fear and shame all the way to false indictments, broken bones and strange disappearances/eliminations.

·         Debt.  You can’t have LSC (see Ponzi reference above) unless you can borrow; create debt.  Lots of debt.  Yes, those hundreds of billions of dollars of LSC quickly add up to trillions of dollars of debt (see running tally at top right of page).

·         Difficult to stop.  Actually, impossible to stop.  LSC must kill itself.  Also, worthy of its own essay (see reform characteristic below).

·         One other thing about LSC – it requires so many participants – so many enablers – you don’t get laws passed and bureaucracies established to oversee LSC – and judges to figure out a way to ignore basic law and say, “looks good to me” and editorial writers to say, “this may be a problem but we see some good in it.”  You get the idea – LSC is by definition, a conspiracy – pigs with lipstick.

·         Reform it?  We can’t think of any example of self imposed reformation of LSC. You might think Eliot Ness did but he didn’t – Capone was small potatoes.   LSC must kill itself.  It is a long and painful process.

So there you have it – some say our government is in turmoil because the two major parties cannot compromise.  Others say it is due to the collapse of federalism – leave people alone in their local and state communities; limit federal government – no such thing as one size fits all.  Some point to the forced cultural agenda of the progressive liberal socialist far left on the center and right center of the country.  Vote buying with public monies.  Or the wide open border policy while unemployment rolls expand geometrically.  We agree that all these reasons play a role in our decline but if you seek the main reason, the principal cause of our decline – it is corruption.  Simple human greed on the largest scale imaginable and the debt needed to finance it.

Most of us have no idea how much LSC is going on in America this very minute.  Best not to think about it.  Best to be fearful; afraid to even bring it up.  It takes real courage to face LSC.  Ask Bruce Rauner – he lives it every day.  Barack Obama?  Never did one thing in his entire life to face LSC.  He and Hillary (and Bill) thrive off it.  They are not alone.  Know this - wherever politicians, bureaucrats and "public servants" get rich you have an abundance of LSC.