Vulture Funds

Where to start with this one… how about a Greg Palast report from 2007? It’s a bit dated, but highly pertinent. It’s six minutes long, and it’s free. It also didn’t air in the USA, except on LinkTV. When it aired in England, it led to a change in the law to prevent vulture funds from turning third-world debt relief into a cash cow.

US Representative John Conyers, who watches Palast on the BBC, walked into the Oval Office and confronted George Bush himself about the issue. Bush denied knowing anything about it, and Conyers let Bush know that he knew about it. Bush did nothing about it. Neither has Obama. In the meantime, US-based vulture funds continue to sue third-world nations for the full value of discounted debt. In many cases, that means US aid given directly to a foreign nation winds up in the bank account of a vulture fund manager.

Continue reading

Stupidity is the Devil

“Stupidity is the Devil. Look into the eyes of Sarah Palin and you will see real stupidity. It is a kind of bottomless stupidity, a fiendish stupidity. Tea Party leaders are the most horrifying, cannibalistic and nightmarish creatures in the world.” – me (after Werner Herzog)

If anyone could be an American Dictator, it would be Sarah Palin. She looks manipulable, but she also believes in her destiny. Not in a rational, “believe in yourself!” kind of way, but in a creepy totalitarian Triumph of the Will sort of way. And forget comparing such a mind to anyone else: she’s American, and when America goes totalitarian, it will do so in a way that will be bigger, badder, and more efficient than any other totalitarian regime.

The people expecting her to be easy to bend will get her into office, then they will be as shocked as everyone but Palin at what she does with that office. I cherish my independent political status, but a Palin candidacy for the presidency could make a Democrat out of me. Stupidity is the Devil, and I refuse to vote for the Devil.

Who Needs Voting?

Louise Slaughter is the CAGW’s “Porker of the Month” for using her power as chair of the House Rules Committee to create a fudge that allowed the House to pass a bill without voting on it.

I would personally like to thank Ms. Slaughter for pulling this stunt right before I was set to discuss the following terms in my Government class: Speaker of the House, House Rules Committee, Committee System, and Pork Barrel. When I talk about how a bill can become law, I’ll be sure to add a fillip for the Slaughter Rule.

The Richest Persons in America, 2009

1. Exxon Mobil
2. Wal-Mart Stores
3. Chevron
4. ConocoPhillips
5. General Electric
6. General Motors
7. Ford Motor
8. AT&T
9. Hewlett-Packard
10. Valero Energy

Surprised to not see Bill Gates or a Walton or Warren Buffet on the list? Those persons have nothing on the persons listed above. Bear in mind, that, thanks to a bit of perjury before the Supreme Court by the author of the 14th Amendment, corporations are persons in the USA. That makes Mr. ExxonMobil the richest person in America. Move over flesh and blood, there are richer persons than you’ll ever be that walk abroad in the land.

Why No Tobacco Recall?

The news this morning went on about how a company recalled all its baby sling carriers because three children had suffocated in them. Clearly, the product was dangerous to its users and did not belong on the market. So why no similar recall for tobacco products?

Is it a timing issue? Are we cool with products that, although proven to be dangerous, do not result in instant death? Or is there another angle on the issue?

I went to Muckety.com and did a lookup of Phillip Morris, USA. It’s connected to the Altria Group, Inc, which I’ve linked here. Opening up Altria’s connections, and it soon becomes flush with pharmaceutical companies, governments both state and national, alcohol companies, and connections to the Trilateral Commission. It’s a conspiracy nut’s paradise, I tell you, with apologies to the conspiracy nuts, as it now seems you are right.

Tobacco companies have deep and insidious connections to government. Although the corporation itself has no parts or passions, those who serve it do. These servants are motivated by profits and profits alone, even if they must subvert the democracy of the USA and murder its citizens in order to do it.

A small company with unsafe products must close its doors. A large company with unsafe products must open its money bags.

Ryan Perrio, Comedian

Perrio’s a comic that performs here in Dallas a lot. He’s a clever guy that really can deliver. Yes, I really mean it and no, he didn’t pay me to say that. I just think the guy deserves a little more notice and attention. Catch him when you can.

How Protectionism Makes Things Worse

Greece is having hard times. The Greeks hope they can export more stuff in order to earn more money.

The problem is that Greece isn’t the only nation trying to export and run a current account surplus. It’s not even the most successful of the neo-mercantilist states: look to Japan and China as champs in those roles. The US wishes it could export more stuff, though, and resents the way China keeps exporting everything from inside its borders that isn’t nailed down.

That’s the danger sign: resentment in trade issues. When the world economy is going through hard times, some nations can weather the storm better than others by running a current account surplus. It’s just that for every current account surplus, there has to be an equal and opposite deficit somewhere else. When the nations in deficit despair of ever running a surplus, they can turn to protectionist trade policies to at least stop running up the deficits.

When the protectionist barriers go up in one place, other nations follow suit to the point where world trade is choked off and no nation is running a current account surplus and all nations endure the brunt of those hard times.

It happened in the 1930s. There’s a possibility it happens in the 2010s. And when it does happen, it does not help the nations that ran a huge trade deficit – because there goes their current account surplus that was investing in their nation.

US-Israeli Relations: Time for a Divorce?

No, it’s not all the Jews’ fault. I want to get that right out: the security of the state of Israel is being betrayed by its politicians and the extremist factions they must cater to in order to remain in power. Got that? Politicians and extremists in Israel are endangering the state of Israel, its relationship with the US, and the people that live in Israel.

The current Israeli government expects to be able to swing the US’ military power around like it was its own. For the last 60+ years, the US has been funding Israel like a co-dependent mother paying for her son’s heroin habit, particularly so after Britain and France stepped away from Israel after the Suez debacle in 1956. Every time Israel has thrown a fit, the US has caved in to pressure from the AIPAC and given Israel what it needs. What does the US get in return?

Continue reading