America Doomed

Two Scenarios

There are only two scenarios for America for the next decade: Socialism or Revolution.  However, both scenarios involve a bankruptcy of the US government.

The spending of the US is not sustainable.  Everybody knows this, including Obama.  However, Obama is trying to preserve the present system.  This is a mistake and will result in many more years of pain.  It would be better if the country would immediately embrace socialism but politically it is not possible.   So, the US will continue to  bailout companies, prop up banks, finance state governments, and fund programs trying to help the disenfranchised.  Eventually, this will fail because the world will be unwilling to finance the US debt or the interest on the debt will be greater than the US government’s income.  In any case, the system will completely fail.

Eventually, the present system will be abandoned, a new economic system will be created, and default of the present US debt.  The government will guarantee basic services for all of its citizens and find or create jobs.  Some greed capitalism will be permitted but most citizens will live in a new world of socialism.

However, if the Republicans are successful at demonizing the spending policies of the democrats and get elected on policies of cutting spending and taxes, the US will still reach a point when it is not able to pay interest on its national debt.  Because Republicans are so committed to lower taxes, there will be less and less money to pay for essential cost of government.  Eventually, this will result in a complete economic collapse and revolution.

Neither scenario will be able to provide jobs for all of the citizens who need them.  This is largely because technology is destroying jobs faster than jobs can be created.  Jobs are being exported to cheaper labor markets. More and more jobs are paying less than a living wage.

America is doomed.

Road to Socialism

Sorry that my posts have been less frequent.  It isn’t that my views have changed.  It is more apparent that America is on the road to certain destruction.  There is no turning the ship around.  Obama who was my choice in the last election is a smart person and doing the best that anybody could probably do, given the constraints he believes in.  Obama is trying to fix the present system.  He has selected people like Geithner and Summers to help him in this regard.  It isn’t going to work.  It is certain to fail.

Republicans are even more out of touch with the harsh reality of the destruction of America.  Republicans think that all solutions begin with tax cuts.  If the implications of massive tax cuts were not so horrible, it would be interesting to see those policies implemented.  Unemployment would zoom and businesses would fail.  The only thing that is preventing that from happening is the massive spending by Obama.  Obama knows that he cannot spend like this forever but he has no other choice (that he is willing to embrace) to keep the system going.

In the end the system is all going to collapse.  There are just not enough jobs and the jobs that America needs cannot be created either by capitalism or the government.  It is the lack of jobs that will prevent a sustainable recovery.  The Obama spending is only going to help for a limited amount of time.  Either the Republican argument will prevail and they will get back in power and  slash taxes and spending.  Or, the Obama spending will bankrupt the country.  Both plans will fail.  There is no plan to get America out of this malaise that will actually work.  No plan can address the need to create a massive number of living wage jobs in a climate where technology is the biggest job destroyer in history.  Plus, using technology that entire world can be used to fill those jobs and there are gigantic discrepancy of pay throughout the world — the US is one of the highest.

After the financial system fails then it can be rebuilt using a socialistic model.  Everybody will be guaranteed a living wage and everybody will be required to work.  The government will help  everybody find a job that cannot find one.  If there are no jobs then the government will just create them.  There has never been a lack of  work, only a lack of the capitalism system of figuring out how to profit from the work that needs to be done.  Capitalism cannot make a profit at many types of work — many times it requires the government to finance it.  For example, capitalism would never create a prison or build a road.  It would never pay for policemen or firemen.  All of these things are needed for the “public good” and capitalism certainly benefits and will bid on the contracts.  But the money comes from the government.

America is doomed.

Banks are Doomed

The Obama Administration plans to fix the banking system will enrich banks but will not create a viable financial system.  Geithner and Summers are so in trenched with Wall Street.  As the foreclosures continue and the bankruptcies of commercial real estate begin there is going to be more and more pressure on the banks.  These phony trading profits earning reports are a sham by Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase.  The recent increase in price is the last opportunity to get out of these financial stocks and never look back.  Then put the dollars into the Japanese Yen.

Ref: Stiglitz Says White House Ties to Wall Street Doom Bank Rescue

AP Junk Not Even Worth Wrapping Fish

I read with amusement today that the AP wants to clamp down on internet sites that are using their content without paying for it.  Here.  Here.  Go AP Go.  In fact, the AP should put all of its content behind paid subscriptions so the rest of us don’t have to see the trash replicated thousands of times — it is like junk mail that get routinely discarded in order to find the first class mail.    Also, it is so annoying that the ‘news’ media in this country even relies on services like AP.  The AP provides much of the content in thousands of newspapers irrelevant and redundant.  In fact, when I see dateline AP, I immediate discard it.   No wonder nobody wants to buy newspapers and only news media buys from AP.

Like most things the AP does, this recent plan is not very well thought out.  As soon as anything is published on the web it can be linked to which serves the purposes of most people.  If  you want to change that you need to go to court and overturn a number of precedents. Also, people can quote from the article if they cite it.  Maybe the U.S. should abolish the fair use laws.  About the only thing people cannot do is to claim significant parts as their own — unless you are a U.S. Senator, lol.  Also, what is the AP going to do about countries who don’t give a hoot about US copyright laws? Will the internet reach that far?  I think it might.  Maybe the US should make it illegal for Americans to read anything which violates copyrights?  Well, bring out the encryption.  Make that illegal as well. Oh they did that.  Invent some new encryption.  Maybe we can build more jails for readers.  Plus, anything really important is covered by numerous other better sources anyway.

The internet destroyed music.  Yet, there is more music on youtube that a person could ever listen to.  Plus, new groups just love to post their stuff.  Maybe there will be no Britney, at some point, but most of us can live with that.  Likewise, the internet  is destroying media.  Blame it on the digital — lol.

Newspapers should have already figured out that they have to provide something unique to get people to buy their rags.   Here is a clue — you won’t get it from the AP who is the crack whore of the news industry.  AP is the place where news is outsourced as reporters are laid off from their newspapers.  Maybe the newspapers should just stop buying the AP content — problem solved with the AP clamping down on anybody.

Technology is destroying jobs and there is nothing anybody can do about it except to figure out how to socialize work.  For now, everybody will keep playing the capitalism music chairs until there is only one chair left.

America is doomed.

North Korea Doesn’t Scare Me

North Korea’s launching of a long range missile today doesn’t scare me.  Actually,  I believe North Korea has bad motives and will one day likely launch a nuclear weapon against somebody in the world — maybe even the US.  Detonation of a nuclear weapon would be a terrible thing and many will die.  However, it just doesn’t scare me and let me explain why.

I see the moral equivalent of detonating a nuclear weapon to what happens all over the world every day.  In the US, thousands upon thousands are victimized every day.  People die and few care.  They die because health care is unavailable. It might be something as simple as an untreated infection or a minor surgery that is not performed.  The lack of health care kills people and this has been the way for decades.   A few are just now starting to care, not because of the human beings that are dying; rather, they are starting to care because businesses cannot afford it and are suffering — they are caring out of simple greed.

It isn’t just health care either.  Unemployment kills people every day.  In America, you are nothing with a job and the means to support yourself and your family.  Lose your job and you will likely lose you health care, home, dignity, and even your family. It is no different than a hurricane ripping your life apart.  Or, no worse than a nuclear bomb being detonated in your city.

Also, it is very complicated to detonate a really large  nuclear payloads — it involves multiple bombs being detonated in a precise arrangement in order to have a complete detonate of the nuclear matter which is difficult to acquire.  In fact, even large payloads don’t destroy much more than smaller payloads.  This seems paradoxical.  A larger payload might kill people in the kill zone quicker but does not greatly expand the kill zone.  This was the reason that Reagan agreed in the 1980s to reduce the size of payloads because studies indicated that smaller payloads would suffice.   Thus, countries like North Korea will detonate small payloads that will kill people in a relatively small area.  Plus, any detonation would result in immediate retaliation.

Yet, how many people are equivalently killed through job loses, little or no health care, inadequate housing, poor schools, or general oppression of disadvantaged groups.  Millions suffer every day, year in and  year out.  There is little or no retaliation.  If you are part of the privileged you may not even realize how people are suffering, because unemployment numbers are nothing more than figures released once a month.  Lack of health care, poor schools, or starvation are only things that the privileged read about.

America needs to understand that it isn’t North Korea that we need to fear — or any other terrorist regime — it is the lack of empathy in Washington DC.  If a nuclear weapon hits a city lots of people will die, most quickly.  The suffering that comes from job losses, poor health care, and many other things is an awful death as well.  It is politicians whose corruption and greed hurts and kills people as effectively as a nuclear bomb.   The only real difference is that people will notice when a nuclear bomb is detonated.

America is doomed.

Rats in the Obama Administration

Two disturbing developments about the officials in the Obama Administration who are responsible to getting the country out of the financial crisis.  First, it was disclosed that Larry Summers was paid $5 MILLION in 2008, largely from Hedge Funds and outrageous speaker fees from financial institutions.  These payments are for influence and they are corrupt.  Further, the Obama Administration is helping bailout firms get around the pay restrictions because they don’t think firms will participate in the government giveaway programs.  So, they have concluded to continue the greed and excess that have caused the problems.  These developments are very discouraging and represent more data that America is doomed.

Obama’s heart may be in the right place but he has hired people who want to continue all the past corruption.  He needs to fire both Summers and Geithner immediately.  He needs to make it clear that this behavior is going to stop, and stop it now.  Unfortunately, I doubt if Obama will do anything; however, doing nothing will be rightly viewed as complicit agreement.  In the process, Obama will become a one term President and people like me will never vote for him again — and probably not vote for anybody.

America is doomed.

Laid Off IBM worker kills 13

Get use to stories like today’s where laid off workers take their rage into their own hands.  Such people will get smarter and head straight to the people who fired them.  The dirty little secret about America is that without income, you are nothing.  If you can’t support yourself you are considered a deadbeat.  You are despised by society.  It doesn’t matter if you have skills, college degrees, or hard working.   The only thing that matters is if you can support yourself.

So, when people lose jobs they lose their worth, their homes, their families, and have little to live for.  No wonder that some will take out the rage on the people who they believe did it to them.  In this case — IBM.  IBM is the company that has been outsourcing jobs for years.  In fact, they recently applied for a patent on how to make outsourcing more efficient.  They even help other companies outsource work.  IBM has no problems with that.  IBM is the same company who literally helped Hitler figure out the list of Jews to be executed.  IBM sent their little minons to the concentration camp to keep the computer equipment of that day in good working order so that the Nazis could be really good at killing Jews.  Everybody knows that the Nazis were very good at it.  Now everybody knows that IBM can be thanked for that.

Well, years have passed but IBM is still developing technology to kill people — one layoff at a time.  IBM is a disgusting company.

America is doomed.

The Coming Revolution

Reading the news everyday is overwhelming.  Ted Stevens is being vindicated even though everybody knows that he took money from contractors to fix up his house in exchange for political favors.  Stevens has been on the take for decades. Rich people frequently escape the law — so, it is no surprise that Stevens is getting off.  Corruption is everywhere.  One politician after another declares that they “made mistakes” on their taxes, just before they have to go in front of a Senate confirmation hearing.   Maybe everybody should review their taxes now and fix them now.  The accounting rules were changed to water down the mark-to-market rules so that the stock market can inflate.  I could go on and on with one story about corruption and greed after another.

Instead, I am just looking forward to the revolution when the playing field is made level.  Yes, there is going to be blood in the streets of America.  When it happens people will be screaming about the lawlessness of ordinary citizens; however, nobody hears these cries now as the power in the country is corrupt.  People are always surprised when the revolution comes.  When the gates are stormed and when the politicians and corrupt business leaders are killed.  When oppressed people rise up and rebel and take matters into their hands it is never pretty or even fair — lots of innocent people get slaughtered as well.   However, from the remains a new beginning emerges.

It is not a question of if there will be a revolution, it is only a question of when.  Tomorrow, there will be another disastrous unemployment report released.  There is an excellent chance that the stock market will shrug it off and go higher.  Everybody is expecting that lots more people will be unemployed in this report.  But, it doesn’t really matter for the people in power.  Their stocks will go higher, at least for now, as the entire corrupt system is manipulated for the few.   Meanwhile, ordinary Americans will lose jobs, lose houses, and not be able to support themselves.  Some will commit suicide and some will even kill other members of their families because the pain is too much.  However, some will just get mad.  As time goes on they will get madder.  Eventually, it will explode and their will be blood everywhere.

The government will react and put down the insurrection.  There will be more blood.  The insurrection will never go away until the entire system is destroyed.

America is doomed.

Al-Unemployed, not Al-Qaeda

Fed’s Pianalto is out today saying that the economy will begin to recover in 2010.  The stock market loved the comment and rallied a bit, but such comments mean nothing.  First, Pianalto has no idea if the economy will begin to recover in 2010 — it likely will not.  People have been predicting the economy would begin to recover at the end of 2009.  Second, even if the economy stops failing, it says nothing about it beginning to improve.  It says nothing about jobs being created and unemployment going down.  Third, long term employment is the only thing that matters and this must be accompanied by living wage salaries.  Once demand is created at the bottom then the economy will recover.   However, little is being done to increase employment and even less is being done to increase wages.  It is going to take years, probably decades, and a new macro economic model.

Meanwhile, job destruction continues and it just doesn’t matter what the stock market does.  The government will keep pumping in money to banks, buying toxic assets, changing accounting rules, and maybe the banks’ balance sheets improve.  However, that doesn’t result in increased employment with living wage salaries.  In fact, there is a trend for banks to just consolidate and lay off their way to improved balance sheets by cutting costs.

America is in so much trouble and there is not enough emphasis on creating new jobs and new industries.  Everybody is focused on the greed and excess of CEOs which is, indeed, a crisis.  However, it is not the crisis like the person who loses a job, a home, and a family.  That person is a potential very angry person who just might want to retaliate against a system that has screwed him over.  Don’t worry about Al-Qaeda — worry about Al-Unemployed.

America is doomed.

America’s Implosion Continues

ADP announced that another 750k people lost jobs in March.  The Labor Department’s official report comes out on Friday.  Meanwhile, the European are protesting, breaking windows, and rioting in London at the G-20 meeting.   The protesters are even holding signs that “CAPITALISM DOESN’T WORK”.   Sounds like America Doomed.

Meanwhile, the Financial Accounting Board is expected to water down the mark-to-market accounting rules.  This will result in banks valuing assets at any old value they want.  So, expect to see big profits from the banks as a result of this accounting rule; however, it will be fake, just like all of their earnings have been for years.  Changing mark-to-market is permission to cheat again.  I guess cheating is all they can think of because the truth is all big banks are insolvent.  They are just plain broke.  So, lie about the values of your assets.  How is that different that people lying about their assets or their income?  There’s no difference.

There are no jobs but there are incidents all over the country when people lose jobs.  Men fighting in Michigan when they lose their jobs because they will lose their house and family as well.  Families being killed when jobs are lost and there appears to be no hope.  Tent cities everywhere.  Yet, the media only reports few of the tragedies that are happening every day.  Republicans still don’t get it and want tax cuts to help the rich and their silly, stupid alternative budget.  Republicans should plan on building lots more prisons because previously law abiding people will take to the streets and destroy stuff, just like they are doing in London today.

This country is so completely and utterly destined for increased unemployment, riots, and more destruction.  Sadly, this is no April Fools.

America is doomed.