I am going to keep this one short. Below is a great read from Reason. They really rarely disappoint. It is about a few cases that are upcoming specifically about our Second Amendment. If you care about the Bill of Rights, which should be everyone reading this, you should care about these cases.
If we don't protect our rights, they will go away, and they have. If we don't exercise our rights, they will go away, and they have. Citizens with out guns are not citizens, they are servants, and in many millions of cases, end up dead. Killed, not by NRA members or rednecks and not even by gangs or criminals, but their own governments. The Second Amendment is a check against that power. That is all.
http://reason.com/archives/2014/03/18/five-gun-rights-cases-to-watch
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Fat Cat Bankers Stealing Your Retirement Money
I have not been blogging for a while. Sorry. I have like 5 saved drafts. Most of the time I see a cool article I want to talk or rant about. Make a draft with a note or two and then never get back to it. This one caught my eye, and I am actually going to follow through.
7 Numbers that Show How Most Americans Were Robbed of a Comfortable Retirement: Millions of baby boomers are the victims of 35 years of deregulated greed
First off, deregulated? Noting in America has or is deregulated. Nothing. Everything, and I mean everything is regulated in America. Everything. But lets move on.
I am not saying any of this is false or a lie or not true or fictional or made up. It might be, I just don't know enough to know it's percentage of accuracy or inaccuracy. I suspect each of these "7" things has some bit of truth to them. I just think that the situation as it is, is not just the fault of the fat cat evil banker slash rich person. Bankers are one of the party's we need to blame, but not the sole bad guy in this.
So who is to blame?
I think the actions and in-actions of Congress and the Executive and the Fed Res (over the last few decades and last few years) have all had a hand in the dwindling of the vast majorities of America's savings and retirements.What to see where your money went? Take a look at where your purchasing power went (here). Back to Fed Gov blame. Dodd-Frank? Come on. For those of us in aviation that bill or regulation (or what AlterNet calls deregulation) is what is known as FOD (Foreign Object Debris, or the shit that makes airplanes fall out of the sky for you civvie types). That bill was written by Wall Street for Wall Street and the more you learn about it the more you learn it's sole purpose in life is to protect Wall Street and throw a little tiny scrap bone to the common man. It doesn't regulate Wall Street it regulates Main Street.
So who else is to blame? I think that each person has to take some of the blame. You know, personal responsibility. Now that is something that has been regulated almost out of existence by state and federal governments. Spending habits, consumerism, saving habits or lack there of. Too many people put so many of how ever many or few eggs they have in one basket. They are all in the stock market. That is a recipe for disaster. Not only that, but they are so ignorant of how things work. I am not saying I am an expert, but I know enough to know I don't know much and I know more than the average dude or dudet. They are in to pension funds, and have no idea where or who manages those funds. 401K, what's that? Roth IRA, what's that? They could be driving their Prius to a weekend protest against the XL pipeline, and 30% of their retirement fund could be in big oil. At least buy an Apple product, many large funds and pension programs hold AAPL. But then you're back to eggs and baskets.
Anyway, this article had some good points. And obviously it is one very left-progressive point of view. Hmmm. Why doesn't the federal government get into the retirement business? Oh wait, they are, its called social security, it's sad, outdated, unsustainable and they are still looking for where Al Gore buried that "lock box." He put all his eggs in APPL and made out like a bandit. (this author is jealous) Then bought a shitty left wing media company, pretty much idled it for a few years and sold it to the terrorists for a fat, fat, FAT profit. THOSE DAMN 1%ERS!!! Back to Al Jazera, at least they like to tell the truth occasionally, mixed in with their agenda, unlike our state sponsored media. I digress. As I sometimes do. Well, maybe they, the Fed Gov, should double down on a retirement program for the people. Isn't that always the left-liberal-progressive solution? If something is failing and on a big ass scale, pour more money into it, on a big ass scale. (healthcare) But this time, they can use "the peoples" money. (healthcare) Wait, what? They have that? Oh yeah, it's that silly MyRA* (another fact sheet here) thing Obama pitched the other day. How about this "crazy" idea, you might need a tin foil hat to understand this. It's just a slick scheme to get the"working class American people" to buy more of Americas debt. By the time they get any money back with interest, the other type of interest will have made the principle plus interest worth less then the principle they started with. Oh, and the main stream money people love the idea. It keeps their scheme going as well. I hate it when our projected reality makes the Matrix look like a good deal.
* I am semi in favor of this idea I just think it is a Dollar Spot quality band aid for a compound fracture and it's a distraction from other real and big and real big problems.
Anyway, this has been a semi-quasi-unintellectual rant, but I am sure some of you started this article with that preconception. I hope some of you, or even one of you, got something out of it. At least it didn't cost you anything, except time.
Peace.
Oh, you scrolled down this far? Observant. Or lucky.
Here is some last minute (unsolicited) advice: Land, food production and preservation, personal protection, lessen your reliance on the grid and fossil fuels, a modest and efficient house, little to no debt, live with in your means, silver, maybe some gold, cash, savings and some, and I mean some, money in the market. It's all a balancing act of eggs and baskets. But what do I know? Or what don't you know?
http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/
7 Numbers that Show How Most Americans Were Robbed of a Comfortable Retirement: Millions of baby boomers are the victims of 35 years of deregulated greed
First off, deregulated? Noting in America has or is deregulated. Nothing. Everything, and I mean everything is regulated in America. Everything. But lets move on.
I am not saying any of this is false or a lie or not true or fictional or made up. It might be, I just don't know enough to know it's percentage of accuracy or inaccuracy. I suspect each of these "7" things has some bit of truth to them. I just think that the situation as it is, is not just the fault of the fat cat evil banker slash rich person. Bankers are one of the party's we need to blame, but not the sole bad guy in this.
So who is to blame?
I think the actions and in-actions of Congress and the Executive and the Fed Res (over the last few decades and last few years) have all had a hand in the dwindling of the vast majorities of America's savings and retirements.What to see where your money went? Take a look at where your purchasing power went (here). Back to Fed Gov blame. Dodd-Frank? Come on. For those of us in aviation that bill or regulation (or what AlterNet calls deregulation) is what is known as FOD (Foreign Object Debris, or the shit that makes airplanes fall out of the sky for you civvie types). That bill was written by Wall Street for Wall Street and the more you learn about it the more you learn it's sole purpose in life is to protect Wall Street and throw a little tiny scrap bone to the common man. It doesn't regulate Wall Street it regulates Main Street.
So who else is to blame? I think that each person has to take some of the blame. You know, personal responsibility. Now that is something that has been regulated almost out of existence by state and federal governments. Spending habits, consumerism, saving habits or lack there of. Too many people put so many of how ever many or few eggs they have in one basket. They are all in the stock market. That is a recipe for disaster. Not only that, but they are so ignorant of how things work. I am not saying I am an expert, but I know enough to know I don't know much and I know more than the average dude or dudet. They are in to pension funds, and have no idea where or who manages those funds. 401K, what's that? Roth IRA, what's that? They could be driving their Prius to a weekend protest against the XL pipeline, and 30% of their retirement fund could be in big oil. At least buy an Apple product, many large funds and pension programs hold AAPL. But then you're back to eggs and baskets.
Anyway, this article had some good points. And obviously it is one very left-progressive point of view. Hmmm. Why doesn't the federal government get into the retirement business? Oh wait, they are, its called social security, it's sad, outdated, unsustainable and they are still looking for where Al Gore buried that "lock box." He put all his eggs in APPL and made out like a bandit. (this author is jealous) Then bought a shitty left wing media company, pretty much idled it for a few years and sold it to the terrorists for a fat, fat, FAT profit. THOSE DAMN 1%ERS!!! Back to Al Jazera, at least they like to tell the truth occasionally, mixed in with their agenda, unlike our state sponsored media. I digress. As I sometimes do. Well, maybe they, the Fed Gov, should double down on a retirement program for the people. Isn't that always the left-liberal-progressive solution? If something is failing and on a big ass scale, pour more money into it, on a big ass scale. (healthcare) But this time, they can use "the peoples" money. (healthcare) Wait, what? They have that? Oh yeah, it's that silly MyRA* (another fact sheet here) thing Obama pitched the other day. How about this "crazy" idea, you might need a tin foil hat to understand this. It's just a slick scheme to get the"working class American people" to buy more of Americas debt. By the time they get any money back with interest, the other type of interest will have made the principle plus interest worth less then the principle they started with. Oh, and the main stream money people love the idea. It keeps their scheme going as well. I hate it when our projected reality makes the Matrix look like a good deal.
* I am semi in favor of this idea I just think it is a Dollar Spot quality band aid for a compound fracture and it's a distraction from other real and big and real big problems.
Anyway, this has been a semi-quasi-unintellectual rant, but I am sure some of you started this article with that preconception. I hope some of you, or even one of you, got something out of it. At least it didn't cost you anything, except time.
Peace.
Oh, you scrolled down this far? Observant. Or lucky.
Here is some last minute (unsolicited) advice: Land, food production and preservation, personal protection, lessen your reliance on the grid and fossil fuels, a modest and efficient house, little to no debt, live with in your means, silver, maybe some gold, cash, savings and some, and I mean some, money in the market. It's all a balancing act of eggs and baskets. But what do I know? Or what don't you know?
http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/
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