Friday, December 31, 2010

Ben Bernanke is not an idiot!

Something that has really got on my nerves lately is all the talk of Ben Bernanke and Central Bankers who don't get it and how Obama doesn't understand basic economics. I totally agree with the likes of Tom Woods and Jim Rodgers who believe our current situation is not sustainable. I also believe the Federal Reserve only compounds the problems. The part I take issue with is that even a Dumb Ass is right once in a while, even if only by accident.

How can the man who runs the Federal Reserve be wrong every time?

How can he make blanket statements like Quantitative Easing will not create inflation?

Who believes that this man or even our president doesn't understand basic economics? Is it not more reasonable that they understand quite well how the system works but they have an agenda in the works that requires the actions being taken. Instead of given these people a free pass by believing they act because they don't understand, why don't we instead start asking, what is it that you're really trying to do?


Cheers,

Mike

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Thursday, December 16, 2010

Who does better the family making 60K or the one making minimum wage?

More evidence that we now punish the so called "middle class" for working hard. A single parent family with 3 children has more actual income than a family making 60K a year.



As the above chart provided by Wyatt Emerich shows, the family making $60,000.00 a year has over $2000 less actual income than someone who makes minimum wage. A large portion of this is due to the Medicaid insurance coverage, which of course a family making 60K is not eligible for. The real kicker is that many of these folks who take advantage of of all these benefits also receive SSI (Supplemental Security Income), which is not included. This also assumes the single family provider is paying child care so they can work full time. If this hypothetical single family parent only works part time or one week a month, while still making minimum wage, the Child care cost is of course eliminated which increases this total even more.

Add to that the possibility of gaming the system by working on the side for cash. And a "poor" family could actually do quite well living off the the redistribution of wealth.

Think about this, as soon you will be hearing much more about how we need to make those rich people pay their fair share.


Cheers,

Mike

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Saturday, December 11, 2010

START Treaty

I'm not sure how I feel about this. There are a few ways to look at it.

This treaty forces the United States to reduce unilaterally forces such as missiles, bombers and warheads, in order to meet treaty limits. The Russians however will actually be allowed to increase their deployed forces because they currently fall below the limits set by the treaty. One troubling point is that most of the talks on this treaty have completely ignored the implications of China who has recently been spending alot of time and money on upgrading it's own nuclear capabilities.

Some believe that the new Senate Republicans will carry out their threat to block and kill the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. They also believe that our ability to conduct foreign policy effectively throughout the world will be significantly weakened when this happens. They will also tell you that the treaty’s failure will harm our relationships with Russia and undermine cooperation on Iran securing nuclear materials while making it more difficult for all foreign governments to take political risks in negotiating future agreements with the United States.

On the other hand, many folks agree that Barack Obama's pledge to seek “the peace of a world without nuclear weapons”, was a really good thing. The new treaty would reduce the number of each countries nukes to 1,550 warheads from the 2,200-weapon limit set under the 2002 Moscow Treaty. The agreement also cuts by half the missiles and bombers that are capable of carrying and deploying the weapons.

Another thing to consider is that the new treaty applies only to deployed weapons. The U.S. and Russia still maintain a combined stockpile of over 20,000 nuclear warheads which account for about 90 percent of the world’s nuclear stockpile. This number is still massive but far lower than the peaks once seen by the two nations. Have no fear we are still able to destroy the world many times over at a moments notice.


These weapons have kept the world mostly at peace, at least from nuclear war but they have a cost as well. Some reports show that we spend over 50 billion dollars a year on maintaining our arsenal which has not been used since 1945. This is an extremely high cost to maintain a pissing contest.

In summary I believe we need to maintain a strong military force but I can't help but wonder if maybe our nuclear arsenal isn't a sinkhole being used to throw cash into. Think about this, we have had as many as 33,000 nuclear warheads, has anyone ever seen all of them? Currently, supposedly, we have less than half this number now, do we really need that many? Does it really keep us more safe having the capability to destroy every piece of soil on the planet 10 times over? Would we be less safe is we only had a few hundred warheads?

Cheers,

Mike

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Thursday, December 9, 2010

Class Warfare 2012

The stage is set.

The War is scheduled with the final battle being November of 2012. President Obama and his Democrat party have gotten their wish, they will now be able to run on all out class warfare in 2012. The Current tax rates (Being called the Bush tax Cuts) have been extended to 2012. This means that the same issue will come up again 2011/2012 and our President has already made it clear that he will fight to make the tax rates permanent for 98% of Americans while attempting to hit the top 2% with much higher tax rates.

This is exactly where Class Warfare starts to get ugly, especially when you already have a progressive tax system where the wealthy pay over 50% of the national income tax base and the bottom 20% pay little or no taxes.

Unless Nancy Pelosi refuses to bring the Tax Cut Compromise to the floor, the deal made between President Obama and Senate Republicans, will pass.
The Democrats will run on this and they will run hard, they are hoping to succeed where Walter Mondale failed. The two parties will either be going head to head on this or the Democrats will attempt to reel in as many Centrist Republicans as they can to go along with the ruse that is Wealth Envy.

"If you can't make it, take it from those who made it".

Cheers,

Mike

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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Illegal Immigration Concerns

Illegal immigration concerns, It's not just for the U.S. anymore.

Despite what you might believe after hearing all the hype from the main stream media, illegal immigration is not just a problem in the U.S. on the Southern Border. Mexico has troops on it's southern border as well keeping out the More Southern South Americans. This despite the fact that the Mexican President, Caldarone sees the need to come here and scold Americans for wanting to keep Mexicans in Mexico.

What you might not have heard is that China also is battling an immigration problem not very different from our own. Chinese Factories are being flooded with workers from all over Asia and even Africa. Chinese Industry leaders claim that these workers are necessary to keep up with expansion since it takes to long to train Chinese workers who come from the country side with little or no skills. Sound familiar? Why is it that we buy most of our goods from other countries but when we try to implement polices like those being used in some of those very same countries, we are looked at as lacking compassion.

Cheers,

Mike

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Sunday, December 5, 2010

WoW Weekly update 16

Twas the Month Christmas
http://www.facebook.com/immto#!/notes/mike-ortiz/twas-the-month-before-christmas/466348559596

Classic Propaganda



Lies of SB510 The Food Saftey Bill
http://www.naturalnews.com/030587_Senate_Bill_510_Food_Safety.html#ixzz16pkYVMPX

GM gets another Bail Out, this time from the Back Door
http://nlpc.org/stories/2010/11/19/dont-pop-corks-gm-just-yet

Acorn Folks Guilty of Election Fraud
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/26/acorn-workers-convicted-admitted-guilt-election-fraud/?test=latestnews

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Deputy Fired Just Before Military Tour

This is a sad sad story that simply should not exist. A County sheriff's deputy who was preparing to leave for a tour of duty was fired before he leaves on Monday. Sgt. Michael Russell was told by the sheriff he was exercising his right to dismiss without cause. The federal law says that no employer can dismiss someone because of their military services, but the law in North Carolina says the sheriff isn't require to say why he is terminating, nice right. As if his tour of duty wasn't enough another part of this story is that the officer sold raffle tickets to help raise funds for an opponent of the sheriff in the last election. So if he's not being let go simply for his military service it looks as if he may have been let go due to the political insecurity of the Sheriff. Either way it's a sad situation.

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Friday, December 3, 2010

Samuel Adams was wise but his wisdom can be used against us.

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate tireless minority keen to set brush fires in peoples minds.

- Samuel Adams

This is great advice but please bear in mind both sides use this strategy, and the left is better at it then we are. Please make sure that the fire in your mind is really only a brush fire and not a raging inferno which is about to consume your life and your liberty. Sometimes the best way to deal with a brush fire is to let it burn itself out while ensuring the farm doesn't go up in flames with it.

Cheers,

Mike

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