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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

A Sucker's Bet

A friend recently posted this image to his Facebook page and thereby gave me a reason to create today's blog post.


If Margaret Thatcher’s comment is accurate regarding socialism, it is also accurate regarding of the problem with capitalism, except that with capitalism you don't eventually run out of other people's money, “you” eventually run out of suckers.

Strict capitalism is, at its core, a Ponzi scheme in which the value inherent in the skills and labor of a group of people is converted into currency and deposited into the bank accounts of the capitalists with successive groups of people becoming the unwitting investors (AKA suckers) in the scheme.


Capitalists use people who are destitute to do the real work in an economy. They bamboozle those people into believing they are being “given” a job when they are actually entering into a contract where their valuable skills and labor are being traded for wages.

The scheme begins to unravel when the workers come to realize that they don’t have to settle for a “take it or leave it” wage and attempt to organize as a bargaining unit (union).

The response of the strict capitalist is to resist and break the union; and, if that does not work, to simply replace those workers with another group of destitute people. This was previously called "hiring scabs." That term has now been replaced by the modern euphemism known as "outsourcing."

Both capitalism and socialism are viable economic systems when tempered by justice and fair play within a system of government designed to benefit the general population. Both become oppressive when there are no regulations to curb the zealotry and greed of those running the economic system or when those economic systems are believed to be inseparable from the system of government and thereby achieve the status of holy writ, exempt from examination, evaluation, and modification by the population.

* * *
Ponzi scheme |ˈpänzē|nounform of fraud in which belief in the success of a nonexistent enterprise is fostered by the payment of quick returns to the first investors from money invested by later investors.ORIGIN named after Charles Ponzi (died 1949), who carried out such a fraud (1919–20).

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Choosing Knowledge Over Ignorance

The worship of ignorance as a virtue has led to the current state of gridlock in D.C.

As proof of that observation, I offer two items for your consideration:
  1. the chasm between reality and the Tea Party's fraudulent claim that President Obama is a foreign, Muslim, communist
  2. the fact that people holding those ridiculous beliefs now dictate the agenda of the majority party in the House of representatives.
The only antidote to the such mind-numbing venom is knowledge.

Whether you like, dislike, agree or disagree with, Barack Obama, he's the President; and it's your responsibility as a citizen to be informed about, not ignorant of, what is required of the person who occupies the Oval Office and the effect it has on his/her family.

Take the time to read these two excellent articles.

1. David Gergen's analysis of President Obama's second inaugural address:

2. Jodi Kantor's commentary on the effect of the past four years on the Obamas:

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Fact vs. Fertilizer

Telling the difference between fact and fertilizer is as easy as A, B, C.

A. Here's what President Obama said in today's press conference on gun laws:
I will put everything I’ve got into this — and so will Joe — but I tell you, the only way we can change is if the American people demand it. And by the way, that doesn’t just mean from certain parts of the country. We’re going to need voices in those areas and those congressional districts where the tradition of gun ownership is strong to speak up and to say this is important. It can’t just be the usual suspects. We have to examine ourselves in our hearts, and ask yourselves what is important? This will not happen, unless the American people demand it. If parents and teachers, police officers, and pastors, if hunters and sportsman, if responsible gun owners, if Americans of every background stand up and say, enough. We’ve suffered too much pain, and care too much about our children to allow this to continue, then change will — change will come.


B. Here's what the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus says he's doing:
President Obama's series of gun control measures amount to an executive power grab that may please his political base but will not solve the problems at hand.

C. Now it's your turn.

Watch the video of the press conference, then guess which of those two men believes that Americans are capable of making decisions to control their own destiny and which believes they are too stupid to know the difference between fact and fertilizer.



Update - Jan 22: Sorry folks. The Reince Prebus video is no longer available, but you can read what he had to say here and at the link above.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Winner of the NRA's Coveted, Artistic Achievement Award

Starry Night 20

  • Medium: bullet holes in black velvet
  • Brush: Bushmaster AR-15
  • Artist: Adam Lanza, son of a faithful NRA member and gun enthusiast (deceased)

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Scrip-ting A Way Out Of A Bogus Crisis

Before clicking on the link below, it's important to realize that most Americans don't know squat about the federal debt ceiling. Nor do they understand that the debt ceiling "crisis" is completely artificial.

The folks trumpeting and ballyhooing this "crisis" as the end of the world are the same ones who uttered nary a peep when the debt ceiling was raised eleven times under Ronald Reagan and nineteen times as "W" started two unfunded wars.

In reality, this "crisis" is the bastard child of an unholy marriage between power-politics and hatred for the Black man who now occupies the oval office.

Can you say "Racism and fear are useful tools for getting folks to believe that horse manure is a gourmet meal"?

I knew you could.

Click the link below to read how President Obama could outmaneuver the fear and hate-mongers.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Political Theater

Now Playing:

President Obama vs. the GOP Snow-Jobbers

(with a supporting cast of blue-dog Democrats)



Saturday, January 5, 2013

How The Pledge Works

This short video shows the relationship between GOP members of Congress and Grover Norquist.