Archive for the Economics Category

Losing Faith: MF Global and Kodak (January 9, 2012)

Posted in Bankruptcy, Banks and Banking System, Economics, Housing, Judges on January 9, 2012 by e-ssay.org

. . .

K          “With each passing day, the American dream is being stolen from more and more proverbial hard-working and law-abiding Americans.  When enough ordinary Americans lose their few investments, there will not be enough Americans who are invested in America.”

J          “MF Global and Jon Corzine stole money and did the American thing.  They fraudulently filed Chapter 7 of Title 11, the Bankruptcy Code, as a securities dealer rather than a commodities broker to provide powerful creditors access to the company’s cash before its ordinary citizen clients.”

K          “The picture at Kodak is not pretty.  The retirees will discover that the pensions they worked a lifetime to build are vaporized or at least reduced in a moment via Section 365 of Title 11.  Even the Bankruptcy Code is economically and morally bankrupt.”

J          “And distorted and prostituted at every opportunity by bankruptcy lawyers and judges.  For so many other ordinary Americans, their house is a cage, a prison and a leg-hold trap.  The owners are drowning and can neither fight nor flee, neither tread water nor swim away.  Housing prices still must drop substantially to achieve market clearing prices.”

K          “If everyone acknowledged the real market value of houses, the house of cards would collapse.  Big Banks and most homeowners would be forced to admit that everyone is hopelessly insolvent.  Local governments would not be able to raise enough tax revenue unless they raised the mill rate to a crippling percentage of purported market value.  The only way for the Republic to survive the day is to nourish a collective national delusion that everything really is alright.”

J          “Is it better to nourish a collective national delusion?”

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

When you ain’t got nothin’, you ain’t got nothin’ to lose.

Boxing Day (December 26, 2011)

Posted in Consumerism, Economics, Entitlements on December 26, 2011 by e-ssay.org

. . .

B          “On this day, the servants were allowed to use the discarded gift boxes from the previous day’s festivities to take some of the leftovers home.”

C          “The genesis of recycling.  I thought it also refers to the fights that break out when consumers brawl for gifts to continue the holiday celebration.  Like fisticuffs for sneakers.  Bare-knuckled negotiations to acquire something to cover one’s feet.”

B          “The Boxing Day model is a private sector approach, yet only a few lucky souls benefit.  We as a society cannot any longer create the conditions to allow everyone to work.  And we cannot continue to provide government payments to those who are not working.  And we cannot rely on private charity, even with substantial tax deductions for the contributions, to provide for those who are not working.  And we cannot not do something for those who are not working.”

C          “Cut defense spending on the hundreds of frivolous boondoggles that do not contribute to our national defense.”

B          “That is part of the solution.  We are in a box.  The best the ‘best’ can do is counsel us to ‘think outside the box’ without even understanding why we are boxed in by our limited resources.”

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

Sit long, talk much, laugh a lot

An “Occupy Primer” (November 14, 2011)

Posted in Bailout/Bribe, Banks and Banking System, Economics, Kleptocracy, Law, Occupy Movement on November 14, 2011 by e-ssay.org

. . .

?          “The Bonus Marchers sought what?”

!           “Bonuses owed to them by the government.”

?          “The civil rights advocates sought what?”

!           “Civil rights.”

?          “The women’s rights proponents sought what?”

!           “Women’s rights.”

?          “Those who sought to end the war in Vietnam sought what?”

!           “To end the war in Vietnam.”

?          “Those in the Occupy Movement seek what?”

!           “Simple.  They seek to end a game that is rigged at every step against everyone except a very small elite.  They seek to change a political and financial and legal and schooling scheme that is corrupt and decadent from top to bottom and from right to left.  They seek a build a future but suspect that there is not one.  They seek to replace the current vacuous kleptocracy with a viable democracy.  They seek to start a discussion and a dialogue among equals in an outdoor Academy to supplant the lies foisted on them from those in power.  That type of stuff.”

?!         “They want a fair chance.  I get it.”

. . .

[See the "e-ssays" titled Occupy America (October 10, 2011) and Occupy America: The “Bonus March/Chicago Police Riot/Kent State” Of 2011? (October 17, 2011)]

[See the “e-ssay” titled America Recycles Day, November 15 (November 15, 2010) and celebrate “America Recycles Day” tomorrow by doing something.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

We are the 99.9%

Occupy Jenkins Hill; Occupy Capitol Hill

Occupy [our small burg]

(Neoclassical) Economics – “The Dismal Religion”

(Neoclassical) Economics – “The Delusional Religion”

I won’t believe that a corporation is a person until Texas executes one

Occupy America: The “Bonus March/Chicago Police Riot/Kent State” Of 2011? (October 17, 2011)

Posted in Banks and Banking System, Boycott Series, Economics, First Amendment, Journalism, Kleptocracy, Newspapers, Occupy Movement, Politics, Society on October 17, 2011 by e-ssay.org

. . .

a          “They will only tolerate it as long as they regard it as harmless.  When they regard it as a threat to their domination, they will do harm.”

A          “Another inevitable repeat of history.  But when the Chicago police rioted in ’68 outside the Democratic National Convention and beat and tear gassed the populace, at least they only used night sticks and tear gas as weapons.”

a          “There are videos you can download to your tube with a few clicks.  You can see that the police even beat the press.  Back then, the press got it and got in the way and got it from the police.”

A          “Today, the authorities are armed with far more dangerous armaments and arsenals.  Even toll booth operators and beach patrols sport their own SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) Teams equipped with grenade launchers and flame throwers.  In an old black and white tv show, Barney Fife, a deputy sheriff in a small North Carolina town, carried one bullet, probably a .38, in his shirt pocket and was required to ask Andy, the sheriff, before he could even chamber it.  Different times.”

a          “Not many police officers realize that the kids are trying to protect the police union while the governor is trying to kill it.  When the federal government begins providing Homeland Security grants to allow local libraries to acquire armed drones, will anyone care or comment.”

A          “Not to worry, they are closing the libraries.  It might be Oak Park, it might be Oakland, it might occur on some other park or land that will become part of our national lore.”

a          “Even if the kids keep their heads, the authorities are going to bust them.  The problem is that one person may make a threatening comment that will provide the police with a pretext.  An undercover police officer could make a threatening comment to one of his colleagues and provide the pretext for a police riot.”

A          “A few young Boomers got their heads busted and then when older busted a booming economy.  Now the Boomers will bust some concerned youngsters’ heads – the youngsters who must endure the long bust but will never experience a lingering boom.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssay” titled “Ohio – Not Forgettin’ Ohio; The Battleground State Battles On (May 2, 2005)” and the "e-ssay" titled "The Residue of Unrelenting Fear: PTSD Afflicts The Populace (August 28, 2006)."]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Do you want the kids to be activists or pacifists?

Occupy Mayberry, R.F.D.

Kids (and older kids) who know and care are doing something

The kids are alright

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” – John F. Kennedy

Occupy America (October 10, 2011)

Posted in Banks and Banking System, Boycott Series, Economics, First Amendment, Journalism, Kleptocracy, Newspapers, Occupy Movement, Politics, Society on October 10, 2011 by e-ssay.org

. . .

A         “Commentators are having a hard time because there isn’t one spokesperson to interview nor one manifesto to mine.”

a          “Most commentators don’t understand what has happened in America over the last decade, so I don’t expect them to understand what is going on today.  I am aware enough to know that something’s clearly wrong, yet it is hard to describe.  What I do know is that I don’t have a future.”

A         “It’s simple and obvious.  The ruling class is strip mining the middle class.  And then accusing those who dare to point out the obvious truth that the astute observer is instigating class warfare.”

a          “They are clearcutting the kids.  They are not allowing a college grad let alone the ordinary Joe to immanentize the eschaton, although they are immanentizing the eschaton in a big way at my expense.  I really don’t have much hope of improvement or advancement.”

A         “Listen carefully.  That may be the big difference this time – an underlying absence of hope and a more pronounced sense of desperation.” 

a          “Hope died a few years ago.  Hope is so 2008.  Yet what do you have if you don’t have hope.”

A         “When hope totally disappears, an individual who can’t take it often takes one of three paths.  At the extreme, he takes his life, takes someone else’s life, or takes someone else’s life and then takes his life.”

a          “Someone sure took the life of the American Dream.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssay” titled “Boycott Big Banks (February 1, 2010)."]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Occupy Wall Street; Occupy Our America

You don’t need a sportscaster to know which way the ball bounces.

Is The New Standard Poor? (August 8, 2011)

Posted in Economics, Pogo Plight, Rating Agencies on August 8, 2011 by e-ssay.org

. . .

S          “We live not in the Age of Iron but in the Age of Irony.  For years, the three blind mice – Standard & Poor’s, Fitch and Moody’s – affixed their gold seal (AAA rating) to pyrite and made a fortune off the alchemy.  Then Standard & Poor’s announced this Spring that it might just downgrade America’s credit rating in the near future.  Then they fulfilled their threat this Summer and downgraded America’s credit rating because the hired help was not playing well with others.”

P          “And after downgrading American debt, Americans and others fled in a great panic to security and stability . . . to American debt.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Larry, Moe and Curly; Manny, Moe and Jack; Standard & Poor’s, Fitch and Moody’s

The rating agencies don’t rate.

From e-con-omics to eco-nomics? (August 1, 2011)

Posted in Bankruptcy, China, Economics, Economics Nobel, Education, Energy, Environment, Pensions, Schooling on August 1, 2011 by e-ssay.org

. . .

(           “The Keynesians are using a screwdriver to hammer a nail.  The monetarists are using a hammer to drive a screw.  The wrong tool is selected because the challenge is not understood.”

)           “So we are screwed and hammered?”

(           “E-con-omists do not even recall the central tenet of economics.  Resources are scarce.  Not enough resources are available today to provide the growth needed to provide everyone with a first-world life style.”

)           “You know that observation is politically unacceptable.”

(           “The department of e-con-omics today should be merged with the department of religion.  The e-con-omists are marketing voodoo.”

)           “What about the department of psychology?  Or the department of environmental sciences.”

(           “What about creating a department of 3Es – energy, economics, and the environment?  What about adding a class in Mega-eco-nomics to the traditional classes in Microeconomics and Macroeconomics?”

. . .

(           “Economics is laden with rich irony.  The use of the word ‘gross’ in ‘gross domestic product.’  The products and services often are gross.”

)           “Look at the felicitous term ‘trickle down’ in ‘trickle down economic policies.’  The theory posits that all the money should be given to the wealthy and very little will trickle down to the populace.  Should anyone be surprised that very little trickles down to the populace.”

(           “And the Laffer Curve was worth a laugh but not much more.”

)           “We need more eco-nomists who recognize and accommodate limits to growth even though the realization is anathema in today’s political climate.”

(           “Very few are going to go quietly.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

You are stronger than the tool; the tool is smarter than you are.

Central Falls falls

The Senate confirmed Gary Locke as Ambassador to China by unanimous consent on July 27, 2011

Is College Worthless? (July 25, 2011)

Posted in Economics, Education, Pogo Plight, Schooling, Society on July 25, 2011 by e-ssay.org

. . .

_          “Kinda.  In the past, a college graduate acquired more money and flashed a brighter smile.  For most kids today, it is four years of fun and play.  A sheep skin really only signals that the bearer attended a summer sleep-away camp during the fall, winter and spring seasons for a few seasons.”

_          “Employing a generous standard, perhaps ten percent of the kids actually acquire something tantamount to a “college education” in college.”

_          “The economy has upped the bar.  Ninety percent of the college graduates are not employed in college-level jobs because they are college graduates but not college-level employees.  Viewed with some perspective, everything is in balance except our unreasonable expectations.”

_          “When you think about it, wouldn’t you party all night if you had no tomorrow?”

. . .

_          “When the federal government began making college loans freely available, the cost of college schooling exploded.  A college may aspire to liberate one’s mind, but it enslaves one’s body and spirit.  The lucky graduates leave as indentured servants, the unlucky ones as debt serfs and slaves.  The only out is to enlist in the military.  Is that the plan?  Think about it.”

_          “And by statute, a student loan obligation is not a dischargeable debt when one files bankruptcy.  But doesn’t a constitutional provision trump a conflicting statute?”

_          “That’s what they say.”

_          “What about the 13th Amendment prohibition on slavery?”

. . .

_          “The greatest constitutional challenge in academia today is dealing with the cohort of male applicants who are significantly less prepared and talented than the cohort of female applicants.  Can a university elect to maintain an equal number of boys and girls and accept a marked disparity in abilities and possibilities within a class?”

_          “The most talented and most desired female applicants may elect to matriculate at a university that maintains a balanced portfolio of males and females.  To attract the elite women, a university may be compelled to admit even more less qualified males to maintain a balance in the entering class.”

_          “Remember in the old days when there were single gender schools and an opposite single gender school situated down the road.”

. .  .

_          “Why not award every citizen a Ph.D. in any field upon reaching the age of 18.  And of course award everyone a Selective Service card.”

_          “The Adult Entitlement Act of 2012 will save billions.  In the legislation, the Department of Education can be renamed the Department of Schooling or the Department of Credentialing.”

_          “We need a little something for everyone.  Academia is more interested in credentials than ideas.  Double the number of degrees currently sported by each professor by fiat.” 

. . .

_          “Society does not have the resources to indulge the current college extravaganza.  No one should be admitted to college until the age of 20.  Everyone should work at something for two years as an intern, in the civilian conservation corps, even in the military or at some other endeavor.  At that time in their lives, kids need a more productive emancipation from home and a swifter introduction to the real world at less social cost.  By the age of 20, both males and females have much more perspective and maturity.  They can use their earnings or learning chits for education or for some other endeavor.”

_          “Kids must learn how to get out of bed on time before they can learn.”

_          “And learn to cease texting while at the morning staff meeting.  Traditional college attendance would decline.  The dorms could be used to house a mix of college students and kids pursuing their Big Transition and senior citizens and others in need of housing.”

_          “And perhaps the number of qualified males will balance the number of qualified females.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Go College

Phil O. Sophistry, B.A., B.A., M.A., M.A., Ph.D, Ph.D., B.M.F., B.M.F.

Bringing Balance To The Balanced Budget Amendment Debate (July 18, 2011)

Posted in Balanced Budget Amendment, Congress, Debt/Deficits, Economics on July 18, 2011 by e-ssay.org

. . .

A          “Why pass an amendment demanding that you pass a balanced budget when it is far easier simply to pass a balanced budget.  If you want to pass a balanced budget, then pass a balanced budget.”

B          “There is a simpler and more concrete solution.  No balanced budget amendment bill shall be even scheduled for a subcommittee hearing until the budget is first balanced.”

C          “If it can’t be done, why pass a law decreeing that it shall be done.  It really is as easy as ABC.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Which came first, the rattlesnake or the egg?

The Japanese women won (in soccer), but Japan is lost

Our “Fiat Future” (June 13, 2011)

Posted in "Fiat ______", Banks and Banking System, Debt/Deficits, Economics, Gold Standard, Peak Land, Peak Oil, Spending on June 13, 2011 by e-ssay.org

. . .

Y          “So we live in an economy driven by ‘fiat money.’  Should we use the money to buy a Fiat car?  You know it is an acronym for ‘Fix It And Trade’?”

X          “Our fiat currency rolls along, but it is not a convertible vehicle.  I would like to fix it and trade, but we are just trading it.  A ’fiat’ is an order and a directive.  The United States Government orders and directs the citizens to accept ‘fiat money’ or ‘fiat currency’ or ‘fiat dollars’ for ‘for all debts public and private.’  The order and directive are backed by the ‘full faith and credit’ of the United States Government.  See, no worries.”

Y          “But I’m worried.  The credit of the United States government on paper is non-existent.  Why take its paper?  Who has even ‘half faith’ in its credit?”

X          “Only fools and citizens.  Only you and me.”

Y          “Why have faith when the empirical evidence is so clear and so clearly to the contrary?”

X          “Think about it this way.  I will accept the dollar if and because you will accept the dollar.”

Y          “Well then I will accept the dollar if and because you will accept the dollar.”

X          “That is the rationale.  It has worked and it works, but it may not work.  I don’t know if I want to accept the dollar.”

Y          “If you want to get rid of them, I will take them off your hands.”

X          “I will use them for the time being if and because you will accept them.  Half of the physical dollars are in circulation outside the United States and serve as the de facto currency in some countries and regions.  At the same time, the banks and financial institutions in America may have one tenth of one percent of the physical dollars necessary to cover the deposits in the banks and financial institutions.  Our fractional-reserve banking system is fractured, but it has not yet fractured.  A run on the banks, for rational reasons or irrational whims, would confirm what no one denies.”

Y          “So is the refusal to raise the debt ceiling a rational or an irrational triggering event?”

X          “An understandable reaction, but an irrational and dangerous response.  In a country awash in electronic dollars, there are no real dollars and not even enough fake dollars.  When the populace resorts to gold, everyone will discover that it is ‘fiat gold’ even if we are not ordered and directed by the government to accept it.”

Y          “The government took gold out of the equation decades ago.  And if you want to get rid of any gold, by the way, I will take it off your hands.”

X          “Others have put their full faith and credit in gold.  And then fail to see the irony in denominating the value of gold in . . . ‘fiat dollars.’”

Y          “So the dollar is not backed by gold, but gold is backed by dollars.”

X          “Seems to be.  However, there is no fiat bread.”

Y          “So when everyone realizes that the government ‘bread’ is stale, we will yearn for real bread.” 

X          “Bread is the real bread.  But we can’t print it.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Bake Bread

Know how to bake bread

He Who Has The Gold Makes The Rules

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