Aohell

Fiscal Policy

Questions for a Future Debate...

Having seen the debates thus far, I have to say I'm disgusted at the way the politicians dodge some issues, make no mention of others, and beat the drum on real vote-getters. Is that all democracy has done for the US? Produce men that have no desire to care for their nation, but to get to the top of the greasy pole of politics?

I don't think I'll ever be in a position to ask these questions point-blank to any candidate. I'm not in the major media groups, and even if I was, asking these questions would likely get me fired, transferred, or otherwise shoved under a bus. That's the irony of this whole thing... we have a free press, but it has no ability to air its views or truly reach the nation's leaders. That reach is reserved for the corporations and the lobbies that know how to act as corporations.

Anyway, my questions:

1. Haiti is the nation with perhaps the longest-running "nation-building" relationship with the United States. Given the conditions there - people scrounging around to find the least toxic dirt to eat - what hope do you have that what the US is doing in Iraq or Afghanistan won't eventually end in similar failure?

And, yes, least toxic dirt. The poor of Haiti can't afford food, so they are forced to turn to a certain kind of dirt that can be mixed with a little butter and salt and sun-baked into a cake. It has next to no nutritive value, but helps to end the pains of hunger. The toxins in the dirt, however, are themselves debilitating. Eating the dirt cakes is known as "bleaching the belly". This is a nation the US has tried to rebuild since 1914. Nearly a century later, they are eating toxic dirt. If there was oil there, things would be worse, I guess...

2. If the American-Israel PAC told you to wear underwear on top of your head, would you wear boxers or briefs and would you make it a campaign issue about how slow your opponent was to don his undergarments in the AIPAC-requested fashion?

Honestly, the US should just make Israel the 51st state. That way, no other nation on earth could attack it and it would prosper with all the guarantees the United States grants its minority populations with substantial amounts of cash. They would further rest assured that the Arabs would be given an alternative ethnic descriptor with loads more syllables in it so they could be properly ignored like all of the US' minority populations without substantial amounts of cash.

3. Given how much money the candidates are receiving from the banking, insurance, and real estate industries, will either really, really take care of the current financial mess in a way that does not somehow enrich further the very people who created it?

Opensecrets.org has information on industry donors by sector. $116 million of corporate spending came from banking, finance, and real estate. That's the single-largest set of contributions. I'm sorry, but I simply can't look at that and smile. This next president will be bought and paid for, that's what it looks like. Whether or not it's like other presidents makes no difference: it's still a nauseating tragedy.

4. Can we trust either of the candidates with our tax dollars?

Hold on, this question was asked in the debate. Neither candidate managed an answer that didn't sound like some kind of used car sales pitch. I'm not convinced we can trust any of them.

5. Why are candidates that are neither Republican nor Democrat excluded from participation in the debates by the bi-partisan Federal Election Commission?

Oh, snap. It's because a bipartisan commission doesn't want to upset the apple cart with any views other than the existing currently carefully-scripted ones. Heaven forfend someone outside the influence of corporate America should speak his mind in a well-attended public forum.

6. What is your position on nuclear disarmament?

7. If a rising tide is supposed to lift all boats, why does the increasing GDP of the USA leave an increased disparity between the richest Americans and its poorest citizens? Does the government of America truly represent all people or only the ones able to purchase access to government bodies?

8. What assurances can the candidates give us that the recently-announced NATO authorization to go after heroin producers in Afghanistan isn't a move to wipe out the producers that compete with the associates of the brother of Afghanistan's president? How do we know this isn't a move designed to boost heroin prices worldwide to benefit the heroin producers working with the Afghan government at the expense of the heroin producers working for al-Qaeda and the Taliban?

I'm sure I could think of more questions. I'll let these stand for now.

Fall of the Euro?

The very fact that such a question could seriously be asked is indicative of how severe the current financial crisis is.

Truly, can the Euro area keep it together? Some European nations are suffering a collapse in their real estate markets. Others are not. One currency and one monetary policy simply can't cover both kinds of situations. It will reward one and beggar the other.

Either way, it's not good. And breaking up the Euro? That's not good either. In a world financial market searching for stability, the last thing it needs is the possibility of a stable currency, the Euro.

Here's hoping the Euro can make it, but I'm not optimistic...

WAR

Draft Deferments

My Name is Neither Bear Stearns nor JP Morgan...

The Federal reserve just helped JP Morgan take over Bear Stearns, due to the fact that Bear Stearns was set to have a massive default and needed some help, fast, to prevent the banking system of the US from collapsing. It was "too big to let fail", so in spite of the stupidity or criminality of its actions in getting where it is now, it's going to be forgiven and unpunished.

Personally, I am doing everything I can to rack up over $1 billion in personal debt, knowing full well that the US government will bail me out, as I'll be someone "too big to let fail" at that point. The problem is in getting enough credit cards to max out. You'd think with all the junk mail those credit card companies send out, I'd have over $1 billion in my back pocket by now, but I don't. With a credit limit of even $1 million per card, I'd need a thousand of the things to hit my target debt. Most only start with $25,000-$100,000, depending on what fake information I've used to get free subscriptions to magazines that target corporate executives, and that means I'll need about 10,000-40,000 credit cards for my project.

I guess I should just face it. I'm too poor to matter to the Fed. Oh well... a dollar collapse will at least make illegal immigration a moot issue, leave the US unable to pay for its wars overseas, and will give me the opportunity to discover a new career catering to the wants and needs of foreign tourists here in the states... perhaps I could supplement my income as a taxi driver at nights and earn some precious Euros, Pounds, Canadian Dollars, and Pesos in my tips... that would be something!

Subprime...

America...

A quote from Pearl Buck...

There are times when the rich can be too rich and the poor can be too poor.

That may be a paraphrase, but the sentiment holds. Income disparity in America is not going to cause a revolution in and of itself, but it creates a state of unrest favorable to hosting such notions once some other event sparks them off.

Watch out.