Brother You Asked For It!
Friday, May 7th, 2010Author Linda Brady Traynham
Or perhaps instead of quoting Francisco D’Anconia, we should go with a line from “Judas’ Song:” “The world’s in ruins around us, and all because of you.”
Okay, brothers, you demanded 14 paychecks a year instead of only 12, and you got them. Shorter work weeks with fewer hours per day at higher pay with better benefits, sure, why not? You insisted upon free…almost everything…and you got it. Now that the PIIGS bank is empty, the best you can find to do on a nonviolent level is point out that the church still has money and no austerity measures would be needed if it weren’t for the munitions bills. Sure, let’s cut 38 Bn out of the defense budget of Greece. The USA can use the money. Ah, modern education is such a disgrace. I suppose the socialists don’t know who paid the bills for NATO for the last sixty years, or the Marshall Plan, excellent examples of why it can be dangerous to win wars. The Greeks don’t even appear to realize that Lord Elgin bought the tatty remnants of the frieze around the Parthenon fair and square two hundred years go. Which makes me wonder why Turkey isn’t demanding that Venice give back the horses outside the Doge’s palace.
The end was written in the beginning the first time someone laid claim to private property to support others for any reason. Charity is the correct term for assisting those that individuals, families, churches, and organizations begun for philanthropic purposes deem worthy, or deserving of such largesse, or–far more frequently now–simply pathetic. It is sad, perhaps, when an earthquake strikes Haiti, but it is not a proper use of our public tax dollars to go feed Haitians or anyone else, be they illiterate unwed mothers, those whose jobs disappeared in the aftermath of government “stimulating” unions, ACORN, Wall Street, and politicians, or lawbreakers invading our country.
Have I no compassion? I most certainly do! I save it for parents who can’t afford to send their children to good schools because property taxes are stolen to build gilded palaces to ignorance where Ebonics are taught and English is not spoken. I keep mine for widows who must move in with their children or leave their homes for apartments because they are no longer unable to pay the upkeep–but kids who cannot read are issued “free” laptops. I have compassion for the small business which will never be started and those who will never work there because government at assorted levels extorts well over half of every dollar would be entrepreneurs make.
I don’t know if it is sad or amusing that when the spoiled children are told the party is over because they have devoured all the cake and ice cream become brats and trash the place. That’s an adult solution worthy of the cradle of Western civilization. Hittites behaved better. What part of “We’re broke” do the entitled fail to understand? What part of “We are in debt for more than we can ever repay” do Congress and state legislatures fail to grasp? More to the point, why tell us your sad stories. As one of our readers said recently in the context of our horror over socialized medicine, “Just get over it. We won, you lost.” Okay, rioters, just get over it. The money is all gone, there isn’t any more, and my best suggestion is that you break up into city states with no “services” at all and barter amongst yourselves. Go back to carrying foxes around under your tee shirts, reading entrails, and herding goats, although that’s a little harsh on goats. I like goats. Some of my best friends are goats. Goats deserve better than to belong to violent, whiny, spoiled brats breaking windows and pelting the over-paid police with rocks. Go back to square one and come up with a better philosophy than “Wishing will make it so.”
I’m disappointed in Angela Merkel, although I understand how she got sold a bill of goods and brassed up the Euros. Angela, dear, if you bail out Greece all the rest of the little piggies will rush the trough, and you and France will go hungry, too. Mind, I don’t care what happens to the French, an almost universally unpleasant bunch and at least as spoiled and irrational as the Greeks. I lived in Germany for over ten years and I like Germans, at least when they don’t get pushed so far into corners that the only recourse they can see is to start a war. Problem is, Angie-baby, your neighbors are eyeing your possessions this time.
She knew better. The only solution was to let the weak, self-indulgent nations sink back into the muck and mire. If they manage to reemerge in a couple of decades, fine, we’ll reexamine the situation. If they fall into cannibalism, well, their bonds aren’t any good anyway, tourism is shot, and this whole Euro idea was rotten from the start.
Does that sound harsh to you? What do you suppose the result of propping up those who cannot see it is wrong to spend what you do not have and are neither contrite nor willing to curtail their expenditures? Sure I know the citizens think they are “entitled.” I won’t like it either when the Obama Nation decides to cut my SS in half and raise my taxes. Again. Which they will. Do we want to stand around and let the lawless destroy the lawabiding? Shall Germany and France just hope that they won’t have the problems that we do with bad neighbors from the South? We can either stop this right now or we can let it play out until everyone is starving.
Oh, Mrs. Traynham, you exaggerate so. Really? Can you tell me the ratio of those who raise food in the USA to those who eat it? 49:1. Yeah. Two per cent. grow/raise all the non-imported food the rest eat, including those who “pay” with food stamps and those who are here illegally. That’s okay; Nancy, Barry, and Harry have a plan. It is called the Food “Safety” Act and it will get rid of all the little fellows so that only agribusiness can provide your genetically-modified, chemical-laden products of the yeast vats which a lot are going to have to live on. Hey, TVP is yummy and soooo good for you, and death…okay. That IS hyperbole…to jail with anyone who dares slaughter an animal for home consumption, grow heritage seeds, or slip a hungry child a glass of fresh goat juice. We can’t have that sort of thing going on!
I’m too annoyed with the Greeks (and just about everyone else) right now, to give you cold figures including how many are rioting in Thessalonaika. Greece now, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Ireland next, and then it is in our turn, although not necessarily in that order. What do you think it means when the DOW plunges a thousand points in a day, even if it “recovers” to “only” off 386 points? It means that a great many people are holding those bonds I’m forever telling you not to buy, and they know just how shakey our vast house of cards is. People don’t laugh quite as much at “preppers” as they used to, what with massive unemployment, but far too many have made no preparations at all. Are Greeks the only ones who can close roads? Do they only set fires in Watts? (And a hundred other cities, wasn’t it?) Here in the safety of sanity we call the Ring most of us have made preparations quietly and privately. We know the answer to “Where does food come from?” isn’t “Walmart.” California, New Jersey, Michigan, and New York are right about where Greece is. Do you think their over-paid, over-pampered, excessive numbers of government and union workers and those on the public dole are going to behave any better than the Greeks have? Very probably, they do. Well, they aren’t, and we also have a very large criminal class that is going to love every bit of bashing heads over a graham cracker. Or to rape, or just for the fun of it.
Just in case, let’s go measure our lawns and see how many wagons we can circle in the space available. I always told you that TEOTWAWKI would start suddenly and was quite likely to be triggered by events in other countries. How secure do you think our overlords feel right now, even with 80,000 troops trained in “crowd suppression” at Ft. Benning? Do I think our worlds will end tomorrow? No, I do not, even if the DOW drops another 500. I say only that the situation in Greece has brought us far closer to the day when our pampered “service workers” will go out on strike, or any other sector you think a better candidate. In their spare time the avaricious Greeks have destroyed tourism, a major industry. What does that leave them? Shipping, balalaika music, and ouzo?
If there were anything in the rainy day fund take it to Sam’s or Costco. You already know what to buy.
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Desertrat says:
May 7th, 2010
1:11 pm
Aw, c’mon! Please, tell us how you REALLY feel! (Giggle-snort.)
I know beaucoups folks who have exactly the same opinion as you, although they commonly are nowhere nearly so polite.
Regardless of the cause of the “peaceful protests”, I keep humming that old Limelighters’ song, “They’re Rioting In Africa…”
Interesting times, for sure.
‘Rat
James the Wanderer says:
May 7th, 2010
1:47 pm
One opinion I heard today from a “respected financial analyst” was that yesterday’s action was a market breakdown; whether or not some fumble-fingered trader hit “billion” instead of “million”, there weren’t anywhere near enough buyers to counter the sellers. It won’t take much longer, I’m afraid, before the masses come to understand just how much they’ve been lied to.
The worst part, for me, is that it was all unnecessary. We can rebuild the Republic, but breaking it in the first place was avoidable. After the leeches starve to death, and the responsible return to their senses, we can be better than we were. But there’s gonna be a whole lot of pain between here and there.
Hope this all holds together long enough for me to finish my doctorate (probably nine – twelve months); but lately I’m starting to doubt it will. Stay safe, Texas lady, and keep your goats close!
CheriVNB says:
May 7th, 2010
4:00 pm
Linda,
Thank you. Thank you for your usual honesty and acumen. It is hard to sit quietly by while others ruin a perfectly good country. Today, 5/7/10 a call-in guest on a National Radio show say, “When you people say ‘take the country back’, what point in time are you talking about? When was this country ever good?” Today’s idiocy brought to you by our public school system, the likes of Reverend Right, and a social structure that never allowed this man to mature. A mature person would have had to confront and work out some of the whys and wherefores of life and have a greater understanding of its cycles.
Your paragraph regarding your choices for compassion has been cut and pasted to my personal collection of “Quick Blasters” to use on bleeding hearts. It is not just Texans feeling this way. ~C
Steven Foste says:
May 7th, 2010
6:02 pm
Tell it from the heart, and shout it from the mountain. When will this rooster come home to roost, I don’t know, and yet the people of this nation and our politicians do not see it, it is just something else that has happened “over there”, this nation seems to think we are immune. As each day goes by I belive in the sermon from the plains from Texas, after all it is Linda and Agora and the contrarians that are teaching me to think. The contrarian position is a wonderful eye opening process, because it makes you think outside the herd and quit acting like a lemming. Thank you Linda for the way you think, how you dredge up the years of learning and experience, and put it to words. Some of us wish we were so gifted to recall what we know and express it as well as you do, but alas some of us may not have that many years to learn how to do it
Keep preaching the sermon, and hopefully the chior will take it to the congregation.
Thank you Linda
Desertrat says:
May 8th, 2010
7:55 am
Steve, for me the credibility of the Agora and Doug Casey folks, as well as those like Peter Schiff, comes from the fact that if they’re wrong in analyzing the effects of governmental monetary policies, they lose money.
But they don’t lose money.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/schiff/schiff90.1.html
Back in the WW II days of my childhood, milkshakes were 25¢. We occasionally had the loose money to indulge. I’d get a little whiny when I ‘hit bottom’ and got all those slurpy sounds through the straw. My mother would point out that I’d used up all the milkshake, and had thus used up all the money.
Governments haven’t been as wise as my mother about how much money could be spent on fancy living–and have persuaded all too many people that the money supply is unlimited.
Steven Foste says:
May 8th, 2010
2:21 pm
I get the same feeling when I look at the gas guage on my car desertrat, I used up all the money.
More importantly the contrarians, austrian economics, W&G, and others have not only made me think about money and finance, but it has opened a door to seeing life and living life a bit differently. This way of thinking has begun to open the door to opportunity. At times I get into the gloom and doom, but also the prospect of exciting things to come no matter what they may be. I like most of us hate the wars, the natural disasters, terroist, crime, and stupid people, I think stupid has it’s own culture, they just aren’t smart enough to recognize it. All these things are a part of life day to day and we all deal with it one way or another, just like we will deal with our own indivdual futures.
The value of studying these views and opionions has allowed me to look to the future and prepare as best we can. This particular line of thinking and conversation prepares us not only for possible disaster but the ability to thrive in the good times and calmly negotiate the trouble times.
These are the benifits I get from the various articals, opinions, newsletters, and the comment sections. It is much more than just the money, but the fun of pursueing life.
steve
Kirby Foster says:
May 9th, 2010
12:29 pm
Well said.
Val says:
May 11th, 2010
2:10 pm
A quote by darling Francisco will grab my attention any time! My Mom inherited one from her grandmother which, although not so genteel as Senor D’Anconia I think is apropos to the Greek tantrum-throwers and those to follow the world over. It starts with “want in one hand…”
Linda Brady Traynham says:
May 11th, 2010
10:44 pm
Dear, dear friends and readers: thank you for all the great comments, and forgive me for not answering individually just this once. I am swamped with stupid problems that should never have come into being, and my children were so upset they were e-mailing friends to be sure Stinky Mum is okay! It took me two hours on the ‘phone tonight to reassure them. I’m at least 1800 e-mails behind…I wrote the above in less than half an hour of boiling rage. I knew how it would be: Angela geeked and lost the upper house, Greece is getting 9 times what it asked for, and the US is going to pitch in several thousand pounds of newly printed hundred dollar bills. Insane. Gosh, if you can’t trust Angela Merkel to stick by her guns, nobody else will, for sure. Our figures are approaching that of the PIIIGS and one of these days…keep on prepping and keep on writing. Hugs to all, Linda
lynne says:
May 12th, 2010
6:33 pm
Oh, we are so FUBAR with or “leaders”.
Well kitty is having good hunting and just brouught in her 3rd kill of the day.
I was absolutly terrified I’d have no time to prepare last year. I got it done. but these idiots in charge are creating an economic situation that is equal to Custer’s Last Stand” They are to stupid to realize they are cutting their own throats.
Keep stocking up and prepping folks. Hopefully we’ll get through this year.
http://www.preparednesspro.com/blog/the-great-preparedness-giveaway/
Big giveaway on prep products plus it’s great website for prepping.
lynne says:
May 12th, 2010
10:22 pm
I could rant but I can never do it as well as Linda. It’s coming folks, I always thought of the crashes were thought experiment because all those safe guards were put in place. Who will guard the gaurdians?
Well though I had hope I had no trust.
CheriVNB says:
May 13th, 2010
6:08 pm
Lynne,
Yesterday Tom Sullivan said out loud on his national radio show that he thought it might be “3 to 20 years” and our gig was up, “just so you can’t say nobody ever told me”. I have listened to Tom all my years in the Sacramento Valley, since 1987. First with a simple money report on TV-voice only, then on local radio after Rush and now after Rush on national radio. Tom was a CHP before getting into finance and one of his favorite expressions is “the white hats usually win”. He is VERY moderate in his assessments and declarations.
Later at lunch with a friend (who never listens to the radio) I mentioned this growing “consensus” regarding the dire straits of the economy (as a friendly warning) and how it would just get worse once healthcare came on line. (Ooops!) To which she said “We are the richest country, why can’t we figure it out? Other countries have all figured it out. They provide “universal healthcare”. When I asked her how “paying a $2,200 fine and receiving no healthcare” was better? She disgustedly said “I have never heard that. I thought they were going to create exchanges and it is based on income.” I replied “No, it only forces people to buy insurance, not healthcare.” She then added “I think most people would buy insurance if it were affordable.” We had a brief exchange on the purpose of insurance (she has a license) and how much healthcare $2.200 would actually buy. I asked about the lack of incentive for the “insured” to keep costs down, i.e. if it is “free” or very low-cost, where is the mechanism to urge individuals to #1 take care of themselves, #2 educate themselves on home remedies, preventions etc. and #3 Not abuse the Doctors time (and insurance companies money) with unnecessary visits? About this time I started to remember she went for years without healthcare insurance, playing the odds, even though she made a couple of million dollars in billboard advertising, more in real estate (which is now “lost”) and double dipping in “liar” loans. She often makes “fun” of me for being conservative, reserved and a non risk taker. She justifies getting around the system to get ahead. In her mind she is playing a big game of how do I get what I want, just like Tony’s description of the child like tantrums of a liberal. No concern for the bigger picture, the destruction to societal infrastructure or a legacy for her child. The kicker, she is a Hmong refugee, here since her mid teens and now naturalized. I was sad the rest of the day. ~C
Oldmanriver says:
May 17th, 2010
10:11 am
What I find interesting is that most of these countries border on the Med sea. Mostly latin in nature. Tourism is a big chunk of their GDP. All at one time were major powers in the world. They are all very similar from these stand point. Makes a person wonder about promoting tourism as a way to replace industry.
The best way to fix healthcare would be to outlaw all health insurance and healthcare plans. Everyone just pay cash. Would cause a huge disruption of our healthcare system but would instantly fix it. This will never happen. I would like to see some sort of healthcare CO-OPs. That will probably never happen either. Insurance companies want to be the ones wielding all the bargaining power. God forbid that the actual consumer has the power.
James the Wanderer says:
May 17th, 2010
10:35 am
Oldmanriver, you’ve got that right! If everyone made their own payment arrangements with their own doctors, there’d be a whole lot less bureaucrats working at insurance agencies, lawyer’s offices and government “oversight” agencies. It would be tough, no doubt about it, for a good while, as the system adjusts – but a stronger America would result. And that’s a goal I can appreciate.
We’ve run a wild spree of spending, wasting and transfer payments – but that well is nearly dry, and there’s gonna be a whole lot of thirsty parasites for a while. Can a parasite change his spots? Looks like we’ll get to see – and bury the ones who can’t.
Temporary down-wiggle in the gold and silver spot prices – gotta find some cash, markets wait for no man….