GeoPolitics

One of the many glaring deficiencies in school these days is the lack of geopolitical discussion and awareness.  At the university level there are usually professors on the Left preaching their political dogma, even when it is inappropriate.  At the high school level, there are many reasons for the dearth of geopolitical discussion, not the least of which is that students are being prepped for the Global History Regents during 9th and 10th grades, then the US History and Government Regents during 11th grade.  For three years, students are being 'prepared' for a high stakes exam that is riddled with errors and propaganda and are useless for post high school life.  Even burgeoning history majors are not helped by these exams as they are barely surface level exams written by statists in Albany, NY.  A serious person would have to unlearn what he has learned for these exams.

Globally, we are in financial trouble.  The US, and much of the developed world, went through a technology bubble during the late 1990's and the early 2000's.  This was 'irrational exuberance' when it came to stocks that ended with a '.com' - a new phenomenon at the time.  Pets.com and the career of Henry Blodgett are worth analyzing for more information on this topic.  The US (the gov't and the Federal Reserve) then repeated the errors of the .com bubble by creating a new bubble in housing.  This meant that people were buying houses (plural) with borrowed money, taking money out with the house itself as collateral, and buying more houses and other things they may not have needed.  This was all predicated on the belief that the price of housing would never go down.  The 'housing bubble' burst in late 2007, and the DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average), the main indicator as to the health of the US Stock Market, hit a low in March of 2009.

Here's the problem.  The US government has never allowed the crash to happen fully.  It lowered interest rates, which keeps the price of money artificially low.  It also means that government spending can continue because paying the interest on the debt of the country is artificially inexpensive.  There were huge corporate bailouts - meaning that the large banks were, for all intents and purposes, bankrupt, but they were given taxpayer money to stay afloat.  There were huge 'stimulus' packages, gigantic spending packages courtesy of congress done under the idea that "government spending can juice the economy and get it going".   This is known as kicking the can down the hallway, and it can't go on forever.

The most absurd aspect of this obvious and frightening prospect of economic crash is the ability of the mainstream media to downplay or ignore it.  For the MSM, it is always a sunny day, and the looming fiscal cliff can be handled by our politicians making 'tough decisions' and 'getting things done' and 'working toward a bipartisan goal'.  Over the past years it has been helpful to find people who will talk plainly, about difficult topics, and tell the truth.  Marc Faber, of the aptly named "Doom Boom and Doom Report" is one of the people who is unafraid to speak of bad news.  Here he explains how badly he thinks things will go economically worldwide, and he begins by poking fun at how optimistic the shills at CNBC are.  I couldn't help but notice he politely laughed as the news anchors tried to poke fun at him - as if he were telling the audience that he'll have the last laugh.  It is important for you to learn about geopolitical issues because there is so much financial interconnectedness between countries.  A large crash in a country would cause connected economies to get pulled down as well.

People / sites I've found helpful:
The Aden Sisters
Peter Schiff
Marc Faber
Chris Martenson
Kyle Bass
Michael Lewis
Matt Taibbi

Here Marc Faber insists on telling bad news to people who ignore it:

School Shooting

The school shooting tragedy is of a magnitude unfathomable.  The families and the communities deserve the wishes and help of anyone with a soul.  There is nothing more horrible than losing a child.  My mother has actually given me a directive that she made me swear by.  It is that I will not die before she does.  She told me in no uncertain terms that I could be an odious human being, a bum on the street loser, as long as I don't predecease her.  The parents must be going through a torture that I cannot imagine.

As to be expected, the mainstream media, bought and paid for by the Elite Class of these United States, is pimping the horror of the tragedy for all its worth.  They are on record of wishing the regular people to be disarmed, helpless and dependent, so they are playing this to the hilt.  Their unabashed wailing about the type of weaponry is ham handed and cloddish.  As usual, they expect the majority of people to follow along.  The NY Times this morning had "submachine gun" plastered in the title of the lead article.  Naturally, when a drunk driver mows down a family, they go into great detail about whether the car was a hybrid, or if it was a diesel, or if it was front wheel or all wheel drive.  The pathetic MSM is now not only going bankrupt, it is brazenly trying to control opinion with clumsy propaganda.

The call for 'more gun control' is the meme that the Power Elite wish to perpetrate.  The CT shooting was in a 'may issue' state, and the school was a 'gun free school zone'.  I see those signs saying 'gun free zone' and I wonder who they are for.  It was impossible for anyone to defend himself, as all of the law abiding people were unarmed.  The same thing happened in VA Tech a few years ago, and at Columbine HS in 1999.  The push for 'more gun control' is as absurd as it is wrong.  What more do people wish to control?  John Lott has researched the effects of gun bans for years.  He was originally a gun control advocate, but when he actually researched the topic, he found out that everything he had believed was wrong.  His book, More Guns, Less Crime obliterates the the shibboleths that surround gun control.  The founders had it right with the 2nd amendment.  You are not free if you can't have private property, or the ability to protect that property.  Your property begins with yourself, and if you are at someone's mercy to stay alive - you are not free. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Please notice - it says the "right of the people" and this amendment was seen fit to be second, right behind free speech.

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One of my HS friends asked a good question on FB.  Interestingly, only a few people that are FB 'friends' are calling for stricter gun control.  They're usually partisan ideologues or not historically well versed.  Most people are hesitant to hit the "ban guns" red button.  Luckily, the Power Elite don't seem to be aware that there is an internet, and are doing their propaganda as if it's still 1988.  Here is some of the thread with my friend:

Original post: Me: "and yet when I post about the 168 children killed by the Bush Obama drone attacks - nothing. Nada. Actually, that's not true. One person asked me to help them buy a rake in 'Farmville'."

MRM: it's all horrible...all of it and us. we create this mess then scoff at it

Me: It is horrible Michelle, but we didn't create it and we aren't horrible. Everyone who liked or commented on this post, and the age range is from 14 to 40, is a good, peace loving person who is a non violent law abiding American. Some of them I've known since 1986. Some I met this Sept. Our Overlords, the Elite who are parasitical and despicable, use events like these to rip freedoms away from regular folk, get us to bicker amongst ourselves, and have a Corporate Media Monolith to disseminate their message. Notice how every 'tragedy' is used to assault the Bill of Rights. It is 'they', not 'us' who needs to be ignored and rejected.

MRM: We ridicule, persecute, ignore ppl who are "not normal". We allow and praise the media when they do what they r doing. We herald the shooter, bicker like u said, and then continue as if nothing happened. How r we part of the solution? If we r not, what does that make us?

Me: I think we need to teach the younger people a few things. Independent thinking is at top of the list. Right behind it is the fallacy of authority. People do and think what they're told. This tragedy is the perfect case. The NY Times had 'submachine gun' as part of its heading today. When a drunk driver mows down a family, is it on the front page? Why not? Do they say if it's a Prius or an SUV? Do they mention if it was a diesel engine under the hood? No, of course not as it's irrelevant. But most Americans are having the 'gun debate' decided for them via a corporate owned Elite propagating mainstream media and they don't even realize it. Thinking for yourself, doing research, questioning authority are things you should show everyone you know who is under the age of 18. That's what you can do. I have my opinions, and they come from lots of reading and a pathologically independent mindset. The Ruling Class would prefer that we watch 'Toddlers and Tiaras', shout "tastes great - less filling" at each other, and worship our Overlords (gov't). Sorry - those things aren't my style and I explain to young people that you can be different and think for yourself.

Here's John Lott going up against a bought and paid for MSM propaganda piece.  Watch how Lott uses logic and reasoning, and MSM puppet uses emotion and scare tactics to try to marginalize and sway opinion:

Why I Hate School But Love Education

This video is indicative of the fact that people are beginning figure out that the cost of a degree does not equal the long term payoff of the degree.  "School" does not equal "educated".  The student loan bubble, the lack of rigor in many schools, the nonstop partying, the lack of the classics are all things that people are getting wise to.  The cost of the school simply is not worth it.  An amazing education is practically free.  You have to begin with the Trivium and continue a never ending journey into books all the while being entrepreneurial and running your own business, however small.

Is America Too Big?

This is a fascinating video about how our government has gotten too large.  Refreshingly, the video does not have the usual Establishment Conservative banter about Big Gov't Liberals destroying the United States.  This is a cogent look at the size of the government relative to the population of the US.  The House of Representatives, ostensibly the branch of the federal gov't that represents the people, has 435 members.  If we follow James Madison's recommendation that each representative should represent about 30,000 people, we would need 10,000 representatives.  That is simply too cumbersome and chaotic.  As it stands now, each representative represents over 700,000 people.  This is not indicative of a representative republic.

One of the concepts lost today is the idea of centralized power and its dangers.  When I was young, in the 1970's, there were many bumper stickers talking about 'small is beautiful' and 'question authority'.  The left, in those days, understood the danger behind large, organized power.  Now, neither side of the Establishment Political spectrum seems to understand anything.  Now it's akin to cheering for your favorite sports team.  "We" won the election and everything President X does is great because 'he's one of us'.  The only time the decentralization v. centralization came before me in school was the Anti-Federalist vs. Federalist debate presented in US history.  The Anti Federalists, who lost, did not get to write the history books, ergo I learned that the Federalists were right and a 'centralized power' was necessary for a functional country.

Now I see how the Federalists were wrong.  It seems to be an aspect of human nature that a concentrated power source is a dangerous - in all of its forms.  I have found it fascinating over the last few years that when it comes to corporations, the centralized power is easily spotted and vilified, but when the same concept is applied to government, people don't seem to notice.  I think they are still under the delusion that the government is filled with unnaturally altruistic angels who think of nothing but serving the public and ignoring their own desires.

I highly recommend this video - originally seen on the always informative Tom Woods page:

Other People's Money

When I got my administration licenses, the first thing the professor told us on the  first day of "School Finance" class was "you are spending other people's money".  Dr. Y., the professor, was adamant about being frivolous and carefree with money that was not ours.  A classically educated man, raised by a blue collar father, Dr. Y. knew the value of the dollar, and the value of it for his constituents as well.  He assumed that people would be careful with others' money as they earned it and they presumably wanted it spent in a manner that would help the school.  It was apparent that he considered it dishonorable to be reckless with others' hard earned wealth.  Apparently, not everyone has those same sentiments:

"More than 200 school districts across California are taking a second look at the high price of the debt they've taken on using risky financial arrangements. Collectively, the districts have borrowed billions in loans that defer payments for years — leaving many districts owing far more than they borrowed.

In 2010, officials at the West Contra Costa School District, just east of San Francisco, were in a bind. The district needed $2.5 million to help secure a federally subsidized $25 million loan to build a badly needed elementary school. ... In the West Contra Costa Schools' case, that $2.5 million bond will cost the district a whopping $34 million to repay."

There are many things wrong with the current paradigm.  Firstly, the money for property tax is taken by force, from everyone in the district, whether they believe in public education, have children in the public schools, or desire to fund the public education leviathan at all.  Behavior from government is solemnly accepted even when that behavior by an individual would get them jailed.  If I were to put a gun to your ribs and force money from you, would you accept my explanation that it is going toward education?  Secondly, the lack of wisdom in giving people the power to spend other people's money is obvious:

"Ramsey (the school board president) says it was a good deal, because his district is getting a brand-new $25 million school. "You'd take that any day," he says. "Why would you leave $25 million on the table? You would never leave $25 million on the table." 

So this is the reasoning.  The $25 million, is something you'd NEVER leave on the table, no matter what the cost.  The economic ignorance is bewildering.  It's as if the money just showed up - no consideration as to where it came from, how to pay it back, or rates of interest.  The reasoning gets worse: 

"Perhaps the best example of the CAB issue is suburban San Diego's Poway Unified School District, which borrowed a little more than $100 million. But "debt service will be almost $1 billion," Lockyer says. "So, over nine times amount of the borrowing. There are worse ones, but that's pretty bad." The superintendent of the Poway School District, John Collins, wasn't available for comment. But he recently defended his district's use of capital appreciation bonds in an interview with San Diego's KPBS Investigative Newsource. "Poway has done nothing different than every other district in the state of California," Collins told the program."

Forget the $1 billion, that's water under the bridge - chump change.  The rationale, the justification, the defense of this behavior is that, well, everybody else is doing it, therefore it is OK.  Where are we that a $1 billion bill in tax dollars and a logically fallacious defense of this action can even happen?  I tell the young people that they are living in a fantasy world if they think the adults in their lives have a cogent, logical, economically sound approach to life.  Articles like these (unfortunately) prove my point.

Joel Salatin - Polyface Farms

There is a documentary called 'Food Inc.' that is worth your while.  It shows the horrors of the government corporate food complex.  It's as horrid and repellent as the prison industrial complex, the government media complex and the government banking complex.  At the end of the documentary, there is this southern drawling Virginia farmer explaining how his clean, natural, self sustaining farm was a target for the, as he calls them, Food Police.  The documentary is well done because the viewer has just seen an hour and a half of the pathetic, sad and disgusting horrors of the Big Industrial Food Complex.  Salatin's farm, Polyface Farms, is what an old style farm used to be.  The cows eat grass, the crops are rotated and planted with non GMO seeds, the operation is clean and the meat is healthy and natural.  It is because of all of these things that Polyface was a target. Salatin explains all of this in the latter third of the documentary.

One of the tenets of my class, the premise I espouse early in the year, is that there are many people interested in keeping the General Mass Public sick, stupid, broke and afraid.  Food Inc. is the best way to begin the exploration of the 'sick' part of the quartet.  Our culture is rife with high fructose corn syrup, xanthan gum, splenda, preservatives that no one can pronounce, and nutrient free 'food'.  Big Agriculture is out of control via government sponsored subsidies, and the unintended (and some intended) consequences are being seen now - obese children, cheap empty calorie food, skyrocketing rates of  cancer and heart disease and possibly most distressing, a noted disinterest in where and how one's food is made.

Salatin is worth listening to for a few reasons.  Firstly, he is politically incorrect.  Like Ron Paul, he is talking about giving people the freedom of choice.  As Paul would talk about not shutting the FED down, but letting currencies (like gold and silver) compete, Salatin does not advocate shutting down a company like Monsanto, but giving people to option to grow their own food and letting small operations compete freely.  The United States is not free.  A citizen is NOT allowed to do these things via federal law or local statutes.  Also, regulation and government intervention is strangling healthy food production and innovation.  Your garden variety American still thinks that government regulation is geared toward your health and safety when it is just the opposite - as Salatin explains.  Secondly, he talks about this latest generation.  They don't know how to grow things, get dirty, preserve food, or tend to farm chores.  He mentioned something that stuck with me - that this is the first generation of youngsters that have not been burdened with chores.  It is these analyses of society that sets Salatin apart and makes his thoughts worth analyzing.

Notable points:

• Let your children walk around barefoot and get dirt under their fingernails - it is actually an immune booster that is healthier in the long run than the antiseptic environments we've created.
• Having chores and responsibilities is a boon to your child.  They will learn about responsibility and contributing to the whole of the household.
• Food freedom is vital - giving people the power of choice is paramount for the survival of the West.
• The Food Police - the government corporate food complex is killing your children.  Raw milk is illegal and will warrant a visit from armed thugs, but Mountain Dew is acceptable.
• Monsanto can have its GMO product ravage your crops, literally have their GMO pollen blow on to your crops, and YOU have to pay a royalty to THEM - this is approved by this current Democratic president.  I thought this was bold of Salatin to mention because the talk he gave at Google is undoubtedly young left leaning types who think that the halls of government are filled with weeping angels unnaturally predisposed to helping the downtrodden.  A risky strategy but Salatin pulls it off nicely.

Here is Salatin's talk @Google:

For those who think the raw milk armed raid is hyperbole - here you go:

Which "Fiscal Cliff"?

There is a lot of chatter nowadays about the 'fiscal cliff'.  The first question to ask is: where are you getting your financial information?  The mainstream information, naturally, is propagandized faux panic.  Mainstream pundits on channels like MSNBC and CNBC are hyperventilating about two things: the new higher tax rates that go into effect on January 1st, combined with the government 'cuts' that go into effect the same time.  The higher tax rates will cause economic problems, as will the implementation of 'Obamacare'.  The more things are taxed, the less you get with regard to economic activity.  Taxation is not only theft, it causes economic slowdowns.  The government 'cuts' are farcical.  They are cuts in spending increases - meaning that if a 9% increase in spending was planned, the new 5% increase in spending is accounted as a 4% "cut".  Congress can pull this off because many Americans get their financial information via the mainstream media, or they aren't paying attention at all.

There is a much bigger cliff about which to worry.  Peter Schiff was one of the early sources that changed my economic thinking.  He follows the free market 'Austrian' perspective and knows his history.  These two factors allow for an economic analysis that is superior to any mainstream source.  This video is typical of the SchiffReport - in depth analysis that is not geared toward an agenda.  When the Great Default happens, the real 'fiscal cliff', there'll undoubtedly be more of the "Peter Schiff was Right" videos posted on youtube.




For a daily site to check for national and international financial news, zerohedge.com is a good choice.  For Austrian free market analysis combined with historical background, I can't think of a more readable and media friendly site than mises.org.