INFLATION! That little uncomfortable increase in prices caused by ????????

We have chased this issue around many times. But each day I see stories about inflation which continue to mislead the American public. Deliberately, I believe. The falsehoods come from all sides. Let us address a couple of key facts:

1. Inflation KILLS the middle and lower classes. The rich have time and means to react more swiftly. The rest, who largely depend on savings and mutual funds, if anything at all, get hammered. If all you have is cash in the bank then it is rotting each day like lettuce sitting in a hot sun.

2. Leadership in both parties and the blue blood academic institutions are complicit in the problem. This includes those “conservative Republicans” such as GW Bush and Mr. Trump. Neither had a problem pumping more money into the economy when their polling numbers looked weak. Mr. Biden is not to blame, by himself. Sorry, but your confirmation bias is not going to get stroked here on this issue.

3. The real cause of inflation is ………………… HINT, HINT, one graph to rule them all, HINT, HINT. It truth it is not just the physical supply. By Austrian definition it is too much money chasing after too few goods.

This is where Mathius would ask me to remind everyone that he told you to buy bitcoins and gold, like two years ago. These are hedges available to everyone. So let us here from SUFA about other ideas which can help protect against the inflationary rot.

A Nation Divided

Liberals claimed Obama would bring us together.  I think he made those same claims.  With his record before the election, today’s reality should surprise only the gullible.  America is more divided on race, the economy, health care, foreign relations and on nearly every issue.  Pick one and tell me it’s better now than under Bush or Clinton?  We just looked at Ferguson and the race/violence issue.  How about a look at foreign affairs.

First, what is Obama’s policy?  Damned if I Know?  Our military announced a shift to Asia, meaning possible confrontations with China.  Meanwhile things are going to “ell in the Middle East & with Russia.  At the same time, defense spending has been cut while entitlement spending is increased.. 

 

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/08/hillary_clintons_foreign_policy_failures.html

 

The new immigrants being distributed throughout the US are claiming benefits in what should be a surprising manner.  Register & go to school.  Tell them you are 16 or 17.  SO what if you have gray hair & wrinkles & no one will believe you are a teenager.  It doesn’t matter how old you are if the federal government say’s you get to go to school & collect, just take the money and welcome to America….

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/382483/adult-illegal-immigrants-posing-children-enroll-high-school-ryan-lovelace

Troubling Times Ahead?

There sure is a lot of things going on in the world, it’s hard to keep up with it all sometimes. Natural events like snowstorms, tornado’s, earthquakes, volcano’s and meteors to man made events like North Korea spouting off at the mouth, Syrian rebels using chemical weapons, strange economic solutions in Cyprus and Fukashima still spewing radioactive garbage into the air. One has to stay very busy to keep up with it all. There have also been many questions concerning the actions of our own government. Why does the DHS need all the firepower they are buying? Are drones a good idea over U.S. soil? Why are some states passing gun laws that are only going to be challenged in court, costing taxpayers millions?

At 7:02 am est, we welcomed Spring with a big hooray!  Then I looked outside to the blanket of snow  🙄  Bummer!  We will all keep moving ahead with whatever plans we have, just don’t slip on the ice!

Let’s start trying to find answers to the many questions that are out there.  It’s an increasingly crazy world, that may require increasingly difficult actions.

Sequestration Weekend Chat

It’s finally here! The formulated crisis known as Sequestration is to occur today at Midnight. I will be looking out the window waiting with bated breath, watching the sky fall! OH!, You mean it won’t fall? It was never really going to fall? Please don’t tell me that our illustrious President and members of his Administration have not been telling the truth! 

Mid Week Discussion

After last night’s State of the Union Address, I’m sure that there should be some fairly good comments on Obama’s speech. While I had some fun with it last night, I need to go back and read what he said more closely.  Here is a link to the speech:   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/12/transcript-obama-state-union-speech/

After the speech, Marco Rubio took over the TV screen (I missed this completely) with the GOP answer to Obama’s speech.  His comments can be found here:  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/13/rubio-obama-must-abandon-his-obsession-with-tax-hikes/

In other news, it appears that the Chris Dorner story has come to a smokey end.  He is believed to be dead in a burned out cabin in California, after shooting and killing one more cop going out.  The charred body must still be identified, but it looks like it will be Dorner.

Super Bowl Weekend

This weekend has a little bit for everyone.  On Sunday we have Super Bowl 47.  The collision of the coasts has the AFC Baltimore Ravens taking on the NFC San Francisco 49ers.  To top it off, the respective head coaches are brothers!  That is a first in the NFL’s  history.  I’ll pass on my predictions below.  Some folks, however, don’t follow football.  On Saturday, they get to enjoy waking up long before dawn to watch a groundhog determine how the rest of winter is going to play out.  You see, if the little rodent sees his shadow, we up here in the North get 6 more weeks of winter.  This is but one reason why we shoot these varmints when we see them.  This little rodent, known as Punksetawny Phil, will arise with much fanfare and anticipation on Saturday morning to pass on his normal bad news.

These times will be a nice break from all the doom and gloom of politics, the economy, and the off the wall stuff that all of that brings us.   Good Luck to the Super Bowl teams.  Enjoy Groundhog Day (would someone shoot that critter already).  But most of all, be safe out there.  It’s a dangerous world full of cops, politicians and woodchucks.

Can This Really Happen Here (An Economist’s Outlook)

By  G-Man

A vast majority of Americans believe that this country will just keep on churning along with few problems. We have been in recessions before and always came out just fine. We survived the Carter years and now we are dealing with another Bozo who should have never been elected. While it’s easy to point fingers at the left wingers or the right wingers, it really comes down to the fact that our government is totally corrupt and have bankrupted our country. The idiots in D.C. seem intent on collapsing our entire economy and turning the dollar into worthless paper. All of this at our expense of course. If the predictions I will present come true, every politician in D.C. should be hanged in public, starting at the top.  This was originally written in September 2011.  

Capitalism: A Hate Story, Part I

The discussions the last few days around the “Occupy Wall Street” crowd has resulted in some interesting thoughts coming out on all sides. A few weeks ago (months ago?) Mr. Stella claimed that I must know that Capitalism is a failed enterprise because I refused to answer Noam Chomsky’s claim that capitalism would not survive for five minutes without government. A claim that tonight I call nonsense. And I will tell you why, Mr. Stella. It is because in the first place, what Chomsky refers to as capitalism in most of his “intelligent” discussions is actually nothing more than a convenient manipulation of the definition of capitalism in order to fit his argument.

Fair Share….What Is It and Who Determines

“FAIR SHARE!”, shouts the POTUS from the pulpit of politics. Standing behind a podium with a Presidential Seal that allows this mantra to spew forth, the POTUS fixes his glance…it is not about Class Warfare (as he stifles the ever present snicker), it is math. This from the lips of a man that cannot add numbers to reach two much less understand the concepts of math. It is clear that he took the same math class that Warren Buffet has taken. BUT, class warfare is a subject of another time. So, what is exactly “fair share”?

The Sad American

As I write this today, I can’t help but feel sad about the country that I love so much and how it’s moral values have gone in the gutter so quickly. There was a time when we were a land of laws and moral values that exceeded anything in history. Now, we are simply becoming another empire that will fail from within, as history will tell it. Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by an American missile. He was said to be a TERRORIST! Another American, Samir Khan, was also reported to have been killed in the drone hit. Both of these men, claimed to have been part of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization are reported as dead. Interestingly, Awlaki has been killed 4 times now, as reported by the media. He was killed a few times in 2009, but that didn’t seem to be enough, so they killed him again. So what is exactly wrong with all of this?

Guest Commentary: Part II From James Adams

This morning I offer Part II of the three part series from James Adams, author of Waffle Street: . Many of you last week found James’ first installment interesting and offered some insightful comments to his article. I imagine that this will be the case again this week. Part III will follow next week as James will wrap up the series with some practical application. Don’t forget that you can order his book via the link to his page over on the right hand side of the SUFA home page. As I said previously, it is an entertaining and enlightening book that I highly recommend. I will do my best to participate in the discussions throughout the day as I find all the talk about economics fascinating as well as extremely important. So I now turn the floor over to James Adams for his second installment on economics…

Guest Commentary: James Adams on the Economy

Today I am excited to offer another new guest commentary provider here at Stand Up For America. Mike, a good friend of mine, a year or so ago recommended to me that I pick up a book written by a friend of his, “Jimmy.” Knowing my passion for politics and my lambasting of federal economic policy over the years, he posited that I would enjoy the book, and insisted that he wasn’t just saying so because he was friends with the author. Those who know me are aware that I am an avid reader. But I have been burned on book recommendations from friends in the past. So I was skeptical, to say the least. But Mike wouldn’t relent…

Don’t Fear Default… Goose and Gander at a National Level

This weekend was a “road trip” weekend for me and my lovely wife. A trip back to my hometown, which also included a detour to Hershey Park so that Mrs. Weapon could experience the wonderful world of chocolate for the first time. What Mecca is to Muslims, Hershey is to 52% of the US population. On the ride north, I listened to a minimal amount of news, instead opting for some music that the USWeapon clan could sing along with on the drive. But I did listen to about an hour of talk radio coverage of the debt ceiling discussions happening in Washington DC. As a result, SUFA gets this article because I am tired of hearing all the bull dookey around the topic.

Capitalism… Day Two

I have to tell you all how disappointed I was to not have time to participate in the discussions around the “Capitalism vs. Communism” article last week. Work intervened and I have failed over the last few weeks to maintain that work/life balance thing they way I should. But today I offer article number two around the idea of capitalism and do so with a caveat. I promised a short article that explained where I think capitalism falls short. And that is what I will offer. At the same time, in the comments below, I will try to offer some answers and replies to the comments from the previous article. There were some good points made, and there were also some ridiculous points made. I will attempt to offer what I can to both. So first, A few thoughts from me around where capitalism is falling short.

Horse Thieves

Why do words matter?  I have corrected people several times about Nero fiddling while Rome burned.  False statement in all aspects, fiddle was invented a thousand years later, Nero was not in Rome during the fire, even rushed back and was the driving force behind the recovery. He housed and fed the homeless at his personal expense, and required brick homes to be built as part of a fire prevention policy from that day forward.

Seems funny to me that Nero, who should be given the highest praise, is remembered as an un-caring elitist.  So why does it matter today?  A hero from a thousand years ago is commonly believed to have been an uncaring scumbag.

The Problem with the 2%

Ok, this post was inspired by SUFA’s very own Charlie Stella. It occurs to me that, while this is a political site, we are addressing problems that reach beyond politics, and that some things other than politics are involved in the philosophical discussions we have here. I will be doing two posts along this line. This first one will address the super-rich specifically, and a second will be a more general discussion of issues in our country and culture that are not, in fact caused by nor fixable by, the government or any specific political action, at least not exclusively.

I find it productive in any debate to recognize and accept the truths of your opponent’s argument. If you simply throw the whole argument out, then you damage the credibility of your own, and come off as not listening because, well, you really aren’t. That sort of dogmatic approach will not win over anyone, and it destroys the learning process that debate can, and should, be all about. In most of Charlie’s arguments, there is a reference to the problems of the 2%. While I do not have a philosophical issue with inequality of wealth, I do see where there are major problems caused by some of the most wealthy, and I recognize that, all else being equal, the one with the most capital has a MAJOR advantage.

If Not Now…. When?

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I watched the countdown to the potential government shutdown last week with a jaded eye. I can touch on what I wanted to happen in a bit, but what I was watching for was to see how much further we would watch the talking heads go in demonizing their opponents and using emotional rhetoric to sway public opinion. I must say, I was not disappointed. As was true with every major policy debate in the political spectrum over the last few years, each side spouted more nonsense than could be fathomed. It’s just proof to all of you: When you set the proper expectations for those in the political landscape, they are very capable of meeting or exceeding your expectations. And BF has the audacity to say that politicians can’t meet our expectations…

More Red Causes Far Less Green

Perhaps after watching the abysmal game between North Carolina and Kentucky, some of you may have stayed on the channel and watched the 60 Minutes report on companies that have taken their operations out of the United States and deposited them in more tax friendly countries. I listened to the report with interest. As many of you know, I have for years been saying that the United State’s insistence on raping corporations in tax rates is one of the primary drivers of unemployment and fiscal difficulty in our country. True to form, the side supporting the such tax rates immediately fell back to an emotional appeal. But it falls on deaf ears in my case as I ask myself, “When will the United States Government wake up and realize that they cannot control the world and that they are committing suicide by continuing to arrogantly think that they can?”

Separation of Business and State

Yea, I know this one is not in the Constitution either. But maybe it should have been. The US has a long history of government interference in business and, perhaps even more so, business influence over government. It is one of the main areas of corruption in our government, and while it is worse than it used to be, it is not new. As in the previous article, the main philosophical reasoning for keeping business and state separate is the separation of power. Wealth is power, so is authority. Combining those two is a major magnification of power, and as we all know, power corrupts. Even if an individual can resist the corruption, the fact that a position of such power is available will attract corrupt people to it like flies to syrup.

Our government handed out land to rail companies nearly two centuries ago, they initially backed corrupt CEOs by sending troops to put down worker strikes rather than have the companies be forced to deal with worker demands. More recently they have abused imminent domain to hand out land to companies and handed over billions in taxpayer funds to bail out companies deemed “too big to fail”. All that in addition to consistent subsidies to various companies like the modern railroad companies and corporate farms, massive overspending by the military and other government agencies, and a host of other handouts and tax breaks done with backdoor deals in exchange for campaign support, perks, and perpetuation of power.

Political Reality

This morning you wake up to the first in a two-part series. Which is ironic, because as you wake up to this article you are doing the exact opposite of what the majority of US citizens are doing. This part One is a bit longer than I would have preferred. But that was necessary. There are a ton of political realities that just screamed out to be highlighted. And before we can get to part two, we have to recognize and understand these political realities. Many of you may wish to deny what you read here today. But don’t waste your time trying. Instead, give some serious thought to what you are reading. Because while it may not be happening with the active readers that come to SUFA to exercise their brain each day, the reality is…….

Public Unions Have to Go

You all knew that I wasn’t going to sit on the sidelines while this whole thing went down and be silent, right? Tonight I write to weigh in on the struggles going on in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Indiana. The bottom line is that the governments in those states are making a stand against the public unions. Of course, the unions are panicking. Facing already dwindling membership in the private sector unions, the public sector unions are kind of where they figured they were safe. But they aren’t. And they shouldn’t be. Look, I don’t have a problem with the concept of a union. But I sure have a problem with what the big unions have become. They are no longer a tool for the protection of vulnerable employees (nor do they need to be). They have become a drain on the American economy and they do more harm than good in many cases. And in order to gain support, they are simply liars about what the situations are and what the consequences are without them. It is time to set the record straight and talk about why the public unions should simply go away…

Don’t Reduce… Eliminate

The hot button topic these days in Washington DC seems to be deficit reduction. I have followed this banter back and forth between the two parties for a long, long time in terms of spending and where to make cuts. It seems to flow in a cyclical pattern, as all political issues tend to do. Every 8-10 years we seem to have the “level of spending in Washington” as a primary issue and each time the leaders within the two parties pay lip service to the issue in an attempt to appease the voters just enough to get them to move on to some other issue that will require new organization and alignment. It has been a convenient plan for Congress. Let the issue build. Allow the “movement” to organize and rally to a level where something must be done. Then do as little as necessary and repeat the process with a new issue. There are probably a total of 50 or so “hot button issues” that just wax and wane in DC. And each Congress claims to have done something about each one each time they arise. What we rarely see from Congress is a true fundamental change meant to eliminate the issue from coming back up in the future.

New Year, New Mortgage?

Before I get into the topic for the day, I want to take a moment to thank all those who sent me messages over the holidays wishing me a Merry Christmas, Happy Festivus, Happy New Year, etc. As we slide into the new year, I have great hopes for the future. Not because it is a new year and therefore a fresh start. Unless they are re-setting my bills and paying off all my debts, I am not getting a “fresh start.” I have great hope because I realize that after two years of writing this blog, there is hope out there that common sense will rule the day, that dogs and cats (or “D”s and “R”s) will live together in harmony. Watching the civilized dialogue at SUFA is something I can be proud of, and what I had hoped to do. I will endeavor for the next year to make SUFA an even better place to visit for all. As I sit here in pain (in bad need of surgery, coming soon!), I have great aspirations for SUFA improvement. There will be more of that same frank analysis of the world as I see it along with (hopefully) more guest writing and topic contribution that helps us all understand the world of politics in a better way and thus helps us speed towards getting it closer to “right”.

Congress Lifts Its Skirt Again

As I seem to be doing on a fairly regular basis at the moment, I must again apologize for the randomness of my posting schedule lately. As it turns out, time is such a limited commodity currently. But soon my tenure as a two job employee will be at an end. There is little doubt that the topic of the day seems to be the deal struck between the President and the Republicans in Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts for all Americans in exchange for an extension of the unemployment benefits for those who need them. I have to say that the world of Washington DC as I know it appears to be “Bizarro World”. The Democrats are lambasting the President and spouting off about standing up for their principles. The Republicans are lambasting the President and spouting off about standing up for their principles. Well, now USWeapon is going to NOT lambast the President and point out the lack of principle in Washington DC. What a bunch of hypocritical children we have in Congress.

The Taxation Contradiction

I was reading through some different articles over the weekend, hoping to find something interesting to comment on, when I happened to stumble upon a series of several articles in a row dealing with taxation. The articles had nothing to do with one another. They just all happened to have taxation in some form or another as the main topic. Each taken on its own painted a picture in support of this plan or that. And all were, in general, the intentions or sales pitches from the Democrat point of view. But my random order of articles revealed to me a disturbing double standard in from the White House in their message. No, double standard isn’t correct. Contradiction fits better. Two articles that I read back to back in particular drew my attention to the contradiction, which I am ashamed to say that I never put together before. It seems that the White House, specifically the President, believes that we should reward the wealthy who conduct business in the US, while at the same time stating that those who are wealthy in America should be taxed higher than they are…

Robert Reich Lashes Out Falsely Again

Tonight I reach once again into the bowels of the Huffington Post for an article that I will systematically address, as I am sometimes prone to do. What caught my attention in the headline was the social darwinism part. As most of you know, I am not opposed to social darwinism. I think in many cases it is the proper thing. There are exceptions, but by and large, the survival of the species, according to evolutionary dictates (which I thought Democrats worshiped), demands that we allow the weak to be weeded out of the gene pool. Tonight’s target is Robert Reich. As many of you are aware, Reich served as the US Secretary of Labor and is also a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. I find him to be generally wrong on many things, and his partisan bias is evident in his economic advice. Because he is a strong believer in Keynes principles, I feel he is lost. But when he writes such drivel as below, I feel compelled to call him out on it. For the record, I think that it is authors such as Reich (along with Cesca and Johann Hari) that have rendered the Huffington Post somewhat damaged goods. For every good author and article there will be a clearly partisan and off base one like this.

Objectivism Discussion Continued

Normally, the Thursday night post would be our guest commentary. This week will be a little different. Just A Citizen has been discussing some things with folks over at the Huffington Post. While there he was able to get a guest commentary from someone over there. However, the author is unable to participate here on Friday. Therefore I decided to post the guest commentary on Saturday night. He should be able to check in during Sunday and perhaps throughout the coming week. Instead tonight I will answer some of the comments from the articles presented on Monday and Tuesday of this week based around Atlas Shrugged and Objectivism. I got some comments from folks that my participation was not enough, which is a valid observation. Even if I hadn’t gotten that, I would have wanted to follow up. Those two articles were important to me personally. As such, I wanted to answer some of the thoughts offered. So I will post this thread and throughout the next day or two I will post replies to the article and my comments to those. Please feel free to follow my lead and bring forth any discussions that you wanted to continue.

Defending Atlas Shrugged and Objectivism – Part One

I promised everyone that this particular article would be coming, and as promised, I deliver part one of it to you this evening. I initially thought that this would be a single article. As I began to write, I realized that it could not be. Therefore, I am offering the defense of Atlas Shrugged as part one this evening. Tomorrow, part two will publish and will focus on Objectivism. As many of you are well aware, I am a big fan of the fictional story, Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. I know that there are plenty of opponents that frequent the site and I have allowed them to take their little shots at my favorite piece of fiction. And I will grant that some of those shots are deserved. But many of them are not. Just as opposed is the philosophy behind the novel, objectivism. What I intend to do this evening is offer my defense of Atlas Shrugged, followed tomorrow by my defense of objectivism. I then open the topic for debate. And I really do open it for debate. I want to hear what others think and debate the ideas honestly. I am never unmovable in my positions. And there are plenty of smart people who frequent SUFA who may just shake my belief tree a little. I guess we will see.

The Economy and the Three Bears

In tonight’s discussion, I am not going to get longwinded and forge into foreign territory in discussing the macroeconomics and Keynesian principles. Lord knows that Congress and the talking heads do their best to baffle us with bullshit enough around the economy. What I am going to do is offer a few thoughts on the current situation and then ask for everyone else to offer their thoughts on what exactly it is that we are supposed to be doing if we want to make things right in our financial future. I don’t want to disregard the idea that we are simply screwed. I understand that there are many who feel that way. I can certainly see why they fall into that belief. And they may be right. Perhaps we are past the point of recovery. Perhaps all we can do is soften the blow that will inevitably come. Or perhaps we cannot even do that. Perhaps this is going to really hurt and there is nothing that we can do about it. Obviously, no one who works in the federal government is willing to say so. Doing so would be to admit that no matter what they do they are simply screwing us.

Guest Commentary – In the Summer of 2010

For tonight’s guest commentary, we have the return of a contributor that offered us an article a couple of weeks ago, Ron Holland. You may remember Ron’s previous offering, “Walking the Peaceful Path of Ludwig von Mises,” which you can go back and read HERE if you missed it. Ron, who is also a regular contributor on Lew Rockwell’s site, is an internationally known financial & marketing consultant & author of 3 books and over a hundred  articles, a leading speaker at financial conferences in the US and abroad and editor of several internet based news sites. Although from North Carolina, Ron has lived and worked in Geneva, Switzerland and traveled all over Europe and North America. He is a contributing editor to the Swiss Mountain Vision Newsletter and Swiss Confidential published by Appenzeller Business Press. For today’s topic we have Ron’s thoughts on the idea of smart big money folks leaving the US for safer shores. It seems to be a concept that fans of Atlas Shrugged believe will come to fruition as a regular occurrence. While I make that comparison, I respectfully ask that we save the discussions of Atlas Shrugged for another day (next week…. an article I am working on defending Atlas Shrugged and Objectivism). For today let’s stay focused on what Ron has offered, and whether the conditions he discusses are actually true.