Author’s Note: What follows is a reprint of an article published in the February 8, 2012, edition of the Lincoln Journal Star. The only difference between what you will find in the Journal Star and what you see here is a small but substantial one. As my article appears below, I have added links to… more
"The defining characteristic of a zombified system is the way it hands out its rewards. In an honest economy, people do their best. They work hard. They take their chances. Some prevail because they are productive. Others are just lucky. The chips fall where they may. But as the system is taken over by zombies, the chips fall where they are told to fall. Rather than to honest and efficient producers, the rewards go to those who curry favors." Continue reading →
"What this Meliorism and Empire amount to, beside all their destructive effects, is a big tax on productive working Americans. This tax goes straight into the hands of all those persons, groups, NGOs, government officials, bureaucrats, corporations, armed service personnel, defense companies, armaments manufacturers, electronics developers, planners, aides, rebels, communications people, educators doing studies, advisors, contractors, food suppliers, construction personnel, and on and on who execute or do the actual work of the Empire in these activities and lands." Continue reading →
"The mailman who delivers traffic camera tickets does not have to pay them, according to the US Postal Service (USPS). Postal officials refuse to pay the citations it received in the mail from American Traffic Solutions (ATS), a for-profit company based in Arizona. USPS Senior Litigation Counsel Jennifer S. Breslin was defiant in a January 22 letter to ATS, citing the establishment of post offices in the Constitution and the principle that the independent government agency works within local laws and regulations 'when feasible.'" Continue reading →
"Malia 'Kim' Bendis, one of the two, was charged with a pair of misdemeanors, the Tribune said - attempted eavesdropping and resisting a peace officer. The other woman, Jennifer Stahl, also received two citations - interfering with police and preventing access to customer premises. Again, your home is not your home in Naperville, apparently. Upon her release, Stahl said when she refused a smart meter for her home utility installers accompanied by cops cut a bicycle lock she had put on her fence before entering her backyard." Continue reading →
"An article at Investment News reports on the decline of independent small brokerage firms. These firms are squeezed by new regulations. The large firms have teams of lawyers that can deal with the changing regulation, not so for the smaller firms, so they get squeezed out of business. It's this type of regulation that results in the rich getting richer and others falling behind." Continue reading →
"An article at Investment News reports on the decline of independent small brokerage firms. These firms are squeezed by new regulations. The large firms have teams of lawyers that can deal with the changing regulation, not so for the smaller firms, so they get squeezed out of business. It's this type of regulation that results in the rich getting richer and others falling behind." Continue reading →
"When President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill into law three years ago, he promised it would encourage healthy change and competition. 'This reform will help foster innovation, not hamper it. It is designed to make sure that everybody follows the same set of rules, so that firms compete on price and quality, not on tricks and not on traps,' Obama said. How is that working out? It turns out that in the view of the head of one of the biggest banks in the United States, Dodd-Frank is helping the big banks by making the cost of regulatory compliance so high that smaller rivals cannot compete." Continue reading →
"The reason to create the modern nation-state is because the top power elites hide behind it, controlling society and economics and their will via mercantilism, the secret exercise of public rule to abet private interests. Modern citizens work for THEM even though they don't realize it. And they are not supposed to realize it. If we project this nation-state rule far enough, we begin to see the emergence of true neo-feudalism where a tiny group of globally recognized leaders run the world." Continue reading →
"Monte dei Paschi (MPS), the world’s oldest bank dating back to 1472, is under investigation for covering up losses on derivatives and paying over the odds for its €9bn (£7.8bn) purchase of Banca AntonVeneta in 2007. Italy’s press alleges that the inquiry has unearthed a network of bribes and kickbacks, a claim denied by the bank. The lender has lost €6.4bn since early 2011 and the damage is mounting. What makes the case so delicate are the bank’s close ties to the Italian political Left. MPS is 35pc-owned by a foundation that answers to the PD-controlled Tuscan province of Siena and was run by ex-Communist Giuseppe Mussari until his abrupt exit this month." Continue reading →