erring ideology cost push, demand pull takes two to tango: the tyrant and the snivelling quislings

.. bad things are happening ...

  .. because good people ...

    .. don't speak up

Thesis/Subtitle: Effective countervailing power - where is it?

Preamble: As a friend says: "It is not simple;" but I know of no problem that cannot be broken down into ever-smaller parts until you get to the elementary 'binary-cut' situation, in fact that's exactly what digital computing is all about. Yesterday I wrote of one example, namely one form of either/or; here's another: Either most people are criminal or they're not. I prefer the latter, but the former are in control. Why that, and who will rid of us of these vile tyrants?

-=*=-

Musing: 'Narratives' are fake histories or actual plots; criminals use narratives to coordinate the lies we are continually being swamped with. Today is the 9th of August, 66 years since the 2nd atomic bomb was dropped on a mainly civilian target in Japan (Don't agree? Then you may try this.) The twin crimes against humanity, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki plus the day before Nakba Day are days of wicked infamy, as 'local maxima' these have few peers.

-=*=-

Article 1:

Obama says US is still a AAA country
Updated August 09, 2011 05:04:22
  «"Markets will rise and fall, but this is the United States of America. No matter what some agency may say, we have always been and always will be a triple-A country," Mr Obama said.» 
[AusBC/'news']

Comment: Obama sounded like Muhammad Ali: "Ah am the greatest!"

You try it: 'There is Amerika - the greatest!'

Answer: Perhaps. But greatest what?

Article 2:

Unesco chief criticises NATO attack on Libya broadcaster
Aug 8, 2011, 18:10 GMT
  «According to Unesco, three media workers were killed and 21 were injured in the July 30 attack on the Libyan broadcast facility.
The NATO military alliance justified the attack on the basis of protecting civilian population. The action against the pro-Gaddafi satellite television, NATO said, was a means of preventing the intimidation of the Libyan population and calls for violence against civilians.» 
[monstersandcritics/dpa]

Comment 1: How odd is it, that the (corrupt & venal) MSM is not covering this story?

Comment 2: I mentioned *hearing* this story the other day, via a taxpayer-funded broadcaster; I found no transcript at the time. The lady-newsreader looked only slightly uncomfortable, before the scene-shift.

Comment 3: The major problem here is, of course, that the US/NATO (mainly F + UK, but DK, N & other 'rabble') - are out of all civilised control and are aggressively attacking (innocent) 3rd parties, mainly Arab/Muslim, at will.

-=*=-

My theme here is erring ideology, and the criminals forcing this disaster upon us. The disaster is doubled; war (aka geo-politics) and theft (aka economics, mainly neoliberal). The (mainly US) warmongers risibly claim to be "Making the world safe for democracy," and the (mainly US) economists + politicians claim TINA = "There is no alternative!" - but both claims are 101% bogus - as any *clear thinker* may see, assuming any such take the trouble to look.

I should not need to cite proof, but: on war/disasters, nearly 1000 US bases spread around the world, aggressive attacks becoming even more numerous (from Vietnam to Libya, a looong & dirty list), the Zionist armed theft of Palestine; on economics/disasters, neoliberalism almost everywhere; some forced by the IMF (Perkins' "Economic Hit Man"), some *voluntary*(!!?) (Aus, say, by *both* Lib & Lab; bipartisan = un- & anti-democratic), notably currently the debt-crises in USA, EU and probably almost anywhere else you care to look. As examples of economic chaos, The USA (as usual; world 'leader'), is hard to beat, with (my quick estimates from recall), 25mio un- or under-employed, 40mio without health insurance (most expensive, least cost-effective system in the world), and a similar 40mio on food-stamps.

I'll say it again: No more wars for spoil; *all* foreign-deployed forces to retire back to behind their own domestic borders, and *all* aggressively invading, land-thieving Zs (plus descendants & dependants) to return to whence they came. On economics, dump the pure-greed, rip-off voodoo, get back to civilised & enlightened JMK & JKG.

Article 3:

Bringing on the "Obama Recession" by Forgetting the Lessons of Keynes and FDR
Friday 5 August 2011
by: David Woolner
  «It is sad to think that history may be repeating itself. But the apparent decision of this administration to embrace cuts over spending may soon lead the President down the same path that FDR took in 1937. Only this time the “Obama recession” of 2011-2012 will most likely cost the current president his job.» 
[truth-out]

Comment; Q: Who cares if Obama loses his job? He can be number 25mio+1. But note that voting someone out is almost perfectly useless, after they've done the damage... (and/but, it was far past time that Howard (so ignominiously) went; what took the mugs so long? That Abbott is now polling well shows no lessons whatsoever learnt, it's one reason and proof of why I write 'dumbed-down sheople.')

Comment 1: Of course, it's not just 'this administration' or even 'this Congress;' it's the multitude of economic berserkers running under the foul neoliberal flag.

Comment 2: It has been clear from the beginning, that down-sizing, lean&meaning, off-shoring, out-sourcing etc. was only ever going to lead to tears, and you can imagine the utter horror of any worker when the MBA-consultants turn up with their clip-boards to do their dirty neoliberal 'work' of destroying once-viable enterprises & teams of once happy workers. Austerity, like mass un- and under-employment, many in 'scraping the barrel' service jobs - all lower wages (the plan) and thus demand, which 1st leads to and then accelerates the downward spiral. Which is, by and large, where the US, 'the West' plus others are now. The wreckage left by 30-40 years of erring ideology = neoliberal destruction is visible - to those who bother to look.

-=*=-

It's all so screamingly obvious; if I can see it (basically a casual observer), what of the better informed and educated? Why do world so-called 'leaders' outside the US - like Merkel, say, accept the hideous 'perfect' storm of unjust resource-war & rip-off economic disaster? Are they all coerced and/or intimidated (snivelling quislings) - or do they actually agree (criminals) that their populations be devastated?

But few to no one listens.

I cannot accept that the criminals are the majority.

It's why I implore; where is the effective countervailing power?

binary cuts à la Occam's razor dump the deficit distraction

Cut any object (with one swish! of Occam's razor, say), one gets two pieces = a binary cut, i.e. either/or.

Example of either/or: Either properly fix the idiot political/economic system or crash the planet, financially and environmentally.

I suspect a terminology ('framing') problem; to cut a deficit (as both Repuglicans & Dummocrats say, also Libs/Labs; bipartisan = un- & anti-democratic), one must reduce social spending; since one cannot possibly reduce US military spending (the US would have to stop murdering for spoil = oil, and the Zs ditto for soil), so they have to cut 'entitlements' = more or less required social spending = medical/dental (alternative = preventable illness, disease & loss of teeth or whole lives), income support (alternative = preventable 'malnutrition' = cat-food or starvation), education (alternative = preventable ignorance = dumbed-down idiocy), safety regulation (alternative = preventable accidents), financial regulation (alternative = preventable GFCs), etc..

We've had 30-40 years of voodoo economics = supply-side, economic rationalism, neoliberalism, globalisation, etc., and almost all the world is almost everywhere worse off - time to junk the voodoo. Idiots.

The blame may be attributed to three classes of idiots; 1) the economists, 2) the politicians, and 3) any voters who tolerate any part of the prior 1&2. But the voters can't wear much blame, since their dumbed-down idiocy was mainly deliberately inflicted upon them, via their (incomplete if not misleading) schooling, their TVs (Hollywood's portrayal of all possible perversions), and the corrupt & venal MSM, who both conduit *and* actively assist the almost continuous stream of lies coming from the above 1&2. Hollywood + MSM 'infotainment' = the pushed propaganda paradigm; almost nothing is as they say it is (i.e. 'making the world safe for democracy'); note what they do = resource-wars = murder to steal, and the mostly already rich are getting ever more obscenely richer.

Economic phrases we hate to hear: Balanced budget, tax&spend, deficits, then 'service-cuts' & privatisations. Arguments (not debate) are often simplistic to misleading, to the point of being insulting to aware intelligence. Any idiot can promise to cut taxes (see Tony Abbott, say.)

We might need some semblance of balance over the long-haul (but see % below), however the current practices are producing chronic deficits, possibly none larger that those of the US, both domestic & external.

"On Saturday China, the largest foreign holder of US treasuries, had slammed what it said was the US "addiction" to debt.
In a stinging English-language commentary carried by Xinhua, China said it had "every right" to demand Washington address its structural debt problems and safeguard Chinese dollar assets.
"To cure its addiction to debts, the United States has to re-establish the common sense principle that one should live within its means," it said." 
[AusBC/'news']

Recall that whatever else the US govt. is, it *should* be able to afford the best possible advice on the planet - but what a spectacular failure they demonstrate.

Note: Common sense = *not* voodoo.

-=*=-

The voodoo system has *failed*, as we can all see, but all they talk about are cuts and austerity = misery for most.

But there is one simpler way (Occam's razor; swish!) = tax the rich.

Yep; that'd do it, swish! = slash them back to reality.

Forget about trying to lower the bridge (= cut required, civilised spending); provide a rising-tide with fat-cats' properly increased taxes.

By definition, governments (should) provide required services that private enterprise can't or won't; take fresh drinking-water for everyone, or sewage, electricity, phone lines, roads, railways & public transport... education, and vitally medical/dental. The basic principle is egalitarian, what the individual can't, or private enterprise won't, is provided collectively, paid for by *fair = progressive* taxation.

Also by definition, give (= flog-off for a comparative pittance) any function to private enterprise, you get a for-profit regime whereby profit will always be preferred over performance (see Telstra's 'service obligation' and how that's avoided/abused/refused.) Also see that extracting profit adds to costs, and any claimed efficiencies may be compromised by the lean&mean, see electricity-bills going through the roof, and trees falling onto that roof = power-outages after any storm over fart-strength.

But there is additional simpler way (Occam's razor; swish!) = nationalise the banks.

Yep; that'd do it, swish! = slash them back to egality.

Even before going off 'real money' = gold etc., all 'printed' money is fiat but not only, all (new) money exits banks as %-bearing loans. Some old money lands back in banks as deposits to 'earn' some %, always (on average) at some lesser rate. The banks live of the %-difference, and what a comfortable living they 'allow' themselves - but the % is rent on money, a sample of what JMK was referring to when he recommended 'euthanasia of the rentiers.' Very few seem to notice that *no* money is created to pay the interest itself, so the end result is that the interest-bill balloons.

But if the banks are nationalised, the government collects the interest, which it can then spend on required items (see above), simultaneously reducing the amount by which the rich must be taxed. (Q: Why tax the rich anyway? A: Because they've got most of the money.)

Also, one of the insulting voodoo/neoliberal 'debate' items alleges that the rich must be ever-better 'rewarded,' because they create the jobs - see massive unemployment in 1st-world nations, especially the US. That worked out well, didn't it?

Tax the rich & nationalise the banks = two 'easy' ways to save the (financial) planet. Then begin effective moves on reducing atmospheric CO2 to below 300ppm.

eternal war never-ending suffering who cares, as long as the rich prosper?

.. keep jobs scarce ...

  .. keep education low ...

    .. never run out of 'grunts'

-=*=-

May d*g bless the thieving & murdering US, and all snivelling quislings. No one else will - nor should they.

Article 1:

Was the Bombing of Hiroshima Necessary? Three Myths Debunked
Oliver Lee (6aug'11)
  «The hard truth is that the atomic bombings were unnecessary. A million lives were not saved. Indeed, McGeorge Bundy, the man who first popularized this figure, later confessed that he had pulled it out of thin air in order to justify the bombings in a 1947 Harper's magazine essay he had ghostwritten for Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson.» 
[antiwar/takepart]

Comment: Read it all; no further comment.

Article 2:

The Great Hiroshima Cover-up
Greg Mitchell
August 3, 2011
  «In the weeks following the atomic attacks on Japan sixty-six years ago this week, and then for decades afterward, the United States engaged in airtight suppression of all film shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombings. This included vivid color footage shot by U.S. military crews and black-and-white Japanese newsreel film.» 
[antiwar/thenation]

Comment: Read it all; Q: What did they have to hide?

Article 3:

The Hiroshima Myth
by John V. Denson
  «The best book, in my opinion, to explode this myth is The Decision to Use the Bomb by Gar Alperovitz, because it not only explains the real reasons the bombs were dropped, but also gives a detailed history of how and why the myth was created that this slaughter of innocent civilians was justified, ...» 
[antiwar/lewrockwell]

Comment: Read it all; justified? IMHO not and never.

-=*=-

Fazit: Ask yourself this: Why do you accept the status-quo {US super-power; its war-machine plundering the planet (with illegitimate Z-side-kick plundering Palestine), its economics system = rip-off neoliberalism destroying our livelihoods and living-standards, its filthy lies smothering all (good) morality},

 - and IF not THEN what are you doing about it - where 'it' = saving our once jewel-like planet?

moral cretins battle of ideas criminality wins - in US, is then exported

.. do unto others ...

  .. never do harm ...

    .. it's not too hard - for normal people, i.e. *non*-psychopaths[1]

Thesis/Subtitle: The phrase "you're either with us, or against us" and similar variations are used to depict situations as being polarized and to force witnesses and bystanders to become allies or lose favour. The implied consequence of not joining the team effort is to be deemed an enemy.

-=*=-

Preamble: It's easy enough to identify villains; all one needs to do is observe somewhat carefully, seeing clearly what they do and not paying too much attention to what they say, since lying (for crims) is easy; lies are the entry-point to serious crimes like cheating, stealing & murder.

I like doing 'binary splits' as in 'with or against' above, but recall one of my mates: "It is not simple." Consider then, a 4-split: 1) with, 2) against, 3) don't know and 4) don't care.

Posit: When we're considering truth & justice, only 'with' counts; don't know and don't care merge with against. For emphasis: Only people who actively agitate *for* truth & justice are OK-people, all others, i.e. against, don't know and don't care = *enemies* - of humanity.

Objection(s)? We the people are forced to surrender our sovereignty by 'the system;' the bargain (democratic covenant) is that the leaders work in our interests. Since they're demonstrably not doing so, we have now to *force* them to behave. This forcing requires us to work together (looping); see 'with or against' above.

-=*=-

Villain article #1:

Truman Lied, Hundreds of Thousands Died
By davidswanson - Posted on 05 August 2011
  «On August 6, 1945, President Harry S Truman announced: "Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese Army base. ...
...
When Truman lied to America that Hiroshima was a military base rather than a city full of civilians, ...» 
[antiwar/warisacrime]

Comment: In serious issues, a single lie destroys credibility completely. There were many more lies; IMHO the 'best-fit' theory includes a) they could and they'd payed for it, b) they wanted contrasting 'live' data Uranium vs. Plutonium, and (mainly) c) they wanted the USSR to see the US (bad) 'morality' in action.

Villain article #2:

Fighting Back Against The CIA Drone War
By: Muhammad Idrees Ahmad
July 31, 2011 "The Nation"
  «They call it “bug splat”, the splotch of blood, bones, and viscera that marks the site of a successful drone strike. To those manning the consoles in Nevada, it signifies “suspected militants” who have just been “neutralised”; to those on the ground, in most cases, it represents a family that has been shattered, a home destroyed.» 
[ICH/nation.com.pk]

Comment: The US' barbarity knows no bounds.

Villain article #3:

Meet the Right-Wing Hatemongers Who Inspired the Norway Killer
Why were America's Islamophobes able to avoid accountability for so long?
By Max Blumenthal
August 03, 2011
  «Asymmetrical warfare has been witnessed in theaters of war across the Muslim world, leaving tens of thousands of civilians dead in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gaza Strip. The strategy was formalized in the Dahiya district of southern Beirut in 2006, when the Israeli military flattened hundreds of civilian structures and homes to supposedly punish Hezbollah for its capturing of two Israeli soldiers.» 
[ICH/alternet]

Comment: The Zs have been 'allowed,' by the UN (mainly US & UK influence) - to steal an entire country; deploying terrorism, ethnic cleansing and genocidal policies. The UN should have stopped the process, no later than Plan Dalet & the Deir Yassin massacre.

Villain article #4:

US calls for unity after credit rating cut
Updated August 07, 2011 09:02:45
  «Washington's allies in Europe and Asia rallied behind it, warning against overreaction to the downgrade, but China, the largest foreign holder of US treasuries, slammed US "addiction" to debt.» 
[AusBC/'news']

Comment 1: Here, one might consider US 'allies' as snivelling quislings; these 'allies' support *and adopt* US economic policies, just as they support *and adopt* the US military policies.

Comment 2: It's been a shameful spectacle; the Republicans and Democrats together refusing to cut military spending, refusing to increase taxation (to target the filthy rich), Obama extending the Bush tax-cuts and wars-for-spoil, even starting new wars. All the time the US infrastructure decays, unemployment and poverty increases, not to mention the drastically expensive, for-profit medical system the less-well-off are excluded from, and the only expenditure either major party will cut is on social programs. The only policies either will support are pro-war and anti-enlightenment - and these are the so-called 'world leaders?'

-=*=-

Musing: Here, as with 'with or against' truth & justice, one may be 'with or against' US+Z murdering to steal militarism, 'with or against' US-inspired rip-off neoliberalism, then there's the excess-CO2 caused climate-change catastrophe, one may be 'with or against' excess-CO2 prevention/cure.

Fazit: The villains will not change themselves - they are getting all they want, from a system they've so constructed. We the people have to unite and force beneficial change - or lose the lot.

It's easy enough to see what needs to be done; start with eliminating the lies, cheating, theft & murder; take our democracy back.

-=*end*=-

Ref(s):

[1] psychopath  n. 1 mentally deranged person, esp. showing abnormal or violent social behaviour. 2 mentally or emotionally unstable person.  psychopathic adj. [POD]

economists with red faces politicians with blood on their hands voodoo = 'rational' theft, pentagon = murder for spoil

.. stagflation ...

  .. supply-side ...

    .. 'rationalist' lies

Preamble, 1: A rising tide lifts all boats.

Preamble, 2: A smaller slice of a bigger pie can be larger.

Preamble, 3: Both of the above are premeditated, filthy lies.

Preamble, Q: Why do I have to do this?

Preamble, A: Because the economists both won't and can't; the academics/teachers have sold out and the graduates lie to us.

-=*=-

Trigger article 1:

US credit rating cut for first time ever
Updated August 06, 2011 14:25:44
  «The United States' credit rating has been cut for the first time ever, with Standard & Poor's lowering it from AAA to AA+, citing the country's looming debt and deficit burden.
S&P attached a "negative outlook" to the new rating, despite a push back from the White House which said its analysis of the US economy was deeply flawed.» 
[AusBC/'news']

Comment; Q1: What took this rating agency so long? The US has been broke for years.

Comment; Q2: What would the White House know? It/they are part of the cause, and like all politicians, they lie pretty-well continuously.

Trigger article 2:

Better than expected jobs figures for US
Updated August 06, 2011 09:39:00
  «LISA MILLAR: On a more wider front do you think that the economy is changing at all? Is there any optimism out there for people like yourself?
DIANE PITTS: No, I don't think so. I think it's getting worse. I don't see anything changing.» 
[AusBC/'news']

Comment 1: PITTS is a 'vox-pop;' basically a useless method of gaining information; contrast with professionally organised polling, whereby they need to carefully select a thousand of so interviewees. Nevertheless, "thinking it's getting worse" is 100% correct, and has been 100% correct since the 70s at least.

Comment 2: Expecting a 0.1% change out of 9% to be significant, *especially* when the 9% is considered by many to be a lie, with the correct number being around 20% is bizarre. The 0.1% could merely be a statistical artefact - but they talk it up = more lies.

Trigger article 3:

US job figures temper market free fall
North America correspondent Lisa Millar, wires
  «RBS Morgans private client adviser Ken Howard says the market is being driven by sentiment, which makes forecasting the future tricky.» 
[AusBC/business]

Comment: What's sentiment got to do with anything; the neoliberal market is *supposed* to know all!!? But then there'd be *no* stock market crashes, eh?

Trigger article 4:

Market tumble sparks super fears
By Ashley Hall
Updated August 06, 2011 11:08:53
  «Fears of another global downturn wiped more than $50 billion off the value of the Australian share market yesterday - a slide that would have been particularly worrying for retirees and people planning to give up work soon.
People living on a superannuation pension or the proceeds of a share portfolio say they are already struggling to pay the bills.» 
[AusBC/AM]

Comment 1: Slick-Johnnie Howard was a great one for encouraging share ownership, for one reason at least, he needed mugs to buy shares in privatised entities like Telstra. In other words, Howard pushed the people into gambling with their savings = future retirement funds, onto the stock market. Even if people don't buy in directly, their super funds do it for them - hence the widespread, *justified* fear.

Comment 2: One of the reasons given for privatisation was a alleged shortage of investment 'opportunities,' and getting the people to buy shares forces them to have an interest in how the privatised entities perform. Hence, as in the case of the monopolist Telstra and electricity, water, gas etc., when share-holders get ripped-off on their bills, they can offset that - but only minimally - by any dividends they may then get. The major factor in buying shares in some shonky operation is to get an interest in perpetuating the shonk. Do anything for profit and you'll most likely = 99.9% get profit before performance by default; service levels usually drop and prices go up. Maintenance is minimised, now any storm above fart-level blows lines down all over the place = service *outages*.

Comment 3: Another of the reasons given for privatisation is that public-servants can't run chook-raffles and bludge continuously - but after privatisation, many such are hired back on as sub-contractors; lower head-counts, lower wages, lean & mean; stress, stress & more stress - but the same now ex-public-servants. Oh yes; plus a few management-types also remain, again the same now ex-public-servants, but now fabulously rewarded for their 'genius.' You work it out.

-=*=-

It doesn't take much genius to see that neoliberalism is bad news for most, and after 30-40 or so years of it, the proof is in, well in. No surprise; it works as designed; the rich got/are still getting richer, and many of the poor are well on their way to serfdom - so Q: Why don't we have a revolution? A: Because those most affected are (no apologies) the dumbest; they got that way partly by choice (TV-watching is just sooo easy); but mostly by being deliberately lied to, i.e. "Competition/free markets are good for *all*!" (See Preamble 1 & 2, say.)

Disclosure: I'm not one of the poor serfs, but neither am I an obscenely rich fat-cat ripper-off type. It means that I'm *not* motivated by wealth-envy (as r-whinger trolls are apt to fallaciously assert), rather by outrage at the lies, unfairness & outright criminality of many of our 'leading citizens.' Also, whereas there are undoubtably some lazy, skiving public-servants and some unnecessary bureaucracy, it's no reason to paint all govt. black. Proper management would help, but the neoliberalist erring ideological thrust is to junk all government, kill-off all govt. services - all govt. everywhere - except the 'security industry' = police, spies & military = 'enforcement' thugs, liars & killers.

The rich got/are still getting richer by two main pathways, a) by benefiting from the general business shonkiness (greatly helped by deregulation, say, and typified by the motto 'greed is good' - but which isn't), and b) by being largely, newly untaxed. Both a&b arise from the rich having purchased the sell-out politicians, justifying it all by the sell-out academics/economists' and think-tanks' erring ideology. Nowhere is this more clearly and criminally illustrated than "The Israel Lobby."

-=*=-

Suck it up; move on!

If we imagine our situation as a brick wall, we started out with a largely white one, the white having been provided to us by history; influenced by The Enlightenment (Liberté, égalité, fraternité, say), the struggles for justice for workers (8-hr day, etc.), the fall-out of the 1929 stock exchange crash/depression, and the post WW2 'good times' of the 50s & 60s, and the then apparently-OK "of, by, for the people etc." democracy.

Each time we the people lost some 'skirmish,' a brick in the wall turned black. Keywords: Supply-side, economic rationalism, neoliberalism, globalisation. We had/have no effective choice; representatives purporting to be working *for* us either 'allowed' some change (deregulations, or simply bad laws - ½CGT, SerfChoices) or actually did the bad deeds (privatisations, service cuts etc.). The only effective say we are usually left with is to de-elect; note, *after* any damage is done. Too bloody late, mate! Yes, there were the odd occasions when the voters chose their own poison in advance; Howard's never-ever GST resuscitated being one of them. A regressive tax, sold with lies; to 'set us free?' Perhaps Howard meant following "Arbeit macht Frei." How he must have laughed! Now, our wall is mostly black; suck it up, move on!

-=*=-

Some way-points:

1. August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively; the twin atomic-bombing war crimes.

2. May 15, 1948++, Nakba Day. The UN, mainly US+UK, allowed the aggressive Z-invaders to steal an entire country = Palestine. 2nd greatest crime of the century.

3. August 15, 1971, the Nixon Shock = US-bankruptcy, end of Bretton Woods.

4. December 2, 1972, Election of the 1st Whitlam govt, plus subsequent construction of the original Medibank.

5. November 11, 1975, Aus' day of political infamy. Among the corrupt goings-on was a 100+ day campaign against Gough by Murdoch's theAus.

6. 1979-80, first TINA-Thatcher & voodoo-Reagan governments.

7. 1983 to 1996, Hawke-Keating Government, neoliberalism for Aus.

8. 1996 to 2007, Howard Government, aggressive invasion of Iraq.

9. March 19 2011, latest US (NATO; F, UK & +) attack against Libya.

10. August 06 2011, US credit rating cut for first time ever, exactly 66 years to the day since making themselves the world's #1 pariah; unlikely ever to be contested - except possibly by the equal #1, the I/J/Z-plex. After all, *someone* has to be 'top-shit.'

-=*=-

No free lunch?

From The Nixon Shock [ibid.]:
  «By the early 1970s, as the costs of the Vietnam War and increased domestic spending accelerated inflation,[1] the U.S. was running a balance-of-payments deficit and a trade deficit, the first in the 20th century.» 

Q: What's changed?

A: Not much.

This is how the US$-racket works:

The US (Fed, other private banks) 'print' fiat-$s, conjuring them out of thin air = nowhere. The $s are loaned to trading entities, and are spent on local goods & services or imports; Mercedes cars or oil, say. Local $s go around in cycles, landing in banks as deposits, 'balancing' part of the loans, but 'earning' less % than the borrowers pay = 'normal' bank business, and what a good (= more than enough) business it is. Part of the (assumed) profit made by the borrowing entities is paid in interest, a 'normal' business expense always passed onto the customer (not incidentally, making things *more* expensive). So far so 'normal,' hardly different than any other country - BUT: The US, from those very same 70s, has been running an ever-widening trade-deficit (as their govt. now runs a chronic domestic-deficit.)

Deficits result from wanting more than you can pay for, but what gets Greece into trouble is 'business as usual' for the US; how/why?

The chronic govt. domestic-deficit should hardly need explaining; politicians simply *love* bribing voters, so there is always a demand-pull tending to expand govt. spending, and all people hate paying taxes, so there is always a cost-push depressing govt. income. Easy-peasy, and as Abbott repeatedly demonstrates, any idiot can promise to cut taxes, or oppose taxes like mining & climate taxes, which might a) get us a fair share of the mining boom, or even b) save the planet from an excess CO2 climate-change catastrophe. Ho, hum; thanks, but "No, thanks!" for your ultra-cynical populism, Tony. Not that Rudd/Gillard are actually delivering what we the people need, but some thoughts are there. Another note; 'best of a bad lot' is still bad, what we really need is the absolute best, fat chance in current environment.

Also please note: By no means all govt. spending is on bribes; specifically, egalitarian-access to necessary medical & dental services, plus income-support for all below an acceptable income-earning capacity is a *requirement* of any civilised society. (As is 100% govt. paid for, *truthful, comprehensive* education, as far 'up' as necessary. An education system, apparently as any other system, dependent on patronisation will go corrupt. Proof is our economists.) Any arguing against, or actually cutting services below a civilised minimum - should be 1st ostracised, 2nd locked up if not 3rd shot, as unfeeling, power-mad psychopaths. But that is *precisely* what most Republicans are demanding, and many Democrats (incl. Obama) are delivering; bipartisan = un- & anti-democratic. Again, they can only get away with such due to the dumbing-down of the public, via *and actively assisted by* the 4th estate = corrupt & venal MSM, incl. 'our' AusBC.

-=*=-

The chronic foreign-deficit can be explained partly so:

If the US had only one single industry left, it would be armaments. As it is they have a few other arrows left in their quiver; namely Boeing, Microsoft & Apple. Boeing's aircraft are not at all bad (my current favourite is 777, but the A380 is a winner.) Microsoft makes lots of $s, while delivering *extremely* shitty product (this article being produced *in spite of* W7. A beautiful piece of hardware, crippled by MS - boo!) Apple makes extremely successful = extremely expensive toys; the people are to be condemned for wanting = buying such marginally useful rubbish (excepting Nano-G3.)

To the Mercedes/oil case, as an example for generalisation.

The Germans make Mercedes cars, screwed together by Turks in Sindelfingen (me: Sifi.) They sell some to the US, getting $US in return. They, (all sorts of Germans), like zipping along their (some still non-speed limited) Autobahns, for which they need fuel = pay with $US. When the fuel is all gone, they have to go and make another few Mercedes cars, repeat.

The $US are traded for fuel from the multi-national oil companies; mostly US but some UK and F, instantly explaining the NATO attacks on Libya, B, B & H's attack on Iraq, Afghanistan for pipeline-routes - Iran next? But note, this ties in with 'murder for spoil,' the other major one being Zs' mayhem/plunder of Palestine.

The current price (note, not value) of oil is around $80 in EU/USA ($120 tapis; what's the diff?) The cost of FOB delivery in the ME was estimated in 2003+/- at around $1 only. The difference is the profit pocketed by the oil-multis, another explanation for Iraq, etc., and also called 'economic rent.' This is one reason why JMK called for euthanasia of the rentiers, and similar to what Rudd was aiming for with the MRRT.

The $s generated by the oil-trade are, not surprisingly, called petro-dollars, and even though the oil-resource owners get a miserable pittance (just like us, we the sheople in Aus, vis-à-vis the mining boom), still a lot of $s accumulate - which are often swapped for arms, mainly US, and when not then 'stashed' by buying US-treasury bonds.

Repeat this analogy with Chinese manufactures; US-jobs off-shored & out-sourced, big profits accumulating in China, Japan, etc. - again stashed as US-treasuries. In a word: Trillions.

All the $US sloshing around the world are effectively useless to the holders, and (recalling oil-burning = up in smoke, as exploding bombs) are roughly equal to the US external deficit = free lunch, not only but also breakfast, dinner & desert.

One more repeat: All those useless $s cost *zero* to print.

All the US bombs can do is blow things up = destroy and kill.

All this is neoliberalism = rip-offs + militarism = murder for spoil.

Fazit: *Despite* the free-lunch they've given themselves with the $US oil-racket, despite the *trillions* of otherwise useless $s held by supplier-nations, the US is still going broke - because, in the end analysis, they won't properly tax their corrupt rich. The purchased-politicians and the corrupt & venal MSM lie to us continuously, as the US & Z militaries continuously kill to steal. What a world!

Where are the effective, countervailing resistors?

-=*end*=-

ENOUGH! - NO (MORE) WAR!

Would the aggressive invaders kindly return to behind their own frontiers, please?

Trigger article:

Gaddafi's son killed in airstrike, rebels say
Updated August 05, 2011 19:50:21
  «A rebel spokesman said a NATO air attack killed 32 people, among then Moamar Gaddafi's son Khamis, who serves as one of the main commanders of the Libyan leader's military forces.» 
[AusBC/'news']

Comment 1: IF Gaddafi's son Khamis is a commander THEN he's defending his country against a fake 'rebellion,' backed by alien invaders = NATO, itself a puppet of the US, with prime-poodles Sarkozy(F) & Cameron(UK).

Comment 2: Who will rid us of this pestilence (US, NATO(UK, F), Zs etc.)?

A: Not the UN (Ban Ki-moon, Russia, China et al.), they 'allow' it.

A: Not Germany; they 'tolerate/support' it.

A: Not England; they're in it.

A: Not France; they're in it.

A: Not Norway; they're in it.

A: Not we the people; we have no say.

But it's murder for spoil (again? No, still); at Nuremberg they hanged such wickedly criminal perpetrators.

Q: There must be reasonable people in this world; enough to call *effectively* for truth and justice;

  WHERE ARE THEY AND WHY ARE THEY SILENT?

the economy is basically sound! rule: never talk it down but not this time

.. Nixon: "I am not a crook!" ...

  .. but Oh, yes he was ...

    .. as are all his successors

-=*=-

"Earlier stock markets across Europe had all closed more than 3 per cent down as economists warned of the chance of a fresh global financial crisis sparked by the fear of European debt contagion spreading to Italy and a lack of confidence in the US economy."

Comment 1: Why are economists warning? No-one in this 'business' does anything without a plan, so why talk it down? Against all rules.

Comment 2: Please explain "European debt contagion spreading," i.e. exactly how/why what happens in one country (Greece, say) may affect another (here, Italy)? All these countries (PIIGS + B, UK, more?) are being *pushed* into crisis.

"Even so-called defensive stocks such as Telstra and Woolworths were down 2.4 and 2.7 per cent respectively, as investors fled shares for cash."

Comment 3: For every seller there's (still?) a buyer.

Comment 4: How does anyone know what drives the herd? Except to say that fear-mongering works.

What we know:

1. Since the US 'went broke' = off gold on August 15, 1971, effectively all currencies have been 'fiat;' money being created by the stroke of a pen, or these days on a computer keyboard (= 'printing').

2. The $US became the world's reserve currency, effectively backed not by gold but oil. Almost all oil is denominated in $US, notable exceptions being (temporarily) Iraq, say, and see what happened to them.

3. It is a 'normal' function of central banks to determine the quantity of money on the 'Goldilocks' principle, i.e. neither too few nor too many, but 'just right;' determined as a function of inflation. The RBA sets a 'headline' target of 2-3% - but why not zero?

4. The inflation figures are fiddled; substituting lower-cost items for increasers, like chicken instead of beef (end result for pensioners = tinned cat-food, anecdotally.) They also omit rents, as if sleeping under a bridge was an 'acceptable substitution.'

5. Asset inflation cannot be 'quarantined,' however much they might try; $s are fungible and any/all inflation means too many *printed* $s.

6. After inflating madly, Aus house-prices seem to have hit a 'natural' = affordability limit. (Inflating mostly thanks, but "No, thanks!" to Howard/Costello's ½CGT; Aus house-prices went through the roof, as are *privatised* electricity costs, etc..)

7. All bubbles eventually collapse, this having been known at least since 1929. Perhaps this stock-market 'correction' is a true collapse, but again, why are most/all commenters talking a crash *up*?

-=*=-

More:

1. 'Real' $s: There are none. Under 'fractional reserve banking,' the trading banks have 'real money' reserve-accounts (originally share capital, say) in the 'national reserve bank,' and are allowed to create some multiple of 'credit money' which they then loan out to customers, typically businesses (or home buyers.) All money loaned attracts some % = interest. Since $s are 'fungible,' no distinction can now be made between 'real money' and 'credit money;' all $s in circulation attract interest - even when deposited as a credit, any interest paid by banks is (on average) less than that charged on loans. Apart from minimal and reducing bank-overheads (function/jobs off-shoring, down-sizing, going ever-more lean&mean), loan-interest is a stealth tax, passed on to us, we the people, disguised as a 'cost of business.' Nevertheless, stealth or not, a tax is a tax, and fiat-$s cost *nothing* to print.

2. Speaking of taxes, ever since TINA-Thatcher and voodoo-Reagan, politicians have been cutting taxes, mostly off the rich, and at the same time cutting public services and privatising public enterprises, most despicably needed utilities like water, sewage & electricity = neoliberalising. The absolute worst is pushing privatised medicine; do anything 'for profit' and you will get profit before performance. All knowingly, cynically done; and when the doing gets tough, hand the job to the so-called 'progressives,' since they purport to be the people's friends; when progressives neoliberalise, the stunned people are more likely to 'accept' it. Note that bipartisan = un- & anti-democratic.

As a truly disgusting example, see the latest 'stunt' by Obama; cutting deeply into welfare whilst hardly touching the military, let alone requiring the filthy rich to shoulder even part of their responsibility-share.

3. Whatever; any idiot can cut taxes (see Abbott), but cutting services = neoliberalising takes longer so there's a lag; voila: Debt crises -> wicked austerity. All done on purpose.

-=*=-

Intermezzo: Anticipating Perkins below, the US plus hangers-on are increasingly attacking innocents, mostly Arab/Muslims in the middle-East, not by happenstance where lots of oil is, plus an illegitimate rogue state living on stolen land. These aggressive invaders, short-handed as the US-M/I/C/4-plex, their accessory-thugs NATO and the I/J/Z-plex are now killing with impunity to steal resources = oil, land & water.

The 4 stands for 4th estate, aka the corrupt & venal MSM. Even publicly financed broadcasters are 'in it' = relaying and *actively assisting* the propaganda, 'perfectly' typified by reporting on the vicious, illegal NATO bombing of Libyan TV; the newsreaders saying (my paraphrase; transcripts *not* available): "NATO had to destroy Libyan TV to protect civilians." Risible = criminal, the bombing and the reporting both.

Apropos the AusBC, it/they have drastically reduced the opportunity for feedback/comment; as one example of many, the unleashed-forum commenting time now cut to minimal tending to useless, favouring the quick-draw pro-war, pro-Z & pro-crime propagandist-trolls.

-=*=-

But what is the end-game? People going broke everywhere, following deliberately caused unemployment; the wages/salaries portion dropping like stones, govt-service reductions, costs soaring, always fewer $s for the people, going on ever increasingly expensive items.

Perkins' "Economic Hit Man" explains the process (IMF SAPs; forced onto 3rd world, same process being done *voluntarily* by so-called democracy-leaders); then when all else fails, send in the military - Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, etc.; when Merkel dragged the IMF into the EU-crisis, I knew she was being bad, and nothing good would result. See 'as are all his successors.'

Most people's money has now long been committed; forced savings being their only possible savings, and most of the forced savings landing in the stock-exchange (or investment-housing for the better-off savers.) If stock- and house-prices now crash, affected savings will be wiped out - the people will have less for the future, as well as being on the limit now. Who's winning? Not us, we the people. Yet the financial system is presumably working 'as designed,' by the 'geniuses' in parliaments, Wall St & (corrupt!) universities. It must be so, since they *made* it so.

And the banks, with their fat-cat shareholders, are already obscenely rich - on printed = intrinsically worthless fiat-$s. Yet they still want more, and will probably get it - shortly after this current little 'shake-down' subsides.