Ruminations - 3jun2009

George Rebane

Silly me, and here I thought only the feds could tap my cell phone with a court’s permission.  It turns out that literally anyone can do that and more to you and yours.  Check out this YouTube video and then you can google (or bing) ‘cell phone intercept’ to a get a snoot full on this.  Anyone know what, if anything, is being done to put this genie back in the bottle?  Hat tip to a RR reader from the Northwest.

Another glimpse across our nation’s Great Divide.  Andrew Howard writes ‘We all benefit to a certain degree from socialism’ in the 2jun09 Union.  He concludes that since we have quietly accepted benefits from “socialist institutions” such as our local police and Social Security, we should then continue to accept the current torrent of liberal add-ons with equal calm.  His logic is mind-boggling, but only to a shrinking fraction of our citizens.  A more advanced view of socialism’s future is proposed by Kevin Kelly ‘The New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society Is Coming Online’ in the June 2009 issue of Wired.  Both ends of this assault decry the blessings of capitalism, and cite its abject failure as the cause of our current financial crisis.  All this while evidence continues to pour in about the role of Congress and the Fed as the co-founders of our recession (for example, here).

President Obama is cranking up his outreach to the world of Islam according to the NYT blog.  As if we already didn’t understand the Muslim mind that matters (half of them are under 25, and most of those unemployed), Obama is now declaring that we “have to educate ourselves more effectively on Islam.”  This goes along with his diagnosis that America can be considered as “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.”  At this point it’s time to ask, if our President will not stand up for America, who will?

Ending on a brighter note, yesterday I attended the Board of Supervisors hearing on the 2009/10 Nevada County budget.  Given what’s going on in Washington and Sacramento, I came away impressed.  Forget the nits, our Supes have been and continue doing a great job.  Bottom line – the proposed county budget will be $185,338,190 and change, it will be balanced in spite of the state reducing county’s revenues by over $11 million, and our $19 million reserve fund will remain intact.  The reserve fund is being maintained and grown for eventual use if the current recession continues beyond two years.  The Supes and CEO have, of course, had to make some staff and service cuts, but they all seem sensible, and the important services are not affected.

Comments

[Account Deleted]

I had read that letter from Howard, and thought about the other people I know at work and elsewhere that espouse the same attitude. We all have different opinions and should respect the right for one and another to be able to voice them. That way, we can accurately gauge the complete inability of others around us to gather information and make rational decisions. If you want any more of the same, albeit from a more highly respected source, check out Paul Krugman's opinion piece from I believe May 28th. He believes that there is no reason to fear inflation as the money just comes out of nowhere and returns back whence it came with a healthy effect on our economy.

[George Rebane]

But Krugman, even before encumbered by his Nobel, never acknowledged that the Fed has a horrible record of retiring money already in circulation. Somehow the assets that it tries to sell for cash always bring in a small fraction of what it 'paid' for them with freshly printed money. I am at a loss on how to explain how prominent, award-winning economists can miss so much of economic history and experience, and still continue their credible careers.

[writing a dissertation]

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