The Audacity of Dopes - America's Lack of Planning for Stimulus is Reckless

Connecting the dots - Does anyone in Dayton understand why the Stimulus Proposed by Obama is a poor investment and will be his undoing as it will take fours years at least for the sheep known as the American populace to get it.  As an exercise try to figure out why the list of projects funded based on this quote

“We understand that everyone has a need out there, so we used the idea of a fair share scenario,” said Don Sprang, MVRPC executive director.

is not a good use of the Chinese Investments

And that the way Old Europe has or will invest its money may be wiser.  But hey we are Americans and we are blessed by God, so we must be right - Shovel Ready to Dig our own graves -  Riiight!  I find the list very interesting as the comments were mainly about improving and expanding bikeways, while very little was funded.  Well Dayton knows better as the Car Industry has a very bright future, so funding roadways is a "great investment."

Old Europe Is Right on Stimulus - WSJ.com

While he's in the U.K., perhaps Mr. Geithner should also ask his European counterparts whether any of them have ever seen a 1.5 Keynesian "multiplier" in the wild. That's the idea -- promoted by Mr. Summers -- that every $1 of deficit spending yields $1.5 in economic growth. If that were true, Italy would be the richest country in Europe, instead of merely one of the most indebted.

And if the Treasury Secretary is looking for something to read on the plane, we recommend a recent paper by a trans-Atlantic team of four economists -- two Germans and two Americans. The authors -- John Cogan and John Taylor of Stanford and Tobias Cwik and Volker Wieland of Goethe University -- subject the Administration's stimulus to the most recent Keynesian scholarship.

What Dayton Leadership is All About - Groupthink

It would be interesting to really get at the table to discuss these issues and at least have a dialogue about the decisions that have been made in this town.  I have talked to the "movers and shakers" and if you look at their decisions over the last 10 years they have all been wrong.  However, they own the media through personal relationships or financial control, so no serious questioning of these decisions is ever undertaken. 

The Groupthink model is leading us directly over the cliff, and it appears on both sides of the aisle.  I have been appalled by the liberal medias take down of Rick Santelli and his Boston Tea Party rant.  Each side never really can take the middle ground.  I think most people would call the Daily Show a liberal view of politics, so when Jon Stewart used Rick Santelli to take down CNBC, he perpetuated the Groupthink model as he used the ONLY commentator on CNBC that ever questioned the blowing of the Greenspan bubble and every economy cheerleader that CNBC had on, especially Chief CNBC Economist and Apologist Rick Leisman.  Review the video and Stewart's team never uses Santelli again in its take down.  Keith Olbermann makes the same mistake on his worst person of the world take down of Santelli.

It is part and parcel of how those with some discerning or populist view of the world are taken down and out by both sides of the aisle.  Rick gets blasted all the time on CNBC and then when it looks like he might get a following, the corporate hacks get their liberal puppets to take the populist down.  It just reinforces my continued antipathy for "those in power".  It is not about what is right, it is about staying on top.  Corporations and Politicians are turning America into a dung heap, just like the Politicians and Corporations in our community are turning the Miami Valley into a dung heap.  Jesus, Martin Luther King, Rick Santelli and your's truly.


Economics Professors Are Unshaken by Financial Crisis - NYTimes.com

Unquestioning loyalty to a particular idea is what Robert J. Shiller, an economist at Yale, says is the reason the profession failed to foresee the financial collapse. He blames “groupthink,” the tendency to agree with the consensus. People don’t deviate from the conventional wisdom for fear they won’t be taken seriously, Mr. Shiller maintains. Wander too far and you find yourself on the fringe. The pattern is self-replicating. Graduate students who stray too far from the dominant theory and methods seriously reduce their chances of getting an academic job.

“I fear that there will not be much change in basic paradigms,” Mr. Shiller wrote in an e-mail message. “The rational expectations models will be tweaked to account for the current crisis. The basic curriculum will not change.”

“I hope I am wrong,” he added.

Heroin - Nothing Like a War in Afghanistan and American Insanity to Fuel this Crisis!

Here we go again.  Another article about the drug problems in America without one probing question of whether the American, but maybe Day 2 will offer some hope.  Until then I will give the solution, one that I hoped we the American populace would make because were reasonable, but one we will make because it is the only one we can afford.

Heroin hits home

Heroin, once thought to be disappearing from the local drug scene, is back with a vengeance, fueled by a new generation of users seduced by its euphoric high and initial door-busting price.

And, in alarming numbers, they are dying.

Heroin has made a comeback, and not just in the underbelly of cities where hard-core addicts can always be found.

It is showing up in places where you'd least expect to find it.

The reason Heroin is a killer problem in America is because we (look in the mirror) are Insane.

Definition of Insanity - Repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

That definition of insanity is certainly the American Drug policy over the last 75 years and it is killing people. The problem is that it is human nature to do drugs and society's solution, the drug war, not the drug, itself is a non market based approach. If you think this country has enough money to continue fighting a losing battle with the narcotics trade, think again or at least for the first time. Combine our insane domestic drug policy with our entry into Afghanistan and voila explosion of Poppy production and cheap Heroin. America was successful at stemming the production of Heroin as our State Department paid the Taliban 22 million dollars, because they had squashed production in 2000. Never mind that the US State Department financed 911; Hey the Taliban wiped out poppy production. How did that work out for us?

There are several types of responses associated with a Heroin overdose.

1.   He/She deserved it because they were warned and its against the law, those worthless drug addicts; while, others say
2.   That is a tragedy and put all of the pushers in jail; but,
3.   I say "We could solve the two major problems with one stone.  We could kill off the funding of terrorism through narcotics trade and save a great number of lives."

Americas response has been a combination of 1 and 2, which leads to insanity, while number 3 requires compassion and understanding, something America says it has but rarely practices.

So here is the solution - Legalize the importation of Poppies, Heroin or Opium, for sale and use, but it must met standards.  This one solution saves lives and kills the narcotics funded terrorism.  The reason people overdose is due to the fact that the strength of the product varies and users are conditioned to shoot the same quantity every time, hence an overdose.  The farmers in Afghanistan can still make money, but they no longer have to be under the threat from both America and the Taliban.

It is coming up on the 10 year anniversary of one of my best friend's death due to a Heroin overdose and America is still Insane!

Wilmington Should be Shut Down and Return to Pig Farming!

Miami Valley Representatives Prepare For $825B Battle - News Story - WHIO Dayton

Republican Rep. Michael Turner, a former mayor of Dayton, said he remains undecided on the President's stimulus plan. Turner said he's concerned the $825 billion might not trickle down into a city like Wilmington, which is suffering massive job losses in the wake of DHL's shutdown. Turner told WHIOTV.COM, "In this stimlulus package, there isn't an opportunity for the president to direct funds to some of the hardest hit areas."

I have a plan to save the City of Dayton's Schools and stimulate the housing sector. Forgive all of the mortgages for Wilmington homes, close them down and move everyone to Dayton. Simple! Why put off the inevitable? The houses is Wilmington can be taken down, moved or recycled into insulation; which will provide a great number of jobs for the Miami Valley.

Do you ever wonder why Ohio and Dayton continue to be the hardest hit areas? Poor leadership, elected by the uneducated because WHIO and the Dayton Daily News do not do there jobs.

Dayton Daily News says "Keep Digging"

Dayton Daily News does not see any reason to change course, what goes down must go up! I do not subscribe to this Laissez faire attitude anymore than Ben and Paul. The "free market" acolytes have certainly been bailing, with your tax days, pretty hard to keep Business As Usual afloat. America deserves it's plight as there are only two soothing responses for the people - the military and the markets.

America has squandered its wealth on large, poorly built houses sprawling over farmland, while it has sent its treasure of fine young men and wealth to the deserts and the mountains. I say when you are in a hole, stop digging.

What Dayton and America has to face is "an about face" or admitting we were wrong. Can that happen? It does not seem so, we seem to be waiting for.... cue Sarah She looked in my eyes and said, 'Yes, I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime.'"

OY VEY - Is this what America has come to? Nothing but a consolidated effort of reaching out to our enemies and reconfiguring America back to an electrified rail, with less sprawl, will allow us to avoid falling back to a third world country. The automobile and globalization are dead, so we should invest in our region and forget the worlds problem. If Jesus is coming back, he will not need any help from Sarah and John.

One storm would've been plenty this week, but now there's a financial crisis

Auto companies and manufacturers have been at the heart of U.S. economic problems in recent years. Therefore the Miami Valley has been hit particularly hard. Problems in the financial industry are not as directly focused on southwest Ohio, but they reach Ohio directly through big banks and insurance companies. The region's pre-existing condition makes it especially vulnerable.

And yet, financial analysts seem to agree that when the markets go down, they ultimately go up. Maybe that's another way the Wall Street situation and the Ohio situations intersect.

Does Anyone Admit They Are Wrong? Is it Our Achilles Heal?

The data builds, but our stubborn nature will allow us to rationalize any situation because we refuse to admit we are wrong?

The peak oil culture wars - How the World Works - Salon.com

Partisan conservatives pooh-pooh peak oil (and human-caused climate change) because they think that to concede that these challenges are real and must be confronted is to acknowledge that greed is not always good, and that free market capitalism must be restrained, or at least tinkered with substantially. Peak oil and climate change are fronts in the culture wars, and to some conservatives, watching the price of oil rise as the Arctic ice melts, it might feel like being in Germany at the close of World War II, with the Russians advancing on one front while U.S.-led forces come from the other. The propositions that cheap oil is running out and the world is getting hotter -- as a result of our own activities -- threaten a whole way of life. The very idea that dirty Gaia-worshipping hippies might be right is absolute anathema.

Do You Feel It Yet?

Is your budget impacted by Energy Costs?
Is your life not what You Thought?
While it may be New to You.
There are things you Can Do!
As All is not LOST!