Wall Street is Worthless-Great article

Attached is a first rate essay that should be studied carefully. My good friend Al Gill and I have said this for years. I have also posted earlier how our own fellow citizens who were behind the current recession, the housing collapse by selling worthless mortgages, and reselling them as investments around the world, are more evil and an enemy that al Qeada. Until WE the PEOPLE starting voting our worthless leaders out and put real leaders in office, we will continue to get ripped off. When 44% members of Congress are millionaires, lobbyists outnumber everyone else in the beltway, and the Supreme Court last spring gave free reign to contributions from the elite, the middle and lower classes are screwed in our country. Metrocracy exists no more. We have the worst of an aristrocacy, one that is self serving. As I say, when is a enough enough? We need a new third party, that defends the Constitution, and restores our values of being a good citizen, while advancing one’s self, is also concerned with helping others.

Don

ANNALS OF ECONOMICS

WHAT GOOD IS WALL STREET?

 

Much of what investment bankers do is socially worthless.

by John Cassidy, New Yorker

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/11/29/101129fa_fact_cassidy?printable=true

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An Open Letter to Erskine Bowles: How to Cut the Defense Budget

Attached FYI is a letter a group of retired DoD civilians and military officers wrote the deficit commission concerning cutbacks in the Pentagon’s spending plans.  We are proposing that we impose a current $ freeze on the core budget until the Pentagon can meet the audit requirements of the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 and the Constitution.  Personally, I think we ought to reduce it by 2-3% per year in current dollar terms until it can pass an audit, but that is an unrealistic goal politically.  However, a current dollar freeze is a step in the right direction, and it just might get some political traction.  As a practical matter a current dollar freeze would reduce the Pentagon’s purchasing power by the rate of inflation each year — and I guarantee the inhabitants of the asylum would howl.  

I hope you think this proposal is worthwhile.

Best wishes,

Don

Weekend Edition

November 19 – 21, 2010

An Open Letter to Erskine Bowles

How to Cut the Defense Budget

By THOMAS CHRISTIE, PIERRE SPREY, FRANKLIN SPINNEY et al.

Counterpunch

http://www.counterpunch.org/christie11192010.html

The Honorable Erskine Bowles

National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

1650 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20504

Dear Mr. Bowles:

We are writing to you and other members of the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform as individuals who have worked in national security affairs for decades for the Department of Defense, in the Armed Forces and for Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Our concern is the defense budget.

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Hiding from Reality-Sacrifice a little now or a lot later??

While our politicans worry about fringe cultural issues like gays in the military, women’s right to choose, prays in schools, whether or not the richest of our nation need a tax cut, our country is in serious decline. It all steems from greed and looking inward instead of serving something larger than one’s self.  The next few articles address this serious decline. Sadly, there is a solution, but the politicans do not want to take it, and the vast majority of voters, our fellow citizens, don’t want the hard truth. They say “cut it, but as long as it not on my entitlements.

Don

November 19, 2010

Hiding From Reality

By BOB HERBERT

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/opinion/20herbert.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

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Medal of Honor Presentation for SSG Giunta

For those of us not able to be present when this young NCO received the Medal of Honor, here is a video link to the 8-minute presentation by the president. SSG Giunta is the first living service member to receive this award since the war in Vietnam.  This is what our country needs, leaders like SSG Giunta, who is so humble, and very squared away. I took three things away from this, first SSG Giunta’s leadership, how humble he is. Second, the President’s sincerity for this even and toward SSG Giunta (shows me that he can have a better half of his term if he stands up to big money and turns attention to helping the middle class), and the third, is the comradship of SSG Giunta’s fellow soldiers who attended, some that even left the Army, still showed up to support him. That makes the Band of Brothers more than a bumper sticker.

If you don’t have 8 minutes to invest, as my good friend SFC Jeffrey (R) Roper so eloquently pointed out to me, take the time to listen to this Soldier speak for the last 40 seconds of the video. It’s worth your time.

Shortcut to:

http://www.stripes.com/news/obama-medal-of-honor-recipient-giunta-as-humble-as-he-is-heroic-1.125607

Don

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The elections-Nothing will change until We Demand It

Again, I am proud of our democracy, our ability to get out and vote, show that we the people are pissed off about how Congress and the President is driving us deeper into debt, diminishing our strength, and also how they have not provided strong leadership, addressing major problems with major solutions. Instead, they continue to tell people, and themselves what they want to hear. In the next few weeks, I will post articles and essays to support this trend.

We need to form a new third party, and return to our Constitutional roots.

Don

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Sorry been off the net, all good though…

I have been travelling a lot pushing ALM and OBTE at workshops as well as lectures. I have also been working working with the Baltimore Police and their implementation of ALM in their new four week Sergeants Course. I have just posted two things, again, both regarding the lack of truth and leadership.

Don

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About the Coming LARGE Rise in Food Prices

Click here: http://fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/23379/

About the coming large rise in food prices
12 November 2010
tags: food
by Fabius Maximus
Summary: Rising food prices might be one of the most important geopolitical trends of the decade. This is another post in a series, describing the causes and effects; links to other chapters appear at the end.

What result do you expect from this combination of factors?

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Taliban’s grip is far stronger than the West will admit

Afghanistan – behind enemy lines

James Fergusson returns after three years to Chak, just 40 miles from Kabul, to find the Taliban’s grip is far stronger than the West will admit

Independent, 14 November 2010

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/exclusive-afghanistan–behind-enemy-lines-2133667.html

The sound of a propeller engine is audible the moment my fixer and I climb out of the car, causing us new arrivals from Kabul to glance sharply upwards. I have never heard a military drone in action before, and it is entirely invisible in the cold night sky, yet there is no doubt what it is. My first visit to the Taliban since 2007 has only just begun and I am already regretting it. What if the drone is the Hellfire-missile-carrying kind?

Three years ago, the Taliban’s control over this district, Chak, and the 112,000 Pashtun farmers who live here, was restricted to the hours of darkness – although the local commander, Abdullah, vowed to me that he would soon be in full control. As I am quickly to discover, this was no idle boast. In Chak, the Karzai government has in effect given up and handed over to the Taliban. Abdullah, still in charge, even collects taxes. His men issue receipts using stolen government stationery that is headed “Islamic Republic of Afghanistan”; with commendable parsimony they simply cross out the word “Republic” and insert “Emirate”, the emir in question being the Taliban’s spiritual leader, Mullah Omar.

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Strategic Leadership-National Politics: Nine Take Aways by Michael Cohen

Opinion: 9 Takeaways From the Election http://www.aolnews.com/elections/article/opinion-the-weak-tea-party-and-8-other-election-takeaways/19701092 (Nov. 3) —

So in case you hadn’t heard, there was an election last night in America — here are some of the big takeaways. Republicans Won’t Shake Up Washington Last night was a political tsunami, but don’t expect things to change overnight in Washington. The GOP ran a brilliant campaign that channeled voter anger. But now the hard part begins. Republicans talked about cutting spending but found it easier to identify the programs they wanted to protect than those they would cut. They railed against growing budget red ink but want to blow a $700 billion hole in the budget by extending the Bush tax cuts and reversing Medicare cuts. They ran on fixing the economy and creating jobs, but by taking government spending off the table have left practically no tools at their disposal to achieve this goal. Finally, by winning the House but losing the Senate, there are few ways for them to force President Barack Obama’s hand, except of course shutting down the government.

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