Weekly Roundup - Living On Nothing Edition [Survival Today

Did you hear about the guy that lives on nothing? No seriously, he lives on zero dollars a day. Meet Daniel Suelo, who lives in a cave outside Moab, Utah. Suelo has no mortgage, no car payment, no debt of any kind. He also has no home, no car, no television, and absolutely no “creature comforts.” But he does have a lot of creatures, as in the mice and bugs that scurry about the cave floor he’s called home for the last three years.

To us, Suelo probably sounds a little extreme. Actually, he probably sounds very extreme. After all, I suspect most of you reading this are doing so under the protection of some sort of man-made shelter, and with some amount of money on your person, and probably a few needs for money, too. And who doesn’t need money unless they have completely unplugged from the grid? Still, it’s an amusing story about a guy who rejects all forms of consumerism as we know it.

How to Brew Your Own Beer and Maybe Save Some Money. A fantastic introduction to home brewing, something I’ve never done myself, but always been interested in trying. (@Generation X Finance)

Contentment: A Great Financial Principle. If I had to name one required emotion for living a frugal lifestyle it would be contentment. Once you are content with your belongings and your lot in life you can ignore forces attempting to separate you from your money. (@Personal Finance by the Book)

Use Energy Star Appliances to Save On Utility Costs. I enjoyed this post because it included actual numbers, and actual total savings, from someone who upgraded to new, energy star appliances. (@The Digerati Life)

Over-Saving for Retirement? Is it possible to “over-save” for retirement? Yes, I think so. At some point I like the idea of putting some money aside in taxable investments outside of retirement funds, to be accessed prior to traditional retirement age. (@The Simple Dollar)

40 Things to Teach My Kids Before They Leave Home. A great list of both practical and philosophical lessons to teach your kids before they reach the age where they know everything. I think that now happens around 13 years-old. (@My Supercharged Life)

Index Fund Investing Overview. If you are looking for a place to invest with high diversification and relatively low fees (for broader index funds with low turnover), index funds are a great place to start. (@Money Smart Life)

5 Reasons To Line Dry Your Laundry. My wife and I may soon be installing a clothesline in our backyard. In many neighborhoods they are frowned upon - one of the reasons I don’t like living in a neighborhood. I digress. One of our neighbors recently put up a clothesline, and we might just follow his lead. (@Simple Mom)

* 4 Quick Tips for Getting Out of a Rut * Young and Cash Rich * Embracing Simple Style * First Trading Experience With OptionsHouse * The Exponential Power of Delayed Consumption * How Much Emergency Fund is Enough? * 50 Questions that Will Free Your Mind * Save Money On Car Insurance

http://www.naturalnews.com/026693_debt_America_disease.html

(NaturalNews) With a military rifle in one hand and a bottle of prescription medications in the other, the new “Mr. America” is over-fed, under-nourished, over-medicated, over-spent and “over there” (waging war in the Middle East). And soon, with Obama’s new disease care reform proposals, America will find itself destitute and diseased, unable to climb out of the medication dependence pit it has dug for itself.

See the political cartoon on this topic here: http://www.naturalnews.com/026686_d...

To understand why this is true from a financial point of view, take a look at these numbers:

If you read the actual federal budget for 2009, it’s an astonishing $3.1 trillion. The size of the number itself is mind-boggling, but it’s even more disturbing when you realize just how much of the federal budget is spent on these three things:

WAR
DISEASE
DEBT

In fact, let me ask you this question right now: What percentage of the federal budget do you think is spent on these three things? War, Disease and Debt.

Is it 10 percent? Twenty-five percent? Fifty percent?

Keep going...

Of course, if you actually work in Washington, you won’t even describe these as “War, Disease and Debt.” Instead, you call them:

DEFENSE
HEALTH
THE ECONOMY

It all sounds much nicer when phrased that way. But these terms are intentionally deceptive. We’re not really “defending” our way into Iraq, Afghanistan and seventy-five other countries where we have a military presence. Spending on “health care” doesn’t have anything to do with health (it’s all about disease). And people who say spending more debt money to “help the economy” are mathematical retards. You can’t get yourself out of debt by spending more money (even though V.P. Joe Biden insists you can...).

So are you ready for the actual number?

It’s an eye-opener. The actual percentage of the U.S. federal budget spent on WAR, DISEASE and DEBT is 87 percent.

Here’s how it breaks down according to publicly-available numbers: (Source = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United... )

Total U.S. Federal Budget for 2009: $3.1 trillion

1) WAR: Department of Defense ($515.4 billion) + War on Terror ($145.2 billion) + Dept. of Veterans Affairs ($44.8 billion) + Dept. of Homeland Security ($37.6 billion) = $743 billion

2) DISEASE: Medicare ($408 billion) + Medicaid ($224 billion) + Dept. of Health and Human Services ($70 billion) = $702 billion

3) DEBT: Debt to the people: Social Security ($644 billion), Social Security Administration ($8.4 billion), Welfare ($360 billion) and Interest on National Debt ($260 billion) = $1,272 billion

(Note: This does not even include the financial cost of the War on Iraq or the War in Afghanistan, as those are budgeted separately as appropriations and are not included in the Dept. of Defense budget. So the actual numbers are far worse than what’s shown here...)

Combined spending on War, Disease and Debt: $2,717 billion ($2.7 trillion), which is 87% of the total expenditures by the federal government ($3.1 trillion).

How do you dig yourself out of this hole?

For every tax dollar you send to Washington (and it’s about to become a whole lot more of ‘em), 87 cents gets spent on war, disease and debt. That leaves just 13 cents on the dollar for roads, schools, parks, technology, science, the environment, adult education and other programs.

If you spent 87% of your own household income on war, disease and debt, leaving only 13 cents on the dollar for food, clothing, transportation and entertainment, how long would your own finances stay solvent? Not very long...

It doesn’t take a financial genius to realize that the United States of America has dug itself into a financial trench so deep and so infected with really bad planning that there is virtually no way it can get out. As a result, the American people are increasingly bankrupt, diseased and homeless. (I predict a new wave of tent cities springing up across the American landscape as increasing numbers of Americans lose their jobs and their homes.)

“Mr. America” is burned out, stressed out, tapped out and about to be rubbed out.

It is only a matter of time before economic reality sets in and the American people find their currency is phased out, too.

An economic prison to keep you trapped and penniless

It’s easy to see this from afar (from South America, in my case, where I live full time): America is living in a fantasy world, where the laws of economics have been (temporarily) suspended. There’s no such thing as too much spending. No such thing as too many prescription drugs or vaccines. No such thing as too much war. It’s all justifiable by the relentless fools in Washington who claim, “We saved the economy!”

Because, you see, we are past the point of dealing with reality in America. There will be no saving the nation from financial demise. There will be no meaningful health care reform. There will be no real changes that preserve your freedom or your bank account. Instead, one hundred percent of the efforts are now focused on preserving the illusions that keep America artificially propped up like a morbid human puppet.

The new Congressional bills, the financial bailouts, the empty talk of health care reform — these are all designed to distract you from the sobering, unavoidable and simple truth: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind. [Recognize it?]

That prison keeps you working 60-hour weeks. It keeps you paying your taxes. It keeps you medicated and indoctrinated like a slobbering idiot who buys brand-name products because the logos seem somehow emotionally familiar (TV programming). It keeps you slaving away your precious hours, shoveling the fruits of your labor into a mindless, heartless machine of Big Government that has already mortgaged your assets, sacrificed your health and stolen your future.

And there’s always a seductive motivation beckoning you to sacrifice more. If you only work another job, you’ll be able to afford that giant TV screen you’ve always wanted. Here’s a credit card to make it easy, or you can just sign over your home. Here, take this vaccine shot for your own protection. Vote for me, and I’ll give you free health care. I’ll stabilize the economy by spending future generations into yet more debt. Don’t worry about paying anything back... we’ll let the next President deal with that.

The fraud continues, year after year, with new faces and names at the helm, but the same old failed thinking at the core. You cannot spend your way to prosperity, you must SAVE your way there. You cannot make a population healthy by drugging more people. You cannot make peace by waging war. And you cannot make a nation great by abandoning the real needs of the people and selling out to corporations and their lobbyists.

Sadly, while Mr. America was once a healthy, thriving, hard-working individual, he’s now a jobless, indebted medicated heart patient with a caffeine habit and an upside-down mortgage on the home he’s about to lose. And the worst part is that the lawmakers in Washington are doing everything in their power to make sure Mr. America stays that way.

[some had seizures]

http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/medtronic-paradigm-recall-quick-set-infusion-sets-4810/#comment-7518

Medtronic Inc. has recalled three million disposable infusion sets designed for their MiniMed Paradigm insulin pumps

July 13th, 2009 • Filed Under: News • 32 Comments
feature photo

Medtronic Inc. has recalled three million disposable infusion sets designed for their MiniMed Paradigm insulin pumps after discovering that some of them could deliver incorrect doses of insulin, potentially leading to injury or death.

The Medtronic Paradigm recall involves one lot of Quick-set infusion sets, which are disposable plastic tubes used to infuse a diabetes patient from the Medtronic insulin pump. They are usually replaced after three days. Medtronic issued a press release on July 10 alerting users that approximately 2%, or about 60,000 units, from one lot of its infusion sets have a defect that could give too much insulin to the patient.

The affected infusion sets have a lot number starting with “8” marked on the product box label and on each infusion set package, with the reference numbers MMT-396, MMT-397, MMT-398 and MMT-399. The defective infusion sets do not vent air pressure properly when delivering an insulin dose.

The sets were distributed throughout the United States and to a small number of countries outside of the U.S., such as Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Great Britain, Canada and the Bahamas. There have been no reported injuries related to the insulin pump infusion set recall, but the defect has the potential to cause fatal injury.

Last month, the FDA issued a warning letter to Medtronic about Synchromed and MiniMed pump problems. The agency warned the company that it needed to fix quality control issues in its Puerto Rico plant where the products are manufactured. According to FDA investigators, the plant had a wide range of problems that included lax testing of products for defects, proper record keeping, and employing someone with only a high school education and some special training as a medical expert for determining the danger of defects.

Medtronic is offering patients replacement Quick-set infusion sets for the MiniMed Paradigm insulin pumps in exchange for the defective ones at no charge. However, product liability lawyers who are investigating potential lawsuits for Medtronic insulin pump problems caused by the recalled Quick-set infusion sets, indicate that any units from the recalled lots should be preserved for litigation purposes if a serious or fatal injury has occurred.

many comments on product.....

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm173863.htm

Haifa Smoked Fish, Inc is voluntarily recalling Haifa Smoked Fish brand Cold Smoked Whitefish sold between December 7, 2008 and June 18, 2009 Because of Possible Health Risk

Contact:
IsraelMirzakandov,
Vice President,
HaifaSmoked Fish, Inc,
Tel: 718-526-3338

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 10, 2009 - Haifa Smoked Fish, Inc is voluntarily recalling all Haifa Smoked Fish brand Cold Smoked Whitefish sold between December 7, 2008 and June 18, 2009. The product is being recalled because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

Listeria monocytogenes is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this problem.

The recalled product was distributed to retailers and distributors in the New York State area. Consumers could possibly purchase the product through retail stores outside the New York State area.

The recalled product required refrigeration at 38F or below until consumed. It is packaged in either air-packed or vacuum-packed plastic wrap. It contains a label bearing UPC number 832007000263. The packages do not bear any lot codes. The recalled product is sold by weight.

Consumers who have purchased Haifa Smoked Fish brand Cold Smoked Whitefish sold between December 7, 2008 and June 18, 2009 are urged to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may contact the company at 718-523-889, Monday thru Thursday, 9am to 5pm, and on Fridays until 3pm Eastern Time.

Page Last Updated: 07/28/2009

http://www.bearridgeproject.com/2009/07/wealth-confiscation-and-cash.html

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Wealth Confiscation and Cash

MSNBC ran an article Monday on the dangers of keeping cash. The story “Money hiders risk a wealth of woes” documents the risks involved in keeping cash stored at your home and not in banks. The story is an obvious banking industry propaganda piece planted to scare Americans into depositing their increasing and untraceable saving into lending institution where the usage and existence of those funds can be monitored by the government.

America is moving toward a policy of wealth confiscation to pay our massive dept owed to foreign countries. Soon the government will freeze American banking assets for confiscation issuing IOUs to the citizens that can be traded and used to purchase approved items such as house payments, taxes and “healthy” food. The American government issued IOUs will be “cashless” and eventually converted for pennies on the dollar into either the new North American currency or more likely a new global currency. Cash in any form will no longer exist, all transactions will be electronic and monitored. The banks will charge a heavy “convenience fee” on the usage of these IOUs guaranteeing massive profits and government compliance.

California’s issuance of IOUs is being allowed and even touted not necessarily as a model but more to plant the seed of IOUs in the American conscience. We will soon start seeing stories about how great and easily traded the IOUs are in California. Remember California...or the United States for that matter...has no way to recover from this economic collapse without millions of good paying jobs being created on which taxes can be levied. There is no such thing as a jobless recovery and lost American jobs are not coming back!

Further proof of the wealth confiscation plot can be seen in the current fight between Switzerland and the United States over foreign tax shelter accounts. The United States wants Switzerland to report all monies held in private foreign accounts by American citizens to target tax dodgers. The Swiss claim that revealing information on private accounts violates centuries old privacy laws. They instead are moving all American bank accounts into “special banks” set up to comply with the United States governments requests for information.

Obviously this has nothing to do with taxes. Businessmen who utilize Swiss privacy laws are hiding money from business partners and family or because of lawsuits, not the United States government and the IRS. Clearly these businessmen can afford a good accountant who will take advantage of the existing tax laws. Moving the monies to a “special bank” allows for easier transfer and confiscation of wealth.

Once the financial networks switch over and accept only the government issued IOUs cash becomes functionally worthless everywhere accept in underground trade. For instance items that are deemed unhealthy under the new mandatory insurance/health laws such as booze, cigarettes and red meat will not be illegal but you can’t purchase them with the IOUs. Home produced biofuels, ammunition and NON genetically modified produce (organic) will also be unattainable with the IOU system.

The new IOU based system will work much like the current electronic food stamp system. If an item is not approved you will not be able to purchase it. Barter and trade will flourish under this system but only as far as the American conscious will allow. In other words we are use to going to the store and buying what we need not carrying barter items to trade for booze. The old greenback will fill this void.

The government may not accept the old dollar but as longs as the people recognize its value it will still be used. Gold and silver might fill this roll but I truly don’t see that happening to awkward and not enough people have the metals. So don’t turn in all your cash it might be a needed commodity in the post dollar world.

Posted by BigBear at 1:19 AM
Labels: Survival

http://www.bearridgeproject.com/2009/07/woman-screams.html

Monday, July 13, 2009
A Woman Screams
I woke up Saturday night to a womans scream. It was around 2 in the morning and I was sound asleep with the dogs. A high pitched scream jolted us awake. Most of the windows were open and the evening was very warm. The scream appeared to come from the hill right outside the bedroom window.

I jumped out of bed thinking it was my neighbor but quickly decided it was a coyote...a high pitched coyote. The dogs stayed in bed growling which was strange. I grabbed the flashlight and went out on the front porch. I really like to listen to the coyotes...they all have slightly different voices. Since the neighbor now has chickens they have been coming fairly close to the houses.

Anyway as soon as I got out on the porch it screamed again this time from behind the cabin on the ridge. It wasn’t a yelping but a single long high pitched scream. It gave me the chills. As I opened the door to go inside it gave out one more scream. I turned on some lights and made some noise and didn’t hear the animal again. The dogs were still in the bed growling.

Sunday at my neighbors get together I was telling a friend about the “coyote” and its strange scream. He informed me that the scream was most likely a mountain lion and that I needed to be careful with the dogs. I have seen mountain lion tracks several times and once spotted a big cat walking down the neighbors driveway.

So I am going to take a few precautions like making sure the doors are bolted so they can’t be pushed open and that the lower windows are closed up when I am not here. Plus when I walk the dogs I always carry the bear mace with me...very effective that bear mace.

Night noises are really a strange thing. Living in the city I could have gunshots right outside the house and it wouldn’t bother me in the least. For that matter a woman screaming would only get a mild reaction from me. I would roll over and go right back to sleep. When you remove the background noise of society a wonderful eerie stillness is left. Every noise in that stillness is amplified and although 99% of the sounds are benign your filter still needs to adjust to the newness of the experience.

Posted by BigBear at 3:02 AM 7 comments

Labels: Life

http://www.bearridgeproject.com/2009/07/dont-mace-mice.html
Thursday, July 2, 2009

Don’t Mace The Mice

Let me say that mice are not cute little critters, they are dirty destructive rodents that should be eliminated. At first I thought of them as furry little jokers and would simply remove them outside with a shovel but not kill them. Now I smack them with that same shovel and fling their dirty little bodies out on the road for the coyotes to eat.

What changed my perception? Well they eat everything and crap everywhere. The boys food bowl is about 3 inches deep by 8 inches round. I would fill it full and they eat what they want but the bowl started being empty every morning. Those awful mice where carrying off the entire bowl worth of food every night storing it under the cabinets. The dogs chew bones and several stuffed animals that frankly were way to big to get under the cabinets where also stored away. Magic mice perhaps.

The dogs like chasing them and Conway patrols every night starting around sundown. He darts from spot to spot cornering them when he finds them. A quick bark alerts Axel who jumps in to help, Axel is more of a supervisor leaving the hard work to Conway. I grab the shovel and pull the dogs back. The mouse is usually cowering under the sofa or behind the trashcan. A quick smack dispatches them. We are slowly reducing their numbers to a more manageable amount.

Traps didn’t work they just took the food leaving the trap unsprung. Those little tent sticky traps were apparently a challenge...they chewed a hole through the side and removed the food. Can’t use poisons with the dogs but did try a unique approach one evening.

I was getting tired of hearing them scurrying about so arrogantly. I thought that if I could get them out of their little nest I could smack them with the shovel killing off several at once. So I took my bear mace and planned to spray just a tiny squirt under the cabinets making the evil rodents run out where I could quickly dispatch them.

THIS WAS A VERY BAD PLAN

Needless to say the mice didn’t scurry but I filled the house with bear mace causing the dogs and I to scurry. Bear mace works by the way and doesn’t come off. I was dipping myself and the dogs in the tub out back which only makes it worse. Apparently you have to use milk to neutralize the oil based spray...ironically it was the mice eating into my only box of powered milk the night before that started me on this very bad path. I took the brunt of the spray the dogs only picking up a small amount...the dipping in the tub pissed them off much more than the spray.

So I have decided that as long as the mice keep their numbers in check through common sense family planning and as long as the boys enjoy chasing them I will live with the mice. Oh they also have to stay out of the bed...that’s a deal breaker.

Posted by BigBear at 8:24 PM 13 comments

Labels: Life, Survival

http://www.bearridgeproject.com/2009/06/according-to-article-on-msnbc-green.html
Friday, June 26, 2009

This Aint No Stinkin Recovery

According to an article on MSNBC the “green shoots” of recovery are showing themselves and the economic free fall is bottoming out. As we all know this is pure propaganda. We are no where near the bottom and will never see the recovery...the days of American economic dominance are over.

“Despite persistent layoffs, the economy seems to be faring better than it was at the start of the year.

The Labor Department said Thursday that new jobless claims jumped unexpectedly last week. And the number of people continuing to receive unemployment aid rose more than expected.

The figures indicate that jobs remain scarce even as the economy shows some signs of recovering from the longest recession since World War II.”

We are still losing hundreds of thousands of jobs each month. Recently media has pointed to the slowing in unemployment rolls as an indicator that the rate of decline is slowing. This really only shows that the people are running out of their six month supply of unemployment benefits and dropping off the back end of the meter.

The American economy must grow at a rate of 125,000 jobs every month to keep up with the young workers entering the job market. We are still losing in excess of 300,000 jobs monthly. These workers are the only people who can bring us out of this great recession. Our economy is built on people buying stuff and if your job is in jeopardy you simply won’t be spending money. You save it if you still have a job.

“The nation’s unemployment rate hit a quarter-century peak of 9.4 percent last month when employers eliminated 345,000 jobs. Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, forecasts that employers will have cut a net total of 325,000 jobs this month and the unemployment rate will rise to 9.6 percent. The June employment report will be released July 2.”
In other words America is down an additional 920,000 plus jobs for May and June. Almost 1 million jobs cut in the past two months. Add service sector jobs that support those Americans and you are probably looking at 1.2 million. This is not a recovery in any way.

These jobs are gone forever and won’t be coming back. Jobs growth is the only true meter of economic recovery that matters. Don’t believe the propaganda, plan accordingly you need to be able to feed and protect your family for at least three years.

Posted by BigBear at 5:39 AM 4 comments

Labels: Survival

http://www.bearridgeproject.com/2009/06/bed-is-bouncing.html
Thursday, June 25, 2009

The Bed Is Bouncing

On a few occasions I have been awoken in the early morning hours by a low noise that can best be described as a diesel truck idling outside the house the noise has been accompanied by a gentle pulsing that you can actually feel in the bed and even standing in the middle of the house. I have heard this noise probably five times usually around three in the morning. The dogs can also hear the noise and twice they woke me with their growling.

Last night about one in the morning I woke up to the bed pulsing and I heard the low hum of the big truck the dogs were both awake and growling. I got up and went out on the front porch and could still hear and feel the phenomenon. It was a calm clear night and the noise seemed to come from everywhere. I pulled on my boots, grabbed a flashlight and went up on the ridge to see if maybe there was a truck idling on the other side of the hill. Found nothing but the coyotes were going crazy yelping. Could still hear and feel the rhythmic pulse.

I am currently using the backup inverter and I shut if off when I go to bed so there is nothing powered in the house that can vibrate. It is not a helicopter or C130 cargo plane. Both of these frequently fly over very low transporting between Los Alamos and Colorado Springs usually at night. They also wake me up. I have heard it on windy nights but last night it was calm.

As best as I can tell this is the Taos Hum which is a world wide phenomenon that manifests itself as a low throbbing noise in very quiet parts of the world. I have talked with a few neighbors they and their animals also experience the “hum” usually around three in the morning.

It’s not really annoying just kind of weird.

Posted by BigBear at 5:45 AM 15 comments

Labels: Life

Have you guys heard of this?

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/28451/

Where America stands today

July 27, 2009 - 13:24 ET

Dear family and friends,

I don’t like being the bearer of bad news. It’s difficult for me emotionally and mentally to continually bring the message that ‘bad times are coming’ and I know you’re growing tired of continually hearing the message of ‘prepare, prepare, prepare.’ There are times when I wish I could see the ‘green shoots’ that Ben Bernanke says are sprouting up or agree that the Obama Administration has “rescued the economy from the worst recession ever.”

But I have to tell you how I see the world. I’m not an economist or banker and I could be wrong, but I don’t see ‘green shoots’ or long-term stability for America right now. On September 18, 2007 when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 13,403 and unemployment was at 4.6% and the ‘experts’ were telling you good times were ahead I had to tell you that, “We are absolutely heading in for a recession. It is unstoppable…”

I wish I could tell you I see better times ahead but I don’t. Here’s a summary of where we are today.

On the Domestic Front

Now, the DJIA stand at 9093, the official unemployment rate has hit 9.5% with non-government economists suggesting that the real unemployment rate is closer to 20% with over half-a-million Americans filing initial jobless claims a week. Unbelievably, the same ‘experts’ that missed the near-collapse of the global financial system are telling us about ‘green shoots’ and more good economic times ahead while are banks remain basically insolvent despite having received hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money and continue to fail without the infusion of taxpayer cash.

The 6.7 trillion dollar commercial real estate market faces hard-times with Wells Fargo reporting a 69% jump in non-performing commercial loans between the first and second quarters of this year. Commercial real estate prices are down 35% from their 2007 peak. Even that great optimist Ben Bernanke was forced to concede that the market for securities backed by commercial mortgages remains “completely shut down.” On the residential front a massive wave of optional adjustable mortgages are coming and the vast majority of these option ARMs are set to re-finance in 2010 and 2011.

The eighth largest economy in the world—which would be the state of California—has been paying its bills with worthless pieces of paper (no, not the US Dollar, but IOUs) that are so worthless that even our insolvent banks won’t accept them. And while the good people of California continued to work hard the politicians there spent their time debating whether or not cow tails should be removed from cows. The politicians worked out a grand solution to their money problems that include letting the sea otters keep their trust fund, sending 26000 prisoners home 20 months early and authorizes the California state government to “forcibly borrow” money from the county and city governments.

It gets better. The California public pension system director has now come out and said (apparently with a straight face) that he wants to make riskier investments in order to make up for the 23% loss it recently sustained. So, if I understand his thinking, the more you lose on risky investments the more money you should invest in even riskier investments—he’s got to get together with Joe “we have to spend money to keep from going bankrupt” Biden—that would be fantastic!

And while California is on the financial ropes the federal government is doing what it does best: taking advantage of their situation by telling state officials that if they close state parks due to budget problems it will seize the land, auction it off or re-sell it to the state. This land grab isn’t an isolated incident. Sarah Palin recently warned the American people to “be wary of accepting government largess. It doesn’t come free.”

ACORN and the SEIU are part of this land grab. It’s not just a grab for physical land—but for our freedoms and liberties. These organizations are engaged in a pattern of intimidation and suppression of your rights.

At the national level our political leadership has put their faith in money and not the people. Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, at their core, think the American people aren’t ready to make the hard sacrifices so they printed money—lots of it. The TARP Inspector General has valued the total TARP monetary bailout commitments at 23 TRILLION dollars.

On the International Front

While President Obama is trying to create an atmosphere in order to have an open dialogue with our enemies, Iran continues to make progress building a nuclear bomb with some diplomats saying they could test one within six months which would set-off a nuclear arms race across the Middle East.

And while Obama is eager to have a dialogue with those who would do us harm his administration is ignoring our allies. Even the leaders of one of our closest allies, Israel, have been forced to discuss and plan what to do if Obama halts or reduces US military aid to their country.

Further east, China has gone from giving vague and cloaked answers about their support for our bonds to having their highest officials publicly call for a new reserve currency to replace the US dollar as the financial global backbone and our economic and military competitors Russia, Brazil and India were quick to endorse the idea.

Closer to home Venezuela is continuing their military build-up by doubling the number of existing tank battalions and following through on its purchase from Russia of 100,000 combat rifles, 24 top-of-the-line fighter-bombers, and 50 helicopters and is using this power to assist Iran and Hezbollah operations in South America. Meanwhile, Mexico continues to struggle against narco-terrorist organizations that seem to have the Mexican military out-manned and out-gunned as they struggle to end their reign of drugs and terror.

The Obama Administration’s response to these events is to continue the Bush Administration approach of “ignore them and maybe they’ll go away.” Adding insult to national security is that while our government has found $1,900,000 for the Pleasure Beach water taxi service project and another $4.2 billion for 341 other pork projects there’s apparently no money for border security and that’s why our politicians have actually requested VOLUNTEERS from the National Guard to serve on the border.

Our Politicians Continue to play Politics While the Country Teeters

So while our economic, domestic and international problems mount what are our politicians doing? Right here in New York City our billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, worked on passing a law to prevent YOU from idling YOUR car while his SUV idles 40 MINUTES at a time throughout the day.

Mayor Bloomberg joins a growing list of hypocrites and elitists who firmly believe they are entitled to live one way while forcing you and your family to live by another more restrictive set of rules. Michelle Obama preaches thrift and cutting-back while wearing $500 sneakers at a food-bank and quipped that $600 wasn’t really a lot of money and could easily be spent on a pair of earrings; Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are working overtime trying to force government health care down our collective throats while absolutely refusing to commit to adopt that same health care plan for themselves and their families; and Al Gore and the green movement ilk continue to make billions by forcing us to change our light bulbs and compel us to bring toxic mercury into our homes. And Charlie Rangel pushes for higher taxes while refusing to pay what he owes. Our youth are ‘educated’ through the propaganda of Americorps and ‘tolerance camps’ that this type of elitist behavior is good and that its okay for ‘them’ to live by a different set of rules than the ‘small people’ have to follow.

Not only are we losing our freedoms we seem to be in a race to do it. The TARP bill under Bush was a “must have rush bill”, the stimulus bill under Obama was a “rush”, the cap-and-trade bill “had to get passed” quickly and the health care bill originally had to be passed out of both chambers of congress before the end of August. Why? It took the Obama family three months to select the family dog—but the restructuring and rebuilding of America has to take place over one summer?

In short, politicians continue to play politics. We have a health care bill that would socialize 15-20% of our economy and add another trillion dollars to our national debt—and what are our politicians focused on? The Republicans are looking to defeat the bill—not based on conservative principles—but to make this Obama’s Waterloo. And Obama’s pushing to pass the bill—not based on a debate involving the benefits of his proposal—but because failure to pass it would “destroy my presidency.”

Conclusion

Our politicians continue to give us a weak anti-biotic when major surgery is required. The anti-biotic will temporarily mask our symptoms but will not address our underlying pathology and condition. In the end the meager dose of medicine we receive will actually make us worse by making our system immune and luring us into a false sense of security when we need to have all our senses heightened to the dangers and threats lurking around us.

Today, I wanted to show you where our country really is. We live in perilous times and we ourselves are in a perilous condition. We will have a period of stability where it looks like things are going well and it looks like we’ll have turned the corner on our problems. Remember, until fundamental changes are made any period of stability will be temporary. Tomorrow, I want to write a bit about how other countries, faced with similar challenges and problems dealt with those circumstances and whether they were successful in meeting those challenges.

We will meet those challenges but it will take commitment and a lot of work from us.

Stay strong,

glenn [Beck]

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