For many, retirement WILL be very different this time. It will be 'worse' for them than it is now!
In the "Great Depression" at least people were situated to be somewhat self-sustaining, quite a chunk of the population lived on farms and had the skills to be able to continue eating.
In todays "Recovery" very few people live on farms, and even fewer can manage to grow a pot of petunias in a window-box, much less feed their family (or anyone else).
So when I hear the talking heads and teleprompter readers saying "we're fine, it's DIFFERENT this time" I have to agree. It WILL be very different indeed. It will be far worse.....
The latest reserch by the EBRI (employee benefits research institute) indicates that:
- one third of workers have NO retirement savings.
- one third of workers have less than $25,000 in retirement savings.
Put another way, for two thirds or more* of the working population (as in post-Rhodesian Zimbabwe) the new royalty will be the relatively scarce effective farmers.
- I say 'or more' because even IF you have saved paper money for retirement, devaluation-debasement and/or hyperinflation will equate to: "you can burn piles of paper, but not eat it."
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Retirement...different THIS time?...............from Rico
Monday, 12 July 2010
Sunday Afternoon at Bill Barber Park in Irvine
I love the place. I took my youngest boy out to play for a little while yesterday afternoon.
At Colonel Barber's Wikipedia entry:
William Earl Barber (November 20, 1919 – November 30, 2002) was an officer in the United States Marine Corps awarded with the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War. With only 220 men under his command, Barber held off more than 1,400 People's Republic of China soldiers during six days of fighting. Despite the extreme cold weather conditions and himself suffering a bone fracturing wound to the leg, Barber refused an order to leave his position fearing that a retreat would trap 8,000 other Marines. Barber and his limited number of men killed over 1,000 enemy troops; only 82 of his men were able to walk away after eventually being relieved.Below, at the heart of the facility, is the hill-top flagpole memorial. And the weather was breezy and mild:
Latest Episode:
Top Gear's latest offering with the Aston Rapide, Maserati Quatroporte, and Ugly Porsche thing. Also a couple of hot muscle cars.
Watch it here
Moving backward...............from Rico
"Back to the Future" was a cute movie, but 'back to the past' is a hard economic reality, and it's NOT cute.
Great "recovery" we have going here kids!
- Well, at least FTV and the MSM along with the current mis-Administration call this a recovery.
It sure is "change"...just not the kind you dummies thought you were going to get when you foolishly put a Marxist-Muslim manchild into the pResidency!
We are about at the same level as 12 years ago economically....ah, the marvels of socialism.
The S&P is now 31% belowits Oct 2007 peak.
Oct 2007 was 33 months ago...almost 3-years for the fiddytooer's.
Nice work knuckleheads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Five of the best sentences you'll ever read
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the
wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must
work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government
does not first take from somebody else.
4. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work
because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the
other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because
somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear
friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation.
5. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
H/T 45 Govt
Before and After Pictures........
Broken Bow Nebraska. This is what hail and high winds can do to a crop.
H/T Nebraska Bob
News..............
Al-Shabab's first attack outside of Somalia? Could it spell their doom?
Hezbollah Takes Southern Lebanon Hostage
Live Blogging Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant
Bombers Moon – Ghost On World War Two Bomber
Holder Floats Possibility of Racial Profiling Suit Against Arizona
Criminals 'can't be kept in jail just to protect public'
'Floating bunker' plan to help Queen escape nuclear attack
Republicans could win control of Congress, White House admits for first time
Britain's top general in Afghanistan admits 'courageous restraint' must change
Libyan aid ship vows to break Israeli blockade of Gaza
Historians locate King Arthur's Round Table
and finally......
What’s Inside Worcestershire Sauce? Fermented Surf for Your Turf
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Debt remains THE problem...
Being 'thenthitive' (and a bit obtuse) you will hear the term 'leverage' bandied about when what is REALLY being discussed is DEBT.
Debt remains the problem. For governments. For individuals.
There are many 'measures' of debt, but any measure of DEBT vs. GDP tells the tale.
Debt is a problem. THE problem.
News From the Reb
No Sheeples: The Living Hologram
Gates of Vienna: Constructing the 21st Century Socialist State
Friend Fuchs examines Obama's character in We're Fluxed? Pretty good piece of writing!
Is He? Walking Horse asks, What Makes Him Tick? and provides a startling answer.
A collection of dystopian links: Sunday, Rebel Sunday
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Hot Sunday Blogging!
I've been burning up the net over at AmPow!
Here's the morning's entries:
* "Hooters Liveblogging!"BONUS BLOGGING: At Blazing Cat Fur, "Dancing at Auschwitz....", GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD, "Military Rule 2.0," and Political Byline, "Some Words of Wisdom from Ronald Reagan."
* "Weekend Cartoon Roundup!"
* "MSM in Lockstep with DOJ on New Black Panther Party."
* "New York Times Wants to 'Keep Gun Possession to a Minimum'."
* "Raoul Moat Story Dominates Britain's Sunday News."
* "July Gloom?"
* "World Cup Championship Final Today."
* "'Club Girls'."
EXTRA BONUS BLOGGING: At Right Wing News.
Sunday Morning Hooters Blogging?
I was kinda surprised myself!
See, "Hooters Liveblogging!"
In related news, Linkmaster Smith rolls early with a Sunday Rule 5 extravaganza. And MAinfo breaks into the big leagues of babe-blogging!
And don't miss all your hot Sunday blogging at American Power.
.jpg)
The Sunday Best................
I am pronounced "guilty" of "talking down to my betters", real or imagined, ... , by my betters, real or imagined, of the "blogosphere" ...
The Selective Modesty of Barack Obama
Protesters blast Arizona's governor at Boston meeting
If reporters did their jobs
What happened to the guns belonging to Bibi's guards?
Random Acts of Entertainment
So... A Lame Duck Congress...?
Californians bare bottoms for passing trains
London Underground’s “secret” tube station
Ten of the greatest: Aerial engagements
Sssh! You're looking at Britain's £800m supercar secret weapon
Spy swap Russians 'staying in hotel on outskirts of London'
BP oil spill: the Red Adair of relief well drilling says 'no doubt about successful outcome'
Turkey goes cool on joining the European Union as it falls for the lure of the East
Free speech in Barack Obama's America: Whatever you say, say nothing
Keeping sane in Sangin: life and death in Afghanistan's most perilous military posting
British Cannonball Run drivers arrested for speeding during rally in France
Queen's visit to Canada a royal success story
Copying the NHS is the last thing the US should do
Spitfires take to the sky to mark Battle of Britain's 70th anniversary
Amazing.............
In a field near York, this maze was built to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain
H/T Paul A
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
More Lego Blogging!
An update to my previous Lego entry. Turn down the volume a bit, but it's something else, other than that:
Cross-posted from American Power.Saturday, 10 July 2010
The Destructive Power of Hate Speech Censorship
Some might remember the complaints against my political science campus bulletin board. I was forced to remove a Chuck DeVore "Bounce Boxer" bumper sticker because posting it apparently violated obscure Ed Code rules for non-political advocacy on public displays, a rule that had never been enforced during my entire ten-year tenure at LBCC. I had the bumper sticker in the upper corner of this picture at top. I've since created a full-blown politically incorrect bulletin board that I hopes pisses off the PC ayatollahs who filed the complaint. Since then as well, I filed an equal protection claim against the college alleging that the administration employs a double standard whereby left-wing advocacy, indoctrination, and political speech is not just defended/supported but actively promoted in the classrooms and in publicly-funded events. The subsequent investigation got so testy that Human Resources hired an outside investigator to prepare a civil rights report for the district's attorneys. While all of this was going on, I received another complaint against the bulletin board --- and to stress the point, this was while the initial complaint against a political bumper sticker had devolved into a full blown investigation of my college's Business and Social Science Division --- alleging that this Bosch Fawstin cartoon below should be taken down from my new board because it was "hate speech":
So folks can probably understand why I'm especially disturbed by reports of campus enforcement of hate speech codes around the country. For example, here's this at Fox News, "University of Illinois Instructor Fired Over Catholic Beliefs." It turns out that Professor Ken Howell has been fired from the university's Department of Religion for including his personal views on the morality of homosexuality as part of his courses on Catholicism. Howell's biographical page is still available at the university's website. It notes there that:
Kenneth J. Howell is Adjunct Associate Professor of Religious Studies. He concentrates in the history, philosophy, and theology of Catholicism. He has taught at universities in Indiana and Mississippi prior to his appointment at UIUC. He is concurrently Director and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Catholic Thought. He has published four books on religion including an extensive study of science and religion in the Scientific Revolution.It's obvious that Professor Howell is eminently qualified to discuss the religious morality of homosexuality, and why in fact should it be surprising that questions of this nature would arise in classes on the Introduction to Catholicism and Modern Catholic Thought? The man was doing his job. The Champaign News-Gazette has a story as well, where Professor Howell is interviewed:
Howell said he disagrees with the idea that a professor must present lessons without even hinting at his own beliefs on a subject.I highlighted that last sentence. I don't know if it's simply the creeping invidiousness of political correctness on campus, or if things have gotten worse during the Obama interregnum, but the heightened intensity of the anti-intellectualism in academe today is certainly a warning sign for conservatives to redouble their efforts.
"It doesn't seem to me to be particularly honest or fair to a student. If you believe something, you can tell the student that," he said. "Where it becomes problematic is if it becomes injurious to a student by penalizing them for their beliefs. I always tried to be fair and honest and upfront with my students, and engage them on questions of human reason."
In his e-mail to students, Howell wrote: "All I ask as your teacher is that you approach these questions as a thinking adult. That implies questioning what you have heard around you. Unless you have done extensive research into homosexuality and are cognizant of the history of moral thought, you are not ready to make judgments about moral truth in this matter. All I encourage is to make informed decisions."
Howell said he's often had students who disagree with him, but "that's always been done with courtesy and respect on both our parts. This semester the students were the most negative and vociferous and critical that I've ever seen."
Warner Todd Huston writes on this at Right Wing News:
So much for schools that foster intellectual exploration and truth.And just remember, "There Is No Such Thing as ‘Hate Speech’."
But that is the left-wing educational system we've been saddled with since the turn of the last century, isn't it? Only atheism, socialism, leftism, communism, anti-Americanism, feminism, homoerotica and a fascistic quashing of free speech… only these are acceptable doctrines for our schools to disseminate, of course.
That fact makes all of this even more reprehensible.
Also Blogging: Neptunus Lex and Weasel Zippers (via Memeorandum).
Cartoon Credit: Bosch Fawstin.
Cross-posted from American Power.
SUCCESS AT LAST . . . . AND VICTORY
STORMBRINGER survives and prevails . . . a particularly nasty attack
