Free kibbles

ECONOMY:

Zombie spending significant part of that phony GDP statistic.

"Porter Stansberry told us that together, public and private sectors in the US now spend $3.5 trillion just on interest. Since almost all the borrowed money was spent on consumption rather than capital investment, this expense is just one big drag on the economy. It produces no growth, no real jobs, and no real wealth.And here’s another big drag: taxes. Porter says the total tax take is about $2.5 trillion. Again, this is money almost 100% consumed…eaten up…used up, with nothing to show for it but people eager to consume even more next year.
These two expenses combined tote to about 40% of GDP.
No wonder the economy is not growing! Four out of every ten dollars is zombie spending. It supports hamburgers consumed in 1998…gasoline burned in 2002…bankers’ bonuses handed out in 2008…and food stamps distributed in 2011."

Looking at it another way, forget the taxes and let's talk about government spending instead. Government sucks about $4 trillion out of the productive economy and destroys those resources in the parasitic, political economy. Add the $3.5 trillion in interest, and that's $7 trillion of our GDP wasted. That's about 50 percent. No wonder our economy is screwed. The solution to our economic problems is to save our money and get government out of our economy.

Best, medium and worst case scenarios, all bad.

The Greeks are seeing the writing on the wall, taking their money out of the banks and talking about a revolution.

TAX AND SPEND:

The US government is tied with France for the second highest debt in the western world, behind Greece.

REGULATIONS:

How state and local regulations stifle job growth.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

Monetary inflation is causing high prices all around the world including China and India.

Despite all the money the Fed and the government stole from us and gave to the banks, they are still in trouble.

Financial tools to protect your cash from inflation.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Pretend scientific journal Nature proves its really just a political propaganda arm of the government by claiming billions of people could be tried for failing to take care of environment. Shame on them. They should return to primitive ways and die.

WAR ON DRUGS:

Another SWAT team kills another American when a peaceful issuance of a warrant would have worked fine.

POLICE STATE:

That we have to have a federal court case to decide if people can legally video the police in public shows how twisted government has made our society.

FOREIGN POLICY:

The Republican establishment is mischaracterizing Ron Paul's position on foreign policy for political gain. Nothing new here.

POLITICS:

Evangelicals realizing that government is the threat, not a tool to be used against others, and therefore embracing Ron Paul.

"Ron Paul's recent appearance and the reaction of his audience reflect a growing trend among evangelicals who see the erosion of the constitutional right of freedom of religion to be the new threat.
"This is no longer about Christians trying to force prayer in schools or an end to abortion," a famous televangelist told me."

This is probably exaggerated, but it's still a great move in the right direction.

"Bill Spiegel, a former member of the Senior Bush President's Economic Council and the Southern Baptist Liaison for George H. W. Bush, says, "Much of the money that was going to evangelical lobbies in Washington is now going to Ron Paul. And the Christian leaders in Washington have been taken by surprise.
"It is because the people are seeing what the leaders are missing. They don't want power; they want to be left alone to worship in freedom and Ron Paul is the only candidate who is defending that right consistently.""

This is sounding better and better.

It looks Newt's ex-staff is heading to Rick Perry. That doesn't bode well for Perry.

Alaska releases emails from Sarah Palin when she was governor. Do you remember seeing such emails for Obama? McCain? Romney? Kerry? Anybody at all besides Sarah Palin? I'm all for these emails being released. I think every candidate should have his political emails from the preceding several years released, but they press will never demand that of its partners.

Prediction that Paul versus Bachmann will be the story of the Republican primary. If true, Romney will win. Frankly, I don't buy it. While Paul and Bachmann may compete for the far right of the party, the battle for victory is likely to be Romney versus Rick Perry.

MISC:

Scientists discover mechanism for what we all know: when smokers quit smoking, they eat more and put on weight. I suspected food tasted better. I also suspected smokers burned more calories through nervous movements. But this scientist discovered something more pernicious: nicotine makes people feel full after eating less food. Or maybe this manifests itself in making food less enjoyable smokers. So smokers might be so skinny because of calorie restriction, and calorie restriction can lengthen life, assuming smoking doesn't kill them. Apparently this isn't natural. The cigarette companies add weight loss drugs.

Like all government, IP laws promote corruption.

I wonder about people who become libertarians because they read something somebody wrote or a teacher convinced them. Why were they unable to use their own eyes and brains to understand that freedom is always the right answer? I welcome them. Better late than never.

Apparently Barack Obama really taught these Chicago thugs how to organize.

The ring of fire continues to burn.