I wrote this as a comment to Joel's missive yesterday. The unfortunate part is, his missive had SO many comments and mine was at the end of the day. So not too many people got to read it.
Thank god for copy and paste. All I had to do was take a key piece out of Bill's article today, and my argument still stands. Clowns abound.
"We read quickly, not wanting to waste time, but curious; the financial press is more likely to peddle misconceptions than to dispose of them. Sure enough, the article is a pot-pourri of error: the debt is not too high…it doesn’t need to be paid off… it’s not bad for the economy…there’s no crisis coming…and everybody does it."
Stupidity doesn't stop at the US border.
In our neck of the woods, the Manitoba government made automobile insurance a ward of the state. Back about 52 years ago. They called it Autopac back then, but renamed it to Manitoba Pulic Insurance Corporation. LoL. A government corporation. No better example of the word "oxymoron."
The irony of it all? They shouldn't have stopped at incorporating the Insurance company, but continued on incorporating the government itself.
Ironically, the Insurance company always makes money. The government itself is $30B in debt.
A few weeks back 1700 "unionized" government insurance company's staff went on strike. Of the 1800 or so employees, over 700 of them make an average CAD wage of over $95k. Only managers did not strike as they form the opposition to those on strike.
The most interesting thing is the disparity in running a profitable organization, even if technically run by the government. The CEO of MPIC made over $350k in 2021 according to that document. In the same year, the premier of the province, the guy who runs the government, made just under $200k.
That pretty well tells all.
Boot the elected officials from the government. Its a senseless system based on popularity and/or outrageous promises. Setup a board of directors made from the MOST profitable companies in the province and search for a CEO that can run the government like a business.
My small city -- originally a seaport in which occurred the very first KIA causality of the Civil War -- is now a bedroom community for Federal workers in across the Potomac River WDC.
Like most cities, our local government is controlled by our area Democratic Party. But perhaps our Democrats are more wily than those in other same-size cities.
Get this: Our Democratic Party-run city operates a loan guarantee program, a bike company, a bus company, a property management company, among other services all of which could and should be owned and operated by tax paying, risk-taking, wealth-makers
None of these city owned and operated enterprises are profitable. Understandably, their employees were trained to effectively spend money; not to perform their tasks so revenue exceeds expenses.
Worse, they ensure that no privately owned, tax paying enterprise can compete with a publicly owned business.
There must be something in the water that turns grown men and women into tax and spend zealots oblivious of the harm they do to the nation, its work ethic and capacity to make, not consume wealth
What's in the water is aversions to risk and actual work. The Democrat Party has successfully peddled the myth that people can live without doing either one.
Philadelphia owns the water, sewer, and NG companies. Non payment of one's water or natural gas bill results in a municipal lien on the deed. This extends to landlord owned properties. There is a means to prevent the NG tenant created lien but not the water. In effect if the gas us shut off the tenant is free to use as much water and sewer as the please during the 5-one year it can take to evict. As you can imagine there's a massive shortage of affordable rentals. Moreover, most all new apartment construction is 100% electric based. Water is one thing, but tenants aways pay the electric bill if not the television goes off.
Even so many gas liens go uncollected, PGW is currently has $90 million in uncollectible past due bills. A few years ago the money hemorrhaging unfitly was put up for sale. The buyer planned on cutting the patronage fat and putting in for collections the past due bills. The City Council decided it was best to keep the gas company even if it looses money. Needless to say there's a few Council persons with past due accounts, and relatives in ranks of PGW.
It seems stupidity is everywhere like our beloved ICBC - Insurance Corporation of British Columbia never turning a profit nicknamed dumpster fire $120M/mnth in losses thereabouts depending. They never had a business.
Now, if you buy a used car and you manage to acquire it below market value, a team of icbc analysts will scour the classifieds and determine what you ought to pay in taxes on that used vehicle ! You CAN make this up.
Not that anyone knows me or cares what I think. But I can vouch for Classical Wisdom as a repository of ancient thought applicable to our troubled time.
I recently read an instant classic on a familiar subject. Anyone interested in real economics would do well to start here:
JPM bank as the poster by for the big banks owned and regulated by the FED.
"Until the Glass-Steagall Act is restored, the U.S. financial system will continue to be precariously held together with hastily crafted emergency lending programs from the Fed and bank mergers from hell arranged by desperate and/or compromised regulators."
Bill, thanks for the invite to "Classic Wisdom". I am a 91 year old veteran and am beginning to enjoy the classics. So sorry to have discovered them so late in my life. I tried to join the newsletter,m but my computer rebelled when I tried. Would you mind re sending me the link?
Good analysis, much of it sadly obvious to those paying attention. Appreciate the subtleties presented, however, filling out the consequences. So, what ancient text are you referring to? Curious minds need to know!
Agnostic can have a few meanings one of which at one time identified : a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (such as God) is unknown and probably unknowable.
I've since learned God is knowable even to the extent of knowing God on a personal level through His Towrah. Towrah contrary to all 3 Abrahamic religions does not mean nor does it contain a single law. Towrah is simply teaching, instructions, direction, and guidance proved by God for the express purpose of leading the reader to know their creator. Towrah.provides the answer to the ultimate question, Why are we here and for what purpose? With answers like this there's no room for faith or belief and this is precisely why all religions have obfuscated the truth. They replace the truth will rituals that require attendence, obedience and parting with money, which in turn the member is provided with false hope and emotional support. According to God no religious person has ever or will ever exist in His presence, He said that on the first tablet given to Moseh.
According to Towrah the religious person will end up in the same place as will the atheist, destruction of body and soul at the end of mortal life.
Something to consider, SBA loans given to businesses without real estate asset were never in the 3%-5% range. This class of SBA loans start at 7.25%, when the rates go up two percent SBA follows suit from a higher number. My current SBA loan is currently adjusted to 10.5% interest. The current balance is low enough that further increases are not a worry. However, when the SHTF or starts to the banks are going over the cliff and from where I'm standing this will not be a slow process.
You must be brave to take such a position. God's not going to get you, He doesn't care, but as a former atheist it took a lot of faith to believe the infinite universe with all systems working in unison down to sub atomic particles and microscopic life randomly decided to evolve for the one purpose of supporting human life on one planet. I moved into the camp of the agnostic when I read the Science of God by Gerald L. Schroeder, followed by his Genesis and the Big Bang. These two books started me down the rabbit hole that has led to knowing beyond any doubt the 3 Abrahamic based religions were created by men. These same 3 had need to create god in their own image, while obfuscating the true nature and will of the Creator.
There was never a time between religions, Greeks created their gods by incorporating the best of Persia's gods and rites, Rome did the same after conquering Greece. The Holy Roman Empire did the same mixing the best with the Jewish messianic cult of its time. A little slight of hand in driving the Jews underground allowed their Towrah to be plagiarized pulling a verse here and verse there while creating whole books out of thin air Matthew, Revelation, while adding verses to all the remaining books to flesh out the new anti Semitic version of Jesus. Adding a new church where the was none created, while creating an entirely new group of taskmasters controlled by an emporer not crowned the vicar of Christ the Pater /Pope/ Father of Rome.
A study of human nature, if you tell a lie long enough it becomes the truth, especially in the light of torture, imprisonment and forfeiture of all one's possessions. All in the good name of Jesus.
Atheist is just a more strident version of agnosticism, agnostic is by definition an atheist, and an atheist is also by definition an agnostic, agnosticism is about knowledge, atheism is about belief, agnostic means not knowing whether there is god or not, any atheist will admit they don't know, because the word 'god' itself is an ill-defined term, it can mean many things to many people, an athiest is someone who doesn't believe in the existence of god/s, so not knowing and not believing, atheism and agnosticism are not mutually exclusive, hence one can be an agnostic and an atheist at the same time. usually people will say they're agnostic just to avoid offending the religious people, because when you say you are agnostic, religious people think that you are 50:50 about the existence of god, their version of god specifically, now of course that's not the case. Saying that you're atheist in front of religious people is like a slap in their face, it's akin to saying "you are wrong, stupid!"
If Christians are offended by atheists, they don't understand their religion very well. Jesus knew that all the people He encountered did not know His Father, and He proceeded to give them good news - if they wanted it. The Father and the Son are quite the libertarians. This naturally proceeds from the principle of agape.
Unfortunately, any religions when organized and gain political power, the religious leaders will be just as corrupt as any banksters or dictators, burning witches and philosophers and killing apostates in many Muslim countries are perfect example of this. Religion when adhered by individuals without being forced are fine, but in practice we all know it's not like that, sharia law and the dark age are the examples.
That's generally true. Don't forget, though, that atheism has killed a lot of people too. Stalin and mao murdered millions and millions of their own people. The problem is our selfish nature.
that's communism, not atheism, atheism in itself is just a personal stance, when organized, it's something else. Atheism alone is not a political belief nor a political system. You should distinguish communism/socialism with atheism. They are not apple to apple. Some socialists/communists are religious. Just like some atheists are socialists and capitalists. Know the difference.
I wrote this as a comment to Joel's missive yesterday. The unfortunate part is, his missive had SO many comments and mine was at the end of the day. So not too many people got to read it.
Thank god for copy and paste. All I had to do was take a key piece out of Bill's article today, and my argument still stands. Clowns abound.
"We read quickly, not wanting to waste time, but curious; the financial press is more likely to peddle misconceptions than to dispose of them. Sure enough, the article is a pot-pourri of error: the debt is not too high…it doesn’t need to be paid off… it’s not bad for the economy…there’s no crisis coming…and everybody does it."
Stupidity doesn't stop at the US border.
In our neck of the woods, the Manitoba government made automobile insurance a ward of the state. Back about 52 years ago. They called it Autopac back then, but renamed it to Manitoba Pulic Insurance Corporation. LoL. A government corporation. No better example of the word "oxymoron."
The irony of it all? They shouldn't have stopped at incorporating the Insurance company, but continued on incorporating the government itself.
Ironically, the Insurance company always makes money. The government itself is $30B in debt.
A few weeks back 1700 "unionized" government insurance company's staff went on strike. Of the 1800 or so employees, over 700 of them make an average CAD wage of over $95k. Only managers did not strike as they form the opposition to those on strike.
https://www.mpi.mb.ca/Documents/2021-compensation-report.pdf
The most interesting thing is the disparity in running a profitable organization, even if technically run by the government. The CEO of MPIC made over $350k in 2021 according to that document. In the same year, the premier of the province, the guy who runs the government, made just under $200k.
That pretty well tells all.
Boot the elected officials from the government. Its a senseless system based on popularity and/or outrageous promises. Setup a board of directors made from the MOST profitable companies in the province and search for a CEO that can run the government like a business.
A profitable one.
You're not alone.
My small city -- originally a seaport in which occurred the very first KIA causality of the Civil War -- is now a bedroom community for Federal workers in across the Potomac River WDC.
Like most cities, our local government is controlled by our area Democratic Party. But perhaps our Democrats are more wily than those in other same-size cities.
Get this: Our Democratic Party-run city operates a loan guarantee program, a bike company, a bus company, a property management company, among other services all of which could and should be owned and operated by tax paying, risk-taking, wealth-makers
None of these city owned and operated enterprises are profitable. Understandably, their employees were trained to effectively spend money; not to perform their tasks so revenue exceeds expenses.
Worse, they ensure that no privately owned, tax paying enterprise can compete with a publicly owned business.
There must be something in the water that turns grown men and women into tax and spend zealots oblivious of the harm they do to the nation, its work ethic and capacity to make, not consume wealth
What's in the water is aversions to risk and actual work. The Democrat Party has successfully peddled the myth that people can live without doing either one.
Philadelphia owns the water, sewer, and NG companies. Non payment of one's water or natural gas bill results in a municipal lien on the deed. This extends to landlord owned properties. There is a means to prevent the NG tenant created lien but not the water. In effect if the gas us shut off the tenant is free to use as much water and sewer as the please during the 5-one year it can take to evict. As you can imagine there's a massive shortage of affordable rentals. Moreover, most all new apartment construction is 100% electric based. Water is one thing, but tenants aways pay the electric bill if not the television goes off.
Even so many gas liens go uncollected, PGW is currently has $90 million in uncollectible past due bills. A few years ago the money hemorrhaging unfitly was put up for sale. The buyer planned on cutting the patronage fat and putting in for collections the past due bills. The City Council decided it was best to keep the gas company even if it looses money. Needless to say there's a few Council persons with past due accounts, and relatives in ranks of PGW.
That is freaking horrible! I'm not understanding why the citizenry are not out on the streets with pitchforks and torches?
It seems stupidity is everywhere like our beloved ICBC - Insurance Corporation of British Columbia never turning a profit nicknamed dumpster fire $120M/mnth in losses thereabouts depending. They never had a business.
Now, if you buy a used car and you manage to acquire it below market value, a team of icbc analysts will scour the classifieds and determine what you ought to pay in taxes on that used vehicle ! You CAN make this up.
To have countries run by ex-teachers or finance ministers whose background is Slavonic Studies, is sheer lunacy (Canada).
Can you imagine the interview process for a Fortune 500 company looking for a CFO, requiring a bachelor's degree in Russian History?
Yet elections the world over continue this irrational behavior everyday.
Not that anyone knows me or cares what I think. But I can vouch for Classical Wisdom as a repository of ancient thought applicable to our troubled time.
I recently read an instant classic on a familiar subject. Anyone interested in real economics would do well to start here:
https://jdbreen.substack.com/p/learning-how-the-world-works
JPM bank as the poster by for the big banks owned and regulated by the FED.
"Until the Glass-Steagall Act is restored, the U.S. financial system will continue to be precariously held together with hastily crafted emergency lending programs from the Fed and bank mergers from hell arranged by desperate and/or compromised regulators."
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/09/professors-point-to-jpmorgan-chase-as-poster-boy-of-a-financial-system-dependent-on-corruption-to-sustain-itself/
Good idea regarding the CLASSICAL WISDOM, one might hope the ones in need of wisdom will
take the time to wise up!
Ralph W.
Bill, thanks for the invite to "Classic Wisdom". I am a 91 year old veteran and am beginning to enjoy the classics. So sorry to have discovered them so late in my life. I tried to join the newsletter,m but my computer rebelled when I tried. Would you mind re sending me the link?
harveygreer@comcast.net; 916-792-0193.
An old sage said: "It is only where experience fails that revelation is needed". Thank you for helping some of us beginner learners?
Good analysis, much of it sadly obvious to those paying attention. Appreciate the subtleties presented, however, filling out the consequences. So, what ancient text are you referring to? Curious minds need to know!
A solid “Cross Selling across the Millennia.”
I love and value both subscriptions.
Keep Going.
Agnostic can have a few meanings one of which at one time identified : a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (such as God) is unknown and probably unknowable.
I've since learned God is knowable even to the extent of knowing God on a personal level through His Towrah. Towrah contrary to all 3 Abrahamic religions does not mean nor does it contain a single law. Towrah is simply teaching, instructions, direction, and guidance proved by God for the express purpose of leading the reader to know their creator. Towrah.provides the answer to the ultimate question, Why are we here and for what purpose? With answers like this there's no room for faith or belief and this is precisely why all religions have obfuscated the truth. They replace the truth will rituals that require attendence, obedience and parting with money, which in turn the member is provided with false hope and emotional support. According to God no religious person has ever or will ever exist in His presence, He said that on the first tablet given to Moseh.
According to Towrah the religious person will end up in the same place as will the atheist, destruction of body and soul at the end of mortal life.
Something to consider, SBA loans given to businesses without real estate asset were never in the 3%-5% range. This class of SBA loans start at 7.25%, when the rates go up two percent SBA follows suit from a higher number. My current SBA loan is currently adjusted to 10.5% interest. The current balance is low enough that further increases are not a worry. However, when the SHTF or starts to the banks are going over the cliff and from where I'm standing this will not be a slow process.
As an Atheist, I deeply appreciate this.
You must be brave to take such a position. God's not going to get you, He doesn't care, but as a former atheist it took a lot of faith to believe the infinite universe with all systems working in unison down to sub atomic particles and microscopic life randomly decided to evolve for the one purpose of supporting human life on one planet. I moved into the camp of the agnostic when I read the Science of God by Gerald L. Schroeder, followed by his Genesis and the Big Bang. These two books started me down the rabbit hole that has led to knowing beyond any doubt the 3 Abrahamic based religions were created by men. These same 3 had need to create god in their own image, while obfuscating the true nature and will of the Creator.
There was never a time between religions, Greeks created their gods by incorporating the best of Persia's gods and rites, Rome did the same after conquering Greece. The Holy Roman Empire did the same mixing the best with the Jewish messianic cult of its time. A little slight of hand in driving the Jews underground allowed their Towrah to be plagiarized pulling a verse here and verse there while creating whole books out of thin air Matthew, Revelation, while adding verses to all the remaining books to flesh out the new anti Semitic version of Jesus. Adding a new church where the was none created, while creating an entirely new group of taskmasters controlled by an emporer not crowned the vicar of Christ the Pater /Pope/ Father of Rome.
A study of human nature, if you tell a lie long enough it becomes the truth, especially in the light of torture, imprisonment and forfeiture of all one's possessions. All in the good name of Jesus.
Atheist is just a more strident version of agnosticism, agnostic is by definition an atheist, and an atheist is also by definition an agnostic, agnosticism is about knowledge, atheism is about belief, agnostic means not knowing whether there is god or not, any atheist will admit they don't know, because the word 'god' itself is an ill-defined term, it can mean many things to many people, an athiest is someone who doesn't believe in the existence of god/s, so not knowing and not believing, atheism and agnosticism are not mutually exclusive, hence one can be an agnostic and an atheist at the same time. usually people will say they're agnostic just to avoid offending the religious people, because when you say you are agnostic, religious people think that you are 50:50 about the existence of god, their version of god specifically, now of course that's not the case. Saying that you're atheist in front of religious people is like a slap in their face, it's akin to saying "you are wrong, stupid!"
If Christians are offended by atheists, they don't understand their religion very well. Jesus knew that all the people He encountered did not know His Father, and He proceeded to give them good news - if they wanted it. The Father and the Son are quite the libertarians. This naturally proceeds from the principle of agape.
Unfortunately, any religions when organized and gain political power, the religious leaders will be just as corrupt as any banksters or dictators, burning witches and philosophers and killing apostates in many Muslim countries are perfect example of this. Religion when adhered by individuals without being forced are fine, but in practice we all know it's not like that, sharia law and the dark age are the examples.
That's generally true. Don't forget, though, that atheism has killed a lot of people too. Stalin and mao murdered millions and millions of their own people. The problem is our selfish nature.
that's communism, not atheism, atheism in itself is just a personal stance, when organized, it's something else. Atheism alone is not a political belief nor a political system. You should distinguish communism/socialism with atheism. They are not apple to apple. Some socialists/communists are religious. Just like some atheists are socialists and capitalists. Know the difference.
I never take offense of that. I merely feel sorry for them.