End the War on Freedom

Sometimes doing nothing is much better than thrashing about aimlessly. When one is caught in quicksand, for example, or when one doesn't understand economics and finds oneself in the position Congress was in for the past two weeks, with decades of irresponsible monetary policy coming to a head. Why should we trust the same people who said just a few months ago that the economy was perfectly sound? The same people who just knew there were weapons of mass destruction? The same people that crammed the PATRIOT Act down our throats? Why not consult the people who had the foresight and understanding to see this coming? They would have recommended such logical actions as repealing the Community Reinvestment Act, which forces banks to make bad loans, or allowing the market to set interest rates instead of the Federal Reserve system. How about abolishing the Federal Reserve altogether? There are many things that could have been done, but don’t expect Congress take a course of action that comes from a place of understanding and competence when they could just spend money.

SCiB--the Super Charge ion Battery--is a breakthrough rechargeable battery developed by Toshiba that offers excellent safety, long-life and rapid charge.

SCiB and the Schwinn Tailwind electric bike, the first commercial application of SCiB, will be on display at Interbike 2008, the largest bicycle trade show in North America. Interbike will run from September 24 to 26, in Las Vegas.

The Great Mississippi Bubble
"A Time of Unexampled Prosperity"

In the course of a voyage from England, I once fell in with a convoy of merchant ships bound for the West Indies. The weather was uncommonly bland; and the ships vied with each other in spreading sail to catch a light, favoring breeze, until their hulls were almost hidden beneath a cloud of canvas. The breeze went down with the sun, and his last yellow rays shone upon a thousand sails, idly flapping against the masts.

I exulted in the beauty of the scene, and augured a prosperous voyage; but the veteran master of the ship shook his head, and pronounced this halcyon calm a "weather-breeder." And so it proved. A storm burst forth in the night; the sea roared and raged; and when the day broke, I beheld the late gallant convoy scattered in every direction; some dismasted, others scudding under bare poles, and many firing signals of distress.

I have since been occasionally reminded of this scene, by those calm, sunny seasons in the commercial world, which are known by the name of "times of unexampled prosperity." They are the sure weather-breeders of traffic. Every now and then the world is visited by one of these delusive seasons, when "the credit system," as it is called, expands to full luxuriance, everybody trusts everybody; a bad debt is a thing unheard of; the broad way to certain and sudden wealth lies plain and open; and men are tempted to dash forward boldly, from the facility of borrowing.

Promissory notes, interchanged between scheming individuals, are liberally discounted at the banks, which become so many mints to coin words into cash; and as the supply of words is inexhaustible, it may readily be supposed what a vast amount of promissory capital is soon in circulation. Every one now talks in thousands; nothing is heard but gigantic operations in trade; great purchases and sales of real property, and immense sums made at every transfer. All, to be sure, as yet exists in promise; but the believer in promises calculates the aggregate as solid capital, and falls back in amazement at the amount of public wealth, the "unexampled state of public prosperity."

Now is the time for speculative and dreaming or designing men. They relate their dreams and projects to the ignorant and credulous, dazzle them with golden visions, and set them madding after shadows. The example of one stimulates another; speculation rises on speculation; bubble rises on bubble; every one helps with his breath to swell the windy superstructure, and admires and wonders at the magnitude of the inflation he has contributed to produce.

Speculation is the romance of trade, and casts contempt upon all its sober realities. It renders the stock-jobber a magician, and the exchange a region of enchantment. It elevates the merchant into a kind of knight-errant, or rather a commercial Quixote. The slow but sure gains of snug percentage become despicable in his eyes; no "operation" is thought worthy of attention that does not double or treble the investment. No business is worth following that does not promise an immediate fortune. As he sits musing over his ledger, with pen behind his ear, he is like La Mancha's hero in his study, dreaming over his books of chivalry. His dusty counting-house fades before his eyes, or changes into a Spanish mine; he gropes after diamonds, or dives after pearls. The subterranean garden of Aladdin is nothing to the realms of wealth that break upon his imagination.

Could this delusion always last, the life of a merchant would indeed be a golden dream; but it is as short as it is brilliant. Let but a doubt enter, and the "season of unexampled prosperity" is at end. The coinage of words is suddenly curtailed; the promissory capital begins to vanish into smoke; a panic succeeds, and the whole superstructure, built upon credit and reared by speculation, crumbles to the ground, leaving scarce a wreck behind:

"It is such stuff as dreams are made of."

When a man of business, therefore, hears on every side rumors of fortunes suddenly acquired; when he finds banks liberal, and brokers busy; when he sees adventurers flush of paper capital, and full of scheme and enterprise; when he perceives a greater disposition to buy than to sell; when trade overflows its accustomed channels and deluges the country; when he hears of new regions of commercial adventure; of distant marts and distant mines, swallowing merchandise and disgorging gold; when he finds joint-stock companies of all kinds forming; railroads, canals, and locomotive engines, springing up on every side; when idlers suddenly become men of business, and dash into the game of commerce as they would into the hazards of the faro table; when he beholds the streets glittering with new equipages, palaces conjured up by the magic of speculation; tradesmen flushed with sudden success, and vying with each other in ostentatious expense; in a word, when he hears the whole community joining in the theme of "unexampled prosperity," let him look upon the whole as a "weather-breeder," and prepare for the impending storm.

Sarah Palin, my name is Douglas Herman. I am the oldest salmon crewman in Kodiak, Alaska, and I never quit a fishing boat even when severely injured and in pain. What made you jump ship halfway through the season? I’m sure you know that any crewman who quits a fishing boat halfway through the fishing season and leaves a crew shorthanded is a stinking, lowlife loser. Didn’t you run for governor of Alaska against the good-old-boys from both the Republican and Democrats? Weren’t you elected by Alaskans tired of corruption? Didn’t you promise Alaskans FOUR years of public service, not more self-interest? Clearly Sarah, you’re a quitter, with bigger fish to fry.

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Sorry, Sarah. Your shrill flag waving won’t pay the bills anymore. America is busted and your newfound cronies busted her.

Millions expected more from you. Somehow America thinks we are tougher in Alaska. The Last Frontier, you know? Sadly instead, you resemble one more Neocon whimp, with your nutty, retro warmongering views of the world.

There are now 2 options for self-defence in Britain -

1. Allow the police to protect you. You can call the police when attacked and pray that they will arrive on the scene within seconds, in order to save you. If you survive the attack you can then give them a statement from your hospital bed, and hope the attackers will be quickly arrested.

2. The second option is to fight back and reclaim our streets by arming ourselves and giving the criminals something to be worried about, such as a serious risk of injury or death if they attack. In this instance we would be able to defend ourselves effectively, whilst we wait for the police to attend. We would not be putting our lives in the hands of people who are unable, or unwilling, to protect us.

Why am I telling you to do this? (No, I don't own stock in any gun manufacturing companies.) I'm saying this because I want you to have the ability to kill government enforcers, including both police and military. (For defense against common crooks, I wouldn't have suggested a rifle.) I know some consider it shocking to put it so bluntly, but that's exactly what the Second Amendment was made for: so the people always have the ability to kill government agents if it becomes necessary. No, I'm not telling you to go start gunning down feds, and I hope I never have to shoot anyone myself. Though it may seem counter-intuitive to some, often the ABILITY to use deadly force is what PREVENTS violence from occurring. (In most cases where a gun prevents a crime, merely displaying it is all it takes.)

While it may be shocking to some to hear me saying that I want you common folk to have the ability to forcibly resist your own "government," imagine the flip-side: Those in government saying, "We do NOT want you to have the means to resist us." If you ask me, THAT is something worth being shocked about. And if you consider yourself to be a good and responsible person, why would you NOT want to have the means to defend against tyranny? Maybe you just don't think you'd ever need that ability, but is there any reason to want to NOT have it? Aside from cowardice, is there some reason to WANT to be helpless and defenseless if things get really nasty?

This high will probably work through the election, maybe even through the next couple of years.

But make no mistake about what will happen: This will not be the last multi-hundred billion dollar bail-out of the imperial economy. There will be more and more financial meth until – as with the homeless crack smoker, crouched under a bridge toking on an empty pipe desperately trying to get one last rush – there is no place else for us to go.

We are in big financial trouble.

Letting the system get rid of its bad debts through bankruptcy, foreclosure, and write-offs would be painful — but the alternative, most likely an inflationary depression, would be much worse, and last much longer.

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Financial methamphetamine withdrawal will not be pretty, easy, or fun. We might as well accept that right now and act as best we can to protect ourselves.

In other words. . . Slash household spending, curb your consumption, save money, live well below your means, move your money to a credit union, and get ready for a Category 5 financial hurricane.

The economy is passing a kidney stone. Here’s one man’s guide to survival.

DEAR AMERICAN:

I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.

I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.

I AM WORKING WITH MR. PHIL GRAM, LOBBYIST FOR UBS, WHO WILL BE MY REPLACEMENT AS MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY IN JANUARY. AS A SENATOR, YOU MAY KNOW HIM AS THE LEADER OF THE AMERICAN BANKING DEREGULATION MOVEMENT IN THE 1990S. THIS TRANSACTIN IS 100% SAFE.

THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY. WE NEED A BLANK CHECK. WE NEED THE FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED.

PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THAT INFORMATION, I WILL RESPOND WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS THAT WILL BE USED TO PROTECT THE FUNDS.

YOURS FAITHFULLY MINISTER OF TREASURY PAULSON