What If…

What if… the Republican Party was given an incentive to push through an agenda that was certain political suicide – martyrdom!  Realize the destruction of our government as we have known it for all of these two hundred and thirty-five years by killing the democratic processes!

What if… we actually defaulted on the deficit and were forced to re-align the government because we were essentially in bankruptcy.  Would the Federal government be subjected to an international court wherein the United States would have to liquidate assets to pay its creditors?

Under Chapter 7 for businesses the following would occur…

Chapter 7, Title 11, United States Code

When a troubled business is badly in debt and unable to service that debt or pay its creditors, it may file (or be forced by its creditors to file) for bankruptcy in a federal court under Chapter 7.  A Chapter 7 filing means that the business ceases operations unless continued by the Chapter 7 Trustee.  A Chapter 7 Trustee is appointed almost immediately, with broad powers to examine the business's financial affairs.

 The Trustee generally sells all the assets and distributes the proceeds to the creditors. This may or may not mean that all employees will lose their jobs.  When a very large company enters Chapter 7 bankruptcy, entire divisions of the company may be sold intact to other companies during the liquidation.^{[citation needed]}

Fully secured creditors, such collateralized bondholders or mortgage lenders, have a legally enforceable right to the collateral securing their loans or to the equivalent value, a right which cannot be defeated by bankruptcy. A creditor is fully secured if the value of the collateral for its loan to the debtor equals or exceeds the amount of the debt.  For this reason, however, fully secured creditors are not entitled to participate in any distribution of liquidated assets that the bankruptcy trustee might make.

In a Chapter 7 case, a corporation or partnership does not receive a bankruptcy discharge—instead, the entity is dissolved.  Only an individual can receive a Chapter 7 discharge (see 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(1)).  Once all assets of the corporate or partnership debtor have been fully administered, the case is closed.  The debts of the corporation or partnership theoretically continue to exist until applicable statutory periods of limitations expire.

The ramifications of a default on the deficit are many and far flung.  Immediate agencies and departments of consequence…

1. Entitlements – listed here, will stop without notice!

a.      Government sponsored social programs – non-existent (SSA, Medicare, Medicaid, and Unemployment)!

b.      Federal Assistance – FEMA, gone!

c.       TSA – No more!

d.      Federal Courts and all Law Enforcement Agencies – severely hampered!

e.      Agencies that protect our food, water, regulate businesses – no more!

2. No standing Army.

a.      All five branches of our Armed Forces and the National Guard would be reduced or eliminated – servicemen and retirees would not get paid!

b.      All foreign Military bases will close.

c.       Armed Forces equipment – rusting in parking lots, or sold at auction!

3. No Federal Agencies – all federal workers would be eventually laid off, or furloughed.
4. No Air Traffic Controllers – no incoming, or outgoing flights except in emergencies.
5. State and Local governments would receive no subsidies for infrastructure repairs, education, or other programs supported through federal subsidizing.

The ‘Domino Effect’ to the economy can only be described as chaotic with a rush on the Banking system, grocery stores, and any form of support supplied to the public.

What would drive a responsible Federal government body elected by the people to disregard their legal mandate to serve the people?  Surely, every individual responsible for the destruction of the government of the United States could never be re-elected, to that, or any other office.  Obviously, those individuals would be ostracized by the people they represented in Congress.  None of these individuals could ever hope to have a job in America again, live in the neighborhood where they previously lived; and yet, knowing all of this – they do the unthinkable!

What if… the Republican Party’s elected officials have been promised an astronomical sum of money along with relocation to do the unthinkable?  Would you do it… for five million dollars and a lifetime promise of support in making the readjustment to live outside of scrutiny – for any amount of money? 

In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis

Meet the Press with David Gregory

Tim Russet, he is not!  David Gregory is a shadow of what we are used to viewing on Meet the Press.  Having said that, here is my take on today’s broadcast…

David Gregory expects his guest to give him honest candid answers willingly… he might be able to accomplish that with the likes of Newt Gingrich, but McConnell is not Newt.  So he complains that his guest are not being straight-forward.  Notice when Gregory interrupts or attempts to interrupts – time and time again he will demure when he is attempting to interrupt a Republican guest, but persist when attempting to do so with a Democrat!

Gregory states that the President has not been serious about turning the economy around and addressing the deficit issues…  Please, Mr. Gregory, view the records for the first two years of Obama’s presidency.  Recall, please, the loss of jobs (seven hundred thousand a month) in September, 2010 and the turn-around in February, 2011 under Obama.  This President had so many alligators surrounding him the day he took office, I am impressed that he was able to do what he did!

On Medicare, the mere fact that no one currently in a position to receive Medicare ever elected to opt into Medicare!  We all were enrolled into a system that promised to be a safety net for us in our retirement.  Given those parameters, there is no way that you are going to take that program out of use simply because it is top-loaded!  Eisenhower said that any Party attempting to take away Social Security, Medicare, and other popular social programs will cease to exist as a viable political party.  I think that he was/is absolutely right!

When the Republicans decide to come to the table with everything on the table, there will be a meaningful debate with a fruitful outcome - hopefully.  Quite frankly, there are a few issues that the Republicans are asking that will never be considered…

1.       A continuance of the Bush tax cuts is ludicrous, considering that we can’t afford to ‘give away’ seven billion dollars a year for the next two years.  Those tax cuts would add up to 1.4 trillion dollars over their two year extension to the deficit.

2.      Loopholes in the tax code that allow big business to defer any profits that they make overseas.  Those same tax loopholes support the out-sourcing of jobs by allowing those losses overseas to be included in write-offs on their taxes here in the United States.  You simply can’t continue tax cuts to businesses that aren’t willingly to support the demand for jobs here in America.

3.      None of us has ever been able to make our house payments without income… the same is true for the United States Government – taxes are the revenue needed to sustain our government.  Obviously, spending cuts are required as well, but to balance the budget on the backs of fixed income Seniors is ‘never’ going to happen!

4.      Speculation in the Commodities vital to the economy should be banned – the price of gasoline at the pump is not because of the Oil Industries gouging prices.  The speculation is caused by buyers hoarding the oil on the market and driving the prices for that oil up before they sell to the processors of that oil into gasoline.  We can't afford such fluctuations in this shaky economy!

5.      We have to remove the Anti-Trust laws that allow the Insurance Industry to shape the price that consumers must pay to be insured.  Pharmaceutical companies have a choke hold on the American people as well; they should be placed under scrutiny for manipulation of the price of drugs.

Finally, let’s set the record straight!  We hear Republicans stating ‘falsely’, that Obama is the reason that we are in this deficit scenario:

1.      The Bush tax cuts are responsible for three and a half trillion dollars associated with the deficit.  Do the  math… seven billion dollars times five years!

2.      The war in Iraq added another two billion dollars per month to the deficit because that war was financed on credit – it was never included in the budget!

3.      De-regulation of Wall Street and the Real Estate Industry occurred as a result of the legislation ‘pushed’ by the Republicans to support practices that resulted in major defaults by borrowers.  The monkey is squarely on the back of those supporting these ridiculous changes to our economy.

In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis

Mr. Grassley Predicts the Future...

Regarding Obama’s chances of getting re-elected in 2012, Grassley tells Newsmax: “I think that he is headed for defeat based upon three things.

"One, Obamacare. Two, the terrible situation with spending and the budget deficit and the fact that the economy is affected by that and jobs aren’t being created. And third, his attitude about America not being an exceptional nation. Probably for the last reason more so than any other, he ought not to be re-elected."

“We have a great deal of credibility based on the fact that we have been looked upon as a different nation, as a world leader, and he wants to put us as a second-class nation — or let’s put it this way, not first among nations. It’s a threat to peace, that position he’s taken.”

Can Mr. Grassley be serious?  Could it be that the Republican candidates, all rejects from a casting for the featured actors in a Three Stooges look-a-like movie - as acknowledged by Glenn Beck, are better than Obama, in Grassley’s eyes?  Where he chuckling as he made these remarks, I would have known that he was making a joke.  As it is, Mr. Grassley is not joking and that is disturbing, to say the least.

In case Mr. Grassley is watching/listening, consider this:

1. United States is now ranked 21^st out of 27 of the industrialized nations in education.
2. United States is now ranked 42^nd when compared to the nations of the world in life expectancy, behind Cuba!

On your watch:

a.      We financed two wars under your watch during the Bush 43 era.

b.      We never had a balanced budget between 2000 and 2008.

c.       We sold America’s birthrights to the Chinese for pennies on a dollar.

d.      We oversaw the Republican destruction of the middle-class.

e.      We saw the spending of over eight trillion dollars, for which we have no benefits.

f.        We are witnessing the Republican response to creating jobs - none!

g.   And lastly, sent the country into an economical tailspin, losing at its height – seven hundred jobs per month beginning in August of 2008.

You have the audacity to belittle this President!  You and your Republican cohorts fought his every effort to resurrect the job market.  You refused to allow the closing of Gitmo by defunding the project, even though there are three maximum security prisons in the United States begging for inmates – prisons that currently house other terrorist convicted in our civil courts.

You won’t, and for obvious reasons, give this President credit from turning the job loses around in six months, instead you ridicule and misrepresent his every remark and action as a way of doing what Sir, covering the shortcomings of One George W. Bush?  Your comments are well received by a constituency that you have purposely denied a formal education, and continue address using terms and examples that incite the worst from them.

WATCH:

Read more on Newsmax.com: Grassley: Obama Wants America to Be 'Second-Class Nation' 

In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis

The G20 Meets To Solve Global Financial Problems

Over this autumn weekend in Washington DC the leaders of a group of nations are meeting to plot the recovery of the global economy. I am impressed that they are taking ‘a’ weekend to solve a problem that appears to be bigger than all of us and continues to grow at an alarming rate. I want to remind you that the Earth turns ever so slowly in the grand scheme for things – 24 little hours to be exact, and I don’t see how so much can be accomplished over the weekend. What, does everybody have to be back behind their presidential desk on Monday?

Why is it with things that have been discovered to be terribly wrong do we feel that this gives us the expectation that it can be righted in a period of time that is shorter than the time that it took for the problem to get screwed up enough that we recognize it as a problem? It is as if no one was paying any attention to the situation until it became impossible to do business as usual, after which; everyone became cognizant of a problem and now we have to rush and fix it. The problem that prevails now is how are we going to fix a problem that we never knew was a problem.

Am I confusing you? Good, because that is the problem. Everyone is confused as to how to fix it! As a boy, my Grandmother would send me into the garden that my grandparents had on the back forty with instructions to pick all of the ripe fruits and vegetables that we were going to use for the rest of the week. Being a city boy, I picked everything that resembled a ripe fruit or vegetable and returned to the house in five seconds flat. Of course, some of them were terribly green and my Grandmother took me to task regarding the picking of fruits and vegetables. She said that you must only pick what you need keeping in mind that there is a tomorrow.

The economies of all of the nations, both rich and poor are enlaced. Somebody drops a vase in Djibouti and an attendant is sent to clean it up in Kansas City, or Cartagena. What one country does regarding its trade policy effects all of the others trading around the globe eventually. Protectionism, a practice that helps one, is done at the expense of all others who would trade goods with that country. Transactions between countries afford one an advantage over the other if a trade imbalance can be sustained based upon the value of each country's currency. Countries that do not allow their currency to float on the market can be suspected of manipulating the market if they continue to support large trade deficits with trading partners China is a good example of this practice.

Since the dollar is the standard by which all other countries set the value of their currencies, it stands to reason that the best way to hedge the market to your advantage is devalue your currency in relationship to the standard. Another method of taking advantage of the market is to extract a profit at the expense of those with whom a country trades – OPEC has done just that. The down-side of these tactics is what the global market is experiencing today. The monopolization of the market by individuals interested in dominating the supply and demand equation is apparent. Greed is the other name that would fit well in explaining the current global situation.

As each entity squeezes the market to gain market share at the expense of all others, the flow of cash slows and credit expands. The exchange rate for the payment of debts due cannot keep pace with the amount of money owed. The trade deficit rises to the point that the country suffering from the trade imbalance can no longer make substantial payments against the deficit. The balloon eventually will burst; creating a financial situation that we are currently experiencing.

Many methods and remedies will be applied to this global economic situation with little success. The devaluation of the dollar is inevitable. The continued loss of jobs world-wide will indicate the lost of battlefront after battlefront. Without exception, the onset of recession will touch each country in turn as the Earth slowly turns. Just like day turns to night, so will the progression advance.

Prepare yourself as best you can…

How To Rescue The Economy

I want to share with you my thoughts on this bailout situation. We don't need seven hundred billion dollars to repair this problem. In fact, we don't need any money at all. This is why...

1. We should renegotiate all of the loans that are sub-prime and get rid of the ARM forever. All of the loans that are delinquent, or borderline should be extended so that the borrower can meet the payments. In other words, if it takes more than thirty years to repay a loan at three hundred dollars a month, as oppose a fixed thirty year loan with payments of nine hundred, then restructure the loan so that the person can make the payments.

2. Identify all loans and the circumstances that are presently making the borrower delinquent in payments - resolve it by one of two ways. Re-finance the loan terms in such a way that the borrower can make payments, or place that loan at high risk for further evaluation and resolvement.

3. Those mortgage lenders that stretched the parameters for making loans to borrowers that were marginally qualified should be prosecuted for fraud.

4. No golden parachutes for CEOs and administrative officers that were at the helm of companies that failed - retroactive. In other words, if the culprit is gone, go get him! Limit the retirement package for all CEOs.

5. No money to investment banks that are going under.

6. Re-instate the regulations that were withdrawn with the Commodity Futures Market Act of 2000. Increase the transparency of all markets wherein there is the possibility for speculation - oil, electricity, etc. Severe penalties for violators.

7. Institute national projects that would create jobs (bridge and road repair, technical skills) Setup centers dedicated to the re-tooling of the job market so that individuals can make themselves employable. Make it a goal to reduce the pollutions of automobile by setting the bar for carbon reduction and using the money that was accepted by the auto industry to retool that industry.

8. Re-structure the tax code so that the taxes for those making less than fifty thousand are not taxed as much as those making between fifty thousand to one hundred fifty thousand, and those making more than one hundred fifty thousand will pay a little less than those making more than one hundred fifty thousand. Let's rebuild the tax structure in the shape of a vase - small at the bottom, fat in the middle, and somewhat bigger than the bottom at the top.

9. Increase Social Security taxes by raising the taxable group to those making two hundred seventy thousand.

Those in a position to set policy should began to understand that this economy is not trickle down, it is trickle up. The reason that you don't have cash flow is because the work force is reduced and can't spend enough money to support a substantial cash flow. With a reduction of the people that were making fifty to sixty thousand dollars a year, we lost cash flow.

We should, all as one, resist the notion that if we don't do something tomorrow, the world will cease to exist as we know it. The Bush administration has used 'fear' tactics more than enough times to let me know that it 'ain't so' folks. Bush lied about WMDs in Iraq. Bush lied about Al Qaeda in Iraq. He has not kept his promise to get Osama Bin Laden. The Bush administration cannot be trusted with seven hundred billion dollars just before they walk out of the door. Personally, I think Bush and Cheney and the rest of the gang are seeking their severance pay (golden parachute) before bailing out.

Here is your cue... the banking system was supposed to have crashed last weekend - it didn't. It was supposed to crashed on last Monday - it didn't. Now it is supposed to crash on this coming Monday (September 29, 2008); my prediction - it won't!

Don't believe the hype; we don't need a bailout! If you agree with me, send this letter to your Congressional representatives in both houses asap!