Grateful Dead

If one does the simple math it is quite clear that the US is treading the same road as the poorer nations of the EU. It will take some time but the bite is surely coming. Some stats about the US government: U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000 Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000 New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000 National debt: $14,271,000,000,000 Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000 Now, remove 8 zeroes and pretend it’s a household budget: Annual family income: $21,700 Money the family spent: $38,200 New debt on the credit card: $16,500 Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710 Total budget cuts: $385 From these numbers above it is quite clear that we are living on borrowed time and our politicians are not different from the Greek ones. While it is true that we have some very different conditions that we, as the largest economy on the planet with the world's preferred reserve currency, can use, it probably won't matter in the mid-term future... Our kids will be starving and the rich will still be using their influence to buy elections and not pay their fair share of taxes. The peasants won't revolt or vote their way out of this. I don't know what to say... Keep partying and apply for new credit cards? Saving for a rainy day sounds like a crazy idea when it's going to rain so hard it will carry your house away. I can hear Mitt Romney saying that we have to use the entrepreneurial spirit to grow our way out of this. Bill Clinton and the internet did it before that bubble burst. It is possible. If we don't do it here soon I think it sure it can't be done anywhere...

PE is not being conducted in Greece because hungry kids can't handle it from the poorer homes. People are lining up for potatoes. Things are bad there. The Greek government is going to sell off it's surplus property and impose taxes on the rich. This is their answer. Not much of a solution. The Greek people are completely pissed that their debt was structured in such a way that they are paying massive amounts of interest to banks. While it is true that politicians have caved to unions for too long in that country and they have been living above their means for a very long time, the humanitarian crisis is now hitting hard and it seems they are going to tell the banks where to go at the peril of the losing their status in the EU and being subject to the forces of the free market. Grim.

is on the market again, having apparently failed to sell last time it was listed at nearly 4 mil. Price now reduced somewhat. Maybe if we all kick in ten bucks...

Mountains of the Moon, an acoustic, Americana-themed cocaine cowboy celebration of the Good 'Ol Grateful Dead, performs at Brix in Sunset Beach, CA Come holler, sing along, and share your stories about truckin' up the coast with some of LA's finest players and pickers http://www.facebook.com/events/399993226707506/?ref=ts

39 states have now enshrined hate and bigotry in the form of affirming marriage as being between one man and one woman. In Vermont, first state to allow such unions, in the very conservative northeast part, there is a business that does wedding receptions. The owners always have a "gatekeeper" instead of dealing with the public themselves. The gatekeeper told a gay couple from NYC that they don't do gay receptions. Big mistake. The gay couple sued. The owners fell all over themselves saying their gatekeeper made a mistake and that was not their policy, blah, blah, blah. The couple relented somewhat and altered their suit to make it only for $1 in damages. In the process of discovery, evidence was found that this Inn was indeed involved in an egregious pattern of discrimination based on sexual preference. Now the couple is suing for millions and the ACLU and the State and God know who else is involved on the plaintiff's side. Moral of the story? Even if you don't agree with it based on moral or religious or personal preference, be happy for other people who are in love and support their right to form a union. legal contract and basis for a happy life. It's a no-brainer, no matter what part of the country you live in.

The CEO of JP Morgan Chase is today admitting his bank is stupid in losing 2 billion dollars and possibly an additional billion in yet another complicated hedge fund scheme. Asked if any other banks could possibly have made the same type of investment he replied by saying, in as many words, we don't know if any other banks are as stupid as we are. The stock market is punishing this bank and I believe the consumer should also by not paying credit card and loan payments. The government should not bail out this bank. Bail outs only lead to this type of stupid investment being repeated. A major bank is not your prodigal son who needs another loan to save his ass from crisis. It is amazing how most people in this country were all duped into believing that we needed to support the government and Fed's decision to throw 13 trillion dollars at banks and sundry others to "save" our economy. The real poison of inflation is about to hit with a vengeance. To soak up that kind of paper will take decades and possibly the scrapping of the entire system of sovereign currencies. Isn't that a scary thought? Ready to get the implant under your skin and turn in your dollars for Esperantos?

I guess I'd be remiss if I didn't at least comment on the fact that about 61% of my fellow voting NC citizens decided that discrimination against gay and lesbian couples would be a nifty addition to our state constitution. Aside from the obvious, I'm not sure what part of this has me more upset: -- At a relatively high voter turnout for a primary election of about 34%, this still means that a paltry 21% of registered voters carried the day for approval of the amendment. That's just about as distressing as you can get. -- Voting for this amendment at primary time (with the presidential race already decided) obviously led to a lower participation rate than we'd expect come November. So why? -- This ballot question was pushed through the NC legislature by the first Republican majority in the state in many decades. How cynical was this process? Thom Tillis, the House Majority leader, supported the amendment while predicting that it would be overturned in a generation. So what was the point? -- On the turnout side, it was the Democrats, not the Republicans, who pushed for holding the vote at primary time. This was because they feared that a big conservative/religious turnout at general election time would hurt the Dems' chances in November. So they punted on this civil rights issue to improve their chances of victory in the general election. They were also probably correct in their assessment of the situation. -- NC already has a law mandating the "one man, one woman" status of marriage, why the amendment? Aside from those who strongly believe that activist judges and liberal politicians pose a threat to the law (and there are plenty), there is a political/cynical side of this issue: this is also a means of splitting the African-American vote, as it is generally overwhelmingly Democrat while also very conservative on certain social issues, gay marriage being one. Thus the fears of the Dems. I'm not even going to go into the slippery slope created by the vague wording of the amendment. We'll see how all that plays out in years to come.

The BBC's earliest reporting on this matter had the proviso "If the American's are to be believed...". Clearly there is doubt if this has been a manufactured crisis or not. It has stuck around in the headlines, almost the headline story, each day, for over two days. Today there are Congressional hearings that the CIA and other Homeland organs of state security are testifying at. They have to do with the sunset laws on certain security provisions. If Congress doesn't reauthorize then they will expire at the end of this year. There are people on talk shows and on websites all promoting this same thing. This is a carefully coordinated blitz to once again scare the living shit out of us and make our representatives surrender our civil liberties. I don't know which sucks more -- their ability to manipulate or the fact that they may be right. Both are to be feared and loathed. Picture The Scream painting with the words "The Homeland!" coming out of the main figure's mouth.

or was this comedy line directed toward Ollie ? Greece is in a really precarious position with a lot on the line for many of us around the globe. An old friend once said...Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile,..but now he's gone.

Greece is now assured of defaulting on it's debt and being thrown out of the EU. That in turn will put the whole Euro Zone in crisis. The entire EU may collapse as it is now unclear whether Germany, France and Britain will agree and then provide the collective muscle needed to prop it up. If the EU goes then the contagion may spread to the US. Everything is very unclear because players behind the scene like Goldman Sachs (who "rescheduled" Greek debt 5-6 years ago) have been manipulating things for quite a while and it would seem as if the main recipient of economic gain from all this turmoil will be the US. I don't to see how that is going to evolve. It seems quite scary to pretend like this. I think the players have more of a hope than a sure thing. They gamble that they will profit and if they do then the average American will also. If they lose? Because they didn't gain we all lose. What a system!