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Pessimistic Outlook: US Government Is Broke(n), It Will Never Be Fixed

22 Mar

I remember when Katrina hit the south back in 2005. I followed the hurricane tangentially. It didn’t  hit me until the news media started calling American citizens “refugees” that I realized how bad it was.

I had a conversation with friends afterward, and they were surprised by the gross incompetence of the local, state and federal government. I looked at them, wanting to know: Where have they been the last 5-to-30 plus years? Haven’t they noticed that the US has been in a slow and steady decline since the inflationary, decrepit, corrupt and stagnate 1970′s?

Despite the celebratory big-talk of the Reagan years, I would say that when he helped usher in the we’re-going-for-broke-sorta-war against the country formerly known as the USSR, it would likewise take us down. When the government decided to have a mano-a-mano battle with the USSR, it drained a number of internal well-thought-out strategies for keeping our country whole, solid, and well functioning with it.

A rising stock market doesn’t contrast well against jobs that evaporate from the industrial US to overseas. A rising top 1% making more money than ever doesn’t contrast well against white collar jobs that evaporate from the service economy to overseas. A society cannot survive on consumption alone, it must make durable goods as well.

Every job lost is a tax payment lost. Every job lost is a Social Security payment lost. Every job lost is a Medicaid/Medicare payment lost. “Economists” love to say that the loss of a US job to someone overseas due to slave wage labor is something we benefit from, because we can purchase “cheap” goods. I wonder why they never mention that lower paying jobs here mean people could only afford cheap goods, buy less higher-end products, and contribute less to the taxes that are necessary to keep the US afloat. It is no accident that to finance its grand entitlement schemes the US is borrowing nearly every dime.

In the future, when good and excellent historians look at this country, they will draw a line from whatever took place in this country in its attempts to keep its supremacy, and what it lost in the balance. The founders had it right: let’s mind our business, and stop trying to micromanage the rest of the world.

A man fighting fires in other people’s houses will not notice that his own home is burning down to the ground.

9/11 didn’t happen due to any conspiracies within the government. It happened because of gross indifference, incompetence, and negligence. Bureaucracy exists only for the bureaucracy. It took over 40 years for that to happen. It will take another 30 plus years for the country to entirely collapse.

In nearly every facet of our lives, if it’s not Corporate America, then it’s an officer, agent, or bureaucrat of the government(s) watching, spying, monitoring, and cataloging everyone. Everyone is “guilty” of everything. Everything is illegal. Everything is restricted. Every time a “crime” occurs the sheeple request more interference, monitoring, and watching. I bet no one feels “safer” either.

Nothing improves, and nothing will improve.

9/11 put the icing on the cake for the totalitarianism this government has always wanted to embrace and deploy. A permanent war with no ending. The never ending battlefield encapsulates the entire country. The US Constitution can be ignored, suspended, and deemed irrelevant. Travel has the same atmospherics as being in a prison. Yet somehow, millions of illegal aliens can easily enter the country.

We are a prison(er) society. We will be in a state of martial law, until foreign governments stop purchasing USA debt, the country collapses under the weight of illegitimacy and stupidity, or deliberate ignorance of basic governance, fairness, due process, and economics. Take your pick.

We are told that things are getting better, but they’re not, and they wont. We’ve reached the turning point, and since the country is already flying over the cliff, there is no going back. We’re waiting for the impact once we hit bottom.

The difference for me is that I used to care. Starting today, I don’t.

Prediction

They will come and confiscate your savings and all other assets, and they wont need a reason. You can count on it. There’s nothing restraining the jackals in DC.

 
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Posted in Barack Obama, IRS, US, US Congress, airlines, bully, consumers, consumption, consumptive, corporate America, globalism, politics, safety, savings, thief, usa

 

From Ted Talks -> Gary Vaynerchuk: Do what you love (no excuses!)

13 Mar

I like the inspirational aspect, outside of the profanity.

 
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Posted in Think, corporate America, jobs, motivational speakers, motivational writers, work

 

The 4 Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

08 Mar

I listened to most of this book from the library. I would say that Tim Ferriss has the kind of focus successful men have. I believe women can do it too, but we have distractions that we cannot put aside.

I can take his advice, realizing I can only get as good as 4 hours everyday of the week. Maybe I will be able to improve upon that schedule. It’s like studying back in high school and college. One should do research upfront and read some of the syllabus ahead of class. It will put one ahead of the curve and save time come examination time as well for writing research papers.

I agree with his tips on getting things done.

  1. He recommends outsourcing small at first to get used to delegating work. I am a micromanaging control freak. It does waste time. It’s a hard habit to let go of.
  2. He recommends studying how much time is spent responding to emails, the phone and texting, etc. Oh yes, the hype about this technology disguises the fact it can be a terrific waste of time. He suggests ruthlessly answering all the emails, phone and texting at one time only, no exceptions. I have to do this, I am a chronic Internet junky.
  3. People need to constantly ask themselves if they are doing something productive or just being busy. Sounds like a day of work for me.
  4. He recommends eliminating mass media consumption. Well, I don’t have a TV. He means any kind of news consumption. I’m trying. I’m a news junkie. I agree with his premise. Thoughts that could be spent on working are wasted worrying and being concerned with situations in the news that are out of our control.
  5. He provides some insight into the type of businesses that allow someone to work small hours and profitably. The rest is up to the person to research it and reach their own conclusions.
  6. He mentions people “overwork” because they feel guilty, so they push 80 hours per week to feel productive. I agree that this is a horrid disease in corporate America. I used to want to ask these managers if because they do not have a life, must others join them in their misery?
  7. The key thing is that once the real work is done, a person will have time to devote themselves to what they love.

There is a new edition coming out. I will check this out once it is available at the library.

 
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Posted in business, technology, work

 

Terabyte Lust

07 Mar

There’s no reason for it. I have enough disk space and external drives.

Yet, I crave more….

 
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Posted in Uncategorized

 

Ask Yourself This Question

03 Mar

Are you a grasshopper or an ant?

In this economy, even if you are in the majority who are working, or the significant part of the population that is not, it is never too late to prepare.

It is not hard. For every purchase you make: set aside money, buy a few extra cans of food, water and emergency supplies. You only want items that will last for the long haul. Keep a notebook as a checklist and write down the date and cost. You don’t need to go crazy, just be methodical.

Stop buying things that you quickly dispose of. You might as well be setting your money on fire.

Cutting back doesn’t have to be painful or indicative of a life of penury. You are preparing yourself to cushion through hard times, natural disasters and man-made disasters. You are preparing yourself to not worry and have a good nights sleep.

There are things that worry you, then make a Top 5 list of them. Find a way to solve them one by one. Give each a deadline.

Get to it. Save yourself.

 
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Posted in increase income, motivational speakers, motivational writers, safety, savings, work

 

Researchers at Dartmouth Assess Health Bills – Prescriptions Blog – NYTimes.com

15 Nov

Article Source

Is That So?

Health care and health insurance meant to help with extreme costs of treatment are two different topics that are always deliberately melded into a confusing dog-chasing-the-tail circle by politicians.

The only time I care about health insurance is if the costs of treatment exceeds reasonable out-of-pocket monies I have. I don’t think it should be for every little doctor’s visit or low-cost tests, unless the purchaser can afford to pay for that type of coverage.

Nearly everything that gets touched by some form of government management, control, and subsidy becomes unwieldy in waste, costs, or competence. College is ridiculously expensive and almost completely out of the reach of low income people. Public schools and public housing are a nightmare.

Mandate Is A Bad Idea

So why are we assuming things will improve wilth Congressional interference? The best they could do is make sure insurance companies don’t let patients die – unless they signed off on it – just to save money by denying them life saving treatment. Congress could also make it illegal to deny someone coverage with a pre-existing condition.

However, a thousand page bill to “reform health care” means they will make things worse. Especially mandating that Americans buy something they cannot afford in the first place.

I’m not even sure if health insurance should be allowed to exist in its present incarnation. The health insurance industry requires the big change, but the government is doing nothing about that with the recent passage of that monstrous bill.

I Prefer These Solutions

Hospitals, EMT, doctors and medical personnel of all stripes have to list the costs of their services. This should be as widely available as the blue book for automobiles.

The grading of Hospitals, EMT, doctors and medical personnel of all stripes are graded based on quality: mortality rates, inability to diagnose or screen properly, over screening, and anything else that should be helpful to patients. This information should be as widely available as a Zagat’s restaurant guide.

Expand Medicaid to allow those with slightly higher incomes to get into the program. Raise that amount by a small percentage every 2-3 years.

Expand Medicare to allow those who are younger, starting at 50, to get into the program. If they want to join, they can do so.
 
Since we have no problems outsourcing: as long as they are certified, considered safe and what-not, organizations outside the US should be able to provide health care – that includes other governments. People are leaving now, but I think it should be as simple and standard as visiting the local pharmacy.

No mandates.

People with pre-existing conditions don’t get turned down for insurance, but perhaps are subsidized if they are too poor to pay the price of insurance, or they can turn to Medicaid.  They are given a choice.

If people do not want health insurance – leave them alone. They are not the problem with the system. I find the demonizing of them by Obama and the Democrats to be disgusting. Being alive and walking about is not the same as buying car insurance. A health care mandate will be the first time in US history the government is compelling citizens to buy something from a private organization. That’s evil corporatism in action.

It makes me wonder, What’s next? The reinstatement of slavery?

Free health care check-up clinics by non-profits organizations with generous grants supplied by private individuals, the government, or charities. The government would encourage these organizations with tax incentives and no direct dollar involvement.

Other than those ideas listed, I don’t want the US government getting anymore involved with health care. They usually make everything worse. The US Congress lacks the ability to write simple, non-complex and non-intrusive legislation, perhaps they should stop getting lobbyists to compose it for them.

 
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Posted in US Congress, health care, health care reform bill, health insurance, insurance

 

Searching for Work: Worldwide Consideration

23 Mar


In the past, I would have thought, “Oh, hell no.” Yet, now I am much more open and willing to consider and do it. I’ve put in my years of working in America. I’ve done my time of 15 to 20. I am free, unencumbered, and excited at the prospect of pursuing my interests in living overseas.

I am willing to go almost anywhere to live and work. I think I would prefer somewhere warm, but I would hit the cooler climates if the weather is moderate year round.

I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. I was born in the UK. Out of curiosity, a lark really, I wondered, am I still a citizen? ‘Cause once you are naturalized in the US they make it seem that you can’t have dual citizenship. Well, at my ripe old age, I certainly am still a citizen there.

Moving to the UK wouldn’t be a hard transition. I have plenty of family there. They speak, somewhat (snicker), the same language. The few times I’ve gone “home” it took me a few days to understand what people were saying. They air all the same horrible TV programs and movies shown here. Aside from driving on the wrong side of the road, a lot of things are pretty similar.

I am willing to do it! I need to leave America for a while. I really do. I need to miss this place. Worst of all, I’m bored with living here. The other 49 states are more of the same shit, in different places. I’ve visited enough of them and long enough to know.

I know a lot of Brits are fed up with their country. I don’t assume the grass is greener. I probably would start to bellyache like them the minute I get there. However, they get more vacation time, and at least everyone is covered with health insurance. The draw for me, is to be somewhere very different for a period of time.

So, I’ve decided to expand my options to live anywhere in the Anglo-ized world (or is that the EU zone?), and I’m relaxed and rather excited about it.

Now, actually pulling this off without making a disaster of it, is my next challenge.

 
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Posted in Europe, United Kingdom, career change, relocation, work

 

Intelligent Filtering of Spam

18 Feb

I’m offended by Spam. Not because of pornographic content, it insults my intelligence. I don’t care if everybody, but me, or only one person, falls for the scam. The sight of these things piss me off.

I don’t care to grow a bigger penis: I don’t have one. However, I would be fascinated by a software program that builds a list of names of men who do respond. Oh, that would be so telling.

I don’t care to know about an unbelievably hokey story of inheritance from anyone, anywhere, and how they need help getting millions out of one country to move to another. Give me a break! I mean for real, some stranger needs your piddling bank account to hide that much money? It’s a non-starter.

I especially hate e-mails that start with, “Hi, it’s me Sara!” It gets deleted. I can filter my email like a fiend, because no one I know, I mean no one, sends me an email with a vague, or funky, subject line. It doesn’t happen. The funniest ones are those that come from “administrator” or “admin.” That’s a terrific way to download a virus.

Spam is like having someone who belongs in a psych ward getting in your face on your way to work or just going somewhere. I hate overly coy, personal space invading, solicitation from strangers asking me to do something for them no matter the method, medium, or circumstance. Get out of my face online or offline.

Spammers need a sucker’s rating system, that way they can send all the garbage to people who like to receive email from them.

I would love for Artificial Intelligence to be used for filtering spam. Maybe it does now. I think it’s possible if it learns what the recipient wants to receive. This, to me, is intuitively different than just looking at the incoming email, addresses, and certain key words to decide what’s acceptable.

For example, spam filtering should be based on a personal profile, lists of likes, dislikes and interests, then growing refinement, recognition, and understanding of these preferences. I will never, in this lifetime, want to see email about growing bigger (in any sense of the word!). Seriously, outside of boobs, what woman does?

A standard spam filter is only going to look at verboten words, phrases and email addresses. It should be able to scan the entire email, figure what the topic is about (and if it is incoherent like most spam is), and ban that email address. I would allow for double-checking to see if this type of email (same topic or category of nonsense) comes from this same address, which would insure permanent banning.

Just the thought of this type of product makes me smile. I have to look and see if it exists.

 
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Posted in artificial intelligence, email, programming, software, spam

 

Vista and Dell Studio Laptop

19 Jan

I bought myself a Christmas present: a refurbished 64-bit Dell Studio Laptop, 15.4″ screen, massive memory of 4 Gig, 250 Gig hard drive, and all the wonderful bells and whistles, like wifi – minus all that bloated trial software. I like it so damn much, I may buy another one in a couple of months. I originally thought the screen was not going to be wide or big enough, but it is more than sufficient.

The laptop runs on Vista Home Premium, which seems to have all the features I need. It is not the headache I feared it would be. Frankly, it fixes some flukes that come with XP. It’s an upgrade basically.

Yay! I always love a new PC. It’s faster, it’s easier to use and less of a pain-in-the-butt. My old monster box seems pathetically slow compared to the laptop.

Makes life easier for me, which is all I’ve ever wanted, at least in this case.

Anyhoo. This means I have to go back to the monster box (where I watch my online films via a digital projector and home theater system) and wipe it clean. I will format the hard drive and start from the beginning.

When that hard wipe will begin is another adventure sometime in the future.

 
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Posted in Dell, laptop, windows vista, windows xp professional

 

The Consulting Business: Web Programming & Design

13 Jan

The worst thing about this business for me is my shyness. It is truly an affliction. I’m an extreme introvert, and it’s like trying to function under a heavy itchy blanket. No fun this.

There are a million ways to drum up business, but I’d be happier if I didn’t have to sell (myself). I’m not an outgoing person, and everything in this society is geared towards the loud, outgoing extroverts who are incredibly unselfconscious.

I used to be like that, but I don’t know when and why I became this church mouse.

I would be happier simply doing the programming and consulting and leave the pushy salesperson persona to someone else. I don’t like answering the phone, or even answering technical questions.

It is not that I do not know the answer, it is that I like to gather my thoughts to give a simple non-technical (for the lay audience) and thorough answer. That wont work because people are so rude today. If one is not quick witted, and an extremely glib liar, then Gawd help you.

I am not one for excuses, so I will have to work with my condition, and find better ways of dealing with it.

 
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Posted in business, consulting, programming, web sites

 
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