Month: January 2010

Haiti: Problem Solved (?)

Daily Agitator

Today is Sunday and I was going to post something clever and witty….but then I was brought back to reality by the sure STUPIDITY of the nation’s of the world…..

Comedian Ron White says , “you cannot fix stupid”…..and the world is proving his point……

I, like most of the world, have been disgusted with the snail’s pace of the distribution of needed supplies to the people of Haiti….I have bitched along with many other bloggers about the idiocy of the distribution……but I had only thought that I had seen or heard it all when it comes to Haiti….

I spotted this article yesterday while trying to relax and catch up on the day’s news…this piece was in the NY Times in an article written by Damien Cave:

After two weeks of often chaotic food distribution, the United Nations announced plans on Saturday for a coupon-based system that aims to give rice to 10,000 Haitians a day at each of 16 locations around Port-au-Prince.

The new program — with the first coupons delivered Saturday, and food to be distributed Sunday — ends what officials described as the “quick and dirty” initial phase of emergency response, but it is also an admission of what Haitians were saying for days: that the system failed to reach those who needed it and was often exploited by those it did reach.

Who came up with this pile of manure?  Wait for it there is more…..

Over the next 15 days, Mr. Prior said, aid groups and United Nations workers will go into neighborhoods and distribute coupons that allow each family to receive a single 55-pound bag of rice. A similar coupon system has been in place for about a week at some of the smaller tent camps — for instance, on the lawn of the prime minister’s office, where the German Red Cross gives out food twice a day.

I am sorry but if this is the best idea these pricks can come up with then the people of Haiti are TOTALLY screwed!

Let me see if I have this right…..they go to the people and give them a coupon so they can show up the next day a get a bag of rice…is that the plan?  This is bullsh*t on so many levels!

One….why not give them food the day they see them?  Second, most people live in a tent for god’s sake…how will they keep a 55 lb bag of rice safe from the elements or looters?  Who was the f*cking mental midget that had this brain storm?

Once again…I will illustrate how simple it is……the UN divides the country into sectors and each major power involved gets on…they are responsible for the feeding and care of the people of that sector……that way everybody gets to be the hero and most important people get FOOD!  You dipsticks do know what a helicopter is, right?  As the scenario plays out in Haiti we all see just how pathetic the rest of the world is….no one country has a corner on stupid…..as I have said….I am watching the same scenario from Katrina being played out in Haiti….complete incompetency…….

Petty posturing is so damn lame that it makes most normal individuals ill….15+ days into the quake recovery and this is the best plan to feed people….when 2012 gets here WE ALL ARE F*CKED!

My friend Quin at Quintessential Havoc (go to blogroll a good informative blog) brought up an excellent point….could all this be deliberate?  I want to say NO but then we are dealing with egotistical a/holes……any thoughts?

You Really Want To Worry?

Of course you do……living conditions for most Americans leads to worry…..

There is much that we have to worry about….most important is employment…..we always get the “good” news from the tube but sorry to say, there are a few things that need to be pondered.

While surfing I came across an article written by Dan Froomkin of the Huffington Post and he outlined some things that, if you must worry, then these should be the most important:

No. 1: The middle class may never be the same again

The full effects of the crash of 2007-2008 on the lives of regular Americans has yet to be fully appreciated. For most members of the middle class, their sense of financial well-being was largely based on the size of their 401(k)s and their equity as homeowners. After the collapse of stock prices and with the steep drop in home prices, many may never feel the same way again, or spend their money as confidently.

No. 2: The recovery could take a really long time

Even assuming that we are at the beginning of an enduring recovery, there are many signs that it will be a slow one, and that it could be as long as a decade until most American families return to the standard of living they enjoyed before the crash.

Most notably, unemployment is widely expected to be astronomically high for at least another year or two — remaining around 10 percent through 2010.

No. 3: The recovery could only be temporary

For the past decade or so, the growth of the U.S. economy was primarily fueled by the credit and housing bubbles — which now turn out to have been illusory. So what will spur growth this time? Especially with so many Americans out of work? Where’s the demand going to come from?

Citing, among other things, the likelihood that the U.S. savings rate could go markedly higher in the coming years, Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz warns that “we are not seeing a recovery of sustained consumption,”and says there is a “significant chance” of a double-dip recesssion for that reason.

No. 4:  This time, we don’t have the tools to get out of a recession

The recognized way of dealing with a recession is to lower interest rates in order to stimulate the economy. But the Federal Reserve can’t lower the rate to below zero, so that’s out.

The government can pour vast amounts of money into the economy, either through a stimulus or a massive bailout — or, as the case may be, both.

But next time around, that money might not be there. Not only could the political will be lacking, but there is an upper limit to just how much money the country can borrow and spend at one time without it doing more harm than good.

No. 5: The ‘very serious’ people in Washington are still obsessed about the deficit

In Washington salons and newsrooms, you are not considered a serious person unless you are very, very worried about the deficit. The principle that reducing the deficit is of the greatest urgency (and must come at the cost of entitlements) is for some reason firmly lodged in the halls of power in Washington. An example of just how uncontroversial deficit hawkery is among Washington’s elite was provided by The Washington Post earlier this month when it apparently didn’t think twice about turning over its news columns to an organization funded by Peter G. Peterson, the billionaire investment banker on a crusade to reduce the deficit by looting Social Security.

But deficit hawkery right now is not just ludicrous, it’s dangerous. As New York Times columnist Paul Krugman noted recently, “the calls we’re already hearing for an end to stimulus, for reversing the steps the government and the Federal Reserve took to prop up the economy, will grow even louder.”

No. 6: Whatever is making the stock market go up could go away

The giddiness over the recovering stock market makes it easy to overlook some key questions about its rise. But what exactly has sent the Dow up almost 70 percent since March? Could it be another bubble? And could it burst?

No. 7: The hugely irresponsible financial sector remains unchastened

But the big banks, with their enormous political clout, appear to be managing to duck the re-regulation that seemed inevitable a year ago — and they are now in fact more powerful than ever. The ultimate litmus test is that the banks that are “too big to fail,” rather than being broken up, are now making huge profits — and paying astronomical bonuses — based on the implicit guarantee that the government will pay their debts if they ever face bankruptcy. Indeed, that government backstop gives them every reason to place riskier bets than ever. Even Obama’s latest, much more assertive and populist proposal to limit bank activities does not break up those banks — and faces an uncertain future in our nearly paralyzed legislative branch.

A helluva list and I would agree with him on most of them….there are a wealth of issues to worry about…let the high paid pundits lie to you….IT IS THE ECONOMY. STUPID!

Main Street America does NOT care about all the posturing for political gain…..they want work!

Plan For Haiti’s Relief

More than two weeks after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the supplies are still not getting through to the people on a regular basis and seems to be a major hold up for some reason….there seems to be some petty envy among the participants of the distribution of supplies…that alone is thoroughly absurd….people are suffering put your goddamn envies to bed and help these people….

I have heard that part of the problem is that the roads are impassable in places…WAIT!…..have any of these morons ever heard of a helicopter?  Divide the country up into sectors and let each country that wants to be the hero take a sector…..set up easily controlled distribution sites and then go to fuc*ing work…this is not rocket science….or maybe it is……

Are you telling me that the brilliant minds that start wars cannot figure out how to distribute emergency supplies?  Set up a field hospital on the grounds of the destroyed presidential palace…it is fenced and could be easily protected from anyone that feels froggy and wants to attack…..or use it as a main supply point for the same reason….

Let the UN go in and section off the country and assign each section to a country that has a presence there….

I see the US has learned nothing from Katrina…there were plenty of supplies but they were outta reach of the people for days and even a week or more….sound familiar?  You would think that we have learned from our mistakes…apparently we have learned NOTHING in the science of getting emergency supplies to people in need….ALL the people….

I would like to apologize to the people of Haiti for the arrogance, ignorance and stupidity of the world….especially the industrialized world…..

A Government Spending Freeze?

It is being reported that Pres. Obama will announce the details of his government spending freeze in his State of the Union on Wednesday…..but before that there is a hint of what it will be about:

The spending freeze covers many domestic programmes and departments to which Congress allocates budgets each year, including agriculture, transportation and education and national parks.

Security and defence spending, foreign aid, social security and spending on health care for the poor and retired would be exempt.

The freeze could make the president rein in his ambitious reform agenda, especially with regards to education and the environment.

The last statement……rein in spending on education……..WAIT!

If the key to returning jobs to America is education, then where will a cut in educational spending help create jobs…..after all, so we are told, it is all about the jobs, right?

On another front…..in 2003 the US got intel that said a follow-up attack to 9/11 was called off for something even bigger…….but the interesting part is that it took 7 years for this info to be released and it came on the heels of the announcement that NO spending freeze for national security concerns……kinda like it was needed so there would be little opposition to the announcement…..sorry I digress….but it had to be said….

Back to the point…..how can jobs be created with education if the funds for education are frozen or even slashed?  The key here is that it is NOT what is good for the economy, but rather a continuation of the typical political games that are always played in Washington……what is best for the party to keep its place of prominence…..

But there are those that feel that the freeze would be counterproductive:

But still, many economists have blasted the plan for its potentially anti-stimulative effects and its focus on spending that is not the root cause of the country’s long-term deficits. Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman wrote that the freeze is “appalling on every level…shifting attention away from the essential need to reform health care and focusing on small change instead.” Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich said that the freeze “will make it impossible for [Obama] to do much of anything for the middle class that’s important.” U.C. Berkeley economist Brad DeLong added “this is a perfect example of fundamental unseriousness: rather than make proposals that will actually tackle the long-term deficit…come up with a proposal that does short-term harm to the economy without tackling the deficit in any serious and significant way.”

And at its core, Obama’s decision cedes to the right-wing both the idea that blanket cuts are necessary and the notion that cuts should be focused on domestic programs while defense spending goes untouched. And already, the right-wing is claiming the freeze as a victory, with the National Review’s Jim Geraghty writing, “if the arguments in the coming years are between spending freezes and spending cuts, then we’ve already won.”

It is all politics…….need more be said?

Obama’s State Of The Union #1

Last night Obama gave his first State of the Union address to the US Congress and as usual there were the inevitable claps and sighs and…….but the real story is it was absolutely unnecessary…why?…..the parts of the speech have been picked to pieces for several days and there was little new in the actual speech….

So what did he say and why?

Obama acknowledged the long, messy health care debate has soured many on the idea and try to make a far-reaching overhaul relevant and attractive again to voters.

He talked about why he thinks the nation’s future economic health also depends on reshaping financial industry regulations to place tighter rules on Wall Street, another immediate domestic priority.

He talked and gave specifics on how he believes Washington’s combative, partisan, gridlocked ways can be changed.

On national security, Obama detailed his administration’s efforts to combat terrorism around the globe, which have seen some success but have been overshadowed by the attempted airline attack on Christmas Day and political difficulties in Pakistan. He also will address the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea, this month’s devastating earthquake in Haiti and his larger ambition to restore the U.S. image around the world.

But bread-and-butter issues – lost jobs, difficulties paying for college or retirement, soaring deficits, anger at Wall Street fat cats – dominated the speech.

The first priority is reversing persistent joblessness, and Obama is expected to defend the job-boosting results of last year’s stim package while pushing anew for proposals such as giving tax credits to small businesses that add workers and incentives to make homes more energy efficient. Neither proposal made it into a jobs bill passed by the House in December.

He also plans to propose modest new measures to help the middle class – money for child care, helping out aging parents, saving for retirement and paying off college debt.

Aware of increasing voter frustration over the government’s red ink, Obama will talk about various efforts at what Gibbs called “a slow chipping away” at the deficit. The White House said Obama would ask Congress to freeze spending on some domestic programs for three years – though the savings would total only a tiny fraction of the annual deficit.

Obama is also making the mostly symbolic move of announcing a freeze – for the second year – on the salaries of highly paid White House aides and top federal agency officials.

All in all a good speech….a good Obama– style speech, but what struck me was there was little that I see as help for Main Street and especially the middle class, which by most accounts is disappearing rapidly …..

Even though the speech is mandated by the Constitution…..I thought the speech was unnecessary…everyone that is interested in what he says has already heard just about all the analysis of this speech days before it was given……none of it sounds like a plan that will lead to success, in my opinion…..but since he had to give it what about the whole speech?  Too conservative for my tastes, but most Americans will appreciate it….

Note:  I would like to thank the AP’s Jennifer Loven for some excellent points in this post)

While You Were Asleep

While you were recovering from the holidays and while you were enthralled with the football play offs and championships….lots has been happening in Washington that you need to be aware of….you are about to be caught with your winkie in the play-doh…..

First, it is Obama’s attempt to halt bank bonuses:

Barack Obama announced his plan to impose a tax on banks that would “recoup every last penny for American taxpayers.” The move was a political gesture—with no real substance—aimed at distancing himself from the banks as they prepare to announce multi-million dollar year-end bonuses.

Obama is seeking to convince the public that by paying back the TARP money, the banks are fully recompensing taxpayers. But TARP is only one among dozens of government handouts to the banks, ranging from free and unlimited access to credit, guarantees against losses, easier regulation, and cash handed out indiscriminately in late 2008 as the financial system collapsed.

The Obama administration is fully implicated in and responsible for the resumption of “obscene” bank bonuses. The administration has refused (and continues to refuse) to set any real limits on executive payment. There are only a handful of firms, including American International Group, that are required to submit their bonus payment proposals to the government, and even among those, it has approved multi-million-dollar payouts.

Then there was the attack on Social Security……

Obama administration officials and Democratic congressional leaders reached agreement Tuesday on the establishment of a bipartisan commission that would put recommendations for drastic budget cuts to a vote in Congress before the end of 2010. The commission would have unprecedented legal authority to propose changes in both the tax code and major entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, with Congress required to hold an up-or-down vote on its recommendations.

The exact method for establishing the commission depends on congressional action. The Senate and House could vote to establish the commission, as an amendment for legislation to raise the national debt ceiling to $13 trillion.

The dimensions of the cuts being prepared is suggested by the commission’s mandate to propose a path to reduce the federal deficit from the current level of 10 percent of gross domestic product to 3 percent by 2015. This would amount to a reduction in the annual deficit of about $700 billion—an amount, not coincidentally, roughly equivalent to the bailout of Wall Street—to be subtracted from federal social spending every year. (go figure!)

All this is just crazy but the real story is that nothing is improving on Main Street….the middle class continues its slide down to poverty….

The “Great Recession” of 2008 and 2009 has spread poverty to millions more US children, according to a recent report by the Brookings Institute. The report, “The Effects of the Recession on Child Poverty,” estimates that a large number of states witnessed marked increases in child poverty in 2009.

In 2008, one in five US children under age 18 lived in families below the official poverty level, according to Census Bureau data released in September 2009. The figure now is significantly higher, according to Brookings researcher Julia B. Isaacs. The census poverty statistics for 2008 “lag considerably behind current economic conditions,” Isaacs writes. “Job losses and wage reductions occurring in 2009 were obviously not captured. In addition, many adverse events in 2008 were only partially captured.”

There is even more bad news for Main Street….

The Labor Department announced Thursday that first-time requests for unemployment insurance increased by 36,000, instead of falling by 4,000 as expected. The number of new claims hit 482,000. The four-week moving average of unemployment claims also rose by 7,000 to 448,250.

The scale of the jobs crisis has further strained state budgets. After 20 million US residents collected unemployment benefits last year, 25 states have run out of money for their unemployment insurance funds and have been forced to borrow money from the federal government or raise taxes.

Look for the Prez to try and counter this bad news in his State of the Union address this coming Wednesday….he has got to get the people back in his corner if he is to cxontinue his attacks on the middle class…..he will undoubtedly give some minor concessions to small businesses as a token of his commitment to reviving the economy through the creation of jobs…..thge problem for me is that I am not convinced that that will help create the number of jobs needed to fuel the recovery…..

Maybe we will have better luck next time…..eventually the middle class will wake up and realize that they are being humped like a sex starved dog…..

Who Is Senator-Elect Brown?

Now that the verbal masturbation has been a bit quiet….there are a few things that need to be said…..

Much has been written, said and thought about the new senator from Mass……The GOP is jerking off because they now have 41 members in the Senate…..the RNC is welcoming the new senator that will carry on with the principles of the party….cool huh?….But first, someone tell me just what those principles are….

I have purposefully waited before posting too much about the newest addition to the US Senate….there has been a wealth of noise….a wealth of analysis….and a wealth of whining….but now let us look at this guy for what he really is……after his election he told a newspaper…..

“I’m going to be a Scott Brown Republican,” he told reporters in Boston “Maybe there is a new breed of Republican coming to Washington.”

Just what does he mean by “a new breed of Republican”?

Think back for a moment and try to recall just what he actually stands for……he made national security his number one issue…he bitched about giving people trials or giving them any rights…..he was against health reform…..he opposed financial reform…..has no environmental stand that is known….nothing new there…sounds like a typical Repub to me…..then what will be new?

As a career politician Scott Brown is an 11-year Big Government Republican state legislator who regularly and repeatedly voted FOR bigger state government budgets, voted FOR expanded and new Big Government programs, voted FOR tax increases, and voted AGAINST tax cuts.

All that sounds like the Repubs of the previous 8 years or longer….so what is new?  Alrighty then, which Scott Brown will go to Washington?  Will be something new?  Will it be the same opposition with no alternatives?

Many pundits that are gleeful of his win have said that he would be an independent voice in Washington….but so far I see NO independence just the same lame principles that the GOP has been preaching for a year now….Woodrow Wilson made an accurate observation that holds true to this day, “The trouble with the Republican Party is that it has not had a new idea in thirty years”…..Brown has NO new ideas!

Brown was the first of the anti-incumbencies…matters NOT what he says he will do….rather he is NOT a Washington insider (at this time)…..nothing more should be read into this election than that……and BTW, if he is a new breed Repub then I am a Mexican gardener named Jesus!

The Cowardly Democrat

I have pitched a bitch every time a Democrat has left the principles that put them in Washington to follow a safe and re-electable line……if they are going to claim to be a liberal then by God act like one…..and stop acting like some little twit that will do or say anything that will not offend anyone……

My newest target is the Senate majority Harry Reid of Nevada….it appears the newest coward along the yellow brick road of politics is Sen. reid and his new plan for the government…

The top Senate Democrat wants to make it more difficult to run up the deficit with new tax cuts or expansions of federal benefit programs.

Majority Leader Harry Reid’s plan would make it difficult to again extend emergency unemployment benefits or health insurance subsides for laid off workers. It would also make it harder to render new assistance for state Medicaid payments.

The Nevada Democrat is pressing the plan to get legislation passed permitting the government to continue to borrow money to finance its operations. Under the pay-as-you-go concept, program cuts or revenue increases would be needed to cover the cost of any new policies or programs. If not, across-the-board spending cuts would kick in.

Now where do you think all this cutting will come from?  Defense spending?  Ha Ha not a chance!  New fees on banks?  That would be something….but an unrealistic action to consider……No the cuts to cover the Wall Street gamblers will come from you and the programs that benefit you and your families…..

Do NOT make the mistake of thinking that this is a benefit to the people…it is NOT!  It is basically an end run on the people….and the ball is the deficit…..Where in Reid’s proposal is there any hint of him being a Democrat?

Russia Warns The World

There are a few international situations that do not get the press it deserves and when it explodes into a full blown incident people ask how could that be….we knew nothing of the situation…..well I try to bring you a few situations that I see as a problem waiting to happen….

Russia on Friday joined China in calling for more diplomacy on Iran, warning against imposing fresh sanctions against the country’s nuclear energy section for delays over a fuel exchange deal.

He called on Tehran to work constructively to alleviate concerns over its nuclear activities but cautioned that any punitive actions against Iran will be counterproductive.

Under a UN-brokered proposal discussed in mid-October, the US, France and Russia asked Iran to send most of its domestically-produced low enriched uranium abroad to be converted into more refined fuel for the Tehran research reactor that produces medical isotopes.
The foreign minister of Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), said that his country wanted “to see constructive actions from Iran.”

Sanctions will be a breaking point for Russia…..they have told the world not to do it…..but what will be their response if their warning is not heeded?

And then there is China who does not want sanctions either……would China use the ownership of American debt against them?

Just a few things to think over while drinking coffee or just plain chillin’…….

Yet Another Delusional Attempt

There has been a wealth of opinions, including myself, on how to end the conflict in Afghanistan and bring the troops home…..some have been hideous and others just plain stupid….but as always there are those that think it can be done by throwing money at it……

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday unveiled a long-term, non-military strategy to stabilize Afghanistan and Pakistan that calls for sending more civilian experts to the region.More than a month after the Obama administration announced a military surge for Afghanistan, the new civilian strategy outlines plans to rebuild the Afghan farm sector, improve governance, and reintegrate extremists into society.

It also calls for boosting Pakistan’s capabilities to fight a growing Islamist insurgency and to enhance the US partnership with Islamabad partly through supporting political and economic reforms.

They want to improve governance and farming…okay, let us look at those two specifically…… Opium production accounts for $2.8 billion of Afghanistan’s GDP that is about 25% of the total economy and $2.5 billion is spent on bribes to keep the wheels of government turning, which is about 23% of GDP….there you have it about 50% of the country’s economy is from illegal activity….now I ask how will we improve on that?

Wait!  I am not finished yet!  There is more…Karzai has a new plan to counter the Taliban…..

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Friday he plans to offer money and jobs to insurgents to draw them back to civilian life and away from their Taliban masters.Karzai told the BBC the major powers, including the United States, would fund the scheme to tempt Taliban fighters to lay their weapons aside and head home to their communities.

Hardline Taliban supporters, who were members of Al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups, would not be accepted, the president stressed.

The Taliban gives its volunteers higher salaries than the Afghan government can afford to pay its forces, and the president said his project would have international backing to provide the necessary funds.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Friday described the Taliban as part of the “political fabric” of Afghanistan, but said any future role would depend on insurgents laying down their weapons. Related article: Taliban part of ‘political fabric’ in Afghanistan.

The US will fund the project?  Is it just me or does all this sunshine and puppies sound a bit whimsical?  BTW, this has all been tried before and it did not work so well in Vietnam….what is that old saying?  “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome……”