To say that history repeats itself is a given. And stupidity is doing the same thing every time and expecting a different result.
There is no room for a wimp when it comes to geopolitics when the stakes are nuclear and the President of Iran is a Holocaust denier, calling for the annihilation of Israel. And by ‘wimp’ I mean the United Nations, pacifists, and heads of state that don’t know when negotiations end and plan B begins.
Where Iraq is concerned, what was it, 8 years delay and 16 UN resolutions later before action was finally taken? Saddam had his nuclear bluff called and it cost him his life. But for all those years, before and after he kicked the UN inspectors out, Saddam bought time. Enough time to scatter what nuclear capability he had. Essentially, he played the UN, the United States, and the world community like a piano. While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinijad, and North Korea’s Kim Jong-il took notes.
With Iran, history is repeating itself. And Ahmadinijad is playing the UN, the United States, and other world leaders like a piano.The UN inspectors have already been kicked out. And more time is all that Iran needs to produce a bomb to threaten its neighbors with.
Here’s some history and who said ‘time is running out for Iran,’ and when.
The United States is willing to give European Union negotiator Javier Solana a bit more time to pursue negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program before pushing for U.N. Security Council sanctions, but Iran’s time is running out, according to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It is important in keeping a coalition together to — if people want to explore something that doesn’t move you very far off course — to go ahead and explore it, Rice tells journalists.
Predicting that sanctions will ultimately fail to stop Teheran’s nuclear program, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of Military Intelligence’s Research Division, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that time to launch an effective military strike against Iran’s nuclear installations was running out. According to Kuperwasser, who stepped down from his post last year, Iran is “very close” to the point that it will cross the technological threshold and have the capability to enrich uranium at an industrial level. Once they master the technology, the Iranians will have the ability to manufacture a nuclear device within two to three years, he added.
“We have to continue to maintain urgency and our previous discussions, confirming the need for a dual-track approach, are still the right approach to take. We will begin to discuss and prepare for these other pathways,” Obama said.
Unfortunately, the only country with the clarity to know when negotiations end is the one with the most to lose, Israel. And where Israel is concerned, if you need to defend yourself, do it.
Here’s a fine example of how the Obama administration, under the Justice Department, is neutering Military Commission trials for terrorists.
Today, prosecutors in the Office of Military Commissions announced they intend to ask the convening authority to refer new charges under the recently-enacted Military Commissions Act of 2009 against Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al Darbi, in connection with his alleged involvement in an al Qaeda conspiracy to attack military and commercial shipping in the Port of Aden and the Strait of Hormuz.
This announcement follows the attorney general’s determination on Nov. 13, 2009, that a military commission was the appropriate forum for prosecution of al Darbi.
The prosecutors are reviewing this and other cases identified by the attorney general as appropriate for trial in a military commission and anticipate making further announcements soon.
As part of the process of moving forward with the prosecution of al Darbi, on Nov. 25, 2009, in response to a request from the prosecutors, the convening authority withdrew and dismissed without prejudice the pending charges against al Darbi. Dismissal without prejudice is a procedural action that permits new charges to be referred at a later time.
A charge is merely an accusation; an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
He sees America as another pleasant country on the U.N. roll call, somewhere between Albania and Zimbabwe
President Pelosi
He’s in love with the man in the mirror
At the risk of being redundant, here’s number 8. He’s an empty suit as a President.
Joined at the hip with his teleprompter, forever reciting the bumper sticker slogans that are measured so as to not offend his wacko Left base, the man has no principles that guide him, beyond trying to fool all of the people all of the time. Well, no principles that he cares to admit to like being anti-military, anti-American exceptionalism, anti free-market capitalism, and pro ‘social justice’ as in ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.’ Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky’s principles are too much ‘Rev. Wright’ for the American people to swallow.
But not to worry. The alternative media will fill the void.
There are only two States in the United States that are not operating in a deficit, if not technically bankrupt. Montana because of their rich oil resources, and North Dakota, because of their implementation of a State Bank, the Bank of North Dakota.
Because most people are not economists and may well just fall asleep trying to read up on it, you can learn in this post and in one podcast all you need to know to understand why and how part of Dr. Farid A. Khavari’s platform as Governor of the State of Florida, the Bank of the State of Florida (BSF), will work.
How Floridians can have 2% fixed rate 15 year mortgages and how the State of Florida can make billions by providing them
A cornerstone of the economic plan is to create a Bank of the State of Florida. We will put the power of modern banking to work for the people of Florida, not for Wall Street.
Over the years, interest has been the biggest cost most families had. When you pay interest to the bank, that means less money for your family. Reducing interest costs can save a family hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Let’s take a $100,000 mortgage, for example. With a 30-year fixed rate 5.5% mortgage, your monthly payment is $567.79 and you will pay $104,404.40 in interest on that loan.
With a 2% fixed rate 15-year mortgage, your payment would be $643.51, the total interest would be only $15,831.80 – and the mortgage would be paid 15 years sooner! You save 88,572.60 in interest. If you then make 15 years of payments to yourself with 5% interest from the Bank of the State of Florida, you will have more than $160,000 after taxes in your account—just by having your mortgage from the Bank of the State of Florida.
How can we do this? It’s called “fractional reserve banking” and this is how all the banks do it. If you have $100 in reserves, you can loan out $900 or more. That means you collect interest on $900 but you pay interest on only $100 at most. If the bank pays you 2% for your CD and lends it at 5% on 9 times as much money, you can see this is a really good deal – for the bank.
Now our Bank of the State of Florida does not need to be greedy. It is not going to get involved in shenanigans like bundling and selling mortgages, taking out weird insurance policies and general practices that have caused the mess we are in today. When we make a mortgage, that asset remains right on our books and the paperwork is right there on file. We are going to pay good dividends and the highest rates in the market for long term deposits. We are going to loan out 9 times our reserves. And we are going to make billions of dollars for the State Treasury while we save Floridians a trillion dollars—and that trillion dollars becomes many trillions in Florida’s economy.
Let’s say we pay 5% for our $100 and loan out our $900 at 2%. We pay out $5 in interest, and we take in $18 in interest. Can we make money at that? You bet we can.
We could make the $3.6 billion we are short this year on just a couple of million 2% mortgages. We can do even better on 3 – 4% commercial financing and vehicle loans.
And all the money the bank earns goes directly into the State Treasury, to work for Floridians, not to Wall Street.
Where do we get the reserves? The State of Florida has billions invested with Wall Street. 5 or 6% guaranteed looks pretty good these days compared to a 50% decline in the stock market. Look at what long-term bonds are paying, look at CD’s—we will have no problem attracting all the long-term deposits we need to get started, simply by paying good rates.
Now look what happens. With a 2% fixed rate 15-year loan, the buyer has paid off over 11% of the principal within 2 years. That means we have more than enough reserves to make a new mortgage for someone else, without having to pay interest for the reserves! (In comparison, a 5.5% 30-year loan takes 7 years to pay 11% of the principal).
Now some people might think that low interest rates will just raise the price of homes. That would be true if the 2% loan was for 30 years. But the payment on the 2% loan for 15 years is a little bit higher than the payment for 5.5% 30 years, so this tends to hold prices down. It also tends to eliminate speculation that messes up the market every time. As long as prices are stable, we can offer mortgages with low down payments, so home ownership can be as easy as paying rent.
What the Bank of the State of Florida does is transfer hundreds of billions of dollars away from Wall Street directly into the pockets of Floridians by reducing interest costs… and it puts hundreds of billions into the State Treasury, too. We will have stable, fair prices for homes and take 15 years of slavery out of the process of owning a home.
Consumer financing is another area where Wall Street and the big banks are costing us way too much. Banks charge huge interest on credit cards, for example, where the cost of money to the bank is really zero. If a family has $10,000 in credit card debt at 25% interest, that’s over $200 per month in interest alone. At 6%, the monthly interest is only $50. This family could reduce monthly payments by $50 and pay off the debt years sooner. The State earns billions of dollars per year while saving Floridians billions and billions more.
The Bank of the State of Florida will earn billions of dollars per year for the taxpayers of Florida, not Wall Street fat cats. At the same time it will reduce interest costs and save Florida families hundreds of thousands of dollars per family. Who needs that money more? You or Citibank?
The Bank of the State of Florida can handle checking accounts and ATM’s too. The other banks will have to become competitive, and there is no reason why they cannot.
Couldn’t the federal government do the same thing? Actually, the federal government could do even better and they could do it immediately at huge benefit to the U.S. Treasury. Do you think we should wait around for them to do it? We can have this program in effect in Florida within a year, at no cost to the State.
It could cost you in so many ways. The Ft. Hood terrorist is one example. But there’s another example that, for PC, is a well kept secret. Do you think that black gangs targeting whites and Hispanics for a beat-down and robbery is newsworthy? If you live in Denver it certainly should be.
Denver Post . . .
A task force comprised of the Denver Police, FBI and the Denver District Attorney’s Office investigated 26 incidents in which groups of black males verbally harassed and then assaulted white or Hispanic males, according to Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman.
The situation was so grave even the FBI got involved. Who knew? Certainly not the young white and Latino men who were at risk of being attacked. Though Denver Police issued a warning on Sept. 3 that they were aware of “a pattern of assaults and robberies,” they simply said “single males” should be on the lookout.
Michelle Malkin . . .
. . . if the races were reversed that p.c. panderer AG Eric Holder would be flying to Denver right now (with race demagogue Al Sharpton in tow) to hold a press conference and vow to ensure the safety of the Mile High City’s residents.
This PC crap has got to stop. It is in and of itself a method, call it a tactic, to avoid the inherent responsibility of calling it like you see it, and to effectively deal with issues or problems before they get out of hand, as what happened in Denver.
I call it a tactic, not simply ignorance, because there always is a benefactor. Someone always wins in the PC world. It’s the bad guys. Creating chaos and disruption in our society is a means to an end. And it’s working.
The Justice Department has concluded that the Obama administration can lawfully pay the community group Acorn for services provided under contracts signed before Congress banned the government from providing money to the group.
So essentially, the $pigot is still running for ACORN. And the executive branch just thumbed its nose at the legislative branch. Apparently, they didn’t get the memo. This is the Chicago way. (Not to be confused with the good people of Chicago.)
The U.S. Dollar is at a 14 year low. Investors bailing for the Yen.
Also dampening the mood was the slumping dollar, which weakened to a new 14-year low below 85 yen, dragging down shares of Japan’s exporters like automaker Nissan and electronics maker Sharp.
“Investors were searching for shelter against the increased volatility and falls in risky assets,” Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist for SJS Markets in Hong Kong, said in a note. “Many chose to opt for the Japanese yen.”
But look how well ‘our image around the world’ has improved.
In a continuing effort to inform Florida voters about the only person running for Governor of the State of Florida who has an economic recovery plan, one that does not include more borrowing and taxing, meet Dr. Farid Khavari. The beauty of his plan is that it represents a blueprint for long term economic prosperity instead of a pothole patch.
And, it is a plan that other states can also benefit from. Economic security is not exclusive to Florida. Expect other states to catch on to this Bank of the State of Florida concept too! More information about his platform is on his website and in his latest book, Toward a Zero-Cost Economy, available in stores or for free download at his website, www.khavariforgovernor.com.
Please share this press release from the Khavari campaign.
Khavari: The era of commercial banks is over; state banks are the future.
Miami, FL Nov. 23 — Noted economist Farid Khavari, a Democratic candidate for Florida governor, has gained national and international attention for his plan to create a state-owned bank in Florida.
“Not since the Great Depression has it been so clear,” said Khavari. “We need banks that work for the benefit of the people, not people working for the benefit of the banks. There is no mystery why we are facing another depression: the banks got greedy and stupid, and now they are making us pay for it.
“The economy is collapsing due to lack of demand. The economy needs money, but the banks are cutting credit, and then sucking all the cash out of the economy by raising interest rates to make sure no one has any cash left at the end of the month. The cost of interest is built into the cost of everything. People already work ten years of their lives just to pay interest in one form or another. The Bank of the State of Florida will end that for Floridians. And this model will work for every state.
“We can start the BSF at no cost to taxpayers. We can pay 6% interest on savings. Using the same fractional reserve rules as all banks, we can create $900 of new money through loans for every $100 in deposits. We can loan that $900 in the form of 2% fixed rate 15-year mortgages, for example, and the state can earn $12 every year for every $100 in deposits. That means Floridians can save tens of billions of dollars per year while the state earns billions making it possible for them.
“2% fixed-rate mortgages will create a thousand times more jobs than any so-called stimulus can. By reducing the total interest cost on a home by over 85%, the average family will save hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that money stays in Florida,” Khavari said.
“State and local government budgets will balance without higher taxes when the BSF cuts interest costs,” Khavari said. “6% BSF credit cards will save people billions per month, money that stays in Florida instead of going to the big banks—and the state will make huge profits on that, too. Saving billions in interest costs will create millions of jobs without subsidies just by keeping those billions circulating in Florida. Eventually the state will earn enough to reduce and eliminate state and local taxes while every Floridian has economic security in a recession-proof Florida.”
Asked whether a state-owned bank is socialism, Khavari smiled. “Are public schools socialism? Public roads, police and fire protection, municipal water? Socialism is where everyone works for the state. In these cases, and with our Bank of the State of Florida, the state is working for everyone. I call that general capitalism.”
Farid A. Khavari, Ph.D. is an economist and author of nine books, including Environomics.His latest book, Toward a Zero-Cost Economy, is available in stores or for free download at his website, www.khavariforgovernor.com.
For Sen. Mary Landrieu ( D-LA) to allow Sen. Reid to buy her vote, with $300 million, for a bill that will amount to the government takeover of one sixth of the American private sector economy, says as much about her as the Senator that propositioned her.
Only now we know her price.
The ‘everybody does it’ defense doesn’t wash with this case. No. Everybody does not put ‘the size and role of government and the management of our freedom and liberty to live in America as we know it’ on the line when they take some payola for their district. They are risking a lot less in what might later prove to be a bad decision than what Sen. Landrieu put on the line last Saturday night. Sen. Byrd (D-WV) would not have done what Landrieu did.
On Saturday, November 21, 2009, the Senate of the United States voted to move health insurance reform (the Democrat version) to the floor for debate. This represents to the ‘T’ what Rahm Emanual meant when describing the political strategy he called ‘rule one.’ Which is “Never allow a crisis to go to waste, they are opportunities to do big things.”
So for now and the coming weeks, the American people will be able to see one side trying to get support to pass this takeover of one sixth of the private sector, clearly and obviously without any Constitutional authority to do so, and one side trying to stop it. That is our only choice since the GOP’s plan to reform health care within the private sector and without a government takeover is off the table.
What we can expect to see if this bill passes the Senate with zero chance that Obama will veto it, is this:
New taxes on everyone that consumes medical care from a health care provider that is not ‘government’ approved.
New taxes on those that buy health care insurance if your policy in not ‘government’ approved.
New taxes on those that choose not to buy health care insurance. And the IRS will see to it that you will pay. Or, go to jail. How’s that for Choice and Competition?
New taxes on everyone that provides medical care to Medicare patients. To the tune of $500 billion in cuts in payments to Medicare providers. And that is over and above the discount rates the government currently demands from them. An exodus of doctors in the profession and more people to cover means long waiting periods, lower quality health care, and rationed health care. All that good stuff.
New taxes on those that find cures, both therapeutically and otherwise, like pharmaceutical and medical technology companies.
New taxes on all who use certain medical devices. Like your father’s pacemaker and grandmother’s stint and your wife’s or girlfriend’s new breasts.
New taxes on businesses with over 50 employees that don’t offer health insurance. Now there’s a job creator. Not.
Expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the poor, to include tens of millions more dependents and including illegal aliens. Without increasing the debt and without decreasing the quality of health care?
Expansion of government subsidies for the poor and even middle-income people to help them ‘pay’ for it all. Subsidies for a plan that was supposed to decrease premium prices? Instead, we will have more people dependent on government. All without increasing the debt one dime?
The plan would give states the option not to participate. This does not include an option not to pay for it. Just not to participate in it. Make any sense to you?
Insurance companies would be barred from excepting pre-existing conditions. (Probably the one and only problem sick people have that the government needs to be involved with, and accounted for in the GOP alternative.) Barred from interstate competition. Barred from offering customer-based insurance policies. Raising insurance premiums for everyone. But this plan was suppose to decrease premiums.
You will be forced into the government health insurance plan (you can’t keep yours if you want to) whenever you make any change in your current plan, like adding a dependent or changing your deductible, or changing your coverage in any way.
A government-run insurance company, with artificially lower rates than private-sector carriers (see pre-requisites above) that will eventually cause that private sector industry to rot on the proverbial vine.
ultimately leading to the SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE SYSTEM that Obama wanted. Before he didn’t want it.
So, despite 60 years of history of the American people rejecting the notion of turning over their power and responsibility of health care to the federal government, most recently in 1993 with Hillary-care, we have come to this point. This is a hit right between your eyes. A hit on freedom and liberty, a hit on the Constitution, and a hit on your family’s health and finances for generations to come. The days of incrementalism are over. If this bill becomes law, there’s nothing except the next election that can restrain this power grab in Washington. And no industry will be safe from government control.
