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+--- Thread: Attention!!! (/showthread.php?tid=9528)
RE: Attention!!! - missydog1 - 12-04-2011
IMHO, it's too late to fix the problem by supporting small business. What put us in this terrible shape is mostly the unregulated and unscrupulous manipulation of financial products and the resulting speculation, the behavior of the Fed, etc..
If our currency becomes as worthless as post WWI Deutsche Marken, then the local businesses will fail, and that is the look of the future unless some radical changes are made. The only people who can influence the big picture of the mess are those at the top who set economic policy.
It is a nice dream to think that little people like us can fix things with our shopping choices, but it's just a dream. It could even be a dangerous dream, because if we put our heads in the sand and think that buying local is the answer, we will not try to add our voices to the larger problem. Yes, buy local, but don't stop there to feel good about yourself and imagine that all will be well soon.
We need people in office who really want to restore the middle class in America, who will take the banking industry and the "shadow banking" industry in hand, instead of those who are shepherding us towards a new aristocrat-serf society.
Wall Street is a shorthand for the financial industry, all aspects of it. It is not all about the stock market by any means.
It is sad that we as citizens receive no real education in economics from our school system. The only class I ever took was in college, and it was required only because it was a business-oriented school.
There are some good books out there for us to read, that don't require an advanced degree.
One I am working on is:
"Lords of Finance: the Bankers who Broke the World" by Liaquat Ahamed. (2009)
He manages to make it a very good story, beginning prior to WWI, prior to the existence of the Federal Reserve, and explains the real story of the making of the Great Depression.
The author's credentials:
Biography
Liaquat Ahamed has been a professional investment manager for twenty-five years. He has worked at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and the New York-based partnership of Fischer Francis Trees and Watts, where he served as chief executive. He is currently an adviser to several hedge fund groups, including the Rock Creek Group and the Rohatyn Group, is a director of Aspen Insurance Co., and is on the board of trustees of the Brookings Institution. He has degrees in economics from Harvard and Cambridge universities.
PS. I have mixed feelings about buying exclusively from small businesses, because if we truly effected a boycott of large stores, a lot of people on this island would be out of jobs that offer benefits. There is absolutely no guarantee that the small businesses would hire these people ...
"And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody, outside of a small circle of friends ~ Phil Ochs
RE: Attention!!! - LeeE - 12-05-2011
The Ron Paul campaign needs to make a movie about the good doctor, then show it around the country.
Bet it'd be popular here in East Hawaii.
Lee Eisenstein
http://members.cruzio.com/~lionel/event
RE: Attention!!! - dwedeking - 12-05-2011
KathyP
I see your points. My personal belief is that buying from a small business means the money is more likely to stay local vs going off shore. First, any profits go to a corporate office on the mainland and most of the expenses go to a manufacturer located in asia somewhere (I stocked shelves at night for target for about 6 months as a second job, I found one product (other than some food items) that was made in America. I stocked all departments and was looking at items as I put them on the shelves as I am interested in how the economic society is working).
The financial markets are not unregulated. The simple fact is that the regulators are rewarded with jobs at the firms they once were overseeing, so the rules are overlooked if you are part of the "Club" (research the revolving door of Goldmansachs and the Federal Reserve/Treasury Department for examples).
The simple reality is that Americans top to bottom have bought into the fact that we "deserve" our current lifestyles just by note of our existence. We have been sold a Ponzi scheme based on perpetual growth (both in output and population) that is unsustainable as the free credit bubble bursts. As the reality of the math hits the streets and a society that is used to looking for government for solutions feels the pain, everyone is going to pointing at everyone else as the reason for it. The only real solution I can find is to become as self sustainable as possible, limit my economic transactions as much as possible (to avoid the skim of taxes on each transaction and to starve the beast) and go as John Galt as I can (within reason).
For those of us old enough to have parents or grandparents from the Depression Era it's time to go back and review the lessons they may have passed on (My "oh ****" moment was in 2005 when my grandfather, before passing, stated while talking about economics - "They're doing the same **** again, just like in the 20's. Guess they didn't learn". Course we have computers and mass media now so I can do it on a much larger scale).
RE: Attention!!! - liskir - 12-05-2011
What relevance will money and jobs have when "Congress is essentially authorizing the indefinite imprisonment of American citizens, without charge," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/senate-votes-to-let-military-detain-americans-indefinitely_n_1119473.html)
We are assuredly becoming a facist society. Think about the immense intrusion into our private lives and property. Think about TSA groping an 85 y.o. woman in a wheelchair, about words we can no longer say in public, about making decisions on whether to inject our children with poisons, about the chemicals and heavy metals sprayed into our air without our knowledge or consent, about poisoning our drinking water and justifying it with misinformation. Now they want to censor the internet and imprison anyone, even US citizens indefinitely without cause? They used to pass it off as conspiracy theory. It's no longer a theory. It's happening!
If you don't know about Ron Paul, it's imperative that you find out before the caucus in March and tell everyone. He's our only hope to restore the Constitution.
RE: Attention!!! - PaulW - 12-05-2011
"about the chemicals and heavy metals sprayed into our air without our knowledge or consent"
Please tell me more!
RE: Attention!!! - LeeE - 12-05-2011
Why would a Ron Paul Presidency be good for Puna1?
Lee Eisenstein
http://members.cruzio.com/~lionel/event
RE: Attention!!! - oink - 12-05-2011
quote:Chemtrails, donchano!
"about the chemicals and heavy metals sprayed into our air without our knowledge or consent"
Please tell me more!
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
RE: Attention!!! - PaulW - 12-05-2011
To be fair, I doubt Ron Paul is campaigning on chemtrails and the evils of vaccination. But he has an awful lot of fringe supporters. That should tell you something about his views.
A Ron Paul Presidency would not be good for Puna.
RE: Attention!!! - Guest - 12-05-2011
You know what would be good for Puna? An end to the drug war would be good for Puna, people would start smoking the kine again instead of drain cleaner. A recovery to the housing market would be good for Puna. An economic recovery would be good for Puna. I think trusting the only candidate who predicted the economic collapse, would be good for Puna.
If he predicted it, it means he understands how it happened, if he understands how it happened, then he understands how to fix it.
I don't know if there are any soldiers from Puna that are in Iraq or Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and soon Iran, however if there are, Ron Paul could very well save their lives.
Most importantly, having an Honest politician in the White house would be good for the whole world.
If you watch this video, you can see how Ron Paul predicted all the crap we are dealing with now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5nGCpzel6o
He has spent his life studying Austrian economics and the business cycle, the Austrian economists were the only ones that saw this coming, they understand how to fix it.
Quiet frankly life in the United States including Puna will get much much harder in the coming years, the only person running for or who is currently president that can help us get out of this is Ron Paul, because he is the only one who thinks differently. All of these politicians who were and are dead wrong got us into this mess, yet they call the only guy with opposite ideas crazy.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
-Albert Einstein
“Setting a good example is a far better way to spread ideals than through force of arms.”
-Ron Paul
RE: Attention!!! - Guest - 12-05-2011
There is a Ron Paul sign wave in Hilo by Walgreens every Wednesday morning at 7:00 AM. I will be attending for the first time this Wednesday, come on out and talk story with us, help us get the people of Hawaii behind the good Dr.
“Setting a good example is a far better way to spread ideals than through force of arms.”
-Ron Paul