The vision of government that our Founding Fathers gave us has failed. The US Government is operating withour a budget now for four years, the Federal Reserve is printing a trillion dollars in debt a year to gut the Wealth of the United States and handing it over to global bankers, the only way Congress can pass anything is playing Chicken with the two parties hoping to blame the other.
The Parliamentary system – where the legislature appoints the leader of the country from among their own – is looking more and more attractive. This system ensures that the leader has the support of the majority of the legislature. If the Prime Minister does something that upsets his supporters, a Vote of Confidence can end the government before 4 years is up. A parliamentary system could also end the two party stranglehold that guarantees 98% of politicians get reelected.
The Constitution was designed to keep Washington in touch with the states by having the states appoint the Senators much the way the Supreme Court justices are appointed. During the time that system was in place, the US became an international power.
Once that was changed and the Congress created a corporation controlled by the TBTF (too big to fail) banks, to slowly devalue the currency so that more and more people would be taxed at higher rates, the game changed for the worse.
All valid points, CC. The one not very well understood by most of us, including me, is that our founders were escaping being “owned” by the ‘royal families’. They succeeded in setting up a government that recognized and respected people’s unalienable rights, but successive generations lost battle after battle until, as you pointed out above, Congress created a Corporation and now all the citizens are the property of the Corporation, owned by the Banksters.
The founders knew the Elites would try to ‘worm’ their way into an ownership position over the people. We are assets of the Corporation now but there is a constitutional method to thwart and reverse it. Levin’s new book goes into details about those methods. An little, itty-bitty grassroots organization called the tenthamendmentcenter.com supports other effective ways; Nullification by individual states against unconstitutional federal laws is effective.
An integral part of the idea that royalty “owns” you was the idea that “because God says so” – especially the Catholic church which made no distinction.
The Declaration of Independence makes reference to this as a reason the revolution became necessary. When you get to the part that people ignore, there is a list of grievances – and refers to changes in a “neighboring province” – this was the Quebec Act of 1774 essentially making Quebec run by the Catholic church. Many of the Founding Fathers were motivated by opposing the Catholic church, which explains why some went on to fight in the French Revolution to end the Monarchy in France and break the government away from the Church.
No, the Catholic Church was never given Quebec. The issue with the Quebec Act was that “Quebec” was extended west and south, to include all the Great Lakes down to the Ohio River. That’s what offended the Americans.
“to slowly devalue the currency so that more and more people would be taxed at higher rates”
That’s really ridiculous. deflation of the currency helps debtors, which almost all Americans are.
One of the reforms Reagan pushed for was to index the income tax rates and related exemptions and deductions so that the ploy done by Jimmy Carter to push people into higher marginal tax rates through massive inflation couldn’t be used in the future by the Democrats.
Is that still the law or has that expired or been repealed?
From 1999 to 2006 my as the price of energy and food more than doubled, so did the price of my home and my real estate taxes. I got nothing in new services for the doubling of real estate taxes.
With the more affordable real estate taxes in 2008 (still much higher than 1999) due to more affordable housing, none of the government’s affordable housing programs were disbanded or a mission accomplished declared – instead, the government set out to make homes unaffordable again so that the real estate taxes would increase.
Regarding Art’s question, in many locations, real estate taxes are graduated as well- different rates based on the age of the property owner and higher for where the home is occupied by someone that can not afford to buy it.
BTW- Here is NJ property taxes are also based on state personal income taxes, if you are productive, you pay higher property taxes than if you are not.
Connecticut sort of does it in reverse – everyone pays the same real estate tax rate (more or less), but the amount you pay comes back as a partial credit on your state income tax…. but if you make too much money, no tax credit for you!
That’s the mechanics of it in NJ too – you have to remember to request the refund on the overpayment or the state assumes you don’t want it.
There is the state income tax, the quarterly property tax, and then the requested property tax refund that traps seniors or anyone else that forgets to ask for it.
Each step of the way is a different group of government employees.
Of course, seniors can also request a property tax discount based on their age, and based on whether they reside at the property.
It looks un-fixable, and the only people who *could* fix it are too busy lining their pockets with our money and buying bulletproof limos.
The thing that has to happen, that can’t *not* happen, is the worst, ugliest thing possible. At some point the special interest groups that are currently having their asses kissed are no longer going to get what they want (because there will be no one left working to give it to them) and they are going to be very pissed. Then they’ll stop paying attention to the Kardashians (or their then-current equivalents) long enough to turn on their government and there will be blood in the streets. Historically, it’s happened almost every time.
I hate to see it happen…but it seems like we’re on a path, and no one who can do anything about it seems to care if it does. So the hell with it. Burn this mother down.
Sure, we’ve been on a downhill slide into the Devil’s Trench for decades, and there are lots of folks just like you who understand. Individual states must take control away from the feds. The beast can not legally take people’s firearms and nothing would serve its interest any better than to have a ‘hot’ resistance to fight against so it can then take away people’s firearms by force.
Nullification by individual states against unconstitutional federal laws is effective. See what’s going on at tenthamendmentcenter.com and keep your powder dry, for now.
It’s not the form of government that’s the problem. Any government will fail in practice if the lawmakers and judges unilaterally and universally decide not to follow the foundational rules (aka the Constitution) that define what they can and cannot do.
The governed are then left with an unreasonable choice. Either support the “rogue” government or suffer anarchy. Most citizens rely on a civilized society for food, shelter, and social interaction, so they continually cede their personal freedom bit by bit to avoid the prospect of anarchy.
The U.S. Constitution offers a way out of the mess by allowing the states to bypass the rogue government and force a Constitutional Convention to consider necessary revisions to the foundational rules. But the 1861-1865 war and the history of Federal troops suppressing rebellious states so reinforced the power of the Wash DC government that most state legislatures (north or south) are unwilling to even discuss using the perfectly legal tools that the Constitution provides for them to restrict the power of an entrenched and increasingly oppressive Federal government.
I have long believed that a second Constitutional Convention is the only way out of the trap, and it’s the only logical civilized way to avoid blood in the streets and/or a socialist dictatorship. But I have little confidence in the state legislators and governors. Most of the ones I know are far more concerned with getting elected to the next higher office than they are with risking their career by standing firm for freedom and the rule of law.
Yeah, I sent a message to the Senator from Virginia, Mr. Warner. But , I am neither a large corporation, nor am I Mr. Soros, Gates, or Buffet, hence my message will be regulated to the file 13 basket.
I agree with Randy X, I hate it to happen but unfortunately you have a pres OBO that will not negotiate and is playing ‘grab-ass golf’ today, Reid isn’t in any hurry to convene the senate to 2pm. So if there is no urgency on the Dem side, hell burn it down then !
Sarah Palin said, ‘the republicans will be blamed anyhow, so nut up and shut it down.’ OL’ Bob Scheiffer was carrying the water for Reid and OBO Sunday morning.
It’s Lose- Lose, 17 trillion in debt, checkmate.
On a positive note I did find a killer deal at my favorite Local gun shop. A collection was sold to the store because the fella was getting old and moving to assisted living. I picked up a very nice ‘Mint’ Springfield Armory 1911 Mil_Spec .45 ACP. It’s a low serial number, and has another nice home. $475 out the door! Might as well spend money on assets, since QE Infinity is working against the value of the dollar
Parrott
This is unrelated, but John Batchelor is really annoying me. He makes no bones about being a Progressive Republican. He hates Sarah Palin and what she stands for with a passion.
He did something the other night that I would expect of Jesse Jackson, who deliberately mispronounces people’s names (“Rush Limbo”) as a sign of disrespect. John was calling her something like “Paul-een”… I had no idea who he meant until he later mentioned Alaska.
It’s a pretty good guess that what Batchelor says closely matches opinions of the State Department and the CIA.
or of their client, Stratfor.com
Rush Limbo is no stranger to intentionally mispronounced names. He likes to talk about Debbie Blabbermouth Schultz, for instance, or Dingy Harry Reid.
I’m hearing repeated rumors of a flood of cash buyers gobbling up real estate. The buyer of my CT condo was a cash buyer but the source of her cash was a bit obfuscated. In retrospect, I wonder if the Chinese are employing Americans to act as straw man buyers so people don’t catch on. A trillion dollars would buy a lot of houses and farms.
From a real estate trade newsletter and it’s not Chinese buyers:
“All-cash home purchases skyrocketed during the summer months of 2013, with their share of total sales growing by more than 40 percent from the beginning of June to the end of August, amid sustained appetite from investors, a recent spike in interest rates and tight inventory.
Cash purchases accounted for 45 percent of sales in August, up from the 2013 trough of 32 percent seen in April and May, according to RealtyTrac data provided exclusively to Inman News.
That indicates that the market share of cash sales has increased 41 percent in just the last three months.”
Appears there is a rush into tangible assests, as opposed to keeping one net worth in FRN. Could there be a “haircut” coming for bank depositors?
well, those two ideas are not mutually exclusive.
Another possibility is some kind of private REIT is behind the purchases in which case the money could be coming from anywhere.
Sure thing, but I’m leaning towards the idea that somehow people who have, or had cash on deposit remember the “haircut” the bank depositors took in Cyprus. And, incidentally most of those who lost money were Russian oligarchs.
So putting a twist on the current situation, maybe a lot of it is coming from all those lucky recipents of the 2008 Stimulus Bill.
Just thinkin ‘outside the box’.
bah, 98.72% of people haven’t even heard of the Cyprus haircut.
If they’re like me, the motivation is that 0% interest rates the banks are offering, and not wanting to pump up the stock market bubble.
Not discounting your argument, but based on earth’s population of 6 billion, that leaves 5.9323 million (1.28%) who did hear about the Cyprus haircut. And of course if one had $$$ in a bank account and you had inside info then one would want to make certain the $$$ were withdrawn well ahead of any ‘haircut’. There were certain folks in Cyprus who did withdraw their $$$ ahead of time.
What would you do if you had $$$ on deposit?
Do not forget the “6 month Clawback Rule”.
Remember MF Global? Folks who had closed out trades and had their cash sitting on deposit got nothing back. Zip. Zero. Nada.
Plus, if one were to depend on the FIDC guarantee please be aware that it can ‘repay’ lost deposits based on a note, drawing no interest, for as long a period of time as the FIDC decides.
Some of us have heard of the cyprus haircut a millions times, so put that in you numerator of times people heard divided by number of people.
Have you heard of the $400 John Edwards Beverly Hills haircut? Its a great deal when it is with OPM (political donations). Rumor is that someone got an expensive blow dry: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2007/04/the_400_haircut.html
” Dingy Harry Reid.” <—Classic !
and so true 🙂
parrott
Maybe you need an old historic car to go with that new Constitution check out the photo that the old spiteful Tipster didn’t like…. something about it reminds me of Algore:
http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2013/september/30/own-a-piece-of-ron-paul-history.aspx