Arkady's Thoughts

A short video that you might find interesting.  Tom Coburn delivers a somber speech about the tough choices America has to make in order for our country to hand over a better life to the next generation.  He is unhappy with the current proposal, but believes that despite it's flaws the proposal must move forward.  His primary idea is rooted in the knowledge that so far in America no one has actually proposed a legitimate solution or even the start of a solution to our impending crisis. The crisis as he sees it actually is quite simply the ability to service our debt in the short term future as interest rate payments rise.  He is correct.  At the moment we spend about 200 Billion a year in interest payments alone, with the rate of borrowing happening today and the extremely high probability of bonds selling off the rate payments by 2015 will double or triple.  If the employment situation does not improve and taxation is unable to mop up the deficits then A...

With this bill just having passed the Senate, but running into a technical challenge by House Democrats there is something every American should be aware in terms of how Congress operates.  There is no reason to delve into the specifics here because plenty of reputable organizations have already done the work.  One excellent resource that illustrates the danger of granting the FDA more power and some of the specifics of the Senate bill can be found at the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund .   I want to just briefly touch upon the typical Congressional bait and switch tactic that has allowed so many damaging pieces of legislation to control aspects of our lives under the pretext of safety or 'common good'.   For starters, the name of the bill is designed as a marketing ploy.  Anyone who now opposes this bill will at the surface be opposing safety and why would any rational individual oppose safety?  Modernization is also a wonderful keyword and this i...

Color me not impressed please.  In a move set to appease the angry middle class the Obama Administration has announced a salary freeze . The freeze, which requires congressional approval, applies to civilian federal employees -- including non-military personel serving at the Department of Defense. The White House says the move will save $2 billion during the rest of the current fiscal year and $28 billion over the next five years. So not giving raises to federal employees while the private sector is experiencing austerity across the board will save us money?  Recognize the sheer absurdity of the statement.  It is the equivalent of a teenager coming up to his parents and demanding praise and recognition because he decided that he will not borrow any additional money from the parents.  Is this really what America's political accomplishments are being reduced to? Of course Obama and now the infamous 'jobs saved' mantra has taken political spin to an entirely new l...

Below is by far the most honest and refreshing thing you will ever hear coming out of Europe.   Nigel Farage  of the UK Independence Party delivers a very passionate plea to stop the madness of the bailouts and slow down the path of inevitable destruction. There is not much to comment here other than "BRAVO".  This speech took place yesterday at the European Parliament at Strasbourg.   " Just who the hell do you think you people are.  You are very, very dangerous people indeed" P.S. Do observe the reactions of the other politicians in the chamber.   P.P.S.  I have nothing to do with the creepy Russian music

Ireland released a 140 page document outlining their plan for bringing their financial house in order. I do not claim to be an expert on Irish matters what so ever, but I do fancy their most unparliamentary procedures .  So why mention or write about it?  Because!  Ireland was one of the first countries in Europe to go down the path of austerity and as I wrote about last time, it did not work.  Of course the failures of Irish austerity have much more to do with the global increase in debt than anything else, but Ireland is also suffering from a very similar malaise affecting all civilized nations:  a giant federal government and the painfully flawed concept known as the welfare state.  Observe the highlights of the Irish plan, courtesy of RTE : * Public expenditure down €10bn, tax up €5bn * Irish bank shares see big falls * Corporation tax will remain at 12.5% (maintain the visible tax, raise the less obvious ones) * Social Welfare to b...

Hardly worth reiterating the obvious, but worth mentioning the subtle " Irish bailout " just because of the parties involved.  These parties I speak of, are of course the very same banks sitting on top of a massive central bank system that have been dispensing loans at a rate that nobody could have considered sustainable.  Yet beyond dealing with the problem of our banking system in America, Americans are now bailing out Irish banks.  Because a lot of the money is coming from an EU-IMF pool containing American tax dollars, it would be a crime not to mention the story . Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan needs to inject at least 5 billion euros ($6.8 billion) more cash into the country’s two biggest lenders immediately as part of Ireland’s international rescue, analysts said. Indeed.  Between the nationalization of Irish banks by the government and future potential IMF contributions to the ailing country, one has to wonder when any of this will end.  Of c...

The hits just keep on coming.  Another example illuminating the rapid disconnect between the ruling class and the subjugated is featured in today's USA Today's article: More federal workers' pay tops $150,000 . This is the second year in a row we are learning that the gap is widening between private and public pay, but the rate of increase is alarming, worse yet Obama has proposed to give a 1.4% increase across the board to 2.1 Million employees.  This becomes particularly difficult to digest considering that private wages are actually falling and real unemployment is somewhere between 'high' and 'way too damn high'. As always the entrenched liberals of Congress provide their wisdom: Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., says a pay freeze would unfairly scapegoat federal workers without addressing real budget problems. No words, especially when you consider the following: •Pay. The average federal salary has grown 33% faster than inflation since 2000. USA TODA...