Pollster.com

Lincoln's Grave Warning Realized

...a letter from President Abraham Lincoln to William F Elkins on 21 November 1864:

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country...corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."

Eight Principles of Uncivilization

by Paul Kingsnorth and Dougald Hine


‘We must unhumanise our views a little, and become confident
As the rock and ocean that we were made from.’


  1. We live in a time of social, economic and ecological unravelling. All around us are signs that our whole way of living is already passing into history. We will face this reality honestly and learn how to live with it.

  2. We reject the faith which holds that the converging crises of our times can be reduced to a set of‘problems’ in need of technological or political ‘solutions’.

  3. We believe that the roots of these crises lie in the stories we have been telling ourselves. We intend to challenge the stories which underpin our civilisation: the myth of progress, the myth of human centrality, and the myth of our separation from ‘nature’. These myths are more dangerous for the fact that we have forgotten they are myths.

  4. We will reassert the role of story-telling as more than mere entertainment. It is through stories that we weave reality.

  5. Humans are not the point and purpose of the planet. Our art will begin with the attempt to step outside the human bubble. By careful attention, we will reengage with the non-human world.

  6. We will celebrate writing and art which is grounded in a sense of place and of time. Our literature has been dominated for too long by those who inhabit the cosmopolitan citadels.

  7. We will not lose ourselves in the elaboration of theories or ideologies. Our words will be elemental. We write with dirt under our fingernails.

  8. The end of the world as we know it is not the end of the world full stop. Together, we will find the hope beyond hope, the paths which lead to the unknown world ahead of us.



The Dark Mountain Manifesto

(excerpt)
Walking on lava

The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilisation
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Those who witness extreme social collapse at first hand seldom describe any deep revelation about the truths of human existence. What they do mention, if asked, is their surprise at how easy it is to die.

The pattern of ordinary life, in which so much stays the same from one day to the next, disguises the fragility of its fabric. How many of our activities are made possible by the impression of stability that pattern gives? So long as it repeats, or varies steadily enough, we are able to plan for tomorrow as if all the things we rely on and don’t think about too carefully will still be there. When the pattern is broken, by civil war or natural disaster or the smaller-scale tragedies that tear at its fabric, many of those activities become impossible or meaningless, while simply meeting needs we once took for granted may occupy much of our lives.

What war correspondents and relief workers report is not only the fragility of the fabric, but the speed with which it can unravel. As we write this, no one can say with certainty where the unravelling of the financial and commercial fabric of our economies will end. Meanwhile, beyond the cities, unchecked industrial exploitation frays the material basis of life in many parts of the world, and pulls at the ecological systems which sustain it.

Precarious as this moment may be, however, an awareness of the fragility of what we call civilisation is nothing new.

‘Few men realise,’ wrote Joseph Conrad in 1896, ‘that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief in the safety of their surroundings.’ Conrad’s writings exposed the civilisation exported by European imperialists to be little more than a comforting illusion, not only in the dark, unconquerable heart of Africa, but in the whited sepulchres of their capital cities. The inhabitants of that civilisation believed ‘blindly in the irresistible force of its institutions and its morals, in the power of its police and of its opinion,’ but their confidence could be maintained only by the seeming solidity of the crowd of like-minded believers surrounding them. Outside the walls, the wild remained as close to the surface as blood under skin, but the city-dweller was no longer equipped to face it directly.

The remainder of the essay can be read online: Dark Mountain manifesto.


Paul is the author of One No, Many Yeses and Real England. He was deputy editor of The Ecologist between 1999 and 2001. His first poetry collection, Kidland, is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry. His website is www.paulkingsnorth.net

Dougald writes the blog Changing the World (and other excuses for not getting a proper job). He is a former BBC journalist and has written for and edited various online and offline magazines. His website is www.dougald.co.uk

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Editorial Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The "Eight principles of uncivilisation" are expanded in the Dark Mountain manifesto (also available as PDF or purchased as a limited-edition, hand-stitched pamphlet.

See the site for the blog and information about their upcoming festival May 28-30.

Several Energy Bulletin contributors are on their Blogroll, including John Michael Greer, Sharon Astyk, Rob Hopkins and Dmitry Orlov. Also mentioned are Wendell Berry and Ivan Illich.

George Monbiot recently wrote a column in the Guardian about Dark Mountain Project: I share their despair, but I'm not quite ready to climb the Dark Mountain.

On Common Dreams, Robert C. Koehler wrote a related piece: Dark Green.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original article available here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our American Objectives

"Our national goals must be to rejuvenate the domestic economy; transfer the economic basis of our nation from consumptive to productive; recapitalize education and the technologies industries; achieve complete energy independence; move towards renewable energy sources;
restore public confidence in the government's ability to undertake large national infrastructure projects, and re-assert its right to set goals and policies to ensure those projects proceed smoothly; define the overarching standards for a reconstructed America including a federal review of the building and planning codes now in use, and probably the writing of new mandates that set out 21st-century standards and priorities for energy use, urban and transportation planning, and environmental design, which once put into law and accepted into general use, will be very difficult to change; commit funding for a massive 10- or 20-year program that will upgrade or replace failing components of America's infrastructure as the nation is broke (as it was in FDR's day) and this kind of spending needs to be seen as the long-term investment in our economic future that it is; restore a fair, honest, broad-based system of public contracting that will put large numbers of Americans to work on these new projects (and write the new rules in a way that ensures that the firms doing the most innovative work don't have to compete with unfair behemoth corporations like Halliburton and Lockheed for the lion's share of the funding) so that once there is a healthy, competitive construction industry that knows how to build sustainable projects—and is relying on the government to keep it in business—we will get a political constituency that will fight to ensure that the rebuilding will continue for the next several decades, regardless of what political party is in power; use the forces of globalization and information to strengthen and expand existing democratic alliances and created new ones; employ these alliances to destroy terrorist networks and establish new international security structures; lead, through our historic principles, on international cooperative efforts in spreading economic opportunity and democratic liberties, nation building, counter-prolification, and optimum environmental protection and safeguards; and cherish, honor, and protect our history and traditions of liberty and freedoms domestically particularly with respect to the Bill of Rights."

"The renewed social contract for America with its middle class and poor must:
  • Raise the minimum wage still higher and on a regular basis. It has fallen far behind increases in inflation since the 1970s, and that affects higher level wages as well.
  • Encourage living-wage programs by local governments. Governments can demand that their contractors and suppliers pay well above the minimum wage. There is substantial evidence that this does not result in an undue loss of jobs.
  • Enforce the labor laws vigilantly. Minimum-wage and maximum-hour laws are violated to a stunning degree. American workers shouldn't be forced by their employers to understate the number of hours worked or be locked in the warehouse so they can't leave on time. Workers often make only $2 and $3 an hour.
  • Unions are not seeking a free pass to organize secretly when they advocate for open check-offs on cards to approve of a union vote. They are seeking to organize without persistent and often illegal management interference. Penalties for illegally deterring such organizing are so light, it makes little sense for management not to pursue strategies to stop organizing even at the cost of prosecution.
  • Request that trading partners develop serious environmental standards and worker-protection laws. This is good for them, bringing a progressive revolution and a robust domestic market to their countries. It is good for America, which will be able to compete on a more level playing field.
  • Demand that the president, governors and mayors speak up about unconscionable executive salaries and low wages. The influence from the top cannot be underestimated. A president who looks the other way sends a strong signal to business. A president who demands responsible treatment of workers will get a response. Business does not like such attention.
  • These measures should be accompanied by serious investment in modernized infrastructure and energy alternatives, which can create millions of domestic jobs that pay good salaries. It should also be accompanied by a policy that supports a lower dollar -- contrary to Rubinomics -- in order to stimulate manufacturing exports again. Accomplishing this may require a new system of semi-fixed currencies across the globe. The unabashed high-dollar policy of the past twenty years has led to imbalances around the world that have contributed fundamentally to US overindebtedness.
  • And finally, the nation needs more balance on the part of the Federal Reserve between subduing inflation and creating jobs. Americans can live with inflation above 2 percent a year. There is no academic evidence to support a 2 percent annual target, although the Fed has made this its informal target."

The Continuing Case for The Second Bill of Rights for All American Citzens

...from Michael Lind on Salon.com on 11 January 2010 ....

The Case for Economic Rights

FDR said it and it holds 66 years later: There are benefits and opportunities every American should expect to enjoy

Three score and six years ago, the greatest president of the 20th century gave one of his greatest speeches. On Jan. 11, 1944, in a State of the Union address that deserves to be ranked with Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" and King's "I Have a Dream" speech, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for recognition of a "Second Bill of Rights." According to FDR:

"This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights -- among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty. As our nation has grown in size and stature, however -- as our industrial economy expanded -- these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness."

Roosevelt did not argue that economic rights had superseded basic, old-fashioned political and civil rights. The argument of authoritarians and totalitarians that economic rights are more important than non-economic liberty was abhorrent to him. Instead, with the examples of the fascist and communist regimes of his time in mind, he argued that the purpose of economic rights was to support and reinforce, not replace, civil and political liberties:

"We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. 'Necessitous men are not free men.' People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all -- regardless of station, race, or creed."

President Roosevelt was not promoting economic rights that were necessarily enforceable in court, but rather economic benefits and opportunities that every American should expect to enjoy by virtue of citizenship in our democratic republic. Many of the rights he identified have been secured by programs with bipartisan support. These include:

"the right to a good education" (the G.I. Bill, student loans, Pell Grants, Head Start, federal aid to K-12 schools) and

"the right of every family to a decent home" (federally subsidized home loans and tax breaks for home ownership). But even before the global economic crisis, the U.S. fell short when it came to full employment --

"the right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation"

-- and a living wage --

"the right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation."

Roosevelt's vision was controversial at the time and is contested today. When it comes to providing a safety net for Americans, there are three distinct paradigms, which I would describe as economic citizenship, welfare corporatism and faith-based charity.

Supporters of faith-based charity among "theoconservatives" such as Marvin Olasky argue that modern social insurance like Social Security and Medicare was a mistake. The medieval British and colonial American systems of relying on religious institutions to care for the sick and poor should have been continued and built upon, with government subsidies to "faith-based institutions."

The secular business-class right, however, has shown little interest in faith-based charity, perhaps because it is difficult for rent-seeking bankers, brokers and other private sector actors to extract huge amounts of money from tax-exempt church hospitals and church soup lines. The right's preferred alternative to the progressive vision of economic citizenship is what I call "welfare corporatism." Whereas economic citizenship views protection against sickness, unemployment and old age as entitlements of citizens in a democratic republic, welfare corporatism treats these necessities of life as commodities like groceries or appliances, to be purchased in a market by people who are thought of as consumers, not citizens.

Let's contrast ideal versions of the two approaches. In the ideal America of economic citizenship, there would be a single, universal, integrated, lifelong system of economic security including

single-payer healthcare,

Social Security, unemployment payments and

family leave

paid for by a single contributory payroll tax (which could be made progressive in various ways or reduced by combination with other revenue streams). Funding for all programs would be entirely nationalized, although states could play a role in administration. There would still be supplementary private markets in health and retirement products and services for the affluent, but most middle-class Americans would continue to rely primarily on the simple, user-friendly public system of economic security. As Steven Attewell points out, the Social Security Act of 1935 was intended not merely to provide public pensions for the elderly but to establish a framework for a comprehensive system of social insurance corresponding to President Roosevelt's "right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment." Attewell writes: "We need to go back to the original drawing board -- the Social Security Act of 1935 -- to finish the job it began and create a truly universal and comprehensive social welfare state."

In the utopia of welfare corporatism, today's public benefits -- Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance and, in a few states, public family leave programs -- would be abolished and replaced by harebrained schemes dreamed up by libertarian ideologues at corporate-funded think tanks like the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation. Tax subsidies would be funneled to insurance companies, brokers and banks. Social Security would be replaced by a bewildering miscellany of tax-favored personal savings accounts. Medicare would be replaced by a dog's breakfast of tax subsidies for purchasing health insurance and personal medical savings accounts. Unemployment insurance would give way to yet another Rube Goldberg scheme of tax-favored unemployment insurance accounts. As for family leave -- well, if you're not wealthy enough to pay out of pocket for a nanny for your child or a nurse for your parent, you're out of luck.

The strongest case for economic citizenship instead of welfare corporatism is economic. Economic citizenship is more efficient and cheaper in the long run, because the government need only meet costs, while subsidized private providers must make a profit. The Democratic and Republican supporters of welfare corporatism justify their system of massive subsidies for for-profit healthcare and retirement security with the claim that market competition will keep down prices. If only that were true. Competitive markets are probably impossible to create, in the highly regulated insurance sector and the highly concentrated financial sector that sells private retirement goods and services.

It follows that a policy of subsidizing oligopolies and monopolies, via government subsidies to consumers, in the absence of government-imposed price controls, is a recipe for cost inflation, as the providers jack up their prices, sending the consumers back to Congress to demand even more public subsidies. By its very nature, welfare corporatism funnels public resources, in the form of tax breaks, to rent-seeking, predatory firms in the FIRE (finance, insurance, real estate) sector, with ever-swelling dead-weight costs on the economy. Welfare corporatism equals corporate welfare.

Unfortunately, most progressives have failed to make the case against the libertarian myth of market competition in the provision of social insurance. All too many, including President Obama, have made the too-clever-by-half argument that the public option would keep prices down by means of market competition. In other words, the center-left has borrowed a bogus argument about competition from right-wing free-market fundamentalism in order to defend a token public program that ceased to be of any interest once Obama and the Democrats in Congress ruled that Americans with employer-provided insurance would be banned from joining the public option. When you're reduced to parroting the opposition's erroneous theories, in the process of begging for a slight modification of the opposition's pet program, you clearly don't have the nerve or the patience to play the long game in politics.

In a response to one of my earlier columns, Will Marshall wonders how I can dare to criticize the legacy of Bill Clinton, a Democrat. My reasons should be clear by now. I am not a partisan Democratic operative focused on winning the next election. I am interested only in strengthening the republic through a gradual expansion of economic citizenship in the tradition of Franklin Roosevelt's Second Bill of Rights. If this means criticizing Democratic presidents who expand welfare corporatism instead of economic citizenship, so be it.

As part of his opportunistic policy of triangulation between his own party and the opposition, Bill Clinton joined the Republicans in a three-pronged assault on New Deal economic citizenship. He and the Republican Congress abolished Aid to Families With Dependent Children, a flawed and unpopular means-tested program for the poor that should have been reformed as a national program rather than turned over to the states as the neo-Confederate right insisted. Instead of piecemeal expansion of single-payer healthcare, Clinton pushed a version of employer-based welfare corporatism plus subsidies that came out of the playbook of moderate Republicans like Nixon. And we now know that Clinton secretly agreed to support Newt Gingrich's drive to partly privatize Social Security, in return for dedicating the federal government's imaginary future surpluses to what was left of Social Security. In 2005, Will Marshall argued in favor of private accounts, on the grounds that they would soften up Americans for cuts in Social Security: "If today's workers start saving and investing more in stocks and bonds, the returns they earn would allow us to trim their Social Security benefits later, without reducing their overall standard of living."

While George W. Bush pushed for partial privatization of Social Security, he failed because of massive public opposition. But Bush and the Republican majority in Congress succeeded in enacting the Social Security drug benefit, a flawed but genuine expansion of economic citizenship. Clinton is the only president to have successfully supported the destruction of a New Deal entitlement, while Bush presided over the greatest expansion of the Rooseveltian entitlement system since Lyndon Johnson passed Medicare.

For his part, Barack Obama, like Bill Clinton, rejected single-payer in favor of a moderately conservative welfare corporatist approach to healthcare reform. In contrast, Obama's proposal for student loan reform, an idea discussed in the Clinton years, would move in the right direction, away from welfare corporatism and toward economic citizenship, by replacing subsidized third-party lenders with direct government provision of student loans to needy college students.

Parties are coalitions of interest groups, they are not public philosophies, and presidents, great and minor, are and have to be opportunists. In contrast, reformers only have a chance of succeeding if they stick to their basic principles and keep their eyes on the prize. Progressives should support any politician, Democrat or Republican, who expands economic citizenship to the detriment of welfare corporatism, and they should oppose any politician, Democrat or Republican, who expands welfare corporatism to the detriment of economic citizenship.

Any more questions?

Monetary Cost of Iraq War

31 December 2009

Some 2010 Outlooks

Here are several links that contain projections and outlooks about the upcoming year 2010. One would have to say most of these columns can be described overall as being negative .

Robert Reich:

http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2010/01/whats-ahead-for-economy-and-politics-in.html

James Kunstler:

http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/12/forecast-2010.html#more


Paul Krugman:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/opinion/01krugman.html?hp


George Washington Blog:

http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2009/12/will-americans-reclaim-our-nation-in.html


Bond Dad Blog:

http://bonddad.blogspot.com/2009/12/silveroz-economic-predictions-for-2010.html


Jon Talton:

http://roguecolumnist.typepad.com/rogue_columnist/2009/12/the-2010-thing.html


Sharon Astyk:

http://energybulletin.net/node/51105


Patrick Killelea:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/les-leopold/the-new-decade-billionair_b_405345.html?source=patrick.net


Ben Jones:

http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=5808


Watching History:

http://www.watchinghistory.com/2009/12/predictions-for-2010.html


Karl Schwarz at rense.com

http://www.rense.com/general89/pred.htm


*****
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30 December 2009

Mountain Time Zone Blog 2010 Outlook and Projections

The year 2010 will be as challenging, if not more so, than the year 2009. This writer sees little improvement, if at all, in the lives of most American citizens. The slow deterioration of the United States will continue on unabated, and very well could worsen at a faster pace than anticipated if certain circumstances eventuate. With that being said, here are some specifics:

1. Unemployment will continue to be the most immediate serious problems facing American citizens. The U-3 unemployment rate will see little decrease in 2010, and is likely to inch upward. The forecast here is for the rate to wobble between 9.7 and 11.2 %. The more accurate and realistic U-6 unemployment rate will continue to be grim and will worsen, as more citizens are resigned to just part-time work or are underemployed; and the numbers of those who have just given up and dropped out to live off of relatives and friends will increase. The U-6 rate will be between 17.0 and 21.0 % during 2010, and the seriousness of this crisis is likely to be statistically understated.

2. With demand remaining soft at best, and likely declining, there will be little if any inflation in 2010 for prices for consumer goods, and raw materials prices should remain static as well. Possible exceptions exist for food prices, which are contingent upon weather and other factors; but do not expect any notable upticks. Sales and markdowns will continue to increase with retailers, and some great deals will be had by those who are particularly observant. A risk of inflation is a growing cloud on the horizon, but large factors remain uncertain in trying to access this looming threat and possible disaster in the next several years in the form of hyperinflation.

3. GDP will have an up and down year, with a range of <1.6> to +2.2 % in quarterly changes. The first quarter will be decent with a minimal increase, but the final two quarters should see declines. Demand will continue to be soft at best, and nonexistent to an extent for some goods and services. Most nonessential manufacturing will be all but completely shut down. The second half of 2010 will be worse than the first half, and it is clearly possible the US will collapse into a second or echo recession far worse than the one that statistically ended in late summer of 2009.

4. Corporations have largely found the solution to keep themselves alive, and that is to hoard cash and run lean and mean. That means little if any investment and growth, and keeping inventory, staffing, and hiring to a minimum, with continuing downscaling and layoffs in order to keep stock prices at a optimal level. Small business will remain moribund with little expansion and growth in the coming year. One place where failures will increase is with banks. After 140 failures in 2009, expect bank failures to near and possibly exceed 200 in number. Of course, large banks, buttressed by federal bailouts, will report record revenues and profits, and bonuses and payouts to executives and management will be appallingly obscene as these entities continue to only affirm their place as the dominant institution and power players in the United States, and to a slightly lessor extent, globally.

5. Housing values and prices will continue downward at varying paces depending on the location and region. Overall, nationally housing prices will lose about 5 - 8 %, but some places will see a decline just in 2010 of better than 20 - 25 %. There is such a huge supply of available homes and overbuilt communities to fully dispel any price growth. New home construction is largely dead across the nation and will continue to be so for the next few years. Federal tax credit programs will help allow for some sales and existing home improvements, but these programs could expire which will only worsen matters. Home values and prices remain several years away from a bottom, and a generation or more away in some areas.

6. One area completely certain to increase and worsen will be with foreclosures. 2010 could see the total number of foreclosures exceed three million in number with a large number of unconventional mortgages due to adjust this year, as well as increased unemployment and hardship. The ever increasing number of vacant houses due to foreclosures only contributes to declining home values and prices, and bloats the inventory.

7. A number of states will struggle with massive budget deficits, and will continue to ruthlessly reduce services and programs to the most helpless and unfortunate in society: children, women, the elderly, handicapped, undereducated, and infirm. Some states will have to borrow money from the federal government just to meet mandatory obligations like unemployment compensation. A state declaring bankruptcy is not out of the question. Among the states in the most dire straits include California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan, and New York.

8. Oil prices largely went up throughout 2009, and this trend is likely to continue in 2o10. The forecast here is for the benchmark price of a barrel of oil to be between $70 and $110, with the higher end more the trend than the lower end. Only because demand is relatively soft does the price not approach the 2008 numbers. Of course, a significant world event or crisis could lead to prices spiking temporarily higher, but a spike of this order is likely to be a short term occurrence lasting less than 3 months, but it would result in a higher base price being set for the next year out.

9. Global warming and climate change will continue unabated and still somewhat unnoticed on a macro level outside of the northern and southern latitudes, and by those in the know. The biggest consequence of the change now being observed is much more severe storms, with torrential rainfall and flooding occurring. Heatwaves will also increase, but probably not yet to an extent where concern by most people increases. 2010 is likely to be recorded as the hottest year on the planet, but North America will not share in that number for the most part. The Arctic icecap should shrink to a record size of smallest extent, and continuing changes in Antarctica will be observed that are troubling. Loss of fauna and flora species is underway, but noteworthy losses will not be finalized in 2010, but the downward trend toward an inevitable end will continue unabated both for the known and largely unknown species globally. This writer believes the year of the big jolt of change of global warming is now perhaps as few as just a few years away and no later than around 2018. The Planet Earth is headed towards a 4 degrees C global temperature increase within a generation.

10. The 2010 elections are likely to see Republican advances, resulting in a stalemate for the remaining two years of the Obama administration on legislative and policy agenda. Expect little if any legislative successes in 2010 and no policy successes to address vital American citizen issues such as climate change, poverty, infrastructure, labor, and income inequality. World affairs will continue to take an inordinate amount of the administration's focus and direction, with the eternal unrest and crisis across the Middle East; growing instances of terrorism, fatalities, and uncertainty with Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and beyond; increasing saber rattling by Russia, North Korea, and Iran; paradoxical perils and fears with China and its economy, military, and aspirations on the world stage; and growing famine and hunger in increasing numbers globally. Terrorist strikes and increased insurgency and unrest in places like Pakistan and Yemen are likely to result in expanded American and allied military presences there.

11. The price of gold will continue to rise with a threshold exceeding $1350 per ounce met during the year. Meanwhile the US dollar will continue to decline, slowly easing downward relative to other currencies throughout 2010 for the most part. 2010 very well could be the end for the dollar as the global benchmark currency as moves are underway in a number of nations to end that status. An increase in that trend would be disastrous for the American currency in almost unimaginable ways. The possibility of a collapse of the US currency grows more likely as each years goes by.

12. Stock indexes are now proven to be completely irrational and out of touch with the nation at whole. With that realization, the range expected to be seen in most indexes will undergo minimal changes. Expect a range of about 10-15 % either way throughout the year, as the Dow, NASDAQ, S&P, and others increasingly prove to be quite irrelevant in the true big picture.

13. Credit availability will be but absent across the nation, and even large, established proven organizations will find it difficult to find any financing even if they want to grow and expand. There will only be a handful of mergers proposed at all. The staggering federal deficit will cast a tall shadow over the nation's economy, stifling opportunity and improvement for most. Federal rates will remain largely near zero and unchanged for the year ahead as they have in 2009.

14. Finally, and most importantly, Americans will continue to grow increasingly disillusioned and dispassioned. A malaise has grown across the nation, and many Americans have responded by withdrawing and hunkering down and holing up. Ratings for NFL and college football have set tremendous records this autumn which reflects this trend. Frugality, self-sustainment, and self-substanance are the order of the day now for most and increasingly more people in the United States. Expect low turnout in elections this year which will only prove to help Republicans score gains in many regions. The only possibility to the the opposite is the possible split of the Democratic Party with the formation of a progressive, anti-corporatist third party which could grow into a significant player for the 2012 election.

*
As stated last year, All in all, 2010 is looking to be a worse year than '09, mainly due to all the problems that were created in past years and have been festering, waiting for right time to explode. Very few citizens will be able to avoid having mud land on them to at least a small extent, giving them great pain and increased hardship and tragedy. The US continues to take significant steps towards state fascism, with corporations that parts of oligopolies continuing to gain power and financial wealth at the expense of the American citizen and their long beautiful history of democracy and direct-election voting.

*****

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17 December 2009

THR 17 December News Articles & Opinion

Here are the news articles and columns of today and recently that have caught my attention, with some opinions on them.

America's Greatest Historical Failure

The lack of any strong sense of strong pro-people social policy development and reductions in what few did grow in the mid 20th Century can clearly be seen relative to other nations globally, and has great consequences for most of the citizenry, as well as other peoples and nations around the world. Unfortunately we are in a deep cycle where no maturing and policy enlightenment is possible beyond a minimal level for at least another decade and probably beyond.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23519

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Comparing Phoenix and Seattle

When reading these observations, Seattle clearly comes out as the place to live.

http://roguecolumnist.typepad.com/rogue_columnist/2009/12/phoenix-and-seattle.html#more

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*****
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16 December 2009

WED 16 December News Articles & Opinion

The day's news articles of interest with some of my opinion included on some.

Chomsky on the Crisis of Capitalism

If one reads between the lines, he is saying the political economic system that has been the US for its existence is rapidly getting on thin ice and seemingly headed for utter collapse and disolution.

http://bostonreview.net/BR34.5/chomsky.php?chom

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Grim Future Concerning Unemployment

I do not expect unemployment to be reduced to an acceptable level, such as 6 %, for many years. U-6 unemployment is likely to stay above 12 % at best for the foreseeable future, perhaps forever.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/226426?GT1=43002

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Interesting Historical Comparison

History does repeat itself, but often with different results and consequences.

http://tpjmagazine.us/ardell41

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Troubles with LED Traffic Signal Lighting

Solving this problem is very simple and inexpensive.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34436730/ns/us_news-life

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How the Mountain West has Endured in The Economic Collapse

Colorado and Utah have generally done better than Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Idaho. Montana and Wyoming are not included in this study.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_13997421

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-12-14-housing-bust-Rockies_N.htm

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/Programs/Metro/metro_monitor/2009_12_metro_monitor/2009_12_mountain_monitor.pdf

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Bernie Sanders Leads the Charge for the Answer for Health Care Coverage

But because insurance corporations have bought most of the elected officials in Congress, his perfect proposal is doomed, which is a staggering horrendous loss for all of us.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/12/15-9

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Why China will not Rise to the Level of Greatness of the US

One opinion and analysis against the possibility of Chinese dominance.

http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2009/12/december-15-2009-why-china-wont-succeed.html

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Ice Free Arctic Forecast Goes Back to 2007

I believe I posted this report when it came out nearly three years ago, and still the mainstream and right wing media and their corporate and government lackeys and slackjaws continue to mercilessly attack the premise, with their usual lack of scientific and intellectual insight.

http://climateprogress.org/2009/12/15/gore-derangement-syndrome/#more-15970

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The California Central Valley: Well on Its Way to Becoming Another Death Valley

Agricultural output in this important region is already in steep decline, and the desertification of much of the land here is already underway. Desertification will increase and intensify notably in the coming decade, as the federal government are ill-prepared in every way to deal with this crisis.

http://skywatch-media.com/2009/12/new-dust-bowl.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGreatRedComet-earthScienceChronicles+%28The+Great+Red+Comet-Earth+Science+Chronicles%29

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The Looming Bankruptcy of California and Its Impact

The odds of a state default by California at this point are about two in five, and increasing. The effects of such an action would be devastating to the nation at large, and even globally. An added increase of three to seven points in the U-3 unemployment rate would likely occur within one year, and the U-6 unemployment rate would be in excess of 25 %.

http://www.newgeography.com/content/001274-what-happens-when-california-defaults?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Newgeography+%28Newgeography.com+-+
Economic%2C+demographic%2C+and+political+commentary+about+places%29

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Wind Power Expansion Chances Across Wyoming

Having been a resident of the state in the past, the entrenched strength of the old boy network, public bureacracy, and an almost universal opposition to change by nearly all the citizenry and businesses in state will keep the potential of this energy goldmine from probably ever being realized. The citizens of the state could make out like bandits much as their Alaskan counterparts have with oil, but it won't happen. Yesteryear rules across Wyoming.

http://www.hcn.org/issues/41.22/wind-resistance

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09 December 2009

Is the American Dynasty in Decline? The Charts Don't Lie ... - Sphere News

The statistics and facts presented here clearly show the United States is in a seriously sharp decline.

Is the American Dynasty in Decline? The Charts Don't Lie ... - Sphere News

http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/is-the-american-dynasty-in-decline-the-charts-dont-lie-/19270267

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05 December 2009

SAT 5 December News Articles & Opinion

Here is a news article that caught my attention:

Clinton Era Welfare Reform Fails Nation Miserably in Era of Economic Collapse

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2009/12/why-welfare-reform-fails-its-recession-test.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EconomistsView+%28Economist%27s+View+%28EconomistsView%29%29

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04 December 2009

FRI 4 December News Articles & Opinion

Friday the 5th of December has these couple of news items that were of interest to me.

November U-6 Unemployment Remains Largely Static

The numbers at this point show a tiny minuscule improvement, likely to be revised for the worse in the coming weeks.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

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Climate Change Naysayers Funded by Evil Triad Giant Exxon

Mindless inane naysayers, basically flat-earthers, leading the simpletons and naive down the path to inevitable ruin then doom ....

http://rawstory.com/2009/12/climate-skeptic-group-nipcc-extensive-ties-exxonmobil/

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Single Payer Still on the Slate, but Optimism Concerning Its Possible Success Limited

I truly wish Senator Sanders' direction is the one the nation would take, but one of the Evil Triad, insurance corporations, will ensure its defeat to ensure their greed, power, and profits.

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/december/sanders-offers-medicare-for-all-amendment-in-senate

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/03-8

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Bunning's Best Pitches Ever -- and He had Two No-Hitters in Major League Baseball !

Barnanke and his inept cronies need to go -- the sooner the better.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/12/senator-bunning-to-bernanke-you-are.html

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Professor Krugman Raises Two Serious and Dangerous Warnings

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/double-dip-warning/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/opinion/04krugman.html?hp


Negatives of Obama Administration's Afghanistan Policy

Senator Russ Feingold, an excellent choice to succeed Obama if the President opts not for re-election in 2012, has some great insight on the fundamental flaws of the Administration's policy direction concerning Afghanistan.

http://www.waow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11608873

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/12/better-military-strategy-for.html

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The US is Becoming the 1980s Version of the USSR

All military, no manufacturing, no economic core, no justice or progress, just the Military Industrial Complex and an increasing omniscient Corpocracy, or more accuratey, a Corporate Communism overwhelmingly dominated and controlling state.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/obamas-financiers-okay-extra-60-billion-for-pentagon/

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Morocco: The Good Side and The Bad Side

USA Today had a great article in their travel section that made Morocco out to be quite exciting and a forward thinking place, but there is a deep dark ugly side that Americans are unaware of.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2009-12-03-morocco-tourism_N.htm

http://www.alternet.org/story/144334/the_other_occupation%3A_western_sahara_and_the_case_of_aminatou_haidar

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Denver Metro Area Loses Nearly 4 % of Employment in Last Year

http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/11/30/daily45.html

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Link of the Day

http://www.banksterusa.org/

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03 December 2009

THR 3 December News Articles and Opinion

Here are the items that are of interest to me:

Top Ten All But Unheard News Reports of 2009

From Foreign Policy:

1) Opening of the Northwest Passage
2) Looming War in Iraq between Arabs and Kurds
3) Greater Communication between China and India
4) Another more harsher housing bubble bursts in 2010
5) Failures in Iraq and Afghanistan
6) Brazil and China cozying up militarily
7) Serious security issues with US Passports process
8) Chechen government committing murder globally
9) US military participation in Ugandan Civil War
10) College education specifically for Spies

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/30/the_top_10_stories_you_missed_in_2009?page=0,0

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The Eternal Intra-American Conflict

I largely agree with the conclusions in this article.

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=fed_up_with_federalism

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James Hansen on Cap-and-Trade

Cap-and-Trade is a very bad policy idea and should never see the light of day. The enactment of it dooms Earth to incredible deadly global warming and climate change beyond imagination and in a much faster period of time than has speculated and projected.

http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2009/12/worlds-leading-global-warming-crusader.html

America Has Been in Collapse since Early 1970s

The information and statistics bear out what I have fully known: we have been going downhill for over 35 years, and what increases and maintenance in the standard of living and quality of life have been due to deficit spending, overuse and misuse of credit, and, most critically, the full fledged participation of women, namely mothers, into the working world which has had devastating consequences for the family, community, and society.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-warren/america-without-a-middle_b_377829.html

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02 December 2009

WED 2 December News Articles and Opinion

Here are a couple of news articles that have caught my eye today.

Idaho Projected to Set Pace in Job Growth Through 2015

http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13903603

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Gold Nears $1,225.00 per Ounce

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-taps-more-records-nears-1225-2009-12-02

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Google to Map Out Economic Consequences of Global
Warming and Climate Change on California

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/google-helps-california-visualize-climate-chaos-2009-12-02

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Lives Knowing Nothing but War

It has been over eight years since the US launched combat operations in Afghanistan, and over six and a half years in Iraq. Prior to these military operations, the longest war fought by the US was in Vietnam, from the spring of '65 until the spring of '73. Other unofficial long wars include the Cold War against the USSR from 1945 until 1990, and the frontier wars of conquest against the native Indian tribes and peoples on the North American continent that lasted from early in the 17th century until near 1900. The combined length of both WWI and WWII were less than five and a half years, which says alot about what this mission has been all about and the level of commitment and sacrifice the government, businesses, and citizens of the US are williing to take on.

It is indeed sad to ponder this and all the waste and futility that has occurred. And it is all but absolutely certain these wars will continue on much as The Cold War and Indian Conquest Frontier Wars did for decades to come.

http://agonist.org/nat_wilson_turner/20091202/alan_grayson_on_afghanistan

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/world/asia/02strategy.html?_r=1&hpw

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01 December 2009

Opinion on Afghanistan Troop Increase Plan

As President Obama plans to announce yet another increase in troop numbers in the Middle East quagmire known as Afghanistan, my opinion remains unchanged. The US needs to leave Afghanistan militarily, withdrawing all troops within six months or less. This decision by Obama is wrong and will come back to bite him horrendously.

Dozens of empires in the last several millennia have failed in their endeavors in Afghanistan. The British Empire to a certain extent and the USSR to a large extent were brought down by their prolonged ineffective military presence in Afghanistan. History will repeat itself yet again, this time for the US in increasing likelihood with this poor decision.

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/9931

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/12/what-empires-have-said-throughout.html

http://whatreallyhappened.com/content/death-warrant-future

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TUE 1 December News Articles & Opinion

This blog will put up links to news articles of interest, often in relation to the Mountain states region, on a regular or daily basis. Commentary will accompany some of the links.

10 Years of Wasatch Front Light Rail Mass Transit

There are several cities throughout the region that need to step up efforts to get rail systems of their own initiated or grown, including El Paso, Albuquerque, Tucson, Las Vegas, Boise, Cheyenne, Casper, Billings, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Grand Junction, and Missoula. Regional and area high speed mass transit is also long overdue in almost every part of the region.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13896363

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A New Educational Approach

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/nyregion/30forest.html?_r=1&em

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An Exciting Archeological Discovery

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/science/01arch.html?em=&pagewanted=all

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Climate Change Deniers Horse Manure

There is no cover-up or chicanery concerning Global Warming and Climate Change. It is already here, getting far more worse daily, and is largely caused by man made activities such as fossil fuel burning, wide-scale sprawl and development, continued irresponsible unabated human population growth, deforestation, and epic levels of pollution. The sad thing is that corporations and their government lackeys, along with small minded and closed minded simpletons, are preventing any policy change from happening that will lessen the impact of this greatest change in human history from happening starkly and horrifically in the coming years and decades.


http://www.alternet.org/story/144188/the_real_scandal_over_climate_change_isn%27t_about_hacked_emails_but_the_media%27s_coverage

http://climateprogress.org/2009/12/02/climategate-newsweek-nasa-james-hansen-deniers-climate-science/

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Mount Taylor Long Overdue to Become Federally Protected and Preserved

The entire Mount Taylor region desperately needs to be designated as a national park and historical area, removing it from any further development and ecological scarring. The economic benefits of an act like this would be tremendous to the impoverished area of Grants, NM, a sadsack town that clings on the obsolete economy of the past like much of New Mexico in hope of recapturing yesteryear. A national monument would springboard that area of Cibola County into a more forward direction.

http://www.hcn.org/issues/41.21/dueling-claims

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Deflation and Rising Interest Rates Simultaneously:
It has Happened in History and Looks to Be
Happening in 2010 in the United States

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/12/keynesians-are-wrong-you-can-have.html

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