A Nation of Legalized Theft

We are living in a country that has been stolen. We no longer have a "Free Market" and we no longer have a "Democracy". We live in a nation where the system has been deliberately broken. Wealthy families have managed to purchase our government, and through purchasing them they have managed to enact laws that ensure their own prosperity. Laws that have created the largest wealth gap in the history of any modern, industrial nation since the french revolution. This is the fall of Rome all over again. We are a glowing plutocracy, a nation run by the wealthy, with laws established only for the benefit of the 1%. This 1% is so wealthy they can give away 90% of what they earn, invest 90% of what they keep, and still be unable to spend their wealth faster than they earn it. Even people like myself, at the 99% salary mark, can not imagine this wealth gap between myself and the 1%... The gap is so great, that if we graphed it on a football field, the wealth of the 99% would stand 3 feet off the ground at the 99 yard line, and the goal line representing the 1% wealthy would be in the outer atmosphere of the earth..

We live in a nation of corrupt politicians who have legalized their own bribery and kick-backs. They are placed into office, in order to make it legal for the wealthy, the corporations, the banks, and wall street to STEAL FROM US by passing the deregulation they were bribed and put into office to pass... The wealthy then have tricked people into joining organizations like the "tea Party" started by Koch Industries, and have created FOX News as a 24 hour propaganda machine.

Organizations that funded by these same billionaires, often under shadow companies with catchy "national" sounding names (like Koch Industries' "Americans for Prosperity" which has nothing to do with America or the nation's prosperity) are convincing people to march down the street saying "Please let them steal more from me" under the false, misguided notion that it will "create jobs". These people having no idea that these jobs never actually VANISHED, they were just shipped overseas for profit.

The rhetoric today is "All you people who don't like having people steal from you, are just LAZY, bleeding heart hippies, and you don't want to work! You are jealous of the wealthy, you hate success because you aren't successful". The Occupy Wall Street crowd is doing what needs to be done, doing everything they can do short of bloody revolution (which if things don't change, will eventually come). To me they are heroes. They are the people pushed to the breaking point, who are smart enough to see the reality of our plutocracy (this term coined by Citibank in an internal memo). The reality of our station is that this government no longer "We the People". We no longer have a government "Of the People, by the people, for the people" - we are a plutocracy. We are in a place where the wealthy 1% (who are mostly born that way) don't work. They have their family money handed down on a silver platter the day they were born (like the Koch Brother's who's daddy invented the process of converting oil to gasoline, or Paris Hilton who is only famous because she is rich). We live in a country with the largest wealth gap of any industrial nation (even larger than many countries we consider "3rd world"). We have banks that STOLE MY SAVINGS that I worked 15 years to MAKE. When I watched my personal stock value drop from over a million dollars down to about 100K in value, these thieves on Wall Street and at the banks made RECORD PROFIT off my loss which they caused deliberately. These kids out there protesting (many are students) are paying for college out of pocket on back breaking loans because a lot of them had their college funds pillaged by the government, meanwhile our job competitors in India and Singapore and Holland and China have college and vocational education paid for by their governments.

The Federal Reserve bank (which is not federally owned by the way) has sole control over printing our money, which makes the money YOU HAVE in the BANK worth LESS whenever they do. They print that money and give it to the banks as loans, who then tax YOU AND ME to pay the interest. I pay over 30% in income taxes while billionaires pay 15% because their income comes from Wall Street in the form of capital gains. They are using my money and savings and investments in market gain, losing it's value, in order to make money for themselves. My retirement account is drained by their hedge funds while they control the market fluctuations for profit (the reason hedging was illegal before the mid 90s is because it was always postulated that market gain was driven by business success and could not be easily manipulated, while market decline could easily be caused by manipulation of the media and fear).

The banks invested in bad mortgages they never should have given out, throw them into the stock market removing the risk from them and then BET AGAINST THEM by hedging those securities to make a profit. When those worthless mortgage-backed securities failed, the banks MADE MONEY while you and I lose our 401K... These banks then take OUR TAX DOLLARS (on top of "golden parachutes" being sucked out of our government and the federal reserve for YEARS), saying it will "Save the economy and prevent a credit crisis" and use that money to go on private jets to conferences in tropical island countries and hand out huge million dollar bonuses to the CEO's who crashed our economy.

Today, I can't get a loan to purchase a foreclosure next door to me. A house vacant for the past 2 years, and selling for 1/2 what it will be worth in a few short years. I make over 200K/year and have almost zero debt and a 720 point credit rating, and I can't find a bank willing to loan me the money to purchase this house selling for almost nothing... why? Because banks won't LOAN money for a guy like me to invest in real estate.

Our entire government is owned by these psychopaths. The owners of the billion dollar oil companies like Koch industries, who fund all their campaigns. They deliberately finance the idiotic decision making and deregulation that got us into this mess, along with chasing oil in the middle east causing 2 wars that make them billions by siphoning war profit from wars that cost us trillions in tax payer money. They direct the puppet show that stalls "recovery" (recovery from what? 2011 was a banner year for corporate America's profits).

We don't have a "Representative democracy" anymore, we have a government owned by the aristocratic billionaires who can afford to buy their own politicians. In 2011 the fortune 500 turned RECORD PROFIT... MY COMPANY made record profit, in both revenue and % margin (our best year ever, and we are a publisher of retail entertainment). So where are these jobs? Well I can speak for my company. Deferred tax liability law (thank you W. ) FORCES us (yes me included) to compete by offsetting overseas profit through hiring foreign labor - it's not that we are "evil", or choose this path. It's business, it's the best way to profit, and its exactly what we SHOULD do with the current tax laws. If we didn't do that we would fail and fold, because as a publicly traded company it's either that or watch our stock crash.

India, China, Singapore - that labor isn't better (not by a long shot) or even cheaper in direct cost, it's just practically FREE because of the tax code!!! We can write off overseas profit by hiring overseas labor due to Bush's deferred tax liability on overseas profit... ONE SIMPLE LAW would change all that and not hurt our profits, or our bottom line, or change government revenue one PENNY (well actually revenue would go up, while corporations would increase profit) - The idea is that we keep the loophole exactly as it is, deferred tax on overseas profit, but change the last bit of the bill to "AS LONG AS it returns to US soil" rather than "As long as it NEVER returns to US soil". We actually switch it so that we only defer foreign profit taxation if you are hiring US EMPLOYEES and stimulating OUR economy... It would bring all these high paying jobs back here OVERNIGHT, myself (just me) would immediately in-source the hundreds of production jobs we outsource today, increase my profit while INCREASING government revenue, not with my profit! but with the salary of US employees who would start paying taxes and buying goods and stimulating our economy even farther here in the US... Which would in the end, greatly reduce the cost of safety net spending, and increase revenue reducing our deficit even more.

The argument is this is a "Vast Conspiracy Theory" - I return to the famous line "the greatest trick the devil ever did is convincing the world he didn't exist". This concept of masking reality through calling it "crazy conspiracy theory" has been used before. The holocaust was a "crazy conspiracy theory". Global warming, is a "Crazy conspiracy theory". How long will we continue to pretend that facts can be ignored? It is a fact that the Federal reserve bank is printing money at it's sole discretion. It is a fact that this causes inflation, it is a fact that inflation hurts those who SAVED, and those who cause the inflation profit from it. It is a fact that bribery is LEGAL and that politicians can make millions of dollars in bribes that they can now simply pocket and spend however they see fit (that is what a SUPER-PAC IS!).

The Occupy Wall Street crowd, while often "free spirited" and sometimes appearing to be "Dirty hippies", aren't out there protesting the success of millionaires AT ALL. They aren't out there begging for JOBS, or refusing to TAKE jobs. They are out there protesting the THIEVES that are our entire financial system. The thieves that stole our free market, stole our government, stole our media (and even stole our religion for their own personal gain). The 1% who don't pay taxes and profit off of the destruction of our democracy and our economy, and the destruction of our previously strong entrepreneurial middle class.

So stop bashing the people fighting for YOU. Don't attack the people trying to get BACK your right to save the money YOU EARNED without having it stolen by people so rich they don't even have the ability to spend what they steal from you. Start fighting for your right to have a representative in your government who actually REPRESENTS YOU, and stop fighting against our right to HIRE AMERICANS and make things here. Stop screwing yourself because you have had your brain shut off by puppet masters who scare you into fighting for them. Bring this country back to where it was supposed to be "Of the people, by the people, for the people". YOU start fighting for YOURSELF, the 99, and the country will get better on it's own.
Simon Says

Healthcare Reform or Fraud?

Why healthcare reform? It is claimed that the cost would be less and would give better services. It is estimated that the healthcare bill will cost trillions. When you look at the overall picture you can see that it is not financially sustainable. You will have to pay hundreds of dollars before it begins to pay for your healthcare. Government is inefficient in everything it does. Private Enterprise does a much better job.

Doctors are just breaking even with Medicare patients and cannot survive if they do not have enough regular insurance patients. Many are planning on quitting the profession if the new healthcare plan is implemented because they cannot stay in business with its regulations. That will mean a shortage of doctors and long waiting lines for patients. Obama kills jobs, Romney creates them.

Is it healthcare reform or a fraud? There is a provision in the bill that the Government will be able to withdraw from your banking account and your retirement account. You will not know from one day to the next when you are going to be robbed by Uncle Sam. Capital gains tax will be increased so it will be difficult to earn money from investments.

When they were passing the healthcare bill, they said they had to pass it to find what is in it. That is like handing someone a blank check and telling them to fill in any amount they want. That is what the bill is about. It will take billions or trillions to implement and run it. Four more years with Obama will mean that we will become another third world nation. It's Romney or Greece for America.

Is it healthcare reform or a fraud? the bill is a huge job killer. Small businesses cannot afford it. It costs more and you will get fewer services. When you get to a certain age, not only will they refuse to pay for an operation, they will not permit you to spend your own money to save your own life. The decision will not be between you and your doctors, but government bureaucrat will tell you if you are going to live or die. Obama kills jobs, Romney creates them.

They seem to be trying to run things like a European nation. That is not the American way. What made this country great were capitalism, competition and self-reliance. Government regulations are choking businesses. They have to create a division that does nothing but make sure all regulations are followed. This expense keeps them from hiring productive people. The healthcare reform is in reality a fraud.

To create jobs you have to give people incentive to work hard and take risks. This administration apparently does not understand this. Businesses cannot plan for expansion because they never know when more restrictions will be added. They do not have incentives to expand because it is not financially feasible. Many businesses send their work overseas because of our high tax rate.

Where are the Jobs? Some are hiring, but the trouble is that they do not pay enough more than people getting unemployment for them to be interested. We have poured millions into the poverty fund since the Great Society and we have more poor people now than then. People usually find a job when their unemployment check runs out. People accustomed to a handout do not want to go back to work. The healthcare reform is a government fraud.

We should quit playing the race card. People should be judged on their character and not what the color of their skin is. We should stop class warfare. If wealth is distributed evenly, no one has incentive to work harder and better.

In America you can go as far as your ambition skill, and determination can take you. This Administration encourages staying on unemployment compensation for long
periods. This discourages them from using their unique talents to create wealth.

Governments have oppressed the people since Bible days. God warned Israel that they should not have a king because he would tax them heavily, take a portion of their crops and flocks and would make them his servants (1Samuel 8:10-18). They had rejected the Lord as their king and wanted a physical one. Have you rejected your God and realized that you do not know all the answers? The book, "Climbing the Heavenly Stairs," was written to help understand the Bible, and find your way to God. Do not keep going toward eternal destruction. Order this book so that you can head in the right direction. http://thelynnbradleybook.com

The Industrial Military Complex

Dwight David Eisenhower was the first 5 star general our country ever had. In 1953, he was the first Republican president since Herbert Hoover. That had been a twenty year hiatus for the Republicans. Eisenhower warned our country against the industrial military complex (IMC). Very knowledgeable in military matters, Eisenhower did not want to see the IMC taking over our country. It's been many years since he served. Today most of us probably don't even recognize his name. But his warning against the IMC should not have been ignored. Realize that the IMC spending is a huge part of our government's longtime yearly budget. It is deceitfully called defense spending.

Since the end of the World War II, our only military actions have been wars we started ourselves, or willingly joined in. Yes, the USSR was a potential military antagonist. President Ronald Reagan caused Russia to implode by expanding our military. No one will face up to what that arming cost our country. We purchased our arms only by borrowing money, mostly from Japan. In actuality, it was that our credit was better then the USSR's. The USSR couldn't borrow the necessary funds to match our expanding military, so it gave up. The trouble is that someday our grandchildren or great-grandchildren will have to pay for all these weapons. This certainly includes our present squandering of money for weapons which hopefully will never be used. This time it is mainly China financing our so-called defense budget.

There is absolutely no country on earth that can really threaten us. An invasion with ground troops is the only real threat. What county can mount an invasion? Yes, more 9/11s are probable. Wouldn't it make very good sense to take much of the IMC money and spend it on protection against terrorists? Instead our government is spending meager dollars for this effort and using the money in silly ways. The inspector general of our Homeland Security Department complained about how money for port security has been spread around to very small harbors, even inland harbors which, under the wildest dreams will never be attacked. No efforts have been undertaken yet to protect chemical plants, nuclear plants, for major port security where most shipping occurs, for hazardous waste transfer or on bioterrorism. These shortcomings have been reported by the press. Yet, money and effort has been spent on hardening in every government building in Washington, DC, but against terrorist acts. Hey, what about the rest of the country?

Still the U.S, builds aircraft carriers, submarines and extremely expensive fighter planes. Our army is lobbying for bigger and faster field guns. Typically, our military arms emphasis results mostly from the last wars. I can't even think of any of our many wars after Korea that these armaments could have been employed, except maybe that first phony Gulf War against Saddam. Before that war, Saddam hadn't even won the war he had started against Iran. Perhaps these weapons were applicable in the standoff with the USSR. The major trouble now is that when our leaders see any trouble, with all these weapons around, our country will have to use them. We will start wars as we just did in Iraq or have wars like Kosovo. Otherwise these weapons will just rot or rust. Yes, someday, not too far off, a country like China may rise up to challenge us. But by then all our current weapons will be old hat in military and the IMC's terms. They will all then be labeled outdated, so they will have to be replaced than.
Chester P. Soling / 2005-02-24

The Destruction Of The United States Of America

Louisiana State University Federal Agency Directory lists over 1,300 distinct organizations across all three branches of federal government: Legislative branch (Congress); Executive branch (President and departments and independent agencies); and Judicial branch (Supreme Court and Circuit Courts). One should question the necessity for these agencies. Excepting the Executive branch, each agency gets a 7.5 percent automatic increase in their budget every year. But, to get their increase, they are mandated to spend every penny of the previous years budget. Just to give you an idea of what that means, the 2010 budget for the department of human services was more than the entire federal budget in 1962.

In 1974 the congress, in order to avoid being held responsible for the increases in spending, enacted "the Congressional Budget Act of 1974", which, at the time, set a 10 percent increase in budget allowance for all agencies and departments within the federal government. The budget act provided that if a department spent its complete allotment, it would receive an automatic increase of 10 percent the following year. In 1984 the republican congress was able to cut the increase down to 7.5 percent. Under this act representatives and senators could no longer be held responsible by their constituents for increases in spending by the federal government. There were 291 Democrats and 144 Republicans 144, in the house of representatives. The Senate, had 61 Democrats, 38 Republicans, and 1 independent. Nothing the democrats wanted could be stopped by a republican vote.

Richard Nixon vetoed this legislation. Congress overrode his veto. He vetoed the legislation because he thought it would lead to deficit spending that would cause inflation. This law, put into place in 1974 was the beginning of what we are experiencing today, a runaway deficit spending government.

The only thing that I know for certain is that during the next decade the census department predicts a 14 percent growth in population. While the projected growth in federal spending, under the current base line budgeting system, is 106.1 percent. The 2010 budget was a whopping $3,456,000,000,000.00. If you are having trouble with that number, it reads, three trillion four hundred fifty six billion. To help you get a mental picture of how much money that is, here is an explanation. A one dollar bill is 6 inches long, put end to end, it would take 10,160 of them to go 1 mile. That many dollars would stretch out to 340,157,480 miles that would be equal to 712 round trips to the moon or 4 round trips to the sun. If the current base line budget is not stopped the amount spent in the year 2020 will be $7,119,360,000,000.00, more than twice the 2010 budget while population growth will be only 14 percent. Frankly, there is no possible justification for that increase in spending.

Here is a quote from President Ronald Reagan. "The scariest thing to hear is someone saying "I am from the government and I am here to help you"". This is the road to destruction that congress does not want to change. After all, who wants to take the responsibility for all that spending? I would encourage all of you to sit down and write your congressmen and women and ask them to repeal the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and make every department in the government justify their budget every year.

"God save me from change, give me improvement." should become the mantra of the people of the United States of America.

This article was written by R. B. Jeffrey who has a degree in sociology from the University of California Sacramento is a businessman who lives in Visalia, CA. Mr. Jeffrey is the owner of Fur Pets Only, a company that makes dog and cat collars, leashes and harnesses right here in America. If you agree with me, let me know. My e-mail address is furpets@comcast.net

Interesting Factors That Affect Gender-Driven Sales Performances

"Are women or men better at sales jobs?"

This is an interesting question that is sure to be hotly debated until the end of time. There are many variables that go into answering this question that have an impact as to which gender makes the better sales person.

Both sexes have their strengths and weaknesses and if you were to look at a traditional perception of a woman's role it would no doubt involve being barefoot and pregnant at home; while the men were responsible for bring home the bacon. Times have certainly changed and women are also at the forefront of certain careers, including sales. But does make them really better than men at selling?

The answer would depend on what the both genders are selling. If both are car sales people, then a woman may find it a bit more challenging to sell to a man, especially if it is the truck market. Men have a bias view that women know nothing about cars, therefore how can a woman seriously be good at it. And some women feel the same way and would prefer a male sales person over a woman.

On the other hand, women are the lead sellers in the insurance and real estate market because of a special quality that many of them have, which is the ability to be nurturing and this talent for softening one's approach when dealing with clients helps to close the deal. Men are normally considered hard sellers as well as women but a woman's intuition gives them that edge that men typically do not have.

Another factor in this debate of who are better sales people needs to also consider the fact that women are more willing to go back to school to educate themselves. Having academic qualifications is a key tool when it comes to making sales. Instead of having to put out the energy and effort of a door-to-door sales man, a person's education will avail them to workable strategies that allow them to multiply their efforts very easily. Networking in sales is one way of doing it. Men also educate themselves but they seem to rely more on experience and men usually have a well-defined buddy system that gets them connected to all the right people.

Women have an Achilles heel in that some of them have a feeling of entitlement and expect by right, a certain quota level in sales without fail. And when this quota falls way below expectations, their disappointment is enough to make them fold up and go home.

Recruitment agencies see a larger number of women than men looking for jobs suggesting their willingness to work. And when it comes to jobs such as customer service representatives or product promoters, women are the preferred gender.

In the end, while women make formidable sales people, society seems to lean towards men when it comes to looking for answers and because of this perceived dependency, men maybe considered as better sales people.