Capitalism as Virtue

Wall Street has been a long time target for those who wish the world to think that they are full of the rich who only want to get richer at the cost of the poor. Since Enron however, it has escalated new heights with call to oust the "greedy" & the "rich"; and there has been a "witch" hunt akin to a Stalinist purge led by Eliot Spitzer as New York State's Attorney General,  in his early years, but who listened to me?

Certainly Madoff did not help in the matter, but truth be known and really examined in any business, the good  outnumber the bad.  Truth also be known, all businesses are capitalist; in other words, they are doing it to make money for themselves. The other truth is, that so are the workers and it is the truth that many wish not to admit, but the recognition of this is very important if we are to survive the biggest onslaught of anti-capitalism since Marxism first raised it's ugly head.

The fact that all humans are capitalists at the core, and the recognition of it by the forefathers of this nation,  is the reason this country became the fastest growing and the strongest one since the Republic was established.  The opportunity to make the best and be the best at anything one chooses is the motivator and it is also the multiplier of more opportunity. There is no denying that out of innovation, inspiration grows and opportunity becomes evident, leaving only one missing ingredient: daring.  Daring to succeed.  In sum you have the recipe that makes the dough rise, pun intended.

This recipe is the truth for worker or business owner alike, and at once the best rose to the top regardless of stature. Workers became recognized for their mastery of a craft just as much as business owners flourished when they produced the best.  No better place than to look to Hollywood or sport teams for this example, but also look to Wall Street.

Unlike in Hollywood or on the sports field, more workers are able to partake in capitalism on Wall Street than anywhere else. They can benefit in the riches of many businesses through investments just as much as business owners can. They are the most basic capitalist system by being mutually invested in the success of a company. It is this truth however, which is hated the most by Marxists who have been  vigorously publicizing the opposite with much success.

Pitting one against the other by making one good the other evil in definition has divided many societies in history resulting in unfortunate and deadly consequences. The rich vs. poor, fortunate vs. unfortunate, farmer vs.worker, manager vs labor, CEO vs investor, where it succeeded, has been the main ingredient for taking control and suppressing  freedom. Unfortunately it has also succeeded here in the USA with the greatest speed during the past decade, culminating in the fastest, most powerful changes to freedoms enacted by the politicians currently ruling this country.

You see, while you were busy hating your partner in success,  this administration grabbed your freedom and started controlling your life.  Proving yet again that there are no bigger greedy capitalists than the likes of those who wish to suppress your freedoms and control your choices: Communists, Socialists, Progressives, Marxists, Dictators all fit this definition, although they may masquerade as Democrats and Republicans. The battle that you may have had to fight for better wages under a capitalist free market system in this Republic, are nowhere near as difficult, hard or deadly, as the battle you will have to fight for the freedoms, choices or your life; but to recognize that, you will first have to admit that you, like all humans, are capitalists at heart.

Then, and only then, will you be able to defeat the social capitalists in the Capital and purge their power grabbing, entitlement rich arrogance out of the system and hold the Constitution as the law of the land once again.

When you become willing to fight for the best you can be, and be willing to defend your right to fight, will you be able to receive the best fortune. With capitalism there are no guarantees that you will succeed, there is only the guarantee that you may try.

Thanks for Reading
Anni

See No Evil

I'd like to think that we, a species that has become more visual than intellectual, would see more clearly when presented with evidence in pictures. Alas, that is not the case and it cannot be. Why? It's because pictures lie.

Even before today's digital image creators and alternators, pictures could tell a lie. It was used by many, painter and photographer, to alter story or to create an illusion whether innocent or deliberate. But I submit that lying through pictures deliberate or not, can be evil, and evil promoting. Like it or not.

Erasing live electrical wires from a scenery to make it look more pretty is still a lie but, depending on the message, we can forgive the creator for the omission. Erasing historical fact, on the other hand, in order to drive the delusion of a reality which did or did not happen is an evil lie, because it denies people their existence. It was and is "free speech" they will tell you, it's their right to show what they see, so what they "see" they can express anyway they want to because it's "their truth" they say, so lump it. But by swallowing that bit of lump you are in part conspiring in the story, and are part of the evil which spreads the lie.

To say that you don't believe that there were and are murderous dictators despite the historical and photographic evidence, is one thing. To erase, alter or destroy those photographs and rewrite history because it does not show what you want, is denying the existence of people who lived and suffered and had a story of their own. In other words, it's a denial of their free speech. The picture of death is truth. To deny that death and violence was caused by a person or a group of people, by destroying, altering or by not publishing the evidence is an evil lie.

The strength of a totalitarian government is made possible especially by the willing collusion of the media, which perpetuates the evil lie. I present to you that we have come to the point where NO media is trustworthy of showing the truth. You have to check all facts and you have to investigate every visual effect you see, and search for ones which are not shown, to get the total picture of what is happening.

We are already bearing witness to the lies when the media refuses to tell or present evidence of truth from both sides.  Leaders of the media are especially to blame as they are the primary drivers of what is published and certainly have an agenda of evil if they don't present both sides. "Free speech" allows for expression of things as we see them, but it does not excuse willing biased presentation. I am sure there are plenty of journalists available and eager to present another view but are denied their "free speech" by the very same media which allows the lie to continue therefore encouraging ... Speak No Evil

Thanks for reading
Anni

Hear No Evil

We are so smart, we all like to think, we will know what is happening and when we are in danger. Haven't we learned it from our parents? Be careful of strangers especially when they offer you sweets. "Sure Mom, Dad of course we won't" was our answer and off we went forgetting the warning the minute the door slammed behind us. Parents, being who they are, fretted over our safety but knew that they could do nothing once out of site, and could only hope that the words spoken would be remembered at the crucial time; and many times we did, but then, we grew up.

Then, we forgot. As young adults, we think we know better than anyone before us and we begin to criticize what passed before and we think that everything needs correcting and think we think we can do what others before us did not. Or at least that is what some with the candy whisper in our ear, lecture in classrooms, shout from podiums, write in newspapers, declare on news stations and whisper in our ears. So, we succumb and take that piece of sweet; we know it will be only the one piece.

In this way we were lured to elect a man to be our leader, who spoke to us with sweet words and criticized what we criticized and said he knew what to do to correct it and our children said "Hurrah" and "at last"! We heard no evil behind those sweet words of hope and change.

"What will one piece of "sweet" harm?", we justify, while we also know that one piece leads to another, then another, and then we are captured and forced to take what comes next, like it or not we are now a statistic where we lose our individuality and become a number in the scheme where the next step is dictatorship and we are normalized into thinking that we now must ..... See No Evil

Thanks for reading a work in progress
Anni

President's Day

When is the last time you read the Constitution of the USA? How long will it take you to read it again or for the first time? It's written in English and did not have to be translated from German, Russian or Chinese.

Today is not President's Day, Well, not really. When I first arrived in America, the USA celebrated two President's birthdays. Lincoln's on February 12th, Friday usually as I recollect, and Washington's on February 22nd. It was later changed to only one day supposedly to save a day of school for our children or perhaps to give us a permanent 3 day holiday, but whatever the reason, I feel the celebration of both men went by the wayside as a result.

I revere George Washington's Birthday today because he was the first President and for no other reason. I think we should remember and celebrate him for his exceptional leadership and exceptional humility being the first President of our nation. If you wish to be convinced of either of those reasons, just read the first parts of his farewell address.

At the end of Washington's term as president, there were people willing to throw away all that he fought for, by declaring him King. Did you know that? Which proves that we have been fighting for our freedom from the conception of our Declaration of Independence to the ratification of the US Constitution to this moment in time today.

If you ever thought that we can sit and just be at peace, it is the biggest glass of KoolAid you have ever consumed. Not one, absolutely not one species in existence can afford to think that or they'd be taken out of existence not by big bad humans, but by their own. Survival of the species is so strong that tolerance is limited. Yes, every species on earth has enemies within and without. George Washington refers to it in warning, looking to the future, in his farewell speech.

Every mammal, insect, or plant life, & microcosmic species, knows of survival and it's need of eternal vigilance, except the human it seems, and of them only a small fraction who happen to be the biggest developers of comfort. Interesting, don't you think? Reality is that there are always others ready to take your "comfort", "safety" "freedom" and "life" from you. Let it be for just one minute without your vigilance and you'll find your bank account empty, your house occupied and your family strewn across lands or consumed by illness. The fact is you are always fighting for your life and the US Constitution is your biggest weapon in one of those battles.

So, are you ready to fight for and defend the freedom true to the US Constitution? Read it first. It will take about 30 minutes of reading and a lifetime of study to absorb and revere the wisdom within those pages. Knowledge is your weapon, don't just believe what is being told you, research it, study it and become the voice. Read about the powers that were afforded to each arm of our government. Ask yourself who is usurping those powers today because they are the enemies of your freedom and survival.

Toward this, let me quote one part of President Washington's farewell speech:

19 Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the constitution, alterations, which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments, as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard, by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that, for the efficient management of our common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian.

Those who are unwilling to educate themselves are too weak and will succumb, and those who are strong in knowledge will prevail.

Thanks for reading.
Anni

Speechless

Not many things render me speechless, so count the speech of President Obama last night as a rare occurrence. I'm sure it won't last for long I'll absorb first however today's market reaction; and the World's view, of which I can only guess two. Either total dismissal of our President as a statesman, in other words he'll be viewed as ineffective therefore inconsequential from here forward, or he'll be viewed as an anomaly in the world of USA governments and tolerated for his eccentricities allowing for a possible further embrace of his views and agenda.

Although the markets will have an immediate reaction, for Thursday, it has to be coupled with the Fed's announcement and other possible news and profits projections or damages looking forward. It is interesting times we live in, indeed, it's feels somewhat "Chaplinesque."






Thanks for reading
Anni

First it was "big bad" CEOs now it's "big bad" Banks

The way to nationalization and the breakdown of capitalism is to make sure that someone or entities, the masses can't relate to, is made evil.

The "masses" meaning people who have no clue how the "rich" got prosperous, how the big companies got that way, or how financial markets work, are easily misled with just a few sound bites of blame. Repeated repeated and repeated over again, it catches attention and is soon believed.

Have you noticed how some people get re-tweeted over and over again? It means that their sound bites of 140 letters are agreed with, they are in sentiment of the re-tweeter or, friends just are in habit of re-tweeting. Soon enough the more popular the tweeter, the more they get re-tweeted. I wonder how many re-tweeters go to the trouble of research. (I'll leave that to some researcher to follow.) On the whole I would bet that it's like the main stream media of the past 2 decades. There is less and less research, and more instant reporting of often unfounded "facts" presented as facts. Just "sounds true" opinion being given to the masses.

The masses, pass on information without research on the most part and like the famous saying by a favored Marxists, "a lie repeated often enough becomes truth to the masses" which makes most of them "useful idiots". That is exactly what is going on today. Sorry I mean no disrespect. I am not only sure, but I am positive that I too have been part of the problem as some point or another. (The women's movement comes to mind, of which I was very guilty.) But I hope I have mended my ways in my wiser years. I will repeat a favorite musician's quote, which he graciously let me post on my blog, "Youth speaks at length, while age edits" - Jeremy Denk 09/19/08

It is exactly what we need now.. editing.. very wise editing before we lose it and loosen our grip on our freedoms even more.

Thanks for reading
Anni

Let the Fallout Begin

No, I'm not going to talk about the election, it's consequences or make predictions. I've voiced that already. The fallout I refer to is the reverberations we shall begin to experience as the results and it's implications get absorbed and then explode into the atmosphere. The fallout shall permeate everything, everyone, everywhere.

Perhaps this result is again a shot which will be heard around the world, but rest not, for there is always someone ready to snatch victory from your grasp and abscond with your liberty.

Waiting is a huge behemoth created by Congress; a Health Care $Bill$ of great $cost$ and unknown proportions, for which the taxation has already begun.

A short visit to PBO.org will reveal that along with Social Security, Medicare and most of all government spending ventures are basically failures and would have already been bankrupt except for the bailouts we provide via our taxes. The banks have been made the "fall guy" for all that ails a government which does not wish to take responsibility for their mismanagement of funds.

Most of the population believes the hue and cry not realizing that the banks have, on the most part, repaid their bailout loans with interest and that the federal reserve made $58 billion in interest earnings which the government does not wish to use to reduce the deficit as originally promised.

Why is it that no one is crying out for us to be repaid with interest for all money we have provided to bail out Social Security, Medicare, the Post Office, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and coming soon the Health Care Reform? Do you really think that our tax dollars are well spent?


These bailouts will continue especially now with the increasing realization that there are more productive workers in government than in the private sector. In addition when we realize that government workers earn on average $75,000 as opposed to $45,000.00 of a private worker. and that their benefits last a lifetime and their retirement eligibility is much sooner. Couple that with the fact that the government employment increase is set to be 15.6% in 2010, I wonder, where do you suppose it will end?

It is why the government will need more and more of your earnings. In fact 2009 will again be a low earnings year for the government if I did my tax math correctly, because earnings are still not where they were in 2004, 2005, 2006 or 2007, so I don't think tax revenue will come near to those levels again. Last year I predicted a 35% drop..it was 33%, this year I believe it will be again near that level. So where will the money come from to carry the day?

For further bad news, government workers are excluded from having to pay the health care package penalty or tax so then ask yourself, how much will this proposed health care package rewards cost and how much more cost will you have to bear in the years ahead.

Next, they'll want us to pay for the weather and the Internet

It is why I proposed not to sit too long with the joys of victory because while you rest, other forces are at work to take your liberties and your prosperity away.

Thanks fro reading
Anni

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/05/12/business/econwatch/entry5007862.shtml