Live Free in an Unfree World

Here are just a few things the Federal Reserve, Congress, and the Bush (or next) administration could do to help this nation recover from the current recession - or prevent a larger depression - but are nearly 100% not likely to do:

1. require that each Member of Congress, under Penalty of Perjury, certify that he or she has read every word in every bill before voting on that piece of legislation
2. remove U.S. troops from every foreign country - we are a republic, not an empire
3. all future laws passed by Congress must have a sunset provision and be voted on again every 4 years
4. stop rescuing financial institutions that are about to fail just because they are large
5. stop the presses - the dollar has lost 96% of it’s value since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913
6. no deficit financing of government expenditures
7. have a group of researchers whose job is to ferret out unnecessary regulations and to recommend them for quick decertification and repeal of the underlying statutes
8. every government job (non-appointee) that becomes vacant due to retirement or resignation must be kept vacant for 6 months to see if the position can just be eliminated

This is just a start. More tomorrow.

As young baby boomers, we railed against governments and corporations and preferred poetry to accounting or finance.

Now we are paying the price.

I cannot image any part of my liberal arts education more seriously lacking than the study of economics, finance, central banking, and money.

The way to start: LewRockwell.com

Next:

• Mises
• Rothbard

and others.

One cannot change the past, but one can ruin the present by
worrying over the future.

“A nation of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.”

~ Bertrand de Jouvenal

High gas prices will cause some interesting results:

• more people will shop for bargains online, rather than traveling from store to store
• delivery charges will be reasonable compared to picking it up yourself
• home gardening and locally grown food will enjoy a resurgence
• people will think twice about drives to the beach or to the lake
• going for a Sunday drive is a sign of wealth
• if your neighbor fills up his SUV at one visit to the pump, he is probably doing better than you are
• you may see some unlikely people - bankers, lawyers, doctors - use the gas crunch to justify commuting by motorcycle
• some smart commuters will get their exercise by commuting by bicycle
• people will need second jobs to stay afloat - most will create new businesses online to earn extra income
• small restaurants will suffer first as more workers shift lunch money to gas tanks
• fast food places will suffer next as prices of oil run up food prices
• over the next few years, temporary dips in oil prices will not be long-lived enough to let Americans drive huge cars and trucks again - SUVs will be like Cadillacs with fins
• supply increases will be sopped up by China and India
• alternative sources of energy will be great businesses but will not dethrone big oil
• Florida will be unhappy when offshore oil wells appear near their coastline in the Gulf of Mexico
• placement of refineries will be hot political topics and push abortion and gay marriage off the table
• politicians, as usual, will screw things up then demand more tax revenue to fix the problems they created in the first place

Just a few of the issues I believe will dominate the economic and political landscape over the next 10 years. With any luck, it will bring back some of the lean, mean, fighting spirit of the American people - but only if the politicians are pushed out of the way.

—

Charles Lamm is a junkyard philosopher whose blogs include Live Free in an Unfree World, the Asset Protection Iron Triangle, and Virtual Joe Friday.

Back in 2003, 100 people died in a nightclub fire when the band’s pyrotechnics got out of control. Families of victims sued. So far, so good.

Here’s the crazy part. Anheuser-Busch and their local distributor just settled for $21 million. Total settlement so far - $122 million. Others who have paid up include Home Depot and Clear Channel Broadcasting.

Home Depot was sued over insulation. The alleged liability of the others: promoting the concert.

Am I the only one here who doesn’t understand this. No media advertising can exist if the publisher of the advertising, or the sponsor, is responsible for the acts of the companies and individuals who actually caused the harm and death of the concert attendees.

A-B claims the cost of the litigation is running too high, but I can’t imagine a Board of Directors signing off on a $21 million settlement if they did not believe a jury was about to stick them with a larger bill.

One possibility - their insurance company decided to settle, and they have no choice. If they fought on, A-B would take on the additional expense and be liable for any jury award above the settlement amount.

Whoever decided to settle - you are the reason why our legal system is such a mess. If you are not liable - and unless you can explain otherwise, I don’t see how beer or promoting an event contributed to this tragedy - why not take it to the limit? You were being sued in Rhode Island, not Mississippi.

How do your actions compare to a man who spent 27 years in jail for a rape he did not commit? He could have been out of prison a dozen years ago if he had admitted the crime. He chose to man-up and not take the blame for something he did not do. The State of Texas may give him some monetary compensation in the future, but he can never get those years of freedom back.

Sometimes, you have to pay the price for what’s right.

~ Charles Lamm

Back in the 1930s, in the legendary days of the formerly rich falling from the New York City sky, cash not only ruled - cash was the superdelegate of its day.

Houses in some of the tougher neighborhoods in Atlanta are going for under 10 cents on the dollar. And still no buyers.

Wait until the market “really” gets bad.

Anyone who can put together even a modest nest egg can skyrocket their way to wealth in the next few years. Investors who stayed out of or left the stock market in early 1929 - the cash rich - made out the same way.

Keep cash (in Euros?), gold, and junk silver for now. Buy houses when there is blood in the streets.

Charles Lamm is promoting asset protection for the masses on his site at www.corp-llc-bct.com .

“Central serous chorioretinopathy is a retinal disorder which affects the macula. It was first described in ophthalmology more than one hundred years ago. Essentially, it is an “idiopathic disorder” which means that the precise cause is unknown. Central serous is associated with an elevation (detachment) of the macula due to leakage of fluid from the circulation behind it (choroidal circulation). The leakage occurs through a defect in the tissue layer known as the retinal pigment epithelium. The retinal pigment epithelium is a single–celled layer that lies between the retina and the choroid (see anatomy page). This tissue layer normally serves to prevent fluid from the choroidal circulation from leaking under the retina. In central serous, fluid equilibrium is disturbed leading to leakage beneath the retina which elevates it to produce a macular detachment which distorts vision.”

Full Article: http://www.vrmny.com/pe/csc.html

I have it. Right eye. Most cases disappear in 3 to 6 months. Mine hasn’t. The laser cure looks worse than the disease. The longer is stays the same, the greater the chance it will be permanent. Many people with this condition also get wet macular degeneration. My father had it. He had laser surgery. No help. He died legally blind.

I hope science catches up with this condition before I lose central sight in my right eye.

I begin this morning on my first real day as an Admissions Officer for Kaplan University, an online university owned by the Washington Post. The company is first rate regarding training new hires, creating a fantastic work environment, and focusing on the students.

With homeschooling and layoffs on the rise, more students will choose online education for college or as a way to retrain for the changing economy.

My own expenses are way up, and I have a daughter 2 years away from college. I need the regular pay and benefits a large company affords while building online business in the evenings.

I want this to be the last job I ever have, or at least the last company.

Charles Lamm
caketrust@gmail.com

“What immediately follows is quoted from Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda: Freedom is our true nature. We are totally and completely free from everything that binds us. Please understand this. When we express this freedom we enter the spiritual path. Rules and regulations are only superficial, artificial and imposed by the society. Societal and religious morality binds us. They limit our freedom. They do not lead to spirituality.”

from: The State Versus Self-Realization

by Jeff Knaebel

www.lewrockwell.com/knaebel/knaebel16.html

Our comments:

A good discussion of what happened in Texas with the taking of children from a polygamous community and how laws lead to a lack of rights and justice.

Charles Lamm is a retired attorney and advocate for privacy and asset protection. See his Asset Protection Iron Triangle for more info, and his blog - Virtual Joe Friday - for his take on a number of issues.