When I select books to read, I tend to choose one of two types: new books that are immediately relevant and old books that are immediately relevant. In other words, I read for content that I can apply, not for simple enjoyment or curiosity about other people’s lives. At first glance, Gore Vidal’s 2002 book, […]
When I was a child, friends and I would waste time on the railroad tracks behind my house. The funny thing about industrial trains is that you’d think the massive hulk of steal and engine would be audible from a mile away and yet we continued to find ourselves surprised at how silently it approached. […]
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act or JOBS Act was passed last Thursday to no great fanfair, but we wonder if it may yet go down in history alongside Gramm-Leach-Bliley as a law which helped set the stage for ‘pump and dump‘ bubble schemes and financial fraud. To put it another way, its a bad law, one […]
We’ve already discussed at some length how increased spending, especially in medical entitlements, will ultimately lead to a serious budget and currency crisis. While no one knows exactly how or when the crisis will unfold, we can make certain predictions about the US government’s response. It’s reasonable to suggest they will act similarly (although not […]
If you’re reading this site, you’re probably a bit cynical when it comes to government reports, or at the very least, you are a realist and expect some shenanigans may be distorting the truth. That is the argument we’ve attempted to make several times, that through questionable reporting tactics, the US government has continued to […]
It’s truly amazing how many stories involving whistle-blowers have come out during the last few months of the Obama Administration. First there was Greg Smith’s op-ed in the New York Times condemning the culture of greed that has enveloped Goldman Sachs which has clearly rocked the establishment. Then there was the somewhat questionable anonymous writer […]
The Wall Street Journal has produced a series of charts to explain the president’s 2013 budget. It shows the usual information we’ve come to expect from government reports, yet another year of deficits, most of it going to entitlements and little evidence indicating the budgetary situation is likely to improve anytime soon. However, even that simplistic view […]
Most Americans have no idea how perilous the times we live in have become. They know the economy is in bad shape. They know the yearly deficits are significant. Americans are war-weary even though they have been largely shielded from the consequences of a decade of constant war and broken promises. The more perceptive critics […]
Chris Martenson is a financial and energy analyst we’ve taken a liking to over the years. His recent commentary on the state of the nation and the inevitable financial crisis is particularly concise. His condemnations of the status quo and the inability for our political leaders to do anything to prevent or even offset catastrophe […]
A retired municipal court judge recently suggested the city consider using national guard troops to patrol the streets of Philadelphia. The judge is running for a US congressional seat in the city’s first district. The criticisms of his ill thought out plan were swift enough. Victor Fiorillo, writing in The Philly Post says: “Deploying any branch of […]
