I’m feeling apathetic about things, lately, but I want to keep up some momentum, so this one’s just a short one.

Go read this: http://www.truthout.org/061009L. It explains how, so far, our Government has been turning a small profit on the bailout.

Yes, that’s right– not only did the bailout start the recovery process, it has also been good for the budget.

I’m only telling you this so that you’ll have it when your conservative friends lambast Obama for giving away our money to fatcats.

If they have a valid argument to make, listen to them, and discuss.

But if they’re just bashing, out of a sense of political loyalty, hitting ‘em back with the article.

Peace.

Go read this article http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/business/19credit.html and give me YOUR spin on it.

This article was brought to my attention by someone who I will not name, out of respect. I mean, he’s an otherwise nice guy. But he posted a link to this article, and then said, “If I pay my credit card bills before they draw interest, it’ll mean I pay for it in other ways, more than those who carry debt…That’s a great law!! We end up paying for people who don’t pay…good thinking here!” (I changed the wording, because I don’t want to appear to be sucker-punching him in a place he cannot respond. But this is the gist.)

In response, someone else wrote “Another amazing Washington accomplishment! Gotta love those flippin goof balls!” (I didn’t change this one. I don’t know this guy). Read the rest of this entry »

Miss California claims it’s her religious beliefs that inform her opinion on gay marriage. And her religion claims that’s it’s a study done by a discredited scientist that justifies their bigotry. I’d like to know when people are going to start thinking and speaking for themselves.

Via Reddit, I’ve just finished reading an article about how Miss California’s church is saying, among other things, that homosexuality is linked to pedophilia. The writer of the article points out that this link is established via poorly researched and purposefully misused science. Go read the article for the details. Suffice it to say, the Prejean-Perez scandal has now become the story of a cop-out behind a cop out behind a cop out. Read the rest of this entry »

This is something you need to know about. The US Mint tradional runs at a profit, which makes sense– it doesn’t cost $100 to create a Benjamin Franklin bill. This is called Seigniorage. Also, the Mint strikes commemerative coins, which they sell at a profit. All of this is great- the profit flows into the treasury, where it belongs. But it turns out that pennies do cost more than a 1 cent to strike. So there’s a measure in Congress (HR 5815) to get rid of pennies, and requiring vendors to round all purchases to the nearest nickel. On the face of it, that might be a good idea. But buried inside this measure is a provision for the additional profit to roll NOT into the Treasury, but into the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve is not run by our government, despite that word “Federal” in there. Its barely even monitored by it– and it operates under a shroud of secrecy through which citizens to not have a right of access. The long and short of this is that if HR 8515 passes, more than 5 billion in Treasury profit will be funneled in a stock-bearing institution. Do you own stock in the Fed? No, you’re not a privately owned bank. You’re not a multi-milliionaire. You’re not a credit-issuing company earing billions of dollars in usury charges.

What can you do? Call your congressman. Even better– call your cousins in the Red states and have them call their congressman. This is pork beyond pork. This is like meta-pork. Don’t let the tax-dodging rich get tax-dodgingly richer.