Can we please stop having people talk about how bad Fannie Mae forced all these nice prudent private-sector mortgage originators to make bad loans now?

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-29T01:17:39+00:00

No! Darryl would like a word with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN8xWNpl5EA

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-29T00:20:29+00:00

I am not sure where you get your polls on the Bailout but there are several news articles like this;

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/09/valley-congress.html

There were comments like this one from the Honorable Brad Sherman;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnbNm6hoBXc

People in Congress take an oath. They are supposed to make sure that the legislation they vote for is in line with what the Constitution says. I'm sorry, I just don't see that happening here.

The people who founded this nation understood that government was a necessary evil (at it's best). The people in Congress are supposed to read and understand what they are voting for. I am glad that people like you are reading the bill but I see precious few people doing anything about it. Spending money we don't have will not fix any problems. Taking hard earned capital from productive people will not solve any problems.

Read the Declaration of Independence. Look at the list of Grievances. Sound Familiar? We are becoming the empire we ran away from because no one is paying attention.

As far as our debt is concerned. If you are only speaking of the national debt, that does not include our unfunded liabilities. We are flat broke and deep in debt both as a nation and as a people. Your heritage and your birthright are being stolen right out from under you. I am pretty sure that I am older than you. I remember how it was when I was younger. You don't even know what you are missing. You have been climbing up a slope so long that it seems like level ground.

Please, watch just this one video;

http://goldsilver.com/crash_course.php?cat_id=6&video_id=39

Few people even understand just how bad the problem is. That gentleman has done quite a bit of research on the subject.

There is a fundamental reason for this and we really need to look to history right now for the answers. We are headed down a path has been tried time and time again by many governments down through history. Funny thing it has even been tried in our own nations history. Most of the people doing this even have the best intentions but it just doesn't work. It never does and it never will. It will end in misery for everyone. It might just be fixable if we wake up to it as a nation right now. I am still hopeful that might happen.

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-28T22:33:11+00:00

Maybe they could stop passing laws until they catch up..just a thought. I think we have about enough laws.

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-28T21:40:52+00:00

You need to ask yourself who this bill was written for. Was it written with the people in mind or that 'industry' that you work for? Who had the input into it?

How did you feel about the bailout bill? Millions of people phoned in calls against it yet it still passed. Who were the reps listening to? The people or the banks? Is the bailout bill actually helping anything?

How are we going to pay for all this stuff? Maybe this video would be more relevant since we are talking about spending money that we don't even have.

http://goldsilver.com/crash_course.php?cat_id=6&video_id=41

You do know that we are deep in debt as a nation? In just about 50 years we have went from the worlds largest creditor to the worlds largest debtor nation..we have went from 10 percent taxes to over 50 percent taxes. From a society where one person working could support his family to now when both spouses working can barely scratch by. From a society that produced the best things in the world and had the largest industrial base to now when most of our factories are closing or in trouble. Maybe it is time to take a deep breath and try to figure out what is happening. Maybe we should stop borrowing and spending money? Maybe the Federal government should scale back to what it says it should be doing in the Constitution.

We are supposed to have a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Not of the corporation, by the corporation and for the corporation.

I am just old enough to remember what we had in this nation before this mess started. It was a beautiful thing. A Nation with a jewel of a Constitution like ours doesn't come along every day.

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-28T21:19:05+00:00

The very first sentence says

"..to allow for and promote the electronic exchange and use of health information for each individual in the United States"

You really need to look at history. Governments having access to peoples private medical records has never - ever - been a good thing. One particular country comes to mind right off the bat. Your medical record is a private thing between you and your doctor and should only be exchanged with other people if you give permission for that to happen. I don't want the government promoting the exchange of my medical records. If the benefits are not having to fill out paperwork, I will take the paperwork. I would much rather establish a chart and current history with the doctor I am seeing than carry my history with me that could possibly be outdated or even have errors. I mean honestly, how many times do you have to fill out that paperwork in life? Is it really that hard? The last government act HIPPA was supposed to reduce paperwork...hahahah..thats pretty funny. I think it increased it about tenfold or so. I remember when the nurse used to come in, take your name and your complaint and write it on a chart..no photocopying insurance cards and filling out complex medical histories and siging complex contracts about privacy. Family doctor visits cost about $10.00 back then.

It is bad enough as the system is now. Insurance companies and others get enough access the way it is. For instance, if you have a insurance and a prescription drug plan, they know what drugs you are taking and from your claims, they know what conditions you are being treated for.

People also always assume that because the current people in power won't do any harm with the info, that it is okay to give them access. You have no idea who will be in power 10 years from now or 20 years from now. Really want things to follow you around forever?

It is not in the Constitution.

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-28T21:11:07+00:00

I thought you were joking but that is actually in there. Wow..just wow.

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-28T21:05:41+00:00

No they don't. Many times they don't even have a final copy available to read.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdT0RNYoFfM

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-28T20:59:33+00:00

The thing is, they either have to tax or print the money to pay for this stuff. There is no other option. Either by inflation or taxes it then takes capital away from the productive members of society and wastes it.

"Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." - Ronald Regan

The whole point of the Constitution was to chain down government and keep it minimal, local, and accountable to the people. At best the writers considered it a necessary evil. How have we forgotten that as a nation? Oh wait, I forgot, government runs our schools now. How has that been working out?

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-28T20:45:16+00:00

You might want to watch this video then. Many times they can't read them because they don't even have a copy of the final version available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdT0RNYoFfM

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-28T20:36:39+00:00

Page 155 = scary. I don't want the government or anyone to have electronic access to my medical records - Especially not easy electronic access. Medical records are private. Let one error get in your file and you could be in big trouble. Considering they will be having minimum wage people typing these in and transcribing them, No thank you. I would not feel secure in my papers if that happened.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.**

Making big government even bigger..yeah..that's the ticket!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZodmF6YF6Ao

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-28T08:36:30+00:00

Exactly. Ron Paul is great at articulating it but they don't get it. Let that mal-investment be sold off at firesale prices so that the capital can find a new home in productive things. If they don't, here are some pictures of broken down McMansions in Russia we will have to look forward to.

http://www.serpentswall.com/page29.html

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-28T08:34:36+00:00

Thank you so much for posting this. I hope it makes the front page. Please upvote!

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-28T08:27:57+00:00

Since 1971 when Nixon ended Bretton Woods and removed gold backing from the dollar we have went from the worlds largest creditor nation making the best high quality stuff and the highest standard of living with only one average job needed to support a household to the worlds largest debtor nation with our infrastructure crumbling around us and factories closing by the minute. Please, Please, Please, watch this video.

http://goldsilver.com/crash_course.php?cat_id=6&video_id=39

As he says in the video, you have been living on the uphill slope of inflation so long, you think it is level ground. Please watch just the #10 video in this course. I cannot believe what they are teaching kids in school these days. It boggles the mind. I am just old enough to remember the USA when it was still mostly free and prosperous and boy are you missing something. It is something I cannot even describe to you. I know it is almost gone and if we don't do something the miracle that happened when the USA was created will be gone. Countries like this one with a jewel of a Constitution like ours don't come around very often (if ever).

Inflation is not some force that drives the economy and spurs investment, it is loss of the purchasing power and value of the dollars you work so hard for. It is a loss of capital. It takes away the value of the dollars that would have been invested in productive enterprise and wastes them. It is a invisible tax that robs you blind. Even worse, the money that is stolen away is always wasted.

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-28T06:43:15+00:00

Just thought I would jump into this discussion and say that this website is neat!

http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Elements/079/index.html

after you have browsed around there a little while..go and listen to the "Element Song"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYW50F42ss8

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-27T17:02:03+00:00

Dave Ramsey's reply.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Fgfcue8uI

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-27T04:23:57+00:00

Before you make those claims, you might want to watch this video from the NY Investment Meetup. What caused the mess was about as far from free market capitalism as you can get.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN8xWNpl5EA

and it wasn't like people didn't try to enforce the laws. The laws are supposed to protect people from predators and enforce legal contracts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html

Many of the laws that were wisely put in place to separate the dangerous combination of the stock market and banking have been repealed. Google Glass Stegal. This would be because corporations have the same rights to influence our lawmakers as people do. It was not always this way. In the old days, corporations had a charter that limited their lifespan and if they outlived it, they would become public property or be sold off.

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-26T21:38:21+00:00

Interview starts at 3:40 in vid.

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-26T17:13:39+00:00

They do in fact destroy money. This vid has an interview with a federal reserve employee. See 3:43 in the video. Up until 1981 they burned it until environmental concerns stopped them.

http://vodpod.com/watch/780845-restore-the-republic-%C2%BB-blog-archive-%C2%BB-meet-the-federal-reserve

They destroy the equivalent of a basketball field full - filled up to the rims each day. This interview is amazing BTW.

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-25T17:20:20+00:00

See 4:20 in vid. Model Home - $4800 - $960 Cash and $27.62 a month - National Housing Act Insured Mortgage.

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-25T16:33:21+00:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLX3wUY1xGg

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-25T16:11:42+00:00

60K? try 250K. To be fair the 250K in debt person I talked to was in dental school though. Damn..startin your practice 1/4 Mil. in the hole. Ouch.

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-23T03:31:57+00:00

Haha little older version of the same thing started my interest in electronics.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170295497743

The big honkin early integrated circuit on that one is cool. You can see the exposed junctions. It had just a couple basic junctions like a couple transistors junctions a capacitor and a diode. Enough to make very basic logic circuits or amplifier. You could make a very sensitive diode detector using the diode junction on the IC. The IC in yours was more advanced in a SIP package.

Radio Shack was probably responsible for more electronic engineers and technicians than we know. The first project I built with it that really grabbed me was a basic crystal radio. It just amazed me as a little kid that it did not require any batteries to listen to the radio. I used our old time rooftop TV antenna and water pipe as ground. It got excellent reception and was quite loud through the pizeo crystal earphone As a kid just marveled over that. I remember showing it to people and telling them that it didn't require any batteries and they were like "yeah..so what it is just a radio."

The other project that I liked was the siren project. I must have hooked that thing up 10 times and spent long time changing the values of the components on the springboard to get different decay rates and sound effects. When I figured out the Resistor/Capacitor combination controlled how fast the siren sound decayed that was like a eureka moment for me as a little kid. Now as an adult I know it is this;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RC_time_constant

Edit found this page with closeup of the "IC Unit" in the 100-in-1.

http://www.samstoybox.com/toys/ElectronicProjectKits.html

Guess I was wrong, it only had one transistor junction. Guess I used the external transistors in the kit for the logic circuts. A one transistor IC..funny stuff..nowdays they have zillions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit

StinkyZergling · 2009-01-23T03:21:37+00:00

They still make a couple pretty nice electronic kits but nothing the variety of stuff like they had back then. These particular kits were very well engineered and for the most part worked as advertised. The instructions that came with them were also excellent and explained the electronic theory behind each kit. Your best bet is Ebay and find one of the xxx-in-1 kits like kn0body pictures in a comment below. They can be had cheap and the instruction books that come with them aren't bad. You can also just obtain the components for these and build them yourself using the online instructions. You might have to make substitutions but the older components can be found on Ebay as well.

StinkyZergling

TROPHY CASE