General Order #1

Jefferson is a fictional town. This is a fictional blog.

General Order 1: Agricultural Easements

Agricultural Easements (AEs) are hereby declared over the following common areas:

(1) Churchyard X
(2) Land Sanctuary Y
(3) Park Z

Useable land in these areas shall be divided into 10-acre lots and made available for agricultural production immediately. These parcels shall be let ‘first come first serve’ for one year. Following that year, they shall be subject to a competitive bidding process.

Private landowners with over five acres of fertile land shall grant an AE over their lands, excepting two acres. The affected landowner shall receive one half of all net revenues derived from his land. These AEs shall expire after five years, unless extended by the Council. The Chairman shall nominate tenders of lands under private easement, who shall be approved by the Council. Homeowners retain the right to tend their own land.

Trees shading productive lands are subject to removal at the discretion of the Chairman.

No produce generated within AEs may leave Jefferson.

Operation Mad Planter, Part 3

Like all operational planning, mine fell apart at the beginning. The shovel would have made me look suspicious. Time to improvise.

I decided to put the potato seeds in a faggy-looking bag that anybody who saw me would think was for cameras, as I walked through the preserve. I wore my shirt outside of my pants, concealing my bayonet. I was now undercover as a Type 3 Democrat.

I found a perfect place for my potato patch, with a tree blocking the view from the trail, but not blocking the path of the sun. My potatoes will absorb maximum solar energy, while enjoying reasonable concealment.

My bayonet plunged into the earth fourteen times. I planted fourteen potato seeds. Mission accomplished.

Food Numbers

Famine is a big deal. I think that it will take less than a year for society to restore order. At 2400 calories per person per day, one year’s worth of caloric intake is 3,500,000 calories for a family of four.

One example of one year’s worth of food would be:

40 gallons of vegetable oil (1,200,000 calories); and
29, 50# sacks of rice (2,300,000 calories)

An ongoing supply of 3,500,000 calories per year is provided by 12,000 s.f. of potatoes.

Operation Mad Planter, Part 2

Working tools:

1. Seed potatoes, Norland Red, 22 cents, 2 each
2. Bayonet, East German manufacture, $19.97, 1 each
3. Old shovel, 1 each

The potatoes have been cut into fourteen seeds with the blade, and are being allowed to sit overnight. This will allow the seeds to heal before field operations with the shovel.

Bayonets have gotten much shorter since 1776. This must be because back in those days, men fought in formation and bayonet length was at a premium. In modern maneuver warfare, the East Germans must have considered compactness to be more important.

In any case, it’s an excellent knife for twenty bucks.

Another Nut

But this one is a professor at Berkeley. He’s into potatoes too. He estimates that one acre of potatoes can feed 10 people on the low side, and 36 people on the extreme high side. Backing up my conclusion of 16 people per acre, or 3,000 s.f. of potatoes per person. But he had to do his analysis in meters, instead of feet, because he works at Berkeley.

Tonight I learned that it takes 8 pound of feed to produce 1 pound of animal meat. It takes half that for birds. So grow some extra for the pigs.

Farming

The ability to organize and manage machinery has given American farmers an advantage over their counterparts.

There are 10 million ‘official’ people in Los Angeles, who are completely dependent on liquid fuels to put food in their mouths. I’m going to estimate that 60%-70% of them are also dependent on government funds to put that food in their mouths. It takes probably 60 thousand square miles to sustain that biomass.

Human beings are the most dangerous animals on earth, despite what children’s television tells us. Peak oil will remove the ability to feed population centers by driving up transportation costs. The migration to cities that happened in the 20th Century will be violently reversed. Due to the jump in population, people will have to compete for the land.

Land was the currency of the 1800s (‘my 40 acres’, ‘bought the farm’, etc.), money was the currency of the 1900s, compassion was the currency of Bush’s second inaugural, oil will be the currency in 2112, and land will then once again become the currency.

Operation Mad Planter

Google Earth is an excellent resource and I have learned many things about my region. I didn’t know that that patch of trees in my backyard was at the end of a continuous stand of timber that gives us access to probably 2,000 acres of native timber complete with wildlife.

I found a large parcel that used to be a farm, then a golf course, and now a nature preserve. I predict that it will be a farm again within a decade. Its got fruit-producing trees throughout which were probably leftovers from the farm.

There is a whole list of government rules about what you can and can’t do there, but I see no rule about planting potatoes. I’m going to sneak in and plant a couple of potato seeds, just for fun.

Three Charts

The rise in gold is due to the weakening dollar. The pull-back was probably a natural correction. Gold will continue to rise against the dollar because we continue to print money.

The rise in oil is due to the weakening dollar and a growing awareness of peak oil. Oil will rise faster than gold. Oil will change the world as we have come to know it. There will be wars over oil. Half of the world’s population may very well die.

Wheat has an intermediate chart because while there is a consistent supply of land along with land in reserve (one price input), wheat production and transportation is dependent on liquid fuel (another price input), and the value of the dollar (third price input).

Memorial Day

Rest in peace Fuzzy, Duane, and all the others. Thank you.

Thomas Jefferson

The second half of the 18th Century was a time of large men. The second half of the 20th Century was a time of small men. I predict that the first half of the 21st Century will see the return of large men. Disclaimer: This is fictional. It is nothing more than my imagination.

‘Jefferson’ Charter

This Charter recognizes the state of world economic chaos and the potential threat that it represents to our collective well-being. We are fortunate to live in an area with the resources to be self-sufficient. There is every reason that we can pull through these challenging times as a peaceful community. This Charter establishes Jefferson as a sub-organization within the Town of ‘Madison’ to assist in meeting our specific needs with respect to food and security such as:

(1) Coordinate the use of our common areas to produce food locally.
(2) Construct a barrier system to verify the good intentions of people wishing to enter or pass through Jefferson.
(3) Raise a local militia to deter looters and external threats. All able-bodied men are subject to militia duty.

Each home within the boundaries delineated on the attachment shall be entitled to one vote. They shall elect six Representatives who in turn shall elect a Chairman from among themselves. In the case of a tie, the Chairman would be selected by a second general election.

The remaining five Representatives will vote on issues before them. The Chairman would be able to over-ride a 3-2 vote.

The Miracle of Life

This is a tree limb that was blocking the sun from parts of my garden. I chopped it down last spring. I was very proud of my ability to get it to fall exactly where I wanted it to fall.

This tree limb has sprouted new shoots immediately below where I cut it last year. Imagine how many life cycles had to transpire in order for my tree to know to grow sprouts below a cut. I find it amazing. There are no sprouts on the limb that was not cut, just the cut limbs.

I suspect this trait has been bred into my tree because it senses that there is surplus light where the old limb used to be and it senses a need to keep itself balanced for structural reasons.

However, unfortunately for my tree, I sense a need to keep my potatoes exposed to sunlight. When these sprouts get bigger, I will cut them off and burn them in my brick oven, using the energy they contain to cook food.

Sucks to be a tree.

Potatoes

Buy seed potatoes. Cut the seed potatoes into chunks with one or two eyes per chunk. Allow the chunks to set overnight to allow them to build a protective skin on the newly cut areas (protects against disease).

Dig trenches around three feet apart; mine are about one foot deep. Bury the seeds in the trenches with a small amount of cover. As the stalks grow, transfer the soil from the trench walls to the stalks. At maturity, the trench walls will be ‘flopped’ onto the plants and the low areas will be between the plants. The potatoes will grow in the soil heaped against the stalks.

You can start eating early potatoes in late summer. For best yield, wait until the leaves die off in the fall.

Potatoes can be stored through the winter in a cool, dry, and dark area. Our ancestors called this a ‘root cellar’.

3,000 square feet of good soil will provide 2,000 calories per day.

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh says:

“We’ve got 19 billion barrels of oil on government land.”

Rush Limbaugh does not say that that works out to less than four years’ worth of domestic supply.

Rush Limbaugh says:

“We’ve got plenty of oil.”

So much for Rush Limbaugh.

Go Polar Bears. Conserve the oil.

NAFTA Superhighway

The NAFTA Superhighway is based upon the premises of cheap liquid fuels and lazy rich white people. Both will be seen as things of the past. I believe that Globalism will go the way of South Africa.

One cool thing about Peak Oil may be the return of the Clipper Ship. An alternative would be something like the USS Savannah. Maybe we’ll get both.

Popular Mechanics

I used to read Popular Mechanics as a kid. The Popular Mechanics guy was on TV last night and assured us that there was plenty of oil available off of our shores. He said that there were 20 billion barrels. He didn’t say that that works out to four years at 5 billion barrels per year.

So much for Popular Mechanics.

Bloomberg Is Wrong

"Borrowers rushed in and mortgage debt soared to $1.4 trillion in 2006, double the $708 billion in 2001, according to Fed data."

I don't know what Fed data Bloomberg is referencing, but there was approximately $10 trillion in mortgage debt in 2006, not $1.4 trillion.

Perhaps there was $1.4 trillion of new debt added in 2006, but that is not how it is represented in the article.

Bloomberg goes on to state a projected overall mortgage loss of just under $1 trillion. In fact, the Price Schiller Index indicates the market to be down 25%, or around $5 trillion in aggregate. The mortgage loss is probably half of that, or $2.5 trillion to date.

Bloomberg is cheerleading. This linking protocol ("Borrowers") is neat.

How Many People?

Oil came into widespread use around 1900, when the world’s population was approximately 1.5 billion people. A very intelligent man has estimated that the post-peak oil population number would be lower than 1.5 billion people but I respectfully disagree with him.

I estimate that the world’s population in the year 2100 will be 3 billion people based on the following:

(1) High IQ people will spread to sub-Saharan Africa, bringing efficient agriculture with them, increasing the world's carrying capacity.
(2) High IQ people will also saturate the great plains, unlike America-1900 when they were largely undeveloped, increasing the world’s carrying capacity.
(3) Alternative energy, specifically mentioning nuclear power, will increase the world’s carrying capacity beyond what it was in 1900.
(4) Genetics has given us better plants than we had in 1900.

There are excellent deals on fertile land in North Dakota available now.

Graph from Paul Chefurka.

Peak Oil and Potatoes

Potato yield appears to be around 300 cwt/acre. Cwt stands for ‘hundred weight’, which is 100 pounds in America. There are 278 calories in a 299 gram potato. 1 gram equals 0.0022 pounds so 299 grams is two thirds of a pound.

Thus, one acre of potatoes yields:

(300cwt / acre) * (100 pounds / cwt) * (278 calories/.67 pounds)
= 12 million calories

A human eats around 2,000 calories per day; or 730,000 calories per year.

Thus, one acre can feed sixteen people. Which means that I’m cutting it close.

Shooting the Qur'an

"In the most humble manner I look in your eyes today and I say please forgive me and my soldiers."
-3 Star General Seeking Star Number 4

The Qur’an is not a good book:

2:10 Disbelievers are diseased.
2:99 Disbelievers are evil people.
2:104 For disbelievers is a painful doom.
2:171 Disbelievers are deaf, dumb, and blind.
3:28 Let not the believers take disbelievers for their friends in preference of believers.
3:73 Don't believe anyone who is not a Muslim.
3:48 Don't be friends with non-Muslims. They all hate you and want to ruin you.
4:89 Have no unbelieving friends. Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them.
4:63 Oppose those who refuse to follow Muhammad.
4:101 The disbelievers are an open enemy to you.
4:144 Do not choose disbelievers as friends.
5:51 Don't take Jews or Christians for friends. If you do, then Allah will consider you to be one of them.
5:51 Jews and Christians are losers.
5:60 Allah turned unbelievers into apes and swine.
5:59 Jews and Christians are evil people.
5:57 Don't choose Jews, Christians, or disbelievers as guardians.
6:106 Stay away from disbelievers.
8:55 The worst beasts in Allah's sight are the disbelievers.
9:5 Slay the disbelievers wherever you find them.
9:28 Disbelievers are unclean.
9:30 Christians and Jews are perverts. Allah himself fights against them.

As a matter of fact, I consider the Qur’an itself to be extreme. I’d say that we are really at war against the belief system established by Mohammed, as laid out in the Qur’an.

Some (many?, most?) Muslims are good people following a bad religion. Those good ones who choose to leave the belief system are sentenced to death by it.

America should ban the teachings of Mohammed under the existing RICO Statutes. Be respectful of those who choose to retain their allegiance to Mohammed and repatriate them to one of the 57 Islamic States. We should welcome those who choose to become Apostates.

The soldier who shot the Qur’an was correct. General Hammond is a Dhimmi.

More Oil Numbers

The US refines approximately 5 billion barrels of oil each year. This number is growing slowly.

The Strategic Reserve contains around 700 million barrels of oil. This is less than two months worth of oil.

Our offshore oil reserves, currently prohibited from exploitation, are estimated to be 68 billion barrels. This is just over one decade worth of oil at current rates. It could last decades if used wisely though.

In comparison the Brazilian oil find that prompted BusinessWeek to pronounce Brazil “The New Oil Superpower”, is estimated to be 5-8 billion barrels, or one years domestic supply. They are getting ready to sell their oil for paper money.

Conclusion:

The best thing to do with our offshore reserves is nothing. That oil will be priceless in two decades. It is our best chance for a smooth transition to whatever comes next.

It's Easy: Just Pump More

"What they're saying to us is ... Saudi Arabia does not have customers that are making requests for oil that they are not able to satisfy,"

There is a strong argument that the reason that Saudi Arabia won’t raise production is because they can’t. Chart from Paul Chefurka.

Global Warming and Peak Oil

When Bush met with King Abdullah in mid-January, the president asked the oil-rich nation to raise production to ease high prices at the pump. Bush got a chilly response to his plea.

From what I can figure out, Global Warming is nonsense. I make that judgment based on receding ice on Mars and a warning about acid rain by the same crowd that pushes Global Warming. Acid rain is caused by CO2 interacting with water, causing carbonic acid (CO3). Acid rain is a lie because carbonic acid breaks down into carbon dioxide and oxygen within a millimeter or so of the surface and cannot affect bodies of water.

People are also making money off of Global Warming and have a vested interest in preserving their cash flows.

From what I can figure out, Peak Oil is reality. I make that judgment based on the fact that there was only so much old plant life, things like Bush’s visit to Saudi, and gas prices. Also see Paul Chefurka’s excellent work.

We don’t hear about Peak Oil because there isn’t much money to be made in it. Societal response should be to reduce consumption and start a crash program to build hundreds of nuclear power plants. Nuclear power is verboten. Reducing consumption does not require government programs and hurts profits.

Peak Oil is a big deal.

Update: A person with more knowledge than I on acid rain left a good comment on the subject. My reference was to a claim that increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere will cause the world’s oceans to become acidic. I defer to the comment with respect to other causes of acid rain.

One Hundred Billion Dollars, Part 3

In 1980, there were $2 trillion dollars. In 2006, there were over $10 trillion dollars. In March, 2006, the Federal Reserve stopped tracking the M3 number here:

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h6/discm3.htm

M3 does not appear to convey any additional information about economic activity that is not already embodied in M2 and has not played a role in the monetary policy process for many years. Consequently, the Board judged that the costs of collecting the underlying data and publishing M3 outweigh the benefits.

So I can’t figure how many total dollars there are now. But per Bloomberg, the Fed is printing $14.4 billion daily. If my math is correct, that equates to an additional $5 trillion/year.

Thus the inflation for real stuff like food and fuel. Something similar happened in Germany in the 1920s, and a beer ended up costing fifty billion Marks. Bad things happened after that.

Correction: That $14.4 billion number is a moving average of one subset of the Federal Reserve's printing.

Bloomberg Makes Sense

Bloomberg has a good article on the World Bank. I believe that the World Bank is an arm of those people who would like to remove the concept of nation-states. Bloomberg details how 3rd World countries were convinced to drop import tariffs in exchange for money.

I have a large garden and it costs me more to grow my own food than it does to buy it in bulk at Costco. Same thing for local farmers in the 3rd World, when the gas was cheap. Honduras now imports 83% of its food.

From its actions, it appears that the World Bank does not recognize human biodiversity. They’ve been able to feel good about themselves for decades now. People are now getting hungry in 3rd World Countries with the rise in transportation and fertilizer prices. This is in large part due to the World Bank.

In the end, the World Bank will be responsible for more human misery than the Nazis. And they still feel good about themselves. I’ll keep my garden.

Bloomberg Doesn’t Make Sense

He reports a median sales price drop for housing of 7.7% in the first quarter (tracks well with Brick Oven’s assumption of 2.7% per month). Then he goes on to report:

Homeowners who live near a house repossessed by a lender will see their property values drop an average of $5,000, according to the Center for Responsible Lending. Nationally, foreclosures will result in $202 billion of lost real estate value, the Durham, North Carolina-based group said.

The $202 number is crap. The Case-Schiller Index has home prices down around 25%, which equates to a real estate value loss of $5 trillion, not $202 billion. In the first quarter alone, the 7.7% drop equals $1.5 trillion in evaporated wealth.

Bloomberg has been sounding like a cheerleader for a while now. The banks are in trouble and I suspect that he knows it.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=arfjFulEBNJ0&refer=worldwide

Belated Birthday

I just realized that Brick Oven just turned a year old. Happy Birthday. This is way better than College.

"I've Been to 57 States"

Meet the 57 States of the Organization of the Islamic Conference:

http://02afd63.netsolhost.com/oicnew/member_states.asp

Oops. Now that’s a bumper-sticker.

Postscript:
Murdering a fellow Muslim gets you the death sentence in Islam, but the murderer can be pardoned by the victim’s family. Obama is an Apostate. Apostasy also get you the death sentence, but it cannot be pardoned. There are no exceptions. Maybe Obama’s got that on his mind.

Location, Location, Location

The smart money’s on homes in white areas with conservative governments. Texas and Louisiana are aberrations based on the surging oil industry.

The Dollar, Matriarchs, and Patriarchs

The Telegraph has a good article on the Dollar:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/05/11/ccecon111.xml

In the article, it is noted that the Dollar has recently gained against the Euro, but attributes the gain to weakness in the Euro. The Telegraph correctly identifies China and Saudi Arabia as holding the strings on the Dollar’s future. As neither China nor Saudi Arabia cares about you or me, their calculations will be based on protecting the value of their existing dollar reserves. They have a patriarchal form of government. It operates on logic.

Globalism has cost the US its sovereignty.

The reason that the West has become weak is because we’re now led by a matriarchal form of government. It dates back to 1920 and is based on feelings. The world doesn’t care. And both China and Saudi Arabia now have the ability to tip over our little apple cart at a time of their choosing.

What they will really behead is the Nurturing Age.

Thank This Nationalist

“We’re in a transition period.”
-President Bush then mentioned switchgrass

I’ve become convinced that Peak Oil is a bigger deal than people want to admit or even think about. Oil is simple and efficient compared to its proposed successors. The energy invested in converting switchgrass to fuel would exceed the energy gained from the fuel. Switchgrass will not be able to replace oil.

As our world is already straining its resources, a loss of energy efficiency would result in many world systems failing. The potential scenarios are sobering.

But North America will be able to weather peak oil better than other regions of the world for several reasons:

(1) Conservationists have effectively stored a good percentage of North American oil resources through drilling bans. This is a strategic advantage moving forward in the 21st Century. Conservationists have created a super-mega-strategic oil reserve for future use.
(2) North Americans will be able to witness the effects of Peak Oil on the rest of the world, and adopt policies to restrict the uses of their reserves.
(3) Despite the efforts of foolish people, North America is still relatively sparsely populated.

I hope the Sierra Club is successful in its efforts to maintain the drilling bans. Whether they know it or not, they are acting as nationalists.

Postscript:

Go Polar Bears.

Potatoes

“Obama believes that trade with foreign nations should strengthen the American economy and create more American jobs.”
-From his website

During the First Depression, Wall Street (then high) sought to hire 500,000 troops to overthrow FDR (then representing the middle). Grandpa Bush was involved in the plot. You can research this by looking up the McCormack-Dickstein hearings. Wall Street would not try to overthrow Obama, as I judge him to be already in the tank for the high, although he may not know it yet. Wall Street seeks a New World Order (NWO) in which nation-states are subjugated to business interests. They have come a long way.

By my estimate, the beneficiaries of the NWO number between 10,000 and 100,000. The greatest threat to the NWO is the armed Citizenry (middle) that is best described by James Madison in Federalist 46. Ammoman.com alone is selling 2 million rounds each week to this segment of American society that numbers probably 30-50 million.

I believe that these two groups are the ‘high’ and ‘middle’ of The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. The world’s ‘low’ are in for a rough Century as nation-state credit ratings evaporate and we pass peak oil.

The best thing we can do as individuals is plant a garden. The cultivation and storage of potatoes is an excellent family activity.

www.potatogarden.com

American Dreams

Kevin Phillips makes a good argument that the real unemployment rate is 9 to 12%, the real inflation rate is 7-10%. He details how the books have been cooked for political purposes from Lyndon Johnson going forward:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/article473596.ece

Phillips seems to be right. On the bright side, that 30-yr mortgage at 5-6% interest is a bargain. Housing is now selling below the cost to build it. It’s a great time to be in the market to buy a house. Watch the Case-Schiller composite index, it has a two-month delay:

http://www2.standardandpoors.com/spf/pdf/index/CS_HomePrice_History_022603.xls

When that index falls less than one percent drop a month for two months in a row (it’s currently dropping at 2.7%/month), the market is near bottom. That is the time to buy.

Rural real estate remains a good long-term investment. If I were buying a house, I’d choose one in an agricultural region away from population centers.

Pushing On A String

MBIA, the bond insurer, had its rating dropped from AAA to AA by Fitch Ratings, a credit rating agency. MBIA has asked Fitch to stop rating it. I wish I could ask the Highway Patrol to stop monitoring my driving. MBIA’s request illustrates the arrogance of Wall Street.

The free market doesn’t care.

Reverend Wright could say it better, but MBIA’s chickens are coming home to roost. The arrogance that led to their request is the same arrogance that led them to insure bad municipal debt. Lots of it in retrospect.

Bond issue due diligence included entering assumptions like continued revenue from building permits and appreciating home values. Building permits, and their associated impact fees, have dried up. Housing values are down 25% and continuing to drop by 2.7% per month.

The City of Vallejo is going bankrupt. Vallejo’s bondholders will be paid by whichever company insured their bonds. So will probably the bondholders of the next dozen or so municipalities who claim bankruptcy. Then the insurance money runs out and the insurers go away. Subsequent bond holders will get creamed.

I can envision bondholders pushing their municipalities into bankruptcy in a race to get their insurance money. Expect a cascade of municipal bankruptcies and the dissolution of the insurers. Warren Buffett is not smart getting into the industry.

Another Article Review: Foreign Investment

ContraryInvestor.com has performed an excellent analysis of foreign investment trends in the US. The data shows that it has recently dropped. The article attributes the drop to a loss of confidence in the US financial markets. I believe that this is correct.

Another potential factor is a fear in Muslim countries that their investments in the US would be seized in the event of a suspended Constitution. Wall Street would see this as bad. I see it as healthy.

http://www.contraryinvestor.com/mo.htm

Article Review: Peak Oil and Population

Paul Chefurka wrote an excellent analysis of his vision of a very rocky future. My only critique of his work is the possibility that advanced batteries could store nuclear-generated electricity for the purposes of farming and distributing food. The use of nuclear-powered batteries would require a relatively high degree of human intelligence, which is not what our world is currently producing.

Our society celebrates people like Bono; who feed dependent populations without insisting on population controls. Bono’s work makes him feel good about himself. In the end though, people like Bono will likely be seen as committing crimes against humanity on a scale that dwarfs Hitler. Hitler only ended up killing 10 million per year.

http://www.paulchefurka.ca/Population.html

Service

You can be sure that serving others will make your life more fulfilling.
-President Bush addressing a Kansas high school graduation yesterday

I judge that President Bush now believes this. As his Conservative base has abandoned him, the President has turned to scripture and recipients of government aid for psychological support. That Peggy Noonan piece about Texans hurt President Bush. It damaged his self image.

President Clinton pandered for votes, not psychological support.

Four Degrees of Democrat

Type 1 Democrats:
Productive working people seeking a fairer shake.

Type 2 Democrats:
Down with whitey crowd. Type 2 Democrats are further delineated into the Type 2B, Type 2H, and Type 2J varieties.

Type 3 Democrats:
Believing college graduates who have not subsequently spent time in either the military or the private sector. The female pictured above is a Type 3 Democrat.

Type 4 Democrats:
Rich guys gaming democracy. Reverend Wright with his multi-million dollar home in a gated white neighborhood, Obama with his multi-million dollar mansion, and the Clintons are the most visible Type 4 Democrats, but essentially all elected officials, Democrats and Republicans alike, are Type 4.

Clarification: By no means are all members of demographic groups Type 2s. I judge that many (most?) Hispanics are Type 1s or Republicans.

One Hundred Billion

It seems the Government is printing $137 billion every two weeks now. In comparison, the ‘War on Terror’ costs around $4 billion every two weeks. $137 billion from Bloomberg:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aLIt_nNcPhP4&refer=worldwide

The $137 billion every two weeks is roughly equal to the value of the unfunded promises that the government continues to make to the Citizenry though. Dr. Evil only wanted $100 billion and that was a one-time shot.

It’s probably hard for most people to understand what a small business owner feels as he holds a weekly meeting and has his crew sitting around the table. He thinks lots of things, one of which is how many dollars are flowing out of his wallet every minute his workers are sitting idle.

Small business owners understand how expensive people are. A democratic government understands how to get re-elected. The two understandings are different. The winner is unsustainable.

The Real Jobs Report

Jobs that Generate National Wealth:

Construction: minus 61,000
Manufacturing: minus 46,000
Professional and Business Services: plus 39,000

Jobs that Expend National Wealth:

Leisure and Hospitality: Plus 18,000
Education and Health Services: Plus 52,000
Government: Plus 9,000

I know many Mormons and have a very good impression of the religion. One thing I’ve learned through a Mormon friend is that they have a responsibility to be prepared.

The LDS has a food calculator linked below. I agree with the LDS with regards to preparedness. I’d add 2,000 shotgun shells, 2,000 rifle rounds, 10,000 22LR rounds, and a bayonet. They probably would too, but can’t say it.

http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm

The Catholic Church and Multiculturalism

The Bible really is a great book. It allows you to view intelligent men’s insights of the world through the ages. It has been a powerful force for mankind for Millennia. Regardless of your religious persuasion, it is recommended reading.

Late Roman leadership harnessed the power of the Bible in an effort to hold on to power. In doing so they added teachings that facilitated governance. The Bible is reserved for the Priest in modern services. The Roman Catholic Church survived the fall of Rome and became an institution, with the needs of all institutions. This included security and money.

The Catholic Church originally sanctioned the Knights Templar, which grew strong enough to be a threat. In 1307, the Knights Templar were arrested, tortured, and burnt. The Catholic Church took the Templars property. Jacques Demolay was burnt slowly by, no kidding, King Phillip the Fair.

In the 1500s, Galileo publicly stated that the earth rotates around the sun. The Catholic Church shut Galileo up.

The Catholic Church originated the concept of land title. In exchange for a dying man’s land, the Church would provide blessings for him. It eventually became a large landowner and leveed a tax on crops known as a dime. By the time of the French Revolution, the Catholic Church (1st Estate) has gained equality with the Royalty (2nd Estate) and everybody else (3rd Estate).

In a lot of ways, Multiculturalism is the modern parallel to the Catholic Church of old. It is based in power and suppresses dissent. It rejects science. It feeds off of the government. The leaders use it to benefit themselves at the expense of others. In the end though, it will fall to some parallel of the Enlightenment. Truth is a powerful thing.

PC Disclaimer: I’m having my kids raised Catholic.