At War? (Part One)

Dear reader, I am somewhat reluctant to begin this blog post ... in effect, opening up this frightening can of worms ... but it seems to be writing itself.

Are we at war with China? I am unfortunately concluding that we are. Let’s look at events:

For decades, China has been striving for worldwide hegemony ... by forced technology transfer, by undercutting other nations’ manufacturing with cheap, even slave labor, by spying and espionage on developed nations,, by manipulating its currency, by buying up critical Western assets, by commercial extortions, by infiltrating UN agencies, by bribing Western politicians  (and their relatives), by assembling belligerent nation proxies, by insidious propaganda campaigns, by huge military spending, by territorial expansions ... and on and on.

And until President Trump appeared, the rest of the world was hypnotized under the rubric of “globalism” ... a term invented by those commercial interests that were profiting through China’s expansion. This incredibly stupid world leader was the first to recognize this Sino-threat publicly ... and started pushing back. He imposed tariffs on strategic products that China was dumping on the world. He began the process of putting some of China’s proxy nations in a box. He began using his bully pulpit to point out exactly what China had been doing. He rebuilt America’s and NATO’s military. He gradually increased the scope and size of tariffs on China. He assembled our other trading partners in bulwarks against China. He exposed “global warming” hysteria as just another tool of the globalists. He cut a huge trade deal with China that helped level the playing field ... and on and on.

And he was making a big difference in slowing China’s march to world domination ... remarkable for such an orange-tinted ignoramus! So, what did China do to respond? Tune in next time, dear readers, and you will see much of the rest of the story ...

Big Bucks

It seems that virtually every entrenched politician is a multi-millionaire ... even if they had entered office a pauper. How do these often slow-witted people pull their enrichments off? Let me count the ways:

- Gifts and gifts-in-kind from lobbyists
- Book deals
- Kickbacks from overpaid staffers (illegal)
- Exorbitant speaking fees and go-alongs
- Syphoning money from campaign funds
- Insider stock and commodity trading
- Plush no-show jobs for spouses and relatives
- TV appearance fees
- Sweetheart real estate deals
- Fake foundations
- Fat salaries and pensions
- Pork from pork-barrel legislation
- Bribes (illegal)
- Padded expense accounts
- Free medical expenses and other allowances
- "Friendly" bank loans and loan forgiveness

It would seem that new forms of this political grease are constantly being invented. Chasing these ephemera is a frustrating and no-win exercise. The easier these money scams become, the more attractive politics becomes for low-life's. The only possible solution might be to force full annual public disclosure by politicians as to the sources of their net worth increases?

Soccer It to Me!

Soccer, the most popular sport in the world, has just been exposed as being a criminal enterprise benefiting its overseers, the FIFA. Mucho millions of dollars of bribes have been paid to FIFA executives in order to select venues for the World Cup matches ... as well as, now it seems, to pick sports equipment sponsors for the FIFA teams ... see: Washington Post Article.

If soccer fans think that the corruption in this sport stops at the picking of venues for the World Cup matches or equipment sponsorships, I think that they may have a few more surprises. In particular, the officiating at the last World Cup matches had too many questionable calls for my taste. And I also suspect that many players may someday also be implicated for shady dealings in key match-ups.

Ole!

Thumb in the Eye

President Obama’s timing is exquisite.  Just as the United States is Thelma-and-Louise-ing over the fiscal cliff, he decides to rescind the cost-of-living pay freeze on government workers that he imposed back in 2010 … see: Huffington Post.Story. This almost one percent increase in the cost of government salaries clearly sends a clarion message that he could not care a tinker’s fart about reining in government spending.  All he wants to do is to continue to bloat up things in Washington … and he wants, nay needs, tax increases in order to do it.  He is giving a thumb in the eye of the those in Congress who are concerned about his style of tax-and-spend Federalism.  And he is doing it in his typical cagey end-run around the powers of our legislature … daring them to deny themselves a pay increase … even suggesting that this is a near-bribe in order to get his way.

And of course our Senate is following suit in that they just voted a $60.4 billion relief package for hurricane Sandy victims which is strewn with all kinds of constituent goodies that have nothing to do with the hurricane.  How in the world will our government ever get even close to balancing its checkbook if they continue to pay disaster insurance claims when they have never extracted insurance premiums in advance from said victims? (See: WaPo Story). The answer is never.  That is, “never” until such time as our government totally runs out of money.  And the time of our fiscal Armageddon is rapidly approaching.  Still, our national media paints the Tea Party and other fiscal conservatives as the antagonists in this drama.  They should be ashamed of themselves.  Their thumbs are also aimed at the public’s eye sockets … only many of us don’t yet realize it.