Congress: Let's throw some more astronaut lives away so we can preen for the camera!

Behind the Black blog

 

Comment:

 

"plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" --- The more things change, the more they stay the same.

 

 

An update on the fake election in Canuckistan

Follows the familiar pattern of fighting patriots, as opposed to the sellouts.

 

https://t.co/FoAAWYbc6a via @Shareaholic -- This link is about how the Canadian elections are going. Not well, according to this report. The key thing to remembr is that Canadians would rather fight the USA than to negotiate. Sound familiar? hint RINOS

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) April 10, 2025

Politicians worry more about China than about their own da** country.

 

Like everything else, if you don't take care of it, it will go away.

Democrats Worried Trump May Not Have China's Best Interests At Heart https://t.co/kDpXxqlr9i via @TheBabylonBee --- This isn't satire. It's the truth. The only way it appears to be satire is that people do not recognize that it's the truth. Unfortunately, it's not just Dems.

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) April 10, 2025

The Economic order that exists today is going to change whether we want it to, or not

 

In fact, it has already changed drastically. That's what Trump wants to turn around. American manufacturing used to be about all there was. Now almost nothing is made in America anymore. The easy living has come at the cost of a loss of our industrial output.

The denial is deep as the Marianas Trench. If other countries weren't benefiting from their trade surpluses with America, then why are they doing it? Japan, China, and Germany have all surpassed the USA in industrial output. At the end of War War II, this was not so. It wasn't just the war that changed this. It is an important factor in why the ALLIES won the war. Without American industrial dominance, the Nazis would have won. The Imperial Japanese would have been victorious in the Pacific.

America has international obligations, but is increasingly unable to meet them. Without the strong economy to support it, it will not be possible to defend the nations that we've agreed to defend for the last nearly 80 years. The current trading regime is simply not supportable any longer.

Denial won't change the facts on the ground. If there is a snowball's chance in hell of changing anything at all for the better, we'd better stick to the game plan. This could very well be our last chance.

What happens if we don't? China will rule the world. They believe that they have the right to, and if we do not shape the hell up, they will be right.

Stock markets are down again.

 

If Trump gives in, he's done.

There was a documentary on Tubi yesterday that illustrates the problem. In the last few economic cycles, the politicians have gotten too concerned about the stock market's gyrations. This had an effect upon the Fed governors, who did not properly regulate the banking system. A lot of moral hazard got into the system. It's not up to the Fed to worry about the stock market. It is not up to the President to regulate the markets, either. They're supposed to regulate themselves.

When they won't be responsible themselves, the politicians want to rescue them. That's what they're counting on. They expect it now, and so they behave badly. Once their bad behavior causes failures, and filters down the whole chain ( or dominoes ), then a lot of pain just might get transmitted. This is what happens when you take too much risk. This is what happens when the government and the Fed takes too much responsibility for people's behavior. If somebody makes bad decisions, that's something that they'll have to accept themselves.

So now the markets are testing Trump to see how much they can wrap him around their little finger. Trump should not give in to them. China is a DANGEROUS ADVERSARY. They must be held accountable for their violations of agreements. China doesn't play nice, and to do business with them is a hazard that you must accept if you're going to. If you get burned, then that's your problem. It's not fair to expect everybody else to subsidize your own mistakes.

Cease fire in the trade war, sort of

 

Looks like Trump is pausing the tariffs. The stock market is rising a bunch.

But China may not be included in the 90 day pause. I saw the markets were up 6%, and I checked Yahoo Finance to find that Trump had paused the tariffs. Maybe nobody has to jump from a high place just yet.

An interesting day it was

 

Well, this is going to be a think piece. Or an attempt at one. So, let's get on with it.

Lately, I've been watching Tubi. It's not really TV. It's a video streaming service that offers movies, documentaries, and such. One movie that I watched yesterday for reasons I don't know besides the obvious one of passing some time; and I observed something of note. Because of that, I wanted to remember it. Fortunately, I was able to remember, and here I am.

The plot of the movie is not what I want to discuss. At least not much of it. There was indeed a part of the story that stood out in bold relief. It seems that the main character was trying to fight back against the political machine was destroying him.

It stood out in bold relief because it was a page out the playbook in which politics is played in the country to this very day.

Yes, I thought that was worth mentioning. Anyway, the main character is struggling against this machine, and it looked like he was about to lose. But something like a miracle happens that saves the day.

The point? The movie was made in 1939. After all that time, little has changed. I guess that's the point. Nothing has changed.

But one thing may have changed. Miracles were believed in back in 1939. I wonder if we who populate these here United States can believe in miracles anymore? Is it possible to turn back the clock and get people to believe that a miracle is even possible? Or have people become so jaded that they couldn't believe in miracles? That too was part of the film. One of the characters had become so jaded that she was losing hope.

To tell you the truth, the first few minutes of the flick was almost unwatchable for me. The main character was so naive. It was cringey as hell and as hokey as hell. But I stuck it out, and watched it all. Talking about miracles. But I jest.

So the main character was naive and the leading lady so to speak was the opposite. She was totally jaded, but felt a bit sorry for him at first. Then she made a 100% turnaround and started to believe.

There was another turnaround in the characters of this movie. A bad guy who pretended to be a good guy and was seen as a good guy actually changed his ways and stopped being a bad guy. He owned up to his wicked old ways and fessed up. I guess you can say that that was the miracle. He saw the light and changed. But he tried to commit suicide, but was stopped.

Can people change? I'm getting so jaded right now that I'm like that gal. It's really hard for me to believe these days. Nevertheless, I keep on. I keep on because there's nothing else to do. In a way, miracles have been happening all along. I got through yesterday. That was a freaking miracle.

May you live in interesting times

4/8/25:

My how time flies, and at the same time, it seems to stand still. All of this is part of the same phenomenon.

It would be interesting times regardless of what was happening in the world. Just makes it doubly interesting. I'd really like for it to get boring again, alas.

Specifically, what's the problem? The problem is that reality is hitting hard, bro. Real hard. Not sure about what's going to happen in the big world out there, but my little world has just taken a big dump. Trouble is, I've been avoiding the issue. The issue is this: running out of time. When you don't face up to the realities, the realities will find you anyway. Know what I mean, Vern?

I've got to help somebody that I promised to help, and now I'm not real sure that I can do it. It might have gone easier if I had paid closer attention to the necessities of the situation, but I haven't. Now I am running out of time, and something must be done. Without getting into too many more specifics, that's the issue.

4/1/25:

Today was rather hectic. I've had just enough time to do one update to another post, and an update here. Interesting times.

3/31/25, 9:46 AM:

 

The "interesting" part is not what it may appear to be. Anyway, I've been having some interesting times lately.

So posting may be lite for the time-being. Things are interesting in my neighborhood. More accurately, it could get interesting. As for today, I've been busy with some chores, while keeping my eyes open.

Not trying to be dramatic. A thing is what it is.

12:19 PM:

I interrupt this interruption to bring the news that the interruption is suspended for the moment. Consequently it will get boring for a little while, as I resume the unshelduled shedule.

Greenbacks galore

4/7/25:

There may be other options on the table than this one. It may become clearer in the coming months. That is, unless what I saw yesterday was bravo sierra. In this day and age, most things appear to be.

As a general rule, things aren't always the way they appear to be. Or what somebody claims it to be. For instance, the thing I'm referring to in the above paragraph. If what I saw is true, there's nothing to worry about. Supposedly, their exists some little known reservoir of assets that can be accessed. If such actually exists, there won't be a problem going forward. Supposedly, this will be mentioned soon.

Most fears may be based upon ignorance. But why should there be any ignorance? Because certain people get an advantage that way. Therefore, ignorance is their tool to gain power. If knowledge is power, then ignorance must result in the lack of it.

2/16/25:

In his book, Free to Choose, Milton Friedman said that money has taken many forms over the years. The natural thing is to create a currency in order to facilitate trade, as people are inclined to trade with each other. This can be observed in prisons, where cigarettes are used as a currency between inmates. If it isn't cigarettes, it would be something. This is an inevitability, because something is going to be used as a currency. It doesn't have to be gold, it can be anything that will be accepted.

For those who feel nervous about a greenback currency, there is a way to back it. But if you use gold, the gold will be manipulated in order to gain control over the currency. Hence, a type of serfdom will be imposed by the banksters. At this very time, the price of gold is being manipulated It is ALWAYS being manipulated, to serve the purposes of the banksters. We are enthralled to the banksters. A greenback currency that is backed by something that cannot be easily manipulated is the way of freedom from the banksters.

I would suggest that we lock out the banksters, and take over our own currency. We need to take precautions to stop an attempt to take it back over. For short periods, the USA had currency freedom. It had it prior to the Revolution. It had it after the Jackson years. It had it briefly during the Lincoln years. For most of the years after Lincoln, there was some limited control of the currency, as the banksters wore it down until they took over again with the Federal Reserve Act. The banksters are relentless in their attempts to enthrall us all.

How to do this in such a way that the banksters will not easily get their power back? That is the question.

2/15/25:

How to slash $1 trillion from spending in one year

The concept is simple. Just replace the currency with Federal Notes, as opposed to Federal Reserve Notes. It may not seem like a difference, but there'd be one BIG difference. A Federal Note will not pay interest because it isn't created through debt. No debt, no interest due on bonds. It's the bonds that cause the interest on the debt. If there's no bonds, then there will be no debt. If there's no debt, there will be no payments on the debt, which costs the Treasury $1 trillion per year.

Would this be inflationary? I don't know, but somebody thinks it wouldn't be. It would be seamless. The only difference is how the money is brought into existence. The way we do it now is by debt. The debt is owed to investors in bonds.

This was done during the Civil War, and the currency was called "greenbacks". We'd be going on Lincoln's greenback system.

The only ones to suffer would be the central banks who now get interest paid to them through the debt incurred in creating the money. No new laws need to be written, but you may have to repeal the Federal Reserve Act, and perhaps a Civil War Era law that replaced the greenback. Lincoln had to abandon the greenback under duress from the central banks.

The central banks are not our friends, ya'll. This would probably work, but there'd be a lot of resistance. Backing the buck with gold won't do the trick. Gold is too easily manipulated. It'd have to be the greenback. Discontinue the Federal Reserve Bank, and use Federal Notes issued directly by the Treasury, and save a lot of money in interest.

The main front in this trade war is going to be with China

 

China is not a friendly country. We also have a problem with the EU. Neither of these will back down easily, if at all.

China knows Trump wants lower interest rates so Xi is dumping massive amount of US treasuries to push interest rates higher https://t.co/3eTpui9BFT

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) April 7, 2025

Sheriff Buford T. Justice of Texas!

Reading the comments, folks do not know that Sheriffs in Texas are elected. You generally won't see a County Sheriff out there chasing the Bandit for over 700 miles. Maybe out in Hudspeth county, the Sheriff might get out there in a car, but it's probably not going to happen out there either. Instead, there will be deputies out in the patrol cars. But if the film used a deputy, it just wouldn't be the same.

 

Recession, recession---blah, blah, blah

 

This seems to be the topic du jour these days. Might as well keep posting on it.

The thing I watch is the Fed Funds rate as opposed to bonds. I'm all out of practice since I stopped trading a long time ago. I went broke when my health went to hell.

The Fed Funds rate is set at 4.25 to 4.5. The 30 year bond yield may have dropped below it, which means an inverted yield curve. President Trump is calling for rate cuts. Yes, I would think so. Just trying to confirm this inverted yield curve thing.

Here's Leo AI about the Fed Funds rate:

The Fed Funds rate is the interest rate at which banks and other depository institutions lend and borrow money from each other overnight. It is a crucial indicator of the overall direction of monetary policy and has a significant impact on the economy.

**Key points about the Fed Funds rate:**

* It is set by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the policymaking body of the Federal Reserve System.

* The FOMC sets a target range for the Fed Funds rate, which is currently between 4-1/4 to 4-1/2 percent.

* The Fed Funds rate influences the overall level of interest rates in the economy and has a significant impact on borrowing costs, economic growth, and inflation.

* It is a key indicator of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy stance and is widely followed by economists, investors, and policymakers.

The ^TYX index indicates a rate slightly above it. 4.48% This is a moving target as it was a quote.

All the other bond yields are lower, so it is mostly inverted. One possible good thing about this current kerfuffle is that the massive 36 trillion dollar public debt needs about 9 trillion in refinancing. We'd want to do this at a lower interest rate, thank you very much. Otherwise, the interest rates will be baked in at unacceptably high rates, which will tacked on to the Federal debt. Currently, the debt service is much, much too high.

Eggsclusive

 

A story of how Jeffery Goldbrick's number got on Waltz's phone.

Whatever happened to this story, anyhoo? I thought it was the story of the year. Oh, well. By the way, Waltz was using an Iphone. Iphones are spying devices, in case anybody wanted to know. In fact, all cellphones are spying devices. So maybe they think they know, but I suspect that there are many ways they could have been tricked into including Goldberg on the call. Just sayin'.

How to convert a capitalist economy into a socialist one

https://t.co/s78x9lHgob --- Looks like a plan. Meaning that you make private industry almost impossible to undertake, while continually adding government employees as a means toward imposing socialism.

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) April 7, 2025

 

Non Post ***!@#$%

 

4/6/25:

There seems to be an improvement, but it may well be an illusion. The rot deepens, and decay becomes more pronounced. Here's a chance to turn things around, but no. Can't do that, no siree Bob.

The Cult of Death in the West continues apace. No, it isn't Trump. The reaction to Trump is the issue.

3/19/24:

The most views of any post ever on this here blog.

Maybe it goes to show ya that nothing ever really changes. Same old sheet, main.



the original post of 4/26/12 follows directly:

This is to announce that I am literally at a loss of words, so I can't make a post.  As I look over what's happening, I can't make a bit of sense out of it.  The only thing I can say is "what the f**k"?