Local governments are in as bad, or worse, shape as Cal and NY. There is this sense that commercial real estate is the "next shoe to drop"... I think CRE is small potatoes next to what is going on in the state and local government budgets. I don't know exactly when this unwinds, but unwind it will. My bet is in less than 3 years (but I could be wrong).
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No single lay off has to occur for any local or state government worker - instead of, say, laying off 25% of their workers the municipal unions could simply agree on a 25% wage and benefit cut. Of course, THERE ARE TOO MANY of these workers... and they are over paid and over benefitted when compared to workers in the private sector... the public worker's unions are just pulling the propaganda levers and placing stories with sympathetic journalists.
Propaganda (like imbalances) is EVERYWHERE. Public Relations firms' exist to help plant and spin stories in the media to suit their client's interests. There is NO INDEPENDENT journalism outside of the Blogsphere.
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Anybody notice the strange coincident of nearly $80 per barrel Oil (front month), "high" inventories, and a "high" US$?
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I always read Gene Logsdon. I also absolutely DESPISE the USDA which I think is Anti-Christ #2 (behind Goldman Sachs). The USDA is one of the most FOS organizations on the planet. I could rant and rave about these turds for hours, but if you don't work in Ag it would be lost on you... so I'll spare you. I will say to you that I have written to the USDA on occasion - to protest their silly assed, jag-off, know-nothing programs on National Animal Identification System (which has since be scrapped in all but name) and their lack of understanding the real risk to the country - and that is NOT crop prices and supports but WEATHER. These jokers think that as long as we don't "plow" irresponsibly "like we did in the '30's"... "every thing's gone be a'right".... these guys are as guilty of dereliction of duty as one can be. Our concentration and methods of AG production have left us horribly at risk to a significant weather outlier. Logsdon just touches on it... the floods that hit us in Nashville this year could just have easily been a multi year drought over the grain region... yet we have no "Strategic Grain Reserve".
Go figure.
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I read with interest the stories about this past week's execution by firing squad in Utah. Who were the folks doing the shooting? They were VOLUNTEERS from local Law Enforcement. While it is no secret that I oppose the death penalty I am sure that the individual in question likely had worn out his welcome on this earth decades ago... but who the h*ll "volunteers" to shoot somebody? Do we want this type of person walking around with a gun and a badge? This guy,by his own account, was a murderous SOB.... and what kind of people are these "volunteers"? We warehoused this guy for over 25 years... we couldn't warehouse him couple more? We needed the $5 to $15 million in legal fees every death penalty case costs the taxpayer?
Back to those "volunteers"... WTF is up with them?
Just saying.
28 comments:
The volunteers consider it practical training. I would not be surprised if they are S.W.A.T. I wonder why not have the victims family or friends shoot?
Ya those volunteers keep me up at night.
Several years ago I took a job with a temp tech company going around the state upgrading the Statewide Law Enforcement network backbone.
The stuff I heard and witnessed during that tour has made me so untrusting of police.
I could write a book but two that stuck with me were that each time I had their system down when I brought it back up the list of plates ran were always 90% female under the age of 30. The other was the straw drawing lottery for which cops got to work the weekend shifts at the local fairs because thats when they got to bust heads.... They all coveted the weekend shifts so much they has to have a drawing.
There was maybe one cop I met there who volunteered to not work the weekend shift and watched the proceedings with disgust.
Linked an article on my blog where Illinois has lowered pensions and raised retirement for future employees but yet have given themselves 300 billion or so credit on this years budget because of future savings.
Your right its going to get ugly.
I would have volunteered years ago. I also don't trust cops and question the mentality that makes someone want this type of responsibility (power). However, there is absolutely no reason to let a scumbag sit in a cell for his entire life because we refuse to end it. Why would we spend millions upon millions of dollars between housing and legal fees when we could have taken care of it when he was found guilty initially? Any person found guilty of murder by a jury of his peers needs to die. How have these policies of incarceration and "rehabilitation" worked for our society over the past several decades? We have more worthless trash in our society than we know what to do with. Please spare me any arguments about the intrinsic value of all human life or the lack of moral authority to end the life of another person. Anybody who knowingly and intentionally takes another’s life has forfeited any right to life that he or she was once entitled to. Maybe our country wouldn't be filled with so many criminals if we actually provided the deterrent to avoid making these decisions.
This would be less of an issue if UT didn't allow the archaic 'firing squad' death option. Pushing buttons is a bit more sterile a killing then sighting someone in and shooting them from a close distance.
This shouldn't surprise anyone we live in a violent culture devoid of real empathy and there has always been people willing to kill for the thrill of it, or for a few bucks--be they 'thugs' or legally approved thugs by a government.
-Meiyo
The quality of the police is bound to decline, which means wrongful convictions are bound to increase. Thus the rate of mistaken executions will rise, too. i wonder how many wrongfully executed men it would take to cause a significant drop in peaceful order?
Related to the USDA topic, check out this raid on an Amish farmer in Wisconsin who is fighting back against the state thugs...
http://wholefoodusa.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/close-to-state-of-emergency-amish-and-small-farmers-being-raided/
If you guys are so concerned about bad policing, you just wait for the civil service pay and benefits to drop like Jeffers is suggesting is inevitable. Employees who are paid well have less reason to steal and abuse at their level, plus they also have more to lose, which also prevents them (and me) from being a bane on society :)
Living in Chicago, I never realized that the rest of the country saw Chicago as a crime capital (Capone is long gone, and yet ...). The 1970s were particularly dirty here. What also was happening then? Low govt. pay and polticized hiring of government workers.
If I were a cop, would I beat your old asses after losing a quarter of my pay? Hmmmm ....
Anon @ 4:45 AM:
Please register or use a nick name to comment here...
That said... I am a stone cold Libertarian, but that does NOT mean that I favor killing fetuses with Listeria bacteria - the most common transmission form is with non-pasteaurized dairy products.
While I FIRMLY believe people should be able to make their own decisions, and in this case I believe that people should be allowed to consume un-pasteaurized dairy, I personally would NOT consume raw dairy under any circumstance any more than raw pork.
I note with interest that progressives seem to suddenly support people's freedoms in this instance... letting them poison themselves if they so choose, but are unwilling hold people responsible for their own actions else where - in taking on debt for instance.
When in doubt, I tend to take this admonishment to heart:
"If you are not free to choose wrongly and irresponsibly, you are not free at all." – Jacob Hornberger
On the other hand, and this is really not politically correct, I view people insisting that pasteaurising milk some how makes it less and not more healthful are as f***ing absurd as the religious wingnuts that will not vaccinate their children.
That does not mean I would use government force to enforce either.
Bur:
Using that reasoning, we should continue to pay people NOT to extort from us - well Gee F***ing thanks... are you OUT of your F*&^ing mind?
If you don't believe me, look at the data. I know you love that. :)
Paying people a decent wage will reduce overall crime. How many Madoffs do you know in the stir? I'll bet you 90%+ of people in jail weren't well-paid, educated individuals.
There's LOTS of money out there for tax revenue. The rich have never been richer, and more undertaxed, than they are today. I make $95,000, and my Federal income tax rate is under 11% (with a little rental income)! My parents, who make more in retirement, is even worse!
Stop defending Wall Street fat cats. Youre a gentleman farmer now. :) We also don't need another Mish.
Bur, people are in jail because they committed a crime, not because they weren't well paid.
A one time, well-known Boston radio talk host, the much acclaimed, libertarian, and late, David Brudnoy, used to annoy liberals no end when he said that "poverty does NOT create crime. Rather, crime creates poverty."
Crime scares away investment. It inhibits people from taking a business chance in a community and from doing business with people known to be crime problems.
Indeed, there were many times and places, some 100 years ago, but some that still exist today that were very poverty stricken, but had low crime. They tend to be more rural than urban, but they exist.
But show me a high crime community that isn't poor?
I'll put it another way. I've known people who were poor, but were not criminals. On the other hand, I've known very few criminals that weren't also fighting for their lives financially (ignoring the very few Bernie Madoffs and Key Lays as you say.)
Crime creates poverty, not the other way around.
Er, my EFFECTIVE federal income tax rate is under 11%, I mean. (actual Federal income tax paid divided by AGI)
What a deal to live in America! :)
Investment is scared away (and sent overseas) when Americans cost $30/hour and Chinese labor costs one dime/hour.
I posted as Anon @ 4:45 AM. I do not consume raw dairy either, but in an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation I will ardently support the raw milk crowd (left-wingers and all) in this specific battle if they're fighting big Ag and intrusive govt bureacracy. Big Ag doesnt want people making food for themselves, and I'd rather have them tied up fighting raw milk than to cede that issue and have them start regulating composting and a whole bunch of other stuff and further restrict people's ability to do for themselves.
I buy raw milk because it's the way I support the one remaining, local dairy farmer.
Sometimes I home-pasteurize it, sometimes I don't.
I think modern cows are pretty clean, at least at this small farm.
I do not, however, think that it is a miracle food.
Andy is spot on too. It's not about health as far as the government is concerned. It's about their control over us. He who controls the food, controls everything.
Nice dodge of the issue there Bur.
Not everyone goes to church every Sunday, Stephen. :)
Poverty is created when the middle class disappears and the gulf between rich and poor widens, thereby funneling more and more of the wealth to the wealthy, and making the poor more dependent and miserable. This situation was in place in the 1920s (just before we fell off a cliff), and it exists today.
The 1950s was full of middle-class strengthening (albeit the war recovery did wonders). Taxes on the rich were high (Carbon disagrees with me on this), and they didn't have anywhere to flee to.
Yesterday, the Chicago Police announced on the news that they number of lawsuits against the department was at a historic low.
Could it be because the cops make $75,000 + benefits per year, and are now paid as professionals and have more to lose?
Or could it be because they are all slowly becoming good Christians? :)
Andy:
THank you for your response.
I support people's right to live with a MINIMUM of government interference as you do. I particularly do not want government agents telling people what they can and cannot eat, drink, or smoke.
Just know that I do not drink very much, I never smoke anything, and I watch my weight. These are MY decisions to make, and I take responsibility for them.
Stephan B:
I breed and milk dairy goats (and we have a cow, too) and I will tell you very disgusting and disturbing secret:
There is NO SUCH THING as manure free milk. (There is no thing as rat-feces free peanut butter, either.)
This contamination is overcome somewhat by pasteaurizing (though not perfectly).
I say this only to encourage you to home pasteaurize. Be well!
Could it be because the cops make $75,000 + benefits per year, and are now paid as professionals and have more to lose?
Or could it be because they are all slowly becoming good Christians? :)
Or could it be that they have just moved up to bigger fish since they care little about the broke pot pushers bribe from the corner now?
Greed does not go away because you pay it more it just looks for larger pay outs. Ultimately that causes much larger crimes "madoff" style.
It simply doesn't matter by todays standards anyway the public servants have become way too greedy and the tax base can no longer afford to pay them off.
Paying a bad cop 75K a year does nothing more than allow him more time to cause even a larger problem since he isn't burdened with strong arming the locals as much.
Isn't it an ex-cop that has the string of dead wives floating in local Chicago-land rivers?
There are a million people in law enforcement in this country, and very few are like the esteemed Sgt. Drew Peterson. :)
Hmmm last source I saw said 800K but we wont quibble. Thatw as also before this years budget problems.
Like I said it hardly matters these civil employees are almost all being paid by creative financing and burrowed money. 75K a year may keep an individual police officer from strong arming the locals for "protection" but overall it's just a mass strong arm of the tax payers and anyone who can add can see it is close to it's end.
Either the tax payers will stop paying or the mandatory inflation brought on by the fiat currency will starve them to death.
Every city/county/state will prioritize spending. Police, fire and jails first, followed by water, sewer, pensions, airports, and THEN you get to the real cutting: clinics, senior citizens, special events, garbage pickup. The cops and firemen all get paid first.
Thats not what I am seeing everyday another city announces police layoffs. Oakland talking about 200 today.
It's just a matter of time now.
Matter of time for what? :) There isn't going to be any Apocalypse, and all the old men with their guns and gold bars are going to be very disappointed. Reality would dictate years of flatline living ahead.
They laid of police here as well, I have to concur that increased crime rates and less services to the public don't make for an apocalypse. Life will just get harsher for more and crime rates will go up. Police have not been off the table for layoffs in PA, they have reduced police in many municipalities, and teachers are next on the chopping block in some districts, although apparently Rendell is looking to amp up money for teachers, even though the non-profits/social service/food pantries will be getting hit again, and this is with stimulus money stop-gapping the budget to some degree. I still can't fathom why people would want gold bars, unless you mean investing in gold, which would have panned out well for many--but do people actually keep this in their home's? I really wish I had invested in bullets a few years ago, that would have made a huge profit.
-Meiyo
The US states have already received federal bailouts by issuing bonds which are guaranteed by the federal government. Yes, there are going to be more tough times ahead - pay cuts, layoffs, benefit cuts and more. But thats not the fundamental problem - the main problem is the fact that there were simply too many people born between 1945 and 1965 and they're all getting older and scared of their future as they should be. Only billionaires have any real security anymore.
Unfortunately, the right wing echo chambers in the US have been able to convince poorly educated insecure people that the government is the root of all their problems. So you get census workers being shot because they are in the government. Is there any sense to this insanity? We should ship all these people to China so they can find out what government oppression truly is like. then they will beg to come back to the US
a matter of time means the end of the deficit spending... Not the end of the world.
Although for some it will seem like the end of the world :)
A shrinking economy and shrinking government will mean the resurrection of family and community.
Depending on the overall circumstances of which peak energy is a major player, people who are not currently billionaires may just find themselves in better positions than those who are. Land, family and tribe will be the wealth of things to come.
As for moving to China comparing a progressive, racist government bent on throwing out Constitutional rights maybe better than Chinese communism but I would fight against either one....
III
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