Paying for WWII and the Depression

From This ---

To This


Deficit spending is the method being tried to end the current recession. But deficit spending, without a method of repayment is a disaster in the making. We continually hear from the Left about the era of FDR and the plaudits accorded him by the Democrats. We also hear from the Right about how FDR did not help us out of the depression, but instead, WWII intervened and saved the day.

Can it be that both contentions are right? For my friends on the Right, I would tell them that as noble as the war effort was, it was still a gigantic government-spending project. The government transformed into one huge customer for every conceivable type of product. The purchases by the government sent unemployment down to 2% as factories manned up to produce the materials for war.

Neither the war nor the deficit spending effort by FDR was the saving grace for our economy though. Immediately after the war, we were in debt and the demand for war materials all but stopped. This put the people back onto the streets for a brief time. The war's aftermath really ended the depression. Instead of returning to the depression, as you would expect after the government stopped buying war materials, the war had created a pent-up demand for goods and services that were unavailable because of the war. Factories couldn't convert back to peacetime output fast enough to satisfy the demand.

This from --
http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/tassava.WWII

"At a macroeconomic scale, the war not only decisively ended the Great Depression, but created the conditions for productive postwar collaboration between the federal government, private enterprise, and organized labor, the parties whose tripartite collaboration helped engender continued economic growth after the war. The U.S. emerged from the war not physically unscathed, but economically strengthened by wartime industrial expansion, which placed the United States at absolute and relative advantage over both its allies and its enemies."

Not only was the demand high domestically, but the United States was practically the only industrialized nation that was physically unscathed by the war. A decimated Europe, Japan, Russia, and England put the manufacturing ability of the United States in high demand. With her newfound status as supplier to the world, the United States was able to dig out from under the mountain of debt that had accumulated over the past two decades.

Large multi-national corporations evolved from the ashes of the depression. The United States became the economic juggernaut of the world.

When I declared that both the Left and the Right were correct with their statements, each only tells one-half of a story.

The government released wage and price controls after the war and enabled our industries to flourish once again as private enterprises. The Marshall Plan helped foreign economies and gave them the ability to purchase American goods. And G.I. plans helped the returning soldiers to purchase houses and to continue with their education. Another important piece to the puzzle was that the infrastructure of our industries was good because of the war effort. The war and its aftermath produced an almost perfect storm for an economic boom in the United States.

You can conclude that the war and its aftermath created the environment that gave us the ability to manage the deficits that we accumulated. But the conditions we face now do not have the same miracle attached to it as the conditions at the end of WWII. We are no longer the world's supplier of goods. Our export deficits, loss of a manufacturing base, and government regulations have made us into the world's largest debtor nation.

The U.S. today is akin to a man with his paycheck. His money has been spent and leveraged out with debt for many years to come. The U.S. is now facing debt as far as the eye can see. If we as a Nation do not get a handle on our economy soon, we will fail as a nation.

Cheers,

-Robert-

The War Against Blacks

It gets little attention, but an effort to control the Black population is thriving. This effort is a blight on the human race. True, we have elected an African descended person to the presidency, but the all out push by Liberals to elect an Afro-American President is just cover for a very sinister agenda.

The effort to control the Black population is carried out on several fronts. One of the most effective tools is population control of Blacks using Malaria as the executioner. Malaria was promoted to main executioner because of a book written by Rachel Carson called the "Silent Spring". Rachel Carson was a marine biologist/writer whose book made a case against pesticides and the dangers they posed against animals.

This from Wikipedia about the impact of the book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson

"In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation and the environmental problems caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented portion of the American public. Silent Spring spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy—leading to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides—and the grassroots environmental movement the book inspired led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Freedom Medal by Jimmy Carter."

I have no problem with the work of Rachel Carson. She was a dedicated person and worked tirelessly on behalf of the animal kingdom. But, her book inspired others to crusade against one of the most beneficial and economical pesticides we have ever used - DDT.

The crusaders made DDT a political issue and were responsible for the eventual banning of DDT. DDT was made the boogey-man for breast cancer, bird eggshell thinning, and uterine cancer. All of which have been debunked by science, but public hysterics over these issues forced the ban on DDT. Even today, the public believes that DDT was, and is a bad and harmful chemical.

As it turned out, DDT was the main weapon against Malaria in Africa and other tropical countries. DDT was an effective and economical weapon against Malaria by killing the mosquitoes that spread the disease. DDT was helping, not hurting humanity by preventing a terrible ravaging disease from decimating the Black population and others in tropical climates.

There were those who knew the truth about DDT but wanted to capitalize on the results of banning DDT. These were political elites of the Liberal movement. Their efforts solidified the beliefs of an already hysterical population that DDT was bad. Because of public sentiment about DDT, Western cultures threatened to ban the exports of any nations that used DDT for pest control.

This left little choice to those Sub Saharan African countries. They were already dirt poor, and if they could not sell their meager exports, their suffering would be multiplied many times over. So, with a gun to their head, they tried other chemicals and methods of prophylactic measures against the disease. The new chemicals were mostly just expensive and did little to help their plight. Millions upon millions die because of the now uncontrolled ravages of Malaria.

The WHO (World Health Organization) approved the use of DDT for specific applications such as painting the walls of homes and with mosquito netting. It was welcome news by the affected countries because of its proven effectiveness against mosquitoes. But just yesterday I received an update from AFM (Africa Fighting Malaria) with this pronouncement:

DDT Update
The United Nations' Retreat From Science in Controlling Malaria

AFM's Roger Bate writes in The New Ledger, "For two years the United Nations paid lip service to the truth that the insecticide DDT is a vital component of malaria control, but last week UN abandoned science in favor of superstition. The result is UN promotion of more dangerous and less efficient malaria control techniques. On May 5th, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environment Program announced plans to reduce DDT use by 30% by 2014 and completely eliminate it by around 2020. In the mean time, the UN will roll out initiatives in 40 countries to test non-chemical methods of malaria control. In particular UN wants to scale up the programs of Central America, which have relied on "pharmacosuppression". Essentially, uninfected people in high-risk locations are given the antimalarial drug chloroquine to suppress any future infection. In 2004, 3,400 malaria cases were diagnosed in Mexico, 6,897 in Nicaragua, and almost half a million in Brazil. But both Mexico and Nicaragua each distrib
uted more anti-malaria pills (mostly chloroquine pills) than Brazil. Chloroquine is a wonderful drug at combating malaria and has saved millions of lives when used therapeutically, as in Brazil,, but prophylactic use is not safe because it is quite toxic and has led to heart problems when used repeatedly. As scientists at the University of Colima in Mexico explained last year, chloroquine "can induce lethal ventricular arrhythmias." Ironically, chloroquine is only slightly less toxic than DDT yet people have to eat chloroquine pills, they don't eat DDT."

For those interested in this sad tale of frustration by those suffering at the hands of the same phony science that gives us 'Global Warming', subscribe to their newsletter at africa@fightingmalaria.org --learn and see a real life tragedy unfold before you monthly.

One of the other weapons against the Black community is the use of abortion. Other than needing their vote, the same people who claim brotherhood and protector of Blacks are systematically eradicating Black newborns. Read the following from Rev. Childress. If you have any doubts about why the Liberals are so insistent about maintaining abortion on demand, you may want to rethink the BS that they espouse. Abortion is a tool to help control Black population.

Abortion's Blackest Secret: First from Planned Parenthood---

"We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the (Black) minister is the man who can straighten that idea out if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."
Margaret Sanger
Founder, Planned Parenthood
________________________
Answer from: Reverend Clenard H. Childress Jr.

"Although black women constitute only 6% of the population, they comprise 36% of the abortion industry’s clientele. The leading abortion providers have chosen to exploit blacks by locating 94% of their abortuaries in urban neighborhoods with high black populations.

This high rate of abortion has decimated the black family and destroyed black neighborhoods to the detriment of society at large.

1,452 African-American children are killed each day by the heinous act of abortion.

3 out of 5 pregnant African-American women will abort their child.
"...For those of you that don't know, Barack Obama became a "minister" of Planned Parenthood a long time ago. He's so good at carrying out their racist, murderous, agenda against Afro-Americans and society at large, they gave him a 100% score on his voting record.

Planned Parenthood is following the strategy of their racist founder, Margaret Sanger, to the letter. Planed Parenthood is saying, “We have our poster boy!

Get him out in front as a lure for their women and men. Get them into our abortion clinics and dismember their children by the millions!”

You say absurd? No Way!
Planned Parenthood’s Valentine cards were sent out to hundreds of thousands of young people in the nation.

Whose face is plainly seen waving to them with a big smile?

Whose endorsement is given to this racist and calloused organization?

Who is used to lure children to give credibility to its hideous plot?

Barack Obama, that's who!..."

By Rev. Clenard H. Childress Jr.,
March 5, 2008
http://www.blackgenocide.org/obama.html

In the United States, the Democrats solidify their partnership with the Blacks by discouraging their success and keeping them dependent upon crumbs from Washington. Is there no reason why the Black Man feels like he has no hope? He keeps investing his one tool, his vote, into the vacant promises of the Left. But the Left does not intend to allow Blacks to succeed. Obama is just a showpiece to keep Blacks pacified.

I apologize to the true believers in Obama. You were sold a phony bill of goods. The Socialist elites pull the strings and stir the passions of a leader-starved population. But the Obama revolution is showing signs of disappointment and it will get worse as time advances. It is not in the cards for the USA to become a Socialist Left country. People love freedom too much to allow it. Failure is also a birthright, not everybody can rise to the same level, but by effort and lessons learned from our failures, we can be all that we can if allowed to do so. That is freedom. Freedom means that we all have the same opportunity to make our fortune, but no guarantees on an outcome, the outcome of our efforts depend on us.

Genocides such as the one in Dar fur or Rwanda continue in Africa while a 'civilized' world just watches. People in the Malaria ravaged countries suffer and die in their thousands while being denied the most effective pesticide that would help. And finally, we in the USA allow abortion to thin out their population and uphold abortion as a right.

The war against Blacks continues -- one day, they will remember.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Sunspots and Earths Temperature

Is there a connection between the Earth's temperature and Sunspots? Sooner or later, real science will have to come to grips and face the facts that it is the Sun's energy, and not CO2, that has been driving the temperature increases of the Earth. The CO2 theory is a fashionable political event, but has very minor, if anything to do with the increase in Earth temperature. (About 1degree in the last 100 years.)

The following graph maps out the Earth's mean and monthly temperature variations since 1880. I marked off the divisions of the Solar cycles so you could make a determination about the effects of Solar activity against the temperature anomalies. The bar-chart is from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and this link will take you to their website.

I had to use separate graphs so you could see the different cycles and make the comparisons to the temperature chart. There wasn't room to make an all-in-one comprehensive chart so a little navigating on your part between the solar cycles and the temperature chart will be necessary. All charts and photos are clickable to see the full size of them and it may be necessary to see the full size temperature chart to fully appreciate it.



As you look at the mean temperature chart, you will immediately see that the temperature anomaly has went from colder to hotter over the years since 1870. The CO2 advocates would look at the same chart and see it as proof that the Earth has been warming because of the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere. But not so fast -- What they have been missing is that the Activity of the Sun has been increasing during the same time-period and sorry folks, our minor CO2 discharges are not making the Sun increase its output.

Now, look at the Sun's activities. Solar storms have been increasing in size, number and intensity for the past several decades and the increase in energy output from the Sun has not only warmed our planet but others as well. Mars has also increased in temperature and that is certainly not a result of Earth CO2.

I delineated the places where each solar cycle fits on the Temperature chart so you can easily see where each solar cycle fits on the Temperature chart.

Solar Cycle charts are from the archives of http://www.solen.info/solar/ You can also go to that website and monitor the daily activities of the Sun. The site is updated each night and stays current with everything you might want to know about the Sun's activities.









One bright side, the last two solar cycles have been diminishing and because of that, the Earth's present cooling trend will continue. If I lived in the northern half of the U.S., I would be dusting off my long johns and stocking up on firewood (electricity may not be as reliable as in the past) as they are going to come in mighty handy for the foreseeable future.

Hope this helps with your understanding about the warming phenomenon. There is one last passing thought that I will share with you -- it is about the Earth's magnetic field. It has been diminishing. The magnetic field protects us from harmful rays emanating from the Sun. Since 1829 we have lost 14% of that field. There has been speculation that it is also contributing to our global warming as more energy can squeak through the weakened field and interact with the Earth. We need more research on that one, but it is out there.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Drawing Conclusions

It is becoming more of a challenge to present good quality information to the readers of my articles. Just to highlight the problem of the research involved, here is an example of what I typically find at supposedly reputable websites. I was doing research on the oceans about how they absorb and discharge CO2 for an article that I am writing. But even from such venerable places as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography you find agenda laden information that is clearly meant to skew public thinking about 'global warming'.

I excerpted a couple of paragraphs from an article found on the Scripps' website for those of you who do not scour the web in search of unbiased information. It is amazing the different directions thought can lead when armed with just a few facts.

First, read the excerpted paragraphs from the article found on the Scripps' website. I also encourage you to follow the link provided to read the full article; there is a lot of good and useful information in spite of its agenda orientation. My comments will continue after you read the following from the Scripps' article.

Carbonated Oceans

An overload of carbon dioxide is acidifying seawater, posing a subtle but profound threat to marine invertebrates.

March 2009
By Robert Monroe

"The acidity of the water in Fabry's lab had been ratcheted up to levels that might not be seen until the end of the century, but she and other scientists fear that ongoing acidification of ocean water could be causing a slow-motion destruction of ocean ecosystems now.

The loading of carbon dioxide into oceans is a consequence of fossil fuel use that has only begun to be widely recognized as problematic in the past decade. Its subsequent effects on seawater chemistry have the potential to spread ecological disaster to a variety of industries dependent on the seas."

:: © 2009 Scripps Institution of Oceanography , University of California, San Diego. All Rights Reserved

First, there are facts to bolster the claims that show certain areas of the world's oceans with a decrease in the Ph of the seawater but the data is sketchy at best. Also, he doesn't cite any values, or even if the ocean water is in fact acidic. The acidification process stated is correct with respect for the creation of carbonic acid. But please notice the conclusion drawn by the author with no facts to bolster his assertions.

1.) The CO2 helping to lower the Ph of the oceans is from the burning of fossil fuels. This is pure propaganda. I would like to see the Ouija board that he uses to determine if the molecule of CO2 came from fossil fuel use or other natural processes.

2.) The Fabry's lab statement refers to an experiment where they acidized water in a tank and saw decay of marine shell. What did they expect? The calcium carbonate of the marine shells is an acid neutralizer. It is like taking a Tums to quiet the acid in your stomach. (Tums are also mostly calcium carbonate.)

3.) Man's contribution to the total CO2 is only 3% of the total atmospheric CO2. The Oceans are the gatekeepers for most of the rest of the atmospheric CO2.

Omissions about the sources for atmospheric CO2 are glaringly obvious. Yes, man's burning of fossil fuels accounts for the larger share of man's CO2 guilt. But mankind also takes millions of tons of marine life out of the oceans. That also has a direct bearing on the chemical status of the oceans. Normally, when a marine animal dies, its chemical properties remain in the ocean. But, when harvested for human consumption, those properties are lost to the oceans, and the CO2 from the consumption or decay of these harvested marine animals goes into the atmosphere.

It is important to remember that all of those harvested clams, oysters, lobsters, and other shellfish remains (calcium carbonate) would normally be left in the oceans to help neutralize any acidification of the world's oceans, but these harvested marine animals wind up in landfills.

No, I am not trying to say, "Don’t eat seafood." Just wanting to point out that Mr. Monroe's piece is just another biased piece in a lame attempt to demonize the use of fossil fuels. The exact cause of lower Ph readings of certain areas of the world's oceans is not known. Nor do we have any historical records that tell us whether the process is just a normal function of the oceans. The most significant increase in world atmospheric CO2 is the temperature rise of the oceans. As the ocean temperature increases, its solubility for CO2 decreases and releases more CO2 into the atmosphere. The most recent data suggest that the world's oceans are cooling and if the trend continues, we can expect the CO2 expansion to stop and eventually reverse as solubility for CO2 increases.

Another hair-brained scheme for "saving the world" is the use of ethanol. One of the results of this boondoggle was the loss of tropical forests. The indigenous people of poor tropical countries would harvest the old forests and replace them with palm nut trees for making ethanol. I am all for helping the planet and being a good steward of our resources, but a little thought has to go into unwanted consequences. Careening headlong into poorly planned 'solutions' hurts a lot more than it helps.

Also, as the demand for more lithium to make batteries continues to increase, there is an environmental disaster in the making. I do not want to discourage the use of lithium batteries; I only want some thought going into the project before it becomes another crisis to have to manage with yet another ill-conceived 'quick fix'.

If you are a person who likes to find out anything from the web, do not rely on any single source. Look up contrarian information as well. Your worldview will increase in the process. (Be less narrow minded.)

Cheers,

-Robert-

Freedom to Fail

Ahhh, the engine of prosperity! It seems that everybody has a different way to shape that engine for the better. We tend to be divided into two different groups, the Conservative group and the Liberal group.

The Conservative group proclaims their idea of freedom is the ability to do as they want according to their ambitions. Those with less ambition achieve a smaller piece of life's pie, while the motivated among us get the big pieces. And in a purely capitalistic society, this divide between the ambitious and the not so ambitious becomes a reality. A society adopting such an unfettered system of Capitalism ultimately fails. The cancer of poverty among those living within the system only grows because the wealth of that society accumulates to the few. Ultimately, in such a system, those with the money and power choke off those avenues of upward mobility by others. The result is a Society that has two distinct groups, the very wealthy, and the very poor.

But, lest we forget, there is also merit in a risk-reward type of Society. Granted, there is a lot of bad in a purely capitalistic system, but preserving the good from this type of system and creating boundaries that will not allow naked greed to crowd out opportunity for the rest of the members of our society is the challenge.

This is the challenge accepted by those who follow the Liberal philosophical path. Just like Capitalism, there are problems as well as virtues. Both systems, when extended to their limits build a type of elitist aristocracy. Liberals build boundaries that are so onerous to enterprise, that they destroy the can-do attitude and ultimately the incentive to create new things and businesses. The resulting society moves backwards from lack of motivation.

What to do is the question. Finding a path that takes the good from both systems and by fiat leave the bad parts behind is the controversy raging in Washington as we speak. Both sides of the spectrum want things done their way.

Both systems, depending upon which is in power, exhibit the same characteristics. Political patronage, corruption, and the quest for omnipotence are all components of the same drug. Each side excoriates the other in their quest for power. But this piece is only concerned with the bigger picture and not with the localized infighting of the individuals who make up our Government.

A democratically elected Government will naturally interfere with both philosophies. The beauty of a democratically elected Government is that eventually, we will as a Society process the good, bad and ugly and ultimately discard those things that hurt us.

Right now, the Liberal philosophy controls the Government. The Conservatives do not possess the votes to prevent whatever policies put forward, so in a real sense, this is a test for the Liberal philosophy. If it succeeds, the voters will go 'yea' and want to continue with the same. But failure is also a real possibility.

I wanted to make failure the centerpiece of this article because it is failure that is the great teacher for all things. Failure is a humbling experience. If the present Liberal Government, with all of their policies enacted fails to solve our problems, then the American people will have learned just how far we as a nation can take this country to the left. We already have a boundary for how far right we can go. We learned those lessons during the late 1800's and early 1900's and we know that we do not want to return to such oppression. But the left extreme is about to be tested. The Obama administration is on a path to test that boundary.

Take hope all of you worried that the demise of America is imminent. This is a strong country with everybody rooting for her to succeed. It is my firm belief that we will eventually get to choose the good parts of both liberal and conservative philosophies and adapt them into a meaningful system. No, it may not happen overnight, but believers in their philosophies are not dumb and will recognize and boot out those bad elements that create chaos for us. Our future political arguments will lessen in their seriousness and be no more important than which way toilet paper should come off the roll, from the top or from under the roll.

We do live in a sea of freedom. We can choose our direction and will learn only through our mistakes, but this is freedom. Some things sound too good to not try them. Take heart everybody.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Fat Thoughts

If you are not fat or have never been fat, congratulations. Having just undergone a bariatric by-pass procedure to prevent the train wreck that I was headed for - made me more contemplative about being fat.

There is only one upside to being fat -- you are experiencing the joys of unabated eating. Everything else is downhill from there. I want to pencil in some of the little discussed attributes of being fat. Hopefully, if you are heading into the wind with overeating, you might want to rein in some of those belly-bursting meals because the results to your body are not so pleasant. The stereotypical portrayal of the jolly fat person is a myth. (Except at eating time.)

Listed below in no particular order are just a few of the handicaps a moderately fat person will encounter. Note that things are much worse for the real heavyweights -- 400+ pounds, so this list does not generally apply to them. But for those who are potential candidates for obesity, please take heed. This is what your future holds.

1.) Tying your shoe laces. I know it doesn't sound like much, but when you can't bend in the middle very well, it can be a real problem. Usually, since you can't bend over, you have to be sitting down and try and get a leg crossed over the other one so you can reach your shoe. Even then, the knot does not center up on the shoe but will hang on the side nearest to where you can reach. Fat people find shoe tying a real problem.

2.) Cleaning yourself after toilet. Somehow, even with a fistful of toilet paper, you have to manage to reach around all that added girth to reach the area to be cleansed. It can be a daunting chore at times. For the sake of nicety, I won't go into details, but rather leave it up to your imagination as to the trouble with manipulating toilet paper when you can just barely reach your tail.

3.) The dickey-do for a man is one of the first signs that you are getting too fat. The phrase first coined by a comic, references your belly when it sticks out more than your dickey-do. It can get so bad that you have to look into a mirror to be able to see your private parts.

4.) Penis loss is another manifestation of being fat. (Sorry ladies, I can only relate the male side of what happens.) Penis loss happens because as you get fat, it accumulates in stages. But with each successive stage, another roll of fat adds to the last roll of fat and gradually hides your manhood. You haven't actually lost anything, the penis is just swallowed up by the accumulation of fat.

5.) Damaged joints join the parade of afflictions encountered by the fat person. Torn meniscus in the knees and hip problems make walking and especially getting up and down a problem. In fact, it takes so much effort to get up and down that you limit activities that you would normally enjoy. The decrease in physical activity adds to the problem because you burn fewer calories, but maintain the same caloric intake as if you were active. (You get even fatter.)

6.) Then there are the afflictions of having the workload of the heart increased. Are you aware that for every pound you add, there is an increase in the veins, arteries, and capillaries through which your heart has to pump blood? Most overweight people experience high-blood-pressure. Up until now, the only added expense to us was the food cost, but now we have to worry about having to buy pills to control blood pressure. High blood pressure is a killer.

7.) Diabetes is next on the list of maladies from being fat. If your pancreas is overworked and cannot produce enough insulin to help break down sugars, the sugar increases in the blood. High blood sugar can affect most things that happen in our body leading to everything from kidney failure to loss of limbs and death.

Okay, I'll stop but you get the idea. Just remember, nobody is immune from the seduction of overeating. I will guess that everybody's situation is different but in my case, I can honestly say that every diet that I ever tried, worked. The problem I had with dieting was in maintaining the weight loss after the diet becomes intolerable. For instance, one of my favorite diets was the cabbage soup diet. This diet was simple because all you had to do was take the vitamins you needed but it allowed all the cabbage soup you wanted to eat. In fact, you could gorge yourself with cabbage soup and still lose weight if you followed the plan. Cabbage soup is okay at first, but even changing the taste from spicy to normal and using different broths doesn't overcome the desire for different foods.

I finally gave up with diets and with my heft of almost 300 lbs. I sought out a bariatric specialist. Already using heart medications, diabetes medications, and endured a surgery to my right knee, I underwent a by-pass operation to prevent the calamity for which I was headed. In my next article, I will describe my operation and how it changed my life.

Cheers,

-Robert-