Rant Time
Last December C.J. Chivers wrote a very classy piece on one of my fellow milbloggers, Joshua Foust, from Registan.net. C.J. noted that Joshua has softened some of his pointed criticism while growing as a writer. I see the same thing in his Registan posts and know that I too have tried to tone down my rhetoric while sharpening up the content. So as I sit in the Emirates lounge at the Singapore Airport, nursing both an injured shoulder (The Boss sent me here for treatment) and a vodka tonic, it has occurred to me that it is time for a multi subject rant. I have not done this in a while for good reason and am now going to let loose for no good damn reason.
Security Contractors
Recently yet another hit piece came out in the press about security contractors. As expected from the lame stream press, the entire premise of the piece was BS and pictures accompanying the article are around 7 to 8 years old and irrelevant to the subject they supposedly amplify.
Wow isn't this guy bad ass?
The picture above came from an article in the Mail Online by Nadene Ghouri, titled How To Make a Killing in Kabul. The article covers the same old tired ground that all legacy media articles cover and contains the usual talking points, all of which are total bullshit. Allow me to make a professional observation concerning the picture above before deconstructing the Ghouri hit piece. Let me start by saying the actions of this clown would get you shot (by Afghan security forces) if you tried them today in Kabul. The same bone head move would have got you shot by the Afghans five years ago if you tried them in Kabul. I note the flash suppressor on the rifle and would bet that it is an M4, not a Bushmaster which only a lucky few PSC guys get to carry. I note the biceps and think immediately this idiot is on steroids. I note the harness, lack of high speed rails or optics on the rifle, the Berretta in a drop holster, and the fact that the picture was taken in Wazir Akbar Khan and am left with one conclusion. The idiot pictured above was a member of the Karzai Protective Detail around 2003 or 2004 (before they got the high speed gun store commando gear on their rifles). Which means that he was under the direct supervision and control of U.S. Department of State Regional Security Officers.
Every security contract in Afghanistan contains specific rules of engagement covering when you can use or present (one presents weapons to a target and one “draws” with pen or pencil) firearms. Under no circumstance could a contractor present a weapon to people in a car in order to encourage them to move. What is this idiot going to do? Shoot someone who doesn’t move fast enough? That is a firing offense in every firm operating in Afghanistan and I have never, in six years, seen anything like it. But I did see the old American Karzai Protective Detail and have to say they were the biggest group of delusion retards on the planet who, given the nature of their mission, had their own unique rules of engagement. They came into being after the SEAL’s protecting Karzai shot one of his Afghan security guards who had just jumped on another Afghan who tried to shoot Karzai.
A Navy SEAL seconds after shooting an Afghan ANP officer and a Taliban assassin the officer had jumped after the Talib started shooting at President Karzai in 2002
I’m not saying the SEAL’s were in the wrong; a Taliban shooter started blasting away at Karzai, the closest Afghan security officer jumped on him at the same time the SEAL’s returned fire. These things happen but it pissed President Karzai off enough to demand a different body guard force and thus was born the Karzi Protective Detail. They are long gone – Karzai grew to hate them, because of antics like threatening innocent drivers, but again I stress no private security team could get away with that kind of conduct.
The Karzai detail had a checkered history but they were paid top dollar; back then everyone was paid top dollar. However, the days when security details received anything resembling high pay were over years ago. But not according to Nadene Ghouri who recycles the old 1000 dollar a day urban legend; to wit:
His British and other ex-pat colleagues are paid up to $1,000 a day. He says he was fired after being shot in the hand, which has damaged his ability to use a gun. The company paid his medical bill in an Afghan hospital, paid him off until the end of the month and that was it. He is, understandably, bitter.
Let me put the “lavish pay” of security contractors in perspective. I make around the industry average for Afghanistan contractors; if I take all the leave I’m authorized in a 12 month period I’ll clear around $120,000. That is less than an Army or Marine Corps Colonel will make on a year long combat tour. It is less than Department of State or USAID field service officers make in a year long Afghan deployment. It is much less than a Madison Wisconsin bus driver, and about 1/5 of what the Syosset New York school superintendent makes annually.
Land Pirate! This lusty wench earns 500k a year as a school superintendent for the Syosset County school system in New York State. Every penny is taxpayer money and the school system she runs is mediocre even by the low standards of US educational systems
I am eligible for an end of contract bonus which might boost my earnings above that of a mid level State Department employee after a year in country, BUT, the size of that bonus depends on the quality of my performance and the amount of profit my company makes. I am getting tired of seeing the main stream media whinge on and on over “evil rich security contractors” while ignoring union thugs and the politically connected who are robbing the American taxpayer blind. I work overseas because it is almost impossible for guys like me to earn 120k per year in America. I would not do well in a public sector union job because I don’t believe in public sector unions or lavishly supporting thug union bosses. None of my immediate family has political connections so that route to riches is closed to me. Our national debt, our social security system, our medicare system and almost every public sector retirement program in the country are insolvent and unsustainable, yet the MSM, the democrats and the Stupid Party (who, led by “smoking indoors for me but not for thee” John Bohner, just extended the continuing resolution thus voting to entrench Obama Care that much deeper while making repealing it that much harder) ignore the disaster they created while focusing the public attention on fictitious boogymen like “private security contractors”.
Japan
The specter of nuclear disaster has been the focus of all international news outlets since the disaster that hit Japan on the 20th of March. I am no expert on nuclear facilities but I am a self proclaimed expert on the main stream media (MSM). If the MSM is stoking the flames of panic with reports of possible disaster you can take one thing to the bank; they are dead wrong. Sowing panic about things they don’t understand in order to promote their liberal agenda is what the MSM does for a living. Remember the global cooling scare? Which became the global warming scare and is now climate change scare? How about the specter of AIDS crossing over into the heterosexual population and rampaging through the population killing millions scare? Each of these story lines turned out to be dead wrong but were useful in promoting the world view of idiot liberals thus they were repeated over and over in the echo chamber of the MSM.
I have not seen one report of a breach in the containment buildings at any of the Japanese reactors that were damaged in the earthquake. If the containment buildings have not been breached then the worst that can happen is a Three Mile Island and not a Chernobyl (the old Soviet Union did not include containment buildings in their nuclear power plant design). As one would expect on such an important topic the place to go for is straight forward, clear headed reporting is Herschel Smith at The Captains Journal.
Libya
Having finished the important task of taping his March Madness picks and getting in yet another game of golf the President slipped out of the country to Brazil, leaving the Libyan crisis for Hillary to deal with. Now under the leadership of French President Nicolas Sarkozy we have become part of ”a broad coalition” and attacked Libya with 112 cruise missiles. I am always up for attacking rouge states who threaten the functioning core of nation states with massive disruption to the world economic system. But here is the thing; it is not important how wars start, what is critical is how they finish. Once you cross the Rubicon it is imperative that the enemy you are fighting be defeated decisively or disaster is what is waiting around the corner. Muammar Gaddafi and all his forces need to be destroyed; that means killing – lots of killing. If he surrounds himself with “human shields” that is his call, we cannot waiver and must accept the hand we are dealt. Which in plain talk means we kill them too, all of them. We have to continue the killing until every survivor of the forces opposing the collective will of the “broad coalition” know and acknowledge that they were beaten, or the war is not over.
Afghanistan Continued
In late 2001 American Special Forces, American air power and the functional portion (the direct action boys) of the CIA orchestrated a campaign which delivered a serious beating to the Taliban and the Al Qaeda. By December 2001 the worthless mandarins of the CIA had realized that they were missing out of the glory and started arriving in Afghanistan in great numbers where they pulled rank and sidelined the gunfighters (according to the book The Human Factor). The Big Army too suddenly realized that things were going much better than predicted, so senior staff officers arrived by the plane load to micro-manage the SF teams in the field explicitly preventing them from closing with and killing Osama Bin Laden (according to the book Kill Bin Laden). The men on the ground wanted to finish the mission; the men in the rear wanted to avoid mistakes which might adversely affect their careers. The result is that thousands of young boys who were in elementary school at the time from Canada to Australia, Britain to America, Estonia to Poland would grow up to fight and die or become crippled for life battling a resurgent Taliban. Not one, NOT ONE, of the senior officials who let Bin Laden get away would ever be held to account. We didn’t finish the war in 2001 due to inexplicable moral cowardice on the part of senior bureaucrats who jumped in to claim the glory of their subordinates. That same lack of accountability on the part of our political class and their handmaidens in the MSM has resulted in our country heading down the slippery slope of financial insolvency.
I have a dream that someday the people who feast off our tax money, who have steered us into financial insolvency, who start our wars but don’t finish them, will exhibit the morale and courage required to fix what they have broken. I know my hopes of seeing a leader who can do this rise to national prominence and then take on the sisyphean task of righting the ship of state are certain to be dashed. But a man can dream.
Comments | 
Dear Free Range- Thanks for your straight-shooting piece. I come from the other end of the political spectrum, but your comments on contractors, the early Afghan campaign, and the Libyan trajectory are spot-on.
If I could offer a few comments, though, I think Obama’s Latin America trip is a good idea. It should be possible to chew gum and walk at the same time. And the less the face of this action against Libya is American, the more successful it will be. Indeed, the end-game on the ground really has to rest with the rebels themselves, who we should arm and give air support, but not give soldiers to. And our relations with Latin America are very important- these trips take a long time to prepare, and we show our southern neighbors respect by not scrapping them for issues of the moment, especially now that that modern communications allow management and decisions to be distributed geographically.
More importantly, the mantra of “financial insolvency”, “insolvent and unsustainable”, etc., is an unfortunate myth, mostly carried by the right-wing media, but echoed at every turn by the MSM as well. Remember that the federal government prints the money. They can never run out. There is not solvency risk. Meanwhile, China is sterilizing and piling up dollars for their own purposes (low currency value), and the rich in the US and elsewhere are likewise saving madly in dollars, not spending them. That puts us in the position of having to keep printing just to keep deflation at bay. And that is OK. The austerity push of Britain has been disastrous, choking off their economy, and raising their debt/GDP ratio because.. GDP is going back down and automatic payments to welfare, etc will go up, and revenue will go down. So they can’t cut their way to economic health, and nor can we. Keynes wins the debate here.
The analogy that the government is like a household and “should” balance its budget is fundamentally wrong. As noted above, deficits are an ongoing need given our overall macroeconomic position. The real constraint is inflation, which the currency issuer has to manage. Inflation now (aside from scarce commodities, which do not reflect monetary issues) is roughly zero. And it will remain low as long as banks fail to lend, sitting on vast reserves given them (to no particular effect) by the Fed. When and if the economy picks up again, lending resumes, and China decides to spend all those dollars, let its currency float, etc.. well, 1- it is going to be a long time, and 2- the Fed will have lots of tools to reel in those reserves again and restrict lending, and 3- eventually, yes, the Federal budget may need to get closer to balance if our import/export ratio heads toward zero. But we are nowhere near that point now.
With appreciation…
Hey Burk,
I understand what you are saying about the need to carry debt at the federal level and the example of the UK is spot on. But California can’t print money nor can any other state in the union and those states are unable to meet the obligations they have accrued due, in large part, to a gold plated civil service system. It is impossible to justify school superintendents making a 1/2 million per year or bus drivers clearing 150k just as it was impossible to explain the salaries of the Bell, California city council. I spend a lot of time overseas and the dollar is now worth much less than it was years ago making my travels financially painful. I not seeking sympathy only making an observation and that is our economy is a train wreck and our politicians continue to kick the can down the road.
If our economy were close to healthy the weak dollar would equal an export bonanza for American business but if that is happening I am not hearing about from the usual suspects. As a citizen who tries his best to stay well informed I am very worried about our financial future.
Libya. The Arab league is already calling for a halt to bombing and Qadafi says he’s arming one million civilians to deal with the coming invasion. Since AQI probably never had more than 5,000 guys even if he’s exaggerating by a factor of 20 whose up for occupying Tripoli (population 1.7 million) especially after the government opens up the ammo dumps? Are we really this stupid?
First, my apologies for not addressing your entire argument, Babatim. I’ve lurked here for a long time, and I know that you don’t go off half-cocked.
However . . . you’re weakening your argument by bringing up Madison bus drivers. You’re correct, there are bus drivers who earn six figures. Their base pay (at the high end) is about $50,000, and they manipulate overtime rules in order to tack on the rest. This is a very small number of drivers, however, and union members themselves have negotiated to limit the practice that allows senior members to manipulate the rules. (More at http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/03/madisons-most-famous-bus-driver).
Security contractors may not be “lavishly paid,” but neither are most union members. You probably have a lot more in common (middle-class salaries, turned into boogeymen by the MSM) with a Wisconsin bus driver than you think.
Hey Caitlin,
You are correct about the union bus drivers salary ranges and I do know that the example I linked to concerned one driver who piled up the overtime. But I don’t agree that any public sector employee should be unionized because they are not in a position to be exploited by their bosses to increase the bosses financial profit. The taxpayer is the public sector employee’s “boss” in the sense that when the unions force concessions from our political representatives the taxpayer is footing the additional bill. But I was trying to point out that security contractors are not lavishly compensated. Plus I was drinking vodka tonics and my shoulder frigging hurts so maybe my rant sort of drifted off point a bit. I sure did fell better when I was done though.
Tim
Libya-one of the few times I’ve agreed with Exum. He points out that per capita, Eastern Libya, the epicenter of the rebellion, provided more foreign fighters to AQIZ than any other place in the Arab world. I am not in favor of printing billions to have COL Quadaffi (sp? sp?!!) overthrown in favor of a bunch of incompetent radical Islamist baboons. If they can’t even run a successful insurgency, the odds of them running a successful country are nil. Bring on the flood of Libyan refugees into the US.
As far as a responsible leadership is concerned, this crazy bastard pretty much has it nailed (http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2007/12/matthew-yglesias-anatomy-of.html): under the current system, the nominal leadership is a bunch of actors, and policy is written and implemented via board games played by civil servants, media, etc., none of whom can be held accountable for the results of their actions or statements. Such an environment doesn’t just make responsible leadership unlikely-it is designed to prevent responsible leadership. Obama won’t get re-elected and Hillary won’t be appointed to State again,, but the people who wrote their speeches and policy options, cranked pro-rebel propaganda out the tv’s of America, implemented the invasion of Libya and will sabotage the guys on the ground-they’ll get their promotions and pay raises.
Good points B – now I’m really depressed.
Burk: “deficits are an ongoing need given our overall macroeconomic position”
You and your people, those who think such as your thoughts have expressed, in my opinion, are one of the many reasons my country, the USA, is in the downward spiral of a mess that I and my type thinkers believe it to be.
While Princeton Patraeus prattles on that we are not “nation building” in Afghanistan, I read elsewhere the American taxpayer has spent close to $300 billion dollars plus during these past 9 plus years within that lovely country.
Was our goal to remove the Taliban from direct political power and control, while also killing/capturing Al Qaeda types, including Osama and his top leadership?
It takes so long to do this and cost so much for what reason(s)? Especially from a country that can place a robot on Mars and send back all kinds of data and things…
I’ll bet those who think like you “Burk” have all kinds of workable answers, who think they are so much smarter than others, who are in fact nothing but mere sophists who live the lives of malignant narcissists (elitists, professional politicians…etc.)
And now you, “Burk” stand with Obama-Mao as he roams about in Brazil informing those citizens how he hopes America will buy oil products from them as his aides whisper in his ear (passive aggressive maximum talents they be!) how our planes and some of our friends are bombing the “hello…we’re here to help” Libyans.
Rant forward, tell us about those 112 Tomahawk missiles fired: How much was spent for that fireworks display and those who have to support such an operation? How much more are we to spend? Will Halliburton come to the rescue, “Burk” ole boy?
Will you have any, I repeat…any family members in USA military uniform who just might be “at the tip of the spear” in all of this?
Hey, “Burk”…how about we come to your front door and take some, or all of your monies/assets to pay for this, seeing how you are such a “loyal” soldier in your support of mythical, oh so progressive beliefs?
As to your wisdom on “inflation” let me wise your dumb ass up!
Let’s play a game called “musical chairs” for a while. After that, we go on to play “hot potato” where the real action will take place.
Inflation is one side saying screw you to those “owed” monies.
Too simple a notion for someone like you versed in “higher level” macro/micro economic theories, right dear boy?
I recall from those stories the survivors told of the Titanic how many stayed in “denial” till their bodies hit the water!
Your game always depends on “slaves” producing more…that would be us taxpayers, all the while you and your buds do “creative accounting” along with “changing the rules” as part of your “musical chair” games.
Sometimes the guy (country, nation state) who gets left holding the bag gets so mad he starts a…war! (example of hot potato, “Burk”)
Nature has a way of setting things straight: Ask the Japanese!
With appreciation…too!
Can I rant too?
The “Facts/Truth”… eep!!!
! BS!
Most views have 2 sides, and plenty of support can be found for any
position. When someone says “The Facts Are”…
Economy:
2007 — I figured the trade and government deficit were bad but ok since GNP was growing faster than they were.
oops, not no more.
People and lifestyle:
Bad news, we seem unable to cut back. A housewife talks to her hairdresser… we are loosing the house next month, Hairdresser: Do you still want a $60 pedicure? housewife: Sure, I still have room on my credit card.
Housing “boom” in ‘Vegas People don’t want a “new” house built in a subdivision where nothing is selling, and has been occupied for a year.
So new new houses are being built and sold.
On a happier note, My Mother in law is turning 88 next week. ParTy Time! She was given 2 weeks to live right after thanksgiving.
Every commentator is free to rant all they want Badpooh8 as long as they are not abusive to the other commentators. Congratulations on you’re mothers birthday – that is wonderful news.
Having grown up in flint in the days when the auto companies went to crap, I saw two things. The rich get richer and the poor drown as the city went to crap. Here is the kicker….The union bosses were the rich..Not mid level management. Years later Detroit would suffer from the plague of corruption that a union can bring. I am actually in favor of unions for corporations such as GM, but the members bought into the lie that they were exploited making 60 grand a year (at a time when that was a good wage as it still is to me stateside). The ones leading the current mess in Wisconsin seem to have aligned from extortion artists like Jesse Jackson to full on rabble rousers like Mike Moore (who did not gorw up in Flint as he claims). The days of protesting to gain civil rights are done as these clowns have abused the function and miss the key piece to a civil protest. That piece being the truth. I do this contracting bit here and there and am not a truth pro like our Blog lead. I have used that money to get a Masters degree and still cant get a solid wage. I feel angered when I see I am funding the union in a public work place and think that was not even FDR’s thought as it is not a good idea to make the public worker union. A good wage is one thing, but to extort the public like I have seen done with the current union protests, is flat out sick to me. All of this is inter connected to me. The war, the unions, and the growing angst of the American public. Sadly, I don’t see this country on the right path on either issue. Good rant I say and sometimes Vodka helps the creative style…HA
The federal government does not print money. The Federal Reserve does. That’s why the header on your dollar bills is ‘Federal Reserve Note’, not ‘Federal Government Note’.
Keynes falls short on the notion that in a world where [c + i + g + nx = y] and [c falling] that [g must increase] because this simple equation does not measure the efficiency (return) of spending. There are transaction costs of higher government spending, and inefficiency reduces the effectiveness of government spending relative to private consumption and investment. In short, trying to reduce the effect of a recession through higher government spending takes a lot more ‘g’ than the ‘c + i’ that is lost.
What happens when ‘g’ increases exponentially? According to Ricardo, private consumption and investment falls further because people intuitively understand that the federal budget deficit will inevitably need to be made up through higher taxes, so they clam up and wait to see what will happen. ‘Unknown unknowns’ increase, as does the aversion to them, and the economy grinds itself into Japan.
Austerity, in the British sense of the word, necessarily increases tax rates and reduces the private share of the economy. This leads to lower returns on investment, capital flight, and reduced economic growth/recession. Further, the greater share of the economy taken by the less efficient government spenders causes the long-term economic growth rate to fall, further depressing expected rates of return on investment and redirecting foreign investment to more attractive countries.
Reducing government spending, in the Tea Party sense, means reducing government spending without raising taxes. What happens to the U.S. economy when bus drivers make less than $150k per year and government employees have benefits in line with private-sector workers? My guess is that unlike the certainly dire consequences of Burk’s ‘run the presses’ gambit, the economy will improve, the deficits at all three levels of government will fall, and private consumption and investment will increase as the uncertainty of future tax rate increases diminishes.
Hi, Dave-
“In short, trying to reduce the effect of a recession through higher government spending takes a lot more g’ than the c + i’ that is lost.”
This is an ideological statement. We saw in the recent financial catastrophe that the private economy was perfectly capable (when sufficiently unregulated) of destroying wealth at vast scales and blinding speeds. Private enterprise is great and takes pride of place in any free economy, but government creates important value as well, such as regulating the financial system, backstopping it, running the military that carries out our policy goals, infrastructure, etc. and so forth. Much of this argument is a cover for attacking expenditures that you don’t like but which are democratically authorized.
“What happens when g’ increases exponentially?”
Obviously, g is not and can not increase exponentially. Indeed, over the last 3 decades, overall government spending has been flat as a share of GDP, at about 1/3. That share is a political decision, and should take into account the special counter-cyclical duties the federal government has if we are to maintain prosperity on an even keel.
“‘According to Ricardo, private consumption and investment falls further because people intuitively understand that the federal budget deficit will inevitably need to be made up through higher taxes…”
This idea of Ricardian equvalence is a myth, pure and simple. People tend to spend what the earn, especially at lower income levels where stimulus spending has the most effect. This has been empirically proven time and time again. The US has never actually reduced the Federal debt, ever. We have from time to time reduced the deficit, and grown the economy so that the debt to GDP ratio fell. Remember that the debt represents savings that we are all happy to hold (if we are sufficiently rich!) – risk free savings, indeed. As the country grows wealthier, we hold ongoing higher net amounts of savings, which = federal debt. Nor is there “crowding out”, since federal debt pays rock-bottom rates.
“What happens to the U.S. economy when bus drivers make less than $150k per year … deficits at all three levels of government will fall, and private consumption and investment will increase as the uncertainty of future tax rate increases diminishes.”
In the long term, you are right that it is harmful to the overall system for the government to be overly generous in its outlays without generating commensurate economic returns or other benefits (the military comes to mind, incidentally). But in the short term, paying bus drivers less, laying off teachers, cutting state budgets, and all the other austerity will just decrease the amount that people have to spend, and retard economic growth/recovery. Smart management, yes, but you can’t cut your way to economic growth. The idea that “uncertainty” in future taxes is what is wrong with our economy is another myth of Chicago school theology. The problem is sales- companies won’t invest when they are not seeing sales.
Burk, please look up ‘Mark to Market’ rules. They were implemented in Sarbanes-Oaxley and are primarily responsible for “destroying wealth at vast scales and blinding speeds.” I understand that you are a liberal and therefore believe that regulations are the solution to instability but please take a step back from your ideology and critically look at how regulations can actually *cause* instability. An instability which, of course, must be mitigated through government intervention and further regulation.
“This idea of Ricardian equvalence is a myth, pure and simple. People tend to spend what the earn, especially at lower income levels where stimulus spending has the most effect. This has been empirically proven time and time again.”
This is empirically true when you are talking about simple consumer spending. Businesses and corporations do however look at the economic environment (current and future) when making purchasing and hiring decisions.
1. See another wheel turning on the topic of ’security contractors.’
2. The term of choice, fifty years ago, was mercenary. The opprobrium associated with that title 50 years back was deserved.
3. When Colonel Hoare led his wild geese into Katanga Province, he was acting as an agent of the South African government.
4. Most of his European (as opposed to SA) troops were people who could not operate in a military environment: criminals, homosexuals, psychopaths.
5. There, and elsewhere in Africa, those people created the reputation of mercenaries as brutal, psychopathic killers.
6. Maybe things were always like that -just the spotlight of the modern press brought facts to the surface.
7. The security professionals I know or know about work for SAD or State Department Security (as federal employees). They are all retired from special operations or seconded from special operations units. A couple of them are almost as old as I am.
8. The young man you have pictured, probably fits into the category of unemployable by the military.
9. The biggest problem with utilizing these borderline cases is that they need strong leadership. That type of leader is usually not willing to leave military service and, anyway, looks askance at damaged or inferior goods.
10. The biggest clue on this is how the military treats these people in the AO.
11. You are pretty much welcome everywhere, indicating that the people on the ground know you are part of the solution.
12. Know several Army types who had to untangle messes that Eric Prince’s men (or the like) created. Their hatred for those people went deep. That would have been in Iraq.
13. Anyway, given the shortage of and high cost of deploying troops, civilian contractors are an economical solution. You have said that and so have some apologists at the State Department.
14. When I see your photo of the snarling young man, I think mercenary. I see the armed guard at the Department of Motor Vehicles, I think gunman.
15. As far as the rest of the rant goes, the sum of the foolish decisions we have either made or acquiesced to is now taking a toll on our quality of life.
16. We’ve done it to ourselves and that is who is to blame.
17. The tenets of our European and Judeo-Christian culture are what got us on top. Somewhere within them lie the keys to restoring things. Sacrifice? Denial? Bonegrinding hard work? Meh. Maybe tomorrow. Have to tune out and watch Jersey Shore.
V/R JWest
Babatim: Sorry to hear about your shoulder. I trust it won’t keep you out of the game for long. Over the last couple years I’ve become mildly addicted to your reports and would be sad to see them end.
I’m not an economist, so the arguments over Keynesian formulae leave me flat. I AM an historian, and would encourage Burk and others of his ilk to study the Roman Empire’s experiences with debasing the coinage. The Confederate States of America operated on much the same principles Burk supports. They went broke. Or consider the economic woes of the Weimar Republic, or more recently Zimbabwe, whose currency is the only one I know of that has an expiration date printed on the note.
Since we are not on the Gold Standard, our sweat equity, and our willingness to recognize the value of currency is what gives the dollar its value. The wealth the government taxes to generate revenue belongs to individuals like you and me. It is created by individuals and corporations from sweat and headaches (or in Tim’s case, busted shoulders). The government cannot create wealth. The money the treasury prints is not wealth in itself, but merely represents wealth. It is a product. And like any other product, if we make too much, each unit is worth less. Ultimately, like the “Continentals” issued during our revolution, your money becomes worthless because no one wants to accept it in payment for goods and services.
I realize this is all over-simplified, but as I said, I’m not an economist. I’m just a working stiff who pays, on average, 30% of my income over to various government entities every year so those entities can fund their activities, whether I agree with them or not. It is asking too much for them to be RESPONSIBLE with the money they take. With so many pet projects being generated by the Good Idea Fairy every day (all well- meaning, of course) it’s impossible to keep track of every cent thrown down the rat holes. But I’d appreciate it if they’d at least act mildly ashamed of taking my earnings.
Well intended government programs now in place (the “mandatory” entitlements programs, most of which did not exist as little as 60 years ago) constitute about 60% of the annual budget, and are growing rapidly, though not exponentially. In the last 2 years, Mr. Obama has added 3.5 trillion bucks to the “mandatory spending” column in Democratically authorized debt. Like the automatic payments Burk references in his first post, mandatory entitlements are like vampires….once you let them in, they suck the life out of you, and you cannot get rid of them short of taking drastic measures.
There is a limit, both moral and rational, to the amount of debt the government can expect the taxpayers to bear, even if, Burk, that debt is “democratically authorized.” I don’t know about you, but my bank account is not limitless. Neither is the government’s, because they have to take wealth from our bank accounts to fill theirs. The government cannot print its way out of debt, or borrow our country into solvency, or tax the rich enough to pay off the current debt in this century. When our national debt approaches 14 trillion bucks, we cannot afford to blithely “create” money and ignore the problemprofligate spending. Eventually, we the people are going to run out of wealth to give the government so they can “redistribute” it in democratically authorized programs.
Thanks for that Ron – I am constantly amazed at the quality of the commenters on FRI and this was one of the best.
Tim
A couple of weeks ago the president of the NY Fed gave a speech to a group of regular folk in Queens. He was extolling the virtues of Fed policies, in particular, as Burk noted, the low rate of inflation. He cited, as an example, the iPad, marveling how the current model, which is twice as powerful as its predecessor, can be purchased for the same price as the original. A less than impressed member of the audience responded, I can’t eat an iPad.
The Fed, in its infinite wisdom, prefers not to consider the cost of fuel and food when calculating core inflation, as if none of us actually has to pay more for those items. Like Ron, I’m no economist, so I have no g + o = f * i / s h type of scholarly equation to empirically prove what most of us who have mom and pop businesses know we’re working harder, longer, hopefully smarter, yet less money ends up below the bottom line than above it. But, then I read Babatim’s blog to remind myself I could be some hapless Afghan merchant in a mud hut trying hard to clear $5 a day, which is at the essence of what the world has spiraled down to. There are those who carry their weight and those who don’t. They can be found in every income bracket, religion, political persuasion, and nationality. They are the people who know if they want to a better life then they have to get on with it, hope to succeed, but will deal with whatever life tosses in their path and expect no handouts along the way. Then there are the Takers, folks who expect others to do the lifting and loading, or willingly game the system to enrich themselves at the expense of others. Ideally we could package up all the Takers off to perhaps Antarctica, but they would of course expect it to be Aruba.
Burk’s logic seems like some Orwellian rationalization of why we should continue to pamper and coddle the Takers the more we give them the better of we’ll all be. You can’t cut you way to economic growth is the claim. Actually, in the real world, you can. Businesses do it all the time, particularly small biz its how you survive and position yourself to grow.
How much longer until 2012?
Burk:
You’re taking a beating here…allow me to educate those others who just don’t comprehend the “beauties and truths” that are always found in formulas; those mathematical statements of universal realities.
Example: Studies have shown that 99.9% of people who die from cancer of the rectum used toilet paper.
Ergo: Don’t use toilet paper, put the odds in your favor.
That’s just common sense in action, pal!
Name your kid Aristotle, it’s the logical choice.
Glad I could help, Burk…
hey tim, hope the shoulder is better. i’ve been wading knee deep in reports re: the nuke crises in japan. it is bad. worse than three mile island by orders of magnitude, but nowhere near chernobyl. not yet anyway. there is the potential for that to happen in terms of total amount of radiation released. herschel might be a good source for analysis of other people’s reporting on afghanistan/iraq, but there are far better sources to go to for the nuke story.
@Security Contractor Bad Ass
A REAL long time ago I was a cop, and an old white sock cop told me something I’ve never forgotten: “If you arrive at a situation, and you let it get you all excited and upset, then you are just one more asshole in need of supervision, and everybody there knows it.”
I never let that happen again.
@Burk
I didn’t bother reading past your first one or two sentences.
When you have a huge government FORCE the private sector — banks in this case — “lend” money to millions of people they KNOW cannot, and will not pay it back all in service of some professor’s theory, then you are GOING to have a wreck, and anyone in their right mind will do what they must to save what they can of what they have. You call it what you like; I’ll call it survival.
I miss the old days when war was really warring against an enemy who also wanted to fight: Dead bodies everywhere, destruction all about. Blood and carnage reigned supreme, while words came out only to energize all who fought.
Afghanistan? That’s America’s old war, now to become the “I don’t believe we’re still there war” or something close. Iraq is history.
Something about oil, no?
Recall centuries past when the sick were to be “bled” so that the poisons in one’s blood could be drained, offering the patient a chance to return to previous health.
Libya just might be seen as a “bleeding” to restore our national health. Now Bill O’Reilly (so soon after his personal interview with Obama) comes forward touting a “noble” endeavor, this adventure of creating no fly zones to help those on the ground.
How long till he tries to claim suicide as something noble?
What do our troops walking about in Afghanistan think as they place life and limb in harm’s way? They are doing their work for what reasons now? What’s their noble effort?
Maybe John Kerry can answer this as he gets ready for the spring sailing season on his new multimillion dollar yacht…has he paid those taxes on this boat yet? Paying taxes is noble, right?
Can’t wait for the final round of homes to be foreclosed; this will boost funds available for supporting our troops overseas, right?
I recall those old magician tricks: Build that house with playing cards, blow hard and watch how they fall! Where’s the rabbit?
It ain’t a duck no matter how it behaves: It’s what I tell you it is for I control the definitions to everything around here. You elected me. I won–I rule and these are my commands, especially as your commander in chief!
Spoiled little kids are running our government.
Real people in our military’s uniforms are being injured and killed following orders from those who should know better. Taxpayers are the new “slaves” in America. Whitey gets his due…bet me! Racism is who’s preferred weapon of choice?
To right a wrong is the name of this game. Trouble is, the definition of the right and the wrong may not be what you think it ought to be.
That’s how wars sometimes get started, isn’t it?
All wars are noble, right?
Can’t be a slave if you own a firearm or two RJ
Rantastic. Carry on my friend, carry on. Nurse the shoulder to health. You have way too many years, projects, and rants to produce.
Ahh…Libya
I am reminded of that scene within the movie Platoon where Barnes runs up to his LT., grabs the phone–berates his LT. over giving the wrong coordinates, then calls in the right location for artillery. Later the platoon learns just how incompetent their LT truly is, but it’s too late for many.
Obama-Mao does not care for those who fight and protect in Afghanistan; perhaps not for anyone in our military’s uniform, even that Marine standing by his personal helicopter…who he has to return a salute each and every time he embarks and disembarks.
However, there are millions of us regular American citizens who truly will support our troops whether it is in thoughts or actions back home in the USA every day, every hour, every minute they are in harm’s way doing the bidding of others.
I would like to think I am just one of many who walks this walk: Stay five yards apart, be sharp and safe!
Hello,
I appreciate your perspective as always. Concerning the security contractors this bit below came to me today. It concerns the awarding of a contract to ASIS (American Society for Industrial Security) to develop standards for PSCs. I was a member of ASIS for two years (2006-2007)and went to a few chapter meetings/events. My impression was that for the most part the members looked down their noses at former security contractors like myself. We’ll see what real impact they may have. Well intentioned but perhaps out of touch too.
Industry Talk: ASIS Awarded DoD Contract To Develop Standards To Improve Performance And Accountability Of PSC’s
via Feral Jundi by Matt on 3/26/11
and
ASIS Seeks Committee Members for Private Security Contractor Standard
By Lisa Williams
Mar 25, 2011
They are taking applications ( standards@asis.org ) to help write these standards. I thought you might want to know. Keep up the good work Marine.
Travelfiend
I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that the only way PSC’s will work will be if they are directly contracted by and answerable to the military. The fact that we make sense, are cost effective, and represent a legitimate economy of force option is now irrelevant. We will always be tarred with the “Hitler, Bush, Cheney, Halibuton” brush and will ultimately have the same shelf life as Executive Outcomes.
I always get a huge kick out of posts like this.
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