Tag: debt

Nuclear Proliferation Only Paused in the ’90s Post Cold War – Trump Hits the Gas on Nukes

For all the talk about the nuclear non-proliferation agreements that nuclear nations agreed to (except Israel, w/ their 200+ nuke stockpile), Trump exited the Iranian deal made by Obama (probably to strike a better deal, since that is his M.O.) and has hit the gas on getting back into the nuclear proliferation stage once more.

What is sad is that we have the nuclear warheads available collectively to destroy the world over many many times, but the real injustice is the expense laid at the taxpayers (tax slaves) feet as well as enslaving their children to a mountain of debt. The US had not been involved in the production of nukes since the 1990s as the Non-Proliferation Treaties were doing their job after the end of the Cold War:

Non

Each homeowner “counts the cost” (Jesus’ words from the Bible in Luke 14:28) when they decide between bread and guns, toilet paper and ammo .. but the US Empire prints their own money and is paranoid as h**l that some other nation might pull a fast one on them, so they splurge on a weapons inventory that only an insane person might do on a personal level.

Back at the beginning of 2019, Trump rolled out the production of low-yield nukes (similar or smaller than the Hiroshima nuke that eliminated an estimated 60,000-80,000 people) for placement on the US’s nuclear submarine fleet. This is based on the strategic theory that if you launch a little nuke, it will not escalate to a nuclear war. I guess I don’t see it that way since I am sure that any “little nuke” lobbed into any US state WOULD result in a firestorm of nuke warheads aimed at the source (or not, just like the Iraq invasion, where they had nothing to do w/ 9/11, got the brunt of the US Empire’s mistake with millions killed and their country’s infrastructure ruined as well as the release of ISIS in their territory).

So here we are in 2020, fresh off Trump’s assassination of Iran’s 2nd in command on Iraqi territory, pissing off all honest people in those nations, and it is becoming clear what the cost is going to be for all this. ZeroHedge has done the US taxpayers/tax-slaves a favor by brining some graphics to help communicate our future debt:

OK, this ain’t low “cost” = low “yield nukes, this actually has a major impact on the already stretched budget, that will never be achieved again.

Other info that is provided is both the location and the composition of these weapons:

ZeroHedge’s Tyler Durden summarizes by saying:

With this new weapons development, the U.S. is aiming to create “tailored response options” to any potential conflict. By eliminating the perceived advantages that adversaries may have, the U.S. is hoping to lower the likelihood of a nuclear conflict.

Arms control advocates warn that new lower-yield warheads entering production will lower the threshold for a nuclear conflict.

While advocates and critics of nuclear weapons debate the merits of new weapons, we appear to be entering a new era of weapons proliferation.

While I do not believe in gun-free or nuke-free zones, when a government, “servants of the people” (at least in America that was the initial thought) goes crazy in spending for weapons that do little to actually “protect” the US, you have to wonder what will it take to reverse this course toward Thomas Jefferson’s dream:

Peace out.

-SF1

Preparing (Prepping?) the Next Generation with Love

I am not a fan of labels. Labels are not all that accurate especially when it comes to the generations, for there are always exceptions. I am thinking on the latest buzzword, Millennials, as well as the others like Boomer, Gen X, Silent Generation and the like.

Being peak Boomer (literally, the year that had the most US births in American history, 1958) I also hear that the generation I am a part of did no favors in our raising of the next generation.

I believe if you try to picture me, you might assume that have gray hair, outright own my home, will soon retire with a good pension, healthy portfolio, and have a condo or two in other more temperate states or at least own a cottage in a location where the family can gather each summer.

Well, not so fast. Gray hair, ok .. you got me there, however the path we choose (or in some cases, the paths we might have been forced down) are not as typical as you might think.

From the start we (my wife and I at ages 22 and 19 at that time) really wanted our new family to be a one-family income home where our kids would have a parent to return from school to as well as to enjoy summer vacations. This ended up being quite the financial sacrifice since the economy transitioned to two-income families in the 1970s (about the time the US totally abandoned the gold standard). We would not trade that for the world.

Another thing we did was take the risk of raising our children on a few acres that allowed them to experience a few things that are atypical for kids these days, to have responsibilities in taking care of chickens, pigs and even a pony. While the old farm house needed plenty of upgrades, and at times it was a money pit, the end result is having some very humble children that are aware of life in multiple dimensions!

The result is that we have five awesome, independent and unique millennials that are a-typical for their cohort. Each one has charted their own course in this world and we are so proud of each and every one of them.

Along these lines comes Daisy Luther from Organic Prepper who shares her recipe for raising two daughters toward being women who are prepared much more that the typical millennial for the years and decades to come.

“Millenials” have been the butt of a million jokes about incompetence. The generation born between 1981 and 1996 is considered entitled, ultra-liberal, and naive about how life works. But maybe they’ve gotten a bad rap because what no one ever points out is that maybe the issue isn’t with these young people but with how they were raised. I know that my own millennial daughter is competent, frugal, and independent.

As a parent, the most important job I will ever hold is “mom” to my two daughters. And if I’m not teaching them the important life lessons they need to survive and thrive in this crazy world, I’m not doing a very good job at all. Of course, once they get out there, there are a million variables, but how they deal with those variables has a lot to do with whether they were raised to think independently or raised to wait for rescue.

What follows are a few snippets of what schools will not teach your kids but what love of our children might drive us to provide them:

Everyday skills every young person should have

Here are the lessons that I think every parent needs to teach their child, whether you’re raising boys or girls. Before leaving the nest, they should be able to:

Let me hit the pause button right there a minute. In this world of instant gratification there is nothing so awesome than seeing first hand a younger person hold off or actually say “no” to a purchase that might make them incredibly happy, until the credit card statement or monthly payment shows up in an e-mail.

Other categories are covered by Daisy as well:

  • Use basic tools for repairs
  • Cook a healthy meal from scratch
  • Cook a “company” meal – everyone needs one delicious meal that’s a little fancier they can cook when they have a guest
  • Grocery shop within a budget and have healthy food for the week ahead

Yes, this last one is so important in the long term. The diet of food that we live on greatly impacts how our body’s health might be in the decades to come, again, it seems against the grain, and does not have immediate effects, but is important for the long-haul. As someone who has seen the butter to margarine to butter shift for “health” as well as the eggs are bad for you to eggs are good for you, it is important that our kids know how to critically think and research things online in a way that seeks truths about the foods we have available in the US.

  • How to pay off debt if they have it
  • How to keep safe: they need to have basic self-defense and weapons-handling skills.
  • How to navigate with a paper map – not Google or their car’s GPS
  • How to make extra money fast if an emergency arises

Some of these things Daisy share makes perfect sense and are things I had not thought of. Even though all my kids are adults now, it is not too late for them to learn!

Emergency skills every young person should have

Some of the skills above will cross over into emergencies, like First Aid. Outside of the basics of everyday life, your kids leaving home should know:

  • How to light a fire
  • How to cook safely over an open fire
  • How to keep warm when the power is out, whether that means safely operating an indoor propane heater, using the woodstove/fireplace, or bundling up in a tent and sleeping bags in the living room
  • How to keep themselves fed when the power is out – they should have enough supplies on hand that they can stay fed at home for up to two weeks: cereal, powdered milk, granola bars, canned fruit, etc.
  • How to deal with the most likely disasters in their area
  • About the dangers of off-grid heating and cooking, such as the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning in unventilated rooms.
  • How to purify water
  • How to keep safe both at home and when they’re out. Be sure they know the difference between cover and concealment

I found Daisy’s article thought provoking and informative. I challenge you to have discussions with your families around the campfires this week as you “get out there” to enjoy summer in nature!

I know I will ..

-SF1

Is It Too Early to Evaluate Trump’s Impact on the USA/World?

In some ways, the Constitution did us all a disservice by giving us an “almost king” government office called the president of the United States. While some believe that office can right the wrongs of the last president or even the last decade or so of bad decisions, others believe that there are forces that remain hidden in government structure and other power structures in and outside of this country that use this position as a puppet of theirs. It was evident from our first president that the power of the office would be abused, and abused often.

From The Burning Platform comes an interview with Doug Casey that reflects on the good, the bad and the ugly from the latest president and what it means for us going forward. Just a few snips from this article I would like to highlight as you could go to the link above and see what you think:

Let me start by saying that I’m very pleased that Trump was elected because, first and foremost, he’s not Hillary. In addition, he’s never been in political office. So he lacks some of the vices common to professional politicians. Even better, all members of the Deep State reflexively hate him.

That’s a good thing, because there’s some truth to the meme “the enemy of my enemy just might be my friend.”

I also like some of the things Trump’s done since he’s been in office—besides driving liberals and Deep Staters insane. He’s done some deregulating—not nearly enough, but he’s moved in the right direction. Of course, he did this not because he understands Austrian economics, but simply because he’s a businessman. He has some personal experience with the destructiveness of regulations.

So he has disrupted politics to a degree, which is good, but to inact long-term change requires more than just randomly hitting some things. He is missing something at his core which has been obvious all along in the way he approaches problems and seeks solutions almost “off-the-cuff”.

I do like that at the end of the day he would rather talk to the Russians than escalate things, but it is obvious he is limited by his deep state handlers as far as how far he can take this. Sanctions are stupid and are in fact usually the first step towards conflict. At the end of the day there seems to be no overarching philosophy for foreign policy. Trumps knee jerk firing of Tomahawks at sites in Syria a year ago after accusations of Assad using chemical warfare on his own people was an epic stupid move on the part of Trump .. but maybe there was a gun heald to his head like was held to JFK’s?

On the negative side, Doug Casey focuses on the obvious:

…. starting with running a trillion-dollar deficit. Where does he think that money’s going to come from? The Russians and the Chinese aren’t buying US debt anymore. Foreigners are looking to offload US paper.

Americans aren’t buying much, either. The only real alternative is to sell it to the Federal Reserve. Which is a real problem when the Federal Reserve is not only trying to deleverage, but has to refinance hundreds of billions of short-term paper coming due. Recall that almost all the $20 trillion of Treasury debt is very short term. Interest rates are going to rise, a lot. And so will the interest portion of the government deficit. Interest payments alone will be a trillion a year by the end of Trump’s second term—assuming he gets one.

Trump also—like all red-blooded Americans—loves the military. So, he’s adding to the already bloated military budget. It’s ridiculous, dangerous, and provocative. The United States already spends more than the next 10 or 12 biggest nations in the world put together. And most of that money is wasted and misallocated. It’s being spent on dinosaur technologies. What he’s doing there is very foolish. It’s accelerating the looming bankruptcy of the Government. And of course the Government will drag the country down with it.

He’s foolishly antagonizing the Russians by placing troops in the Baltics. He’s doing the same with China by sending ships to the South China Sea, which is their equivalent of the Gulf of Mexico.

But my biggest problem with Trump is that he has no philosophical core. He’s not by any means a libertarian. He’s a pragmatist, and an authoritarian. He’ll do whatever seems like a good idea at the time.

He’s got no background in or understanding of economics or history. I think it’s true that, as his critics say, he hasn’t read a book in 50 years. He goes strictly on gut instinct.

Exactly. So what we have is someone that keeps kicking things and reacting but never solidifying long-term change. But at the same time, the swamp is huge and he can’t be the only one draining it. While Congress remains inept at doing anything productive (like dismantling spending programs that have outlived their usefulness and mission) because that might keep them from getting re-elected. With an 11% approval rating, incumbents get re-elected at a 95% rate. If voting changed anything they would NOT let us do it!

So basically, this is essentially entertainment that your tax money pays for, the bread and circus distractions that empires do in their dying days.

At the end of the day all we can really do well is love our families, love our neighbors and pray that God has a plan to keep our kids and grand-kids is His care as this American Empire spins down.

SF1