Check out the updated version of my article, End of the Post World War II Era, http://www.thepurplemuse.com/id30.html.  Everyone should understand how the US got into a rancorous national debate over the national debt, deficits and the debt ceiling.

TPM

I have just updated my article, Spin, Lies, Conspiracy and Truth, after reading Christopher Hitchens book, "god is not Great - How Religion Poisons Everything".  If you have any interest in the impact of religions on the history of the world and the thinking of people, you should read Hitchens book.  Are religions good or evil?  Make your own decision after reading Hitchens book.

TPM

Have you ever had a conversation with someone concerning gold?  Did you ever have a debate with someone over the value of gold versus stocks or currency?

I know that investing in gold and precious metals is very controversial in many circles.  My fundamental belief is that gold is real money at all times.  This has been demonstrated over thousands of years.  Every fiat currency or paper money in history has eventually been debased in value over a long period of time.  In times of excess fiat money creation silver becomes a precious metal and money in addition to being an industrial metal.  I am providing links to some of my work that is posted on this site and other sources.  I suggest you read my material and think this issue through for yourselves.  Even good friends can disagree on a controversial topic like gold.

I love it when I hear many political types discussing the problem of the stagnation or decline in the average US standard of living in recent years.  Anyone that doesn't understand what has happened and is happening has their head in the sand.  It is hard to listen to political types complain when they worked for decades to create global competition.  The US got what it wanted, like it or not.

The global market for goods and services has exploded in recent decades.  US workers are competing against foreign labor making a fraction of the hourly rate paid in the US.  Businesses have the option to source goods and service from virtually any source.  Unskilled and semiskilled labor in the US must compete with foreign labor willing to work much more cheaply.  There is no future path for unskilled and semiskilled labor to ever live a middle class life or better.  The global labor market will force them to live a lower middle class life style.

Everyone that competes in the global labor market must understand the new reality.  Skills must be developed.  Education must be obtained and used.  There is no longer an easy path to success.  Real work must begin during the education process.  US youth needs to get a good understanding at a very early age that they must work hard to succeed.  If they don't work hard it will be very tough for them to succeed.

Labor competition is a driving force behind much of the world economy.  If you don't want to compete you lose.  If you can't compete you lose.  If you work hard and compete harder you have an opportunity to win.

The US government needs to get its act together and explain this fact of life to the people.  We can't spend trillions of dollars subsidizing people that won't prepare themselves to compete.  We need a safety net for those that can't compete for some reason that is no fault of their own.   It is time for US citizens to learn the entire truth about labor competition.

TPM

I find it remarkable that our national government has made no progress in resolving our nation's fiscal problems during the past few months.  President Obama has delegated to VP Biden the leadership role in the most important issue of his administration.  Our nation's future will be determined by the approach our leaders take to resolving or not resolving our fiscal issues.  If our elected leaders will not act, the world financial markets will determine our collective fate.  The world financial market has many, many effective leaders that will vote and provide direction to the financial markets using their collective wealth and the wealth of their clients or citizens. 

On July 4, 2011 it is very unfortunate that our nation is celebrating our Independence Day at a time where our leaders appear willing to concede control of our national destiny to the world's financial markets.  I find the entire situation a national disgrace. 

There is no doubt that George Bush, his Republican Congress and his administration created many of the problems that we have endured during the past few years.  However, President Obama, his Democratic Congress (now only the Senate) and his administration have greatly compounded our problems.  Our President's primary focus appears to be his reelection campaign, not the welfare and future of the citizens of the US.   Obama's purposeful failure to do his job will become one of history's greatest lessons of political leadership failure in the future. 

I hope that our nation is inherently stronger than its leaders have been for the past decades.  We will reach the negative climax of this period in the years ahead.  It is not apparent today how much damage will be have been done to our nation before we reach the climax.  It will be an extremely difficult task to rebuild our nation once we have reached bottom.  Hopefully, our future political leaders will be much stronger leaders and more committed to the conduct of their business than our recent leaders.

Enjoy your July 4 and think about how our nation is giving away our independence every day by building up greater and greater debt levels.  We need to change direction as soon as we possibly can.  It is time to restructure our government and move forward.  It will be a painful process.  There is no way out of our fiscal problems without substantial pain.  Those looking for a pain free approach will never find one.  There is no other solution other than to bear the pain until we have worked our way out of our problems.

TPM