I have been monitoring the recent Twitter feeds of a variety of people, both gold back currency fans and Keynesians that favor a fiat money system.  The battle between the proponents of fiat money (our current system) and money based on the gold standard is becoming more and more intense.   More and more people now realize that the fiat monetary system is inherently dishonest.  They observe the US and European governments creating astronomical amounts of debt and printing billions of dollars and Euros in their efforts to offset failures of the economic system they have created.  Many people, including most US TeaPartyers, feel in their gut that the actions being taken don't make any fundamental sense.  And they are right.

The rage being felt by the general population over the dishonesty of the fiat money system continues to build.  Keynesians are fighting to maintain the system which gives governments and central banks tremendous power over the lives of ordinary people.  Orginary people understand that gold is the ultimate store of value as it has been for thousands of years.  Paper money and computer generated debts and credits, not backed by hard assets have little meaning and can be abused at will by governments. 

It is just a matter of time before the gold rage reaches a crescendo and the monetary system is changed to a 21st century variation of the gold standard.  Repeated historical cycles tell us that when a government abuses its currency, the people demand gold as the standard of exchange.  History will repeat itself in the years to come.

TPM

During the past few years my wife and I have made a number of trips to the US western states.  We have traveled to northern and southern California and Arizona.  We have made multiple visits to Nevada.  We just spent three days in Oregon before driving to Seattle, Washington, earlier today. When we get 2,000 to 3,000 miles away from our home in the Washington, DC area and the Boston to New York to Washington extended metroplex we get a very different perspective of our country.   

When we read historical markers in various locations we find that the events generally happened after 1850.  Many of them occured in the late 19th century or early 20th century, within the lifespan of our grandparents.  We read about the amazing development of cities, hydroelectric dams, seaports and entire new industries.  We see the current version of what was created and developed within a few generations.  We also see a great effort to clean-up, care for and preserve the wonderful environment of the west for all to enjoy for generations to come.  At the same time it is clear that everyone understands that business needs to proceed at a reasonable pace (well maybe we need to exclude much of California from that observation).  

We just walked along the waterfront of the Port of Seattle and observed a fascinating mix of tourist activity, local housing, and port business.  Tomorrow we will take the opportunity to see more of this great city in the Pacific Northwest.

We need to send the east coast establishment types that attempt to create policy for our great nation to live for awhile out in the west.  They need to more fully experience and gain understanding of what it means to accomplish great things, like building new cities and creating new industries, in a few generations.  It might help them to get a better sense of what it means to be an American.  We can blend liberal/progressive and conservative perspectives to create an environment where we can live and work in an agreeable manner. 

The US was built by aggressive people that pushed forward to new frontiers.  We need to regain that aggression. Nothing is gained by those that fail to act. The development of the west is a monument to those who did act.

TPM 

I just finished reading Area 51 - An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base by Anne Jacobsen.   Ms. Jacobsen has done a great job of turning her research of newly declassified documents and interviews with former Area 51 workers into a riveting story about the history of Area 51.

Ms. Jacobsen provides great insight into the tremendous technical capability of the German scientists and engineers that were developing new weapons technology for Hitler during World War II.  There is no doubt that during the 1930s that Germany was the world's center of excellence for science and technolgy.  She explains how this tremendously talented group was divided and "recruited" by the US and Soviet Union at the end of World War II.

I learned a great deal about the history of the U-2 spy plane, A-12 Oxcart spy plane, and SR-71 Blackbird aircraft and the world events that caused each of these aircraft to be developed and deployed. 

Ms. Jacobsen also provides a great deal of information concerning the development of the F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft and the Predator series of drone aircraft.

The book provides insight into the incredible story of the US nuclear bomb testing program that was carried out for decades at the Nevada test range and the Pacific Proving Ground.  While I knew that the US tested bombs in the atmosphere and underground after World War II, I had no idea how much money was spent and the extent of the nuclear weapons programs.  Ms. Jacobsen acknowledges in her book that much of the history of the nuclear weapons program remains classified.  It is likely that the US government will never declassify certain sensitive material because of irresponsible actions taken by the government in the 1950s/1960s.  There were a lot of nuclear cowboys with access to lots of money during the post World War II period and they almost destroyed the world as a result of their actions.  A lot of the Cold War history that we have been taught doesn't make sense when one thinks about the information provided in Area 51.  The US government has been spinning the truth and covering up facts about the Cold War for decades.  What is more upsetting is that we don't know the entire truth yet. because much of the critical information continues to be classified.

The most controversial topic covered in Area 51 is covered in the final chapter of the book.  The issue is the Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) reported to have crashed in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.  Ms. Jacobsen reports that one of the contractor engineers she interviewed advised her that the Roswell UFO was a Russian made disk shaped aircraft that was originally designed by German engineers and piloted by children.  The propulsion system for the disk aircraft is not understood.  The purpose of the Russian disk shaped aircraft was psychological warfare.  Ms. Jacobsen has received much criticism for this part of her book.  While it may be hard to believe, the story fits much of the research done by others that have attempted to attribute the Roswell UFO to aliens from another world.  I can't endorse Ms. Jacobsen's account of the Roswell UFO as fact but I wouldn't dismiss it as a made up story as others have done.  Until the US government releases all of the information about Roswell that remains classified I suggest we all keep an open mind.

I suggest that anyone with an interest in the topics covered in Area 51 read the book.  Ms. Jacobsen has done an excellent job of giving every American a lot to think about.  We need our government to declassify the remaining material on these topics.

I wonder what our government has been doing at Area 51 during the past twenty years that we don't know anything about, yet!

TPM

Political experts express the view that every action President Obama takes, or doesn't take, is calculated based on its potential impact on the 2012 Presidential race.  Virtually every talking head from all political perspectives has expressed frustration over the Obama's failure to lead the nation forward and attack its debt and deficit issues.  It is amazing to watch liberal progressive TV talking heads criticize the President for his failure to lead.

None of the current Republican presidential candidates have captured the imagination of the nation.  The Republican's best potential candidate is probably Chris Christie, New Jersey governor.  Christie has elected not to run for President this time and is focused on solving New Jersey's problems.  It has been reported that a number of Republican fund raisers have met with Governor Christie and asked him to reconsider his position.  I hope Governor Christie reconsiders and enters the race.

There is one other candidate that is very electable, Hillary Clinton.  Secretary of State Clinton is almost unquestionably the most qualified person in the country to become the next President of the United States.  Secretary Clinton has proved herself over the past 20 years including her role as First Lady of the United States for two terms when she took on a policy role on major issues.  As a US Senator from New York Ms. Clinton was deeply involved in the major national policy decisions of the late 1990s/early 2000s.  She now has more than two and one half years of experience as Secretary of State.  Ms. Clinton has proved that she is a very tough individual as she has dealt with both personal and political issues, including a hard fought Presidential primary race against Obama, in the public spotlight.

I know Ms. Clinton and I would not agree on a lot of issues.  However, I believe that Ms. Clinton can bring moderate Democrats, moderate Republicans and independents together and establish policies that have the best chance of getting our nation moving in the right direction.  She would be a far better candidate than any of those that are already in the race.

It is Hillary Clinton's time to become the President of the United States.  I hope the Democratic party comes to its senses and asks Barrack Obama to step aside after his term ends.  We need Hillary Clinton to unify the country, an outcome that Barrack Obama will never be able to achieve.

TPM

We are all very aware that the latest US official unemployment rate is 9.1 percent.  The unofficial unemployment/underemployment rate estimates range from 17 percent and higher.   We know that there are many areas of the country which have large numbers of people that have been unemployed for over a year and are concerned about losing extended unemployment benefits.  A majority of Americans believe that "jobs" is a more important issue than debt, deficits or wars in the Middle East.  It is hard to argue that "jobs" is a very important issue based on the information we have been given.  However, there is more to the "jobs" story, much more.

As we go about our daily life on the East Coast and as we travel around the USA we see things that make us wonder a bit about the "jobs" problem.  Every place we go we see immigrants working in entry level jobs.  In the Washington DC area suburbs virtually every person working in the fast food industry is an immigrant, Hispanic, Asian, or Middle Eastern.  We had a home cleaning service for many years that was staffed by Hispanic women.  When we had major repairs done on a home we recently sold all the workers were Hispanic.  Almost all the workers doing the really hard work in the very hot sun on the construction site of our new home are Hispanic.  We have met many young people from East European countries working in beach resorts up and down the East Coast in recent years.  There are counties in rural America that have very high concentrations of Hispanics working in the agriculture industry.  In every East Coast city there are a very high percentage of cab drivers from all over the world.

We don't have an issue with the work ethic or quality of the work of the immigrants.  Everyone we meet is trying to earn a living, take care of their families and do a good job.  We don't know if the people are legal immigrants or illegal immigrants.  We have no reason to check their status.  They work for companies that are serving us.

But I ask why aren't these jobs being done by American citizens that are out of work?  Is it because the jobs don't pay enough?  Do the jobs require too much effort?  Do the jobs require a move?  Are the jobs "demeaning"?  Are unemployment benefits and other government support services too generous so that people aren't forced to make big life decisions in order to keep a roof over the heads and feed their families?

I don't have anything against immigrants trying to make their lives better by coming to the US to live and work.  But with our unemployment rates so high the US government needs to do a better job or keeping illegal immigrants out of the country and penalizing employers that bring in illegal immigrants for the sole purpose of paying them less than market wages.  Our government also needs to do a better job of regulating legal immigration.  If a person has truly unique skills or education we should encourage them to come to the US and join our workforce or start a business. 

We can't afford to pay Americans not to work while immigrants take readily available jobs that Americans can do.  We need to reevaluate our entire approach to unemployment benefits.  If people need to take lesser jobs to eat and keep a roof over their head they need to take them.  If people need to move to find work, they need to move.  

How bad is the US jobs problem?

TPM  

Democrats and Republicans have engaged in a battle of words over which party is primarily responsible for the recent Standard and Poors credit downgrade of US government debt.  We don't know what was in the Obama/Behner Big Deal that was supposed to prevent the downgrade because it was never published. We have heard two stories about how the deal negotiations broke down. Obama claims that the Tea Party wouldn't accept increases in revenue. Behner claims that the $4T deal included $0.8T of revenue increases but Obama listened to his base and demanded $0.4T of additional revenue through increases in tax rates. Behner claims he stopped the process when Obama tried to change the agreed upon deal.
 

None of us know which story is true. We know both sides will say whatever they need to say to make the other side look bad. I tend to believe Behner's story. The bottom line is that the final deal that was agreed upon essentially accomplished nothing other than raise the debt ceiling.  The Big Deal didn't address the fundamental issues.  The real plan needs to be in the $10T to $15T range for 10 years. Numbers this large require a fundamental restructuring of the entire government and all of the entitlement programs. There are very few politicians willing to discuss the real numbers and what should be done.
 

Other than a full government restructuring the only path forward is monetary inflation.  Monetary inflation will allow the government to redistribute assets from savers to spenders and advance social programs at the expense of the personal freedom of those that have earned it.  Obama and the liberals/progressives are asset/income redistributors.  In earlier decades we would have called them socialists or even communists.  The fight between those that believe in personal freedom and responsibility and the liberal/progressive redistributors is now fully engaged.  We are fighting over control of our nation's money, the enabling mechanism for each side of the debate. We shall see how it all turns out.  I hope for my children's future that the majority of US citizens stave off the liberal/progressive redistributors and all citizens have an opportunity to live in a country where they are free to develop their lives with limited government interference.

The US needs to engage the philosophical fight rather than keep kicking the can down the road. Now is the time to fight this out and let the people decide in the 2012 elections what kind of future they want.  Obama presented a budget that failed to acknowledge any fiscal issues and was defeated in the Senate 97-0.  Obama acted in an irresponsible manner. He didn't act as the Chief Executive of the USA. The House has passed several pieces of fiscal legislation and the Senate has failed to act on any of them. Obama doesn't want to cut one government job or change any government program in his heart. He wants more government with more control over the people. I would prefer that all the issues be put on the table by all people that desire to express an opinion. The 2012 election will be the most pivotal period in our history since World War II. The people will have to decide which philosophy will guide the future of the country.  Now is the time for big decisions. We are a democracy.  We all get one vote.  Hopefully, Americans will choose wisely.

TPM