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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (21935)	7/12/2003 9:43:04 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

poker at the federal reserve investorsinsight.com

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (21935)	7/12/2003 10:02:57 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

There Is Nothing More Important Than Honor ______________________________ By Jim Cava t r u t h o u t \| Perspective Saturday 12 July 2003 truthout.org The day was November 20, 1968 - OPERATION MEADE RIVER, South Viet Nam. In our military briefing the night before, we were told to expect a significant encounter with the enemy. In the early morning darkness my fellow Marines and I grimly boarded our transport choppers and before long each chopper lifted off one by one en route to the LZ (landing zone). To this day the last thing I can remember before getting shot down by the enemy was the loud roar of the chopper engines with the unmistakable sound of the chopper blades whirling round and round, the paradoxical scenic beauty of the peaceful countryside below, and my rosary in hand as I prayed. As we approached the LZ the enemy opened fire. My chopper was the first to be hit. The pilot and co-pilot were killed instantly and the huge CH-46 went down, tumbled three times and exploded into a ball of fire. In a violently forceful instant, my life was transformed into a state of non-existence. Unconscious, I was pulled to safety from the burning chopper by a brave fellow Marine, and for hours I laid helpless in a rice paddy before a Medevac was able to assist and rescue. I was flown directly to U.S. Naval Support Activity (NSA), Da Nang for emergency medical treatment. The heartfelt gratitude and admiration that I hold for the skilled professionals of our Medical Service Corps in preserving my life remains everlasting. Several days later I was flown to U.S. Naval Hospital, Guam, where I awoke from my comatose state. As I opened my eyes, my existing thought was one of thanksgiving; I was ALIVE. Insistently, I asked questions in a dire attempt to find out the status of my men, and what had actually happened to me. No one really knew. How could they? We came from two different worlds. Painstakingly I tried, but was never able to find out exactly what happened. What I did find out was that my left arm was severed above the elbow, my legs were crushed below the knees, my back was fractured in three places, I had received multiple scars, and I had contracted a staph infection that was causing hideous pustules to break out all over my body. I was cut down without reprisal and it infuriated me to no end. The most significant undertaking of my life had been cut short and taken away from me. My job, one that meant more to me than anything, was now over. Realizing this, and that there was nothing I could do to alter the aimless course of the war evoked deep feelings of anger, frustration, and depression within me. I was overwhelmed with thoughts of Vietnam and how much I wanted to go back. I felt so damn distressfully helpless and useless. Yet as I thought of the immense human sacrifice given in suffering and in death by brave American men and women, in upholding and defending the principles for which we stand, I was filled with a profound sense of pride and consolation. I served my country with honor and my reward was immensely gratifying. I was now among that elite and distinguished group of patriotic Americans who served their country with honor. It was that distinction of serving with honor that gave me a source of inner strength to deal with the anguish and pain, then and always, because honor is what it's all about. There is nothing more important than honor - It is everything. Adversely, I thought of the deplorable lack of honor on the part of our governmental and military leaders in successfully and expeditiously ending the war. A true miscarriage of trust was being perpetrated by the very American leadership I trusted in. My beloved and virtuous country was being disgraced and humiliated by a disloyal, dishonorable, self-serving, self-important and self-righteous group of power brokers and I was filled with a profound sense of disillusionment and betrayal - indignation and conflict. My country nor I would never be the same. A week later, I was flown to Walson Army Hospital, Fort Dix, New Jersey. It was here that I received a most welcomed and compassionate visit from my father, mother and sister. I was transported to U.S. Naval Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where I spent four months recuperating, and proficiently well trained in the use of an artificial arm. Finally, I was transferred to Veterans Hospital, East Orange, New Jersey where I spent two long depressing months and where I came close to a nervous breakdown but for the grace of God, I maintained and carried on. Back in Nam, my friend and fellow Marine, Denny Leary, had yet to finish his tour of duty. In the meantime, Denny had written home to his family in Collingswood, New Jersey and told them about me. Thoughtfully, he asked them to visit me at the naval hospital in Philadelphia and to give me the royal treatment. I will never be able to express in words how thankful I am for their kindness and generosity. I did not know Denny before Nam but here we were thousands of miles from home, brought together by chance serving our country in what we thought was a justified war. Only to discover that it was one of deceit and dishonesty from the very start. "The Incident" that brought America into the self-destructive and regrettable Vietnam War was a pretext. In August of 1964 the American people and Congress were led to believe that two U.S. destroyers, Maddox and Turner Joy, without provocation, were deliberately and aggressively attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. This occurrence was a complete fabrication orchestrated by the egomaniacal President Johnson and his inner circle of collaborators to achieve their ultimate political ambition: Wage War. And thus the stage of a dishonorable leadership was set. And honorable America and her honorable soldiers were forced into a war that should have never been. Although it was for just a brief moment in our lives, Denny and I developed a friendship. And it was something truly special and much appreciated, having to put our lives on the line in a war with no clear cut nor resolute direction. It was a good and reassuring feeling to know I had a friend and fellow patriot in this foreign land, in this ill-conceived and outrageous war, that I could believe and trust in. Our brotherhood brought a sense of stability to a no other than unstable situation. I would, and only could pray for his safe return. But again, fate would not comply. It was April 27, 1969. I was at the Veterans Hospital when I received the shocking and distressing news. Denny had been killed. My good friend was dead. His precious life, one more precious life - wasted. I was numb. I felt as if life itself had been drained from me. I thought of the possibility that I could have saved Denny's life. I was so damn helpless. There were so many, too many good Americans suffering and dying. There were so many, too many loving American hearts broken and wrenched with pain. When will it/Will it ever end? Again - A fabrication orchestrated by the egomaniacal President and his inner circle of collaborators to achieve their political ambition: Wage War. Again - A deplorable lack of honor on the part of our governmental leaders. Again - The stage of a dishonorable leadership is set. Again - A miscarriage of trust perpetrated by the very American leadership we trust in. Again - Honorable America and her Honorable Soldiers are forced into a war that should have never been. Again - The suffering and death of our Honorable and Brave Patriotic Americans is looked upon as expedient and expendable in the eyes of the incompetent and morally deficient powermongers in control. Again - Our beloved and virtuous country disgraced and humiliated by a disloyal, dishonorable, self-serving, self-important and self-righteous group of power brokers. Again - Our great American heritage has been desecrated. Again - Our American Spirit has been devitalized and demoralized. Again - Amid the leadership of our great country, there's not one American with the strength of character to stand up, formidably and uncompromisingly, in defense of America's honor and demand an end be put to the sacrificial human offerings of so many good Americans. Again - What we thought was a justified war was one of deceit and dishonesty from the very start. Again - Lies, lies, lies. Again - The purest and truest paradox: America is honorable but America's leadership is not. Again - I am filled with a profound sense of disillusionment and betrayal, despair and degradation, indignation and conflict, infuriation and abhorrence. When will it end/Will it ever end? ------- Jim Cava, retired Petty Officer of the United States Navy, is a Vietnam Veteran. He can be reached at j.cava@att.net

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (21935)	7/12/2003 10:12:06 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

The Last Analysis ______________________________ by Kurt Richebächer for The Daily Reckoning July 11, 2003 The Daily Reckoning PRESENTS The recent Investors Intelligence survey measured bullish sentiment at 59 and bearish at 16%. Has the U.S. economy justified this surge in confidence? The good doctor reports, below... Mr. Greenspan has been hailing the wonderment of the U.S. economy’s new resilience, both to the bursting of the stock market bubble and to the various shocks from terrorists and the Iraq war. But the cause is obvious. What, for the time being, has prevented a deeper and longer recession in the United States is more and more of the very same consumer-borrowing–and-spending bubble, which has been propelling U.S. economic growth over the past several years. Yet two things have changed. The first one is the collateral behind the consumer borrowing and spending binge. Rising stock prices have been replaced by rising house prices. The second is that it needs more and more rampant credit and debt creation to master just marginal GDP growth. Our highly critical assessment of the U.S. economy’s performance during the past two to three years, in fact, finds its major justification in the atrocious discrepancy that has developed between extremely promiscuous monetary and fiscal stimuli and their extremely poor economic effects. Between 2000 and 2002, the federal budget has swung from a surplus of $295 billion into a deficit of $257 billion, heading for a $400–500 billion deficit in 2003. During the same two years, total nonfinancial credit zoomed $2,520 billion and financial credit by another $1,879 billion, both adding up to $4.4 trillion. What was the effect of this credit and debt deluge on the economy? GDP during these two years grew in real terms by $248 billion and in nominal terms by $621 billion. To us, this is an outright policy disaster. Yet, American consensus economists are definitely consistent in their approach. Undeterred by data that overwhelmingly point to the enduring weakness of the economy, they stick to the same forecast of the U.S. economy’s imminent, strong recovery. Though there is no trace of the generally predicted postwar snapback, optimism about the U.S. economy and its imminent, strong recovery remain the order of the day. Betting on the government’s third tax cut, further Federal Reserve easing, a weaker currency, and still more mortgage refinancing, the consensus expects economic growth to accelerate to 3–4% in the second half of this year, compared to the dismal sub-2% in the first half. In striking contrast, Mr. Greenspan and the Fed have become distinctly more cautious in their utterances about the economy’s prospects. The Fed’s latest Beige Book admits that economic activity remains sluggish. Although “the unwinding of war-related concerns appears to have provided some lift to business and consumer confidence,” the report said, “the effect has not been dramatic.” Consumer spending was said to have “remained lackluster.” Labor markets were described as “weak” and manufacturing activity as “mixed.” In particular, one remark concerning consumer spending shocked us: “Overall consumer spending was soft in April and May. Retail sales picked up some after subdued sales in March, but most reports indicated that sales remained below the level of a year ago.” This weakness in consumer spending is ominous, considering that new borrowing and mortgage refinancing are setting ever-new records. Both new and existing home sales rose to record highs last year, with mortgage origination totaling $2.5 trillion. According to estimates by the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage origination this year is set to reach even $3 trillion, with over $1.7 trillion of refinancings. This mortgage-refinancing binge has had two effects. One is the change in net new borrowing by the consumer, which rose by a record amount of $768 billion during 2002. The other effect is the amount 'saved' by private households through the refinancing of existing mortgages on their interest payments. Considering that 30-year fixed rates for mortgages have plunged by more than two percentage points over the past 12 months, from well over 7% to almost 5%, these savings have played an important role in bolstering disposable consumer incomes. Pondering where all this money went, we took a look at the pattern of consumer spending from 2002’s first quarter to 2003’s first quarter. What we found greatly surprised us. Apart from a temporary, minor surge in the sale of motor vehicles, expenditures on consumer durables were flat over the year. Among nondurable goods, the major increases in spending were on food, gasoline and fuel. Actually, 63% of the higher consumer spending was on services, and mainly on housing and medical care. It was a discovery that has shocked us - because we learned that the American consumer’s heavy borrowing is largely financing expenditures on essentials. The other, equally important conclusion to be drawn from these facts is that consumer spending, despite ever-new records in borrowing, is not able to lead a sustained recovery. So far, it has prevented a deepening recession, but it is much too weak for more than that. The obvious indispensable further condition for sustained, stronger economic growth is higher business fixed investment. Mr. Greenspan has certainly realized this, having said in a recent speech, “the central question about the outlook remains whether business firms will quicken the pace of investment.” Scrutinizing the GDP numbers and also the necessary conditions for a broad recovery in business fixed investment, we see no chance for it to happen. But first a clarification of facts: Over the 12 months to the first quarter of 2003, nonresidential fixed investment has declined in nominal terms by $21.7 billion and in real terms by $17.6 billion. The decline occurred across the board, but it was centered in structures, that is, in nonresidential buildings. Business investment on equipment and software, measured in current dollars, increased slightly, by $10 billion, or 1.2%, implying virtual stagnation. Measured in real terms, however, one item - computers and peripheral equipment - showed a sharp increase by $56 billion, or 21%. For many bulls, this is one ray of hope in the economy’s overall dismal picture. But we see nothing but hedonic pricing. In current dollars, business spending on computers rose by just $4.4 billion. Pondering the possibility of a broad recovery in business capital investment, we can only repeat what we have stressed many times before. Profit prospects are the key question in this respect. But scrutinizing the various macroeconomic components that ultimately determine aggregate profits, we note a preponderance of negative influences. The greatest potential threat to profits is a return of private households to higher savings, which is sure to happen when the mortgage refinancing frenzy abates and long-term interest rates stop falling. Positive influences from the macro perspective during 2002 were the sharply widening federal budget deficit and rising residential building. Major negative influences were the continuous rise in the trade deficit and declining net investment, mainly due to the continuous rise in depreciations. The fact is, there are no reasonable signs of an imminent pickup in U.S. economic growth in general and of business fixed investment in particular. In the last analysis, all the prevailing optimistic forecasts are based on the conviction that the Fed and government have the infallible means to generate a recovery under any circumstances. The chorus calling for the Fed to open its money spigots further has become deafening. © 2003 Kurt Richebächer financialsense.com

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (21935)	7/12/2003 11:24:19 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

decline of the dollar amconmag.com

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (21935)	7/12/2003 4:19:57 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

The following article was originally published in the Daily Observations on February 14, 2002 and is also on the front page of www.myhomelender.com Message 19104870

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (21935)	7/13/2003 11:31:01 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

Not A Vietnam-like Quagmire ____________________________ by Marty Jezer Published on Friday, July 11, 2003 by CommonDreams.org Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld held a press conference recently in which he attacked media prophets of doom and gloom for suggesting that the administration’s war against Iraq is a Vietnam-like “quagmire.” "It isn't,” Rumsfeld insisted. “It's a different time, it's a different era, it's a different place." To be sure, similarities exist. Like the invasion of Iraq, the American invasion of Vietnam was based on now-proven lies. President Johnson ordered the first big escalation on the allegation that Vietnamese patrol boats had fired on U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. The attack never happened. Then, in 1968, Richard Nixon ran for President on the promise that he had a secret plan to end the war. In actuality, he was secretly working to sabotage negotiations that could have ended the war. George W. Bush rallied the public behind the Iraqi war with evidence that Saddam Hussein was building nuclear bombs and had, for a fact, biological and chemical weapons that threatened our country. He also implied that Iraq was responsible with Al Qaeda for the attack on the World Trade Center – these were all falsehoods, all lies. Saddam, as leader of a country, with assets to protect (such as power, palaces, and a political movement) was constrained by international pressure. Removed from power, with nothing to lose and revenge on his mind, Saddam has the potential to become, with Osama bin Laden, a freelance terrorist, more dangerous to the United States than he ever was as the dictator of Iraq. On other issues the Vietnam/Iraq analogy breaks down. For Bush, the war in Iraq detracts attention from his assault on the New Deal social contract. Johnson, by contrast, was a reluctant warrior who, tragically, lacked the courage to get out of Vietnam. His presidential ambition, undermined by the war, was to build on the social and economic gains of the New Deal. The Vietnam War was fought in mountainous jungle terrain, and the Vietnamese were tenacious and disciplined nationalists who, throughout their history, had fought off foreign invaders. The war in Iraq is being fought primarily in open desert-like conditions against a factious people. There is no way the Iraqis can militarily defeat the United States; nor can they cause massive Vietnam-like casualties. But the Iraqi war is ultimately about winning hearts and minds, not about superior weaponry. Our smart bombs are useless against the hit-and-run guerrilla tactics that the Iraqis are now using. Our “robust” attempts to liquidate the guerrillas will inevitably lead to more civilian casualties and more Iraqi opposition to our military occupation. American troops not only have to defend themselves, but they have to protect those Iraqis working with them. Are there enough troops on the ground to provide this level of security? Will the American people tolerate more troop call-ups? Vietnam was a civil war in Southeast Asia. American leaders concocted the “domino theory” that if we “lost” Vietnam, other countries would fall to an international communist movement. This was balderdash, as critics of the war argued. Vietnam had no major implications beyond the area of battle. Unlike the hostile forces in the Middle East, the Vietnamese did not hate American society, and made no attempt to bring the war to American soil. Iraq represents a broader and more dangerous conflict. A segment of the Muslim world, represented at the extreme by Al Qaeda terrorists, hates the relative tolerance and freedom of American and Western secular society. Segments of the Islamic world also resent our economic supremacy and military power. We have forgotten the bloody history of Western dominance, dating back to the Crusades. They haven’t. Although much of the world, including many of our Western allies, tacitly opposed our Vietnam policy, they respected the internationalist assumptions of our overall policy. In ignoring and criticizing the UN and in refusing to support important international agreements, the Bush administration has broken with the internationalism of previous administrations, including those of his father, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson. No one but the embattled Tony Blair in Britain is going to help us in Iraq. We’re on our own, without friends, without credibility. We lost the war in Vietnam but won the peace, as Vietnam was compelled to accept free markets. As long as we stay in Iraq, we’ll have the military upper hand. Whether we’ll win the peace is another matter. Retired Marine General Bernard Trainor has criticized the Bush administration for its lack of postwar planning; precisely its inability to provide basic services, security, and stability to the Iraqi people. George W. Bush, during the 2000 presidential campaign, insisted that he had no interest in “nation-building.” In this, at least, he was not lying. Our troops in Iraq are trained for war, not for peacekeeping. According to press reports, morale is falling. The soldiers, both regulars and the National Guard, want to know when their work will be finished. Their families wonder too. How long will the American people tolerate daily casualties and growing hostility -– especially as they learn that the decision to go to war was based on phony evidence? How long will the Iraqis tolerate an American military presence that does not bring them the benefits of services, stability, and security? If the U.S. stays in Iraq, it risks an increase in Iraqi hostility, with political fall-out at home. If public pressure forces us to leave Iraq before reconstruction is completed (the Somalia-syndrome), we will be seen as “paper tigers” and invite more attacks from anti-American and anti-Western terrorists and extremists. The cause of this dilemma is not the morale, or skill, of the American military; nor is it the commitment of the American people. The problem is a result of the lies and deceptions of the Bush administration. The basic fact of this war is that it is wholly unnecessary. Donald Rumsfeld is right. Iraq is not Vietnam and this is not the 1960s or 1970s. In Iraq at the beginning of the twenty-first century we face a foreign policy debacle potentially greater and more dangerous than the Vietnam disaster. ______________________________ Marty Jezer is the author of Abbie Hoffman: American Rebel and The Dark Ages: Life in the U.S. 1945-1960. He writes from Brattleboro, Vermont and welcomes comments at mjez@sover.net. commondreams.org

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (21935)	7/14/2003 7:13:25 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Wholesale Prices Climbed in June, But Deflation Pressures Continue By JOSEPH REBELLO and JEFF BATER DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Wholesale prices rose in June after two monthly declines, pushed higher by rising food and energy costs. Underlying deflation pressures persist, however. The producer-price index for finished goods rose by a larger-than-expected 0.5% last month, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The increase was due largely to a 3.4% rise in energy prices. However the closely watched core index -- excluding food and energy items -- fell 0.1%, the fifth drop in eight months. Meanwhile, the U.S. trade deficit widened by $190 million to $41.84 billion in May as demand for foreign cars rose. U.S. exports rose for the first time in three months, increasing 0.9%. But imports grew nearly as fast, increasing 0.7% despite a big drop in oil prices. The numbers highlighted persistent strains on the U.S. economy and the downward pressure on prices that has come with those strains, analysts said. "What we're picking up from the PPI numbers is rising costs amid a lack of pricing power," said John Lonski, an economist with Moody's Investors Service in New York. "It suggests a squeeze on profit margins, which does not favor a recovery in capital spending." The Labor Department's report on producer prices showed that inflation was strongest at the initial stages of production and weakest at the final stage, suggesting that companies enjoy little ability to pass rising costs on to consumers. Prices of crude, or unprocessed, goods rose 4.5%, the fastest rate in three months. Prices of intermediate, or semiprocessed, goods rose 0.5% after two consecutive months of decline. Among finished goods, food prices rose 0.4%. But prices of capital equipment declined 0.1%, reversing the 0.1% gain recorded in May. Prices of computers fell 1.1%, the biggest drop in four months. Passenger-car prices fell 0.7% after a 0.2% increase in May. Prices of communications equipment fell 0.7%. In its report on the trade balance in May, the Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit with China grew to $9.86 billion from $9.45 billion in April; the deficit with Canada grew to $4.09 billion from $3.81 billion; the deficit with Mexico grew to $3.42 billion from $3.34 billion. But the trade deficit with Western Europe narrowed to $8.26 billion in May from $8.44 billion in April. The deficit with Japan narrowed to $4.49 billion, compared with a $5.97 billion deficit in April. It is the lowest U.S. deficit with Japan since January 1998, the department said. Write to Joseph Rebello at joseph.rebello@dowjones.com and Jeff Bater at jeff.bater@dowjones.com Updated July 14, 2003