76 years young: Ron Pauls attracting the youth vote

According to the latest survey by Public Policy Polling, Ron Paul owns the youth vote. Iowans under the age of forty-five are 30% of the time aligned with Mr Paul, his closest competitor? Mitt Romney …with half of that number. How is this so? Its not like Ron Paul gets the media attention of his competitors, in fact before his ascension into first place in Iowa; he was only surpassing Rick Santorum amongst Republican candidates in the MSM in terms of coverage according to a Pew Study conducted earlier this month.

Its been said, he has far and away the best network on the ground in Iowa. He has legions of volunteers willing and able to go door to door and work the phones. He also has money and when you have money and enthusiasm in a political process anything is possible and Mr Pauls rise is a perfect illustration of that.

How is it that a 76 year old “crank” is the favorite to young voters in a state where the young vote is not always taken serious? Why is Mr Paul fairing so poorly with older voters, getting blown out by 31-15 amongst Iowan seniors… when hes a senior himself? And yet he still rises to #1 in in Iowa?

The answer is pretty obvious. Ron Paul is a message that resonates with those that want change. And not the change thats artificial and a product of some consultant poll numbers and pushed through the press like a happy meal. We know the type of change (sic) im talking about. Its just that... talk. No, we are talking real, tangible, drastic change in a desperate time. We have all heard it before and its logical, the older you get the less change you want; I mean that is conservatism at its core, right?

The Millennial’s and the Gen-X see the broken foreign policy, the failed economy and the constant bickering and broken ideas proliferating Washington. They see lawmakers out of step with the electorate, something the tea party and the occupy movement tap into. And they want to do a U-Turn. There isn’t a politician in this country more inclined and eager to do just that then Ron Paul.

Ron Paul may not win the nomination, but as he always has said its about philosophy and content over delivery and appearance. Its about changing the conversation more then it is about winning. With so many young voters jumping into the Ron Paul revolution – that appears the biggest story going forward. Win or lose much like his growing army of young "Paul-bots" his message is only going to grow.

Blue, white... and red? Is the US on the same path of Greece?

With Greece out on the corner whoring for another bailout and Standard and Poor yesterday lowering Greece’s credit rating to CCC (the lowest in the world) joining Moodys, who dropped Greece two weeks ago… it’s a great time to reflect. Or fittingly enough hold up a mirror to ourselves. Could the mighty US ever be in the same mess the Greeks find themselves in now? They are socialists you say and we’re capitalists, surly that couldn’t happen. Or Could it?

The Greek GDP is 329 Billion (2009). Obviously its not Rwanda. But let’s put that into perspective. The 2009 revenue of Wal-Mart was over 400 Billion. Wal-Marts annual revenue surpassed 174 nations that year. And being Wal Mart is just one company in the US, it gives you a feel for how truly large and powerful we are. So much so, that the US GDP is nearly three times its nearest competitor standing at 14.2 Trillion.

What separates the US from Greece? Sure we collectively output 45X in a year then they do collectively, but our external debt to GDP ratio is 100% on the nose as of tonight’s check. What we have that Greece don’t have is simple. We have a printing press. Our currency is traded throughout the world as the default currency. All we have to do is print our recovery (at the expense of massive inflation of course amongst other undesirables). The Greeks have to rely on a bailout from the European Union or default and declare bankruptcy. In many ways bankruptcy isn’t a bad thing for Greece. Because the sooner they can weed out mal-investment, waste and become more efficient the sooner they can get started in rebuilding. We on the other hand are so disillusioned our reckoning is going to be a lot slower and much much more painful.

So Greece having to default on its debt is one thing, for us to do it… that surly would send a ripple effect throughout the world. And that’s where the conversation truly ends. That’s where you get into raising the debt ceiling. Because after all, its not just the Chinese holding debt, its average Americans too. We can stick it to those red chinamen… but we refuse to and won’t default on Grandma Sherley. I mean, Standard & Poor's may be forced to take away our AAA credit rating, or what basically what amounts to as being a credit card with no limit!

At the current rate, in a few months we will start to default on our debt. The disease of debt and living beyond our means at a national level are over. The diagnosis isn’t going to change. The treatment is the only choice we have. Take the medicine now by choice, or be forced to do it later. And we have two responsible options to do this now and one irresponsible one that will only make things worse.

We can default on our debts and admit to the world and to ourselves that we are living well beyond our means or raise taxes and pay our way. If our 2011 budget deficit is 1.6 Trillion and we have roughly 160 million working Americans, all we will need is 10g per working American to cover this years shortcoming (hows that for stimulating the economy, suck 1.6 trillion out of citizens hands and into the coffers of out of control and out of touch government).

Or we can do what what politicians always are in favor of doing, and that is to let the next guy worry about it and continue to kick the can down the road, raise the debt ceiling, creating an oncoming tsunami at what point could be a country in total chaos. Lets see what kind of chutzpah these elected “leaders” have the rest of this summer. Based on past results, i dont think the shoe business should need a bailout.

Taliban getting new recruits

I have been on record saying that the war on terror is a front. Sure, extremism is something that does threaten the 99% of us that want to live in peace, but your chances of being killed by a terrorist are about as you being crushed under a vending machine. Although, technically, you stand a 200% more of a chance of a vending machine attack then dying in a terrorist attack.

It is a front for a fledgling empire in its death throes to dominate a vital region for energy and global dominance in the coming future. This isn’t just an educated guess. Richard Cheney was on record saying this before he became VP and was CEO at Haliburton. It was Dick who said in 1999:

“the Middle East with two thirds of the world’s oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies, even though companies are anxious for greater access there, progress continues to be slow”

So we picked up progress. Even thou we are facing a decay infrastructure and crumbling and exploding entitlement programs that are facing insolvency. But then again, perpetual war and debt are probably our leading service export, so in some ways we did what we were good at. The reality is our priorities are so twisted and we are so much in debt we have a hard time seeing the difference between in and whats out. Illegal aliens kill soo many more American each year then terrorists yet we do nothing about our borders while spending a fortune defending the borders across the globe. Its nation where heart disease kills half a million, yet our programs to defend from this killer dwarfs in comparison to the “War on Terror”. Coincidence? I think not.

In fact CIA Director Leon Panetta, said recently that he thought we were facing about 75-100 Al Qaeda members. No shit. A nine year war costing over a trillion dollars and counting (and im being generous) not to mention countless deaths of our own boys and girls to fight what would be best described as a mid level street gang… in Omaha. The Mission to take out the Taliban in Afghanistan was a relatively short one. We met the objective and could have been out of there, but we went looking for boogie men. We started the nation building. And here we are, still fighting and creating enemies. We are still bogged down with ridiculous rules of engagements and strategies that look to be coming from a 14 year old kid with a mic playing call of duty and sipping mountain dew in his mother’s basement. The opium production there has went through the roof etc etc etc... etc....etc.

And then we get this. Jihad Monkey!



The first paragraph reads, and I kid you not:

"Taliban terrorists have a secret weapon to destroy the infidel American enemy — monkey marksmen. According to The People’s Daily in China, the Taliban in Afghanistan is “training monkeys to use weapons to attack American troops"

I rest my case.