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This Time It'll Be Different

Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.

Wasted Youth

Submitted by bsfootprint on Fri, 02/03/2012 - 18:08
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First, a quick lunchtime survey:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MHtDF-z77wk

Which leads us, naturally, to this insanity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=VxHfYNTrnic

Which leads me to this:


http://www.plognark.com/?q=node/1129

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Submitted by bsfootprint on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 09:12
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THIS. IS. FUNNY. (Or is it?)

View video

Via Bruce Schneier

Addendum

Privacy? What privacy?

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It's March, 1933. Do you know where your liberties are?

Submitted by bsfootprint on Fri, 12/16/2011 - 20:30
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Well, Congress passed, and Our Beloved President is expected to sign into law, the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), including the objectionable "indefinite detention" provisions.

Salon.com has a piece that dispels the three myths put forth by the bill's supporters. Link below (see Sources.)

It's getting harder not to scream: That's it man, game over man, game over!

Sources: 
Three myths about the detention bill (www.salon.com)
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Word of the day: Banktatorship

Submitted by bsfootprint on Fri, 09/30/2011 - 18:17
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Today's word of the day: Banktatorship.

Banktatorship: n. Autocratic rule by bankers.

Stash this one for future reference. It's starting to look like it'll be useful.

Source: Picked up this gem in a thread over on market-ticker.org.

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Quote:  “The beauty about [Social Security] is that it is actuarially unsound. Everyone who reaches retirement age is given benefit privileges that far exceed anything he has paid in.” – Paul Samuelson

Submitted by bsfootprint on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 22:06
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Economist Paul Samuelson, supporting and defending Social Security in his February 13, 1967 Newsweek column tells us without reservation: Social Security is indeed a Ponzi scheme.

Samuelson acknowledges:

  • Social Security depends on continual growth of younger workers joining the workforce to pay current recipients, and
  • Social Security recipients are paid benefits far in excess of anything they pay in during their working years.

Don't believe me? Here's a snippet from the book Social security: false consciousness and crisis By John Attarian:

Um.. what happens when the population is no longer growing? What happens when the taxable base upon which benefits rest is no longer greater than taxes paid historically by the generation now retired...?

I'd tell you but you'd probably hate me.

Via: Ed Driscoll.

Quote: 

The beauty about social insurance is that it is actuarially unsound. Everyone who reaches retirement age is given benefit privileges that far exceed anything he has paid in. And exceed his payments by more than ten times as much (or five times, counting employer payments)!

How is this possible? It stems from the fact that the national product is growing at compound interest and can be expected to do so as far ahead as the eye cannot see. Always there are more youths than old folks in a growing population. More important, with real incomes growing at some 3 per cent per year, the taxable base upon which benefits rest in any period are much greater than the taxes paid historically by the generation now retired...

Social security is squarely based on what has been called the eighth wonder of the world—compound interest. A growing nation is the greatest Ponzi game ever contrived. And that is a fact, not a paradox.

Who Said It?: 
Paul Samuelson
Quote Source Links: 
http://books.google.com/books?id=zBQ0BzYdtiUC&pg=PA27&dq=%22the+beauty+about+social+insurance%22+samuelson
http://pajamasmedia.com/eddriscoll/2011/09/08/the-beauty-of-social-insurance-is-that-it-is-actuarially-unsound/
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/09/ponzi_scheme_pedigree.html
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