My local newspaper reported on two privatization scams in the last week. The state of Virginia is privatizing some of our roads and tunnels and apparently the local governments have no say in the matter. Meanwhile, several of our local cities have joined forces with private companies to study combining some city services. The private [...]
Coyotes are solitary critters and can’t stand against a foe that is bigger than they are. Wolves are pack animals that can and do defeat even grizzly bears. Wall Street is at least a grizzly. Paul Hawken’s Blessed Unrest documents that vast numbers of committed activists are working on many many progressive causes all [...]
Bank of America just got a slap on the wrist for reportedly stealing something on the order of 4.5 billion dollars from its debit card customers. Here’s how the bank scam works. Suppose one day you use your debit card to make three purchases, all around ten dollars. Then you end your day with [...]
This is the true story of how Big Bank Bully (BBB) and Fit Financial Firm (FFF) tried to screw me over and how, after a long struggle, I beat them. The names of the banks have been changed, not to protect the guilty, but to ensure that they can’t sue me. Both BBB and FFF [...]
Time for Class Warfare! According to Warren Buffett, “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” President Obama suggests that the rich should pay a fair share in taxes and the usual gang of politicians and pundits begin bellowing “class warfare!” Further, they argue that [...]
Sebastian’s Story, 14 October 2005, Barry Clemson Author’s Note: This is a true story. I have of course invented the dialog and the thoughts of my characters, but Sebastian and Father Aldunate are real persons and the key facts in the story are just as they actually happened. None of us had ever heard of [...]
The American Ideal Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence articulates the American Ideal. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights … Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving [...]