A Geek With Guns

As you can imagine I get into numerous debates with advocates of socialism. While I think Ludwig von Mises demonstrated that socialism will always fail in his book Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis the debate will continue to rage on for eternity. One thing I often bring up is the conditions experienced in socialist countries like the former Soviet Union, communist Cambodia, North Korea, etc. When I bring this up the devout socialist I’m debating is always quick to rebute my statement by claiming those countries didn’t implement socialism correctly. I’m willing to conceded this point but when I make the same argument about capitalism the devout socialism will usually argue that America proves capitalism can’t succeed.

Here’s the thing, if you are going to use the argument that socialism hasn’t succeeded because it wasn’t implemented correctly you must also recognize that argument regarding capitalism. The United States isn’t a capitalist country, it’s a fascist country that married the state and private corporations long ago.

This week on Politics: The Reality Television Show for Suckers we will be looking at HR 4170, the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012. An innocuous piece of legislation that currently has strong backing by those with student loans this little bill is nothing more than a bank bailout packaged up in a warm and fuzzy sounding name. Any proponents of this bill are likely doing a double-take on that last line but rest assured I will explain. The trick of this bill lies in section 6:

‘(2) CONSOLIDATION OF PRIVATE EDUCATION LOANS AS A FEDERAL DIRECT CONSOLIDATION LOAN FOR CERTAIN BORROWERS-

‘(A) IN GENERAL- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a borrower who meets the eligibility criteria described in subparagraph (B) shall be eligible to obtain a Federal Direct Consolidation loan under this
paragraph that–

‘(i) shall include an eligible private education loan; and

‘(ii) may include a loan described in section 428C(a)(4).

‘(B) ELIGIBLE BORROWER- A borrower of an eligible private education loan is eligible to obtain a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan under this paragraph if the borrower–

‘(i) was eligible to borrow a loan under section 428H, a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, a loan under section 428B, or a Federal Direct PLUS loan for a period of enrollment at an institution of higher education, or, with respect to a borrower who was enrolled at an institution of higher education on less than a half-time basis, would have been eligible to borrow such a loan for such period of enrollment if the borrower had been enrolled on at least a half-time basis;

‘(ii) borrowed at least one eligible private education loan for a period of enrollment described in clause (i); and

‘(iii) has an average adjusted gross income (based on the borrower’s adjusted gross income from the 3 most recent calendar years before application for consolidation under this section) that is equal to or less than the borrower’s total education debt (determined by calculating the sum of the borrower’s loans described in section 428C(a)(4) and eligible private education loans) at the time of such application.

‘(D) PAYMENT TO THE HOLDER-

‘(i) SECRETARY- For each eligible private education loan that a borrower is consolidating under this paragraph, the Secretary shall make a payment to the holder of such loan in an amount equal to the amount consolidated under this paragraph with respect to such loan.

‘(ii) HOLDER- Upon receipt of a payment described in clause (i), a holder shall discharge the liability on the loan consolidated under this paragraph in the amount of such payment.

Emphasis mine. Part (D) is the real meat of this legislation. If an eligible borrower decides to take advantage of this legislation and is approved the Secretary of the Treasury will use government funds to pay off the private holder of the loan. Effectively this bill grants private banks the ability to rid themselves of risky loans and thus avoid taking responsibility for any bad loans that have been made. This holds quite a bit of similarity to what was pulled during the housing market crash. Passage of this legislation will merely mean the government will transfer money to private banks.

I haven’t even explained the best part, this legislation has been gaining the support of those who have been opposing bank bailouts and demanding that the banks be held accountable instead of being allowed to socialize their losses. The state has effectively gotten many of those who oppose the banks and bailouts to support a bank bailout. It’s disgusting pure evil that is also beautifully elegant.

Somebody is likely to ask where the funding to pay off the banks is going to come from. That part of this scam is also well played:

SEC. 7. OFFSET.

Funds appropriated or otherwise made available for a fiscal year to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this Act shall be made available from the funds available for Overseas Contingency Operations.

What the hell are the Overseas Contingency Operations? Simple, the renamed War on Terror. So money appropriated for the defense budget, the most inflated and unaccountable budget in the United States, will be used to bailout the banks.

This episode of Politics has everything. You have the drama from students unable to pay back their loans, corruption in the state leading to its bailout of the banks, and irony in getting people opposing bank bailouts to support a bank bailout! My compliments to the writers.

Kudos to Adam Curry on the No Agenda podcast for brining this to light. It’s good to know that somebody is actually analyzing this crap while traditional media outlets continue to play the state’s game and report nothing of substance.

It appears that OccupyGOP has officially begun:

Massachusetts-based Hub Properties Trust filed paperwork in Ramsey County on Wednesday to evict the state GOP for failing to pay more than $96,000 in rent over the last year.

“Tenant remains in default under the lease by failing to pay in full when due, rent from April 2011 through the present,” the court papers read. “As of April 1, 2012, the tenant owes landlord a total of $111,192.14.” (A security deposit on the property and several partial payments since June 2011 have reduced the total outstanding debt to about $96,000.)

The eviction action follows a series of revelations last winter regarding debts accrued by the party during the reign of former RPM Chairman Tony Sutton. In December, an internal review of finances revealed that the party owes $1.23 million to creditors, plus more than $700,000 in legal fees accrued during the 2010 gubernatorial recount, and is facing possible fines from the Federal Elections Commission for undisclosed debts. The party is also currently being investigated by the state campaign finance board.

[...]

“Rather than continue discussions with us, the landlord chose to exercise its rights and filed a notice of eviction in Ramsey County court. We’re not going to be evicted, and at the same time, are continuing to negotiate on the back payments as well as on a lease that better fits both our space needs and our budget. While this is a situation none of us wants, it’s part of the rebuilding process. No one ever said it would be simple or easy or without bumps along the way. But I wanted you to hear about it from me rather than from any other source.”

Damn… $96,000 in unpaid rent? The landlord must be pissed. I also like how they are saying that they’re “not going to be evicted.” I wonder what makes them so sure? Are they actually planning an occupation or are they just hoping the landlord will lover look their minor $96,000 debt?

Either way it couldn’t have happened to nicer people. Instead of focusing on actual issues the Minnesota Republican Party has been working on getting constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage and implement voter ID. Meanwhile this fine state continues to spiral into deeper debt with no hope in sight. If this state is going to burn then the political machinery should go down in flames with it.

I hate hypocrisy but can still tolerate an awful lot of it. With that said, this is beyond my ability to cope with:

On Monday, he announced an executive order that allows U.S. officials for the first time to impose sanctions on foreign nationals found to have used new technologies, including cellphone tracking and Internet monitoring, to help carry out grave human rights abuses.

The order specifically targets companies and individuals aiding the Iranian and Syrian governments, but administration officials say it could be expanded in the future to include other countries using technology to crack down on dissent.

Does this mean the United States is going to declare sanctions against itself? The world waits in anticipation to find out.

Minnesota is a weird state politically. Although a majority of the state leans heavily to the left we still end up with crazy religious fundamentalists like Michelle Bachmann and have even elected a professional wrestler as our governor. Needless to say if Ron Paul was going to win any state it was going to be Minnesota:

The RNC National Committeewoman for the state of Minnesota reports in this Tweet that Ron Paul takes 20 of 24 Congressional District delegates to the Republican National Convention from Minnesota:

16 more delegates are yet to be awarded, three at large delegates and 13 to be awarded at State Convention, so Ron Paul has half of the delegates for the state of Minnesota, already!

For once I’m actually proud of my state.

Of the candidates running in this election the one who wants to give every American a free pony, harness the power of zombies to generate green energy, and enforce mandatory tooth brushing laws is the one that makes the most sense. Forget the phones, vote for ponies!

There are many reasons I like Ron Paul including the fact that he’s the only candidate who opposes war, doesn’t want to use the state’s gun to enforce behavior, and recognizes the right of self-ownership. He’s also the only candidate who doesn’t cover in fear at the name Lysander Spooner and is willing to admit that the Constitution isn’t perfect but merely an effective tool available at the moment to reclaim liberty:

We’re in the midsts of what some are calling the most important election in the history of the United States and so far the main issues being brought up are Romney strapping his dog to the top of his car during a trip vs. Obama eating dog meat as a child and Romney’s 13.9% tax rate vs. Obama’s 20.5% tax rate. This country is fucked.

No, seriously, consider getting out while you still can. This country is starting to look more and more like Idiocracy every day. What are the next big issues that people will be concerning themselves with? How about who has better fashion sense? Perhaps we can investigate eat candidate’s choice in toilet paper. One thing is for certain, people don’t seem to give a damn about the debt, civil liberties, the government arming Mexican drug cartels, or anything else that actually matters.

While a majority of other states in the Union have rolled over and recommended fascists as their presidential candidates of choice Minnesota has been fighting the good fight. Instead of surrendering to the media’s propaganda that Romney is the chosen one we’ve given that dictator wannabe some headaches:

Mitt Romney may be the supposed frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination – but he’s not the most popular GOP candidate in Minnesota. Texas Congressman Ron Paul swept the 3rd, 5th and 6th Congressional District conventions over the weekend. Paul landed nine of nine state delegates to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. Paul also won one delegate in Minnesota’s 7th District March 31st while Rick Santorum picked up two. The four remaining districts will chose their delegates and alternates this weekend. Paul’s campaign is banking on Santorum backers throwing their support behind him. Romney finished third in Minnesota’s February caucuses which were non-binding.

This is one of the few times I can say I’m actually proud of my state. While every other state has been elevating Romney or Santorum as their recommended ruler for the next four years Minnesota is working hard to elevate the one candidate who doesn’t want to run our lives. At this rate when we have a choice between Obama and Obama Romney I can proudly say my state wasn’t responsible for the mess.

I love those rare occasions where politicians are actually honest. Usually they try to keep the appearance of the people holding power but once in a great while a politician comes out and simply says, “Shut up slave, you do what we tell you to!” “Representative” Mike Rogers just had one of these moments:

It appears that Congress still doesn’t get it. Rep. Mike Rogers, the sponsor of the bad CISPA bill that puts your privacy at risk, really doesn’t seem particularly concerned about the protests that have been happening online this week. He referred to them as being “like turbulence on the way down to landing” for the bill. He also said that he fully expects the bill to easily pass next week when its brought to the floor.

For those of you unaware, Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 (CISPA is basically the return of SOPA/PROTECT-IP. Politicians are crafty individuals with a great deal of patients. If a bill one of their constituents (who are the major donors to their campaign funds, not you or me) wants passed is meeting with resistance they pull it back, rename it, and introduce it against later hoping nobody will notice. Politicians know they can get any bill passed so long as it’s named property, introduced at the right time, and the opponents to the bill are demonized thoroughly.

It’s nice to see Rogers stated that these protests are nothing more than turbulence during landing, which indicates this bill is mostly a done deal and it will happen.