Epileptic Ramblings

It is no easy task.  What many fail to see is that healthcare is an economic issue, not just a social one.  The cost of insurance affects everyone from small business to individual disposable income.  It is not just about empathy and understanding. The double digit yearly increase in premiums is crushing everyone.  This is the type of reform that Americans NEED.  I have a nasty feeling that our President AND our democratic majority may not have this ability.  They are for lack of a better word, pussies. 

The Republicans had their shot in the sun.  And they failed, miserably, which our President so kindly reminded them last night.  Therefore what is the answer?  It is simple, we need a third party.  And it shouldn’t be called The Progressive Party either, because that’s bullshit too.  It should be called The Reform Party.  A party that is filled with educated members of society that know the real problems facing this country, the top three being

1. Healthcare
2. Education
3.  Infrastructure

And are willing to fight tooth and nail to correct these changes.  Now there is an actual Reform party website and I visited it.  While I appreciated their attempt, their priorities do not seem to be similar to what I am about. 

Therefore on this blog I am declaring myself the first member of The Reform Party.  Who is with me? Please forward my blog to anyone who would like to join me.  I am not a fascist, I do believe in a Progressive tax, and I do believe in that in the age of the smart phone, and the smart car, we can have a smart government that can invest tax dollars wisely into the future of this country.  And I understand the urgency needed at this uneasy time in our nation.

Believe it or not this is America’s greatest achievement.  I know people love the Constitution.  And it is of course a great document. But it is not the first constitution ever written nor shall it be the last.  But most revolutions come because of economics.  Whenever you have a minority having all the wealth and power and a majority poor and oppressed, you will most assuredly have some form of political upheaval.

From the Russian Revolution to peasant Revolts in France, oppress the majority long enough and its head chopping time.  I guess the closest comparison for us is Rome.  They too spread their military thin and had a corrupt Senate that led to internal combustion.  However I would say that America has an accidental empire.  I know that seems like a peculiar way to describe an empire which by nature usually implies some sort of conquering entity.  However, the original roots of the United States were isolationist in nature.  While we did have wars and expand the New World, we never really wanted to get involved with foreign established nations until the First World War.   Then after the Second World War where we saved Europe from Hitler and nuked Japan into ruins we suddenly had military bases all over the globe and its population started to feed off the teet of our capitalist democracy.  All that being acknowledged this global dominance created a working middle class unlike any other country anyone had ever seen.  Something I have also noticed lately is that most stories of success that you hear in the past 20 years start with “I was born into a middle class family…” Very rarely do you hear the Horatio Alger type story of starting with nothing and become rich.  It is more this gradual, generational betterment.  Over the past 30 years though, that middle class has had its cranium cracked.  It has become this dwindling memory of a once strong and robust nation.  This to me is very dangerous, and being a student of history, I guess also to our President.

For this week, President Obama has decided to give the middle class tax breaks as well as a means to pay off student loans and pay for child care.  While I admire this move and understand its motivations, this is no quick fix.  With our crumbling infrastructure and public school system on life support, this will take time.  It will be an uphill battle too because with the upcoming mid term elections, if the economy is still in the shitter, people are going to vote Republican, and lets be honest, Republicans don’t give a shit about the public school system.  They would rather send their kids to private school and fuck everyone else.  With this attitude, the cycle will of course continue and the middle class will continue to dwindle.  Once it’s gone.  Goodbye America as we know it…for good. 

All the wealth in the world won’t prevent revolution.  Therefore I support the President and his initiative. I know times are tough and people want to hear more about the economy than something we have had for a century.  However, we took it for granted, and that hubris may be the end of us.  I would like to hear more success stories that start with “I was born into a middle class family…”

Looks like it will happen.  Most companies have been beating estimates but no one seems to care and I don’t blame them.  The overall economy still sucks.  Unemployment acftually rose in 43 of the states in this country.  The stimulus plan was not used entirely what it was designed for and therefore we are not seeing the correction that was expected.  Almost every other country came out of this because they used their stimulus packages properly.  In fact the only stocks that were performing on the dow were the globalized ones.  Now that China will be pulling back to curtail their rapid growth all of those companies stocks are starting to sink too and what does that leave you with?  A dead market.  But, if you believe that America is coming back or will come back, that makes American stocks dirt fucking cheap.  So thats what I am looking to buy.

HBAN, CLNE are my two favs right now.  I wanted to buy HBAN at 3.71.  It just had a huge climb to 4.72.  I missed that but I may start my first position because its a 4 dollar stock with a .01 cent per share dividend and they are growing.

Bush’s final shitty and lasting legacy.  Our Neo-Fascist Supreme court.  The worst decision since “Separate but Equal”, the court decided that a corporation had the same freedoms to donate as much money to a politician as it sought fit.  Great! Now we can have Senators sponsored by Starbucks, McDonalds and Goldman Sachs.  Want bank reform? Good luck with that now! When these banks have the most capital to sponsor whatever politican they want and now have NO spending limits whatsoever.  How about propaganda? Fox “News” owner Rupert Murdoch now has the ability to finance any campaign he sees fit to further is own agenda that lies to the public and provides bottom of the barrel entertainment.

Until one of those Bush Sr. or Jr. nominated judges die.  We are going to keep having these same 5-4 results that will set back everything people fought for during the 20th century.  Women you want rights? Hold on tight! They might start to disappear! The white catholic men always seem to come for you first.  This really reminds me of the dark ages when Monarchies ruled by divine right law.  Never forget that these judges were nominated by a born again Christian.  Not just any kind, but a born again.  These are people with addictive personalities and very little self control.  Bush’s legacy was mostly incompetence and some injustice.  Now it’s both complete and who will suffer? We will.  I feel like I’m watching the great American Experiment fade before my eyes. 

I call to President O.  Can you govern? Are you able enforce legislation effectively for the people?  Can you stop the self destruction?  Should I learn to speak Chinese just in case?

Justice is Lost
Justice is Raped
Justice is Gone

-Injustice for All, Metallica

I am just so FUCKING angry right now!  Minutes after that schmuck in Massachusetts won Pelosi comes out and announces a scaled down health care reform bill.  The sad thing is that after one year Obama has been ineffective in that the campaign was about

1. energy independence
2. health reform
3. education reform
4. terrorism
5. war

So far he seems to be pulling back troops in Iraq but that is it. No sweeping health reform. Where is the move towards energy independence?  Why isn’t he talking about natural gas and breaking opec?  Where is the initiative? Where is the Congress?

What the fuck is happening to my country?  Has the corruption run too thick?  Is there no chance for real reform? To focus on the things that matter.  He had 10 months of a Super Majority to pass this health bill. He’s Milquetoast just like that pussy Harry Reid.  What a lesson! To see how out of touch Congress is with the American people and when given an opportunity to truely make a difference, they fail.  And Massachusetts, what happened to that state? It’s a 2/3 liberal state and they voted for a former cosmo nude model.  The home of Harvard, MIT, BU and UMASS. Oh Well!

Can’t they see that the health system’s fucked? Isn’t it obvious?  The more prices go up the more prohibitive healthcare will become.  That can only lead to self destruction because eventually people are just going to stop paying the health insurance companies.  And then when they get sick, they’ll go to the ER, say “send me the bill” and never pay it. 

What’s next? Are we going to have to violently attack the local CVS, WAG, RAD to get out prescriptions?  Are we going to have to raid the drug companies for our meds?  Its hard to imagine in modern times that we cannot solve this problem that everyone feels.  It’s such a failure on so many levels.  And for the record, he is not guaranteed 8 years.  When you win the Presidency, you get one term lasting 4 years.  Ideally, that is all you get.  The second 4 is a gift.  He’s wasted one, has three to go.  Change I can believe in? What change? All I see is the same.  Over and over again.  And you know who will suffer? Us.  We suffer for their lack of effectiveness.

Energy Independence

He passed the Stimulus package which saved the State’s budgets. But there is so much more he/they in DC could have done.  Where is the high speed rail? Where is the natural gas pipelines for 18 wheelers? This would create thousands of well paying jobs that would solve many problems including narrowing the trade deficit, reducing pollution, and weening off of foreign oil.  He has done none of it.  The private sector obviously is not capable of doing it alone.

There is so much more, but I am too annoyed to focus.

I’ve been thinking about this year and some of the things I wanted for me.  I’ve decided this year my one rule for dating a woman is that she be at least 5’7.  That may not seem fair but I am tired of bending when I hug a chick or taking a photo and her head comes up to my waste.  These past 15 years I have been through and experienced a lot.  I’ve fucked and sucked, played music, wine, romance, travel etc etc.  Now I want a woman who is tall, sexy, and fun.  I don’t care about beautiful, I don’t care about warm and sweet.  Not this year.  This year I will be chasing dollars and women that are exciting.  Maybe I’m overeducated or whatever.  But I am not impressed but graduate degrees or hobbies.  I want a stylish woman. I want a seductive and sexy woman.  I want a passionate and in the moment type of woman.  It’s harder to find then you think.  Most people are pretty fucking boring.  I can never say that to their face, because I don’t want to insult them. It’s not a cool thing to do.  But this year I am focused on the cheese and amazons.

Can you dig it? I knew that you could…

NBC has lost its mind.  I never thought Jay Leno was funny and I have been watching Conan since I was 13.  Later when I went to college I discovered that everyone else my age watched Conan.  Therefore, it would make sense for Conan O’Brien to be the next Tonight Show host because he would bring in the younger generation, or at least the next dominant generation.

And now NBC would sacrifice losing that future giant audience to bring back Jay Leno, a guy even most baby boomers do not find funny.  I think this is a huge mistake, and if another network picks Conan up, NBC will regret it.  The same way they did when they let David Letterman go.

Haiti

This is a tragic story.  Do you have any idea how big a 7.3 is? It’s fucking gigantic.  I mean powerful.  And this poor country that is already struggling just got hit with the equivalent of 30 million tons of dynamite.  I saw one of the photos in the Huffington Post.  It was a brutal shot.  I am amazed that the photographer was able to remove him/herself enough from the scene to focus in on this girl covered in soot. It was one of those photos that wins prizes or defines the moment.

I have to admit so far most of the news coverage I’ve seen so far seems to be serious.  No desensitizing a very tragic thing.

I got into a car accident yesterday.  The first one of my life.  Now the left side of my Jeep is all messed up.  I will have to go the body shop today to get work done which of course is going to be expensive.  I am just waiting for the numerical hit.  The markets look like its going to be not fun today.  I had a great Sushi dinner though last night and I will begin dog sitting today which is great. 

Funny note.  I went to The Palm for dinner on my birthday and I checked the cover of  The Washington Post today and the waiter I had was there serving in the photo.  That was funny and that meal was good.

Obama doesn’t appear to have vision.  The damage that has been done to this country since 1980 in the areas of Public Education, Health, Infrastructure and Environment have set this nation if not the world back 200 years.  With Obama there is no sense of urgency.  He wants the sacrifice without asking for it.  He wants to end climate change and bring back manufacturing but the private sector is moving at a snail’s pace.  I guess the private sector really can’t solve everything especially with a credit crisis that appears to be averted.  There is nothing radical in his actions at all.  He knows what is wrong, yet doesn’t have the vision to implement the solutions. 

It has been a year now.  We still do not have any health reform.  My drugs without insurance cost 900 dollars per month.  And I have to use brand name! If I lose my job and can’t afford my cobra payments, I”m fucked! It’s a fact.  Millions of Americans are affected by chronic illnesses and sometimes medications  are the only thing that can keep them afloat.  Yet in the United States, we still figure out ways to make these medications barely affordable.

The good news is he has an open mind.  He is willing to listen to others and wants solutions.  However, if the economy stays the way it is and he does nothing else in the other areas mentioned.  Unless he kills Osama Bin Laden, it’s Jimmy Carter all over again and he can take that Peace prize and stick it right up his ass.

You know, during this great recession I have noticed that most of the commercials that have been airing have been Viagra and Cialis ads.  It’s like “lost your job? why not get a boner”.  “recession got you down? get a boner.” “No healthcare, you know what you need? that’s right a boner.”

Finance

Did you hear the jobs report today? That crapped the market right out.  Its just negative.  The unemployment rate is a real pain in my ass.  I went to the pickens plan website today and T Boone makes a good point.  We spend all of this money to fight terrorists in Afghansistan Bananastan and other places and at the same time spend even more buying imported oil from the nations that finance these assholes.  Where is the cryout for new energy that was happening during the campaign?  It would create millions of jobs and spur new manufacturing within the borders. 

Buy CHK, CLNE, RAD, XBI, HBAN, V, GXC, PTOS.OB.

Come on people, lets do this…

Ok. I’ve been listening to that Bruce Springsteen song from The Wrestler and I gotta say, its pretty sweet. I learned the chords, for those who are interested its Guitar Capo 3. Other things that ran through my head at the gym besides a partial seizure

Political

I voted for Barack Obama. I like him. He is a good man.  A good family man. A modern man.  He knows what ails this country.  So what does he lack? Why he is not being as successful as we thought he would be or should be? I know the answer. I will write about it tomorrow.

Financial

This market sucks! However, I am still determined to make money in it. I am eyeing a penny stock that is popping right now. Chord Blood of America, stock symbol, CBAI.  And Rite Aid is looking ready to go. Go RAD go! The three areas to be buying this year is energy, health, and tech.  End of story.  I thought that 2010 would be the year of Nat Gas. I own CHK, would love to buy CLNE. It is up 7 points from where I wanted to buy it! Shitballs, whatever, its probably going to go way higher.  And I think CHK will too.