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What If We Paid Off The Debt? The Secret Government Report
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Planet Money has obtained a secret government report outlining what once looked like a potential crisis: The possibility that the U.S. government might pay off its entire debt.It sounds ridiculous today. But not so long ago, the prospect of a debt-free U.S. was seen as a real possibility with the potential to upset the global financial system.
We recently obtained the report through a Freedom of Information Act Request. You can read the whole thing here. (It’s a PDF.)
The report is called “Life After Debt”. It was written in the year 2000, when the U.S. was running a budget surplus, taking in more than it was spending every year. Economists were projecting that the entire national debt could be paid off by 2012.
This was seen in many ways as good thing. But it also posed risks. If the U.S. paid off its debt here would be no more U.S. Treasury bonds in the world.
How to bring good design to a platform
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1- Skip steps 1–3 above.(sorry, you’ll have to click to find out what those steps are)
Sesame Street “What is a computer?” (1984)
Penn Jillette on Real Time
Scorn in the U.S.A.
Obviously they mixed up Adamantium with Potassium. Classic mistake.
Colbert Nation
Revealed – the capitalist network that runs the world
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AS PROTESTS against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters’ worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.
The study’s assumptions have attracted some criticism, but complex systems analysts contacted by New Scientist say it is a unique effort to untangle control in the global economy. Pushing the analysis further, they say, could help to identify ways of making global capitalism more stable.
[..]
When the team further untangled the web of ownership, it found much of it tracked back to a “super-entity” of 147 even more tightly knit companies – all of their ownership was held by other members of the super-entity – that controlled 40 per cent of the total wealth in the network. “In effect, less than 1 per cent of the companies were able to control 40 per cent of the entire network,” says Glattfelder. Most were financial institutions. The top 20 included Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and The Goldman Sachs Group.
This just in: Brussels shatters CRT cartel
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The European Union has squeezed a settlement out of CRT glass manufacturers it accused of operating a cartel back in the days when people used glass screens.
Three vendors will cough up a total of €128m (£111m) to settle the investigation. Nippon Electric will pay €43.2m, Schott AG will pay €40.1m and Asahi Glass will pay €45.1m
A fourth vendor, Samsung Corning Precision Materials, will pay nothing, after it was granted "full immunity for being the first to give information about the cartel".
The Commission said the four were in cahoots between 1999 and December 2004, and "coordinated the prices for CRT glass in the European Economic Area".
[..]
The settlement was achieved using the Commission’s “fast track” procedure to wind up cartel investigations.
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They got him!
Okay, so that only works for dutch readers – throw me a bone here, people 
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The case for piracy
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When it comes to copyright theft and piracy, many people assume there’s just one side – the side of truth, justice and copyright owners. Beyond that there are parasitical thieves. When most governments come to legislate on the matter, their response is usually one of listening to what big corporations and lobby groups say and nodding in agreement. For the general public, years of being bombarded by cross platform marketing campaigns have ingrained people with various "Piracy bad. Copyright good" slogans.
We’ve been deluged with the arguments against piracy for years. But what’s the other side of the story? Could it possibly be that copyright infringers and pirates aren’t always the bad guys? Are copyright owners their own worst enemy? Judge for yourself and tell us what you think.
Cartoons
No, Sir!
Michael Winslow – Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin
And just as awesome, the soundcheck before the show:
And if you think “this guy should do Jimi Hendrix”… he did:
Here’s your Lebowski Ipsum!
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Lebowski ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit praesent ac magna justo pellentesque ac lectus quis. Beaver? You mean vagina? —I mean, you know him? No ma’am, I didn’t mean to give the impression that we’re police exactly. We’re hoping that it will not be necessary to call the police. Elit blandit fringilla a ut turpis praesent felis ligula, malesuada suscipit malesuada non, ultrices. I like your style, Dude. Non urna sed orci ipsum, placerat id condimentum rutrum, rhoncus ac lorem aliquam placerat.A man will refer to his “dick” or his “rod” or his “Johnson”. Posuere neque, at dignissim magna ullamcorper in aliquam sagittis massa. Ac tortor ultrices faucibus curabitur eu mi sapien, ut ultricies. There’s no fucking reason—here’s my point, Dude—there’s no fucking reason. I mean ‘Nam was a foot soldier’s war whereas, uh, this thing should be a fucking cakewalk. Ipsum morbi eget risus nulla nullam vel nisi enim, vel.
You got the wrong guy. I’m the Dude, man. Auctor ante morbi id urna. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin’ parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that’s a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that’s why I found the place s’durned innarestin’. Vel felis lacinia placerat vestibulum.
Turpis nulla, viverra nec volutpat ac, ornare id lectus. HERE’S WHAT HAPPENS, LARRY! Nice marmot. Cras pharetra faucibus tristique nullam non accumsan justo nulla. Facilisi integer interdum elementum nulla, nec eleifend nisl euismod. This is quite a pad you got here, man. Completely unspoiled. Ac maecenas vitae eros velit, eu suscipit erat integer. This compulsive fornicator is taking my father for the proverbial ride. Purus lacus, pretium vel venenatis eu, volutpat non erat. We want that money, Lebowski.
Donec a metus ac eros dictum aliquet nulla consectetur egestas placerat maecenas. Near the In-and-Out Burger. Jeffrey, you haven’t gone to the doctor. Pulvinar nisl et nisl rhoncus at volutpat felis blandit in libero turpis, Laoreet et molestie sed, volutpat et erat nulla ut orci quis neque. Yeah man. Well, you know, the Dude abides. Consectetur tincidunt aliquam erat volutpat donec aliquam orci eget mi lobortis sed. That fucking bitch!
Or, perhaps, you’d want Samuel L Ipsum?
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Now that there is the Tec-9, a crappy spray gun from South Miami. This gun is advertised as the most popular gun in American crime. Do you believe that shit? It actually says that in the little book that comes with it: the most popular gun in American crime. Like they’re actually proud of that shit.
Look, just because I don’t be givin’ no man a foot massage don’t make it right for Marsellus to throw Antwone into a glass motherfuckin’ house, fuckin’ up the way the nigger talks. Motherfucker do that shit to me, he better paralyze my ass, ’cause I’ll kill the motherfucker, know what I’m sayin’?
You think water moves fast? You should see ice. It moves like it has a mind. Like it knows it killed the world once and got a taste for murder. After the avalanche, it took us a week to climb out. Now, I don’t know exactly when we turned on each other, but I know that seven of us survived the slide… and only five made it out. Now we took an oath, that I’m breaking now. We said we’d say it was the snow that killed the other two, but it wasn’t. Nature is lethal but it doesn’t hold a candle to man.
Galaxy Nexus designed to bypass Apple patents
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The Galaxy Nexus smartphone, the first handset built using a new version of the Android system called "ice cream sandwich," is designed to bypass potential legal attacks from Apple Inc., the mobile chief of Samsung Electronics Co. said.
The remarks from Shin Jong-kyun, Samsung’s mobile president, came as the Korean firm unveiled the result of its first major collaboration with Google Inc., and after suffering a series of setbacks in recent legal battles with Apple.
"Now we will avoid everything we can and take patents very seriously," Shin told reporters Tuesday on the eve of the Galaxy Nexus launch. His comments were embargoed until Wednesday.
Is that an admission that they did copy Apple with their past phones?
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As usual, The Onion is way ahead of its time.
Remember Nostradamus and what he called ‘The cabal’?
Yes. There’s actually three Quatrains attributed to talking about the Cabal. Mind you, I don’t get any of it, but here it goes:
Century II Quatrain 58
Sans pied ne main dend ayguë & forte,
Par glob au fort de port & layné nay:
Pres du portail desloyal [transport][transporte],
Silene luit, petit[,][] grand [emmené][emmene].
(translation)
With neither foot nor hand because of sharp and strong tooth
Through the crowd to the fort of the pork and the elder born:
Near the portal treacherous proceeds,
Moon shining, little great one led off.
Century II Quatrain 18
[Nouelle][Nouvelle] & pluye subite, impetueuse,
Empeschera subit deux exercites.
Pierre ciel, feux faire la mer pierreuse,
La mert de sept terre & marin subites.
(translation)
New, impetuous and sudden rain
Will suddenly halt two armies.
Celestial stone, fires make the sea stony,
The death of seven by land and sea sudden.
Century II Quatrain 88
Le circuit du grand faict ruineux,
Le nom septiesme du cinquiesme sera:
D’vn tiers plus grand l’estrange [belliqueur][belliqueux]:
Mouton, Lutece, Aix ne garantira.
(translation)
The circuit of the great ruinous deed,
The seventh name of the fifth will be:
Of a third greater the stranger warlike:
Sheep, Paris, Aix will not guarantee.
Interpretation of the above:
Ip. 265 (cII-58)
During the time of the Antichrist a secretive, conspirational cabal are “pulling the strings” behind the scenes to manipulate world politics and economies for personal gain. These master puppeteers operate figureheads in many countries, governments, and the major world capitals. They are united but are very clever in disguising their influence. They hold positions that appear to be relatively minor, like advisors and under-secretaries and such, but are key positions ofr their power.
In the daytime they appear to be good, loyal, model citizens working for the same goals their governments are supposedly working for, but behind the scenes they band together and pool their information and contacts to work for their own ends. They do not appear to have any political power but they really have a firm grip on world affairs, like sharp teeth sunk into everything.
This secret organization has been in existence for several generations. Their existence is hinted in the family histories of the banking powers and money centers of the world. Only the families involved are aware. The cabal of leaders has been very slowly but surely building up a worldwide network of power, because they want to take over but stay behind the scenes.
At first when the Antichrist comes along the leaders of the Cabal regard him as a new, dynamic, youthful leader from the Middle East they can use to unite the area and reign it into their realm of control. But the Antichrist ends up turning the tables on them.
I p 266 (cII-88)
The Antichrist successfully takes over nearly all of Europe. The cabal of international financiers and bankers will not stay in active war with the Antichrist and his attention will turn elsewhere. In France the underground will begin to flourish.
The Cabal families made their influence and fortunes in the banking and commodities industries, such as gold or diamond mines, leather, tins, etc, like the colonial barons associated with the European world empires who started their families’ fortunes exploiting the materials of the Third World nations. “The seventh and the fifth” will have the same names, and the seventh one will be considered part of the fifth.
The Cabal manipulates the economy to cause the unemployment or inflation rates to rise or fall at their whim. They have affected everyone’s life.
I p 268 (cII-18)
Somehow through the espionage powers of the Antichrist, the seven key leaders of the secret cabal will be discovered and destroyed. This is his familiar technique of throwing his enemies into confusion and chaos to seize or take advantage of their assets in their weakened state. At the time he knew only that they were financing the European forces that opposed him.
But in this case it is shortsighted of him because it was the cabal that has been instigating the warfare going on through the decades and centuries, and destroying them in effect seals the “beginning of the end” for the Antichrist because their hidden activities promoted his agenda. When they are removed the agitation for world war is no longer present and the natural inclination for world peace will assert itself, thereby doing away with the Antichrist.
(source of the quatrains here)
(source of the interpretation here, here, here.
And for completeness sake, it is claimed that this quatrain predicted 9/11:
Cinq & quarante degrez ciel bruslera
Feu approcher de la grand cité neuue
Instant grand flamme esparse sautera
Quand on voudra des Normans faire preuue.
translation:
At forty-five degrees the sky will burn,
Fire to approach the great new city:
In an instant a great scattered flame will leap up,
When one will want to demand proof of the Normans.
I hate to be picky but New York is at 40 degrees (latitude).