August 24, 2007 – Sub-Prime Debt From A Ground Zero Perspective

I have a friend named Annie. She is a single mother with two kids and a serious problem with her house. She is about to lose it.

She ran up her two credit cards and made her payments late. And so her interest rate went from (an already usurious IMHO) 16 percent to 32 percent. So in effect she couldn’t ever pay it off making the minimum payment each month which, if she was lucky, is the best she could do. This is real; I saw the statements from Mastercard and Visa myself. She bought a car she couldn’t afford, but hey she needed something to drive, right? And something dependable too, not some crappy ol’ hoopty, as we call ‘em here in Detroit. She has a job and kids and other responsibilities and so dependable transportation is a must.

When you get jammed up like this, very soon the bill collectors start calling. And calling and calling. At home, at work, at your parents and relatives, and on your cell phone. And these calls are unrelenting, and needless to say, embarrassing.

She was pouring her heart out to my girlfriend and me one night when she was over at the house for a barbecue. “WTF am I gonna do man? I just can’t stand this anymore,” she said to us finally.

My best advice: Make a deal, go bankrupt, or hire a lawyer to negotiate with your debtors, but whatever you do, DON’T get a second mortgage loan against your house. Don’t. Just don’t. Easy and simple though this solution seemed, I strongly advised against it. Annie’s house note, taxes, and utilities were about the only bills that she did keep up with. And which was smart too. So far so good.

The reasoning behind what I said to her was this; Visa and MC can call you constantly, embarrass and humiliate you, and generally make your life miserable. And Ford Credit can and will take you car away, but at least you’ll have a roof over your head. A place to live for her and her kids is the priority here. The other debt she could deal with later. Visa, MC, and Ford Credit can all make your life miserable, embarrass you, ruin your “credit reputation” (i.e., your credit report and FICO score), but in the grand scheme of things in this life, it’s worth it all to persevere through such a predicament than it is to lose your homestead.

But she did it anyhow. And things were fine, for a while. She got the money and paid Visa and MC off in full and then she cancelled the accounts. She paid off her car too. But then she got laid off for a while and got behind on both mortgages. And now she’s being foreclosed on. Which is exactly what I was afraid would happen.

If she had done as I suggested she’d still be getting calls from bill collectors and had her car repo’ed and be reduced to public transportation and a hoopty, but still, she’d have had a place to live, a refuge, a nest, whatever you wanna call it; A safe, secure place to be that she owned, and a good springboard for getting her financial situation back in order. But that possibility is gone now. Visa and MC and Ford Credit don’t mind though. They already have their money.

I hope that she really likes that car, and that it’s in good shape. Because after shipping her kids off to their father (and changing schools and having to put up with a bitchy step mom to boot), she’s gonna have to live in it for a while.

I am not gonna make the expected rant here against the usurious sub-prime loan business that some of you are no doubt anticipating at this point. No, the fault lies with Annie and her bad choices. And boy howdy is she gonna pay for those choices, too. And the consequences for her and her children are going to be felt for a long while.

I hope anyone reading this benefits somehow from this cautionary tale I’ve laid out here.

sub-prime_debt, forclosure, debt

August 23, 2007 – I Quit My Day Job in the Movement

I resigned my gig as Tuesday guest editor at STR yesterday. Partly for political reasons and partly for health considerations.

My liver disease and kidney problems are putting a great strain on my body and I require frequent medical treatment, which takes up a lot of my time and energy. And so something had to give, and the STR gig was one of things I had to let go of. It takes a least four hours to put together a good daily edition and that fours hours is a bitch when I am groggy and weak from treatment and when I just want to lay down and take a nap. But if you have an edition to get ready you can’t rest when you feel like it without compromising the quality of your edition, which was something I was loathe to do.

The political considerations were an issue too. I believe that oppression is what it is, and I see no distinction as to whether you are being squashed down directly by a state entity (i.e., courts, cops, bureaucrats, and politicians) or by some “private” entity (monopolists, rent-seekers, special interest groups and such ilk) who influence the state with money-bought political clout.

Microsoft, the RIAA, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and similar groups and wealthy individuals should have no means to do what they do to assert their views on us. Foisting an unpopular agenda without a state provided system of law courts and judges (who are all ultimately backed up by armed police) to make us conform to their will is what the state-privileged sorts do. They use force without actual violence, (at first anyhow) to repress and dominate us, but my friends the anarcho-capitalists and the big and small “L” libertarians just don’t see it that way.

But as I said yesterday, some see “private” coercion, (that is, special interests using the state as a catspaw for their own ends) as somehow different and somehow acceptable because see, it’s supposedly “private” and “voluntary.” Which of course any rational analysis shows to be false. There is nothing “private” about a cop arresting you, or “voluntary” about being sued. I really don’t question the anarcho-capitalists and libertarians sincerity of belief, but I do reject their dismissal of my critique of their idea of what constitutes liberty.

And so there you have it.

oppression libertarian anarcho-capitalist special_interest_groups, gun_control liberty class_struggle rent_seeking

August 21, 2007 – Whom Do You Trust?

I’ve been getting some criticism lately from people I respect that my views are “too left-wing” (whatever that means), because I oppose oppressive actions taken by private entities (i.e., religious groups, business interests, political parties) rather than confining my criticism only to oppressive action by state entities.

As if. A boot on your neck hurts no less when it’s held there by a soldier or cop because of some governmental conflict or by the same soldier or cop acting on behalf some private interest who has convinced the state to enforce their notions of proper conduct. The boot is the same, the cop is the same, and the gun to your head is the same. Being sued by the IRS is really no different in cause or effect than being sued by the RIAA, Microsoft, the Brady Campaign or any number of other private entities that use their privileged position with the state to dominate you for their own gain or benefit. And yet many alleged libertarians claim to see a moral distinction between the two forms of oppression. Well I don’t.

Most of the SDS members that I know fall into the political category called “anarcho-socialist” or “anarcho-syndicalist.” They desire a “no controlling authority” condition of liberty that allows them to run their own workplace and set their own conditions of labor. This program may not be classical laissez-faire political economy, but so what? Leave ‘em alone and they’ll succeed, fail, or muddle along on their own and on their own terms. The rest of us don’t have to worry that they’ll impose their (horror of horrors) “socialist views” and practices on the rest of us, because they don’t believe in state authority and forming a state is the only way that they could do so.

And yet many, many, (most even) "libertarians” that I know or have known over the years can and do easily shift right back into the deep-red Republican base that most emerged from originally with just a few simple compromises in the GOP’s platform. Look at the highly touted GOP maverick Representative Ron Paul. Now he’s a Republican. But in 1988 he was the Libertarian Party’s nominee for president and even had a fundraiser hosted by LSD guru Timothy Leary. And Paul didn’t have any trouble moving back into the GOP afterwards either. And note the newly minted Libertarian big shot and ex-GOP U.S. Representative Bob Barr. Now he’s an LP member when just a few short years ago he was a U.S. Attorney and was happily and quite successfully prosecuting people on behalf of Leviathan. The LP even spent what little funding it had to get him defeated for re-election in 2002. And now he’s one of their own. Go figure?

Some late night comedian (I think it was Bill Maher) said that libertarians were just: “Republicans who like to be able to get high, look at porn, and blow off church without feeling like hypocrites.” And consider how well these authoritarian types slip back forth into and out of the Republican base where they started. And I just don’t see that kind of kind of thing from the SDS types, those dreaded socialists. And I know a few, too.

So if and when the chips are down, I trust my anarcho-socialist/anarcho-syndicalist SDS comrades to keep the faith about seizing liberty when and where they can way more than I ever will the LP types who seem to be able to morph back and forth between the LP and the GOP right-wing without any troubling thoughts about moral or ideological consistency.

Tags:
Libertarian Party SDS anarcho-socialist anarcho-syndicalist Ron_Paul Bob_Barr GOP oppression

Aug 17_2007 - Everbody's A Critic

Everybody’s a critic. Even me. I posted some book reviews on Amazon.com and the response has been generally negative. I am not surprised though. Few people bother with writing thoughtful reviews on books. The writers tend to be people who really liked the book or who really didn’t like it much at all. And so when you write a review that is kinda on the negative side of things it usually pisses off the people who liked it.

It does provide me with an easily accessed list of books that I’ve read and records my impressions of them though. And which is very cool for me because I like to go over them from time to time and see if my thinking about them has changed.

Tech Tags: books literature criticism book_reviews Amazon.com

August 9, 2007 – The Late Richard Rorty on “How It’s All Gonna End"

I guess this is all old news as far as many of you are concerned, but this “final interview,” (he died a few days after giving it) with the noted American philosopher and intellectual Richard Rorty wherein he predicated how (what passes for) liberal democracy in America will finally come to a crashing, complete, and no-BS end, without even the façade of individual rights and liberties, (like what we have now), and never mind the boiling frogs stuff.

“Rorty said,” in the interview, “that after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, ‘it became clear that the political right would try to substitute the 'global war on terrorism' as an excuse not only for keeping the national security state intact but for undermining the political institutions of the old democracies. I was terrified that the Bush administration would carry American public opinion with it, and would succeed in brushing the liberties of the citizen aside.'

Even though public support for the Bush administration is at low ebb, Rorty still believed that ‘sooner or later, some terrorist group will repeat 9/11 on a much grander scale. I doubt that democratic institutions will be resilient enough to stand the strain.’ “

I completely agree. Whether the next Commander-in-Chief is a Dem or Rep, “liberal” or conservative, whether the US Congress has a Dem or Rep majority in either or both houses, or whether the SCOTUS is 5-4 strict-constructionist or ACLU sympathizers, it ain’t gonna matter one fookin’ bit. Before the dust even settles the tanks will roll out, the cops and feds will start rounding people up, and the whole rest of the coup d’etat protocol we’ve seen over the years in the Turd World States where they have this thing down to science.

I am not just being paranoid either. This what I honestly have felt to be our precarious situation for long time, and now someone of substance and stature and, given his terminal condition, nothing to lose by saying it, has said it too. Sooner or later al-Qaeda, Hamas, North Korea commandos or someone such as them is gonna get hold of a suitcase nuke or dump a few barrels of ricin into some major city’s water supply…and well, you get the idea.

I dare anybody to tell this won’t happen. It’s just a matter of when.

Richard_Rorty the_Apocalypse American_Democracy terrorism al-Qaeda

July 24, 2007 - No Working Class Solidarity Here Guys!

According to this article in the Washington Post, a carpenter's union local outsourced their picket line to paid local homeless types in order to raise its numbers. Sheesh. Not much working class solidarity here, you guys. Outsourcing your own labor struggle is kinda of a tip-off that you either don't have much support for your actions within your own base or the membership feels itself too good for such tasks. Either way though...

"Although their placards identify the picketers as being with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters" says the article, "they are not union members. They're hired feet, or, as the union calls them, temporary workers, paid $8 an hour to picket. Many were recruited from homeless shelters or transitional houses. Several have recently been released from prison. Others are between jobs. ‘It's about the cash," said Tina Shaw, 44, who lives in a House of Ruth women's shelter and has walked the line at various sites. 'We're against low wages, but I'm here for the cash.' Carpenters locals across the country are outsourcing their picket lines, hiring the homeless, students, retirees and day laborers to get their message across. Larry Hujo, a spokesman for the Indiana-Kentucky Regional Council of Carpenters, calls it a 'shift in the paradigm' of picketing."

Unions suck in this country. They actually operate more as labor agencies whose sole purpose is fiduciary; that is to say, to get their members the best possible deal on wages, benefits, and working conditions, and give short shrift to the concept of class struggle and labor solidarity. That however should be their main purpose; elevating the condition and power of the working class. And which is how the unions act in Europe and most other places. In America though the political dimension of class struggle has totally escaped the often corrupt and always politically oblivious labor union leadership.

Tech Tags: labor_unions, class_consciousness, labor_solidarity

July 18_2007 - I Think Reformists Are Wrong

I was surprised to read Glen Allport's column on Strike the Root yesterday wherein he lays out all the ways that political parties, special interest groups, ideologues, mercantilists, and the rest of the running dogs of statism, screw up liberal democratic governance, and then goes on to endorse the candidacy of a statist politician in an election in order to "fix" it all! Go figure? The real problem with state governance is the state itself; who runs it and how hardly matters. That has been my conclusion based on my own historical analysis, anyhow. It really surprised me that the STR publisher would post such an article given STR's stated position on such matters.

Reformism is a waste of time. In the end, when the bourgeoisie finally conclude that they can't dominate the political process any longer, they will undoubtedly turn toward fascism to maintain control and retain their privileges. That is what they've always done in the past.

Glen_Allport, Strike_the_Root.com, reformism, Ron_Paul, statism

July 18, 2007 - Road Trip!

2007 CrimethInc. Convergence - July 25-29, 2007 Athens, Ohio

From the promo website:
"Last summer’s convergence featured over forty workshops, including urban exploration, traveling for free, the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, Proudhon and mutualist banking, local radical history in Winona, stories from the 2005 G8 protests in Scotland, squatting to own, several self-defense workshops, a reading group for which literature was distributed in advance, a discussion for survivors of sexual abuse, a report on anarchist activity and challenges in Latin America, a conversation about anarchism and spirituality, and a discussion entitled 'Lucy Parsons and Post-Left Anarchy in the 1880s.' In addition, there was a puppet show about mountaintop removal, an anti-authoritarian jug band performed traditional spirituals, and a filmmaker presented a documentary about a Brazilian form of anarchist psychotherapy."

Sounds kinda of interesting and I am planning on attending. It's a short distance from where I am now and it would be good to remind myself that there are more of us out there than the media reports, eh? If anyone reading this has been to a previous convergence or has any other tips, advice or opinions about these kind of events or the CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective, please get in touch.

See ya' there!


CrimethInc_Ex-Workers_Collective, Anarchist Convergence_2007, Chemical_Ali

What Happened to FreedomSLUT?

I've seen that unique and useful site get bogged down with commercial spam before sometimes, but the admin doesn't delete it any more, and so it has become kinda useless. You can dig through all the crap postings to find the occasional gem still, but who really wants to, eh? Sad.

Tech Tags: FreedomSLUT spam

July 15, 2007 - Agony Vs Agonizing

I've been experiencing some nerve pain in my neck and arms lately, making it hard to type very long or much. And so I haven't been. I seem to be getting better. Shingles, as this condition is called, are a bitch. But I endure.

On the other hand I've been able to catch up on my reading and also spend more time with the kids.

I may take a trip out to the coast soon or maybe even to Costa Rica. If I can't do any useful work, I may as well have some fun.

Any book suggestions? Or fun suggestions?

tags: chemical_ali shingles travel Costa_Rica

June 26_2007 - What the Future Holds if the Dems Win

The usual statist crapola unfortunately.

Arnold Kling wrote this analysis posted on TCS that seems to catch it all in a nutshell. One side of the Dems wants more, more, more! state intervention in our lives. The other side, well not so much, but..just run it all better and without a deficit too.

June 17_2007 - An Interesting Review of an Interesting Book

I saw this customer review on the Amazon.com webpage for a book I am currently reading. How Nonviolence Protects the State, by Peter Gelderloos.

Both are worth a look.

June 12_2007 - "Useful Idiots"

Hugo Chavez's "Useful Idiot"

"In political jargon, the term 'useful idiot' was used to describe Soviet sympathizers in western countries (particularly in the United States) and the alleged attitude of the Soviet government towards them. The implication was that the person in question was naïve, foolish, or in willful denial, and was being cynically used by the Soviet Union, or another Communist state."
From Wikipedia.

And speaking of which, I saw this blurb in an article in the right-wing tabloid Human Events.

Help Wanted: Cindy Sheehan Replacement
“Wanted: A mother or father whose son was a God-loving, red-blooded American who willingly gave his life for his country’s security and freedom. Applicant must be willing to shill for a ‘progressive’ presidential candidate, such as Sheehan did for John Kerry in 2004. Candidate must be able to curse like Mephistopheles, coddle the world’s dictators, be willing to leave her/his family, recite left-wing lies … with authority, and look good in Code Pink’s Pepto Bismol pink T-shirts.”

And I thought I was cynical. Pretty true though. Sheehan is an idiot, useful or not. See, when she openly endorsed nascent totalitarian Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and started criticizing Democrats for not keeping their promise to end the Iraq war the mainstream media and the Dem political elites dumped her like a hot potato. I guess you just can't be too cynical about the mainstream media and statist politicians can you? Apparently not.

Technorati tags: Cindy_Sheehan, Useful_Idiot, politics

June 08_2007 - Zog and Mr. Poop

Here is a short column I wrote for Strike_the_Root.com on my theory as to why liberal democracies eventually evolve into nanny-cratic authoritarian states over time.

The Origins of Authoritarianism in the Democratic State

"In a democracy however, the reverse is the case; the public’s every wish must be accommodated and acted upon instantly. And so laws are passed, regulations, specifications, and instructions are published, and are continually added to. And of course Zogs must be hired and armed in order to make it all work. And there’s the rub. The problems that all these rules, laws, and red tape address are minor and usually temporary; but the government-approved solution is nearly always permanent. And so the boil of public opinion reduces our natural and abundant liberty to steam which then disappears into the wind and then is gone. Permanently gone."

Technorati Tags: liberty laissez-faire nanny_state Lenny_Bruce economics

June 07_2007 - Some Thoughts on "Special Prosecuters" & Scooter Libby's Prison Sentence

Continuing on with my post from yesterday in re the injustice of the grand jury system and its misuse by so-called Special Prosecutors (i.e., those appointed to investigate political crimes) here is some profound analysis from Democratic Party operative and law professor Susan Estrich.

On Grand Juries:
"Libby is in trouble not for what he did, but because he wasn't as careful as the others during his interviews and grand jury testimony. If he'd just said, 'I don't recall' a hundred times, or even invoked the Fifth (whether properly or not, following the Monica Goodling approach), he wouldn't be bankrupt, ruined, disgraced and heading to prison."

Yep.

On Special Prosecutors:
"The whole phenomenon of special prosecutors turns the usual rules of investigating on their head. Instead of focusing on crimes, special prosecutors tend to focus on people themselves. Dig deep enough, ask enough questions, particularly under oath, and only those most experienced with the criminal justice system are likely to escape unscathed. Hardened criminals know enough to shut up. For others, the human tendency is to say too much, to shade the facts, to try to protect yourself and your colleagues, not necessarily from criminality, but from embarrassment. Lewis Libby is a lawyer, but he hadn't practiced in years, and neither had his wife. Unfortunately for him, it cost him plenty."

Indeed.

Technorati Tags: Scooter_Libby, Grand_Juries, politics, special_prosecutors Susan_Estrich

June 06_2007 - Some Thoughts on the “Scooter” Libby Sentence

I have no sympathy for Libby and his role in foisting the Iraq invasion on the American public. However, I have great empathy with his position as a human being who is being crushed like a little bug under the heal of Leviathan.

As someone who has been “invited” to talk with the FBI following the 9/11 attacks (which I declined to do) and who has been officially summoned twice to appear before grand juries I have some sympathy for Mr. Libby. The closest thing American law has to a Star Chamber this side of Gitmo is the modern grand jury process.

As originally conceived, the GJ was intended to protect persons accused of crimes by making the state prosecutor show before a jury of common citizens that first, a crime was committed, and second, that the prosecution had enough evidence to bring a specific person to trial for it.

Too bad that it ain’t how it all works in practice though. When you get up to testify, the only lawyer in the room is the DA. There is no impartial magistrate or judge to insure that the proceedings are conducted impartially and in accordance with the rules of evidence and the law. Persons giving testimony are not allowed to have legal counsel present. The panel of jurors only receives evidence as is supplied to them by the DA. Cross-examination of witnesses is not permitted. Oh, and the entire process is held in secret too. The public is not allowed to observe the proceeding, the news media is excluded, and anyone leaking info from the proceedings can be arrested. The transcript of the proceedings is withheld from any perusal by anyone, even you or your attorney, until such time as it is “unsealed” by the DA.

Real fair, eh? Even an experienced lawyer and political operative like Mr. Libby couldn’t avoid an indictment, and he knew all the rules, (rigged as they are) in advance, too. Now guess how much chance a non-lawyer has?

Bottom Line: Always refuse to testify by asserting your right to avoid self-incrimination. Assert the protection granted you by the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer any questions. Enjoy your constitutional protection against self-incrimination it while it lasts. Which may not be much longer.

Technorati Tags:
Scooter_Libby, Grand_Juries, Fifth_Amendment, Star_Chamber

June 04_2007 – Some Communist Criticism of Anarchism and Anarchists

I've been reading through these articles because I've often criticized the CP over the years for their statism, illogic, for resorting to violence, their hypocrisy and for their shamefully poor record of advancing liberty and equality among human beings. But I'll let these guys' words speak for themselves. Look through 'em if you care to. (So here ya go, Jerry.)

Left-wing Neo-Conservatives: The reflection of neo-conservatism in socialist thinking – Part One

Left-wing Neo-Conservatives: The mailed fist behind the anti-authoritarian phrase – Part Two

Anarchism and the Marketplace

The Anarchist Dead End – A series of articles from the (Detroit) Communist Voice .

Technorati Tags: Communist, Communist_Party, anarchy, anarchism, politics

May 31_2007 – My Cynicism About Darfur

I keep seeing these heart rending stories about the slaughter going on in the Darfur a province of Sudan. But it makes me wonder,what it is exactly that this slick lobbying campaign and its bank rollers would have “us” (using “us” in the collective sense of it, as in the American government) do exactly? Many if not most of the noisy pleaders whose message is directed at the US Congress and the Bush Administration are the same subset of persons and groups that are currently loudly denouncing the US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan too. Go figure that? Haven't these folks seen exactly what happens when one nation, no matter how powerful and well-off it may be comparatively, tries to establish itself as the World Cop?

Let the UN and the African Union handle this one you guys. America's plate is full right now with other more pressing imperial entanglements. Again, what, (military intervention, boycotts, airstrikes, blockades, something else?) would these maudlin interventionists have “us” do? I honestly wonder what the real agenda is here.

“Lobbying groups regularly get their way in Washington”, says this article from the Washington Post, “but few have had as much impact in a short period as the Save Darfur Coalition, an organization that has been pressing for international intervention in war-torn Sudan.

Over the past two years, it has flooded lawmakers' inboxes with pleas for assistance, filled the Mall with protesters and blanketed the airwaves with heart-rending commercials. One ad showed photos of anguished, starving Sudanese and asked, 'How will history judge us?' "

History has already judged this sort of thing; and the honest truth is that the interventionists are nearly always wrong. And yet with each new crisis they persist. History doesn't repeat”, said Mark Twain, “ but it often rhymes.” And we know how this kinda song goes too, even if we only know the melody and not the words.

May 30_2007 - Cheap Gas or Energy Independence: Not Both

Says economist Robert Samuelson in today's Washington Post:

"It's one of those delicious moments when Washington's hypocrisy is on full and unembarrassed display. On the one hand, some of America's leading politicians condemn high gasoline prices and contend that they stem from "gouging" by oil companies. On the other, many of the same politicians warn against global warming and implore us to curb our use of fossil fuels that emit carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

Guess what: These crowd-pleasing proclamations are contradictory. Anyone fearful of global warming should cheer higher gasoline prices, because much higher prices represent precisely the sort of powerful incentive needed to push consumers toward more fuel-efficient vehicles and to persuade the auto industry to produce them in large numbers. Bravo for higher prices!"

True enough. If we want the free market and human ingenuity to liberate us from dependence on foreign oil and we also want a healthy and cleaner environment we have to let oil prices rise to what the owners and producers of that oil ask. It is the only way my friends. We just can't have cheap oil and not be dependent on crude petro from places like Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela and the Middle East. The "cheap" gas we have from what we are doing now isn't all that cheap when you add to it the huge cost in blood and treasure that maintaining a huge military presence all over the world to gain and retain access to it, eh?

May 29_2007 - Cindy Sheehan 'Resigns' as Protest Leader

Cindy Sheehan 'Resigns' as Protest Leader

Good riddence you politically illiterate attention whore. Ever since Sheehan played kissy face with that thug Hugo Chavez, a nascent neo-Castro, I've had no further use for her "leadership" role. Just like with John McCain, John Kerry, Jack Murtha and the rest of our "war heroes," Sheehan seems to think that her loss entitles her to a level of credibility that she just doesn't deserve.

The Iraq war and all the rest of America's imperial entanglements should be abandoned just as a matter of justice and honor, period. And this would be true even if her son had come home from Iraq without a scratch. Lead on Ron Paul.