We start this morning with one of the most useful things you can do if you would really like to see government cleaned up. Send a dollar (or more) to Walter Burien or better sign up for his email posts and then send something.
So much for the pitch. Now let’s get down to the business points and why sending Burien actually helps.
Burien is the world leader in exposing the fact that government keeps two sets of books.
Yeah – pretty shocking but absolutely true. Here’s how it works.
1. Governments keep a set of books used to “sell the public on how poor government is.”
This is called The Budget. This is the set of books that politicians wring their hands over. The wail and gnash their teeth, get emotionally worked up. Even threaten the end of the world if you don’t pay for taxes.
2. The second set of books is what’s really going on. This is disclosed every year – by law – as a governmental entity’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. CAFR for short.
This second set of book is what reveals the True condition of government finance.
This of this as being like a grocery list. You are government and you have a shopping list.
You put on the shopping list: New Porsche Panamera, a 65-foot Hatteras, a loaf of bread, gallon of milk and a dozen eggs.
You walk out the door with a “shopping list” which will come to about $1.3 million dollars. This is the budget. You ask me to your budget by levying a higher tax on me.
Now you go to the store.
You come home with eggs, milk, and oddly – no Panamera and no Hatteras. Still, you insist on keeping the tax money that you foisted off on me. So where does the “extra money go?”
Into government’s pocket. At all levels.
Point is, Walter Burien has been pointing out the ever-increasing gap between budget hold-up like demands of government on the one hand. And he contrasts that with the CAFR statements which disclose that mostly, government is really filthy rich. They just cry poor all the time.
Here’s the New Problem
Thanks to his educational work, more and more smart people are catching on to the Government Shell Game. So what happens? Government is now in the process of starting to “cook the books” on their CAFR statements.
Burien sent out an national post overnight which popped up in my email: Here is the key part of it:
“What is “ESSENTIAL” for you and all others in any local government venue to do is: Based on their “gross income, not net” last year (and go five years back) and then project their income based on projecting out 35-years to cross match with what they say their liabilities are…!
If that was done I have a feeling that viewing projected income 35-years out without ANY tax increase, they would be in the black by a BIG margin and NOT short of funds.
All local governments across the land are saying they are short of funds today because they are doing the same thing of projecting out liabilities 35-years cross-matched with projections of income out 1-year. So the same applies for every City, County, School District, University, Enterprise Operation across the land…
Detroit in declaring bankruptcy did the same thing right under the local public’s and nations view by promoting the liabilities out (one side of the coin) 35-years and not the income (the other side of the coin) for the same and got away with it. Detroit was sitting on 18-billion in liquid investment assets at the time when they did this. But they said their liabilities were 27-billion (projected out 35-years) claiming to be 9-billion short today…
Please share this communication with other activists in your state and ask them to do the same.. Want to light a big fire under the corruption? Then make sure everyone Statewide sees this detailed outline communication As Soon As Possible. (A.S.A.P)
Sent FYI and Truly Yours,
Walter Burien – CAFR1.com
P. O. Box 2112
Saint Johns, AZ 85936”
I was a reporter for a very long time and I saw this crooked crap all the time. The most important thing you can possibly do is to attend budget meetings and first read the CAFR statement for the entity involved.
What you will find is? (Try to look surprised, please) A crooked set of books designed to sell the continuous expansion of government.
Because we’re not really broke. It’s just easy to hold up taxpayers – so why not?
Every time you read a story about government being poor, broke, needing to raise funds, go read the CAFR reports first and make sure to ALWAYS read “Notes to the financial statement” before you read anything in any financial document including and especially corporation reports, as well.
Thank you.
Speaking of Government Finance
The new budget ceiling lifter was passed last night.
Cruz, Paul and Rubio all voted against it. But in the end, the Obama wing of the corporate sell-out party (repugnicians) carried the day. John Boehner did his typical snow-job pretending it was for the troops and the like.
It’s not. Go read CARF statements and what you will see if the tail lights of democracy fading into the distance. The Corptocracy wins, every time. When you own two political parties, it’s not tough to do.
Then there’s the new money supply report from the Federal Reserve. Looks like the money printing is back in high gear. Look at the 3-month line and check out the print rate on M2:
With friends like this, who needs what? It does seem to me like this does increase the odds of a rate hike coming and – like we hadn’t noticed – all that cash sloshing around is blowing up the price of stocks.
Surely, you’re not so naïve as to think this is simple supply and demand? Heavens no, it’s so much easier when you can tilt the tables this way and that.
Why I Don’t Trust Bernie
Sure, a lot of what he talks about makes sense. But when Bernie Sanders comes out and says he’s going to lead a campaign against Islamaphobia, I get to thinking his research isn’t deep enough.
Since lying to infidels is clearly an approved tactic, Bernie may have been taken in, but when comes down to it “kill or convert” really is terrorism, so Sanders is on thin ice with millions on this simplistic approach.
Gotta wonder if “love your enemy” works so well, why the Soviet gulags were always full?
Could it be that corporatism sees the benefit of a longer-term merger into Islamic government because it’s even more intrusive than ours has become? Oh dandy…But once you get all the marbles, what better than an anti-progressive group to keep them under control?
Let’s not go there…
Personal Saving and Other Delusions
If you believe that paying off a credit card is “savings” then sure, you can believe the personal income and expense report just out from the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the past few minutes:
Personal current taxes decreased $0.6 billion in September, in contrast to an increase of $5.4 billion in August. Disposable personal income (DPI) — personal income less personal current taxes — increased $19.2 billion, or 0.1 percent, compared with an increase of $49.5 billion, or 0.4 percent.
Gotta think that one through, but this one is pretty silly:
Personal saving — DPI less personal outlays — was $642.8 billion in September, compared with $637.3 billion in August. The personal saving rate — personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income — was 4.8 percent, compared with 4.7 percent. For a comparison of personal saving in BEA’s national income and product accounts with personal saving in the Federal Reserve Board’s financial accounts of the United States and data on changes in net worth, go to www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/nipa-frb.asp.
This number is the poster child for stupid economic reports. Here is the math:
Savings in September was purported to be $642.8 billion.
The US has about 321 million people – including those in school, in jail, in the military – old folks home – everyone.
The government claim is that EVERYONE saved $2,002.49 last month. Sure it was, you betcha.
You could argue that the principal part of a house payment might be something like savings. But the non-interest part of a car payment?
One of the dangers of business school is to check your work for “reasonableness.”
This one is an epic fail. Not that it matters though…
The Market’s Buying It
What is our theme this morning? Crooked accounting and systemic corruption at all kinds of levels.
Yet in the spirit of 1928 through late summer of 1929, the market is playing on with futures up another 35 in the pre-open.
At what point to we transition from Great Nation to deluded idiots? Or was that the exit we missed?
Stick It In Your Ear
As a home studio owner (Drums, Voices, Magic) I thought you might appreciate a link to the opening day edition of the Audio Engineering Society’s 113th convention which is going on in NYC today.
Let those with ears hear…
Keep an Eye On
The World Court is taking up the Philippine’s case against Chinese island-making in the South China Sea. This could lead to conflict down the road…so yes, do follow.
Meantime, Russian warplanes were intercepted near a US Carrier off Korea.
Daylight Time Ends this Weekend
Daylight Time ends Sunday. Set you clock back one hour Saturday night.
>>the tail lights of democracy fading into the distance. The Corptocracy wins, every time. When you own two political parties, it’s not tough to do.<<
When the Supreme Court gave corporations civil rights it was all over… Eisenhower warned us but they won anyway.
George, the savings rate is not bogus, it just shows how much money is piling up at the top end of the income distribution. Of course, no one we know is savings at that rate, but people at the tippy-top are saving like mad.
Just like the joke about Bill Gates walks into a bar, and average Joe says “Wow, on average we are all millionaires”
George, how many times have you expounded on the ingrained into society phobias and beliefs foisted upon us by TPTB? Unfortunately, you seem to be as brainwashed as many others and are unwilling to see it. Where do you get all your ‘beliefs’ on Islam? The public domain, most likely…as I doubt that you know any Muslims at all. Yet, you expound on the dastardly side of your so-called knowledge of Islam. Now before you go nuts about me (and others) being apologists for Islam, let me state that I have no use whatsoever for any religion…be it any one of the ‘Christian’ cults, Judaism or Islam. That being said, your attitude towards Islam is like your attitude towards Pit Bulls…loud and uninformed. You have never owned a Pit Bull, but you know all about them. You likely know no Muslims, but you know all about them and their ‘agendas’. Sounds a lot like Mr Moral Majority on the ‘Gay Agenda’, so easily swallowed by fundamentalists. The Western view today towards Islam is driven by the Wests’ desire for a new boogie man to fight. If you haven’t read Sibel Edmonds’ ‘The Lone Gladio’, you should. Maybe then you’d get a better idea where all this Islamo fascism BS comes from. The spread of Islam was due to mostly one factor, raping and pillaging by western elements and their desire to obtain what was not theirs(Iran,1952,etc), which led to resistance against western thievery. Your ‘convert or die’ BS is easily refuted. Syria…Al Assad protected Jews living there as well as Christians. They overwhelmingly support him by a wide margin. Iran, same thing. How much of this is reported by our media? How are these people still alive and not being hassled to death if your ‘CoD’ belief is true? ? When you expound on this ‘convert or die’, you are referring to almost entirely Sunni radical philosophy…you know, the ones we’re in bed with. Are we to judge all Christians by the Westboro Baptist Church? Isn’t it strange we attack governments that have overwhelming support from their people, in the name of freedom and democracy? Again, read The Lone Gladio and you’ll see where all this propaganda and mindset has come from. I’m glad Sanders is going in this direction…it’s about time that we gave them the same consideration as Judaism and Christianity…which have as bloody a, if not more so, history. The way you pick out certain things (OK to lie to infidels) is a very good example of western propaganda. Judaism has the same proviso. Christians have always believed that it is OK to lie to ‘heathens’. One of the biggest reasons for the West using Islam is their fear of anti-usury rules in Islam…the one thing that has enabled corporate hegemony and is used to control us, to everyones detriment, which is leading us to a coming crash, as it has so many times before. You know, like the real reasons Saddam and Qaddafi were removed. Ask the Russians about Chechnya and Turkish, Saudi and US covert actions…Putin has remarked on this publicly more than once, but how many Americans know this? Personally, I welcome a more honest approach to world problems and less reliance on old mindsets that have gotten us to where we are today…world enslavement. If the American people do not come to grips with the truth soon, that we are being led by the nose by fear and lies, well, we’ll reap the rewards of our behavior. Russia has shown the world the truth behind our involvement with ‘radical Islam’…now Americans will have to decide what path we take. Hopefully it will be peace, not war.
I know about dogs because I owned a 130-pound German Shepherd.
I know about Muslims because I have known many and worked with one who was an extra-special backstabbing prick. Perfected the art of looking you in the eye and lying.
I also remember the French riots in 2005 and I see how Muslims are avoiding melting and becoming part of the country…that is their way. Check with Germany and the Scandinavians for how that works out. Read on Dhimmitude and get your liberal head out of your (*) while you CAN.
Quran (2:191-193) – “And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah [disbelief or unrest] is worse than killing… but if they desist, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah [disbelief and worshipping of others along with Allah] and worship is for Allah alone. But if they cease, let there be no transgression except against Az-Zalimun (the polytheists, and wrong-doers, etc.)”
If you are too time bound to read the whole book, try:
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/quran/023-violence.htm
For counterpoint see http://www.justaskislam.com/32/does-islam-say-kill-the-infidels/
But also remember, as you do, it’s perfectly fine to lie to infidels and that’s defined as anyone who’s not bowing east 5-x daily.
Inshallah, dude.
George, we tend to go with our experiences. My wife and I, along with our five year old son, moved to Oak Park in Sacramento in 1979. It was a mixed low income neighborhood built mostly in the very early nineteen hundreds. Our biggest nightmare was white trash scum. About 25 years ago the Pakistanis started moving in. They converted their garages to Churches, raised large families with respectful kids, threw out the tv’s and radios and planted large gardens. They also acted as their own banks.
They added enough value to our property that my wife was able to sell the house at a profit and join me here in very rural Nevada where we broadcast classical music to the jack rabbits and travelers between Reno and Las Vegas. I know you feel strongly about this but the religious problem is a lot more complicated than you are admitting. Time to lay back, listen to a little Mozart and be glad you didn’t have the neighbors I had before the Muslim’s arrived on our street.
Having said that, love who you are and what you bring to the table.
Kudos to you, George! Way to go! I couldn’t even finish reading his diatribe.
Rock on! Aloha Snackbar!
A German Shepherd is not a Pit Bull. You still know nothing about Pit Bulls, my point stands.
Libbre David 37:A Jew should and must make a false oath when the Goyim asks if our books contain anything against them.
Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 17:We beg Thee, O Lord, indict Thy wrath on the nations not believing in Thee, and not calling on Thy name. Let down Thy wrath on them and inflict them with Thy wrath. Drive them away in Thy wrath and crush them into pieces. Take away, O Lord, all bone from them. In a moment indict all disbelievers. Destroy in a moment all foes of Thy nation. Draw out with the root, disperse and ruin unworthy nations. Destroy them! Destroy them immediately, in this very moment! Does that sound familiar? A person can quote any reference and find what they want and interpret however they want. I challenge you to present any proof of Sufi Muslims involved in radicalism. Shi’ite Muslims are called radical by westerners, but where is all the international terrorism they’ve committed? The ‘terrorists’ are predominately Sunni, our allies…the very ones we are using to accomplish PNAC goals. The ones who terrorized Chechnya are Sunni, enabled by us, a ‘Christian’ nation. Your little rant does nothing to discredit my statement about Jews and Christians living in Syria and Iran. Ask them who they trust, the US and our proxies or Al Assad. My point about the Westboro Baptist church still stands. I got the Fundamentalist propaganda email about Dhimmitude years ago from my fundamentalist brother when they were so worried that Sharia law was going to be instituted by ObamaCare. Total HS. Since you brought it up, I assume you do know this is in reference to people conquered through Jihad and has nothing to do whatsoever in day to day life. So what was your point? What did we do to Japanese CITIZENS during WWII? Ask native Americans about white mans lies. If you should ask the people in the rest of the world who the worst terrorists are and who they fear the most, I’m afraid you wouldn’t like the answer. You need to realize who the real terrorists are, not just their proxies and get your neocon head out of your (*) before those with your bent gets us all fried.
I’m a little late to the party, but religion was, and still is, all about allegiance of groups of humans to the squabbling ETs of old times. Humans were used as canon fodder to fight their wars for them. The ET remnants that still exist on this planet today haven’t changed their tactics and still rely on humans to do their fighting.
If everyone knew what was responsible for yanking their chains, peace would be here in an instant.
Zman when you can state with certainty your convictions based upon personal experience rather than propaganda from people who are ignorant of the reality of radical Islam which is a political movement hidden under the guise of religion then speak, otherwise it might be wise to hold your tongue.
I have two adult young men in my family who will tell you why they had to leave their homeland of Iran, they are both Bahai’s. Not only have Bahai’s been openly murdered by the ruling regime a great many are still in prisons awaiting their death sentences. All of the Bahai meeting houses, holy sites and cemeteries have been destroyed by order of the ruling government. These two young men were smuggled out at great expense by their families who they more likely than not will ever see again in this life. And they are not alone, Christians and Jews are persecuted as are all other ancient religions such as Zoroastrians and Manichaeans.
The Bahai Faith has a representative contingent to the UN in the hopes of getting those who are imprisoned due to their faith released. Unfortunately as years and abysmal conditions within Iranian prisons continue the numbers of deaths increase each year.
Think again about these countries you so proudly support with your statements because they think and care nothing what so ever about you. Your a infidel, a non believer, all you merit is death as far as they are concerned and the sooner the better so that they can carry out their agenda of ruling the earth under Sharia Law and the iron hand of insanity.
Ya Baha’u’l-Abha, Tanana and our best regards to your LSA
For some of your statements…http://www.politicalislam.com/..will clearly set you straight
I would suggest anyone wanting to know about Islam take some time and watch any number of videos and interviews with Christopher Hitchens – There are no Moderate Muslims and they don’t give a sh_t about simulating into our culture – that is unless sharia is your bag. You think otherwise I invite you to get a one way ticket to the twin cities.
Islam is anathema to the USA:Jihad and Jefferson don’t go.Muslims and Madison are a bad mixture.How about Hijabs and Hamilton?Afraid not.Fatwas and Frankiln?Fughetabouit.
George, Thanks for the Walter Burien promo. IMHO he should be immortalized on a stamp for the Sisyphean task he has toiled at for many years. He, along with teamlaw has exposed the Corporate Government and it’s “Constitution” as a clever ruse that has fooled everyone but the insider participants.The whole system down to the local dog catcher has been corporatized with the Feds at the Apex of this pyramid and their subcorporate minions reporting their annual “take” via the CAFR.
I have one question that I have never gotten a straight answer for: Are all these corporate gov entities “not for profit” or “for profit”? If you look at the investment holdings of govs it would seem they are “for profit” but THAT begs two more questions: who are the beneficiaries of that profit? AND The govs are invested in (and apparently profit from) the businesses and industries that they also regulate, well isn’t that the”mother” of all conflicts of interest? Inquiring minds want to know…but no one (especially the “expert” constitutional scholars/legal beagles) is talkin’.
Well, having toiled in the vineyard of public finance for going on 40 years, I guess I’m one of those “experts”.
As for Mr. B and the “CAFR Conspiracy”: A visit to his website is all you need to know. There’s so much wrong in the verbose scattershot of “insights”, it’s hard to tell where to begin. Others have tried (see e.g., https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/f290z/cafr_conspiracy_debunked/). So, I won’t. Life’s too short and besides, to quote Ron White: “You can’t fix stupid.”
So, go ahead, send in a buck or two if it makes you feel better. If you do, I’m sure he will.
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” – Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
What a crock of spin trash. The chat post you linked was a pure spin doctor attempt to smear. A very obscure one at that. To bad you did not put up the whole chat, I replied to it there back then.
There is no “CAFR Conspiracy” There is only the CAFR itself. You mention my website and “a visit” so you and I recommend the same. http://CAFR1.com
Being that you start with: “having toiled in the vineyard of public finance for going on 40 years”, go ahead and enlighten us all and qualify that with specifics. I am very specific when it comes down to myself as noted in my BIO – http://CAFR1.com/BIO.html
So what about yourself? Now be specific, no generalities please. Who did you work for and what experience do you have? I, and I am sure now others want you to qualify that “having toiled in the vineyard of public finance for going on 40 years”
But back to CAFRs, I recently put up a listing of about 4500 example CAFRs categorized by type and state. I suggest all go there and download as many CAFRs local to them, put on one DVD and distribute to all of the activists in their locale. Could be some very interesting findings that turn up under them there rocks. It is a very long page of links: http://CAFR1.com/listings/Listings.html
IMNAHA:
** Government was NOT supposed to operate at a profit. How did they get around this restriction?
ANSWER: If for example a city had a 100-million dollar profit for the year from any of its operations, at a stroke of a pen they create or deposit into a “liability fund” and poof, there goes the profit re-designated now as a liability.
I posted an article to Linkedin yesterday that goes into that answer in depth. You can view it here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cafr-wealth-waters-flow-all-corners-globe-walter-burien
Do you find it ironic that the budget bill that was passed that raises the debt ceiling until March 2017 matches the date you gave in Peoplenomics for the next market crash? Only coincidence I’m sure….hmmmmmm.
er-ive known about the CAFR for 20 years at least-even located it in my states budget-we had a $4 billion surplus at the time…
and this mania over Islam reminds me of the whooped-dee-do over ‘Communism’ way back in the late 50s-early -mid 1960s-somehow-even as a kid-i thought it smelled fishy…..
Exactly my point.
One George to another:
Chill, dude! Between the astrology, the Muslim rant and pimping for Mr. B (nee Bubien), I’m beginniong to worry about you. If this keeps up, Clif will have to add onto his tin-foil tent to make room for you and Lady E.
Peace and 73’s.
BTW, if “everything’s a business model”, what say we turn the Holy Land into a “Pirates of the Caribbean”-sort of amusement park? Seems like everyone there is acting out a stereotype anyway, so why not grab the Almighty Tourist Dollar while they’re at it? You in?
Deja vu all over again.
The USA is a great country, and we have a great life here. Thus, in addition to our lizard-brain fear of the “other”, we harbor an additional fear that someone or something will take away our good thing. This all adds up to the strain of xenophobia lurking in the American psyche that erupts from time to time during times of societal stress. See the quotes of William Tecumseh Sherman on native Americans and Samuel F.B. Morse on immigrants and Catholics in the 1800’s, the recurring “Red Scares”, the treatment of Japanese-Americans during WW2 and German-Americans during both world wars.
Eternal vigilance, yes, but also rational thought, please. Those who forget history, are doomed yadda yadda.