Just out of curiosity, I looked up the U. S. public debt today, and read that it's about 11.4 trillion dollars, and growing by about 4 billion per day. What's more, from the Wikipedia article, "As of June 2009 the debt was 82.5 percent of GDP based on current GDP. This level of debt has not been seen since 1951, with the nominal value the largest in recorded history. The President's 2010 budget estimates that total debt relative to GDP will rise to 97% by 2010 and stabilize at approximately 100% thereafter." Stabilize at 100% of GDP? That's good news???
Of course, I don't mind if the US goes bankrupt and China takes over, though I'd better start studying up on my Mandarin. But what I can't understand is, why the fuck hasn't hyperinflation hit us yet? My July Oats dropped after that meteoric rise above $2.60 and it's only got two more weeks before the options expire worthless. Come on, US public! Panic already!!!
Of course, it's not too late to fix. Impose a flat tax, implemented as a Federal sales tax of about 30% on everything. Phase out the IRS and its bloodsucking parasites, or just shut it down immediately and give amnesty to those who currently owe taxes; the flat tax will be bringing in huge revenues daily, with very little administration necessary; the shopkeepers will be doing most of the work, and it'll just be programmed into their cash registers the same way state and local sales taxes already are. Stop corporate welfare cold. Pull out of all wars, and keep just enough standing army to train the populace as one huge honkin' militia. That's for a start. Of course, anybody who dares try all that will be targeted for assassination from all quarters, including from within the government itself. And none of these ideas are new, they've been floating around for years and years and nobody has dared try any of them.
Just the militia idea alone will save gazillions, even ignoring the non-monetary benefits of an armed citizenry. The government spends huge amounts of money on weapons and ammunition, that the citizens would be glad to buy for themselves if there were any ammo left for them on the store shelves!
Getting back to the real world: the sumac-berry brew doesn't look active yet. I poured out the liquid into another jar, and refilled the original with water to get more of the juice out of the berries. What was in the jar was only about 1/3 of a quart. And the stuff smells like black tea for some reason, haven't tasted it yet. I've gone two days now without drinking any bottled beer, preferring my own stuff. Yay me!
last updated 2009-06-10 09:30:16. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com