Trickle Up Economics

All we are hearing from the politicians and pundits is that we must give the government another $700 billion to bail out the failed lending institutions or else the economy will completely collapse. That without this money we won't have access to loans for houses and cars and credit cards and student loans, etc. That even with good credit, banks will be difficult to get money from.

Guess what? That's exactly what we NEED to happen. Our economy is a sham of money moving that ends up with us being hit with inflation, debt and bailouts. Our economy was funded by bogus loans, given to unqualified people by mortgage banks, who passed the risk off to the secondary market of Freddy and Fanny, who then passed it on to the prime lending market, who then peddled it off to the marketplace via hedge companies like AIG.

Why was this done? Why was the risk passed and passed until the shit hit the fan and we got handed a trillion dollar bill? Because of social engineering by leftists, that's why. Banks were pushed by legislation created by Bill Clinton in the late 90's to give unsecured money to the economically disadvantaged, particularly the minority poor, in a bit of affirmative action lending that was enforced by Mae and Mac with an artificial, illusionary safety net handed to mortgage lenders so they would advance this "progressive" agenda.

What was the result of this social engineering? Disaster! Money was tossed around like paper at anyone with a heartbeat. No risk? Great! Here's some money! What happened? Housing inflation driving real estate prices to obscene levels that only created a viscous cycle of more and more unsecured lending, and eventually pricing the very poor who were originally supposed to benefit from this socialism right out of the housing market.

Now the bubble bursts and we get Trickle Up economic collapse. The junk loans are predictably defaulted upon by homeowners en masse, the mortgage banks look to Fanny and Freddy for bailout, who then look to the prime lending market for bailout, who then are stuck with billions and trillions in defaulted mortgages that can't be recovered.

AIG and other companies who bought millions of these junk notes and sold them under the hedge bet that they would be safe and secure suddenly find themselves with a lot of promises that collapsed. They relied on the mortgage market booming along so their futures would come out rosy for their investors, and believed the government backing made them risk free.

WRONG!

So, the mortgage lending banks collapse, followed by Mae and Mac, followed by the prime market and the companies that do business with them. Who pays for it?

WE DO! WE GET STUCK WITH A TRILLION DOLLARS AND COUNTING.

Yet, it's somehow our "duty" to bail out this poisonous system. It's a necessity to allow the lending of unsecured money to unqualified people to achieve the liberals dreams of social Utopia. We must allow the bogus lending practices to go on or we will all perish!

Bull sh-t. We tell them here and we tell them now: The politicians did this to us, and the politicians are on the hook for it. As Americans we need to stand up and say we will not support this practice of greasing the politicians and lobbyists and as part of some left wing experiment. We aren't guinea pigs, we aren't stupid, and we are going to fight this.

I say, time to make loan money harder to get again by returning the risk of lending to realistic margins. The economy today is based on false promises that devalue the dollar, cause inflationary price increases, and create unimaginable debt. We need to be fiscally RESPONSIBLE, we need to be SOLVENT, and we need to know that when we apply for a loan we will only get it if the one lending is willing to assume the risk without the false comfort of government bailout pressuring them to award bad loans to unqualified people.

Say no to bailout, say no to business as usual, and demand the government stop meddling with our lives as if we're part of some "moral socialist experiment".

THE BUCK STOPS HERE!

The speech Sarah's banned from delivering

Excerpts from the speech that Sarah Palin was going to give had she not been blacklisted by Obama's henchmen from the anti-Iran rally.

Arutz Sheva:

"Ahmadinejad may choose his words carefully, but underneath all of the rhetoric is an agenda that threatens all who seek a safer and freer world. We gather here today to highlight the Iranian dictator's intentions and to call for action to thwart him. He must be stopped.

"The world must awake to the threat this man poses to all of us. Ahmadinejad denies that the Holocaust ever took place. He dreams of being an agent in a 'Final Solution' - the elimination of the Jewish people. He has called Israel a 'stinking corpse' that is 'on its way to annihilation.' Such talk cannot be dismissed as the ravings of a madman - not when Iran just this summer tested long-range Shahab-3 missiles capable of striking Tel Aviv, not when the Iranian nuclear program is nearing completion, and not when Iran sponsors terrorists that threaten and kill innocent people around the world.

"....So, what should we do about this growing threat? First, we must succeed in Iraq. If we fail there, it will jeopardize the democracy the Iraqis have worked so hard to build, and empower the extremists in neighboring Iran. Iran has armed and trained terrorists who have killed our soldiers in Iraq, and it is Iran that would benefit from an American defeat in Iraq.

"If we retreat without leaving a stable Iraq, Iran's nuclear ambitions will be bolstered. If Iran acquires nuclear weapons they could share them tomorrow with the terrorists they finance, arm, and train today. Iranian nuclear weapons would set off a dangerous regional nuclear arms race that would make all of us less safe.

"But Iran is not only a regional threat; it threatens the entire world. It is the number one state sponsor of terrorism. It sponsors the world's most vicious terrorist groups, Hamas and Hizbullah. Together, Iran and its terrorists are responsible for the deaths of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s, in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s, and in Iraq today. They have murdered Iraqis, Lebanese, Palestinians and other Muslims who have resisted Iran's desire to dominate the region. They have persecuted countless people simply because they are Jewish.

"Iran is responsible for attacks not only on Israelis, but on Jews living as far away as Argentina. Anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial are part of Iran's official ideology and murder is part of its official policy.

"Not even Iranian citizens are safe from their government's threat to those who want to live, work and worship in peace. Politically-motivated abductions, torture, death by stoning, flogging, and amputations are just some of its state-sanctioned punishments. ...[The] Iranian government is both oppressive and barbaric. Under Ahmadinejad's rule, Iranian women are some of the most vulnerable citizens.

"If an Iranian woman shows too much hair in public, she risks being beaten or killed. If she walks down a public street in clothing that violates the state dress code, she could be arrested. But in the face of this harsh regime, the Iranian women have shown courage. Despite threats to their lives and their families, Iranian women have sought better treatment through the One Million Signatures Campaign Demanding Changes to Discriminatory Laws. The authorities have reacted with predictable barbarism. Last year, women's rights activist Delaram Ali was sentenced to 20 lashes and 10 months in prison for committing the crime of 'propaganda against the system.'

"....Earlier this year, Senator Clinton said that 'Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is in the forefront of that' effort. Senator Clinton argued that part of our response must include stronger sanctions, including the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization. John McCain and I could not agree more.

"Senator Clinton understands the nature of this threat and what we must do to confront it. This is an issue that should unite all Americans. Iran should not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Period. And in a single voice, we must be loud enough for the whole world to hear: Stop Iran!" "This is an issue that should unite all Americans." - Gov. Palin

Gov. Palin went on to suggest concrete actions, such as pressing "for truly tough sanctions at the UN, or with our allies if Iran's allies continue to block action in the UN We must start with restrictions on Iran's refined petroleum imports. We must reduce our dependency on foreign oil to weaken Iran's economic influence. We must target the regime's assets abroad; bank accounts, investments, and trading partners. President Ahmadinejad should be held accountable for inciting genocide, a crime under international law. We must sanction Iran's Central Bank and the Revolutionary Guard Corps - which no one should doubt is a terrorist organization.

"Together, we can stop Iran's nuclear program." In her conclusion, Palin reiterated a mantra promoted before Jewish audiences by presidential candidate McCain:"Senator McCain has made a solemn commitment that I strongly endorse: Never again will we risk another Holocaust. And this is not a wish, a request, or a plea to Israel's enemies. This is a promise that the United States and Israel will honor, against any enemy who cares to test us. It is John McCain's promise and it is my promise."

For those of you unaware, Obama's operatives in New York threatened to have the 5013c non-profit status revoked from the organizations sponsoring the anti-Iran rally if they permitted Sarah Palin to speak. Meanwhile, Obama's chief campaign adviser is hosting Ahmedinijad at a special Ramadan unity dinner celebrating his visit to America.

-MZ

Bailing out the Fed

Who's going to bail out the fed?

The fed last night bailed out AIG for nearly $90 billion dollars. Before this, they bailed out Mae and Mac for an estimated $300 billion. Before that, the fed bailed our Bears & Stearns for nearly $30 billion. All told, we are up to nearly half a trillion dollars in federal bailout money and counting.

Who will pay for this bailout? WE WILL.

The two questions to ask: Why did this happen, and what should now be done?

First we look at how this happened. It's logical, and not as complicated as you may think. The Clinton administration wanted to do the politically correct thing by pressuring lending institutions to give unsecured money to unqualified minorities, and guarantee it through the secondary market of Mae and Mac - organizations quasi run by the government.

The idea was that all americans should be ENTITLED to a home, and the government would see to it that all people could get unsecured money from banks by guaranteeing loans would be good even if the recipients were grossly unqualified.

This practice expanded into a giant unsecured mortgage lending explosion, eventually providing the giant influx of lending money available to ordinary americans, and creating the housing explosion we saw in the first 5 years of the Bush administration.

Of course, we now see the fall out.

While the banks gave out money to anyone with a heart beat, the housing market began to show signs of serious failing beginning in 2006. People had seen the artificial appreciation of their properties begin to stall. Houses stopped selling because the bloated market had reached the breaking point. Bubbles began to burst and defaults started to creep in as the zero down, interest free loans came do to be paid.

Of course, collapse was inevitable. A house worth 100k that suddenly became worth 350k when money was more available than dirt could only be bought if buyers took out the big loans. The american people were in effect held hostage by the government intervention that created the artificially inflated market, forced to take out giant loans if they wanted to buy a house, and then hope that they would be in a permanently appreciating market that would provide access to unlimmited home equity cash.

Now we see the curtain has been lifted. People predictably are now stuck in homes they can never hope to sell, owing double or triple their value, and defaulting as the money dries up. The collapse of the housing market causes record unsold inventory stagnating the market. Repossession and auction becomes the norm. People declare bankrupcy left and right.

What happens to mortgage banks who have lost their cash cow? They go under. Suddenly the government controlled secondary market that floated all these bogus loans is caught with billions of dollars in unpaid, defaulted debt. The government that created this mess in the first place then steps in, bails out Bears and Stearns, then Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, AIG and who knows how many more, and the American people are handed a bill.

A very, very big bill.

What do we do from here? The dems will tell us that the way out is through more government intervention. More government control and regulation of the lending market to make sure the economy won't fall too far and too hard.

McCain, has said he wants to reform the marketplace by eliminating those artificial safety nets the government issued that got us into this mess to begin with. He wants accountablity. He wants to end the madness by stopping the banks reckless money lending policies the government itself was responsible for creating.

I believe McCain is right. The government intervention caused this mess, and throwing more federal money and regulation around is the worst possible thing we could do to our economy. We need to go back to fiscal responsibility. We need to end the "hand out" mentality that begins with government promising "a roof over everyone's head, a chicken in everyone's pot", cradle to grave entitlement. This mentality extends all the way up to the top, where every failed lending institution is given hand-outs from the government, billions and trillions worth of handouts, so that they can keep giving more handouts to americans who are ENTITLED to the "dignity" of new houses, new cars and universal day care.

NO MORE!

McCain is right. We need to stop the madness, reform the government, demand accountability, and eliminate reckless financial policy. Institutions need to know the government will not step in with juicy hand outs and bail outs when their risky, dangerous monetary decisions backfire.

-MZ

Olmert declares jihad on Settlers

Ehud Olmert, the disgraced Israeli PM who is being run out of office on a rail for corruption, has declared that Jews in Judea and Samaria are not entitled to self defense. Despite terrorist attacks by arabs, the Israeli police have declined to act and Olmert has threatened to use military action against Jews who attempt measures of self-preservation.

Arutz Sheva: An Arab terrorist entered Yitzhar's outlying Shalhevet neighborhood early Sabbath morning, set fire to a house that was empty at the time - the family had gone to Rehovot to celebrate a grandmother's 90th birthday - and then stabbed a nine-year-old boy and threw him over a fence 4 meters high.

The boy, who fought back and broke the terrorist's knife, landed on a bush and was only lightly hurt. Afterwards, men of Yitzhar descended into the nearby hostile village of Asira el-Jabaliya, to where the terrorist was seen fleeing, threw rocks at houses and shot into the air.

Olmert condemned the Jewish response, using words such as "taking the law into their own hands," "brutality," and "pogrom." He further accused the Jews of having "used live weapons and wounded Palestinian residents," and said that there had been "no basis to assume... that [the targeted Arab] residents were at all connected, whether directly or indirectly, to the terrorist attack in Yitzhar."

Danny Dayan, Chairman of the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria, said that no evidence had been produced that anyone in the targeted Arab village was wounded by Jewish gunfire. Olmert thus spoke without checking the facts, Dayan implied.

In addition, the spokesman for the town of Yitzhar said that Arabs of the targeted village, Asira el-Jabaliya, had set fire to Yitzhar seven times in the past three months - thus putting the lie to the Prime Minister's claim that there was "no reason to assume that [they] were at all connected" with the terrorist attack.

This helps push the envelope further towards the needed Settler Revolution that we are all waiting for. As we get closer to the breaking point, part of me tingles with anticipation at the thought of Olmert swinging from a noose on the front steps of the Knesset.

-MZ

Where were you on 9/11?

There may be no more powerful, defining event in our lives as Americans than 9/11. Like most people, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when the WTC was hit. Please respectfully tell us where you were the moment you learned the terrorists planes hit the twin towers.

Please, no wild conspiracy theorists and no mocking or joking about the moment. We have other threads for that if you can't help yourself.

I'll go first:

I was on my way to a job interview in South Florida. As I approached the parking lot, the AM radio station I was listening to broke in with a report that a plane or hellicopter hit the WTC and little else was known. I thought it was strange, but did not believe it was a terrorist strike...probably a personal jet and the pilot had a heart attack or something.

When I got back in the car after my interview the second plane hadn't hit yet. A moment or two later, the 2nd plane struck. Now I was certain this was a terrorist attack, and I raced to my office to see what was going on. The TV there then showed the image of what I heard on the radio...unbelievable.

When the pentagon was hit, and then PA, I remember wandering outside to see if there were planes in the air over Ft Lauderdale. I was nervous the whole nation was being attacked, and felt a very strange sensation of being in a world gone upside down.

Going into 9/11 I was politically moderate and completely secular. I considered myself an independent who leaned right. After 9/11...well, I'm not going to get too political, but since that moment I have become the MZ you've all come to know and love.

-MZ

Peres hosts Ramadan feast, declares unity with arabs

How special; Peres is celebrating Ramadan...

Arutz Sheva - President Shimon Peres hosted Tuesday evening leaders of the Arab-Israeli community for a traditional dinner to break the Ramadan fast. "We are all descendents of our father Abraham and can coexist.

"The God that you pray to in Arabic and the one we pray to in Hebrew does not command us to throw bombs but to pray," he said. "A world without Islam will be a more miserable one, as will a world without Judaism, Christianity or Buddhism."

Among the dignitaries who attended the dinner were the Jordanian and Turkish ambassadors to Israel, Islamist Movement founder Sheikh Abdullah Nimar Darwish and Shawki Hatib, chairman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee.

The president continued to say that "we do not aspire to be conquerors" and compared the Arab-Israeli conflict to other disputes that were eventually resolved.

"During the 60 years since Israel's inception we have fought seven wars, but also signed two peace agreements," he said. "Did we not return (all of the conquered land) to Egypt? We also gave Jordan all of the water resources back. This is how we ended the occupation. I am certain that this scenario will repeat itself with the Palestinians."

The president said the solution must entail an independent Palestinian state. "I don’t believe one state for two nations is feasible. There must be two separate states for two nations," he said.

I say that declaring unity with moslems is a great idea, provided the premise is unity over the decision to remove the arabs from the Land of Israel. This is so pathetic...

-MZ

Missionary blogger busted posing as a Jew

Recently, someone who had semi-regularly visited this site posing as an Orthodox Jew, suddenly "came out" and announced he is now a "Messianic Jew". We know now that he was actually a fraud from the very beginning.

For those of you who are unaware of what "Messianic Jew" means, let me explain.

"Messianic Judaism", also commonly referred to as "Jews for Jesus", is not a Jewish entity or movement but a Christian one. It's established for the sole purpose of missionizing Jews to accept Christ as their savior, and they target vulnerable, secular Jews who seem to be a little bit lost in life.

Their network of Christian missionaries use many of the outward trappings of Judaism to appear as if they are Jews who simply happen to think that Jesus was the messiah. They are trained in some basic Hebrew, and use many passages in Torah that they twist to show has "evidence" that Jesus was the Jewish messiah after all.

Of course, the Jews they target are not from religious backgrounds, don't know Hebrew very well (if at all), and are easy marks for these missionaries who aim to ease them away from Judaism without emphasising Jesus too much. Don't want to scare them off, after all.

Of course, the idea is to move Jesus from the background to the foreground, and gradually begin pointing out how Judaism is a "religion of men", while accepting Jesus is accepting God. They continue down this slope, inch by inch, until they have converted the subject to Christ and left their Judaism behind.

These organizations are very savvy. They know how to benignly at first draw the vulnerable in, and then slowly reprogram the unsuspecting victim. It is a movement that is 100% rejected by all Jewish denominations, perhaps the ONLY thing that all Jewish denominations actually agree upon.

We as Jews are commanded to destroy anyone who attempts to draw us away from Torah to another belief system. The contemptible Messianic Jews are the worst of all offenders because they not only are doing that, but they are simultaneously blaspheming everything we as Jews believe in by pretending that what they are peddling is somehow actual Judaism.

A Messianic Jew is not a Jew at all. A Messianic is not accepted as a Jew for a minyan, cannot receive an aliyah, is cut off from his people and the world to come, and is not welcome in any legitimate synagogue if revealed. They are the most reviled of all movements, and are usually very anti-Semitic.

Now, I want to let my Christian friends know that you are not lumped into this group. I know and love many Christians who completely accept that we share many similar values, and accept the fact that Torah is divine, and that Israel is the exclusive eternal home of the Jewish people as mandated by God, but we also respect the fact that we are practicing completely different religions. This enables us to work together for common interests and oppose our common enemies together.

Some Christians will be confused by the venom we Jews feel for the despicable messianics, so let me put it in a way that you will understand. Let's pretend that I am determined to make Christians change their ways and become Jews. I invent a movement called "Christians against Jesus", and assert that true Christians know that Jesus was nothing more than a pagan myth.

I then open up a ministry preaching that we need to "save" Christians by convincing them that salvation can only come by rejecting Jesus and practicing Jewish Law until the true Messiah comes. I prey upon Christians who are secular, down on their luck, and looking for something more in life.

I succeed. Eventually, my ministry is a global network that is making converts left and right all over the world.

Would this be offensive to Christians? Would most Christians be disgusted and outraged that this was happening? You bet they would, and justifiably so.

I worked very hard behind the scene with my friend Bar Kochba to expose this fraud. He now goes by the name "Daniel", though in the past he went by "Yehudi01". I have severed links with him, and now consider him as if he were dead. I will not communicate with him anymore, and will not blog when I see his moniker in a thread.

Bar Kochba has an excellent piece on this, and he goes into much greater detail from a Jewish Law perspective than I did here. Please check it out.

-MZ

Palin? YES! McCain? ehhh...ok

Can we reverse the ticket? Listen, McCain has an inspiring story and a great plan to fight corruption that we all can believe in. However, his meandering speech last night didn't hold a candle to Palin's masterpiece, and put my wife to sleep.

Look, I love the theme about how he and Palin will attack Washington with the veto pen in hand and force accountablity to the "do-nothing" politicians, but then he drifted into a dull, meandering, and exceedingly liberal snoozfest with the "free Community College" crap and the "wage differencial compensation" bull sh-t.

Thankfully, he soared again at the end when he explained how his experiences being tortured caused him devote his life to serving America with integrity.

Bottom line: The best decision McCain ever made was picking Palin. Palin is The One, and his only chance to win the election is riding her skirt tails to the White House. She's the star on the ticket, and he needs to get the hell out of her way.

-MZ

A Star is Born

"The Natural"

Well, I think anyone who watched that speech last night had to be blown away. Last week we saw a little taste of how good Sarah Palin might be when she was first introduced to us as McCain's pick for VP. Well, we now know that great first impression was justified - and then some.

I was left nearly speechless from her speech. She's The Natural, The One, she's just "got it". In all my years of watching political speeches, I have never, ever seen anything like it. She was spectacular, and launched herself into the national spotlight as more than just a qualified VP pick, but a GOP superstar for many, many years to come.

The part of the speech where Palin declared that, as the mother of a Downs child, she will be a friend and advocate in Washington for families with special needs children, my wife, an independent who pre-MZ had leaned Democrat, welled up with tears. It was incredible to see that even as she brutally smashed Obama, the emotional connections that women often need to get on board were made in that speech.

Three critical elements were necessary if her speech was going to be successful:

1. She needed to show she was tough and poised under intense pressure
2. She needed to explain why she was more qualified than Obama to be President
3. She needed to emotionally inspire both the crowd in the hall and the viewers at home

On all three counts she was phenomenal. A truly gifted natural speaker who is off the charts likable. Even the liberal media pundits were left mesmerized with their jaws dropped in praise. I've never seen anything quite like it.

That said, there is still a long way to go before the work is done. I think she may end up being the key factor in who wins this election, even more than the candidates themselves. She has a star quality and speaking ability that even exceeds Messiah Obama himself, and is just too powerful a force to be left in the traditional VP background.

Lots of attacks against her to follow, but she is simply electric and so formidable that I can't see anyone or anything stopping her. The Dems have to be absolutely terrified right now.

Of course, the quiet winner after her brilliant performance: John McCain for having the brass balls to pick this dynamo despite the doubts of the so-called experts. They said it was a high risk high reward selection. Last night, Sarah made him look like a genius.

MZ

Big night for Palin

Angry, lunatic-fringe leftists aside, I think most people in America are incredibly excited to see Sarah Palin's speech tonight. McCain has chosen the most popular governor in the Unites States as his running mate, and while many of us already have fallen in love with her, for many others who don't follow politics closely, or are sitting on the fence, this is possibly the biggest coming out party in political history.

Watching Gretta Van Sustrin doing recap on FOX last night, I noticed the crowd behind her chanting, "Palin! Palin! Palin!" Observing the dynamic, I got the feeling she's going to get by far the biggest, loudest reception of the entire convention tomorrow night, partly as a backlash against how she's been treated by the press and the democrats. They rightly believe their girl has been shat on, and they will give an outpouring of love and support in her defense. The establishment is unethically messing with their girl, and like with Hillary in the primaries, this bias by the media will inspire that protectionist instinct to fight back and could prove very harmful to the Obama campaign.

Susan Estridge even came out last night and said the democrat's attacks against Palin are the lowest, most sexist cheap shots in political history. She said she disagrees with Palin's politics, but the viscious personal attacks about her family are unprescedented. Remember, Estridge is a far left Democrat operative who ran the Dukakis' campaign and worked with Ferraro when she was a VP candidate. This is significant, because it shows the pushback isn't just from partisan Republicans anymore.

I can't imagine what it must be like for Sarah with so much riding on this one performance. We will be witnessing history tonight, one way or the other. If she does well she may just lock up the nomination for the GOP and become the first female VP. If she chokes under pressure and gives a clunker speech she'll effectively kill the campaign tonight.

The stakes couldn't be higher. Personally, I believe in her and think she'll knock it out of the park.

Incidentally, Palin's pregnant daughter Bristol will be there tonight with her fiance. The terrible stigma the Dems have tried to label her with could really backfire when the country sees how mature, honorable and courageous this family is in the face of unimaginable personal attack and hatred in the media.

Good luck, Sarah. Our country needs you.