Old School Biker Rodeo

BAND member Wild Bill in the slow race

As always the Old school Biker Party in the pasture was just that, OLD SCHOOL and one hell of a party. This event put on by Scooter Goods Magazine is rated in the top 5 Old School Biker Parties in the country. Unfortunately, based on the number of RV's and golf carts that showed up this year it is becoming known.

Our hope is this isn't the end of the "old school" flavor Scooter Magazine has worked hard to protect.

This has got to be one of the friendliest events we have been to. Everybody treats everybody with respect which is hard to come by now days. The staff works hard to insure the events run smoothly and the Bands are always most excellent. We can not say enough about this event so we will let the pics do the talking. For Some of the tamer pics click here.  Bit even then be advised, there is nudity, if that bothers ya don't click.

I personally want to thank Ms. J for showing off some of my ink work and second place in best color tatt and second place in best black and grey.

Thanks to Spirit for driving the chase vehicle and Z and TZ for saving the camp during the big wind. Good music, good times w/ kick ass brothers an sisters. You can be sure we will hit it again.

BAND Members pervet and texas Mike having a good time.

P.S. Don't forget to visit our Biker Lifestyle pics page for tatts and other Biker related pics. And then just imagine the pics we do not post.

Ride on!

Zen Biker, My election day video

your time is worth 90% less than 40 years ago

Talk about your minimum wage.

This  is what one hour of your wages is worth priced in Gold.  In the 40 years since Nixon's 1971 fiat-fiasco, the value of the average hourly earnings for US citizens has dropped 90% in terms of Gold. Chart starts with Nixon, ends with Obama. And  you thought there was a difference between republicans and democrats. Thank you to Zero Hedge. 

Presidential Elections, Wall Street already won

Naomi Prins is a whose who in the world of Wonks. Meaning she is smart. Before becoming a journalist, Naomi worked on Wall Street as a managing director at Goldman Sachs, and ran the international analytics group at Bear Stearns in London. Which means she has been there and done that! In our previous post, Bank of America accused of BRAZEN Fraud, and so?, we talk about the Bull illusion the the government tries to create that they are actually going to hold anyone accountable for the travesty called "economic downturn" created by our banks. Here Ms. Prinz reveals that the games are still in full swing, emphasis ours:

Tuesday, October 23, 2012 at 7:00AM

Before the campaign contributors lavished billions of dollars on their favorite candidate; and long after they toast their winner or drink to forget their loser, Wall Street was already primed to continue its reign over the economy.

For, after three debates (well, four), when it comes to banking, finance, and the ongoing subsidization of Wall Street, both presidential candidates and their parties’ attitudes toward the banking sector is similar  – i.e. it must be preserved – as is – at all costs, rhetoric to the contrary, aside.

Obama hasn’t brought ‘sweeping reform’ upon the Establishment Banks, nor does Romney need to exude deregulatory babble, because nothing structurally substantive has been done to harness the biggest banks of the financial sector, enabled, as they are, by entities from the SEC to the Fed to the Treasury Department to the White House.

In addition, though much is made of each candidates' tax plans, and the related math that doesn’t add up (for both presidential candidates), the bottom line is, Obama hasn’t explained exactly WHY there’s $5 trillion more in debt during his presidency, nor has Romney explained HOW to get a $5 trillion savings. 

Bank of America accused of BRAZEN Fraud, and so?

And of course we are not surprised.  In October of 2008 we posted The Government can't run a whorehouse so you give them your banks.  And the only thing that has changed since then is that, now the Banks own the government and everybody else is quite a bit broker. Occasionally however the government takes a stab at a bank and fines them.  But the "CROOKS" never go to jail.  OF course Madoff went to jail. But he wasn't a bank. He was minnow swimming in a pool of sharks.  Now Bank of America is a Shark.

The U.S. is accusing Bank of America of "BRAZEN" Fraud. We will post the story here with some observations highlighted, in red, for those who do not like to read long posts. Ater all, most won't read this far. Which is why the second sentence at the beginning of this post is true! Those who also read the New York Times version will, sadly, be deprived of the astute if not meaningless, comments of this writer:

Five years after the housing market crumbled, government officials are still trying to assign blame for the problems that fueled the mortgage boom and bust.

Which of course is difficult when your watchdog agency the SEC is busy watching porn on your dime! See: America burns while the watchdogs fiddle-why we are at the mercy of the aristocracy

On Wednesday, federal prosecutors in New York took aim at Bank of America. They accused it of carrying out a scheme, started by its Countrywide Financial unit, that defrauded government-backed mortgage agencies by churning out loans at a rapid pace without proper controls. In a civil suit, prosecutors seek to collect at least $1 billion in penalties from the bank as compensation for the behavior that they say forced taxpayers to guarantee billions in bad loans.

Considering who you source for the info Bank of America has received 20 billion, 45 billion, nobody really knows billions and may still be getting billions. Pick a story. So if Bank of America is found guilty and no one goes to jail (lets get this out of the way right now o.k., NO  ONE IS GOING TO JAIL) and pays 1 Billion in fines. Then Crime been good to them!

Deck of cards=Bible, Soldier, seasons and calendar

How we are losing the middle class

OF two Minds by Charles Hughes Smith is rated by CNBC as one of the top yet unknown financial blogs. We find many of his posts to be thought provoking at the very least. It is not our goal on this site to present views and opinons that will motivate people to flock to our site. It is our goal to encourage the few that do arrive here to think! Thus we present the lates by Mr. Smith (emphasis ours for those that only like to read the highlighted stuff). 

Generational Wealth and Upward Mobility

Advanced democracies have lost upward mobility. 

Both capitalism and democracy promise the opportunity for upward mobility. Capitalism offers upward mobility to anyone with a profitable idea or productive skillset and work ethic. Democracy implicitly promises a "level playing field" of meritocracy, where talent, drive and hard work open opportunities for advancement.

Crony capitalism offers wealth to the class that already possesses it. Feudalism bestows "rights" to wealth to a favored few. In a way, upward mobility is a real-world test of a nation's economic and social order: if upward mobility exits in name only, then that nation is neither capitalist nor democratic. Stripped of propaganda and misleading labels, it is a feudal society or a crony-capitalist economy masquerading as a capitalist democracy.

Japan is an interesting case study. Some readers of last week's series on Japan noted that Japan was still very wealthy and life was good there. Indeed, some commentators have made the case that Japan has purposefully indebted itself to mask the wealth generated by its export machine: The Myth That Japan is Broke. (via Mike H.)

Here is last week's series:

Narcissism, Consumerism and the End of Growth
Japan and the Exhaustion of Consumerism
The Hidden Cost of the "New Economy": New-Type Depression
The Future of America Is Japan: Stagnation
The Future of America Is Japan: Runaway Deficits, Runaway Debts

My focus was the consequences of economic stagnation, not measuring Japan's national wealth, and this raises the issue of upward mobility: Yes, Japan remains very wealthy, but the wealth is concentrated in a specific neofeudal class; Japan's economy has lost the upward mobility of its long 1950-1990 growth phase.

We are blessed to have many young (20s and 30s) Japanese friends, single and married. Though it is not a random selection, it is geographically and socially diverse. In reviewing each friend/couple's education, financial stability, homeownership and the wealth of their parents, I realized every young person (under 40) who owns a house or flat has parents who made the purchase of their education and home financially possible.