Lost Films Found

Long-missing comedy shorts such as 1927’s “Mickey’s Circus,” featuring a 6-year-old Mickey Rooney in his first starring role, 1917's "Neptune's Naughty Daughter"; 1925’s “Fifty Million Years Ago,” an animated introduction to the theory of evolution; and a 1924 industrial short, “The Last Word in Chickens,” are among the American silent films recently found...Read More: A treasure trove of silent American movies found in Amsterdam

News and Notes

I've been a little behind in updating the blog. I have original posts lined up and other things, but I fall behind because I have so many other things on my mind and so much on my plate right now. But stay tuned and don't lose heart, for my pledge to SE and you is to devote my entire life to blogging, to spend every free waking hour at a computer slaving away writing outstanding pieces to enlighten and entertain. I won't even eat (I'm too fat anyway, my body can use the calorie break, and I can probably live off my belly fat for a few weeks).

Of course, when I'm thin and trim again, you may face another SE lack of good posts crisis, but that's life, and blogging.

So Consolation Trumps Truth?

Banker Suicides the Prequel to Global Collapse?

The onset of the great depression of the 1930's brought a spike in banker suicides, Will Rogers noted of the time, "When Wall Street took that tail spin, you had to stand in line to get a window to jump out of, and speculators were selling space for bodies in the East River."-http://youtu.be/czBIBEMuRQU

Coroners in London are preparing to investigate two apparent suicides as unexpected deaths by finance workers around the world have raised concerns about mental health and stress levels in the industry.-Bankers' Deaths Shine Light on Stress in Industry, Tunnel Vision

The sudden rash of bankers expiring in mysterious ways has been well documented. Jim Willie revealed last week that we are seeing bankers removed who are on the verge of revealing big data details on FOREX bank fraud. Read more at Alert: At Least 20 Bankers Now Dead!

Just As Predicted

A little help:

Quote of the Day: The Laws of Nature

"We must proceed with a full realization that no statute enacted by man can repeal the inexorable laws of nature." – Warren G. Harding

The Crisis is Not Over! A Conversation with Legendary Investor Jim Rogers

But of course, the Chinese economy is anything but free market.

China is the greatest construction boom and credit bubble in recorded history. An entire nation of 1.3 billion has gone mad building, borrowing, speculating, scheming, cheating, lying and stealing. The source of this demented outbreak is not a flaw in Chinese culture or character—nor even the kind of raw greed and gluttony that afflicts all peoples in the late stages of a financial bubble.

Instead, the cause is monetary madness with a red accent.-China’s Monumental Ponzi: Here’s How It Unravels

"Twinkle, Twinkle" Piano Variations- Evolution of Popular Music

Scott Bradlee takes the popular children's song, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and uses it to trace the evolution of 24 popular music styles, from waltz to dubstep.-http://youtu.be/-jDR14y19fQ

Manual for Creator Gods and Universe Operators

All Welfare is Corporate Welfare

Did you ever wonder why most welfare programs continue to stay afloat even as it is proven to be riff with corruption, inefficiencies, and scandal?  The answer is simple: like all things in DC, lobby groups work constantly to keep these programs going on behalf of large corporations.

Case in point, I found this article from WeAreChange.org a little enlightening:

Although a notorious recipient of “corporate welfare,” Walmart has now admitted that their massive profits also depend on the funding of food stamps and other public assistance programs.

In their annual report, filed with the Security and Exchange Commission last week, the retail giant lists factors that could potentially harm future profitability. Listed among items such as “economic conditions” and “consumer confidence,” the company writes that changes in taxpayer-funded public assistance programs are also a major threat to their bottom line.The company writes:

“Our business operations are subject to numerous risks, factors and uncertainties, domestically and internationally, which are outside our control … These factors include … changes in the amount of payments made under the Supplement[al] Nutrition Assistance Plan and other public assistance plans, changes in the eligibility requirements of public assistance plans …”

Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, is notorious for paying poverty wages and coaching employees to take advantage of social programs. In many states, Walmart employees are the largest group of Medicaid recipients.

Notice that listed in this section I shared that Wal-Mart is dependent on not one, but two different forms of welfare: both Medicaid and SNAP.  In the past, Wal-Mart has also encouraged the raising of the minimum wage as well.  Recall also that Wal-Mart also allowed the poor to loot one of their stores when the EBT system went down.

It looks to me that Wal-Mart is a retail chain that is wholly dependent on the War on Poverty continuing because they make huge profits from other productive taxpayers who do not shop there.

It is one thing for a free market system where an individual can deny their money or services to a business.  But in this case, Wal-Mart is forcing the government to ensure that poor people get money so they can get rich.  This is not capitalism, this is cronyism at its finest.

All welfare programs exist for the express purpose of enriching the large corporate companies, which the Left hates so much.  This is largely because the poor tend to have more disposable income than the middle class due to the fact that the government subsidizes nearly every foundational expense they have from food to housing to utilities.  So of course Wal-Mart and other retail chains like them benefit from these programs because it means the poor can buy crap that they don’t need, thus boosting their profits.

No welfare program will ever be defunded or eradicated so long as the current system is in place.  And no, I’m not talking about the constitutional system, but the corporatist system that makes even the Whig party roll in their graves.