2009 Promises New Challenges

Hard to believe that today we are at the 9th year of a very fast moving decade, but 2009 promises lots of "change" or new and unprecedented challenges. The biggest "change" come 2009 is going to be our first interracial President. This alone is a testament to the great achievement of minority tolerance and acceptance by America and Americans. But race alone, will be not enough to quell the unparallelled and daunting challenges facing our country in the coming years.

As we look to our future here in Milford and Connecticut, we see massive multi-billion dollar deficits at the state levels, our major cities in default on paying their bills and a rash of business closings. UI our biggest local electrical provider, and vital business resource is relentlessly reaching deeper in the pockets of those businesses on the verge of failure.

Blumenthal our AG personally joined me and others at Bridgeport City Hall where we along with 70 other people openly spoke to the DPUC about the negative impact UI continues to have on business here in CT. While our newly elected State Rep. Barbara Lambert recommends we purchase solar panels, none are seen on her house or that of any local businesses. She along with others recommends incurring more debt and loans to combat the high cost of energy, a prevailing "looney" philosophy that is now being reiterated at all levels of government.

2008 will forever be remembered as the year of the TARP, or the year America was threatened with Marshall law if we did not give massive loans to big banks, the same then has gone for the Automakers, and the FED now has cut interest rates to near zero the lowest ever by my memory.

All this to combat the symptomatic "bubble economy" the pop after pop could be heard still today, as the energy bubble burst from $150+ dollars a barrel down to as low as $35, to the real estate bubble, the Internet bubble, the derivatives bubble, etc. etc. etc.. A good friend of mine and an economic adviser told me that if Americans paid off all their debt the economy would fail in its entirety. This is simply because we built a Fractional Reserve system. What this means to the layman, is that money today is real easy and cheap to make its simply paper and ink, but more importantly than that our country passed a law making it "legal Tender" and your willingness, or unwillingness to accept it is what gives it value. More disconcerning is the 10-1 deposit to loan ratio, where by a $1,000.00 deposity allows a bank to lend $10,000.00. This system allows loans that default to also default at 10 to 1.

The kicker going into 2009 is that emergency economic circumstances caused the government to panic and hence printed and created far more than the Congressional allowed 700 Billion. MSNBC and Bloomberg are both now litigious demanding that the FED and the Treasury reveal who they gave Two Trillion Dollars to, and what assets were secured on behalf of the taxpayer. Our leaders at both these institutions have refused to hand over the records, their tenacity over these records are an eerie reminder of the Nixon administration and his unwillingness to hand over the Watergate tapes.

Meanwhile Americans are contributing vast sums of money in taxes so we may have good roads, good schools, social security, health care, and economic development but so far the only thing that appears to happening is greater cries for stalled, delayed, and underfunded projects that are desperately needed. On the larger note, Richard Roy our local state Rep. in Milford uses the word "total meltdown" when speaking about the burgeoning federal and state deficits and the impact they will have on our state.

As comical as he may sound to some ignorant people, He his not alone in his assertion, David Walker former Comptroller General of the GAO warns that "hard choices" have to be made now or we risk the collapse of Social Security and Medicaid in the not so distant future. Nancy Wyman our state Comptroller is also struggling with nightmarish state deficits, deficits so large that as much as 1/4 of the entire state budget may have to be eliminated.

One would think that with all this bleak news and expert advice that our leaders would dare to challenge or reverse the very policies that got us here. Unbelievable as it may be, no one is encouraging Americans to save money, quit borrowing beyond their ability to pay. None are condemning NAFTA, GAFTA, and those American job killing trade agreements, none are calling for impeachments or criminal arrests of the perpetrators of these economic crimes. None dare condemn the two party system for not more aggressively challenging one another on matters of illegal wars, torture, theft of taxpayer resources, corporatism, and greed.

Whatever the cowardly reasons are, fear, intimidation, insurrection, spineless leadership, or conspiracy none of it matters, what matters are the immutable laws of history and the arrogance of decadent people who fail to act, care, or understand the nature and gravity of things to come. History may have to repeat itself yet again, as it did in Germany.

Right here in our own town we can see the early patterns of economic implosions, as Linens and Things, Bic, KB Toys, Milford Furniture, Steve and Barry's, The Blue Turtle, and yes many others too numerous to name are all out of business or GONE. Yet our leaders still remain complacent, cavalier and refuse to act against those tyrants that got us into this mess. We are yet to have a leader come forth and declare independence from a nation that has proved its incompetence beyond a reasonable doubt. We have instead misplaced our faith in a new President who by his own words promised "unpopular choices" coming during his tenure.

The constitution makes it clear for the states to defend them selves during these challenging times. Mainly the 10Th Amendment, and Article 1 section 10 of the constitution. What I believe our state needs to do is declare as much independence as it can from the Federal Level and institute a Platinum, Gold and Silver intrastate denominated barter system. This will shield us from the excesses of the "weimar-Fiat" over printed dollar. And one last point, gun sales and ownership are breaking all records.

Rocco Frank