Post your comments and questions for July, 2016.

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71 Comments

  1. Catherine,
    One of THE things that would stop so many bad things would be for all of us to understand psychopathy, figure out a way to stop it, and rehabilitate their enablers and victims. It sounds like you have already had encounters with a psychopath or two. Have you studied the subject much?

    Chad

  2. Catherine,
    I’m a little confused by your question. Dangerous to whom? Dangerous to an individual, the agency, and/or the country? Dangerous in what way? Also, to me, there is a distinction between a regulator and a law enforcement officer. The regulator is a civilian within a regulatory agency and the officer is in the enforcement section of the agency.

    I guess the short answer would be to follow good government guidelines like transparency, good hiring practices, strong ethics guidelines, enforcement of the law, legitimate accounting, etc. For instance, I am surprised at the number of agencies who have weak background investigations of their prospective employees. Many investigations are farmed out to contractors. How good are they? Do we want private entities with intimate knowledge of government employees? I don’t see that working out that well.

    We would also have to remove private money from our elections, except for a relatively small amount per person. If donating entity is not an actual living person, then there can not be a donation.

    Generally speaking, regulators, which includes the attorneys and technical personnel, should be paid well with good benefits, not be able to use the revolving door, and be punished severely, if they abuse their office. This especially goes for high level bureaucrats in agencies and judges.

    I don’t know all the answers and I’m not under an illusion that we can have a corruption free government agency, but we can certainly model the systems that appear to work. I haven’t done so, but perhaps looking at Portugal would be a good start or perhaps the states that have already legalized marijuana.

    Chad

    P.S. I think Martin Armstrong’s idea creating a Roman Tribune like position that would be empowered to investigate any higher level government official would be good for our government, in general. IGs within agencies should be given stronger powers. We should also have term limits and one and done restrictions on political positions.

  3. FYI, Catherine. So many people could have access to homemade pain killers (i.e. legal marijuana) if states granted legal access to plants that people could grow at home…..and they wouldn’t be subjecting themselves to highly addictive and dangerous opioids. Of course, this market would have to be highly regulated to minimize abuse, IMO.

    Chad

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/13/one-striking-chart-shows-why-pharma-companies-are-fighting-legal-marijuana/?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_2_na

    1. How do you prevent the regulators from becoming more dangerous that the drugs?

      1. In some ways, I want this comment area to be like ZeroHedge where I can push the either like or dislike button. LOL! When you consider the pharmaceutical company insistence on addiction to THEIR drugs, I have always felt that there might be a year or so of ridiculous over-intake of marijuana, but after that silly period, the waistoids (who were already in that class) would remain there and others would shake themselves out of the “we haven’t done anything for months” situation. Much like becoming a widow and dealing with grief… at some point, and I have a lot of experience in this, you kick yourself and start doing something useful to society (let alone to yourself). Simply taking the huge profit out of the drugs and putting them in a taxable (TRANSPARENT) situation will benefit all. You won’t be smoking dope in the confines of your home with only your dealer knowing about it, everyone will. Digest that.

        BTW, here is another Netflix documentary to show what is happening in Colorado, especially as it relates to THC regulations… “High Profits”. Check it out.

        Jane

    1. Note all of these events follow immediately after the Turkish deal with Israel announced in Rome.

  5. Catherine,

    How do I see your full comments on each news article on the blog. I see the links to the articles and a few words or comments but not your full comment

    1. Brian:

      I don’t comment on the Top Picks website. The few notes you see are posted there as an identifier. I comment on the most important in Money & Markets which publishes late on Thursday evenings every week but the last week of the month. We post the notes to Money & Markets, so you can skim them to see what I mentioned or listen to the audio.

      Feel free to post any question on the Top Picks. Brad Eddins is our Top Picks editor. Scanning the news daily is a critical part of understanding the deeper trends that rolls up into the quarterly and annual wrap ups.

      Catherine

  6. Catherine,
    Here is an article that supports my earlier comments and addresses other aspects of policing that should be considered. I don’t necessarily agree with all of the comments, but the article is worthy of consideration.

    The drug war needs to be drastically scaled down or eliminated. If Portugal can do it, we can do it too or at least something like it. The drug war is probably THE key factor in causing the breakdown in relations between the police and and their respective communities. I’ve come to believe that the drug war is more about control and protecting the pharmaceutical cartel than anything else. To me, allowing alcohol to be legal and marijuana to be illegal has no basis in logic or science and I hope officers everywhere come to agree with LEAP. Please see the links below.

    http://www.leap.cc/

    Chad

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-13/too-many-laws-why-police-encounters-escalate

    1. Yes, I agree. However, the War on Drugs was used to build the legal and financial train tracks for the War on Terrorism. When you bring down one, you need to deal with the second.

  7. Catherine,
    I would add one thing to your list of actions and that is to grow a garden.

    Chad

    1. YES!!!!!!!!! Availability of nutritious food is going to increasingly be limited by higher and higher prices. Growing your own can be a good investment.

        1. Yes. Good advice. If you look at our crowdfunding Solari Report, I interview a entrepreneur with a neat system to make small batches of fermented foods.

      2. Meet Farm Bot…. http://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/meet-farmbot-27762

        From someone who built, operated and practically lived in an organic garden center, this invention is over the top cool. At 66, I am not willing to bend over for 10 hours a day (any more)
        to insure that my plants are healthy and weed free… but this brilliant idea is worth the investigation. Only a few more days left to get their “best deal”. Hope you will consider including them in your food (AKA sustainability) features!

        (BTW, you see it comes from the website, forbiddenknoawledgetv… thanks to Dark Journalist, another site worth perusing during the day/week).

        Jane

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