A Truth Journal: Cool WTF? Government Officials Are Voluntarily Giving Up Salaries Back to Taxpayers?

Tired dogs (Photo credit: jimbob!)

A Truth Journal: Cool WTF? Government Officials Are Voluntarily Giving Up Salaries Back to Taxpayers?: From Denny:  Just when we are all so furiously angered at the selfishness of our government officials for the usual screw-ups, pure laziness and lack of will to make positive corrections, there happens to be two of them that rose above and beyond the call of duty.  Yes, there are two federal officials that have landed in the Admiration Corner today.  These two men are class acts.

Turns out the sequestration mess caused high levels of Pentagon civilian employee furloughs - to the tune of 750,000 people.  The plan was to lay off these unhappy folks for 22 days but that has been cut back to 14 days.  Still, it isn't easy to lose one of your paychecks - even though it's spread out over many months through September.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced that huge block of civilian furloughs will save $2.5 billion for the Pentagon budget.  The sequestration across-the-board budget cuts went into effect on 1 March which amounts to $41 billion.  This $2.5 billion employee furlough will be tacked to that reduction.

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A Truth Journal: Fiscal Follies: What Everyone Is Ignoring For The Cure

A Truth Journal: Fiscal Follies: What Everyone Is Ignoring For The Cure: From Denny:  Here we go again with the Great Republican Distraction.  This time it's the smoke and mirrors about whacking away at Social Security and Medicare and now Obamacare.

Most especially Social Security had nothing to do with running up the precious deficit but to hear the Republicans tell it all "those 47 percent moochers" are running up the deficit with all these villainous entitlements which said moochers have paid into that fund part of their paychecks for years.  If Big Business and sloppy politicians had quit slipping their greedy hands into big accounts like Social Security over the past few decades none of us would be having this discussion.

Will the Democrats allow the lies to stand?  What will they do about this constant shell game from the opposition party?  Definitely it's time for a bold stand and bold thinking to get the job done.  After all, the business community is stressing and hand-wringing about driving over the fiscal cliff.  This from the same guys who refuse to pay taxes into the system but enjoy corporate welfare taking gobs of money out of the country's collective treasury.  Yes, in case you missed it - that is the imagery of really bad sex. :)

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Funny But True: Man Pays Off Home Mortgage With Pennies

English: Large amount of pennies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From Denny:  This is too funny.  A man really did do this.  He said saving pennies started on a whim when he and his wife took out a mortgage on their house 35 years ago back in 1977.

Thomas Daigle said when he and his wife were leaving the bank they noticed a penny in the parking lot.  Daigle picked it up and joked on a whim about how this would go toward their penny fund to pay off the mortgage.

"A penny saved is a penny earned" he reminded himself.  For decades, when he collected pennies in change he would park them in this fund.  Then he would place them into rolls and throw the rolls down and under his work bench into heavy metal boxes.

Fast forward to this spring in 2012 and Thomas Daigle and his wife made a special trip to the Milford Federal Savings and Loan to pay off his last payment on the mortgage.  Those rolled pennies were stashed in two heavy metal boxes now weighing in at over 200 pounds each.  How many pennies did he dump onto the bank?  Try 62,000 pennies to be exact, $620 for the last payment.

So, how long did it take the surprised bank employees to unroll all those pennies that Daigle had spent decades rolling and stashing away?  It took the bank over two full days to unroll them all.  Sure banks have machines to count change but it's human hands that have to unroll them.  Whew!  Can you imagine being on that duty all day long?

Daigle thinks his funny situation teaches the value of the lowly penny and the discipline to stick with something over a long period of time to achieve your goal.  It just goes to show that all those pennies hanging around your house, stuck in the couch, found in the parking lot and on the sidewalk on your way to work do have value.  You never know when your penny fund will pay off a bill for you!

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The Social Poets: Crooked Deal, No Oversight: Bank America Gets $75 TRILLION Bailout From Taxpayers?

Image via WikipediaThe Social Poets: Crooked Deal, No Oversight: Bank America Gets $75 TRILLION Bailout From Taxpayers?: From Denny: Think you know just how scummy the tactics are on Wall Street? Wait for it because this week the American taxpayers got skunked yet again - and without Congress getting involved.

What happened to screw over Americans? You see Bank of America got greedy and shoveled toxic derivatives out of their recently purchased Merrill Lynch and into the part of the bank that is insured by the U.S. government: taxpayers.

That way the Merrill Lynch unit of Bank of America will not be responsible for what could be as much as $75 TRILLION in this toxic dump. That's how much of this garbage they have in house. To get perspective on this, the annual American economy is only $15 trillion.

The Social Poets: Occupy Wall Street: Are Their Conclusions Correct?

The Social Poets: Occupy Wall Street: Are Their Conclusions Correct?: From Denny: This new American Revolution, Occupy Wall Street, caught fire across America in less than one month of protests. OWS is spreading to 25 cities like an oozing peanut butter sandwich overflowing with jam - and is now international too. There is just something so appealing about this protest movement because of its common ground that cuts across the spectrum of race, gender, lifestyle, generations, education and economic class.

Occupy Wall Street Protests Mantra

Occupy Wall Street protesters have been smart in targeting the lynch pin of American society: the financial sector. It is the financial sector that buys the politicians to pass the laws to unleash business to have free rein and never enforce what laws are on the books.

It's the financial sector that buys the police force to intimidate ordinary citizens like those incidents of pepper sprayed women during the protests. Notice they didn't go after men who could pummel them; they went after women.

The Social Poets: Jon Stewart Interviews Boomerang Author Michael Lewis About Global Big Banks Disaster

The Social Poets: Jon Stewart Interviews Boomerang Author Michael Lewis About Global Big Banks Disaster: From Denny: This author decided to go on a walkabout. Actually, Michael Lewis went on a financial disaster tour of several European countries: Iceland, Ireland, Greece and Germany.

He wanted to view the global financial disaster through the prism of each culture and what a view he got. (He is also the author of Moneyball that was recently made into a movie.)

In Iceland he discovered that up until seven years ago the only way to make money in Iceland was fishing. But, seven years ago," the men literally walked off the fishing boats and walked into the banks deciding to become currency traders in a matter of days."

The Social Poets: Occupy Wall Street Protests: Where To Find In Your State

The Social Poets: Occupy Wall Street Protests: Where To Find In Your State: From Denny: The Occupy Wall Street protests are growing so fast that it is tripling every three days.

The mainstream media complains it is too difficult to cover the protests. That sure sounds like their Big Business handlers and Wall Street are trying to sideline the protesters.

Well, not so fast Big Boys. The following is America's list by the states and territory of OWS protest events, dates and timeline updates.

The Social Poets: Funny Jon Stewart Mocks Wall Street For Causing Greek Crisis

The Social Poets: Funny Jon Stewart Mocks Wall Street For Causing Greek Crisis: "From Denny: Get your crash course in crooked banking Wall Street style from your favorite comedian. He does make learning fun. Why wasn't college this entertaining?

You have all hear about how Greece is melting down financially. Recently, the European Union put on hold their $billion bailout while they await Greece to sell off some of their assets. What took the Greeks so long to get around to the obvious? They should have sold their banks and state-owned companies years ago when they were first in trouble.

If you have ever visited Greece you soon learn they have one terrific lifestyle. It's not terribly responsible on the individual level any more than on the national level. They literally party every night, spending hundreds of dollars a night. They do not save money. They don't believe in savings accounts. Amazing."