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The Federal Reserve – part of this economic story – deserves a look. Their main functions: conducting the nation’s monetary policy by influencing the monetary and credit conditions in the economy in pursuit of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates; supervising and regulating banking institutions to ensure the safety and soundness of the nation’s banking and financial system and to protect the credit rights of consumers; maintaining the stability of the financial system and containing systemic risk that may arise in financial markets; and providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions, including playing a major role in operating the nation’s payments system.

Federal Reserve System is not “owned” by anyone and is not a private, profit-making institution. Instead, it is an independent entity within the government, having both public purposes and private aspects. But – there are twelve regional privately-owned Federal Reserve Banks located in major cities throughout the nation, which divide the nation into 12 districts, acting as fiscal agents for the U.S. Treasury, each with its own nine-member board of directors. The Federal Reserve has never been audited. Dude, seriously.

“Insurance companies aren’t playing nice any more. Their dire message that health care legislation will drive up premiums for people who already have coverage comes as a warning shot at a crucial point in the debate.” The solution is easy; public option or single payer will bring insurance companies to the place they should be – service – to paying customers, not stockholders and executives.

“Netanyahu, for his part, has demanded the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state — a demand the Palestinians criticize as upping the ante from previous negotiations. The Palestinians say it would discriminate against Israel’s Arab minority.” Not just recognize a state, but a Jewish state. The backyard test: how would Americans take it if the majority of Christians in the US decided that we must be recognized as a Christian state, or Western Anglo state, or some other designation that leaves out some portion of the public and forces their allegiance to something other than their country. How about trying to skew the population of one of the states so that it is Christian only and is officially recognized as the Christian State of Whatever. Is it reasonable?

I eluded to war debt as being an aspect of the close of the Dutch Golden Age. The economic burden of repeated wars caused the Dutch to become one of the most heavily taxed peoples in Europe. Taxes were imposed on the transit trade in and out of the country. But as mercantile competition became stiffer, the rate of such taxation could not be safely increased, and the burden therefore fell increasingly on the consumer. Excise and other indirect taxes made the Dutch cost of living one of the highest in Europe. Sound familiar – Iraq, Afghanistan, support of Israel?

As I said, one problem with single payer or a public option is the “grasshopper and the ant” syndrome – I’m healthy and don’t use my insurance, but the slacker down the street, who doesn’t take care of himself uses more than his share – why should I pay for someone else’s benefit? Well, the latest health bill from the senate doesn’t change that situation. First, people must realize that they pay for everyone else anyway you cut it – but single payer cuts out corporate overhead, executive pay, and profit – a public option also works to limit corporate overhead, executive pay, and profit. The latest health bill requires – via fines – for everyone to buy health insurance – so, just as in the single payer model, that person who stays healthy subsidizes those who do not – and they subsidize the corporate overhead, executive pay, and profit. In fact, the corporate coffers would be stuffed with input from a young healthy population that is forced into the corporate system. Note the corporate concern: “Before the Finance Committee approved its bill, senators reduced the fines uninsured people would have to pay. The insurers argue that means many young, healthy people would remain uninsured, driving up costs for everyone else who purchases insurance — a conclusion that analysts generally agree is valid.” So – we don’t trust the government plan – instead, we trust the same folks who brought us the savings and loan crisis, Enron, military industrial complex fraud, mercenaries, sub-prime and other financial instruments, corporate socialism, and way more we know nothing of.

Surf showed up after the storm, and so did the blight of sediment. I let things sit one day – probably a worthless gesture – and paddled out Thursday. A fine day – balmy – and the surf was fun. Close frequency west-northwest swell, chest to head-high, and the rippers were all over it. Segundo Bol was a little too much for me, and I quickly rode waves down past Tiburones – a surf trip to Privates. I told Penguin about this secret spot, but he wasn’t impressed and has held it against me ever since. Anyway, the travel paid-off and I got some fun surf without the pro-effect. I saw the boyz getting ready to have another fun day in the sun today, but it was my fate to travel even further south.

Tonight I write from LA. I took 5 down and came across some interesting advertising. Apparently, congress has caused a dust bowl in the valley – at least that is what the continuum of roads signs stated. The wind was not blowing hard – and the dust was not swirling, although I have seen it pretty bad before. Instead, it was just that good ’ole Central Valley smog. Other signs regarding water were also visible along our Central Valley journey and it became apparent a water war is brewing. I think the war is between humanity – agri-business – and all other life that depends on water, like salmon, steelhead, waterfowl, and amphibians – a whole host of beings I know nothing about. I do know the salmon-business folk and the agri-business folk would have a lot to talk over. As I passed through the Valley, signs blaring, I thought about what it used to be like – uncontrolled waterways and wet lands, an aqueduct? – what flowed to the valley stayed in the valley. Grizzlies, salmon – I don’t know, but my imagination suggests a nexus of natural factors caused the occasional dust storm – Congress? Today, the Central Valley is mostly a manufactured landscape – producing unbelievable quantities of food – but sustainability? – Sustainability that includes the natural environment that use to work to reduce dust? A sustainability that includes the other beings on this planet is not in the equation. The road signs make that obvious. Onward and upward – dipped into the San Fernando Valley and it hit hard – the air quality is a joke. Bros and pros, please rejoice about where we live – the air quality, the small space enclosed between the mountains and the ocean, good surf, Redwoods, beautiful weather, the fact that we run into one another in the water and in the community – oh my gosh, I can always run this list long when I am away – especially in a place like LA.

Gee – here is an interesting fact – The total Wall Street welfare bill according to Nomi Prins, the author and former Morgan Stanley managing director, comes to more than $13 trillion. That’s about 37 years worth of total welfare transfers to low-income Americans.

Surf has been fun the last few days – Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We’ve had swell from the west-northwest and from the south-southwest. The west-northwest swell was 5 to 7 feet at 12 seconds; the south-southwest swell was 2.5 to 3 feet at 14 to 20 seconds. The numbers turned out to provide real fun, well shaped, surf, and the weather held – great fall surf. I surfed the Steps, Segundo Bol and Tiburones. I saw Goose charge a Tiburones Bowl – top to bottom – and underwater. He came up and started paddling back to the line up, and I, seeing the whole tamale, paddled over to riddle him. I found out he did a take-off dance with a young women and ended crossing her path at the nose of her board. Hence, the straight-off Adolph move. I thought it was just a full-kook maneuver, but he redeemed himself. Later in the session, I was able to talk with the young woman and inspect her board. The damage wasn’t too bad given what I witnessed, but I recommended she should take her board in to limit water intake. In a story that made me feel for her, she told me it was her only day off and she was riding a new board she had won, and the board had Tom Curren’s signature on it. Gosh – I told her about Ralph and let her know he would fix it and make it look like new – sorry Ralph – I may have set the expectations high. Later, she found me in the lot and got Ralph’s card from me. Swell model indicates a significant west swell for Thursday – oh boy.

Well – the swell continued – switched direction to west-northwest. Got some fun high tide waves a Segundo Bol and was ready to come in with that “good session vibe”. It was starting to get crowded as the tide emptied and the line up filled. I was sitting a little inside on the bowl shift – and it seemed I had a little space of my own. I was kind’a basking in the late afternoon sun waiting for a shift wave I knew was coming. I heard the jockeying around me but it still seemed far away. A wave was rolling through at the top of the bowl and I just pushed forward as the swell passed beneath me. Then – a thick shudder rifled through my board. “What the fuck?” I turned and got an eyeful of some idiot who had just punched through the wave into the bottom of my board. I flipped my board over and sure enough – just about punched through to the deck. Well – I went ballistic – veins throbbing at my neck – and a tidy string of slurs, expletives, and the lot. As my attention was turned toward thrashing the offender, JH chimed in letting the offender know that a trip to the ATM for $80 would can the situation. As I considered JH’s comments, the wile offender made his way toward Sharks. As luck would have it, an inside shifter was coming my way. I paddled hard and caught a racy wall down toward Sharks. It ended with a slap off the Sharks left and in seconds I had caught up with the board slammer. I called him in and completed his thrashing with the walk of shame. As we walked up the beach we passed several of the boys getting ready to begin their session. Each one asked about my board. I presented the evidence and pointed to the perpetrator who was hanging his head, “that idiot” I pointed out. Hot dog was the last to admonish the perp at the top of the steps. In the lot, I handed him my card – “send me the money, be honorable, or…” We shall see. I left the lot and immediately paid a visit to Ralph – now he’s got two of my boards.

Today the swell looked good at high tide, but when I went to join in the fun, I was greeted by low tide groveling. It was a beautiful evening, but the swell was moving on and the crowds weren’t. I ended up grabbing one good one before going in – “one good bottom turn” as Charlie used to say.

We are fighting terrorism in other parts of the world, but more and more, I recognize terrorist right here in town. A young boy was murdered in gang violence – and it came home – my son knew the boy from high school. It’s not the first report of gang violence this year, or last year, but it was close enough to feel. I read the letters concerning the event in the Sentinel and considered my own feelings. The letters spoke of fear – fear in walking alone, fear of certain areas of town, fear for children – and frustration – and helplessness. Fear, frustration, and helplessness – the definition of terrorism. I suggest that laws and funds that were made available in the Federal and State effort to combat terrorists and terrorism be applied at the community level to combat gang violence. In essence, we have a terrorist problem and should be eligible for State and Federal funds for resources to combat the gang violence and we should use terrorist laws to investigate and prosecute gang violence – lets not close Guantanamo Bay – lets send convicted gang terrorists there. The guys confined there now are model citizens compared to these idiots – I mean even those at Guantanamo that actually did fight Americans were fighting for their community against invaders. These gang terrorists are terrorizing their own community for no reason other than selfish bloated sick ego. Dude, seriously.

Final Word

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.

- John Kenneth Galbraith, economist (1908-2006)