Friday, August 5, 2011

Tuned Out, Bob Grady @ the May Tea Party Event

July has flown by in a blur of sun, beer, and laughter.  All good things, among other things.  I have tuned out from the hype of polity and society.  Just waiting for the mofos at the top to start fingering each other to save themselves.  The debt deal?  More like the dead deal.  Who's dealing?  Kickin the can down the road, sure feels good, dodnt it now. 

I had an interaction with Bob Grady of Cheyenne Capital several weeks ago here in Jackson.  Some Senators were there but I didn't make out which ones.  Jackson's Tea Party organized the event and I was attended without any idea what it was other than an event "with a great speaker."  Great speaker, sure, but what was he speaking about?  Cutting Medicare.  All this shit has circulated the MSM by now (this event was in late May), but Bob Grady was on the front lines of the cut Medicare campaign.

Sitting in the back row for the entire Powerpoint presentation, I had a hard time watching all the bald and gray heads sit there in silence as Grady used his remote control as a wand streaming through slides explaining that Medicare is the primary problem with the U.S. budget deficit.  I'm sorry, Bobby, but  we cannot cut medical care for the poor to save money for the problem is much larger than Medicare, and you know it. 

At the end of the question and answer session, after I had raised my hand repeatedly, Bob finally looked in my direction with the fear that this young person in the back row may actually ask a real question, and indicated he relented to allow me to ask a question.  I stood up and said something to this effec; "I think Niall Fergusson would agree (in one of his last slides, he referced Fergusson) that the U.S. is facing a period of imperial overstretch with our interst payments, and furthermore, I would argue that our interest payments to the Federal Reserve resemlble a ponzi scheme.  Now, if you would, Mr. Grady, please explain the role of the Federal Reserve with regard to monetary policy, and where the Congress regulates such decisions?"

Grady responded, with at first a smile and his attention projected on all the graying babyboomers in his immediate radius, "Well, the mandate of the Fed is price stability..." after which he lost the smile and trailed off in a bullshit haze which I interjected with questions about the Fed's status as the largest holder of U.S. debt, as opposed to China, a common thread, and the Fed's role as a fiat money machine.   After two counterpoints I made, one of Grady's cohorts remarked from the aisle across the room, "We should have only one more question, the hot dogs are getting cold," or something like that.  Really, you old fart?  Whatever, the point is the debate is being stifled and people need to get loud.  I'm not sure what the U.S. Treasury pays to the Fed on interest, but let's face it, the U.S. is broke.  Why try to blame the poor for problems the rich create?  Oh wait, stupid question...next.  Why do you try to lie to hundreds of graying babyboomers about Medicare being the culprit of our woes?  Who's axe do you grind?  Your Bush namedropping is a giveaway.

Several weeks later, I saw Grady as I was walking into the Maverick Station in Jackson.  He was right inside the doorway as I was opening the door, entering the building.  I even held the door for him.  He looked me in the eyes and remembered me I think.  I should have asked him what it was all for.  What is it, Bob?  Why do you lie?  Where does your inside information come from?  What is the grand plan?


I should have thrown him a fake sucker punch.  Motherfucker.