Ben Bernake wins the 2009 Rube Goldberg Contest

I was reading the rules phor the 2009 contest at rubegoldberg.com

The goal phor 2009 is to replace an incandescent bulb with an alternative, relatively more ephphicient, light emitting device. Within the execution of the machine, it is encouraged to demonstrate within some step that the incandescent light bulb does indeed work. Though it is encouraged to show the incandescent bulb lights up, it is not required.

And it hit me like a ton of bricks, for a very long time it was believed that the engine of economics runs like a big fancy Rolls-Royce 16 cylinder machine. An elaborate motor with several pistons running, sometimes parts can go bad and impair a portion of the movements but the overall motion continues with the other pistons that still function. This work of art managed to "turn the crank" of the economy with some of the pistons not working at all. Adjustments can be made to the pieces as it ran and it would get back to full steam over time. If too many pieces broke it would then stop, but all you needed to do was throw out what was broken, then put in new pieces using the same tools you had used for maintenance and it would start up again. This is what we call the Austrian school of thought.

Later on some folks decided the world's economy was better off if we used a gigantic fancy watch with a plethora of gears, cogs and balances. It was believed that a constant tinkering with the size and shape of pieces could allow it to run forever. If this "money clock" started to sputter or jump about, you just needed to tinker with the pieces to get it back into syncopation. This machine never stops spinning but it gets really hard to keep track of the time and you are always running the risk of being too late or too early for something important. You never have to worry about it stopping but you also gave up on reliability. This is the Keynesian economics theory.

Ben Bernake has a new kind of machine going now. Having lost track of how all those little gears and cogs go together he has given up on fixing the "money clock" and has simply thrown all the pieces into a gigantic Rube Goldberg machine. And every time the little brass balls fall of the track, he tacks on some more alphabet soup pieces to make it roll again.

This machine he built has left us with only two possible outcomes, it will either come crashing down into a gigantic mess or continue growing hasty patches and fixes forever.

He probably wishes he could roll out the old 16 cylinder engine to run the economy, but he sold that off to a Far East trader a long time ago.

What Who to Vote Phor?

Iph they allow the election to continue, I think I am limited to either one of two distinct choices.

Iph I want to hold on to the lifestyle we Americans have been accustomed to, I think I will have to vote for the person I pheel is most capable and steadfast in his desire to preserve the "Great American Dream". Someone who has demonstrated a willingness to do anything and everything possible, even those things that we did not consider possible will be done. All avenues pursued, all recourse's taken, all haste be made for the salvation and preservation of the all powerful, all consuming American way of life. I have to choose such a determined advocate, in order to travail over the coming implosion of the US Dollar Hegemony. It is absolutely vital to the continuity and dominance of America that we elect an individual capable of such acts.

On the other hand......... Iph I pheel that the excesses of the past and the sins of our fathers are a shameful disgrace and unworthy of the ideals of our republic than I must choose a leader who has stood fast against the torrent of abuses that we have enjoyed until now. A leader who has demonstrated a sincere effort to abide by the principle's of our republic of free men. A leader who has lived not just by words but by deeds, to uphold, defend and protect the Constitution of these United States from all enemies foreign and domestic. Iph I feel that the path we have been led down is the wrong one, I must be an advocate for change.

So it has come down to two choices. I will vote phore either Dick Chaney or Ron Paul.

You read me right, Chaney or Paul. We have no other choices other than these two. We have reached a point of necessary extremism. Neither McCain nor Obama have the brass ones to be our President now, at this time, never for the predicament we are in. To late for one, to soon for the other.

If you like living it up consuming half of the WORLDS economic output. If you like the idea of being part of the 5% of the global population that gets to keep almost half of everything(water, minerals, meat, gas, toys, etc... etc...) you are most assuredly not going to waste a vote on anyone else but Dick Chaney. Dick Chaney is your man, right here, right now. No one else has the unmitigated gaul to do what it takes to preserve this lifestyle we enjoy.

John McCain just wants to be president. Dick Chaney wants America to be the alpha-dog of the WORLD.

You don't need liberty. You don't need free speech. You don't need anything we used to hold as self evident. You just need to be content with driving big cars to big malls and big theaters and big restaurants with big meals and bigger doggy bags to take back to your big homes. That is the stuff you like, that is what comforts you. You can do without "Free Assembly" just as long as you can have all the "Some Assembly Required's" that your heart desires.

Iph you have read the Constitution of these United States and thought it would be great to live in a place that followed it, you have to vote for Ron Paul. Not because you agree with his platform 100% or as little as 0%. You have to vote for him, because you need a president that reads and comprehends the Constitution. If you don't like his position on a subject, I've got news for you. He is actually going to bother with asking the permission of Congress to do anything. He is going to follow the rule of law. He will not rule over the law. He will not venture beyond any mandate set forth in the Constitution. If you don't like the idea of Ron Paul not perpetuating an agency or policy that was never the role of the Executive branch to begin with, you better put Dick Chaney in office.

Obama is a populist, that means he will do what makes everyone happy. We are done being happy. Happy did not end well. We are so far gone into the black hole of debt that any means of social welfare are pointless and doomed to failure. We need to get used to the fact that we must depend on only ourselves as individuals. Individuals can only succeed with cooperation. Government will have to limit itself to facilitating cooperation amongst citizens from neighbor to neighbor, town to town, county to county, state to state. Organizing cooperation will be the only viable function of government from now on, until we get back on our feet.

If Obama wanted change he should have never voted for the bailout. Instead of making excuses for why the bailout is needed, maybe he should read up on the Constitution to find out that it is not a Senators duty to make Kings who can rule without rebuke and unchallenged absolutism.