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horatio
horatio
9 years ago

If you read the comments before you listen to the podcast, dont watch the video first like I did, because Jack starts the podcast by playing the audio of the video.

She is pretty amazing though.

JC
JC
9 years ago

Article IV Section 2 Clause 3 actually reads: “The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.”
The lady in the video claims that this only applies to “the Territory” which she claims has a specific legal definition that no longer applies within the continental United States, however the clause clearly also says “other property”. With this in mind it would seem like the authors of the Constitution intended for federal land ownership outside of “the Territory.”

Insidious
Insidious
9 years ago
Reply to  JC

My understanding of her statement was that the ‘other property’ was limited to D.C., several ports, and military bases (which were at the discretion of the state they were located in).

I’m not a constitutional scholar, so I have no idea as to the accuracy of her statements, but they do encourage me to go and take a look. =)

JC
JC
9 years ago
Reply to  Insidious

Yeah I think you’re right. I guess she’s taking those specific cases from Article 1 Section 8 and assuming that they are the “other property” referenced in Article 4 Section 2. In my opinion it’s quite a stretch to assume that that’s the case seeing as they are in two separate articles which are dealing with completely different things. I think the main issue is that the Constitution stays pretty vague on a lot of points. I think that’s where I take issue with her comments about the Supreme Court. I agree that the Court shouldn’t be making laws but I do think there are cases such as this where the Constitution isn’t as clear as we would like. In that case I do think it’s the Courts job to interpret the law (i.e. what does “other property” apply to). The constitution has places where it specifically forbids the federal government from doing some things. Its my opinion that if the framers really intended to forbid federal ownership of land they would have probably specifically forbid it.

Insidious
Insidious
9 years ago

Some random future stuff:

Internet & Phone went out the other day. Went to support website for my provider and had option of ‘phone’ or ‘text’ support. Chose text. Support asked my what the problem was, said it was sorry for the inconvenience, tested the line and let me know that there was in fact a problem, scheduled a technician visit. That catch? It was a chat bot. No human involved.

Indian tech support can’t compete on $ with a chat bot. And you can train one by simply recording tech support calls for a couple of months and then running a deep learning algo on the data, here’s a free class if you want to learn how to do it:
https://www.udacity.com/course/deep-learning–ud730

*****

On the uber pricing change based on demand. For those not familiar with it, this is the exact OPPOSITE of the way Taxi fares work, which are legislated and determined by the city the taxis operate in. As they’re legislated, something like demand pricing is impossible.

Insidious
Insidious
9 years ago
Reply to  Insidious

This has been mentioned before, but self-driving vehicles would have a pretty profound effect on employment:
http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/02/05/382664837/map-the-most-common-job-in-every-state

This rebuttal lists a number of other occupations ripe for automation:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-truck-driver-isnt-the-most-common-job-in-your-state-2015-02-12

Patrick
Patrick
9 years ago

Shortly after listening to this episode, came across this article:
The world’s first robot-run farm will harvest 30,000 heads of lettuce daily
http://www.techinsider.io/spreads-robot-farm-will-open-soon-2016-1

Very interesting

horatio
horatio
9 years ago

Does automation mean prices of things will go down? It seems to me that if you can take out a big part of the cost of labor for something like building a house, then the price of housing would go down.
As machines get better and better the price should keep falling. I think, and this might be pie in the sky, but I think that automation is going to bring about a lot of good and allow more people to live better, freer lives.

Ann
Ann
9 years ago
Reply to  horatio

John Pugliano used the word deflation several times in the podcast to describe the reduction of prices for things that could be due to cost-savings AND competition. No competition, the seller pockets the cost savings. General deflation can be scary in economics because people have no incentive to buy now because the price will be lower tomorrow, which slows economic activity, but he wasn’t using the term in that context.

Lisa
Lisa
9 years ago

Attorney Hall is certainly passionate but she is also delusional. Much of the Constitution has been an artifact for a long time, including, no doubt, any restrictions on the federal government owning land. (Yellowstone-the first federal park-was established in 1872 after all.) As Charles Murray put it in his book By the People: “The founders’ Constitution has been discarded and cannot be restored, for reasons that are inextricably embedded in constitutional jurisprudence.” The first section of Mr. Murray’s book provides a historical analysis of how the Supreme Court gutted the Constitution; the damage is wide and deep… and permanent. It is what it is and to imagine we can restore the Constitution to its original intent might just border on insanity. For a look at the other extreme, check out this short article: “Inside The Backwards Ideology Driving The Right-Wing Militiamen Who Captured A Federal Building” found at http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/01/04/3735672/inside-the-backwards-ideology-driving-the-right-wing-militiamen-who-captured-a-federal-building/
In my opinion, Ms. Hall is not espousing much original thought and I don’t think she has thought this through. I wasn’t impressed. Her energies could be better directed if she advocated for those legal rights that still have a small ember glowing (e.g., free speech) but will soon be snuffed just as the government has already made former Constitutionally protected rights and restrictions irrelevant.

Lukkas
Lukkas
9 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

Lisa, you’re explaining the exact problem she’s referencing.

That the federal government has cast off the restrictions we the people placed on it, and we’re letting the perpetrators [both as individuals and as a collective] get away with it.

Lisa
Lisa
9 years ago
Reply to  Lukkas

No, the Supreme Court has cast off the restrictions. And Ms. Hall can claim all she wants that Supreme Court decisions do not “override” the Constitution. Well, yes they do. The Supreme Court “interprets” the Constitution and there is nothing the “people” can do about it. Her rant was simplistic and relied on sophistry. I would suggest the aforementioned Charles Murray book for more insight.

Lajaw
Lajaw
9 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

Wow, no wonder we are in the shape we are. A defeatist/slave attitude is not productive to fixing our problems. This is just beginning. Mrs. Hall is an awesome speaker and is righteous in her teachings.

Insidious
Insidious
9 years ago
Reply to  Lisa

The thing I find interesting about this is the discussion of government & law as if they’re PHYSICAL LAWS (the ‘facts’ of the matter are ‘x’).

No man made system is unalterable, inviolate or permanent.

What the founders ‘intended’, or what the supreme court has ‘decided’ are both equally immaterial to what WE THE PEOPLE decide to DO NOW.

The level of passivity displayed even by ‘freedom loving patriots’ is frankly, unbelievable.

‘We’ve lost the fight for x, and now we (will lose) the fight for y… so we need to focus on…?’ – Oh, losing that fight too.

Defeat is baked in? WTF

Are you FREE? Freedom is in YOUR SOUL. You can have a chain around your neck and still be FREE. You only become a slave when you DECIDE you are a slave. When you ACCEPT your chains as inevitable, and therefore as RIGHT.

Seriously. WTF.

Insidious
Insidious
9 years ago

I guess I’m feeling a little ornery this morning. 😉

Insidious
Insidious
9 years ago

I just can’t believe how passive people have become :-/

If you are in a FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE and you get knocked down, you don’t lie in the dirt and bemoan your fate, or decide that you might as well give up because your opponent is stronger than you, or that that last punch means ‘they won’… you get the f’ back up and tear into that m’f’.

You are not beaten UNTIL YOU ARE DEAD. And if you go down swinging, you still didn’t lose. Maybe that last blow you landed is the one that weakens your opponent enough so the NEXT GUY can take him.

(yes, feeling ornery) 😉

Lies just make me mad sometimes.

Lisa
Lisa
9 years ago

Well yee haw. Why don’t ya’ll go out and fight ’em. I’m sure there is a fight there that you’ll win. Look, I am a TSP subscriber and have been a listener since before Jack move to AK. (and btw, I left the Libertarian party and became a voluntaryist in 2010) If you are free, you won’t be pulled in by the demagoguery of Ms. Hall. What happened to Jack’s previous exhortations to ignore what you cannot change? I am so disappointed in this thread and the exultation Jack has given to Insidious herein. I admire a lot of what Jack has accomplished but I am as saddened by Jack’s admiration of Ms. Hall as he is of my attacks on her.

Insidious
Insidious
9 years ago

@Lisa –

😉

The fight thing is a metaphor. The battle I’m fighting isn’t about storming the capital building, or trying to change the government (outside my sphere of influence, and frankly, interest).

It’s to work on the hearts and minds of individuals to encourage them towards freedom. Defeat begins and ends in the mind and heart. Yes, that’s purely a BELIEF that I hold.

But logically if you decide ‘it’s over’ and then act as if it is, for you it is.

*****

Feel free to heap on the scorn though! 😉 I’m sure I can use it.

Grog
Grog
9 years ago

Jack,

ONe thing I learned is if you have VA insurance, you may very well be qualified to avoid Obamacare taxation. I got a form from the Veterans Administration about it just last month.

Matt in Ohio
Matt in Ohio
9 years ago
Reply to  Grog

Hey Grog, you’re right (at least in my case – 50% VA Disability = ACA compliance).

Dave S
Dave S
9 years ago
Reply to  Grog

Jack

Any Vet can apply for benefits. Based on income, availability of benefits, etc will determine the amount of coverage available to you from the VA. This is for the vet only, not spouses as these benefits are still only open to retirees, etc.

Michael F
Michael F
9 years ago
Reply to  Dave S

Dave is correct, Jack. I have VA coverage, too. You just fill out the income forms and they decided how much of a co-pay you pay. Also, you mentioned a machine at home to measure blood pressure… I actually have a home blood pressure machine from the VA. It records BP and also weight, transmits the data over the cell phone network to the VA computers, and they monitor the readings. And yes, they do monitor the readings. My late wife had a high reading one day and someone from the VA actually called and told her to go to the ER in case she was having a stroke. (And yes, the VA covers the local ER visit.)

I just received my VA form showing qualified coverage to file with my taxes…

And, strangely enough, the VA has a website that actually works where you can download your medical records, send private messages to your doctor (that he is required to answer within 24 hours) make appointments and re-order medication. Maybe those guys should have done the Obamacare website instead of Michelle Obama’s friend. LOL
The one thing, however, that VA healthcare requires: You have to be willing to make yourself responsible for your healthcare. You have to be your own advocate. They won’t chase you down asking if you want testing. I consider that an advantage, because it makes you more aware of your health.

John
John
9 years ago
Reply to  Dave S

I make a descent income but have chosen to use the VA since my employers insurance has gotten more expensive and covers less, thanks to the ACA. There are 8 tier levels of service, all veterans who served on active duty and were not dishonorably discharged will qualify for one of the tier levels.

Michael F
Michael F
9 years ago
Reply to  Dave S

Well, Jack, income level mainly determines the amount of copay (if any) you will be charged. I think it can also determine how much service you will be allowed, depending on your state of residence. You will be expected to pay for some services, but it’s still better than paying a monthly premium for nothing. Since the VA doesn’t charge a premium, you at least have legal coverage under the law.
And the reason they don’t tell you about it? Well, like I said, you have to be responsible for finding things out.
(The VA normally doesn’t cover dental except in rare cases, but you can get Met Life through them for about $15/month…)

Matt in Ohio
Matt in Ohio
9 years ago

Wow Jack! You turned me on to John Pugliano last year and his advice helped me turn my financial life around, so good on ya. Now you hit us with Krissanne Hall. She’s amazing. Thanks for yet another great find brother…..maybe a future Expert Council Member?

Lukkas
Lukkas
9 years ago
Reply to  Matt in Ohio

We could REALLY use a lawyer on the expert council. But Ann’s field of expertise isn’t exactly the field where legal questions come up most often for this audience.

caduckgunner
caduckgunner
9 years ago

I went to my local Chase branch yesterday, and all the teller windows except 1 had been replaced with fancy ATM machines. The difference was you could withdrawal up to $3,000 and pick what kind of bills you wanted.

dvdchris
dvdchris
9 years ago
Reply to  caduckgunner

Yep. Unofficial capital controls are effectively already in place at many/most(?) banks.

Lajaw
Lajaw
9 years ago

Thanks Jack for introducing Mrs. Hall to your listeners. I’ve been listening to her for several months and she is excellent. You done good.

Alan
Alan
9 years ago

Hey John, Funny you should mention flying cars. Here is a link to a human drone that was at CES this year.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/06/technology/ces-2016-ehang-drone/

Mike Centex
Mike Centex
9 years ago

Really great episode. John nailed it. Efficiencies will always drive change. If you can deliver the highest quality product or service, in the most efficient manner, you’ll be greatly rewarded. If you can’t, the economics will eventually transition you and your family to the welfare reservation.

It really will become a golden age for a few and mind numbing nightmare for many.

What’s ironic is that everything anyone needs to know to succeed in the coming economy can be learned today for free online.

What’s sad is how few will turn off the Kardashians, Facebook and video games and take the time to educate themselves.

What’s fair is that anyone who is willing to learn now has a chance to win.

Stephen
Stephen
9 years ago

Interesting show. I enjoy hearing from John.

One point I have on the insurance thing. I totally understand that costs are high, but I think that Jack, your costs in TX are unusually high. I have a sibling with two kids who lives in TX, and the best they could get was something like a $15k deductible plan that costs $1k/mo, and that was through her husband’s work. That’s f-ing ridiculous. I’m in MI, and me and my wife had independent insurance that was $400/mo total with a $3000 deductible, with a lot of other stuff covered at 50% and 100% after the deductible, or so. This blows, obviously, but it’s substantially better than what’s going on in TX. I think that whatever is going on in the TX insurance market is really weird compared to other places

Though, I admit I’ve never investigated insurance in any places other than MI and TX… Anyone else have some numbers on that?

dvdchris
dvdchris
9 years ago

just thinking about the smartphone…we are not quite 9 years into the smartphone era as we currently know it (introduction of iPhone summer 2007/Android summer 2008.) The company I work for is now transitioning to 100% mobile app job reporting by the end of Feb. As a result, those that don’t have/want to use an iOS or Android smartphone or tablet for their job will no longer be assigned jobs. In 8.5 years something that was a novelty for tech lovers is now a job requirement.

Micky
Micky
9 years ago

One of the ideas of schooling John mentioned sort of exist. We do what is called Classical Conversations with our son, it’s faith based classical education. There is a semester fee for each kid. They have what are called “tutors” which teach a class on what are called community days which meet once a week. The tutors are parents that have been to “practicum” which is a couple day training session. Pay for tutors is just the the semester fees collected minus expenses for the school and is divided equally amongst the tutors. Class are no bigger than I think 8 kids and parents are “asked” to be in class with them. Unless if they have multiple kids in which they can go to each kids class as they please.

Jose
Jose
9 years ago

I wanted to share a link to a short fictional story I came across. It is one persons fictional take on the coming automation. I work in software development so “automation” tends to stay at the front of my mind. The story is Manna (like manager).

Free to read link on authors site: http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

The first paragraph really grabbed me: “Depending on how you want to think about it, it was funny or inevitable or symbolic that the robotic takeover did not start at MIT, NASA, Microsoft or Ford. It started at a Burger-G restaurant in Cary, NC on May 17”

Chapters 1-3 were quite interesting and felt eerily plausible. I will admit that by 4 he does start going a little too “sci-fi” for my taste. Also, the author could use an editor to add some polish to the text.

cooper
cooper
9 years ago

I’m part of a health sharing account. My son went to the ER and stayed a few days. I paid my deductible and the health sharing account covered everything beyond that. Way better than insurance even through my employer.

Sam Williams
Sam Williams
9 years ago

There is now a pesticide free robot to kill weeds. They are working on they software. It only gets 90% of the weeds.
On Natural News.
Sam Williams

Sam Williams
Sam Williams
9 years ago

Kris Anne Hall is also trying to change the education system away from the government school programming.

Jake
Jake
9 years ago

RE: Obamacare tax

Source: https://www.healthcare.gov/fees/fee-for-not-being-covered/

Quote: “What happens if I don’t pay the fee?
The IRS will hold back the amount of the fee from any future tax refunds. There are no liens, levies, or criminal penalties for failing to pay the fee.”

Lesson: I refused to pay the fee for the last two tax years, but paid what I owed according to their other rules.
The worst they can do is deduct it from my ‘refund’.
Guess what…. Jake doesn’t give the gooberment interest free loans – he pays in. As little as possible !

Don’t get nervous and jerky about it folks – use the loopholes Jack talks about.

Jake
Jake
9 years ago
Reply to  Jake

Do you have a source for this 2016 change Jack ?
There is no recourse other than deducting the ACA tax from a refund – which I never get.

Jake
Jake
9 years ago

Form 1095-C ?
Yeah that’s to show if you were offered coverage and how much the employer paid – all part of the noose tightening.

Nowhere do I see anything they can do other than reduce your refund.
If you have a form number or publication number let me know – would love to research that.

I paid my tax due for 2014 but didn’t add in the $2k ‘penalty’ they said I owed for not having insurance; will be same deal for my 2015 return.

TheRetiredRancher
TheRetiredRancher
9 years ago

An article just came out today in the BBC website. It is the first mainstream media article that I have seen that points out the positives for a controlled widespread deflation. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28009477 The article is titled : Is Deflation Such A Bad Thing? Near the end of the article it says “And there is an alternative view that moderate deflation is no bad thing, especially if it is the result of innovation that reduces production.

Prof John Cochrane of Chicago University has another reason for suggesting that falling prices can be benign.

He wrote in his blog: “Zero inflation, or even a slow, steady, and widely expected deflation, are in fact much better in the long run. The financial system is much healthier with bundles of cash lying around, at no interest cost, than if everyone is engineering clever, but ultimately fragile, cash management schemes.”

John Pugliano
9 years ago

I’m in the camp that believes DEFLATION is good (or can be good). Look at the most thriving sectors of our economy over the past 50 years- computers, software, telecommunications, etc…all deflationary. Your cell phone, computer, laptop, tablet, software…each year the price either goes down or only slightly up with inflation and yet the performance, quality, speed, capacity, etc are exponentially better.

Think of how many things are actually FREE- skype, gmail, google docs, youtube, iTunes podcast, Kahn Academy, just to name a few. You can’t get much more deflationary than FREE!

Insidious
Insidious
9 years ago

It’s also fun to put a deflation (vice inflation) modifier into your retirement calculator. 😉

That being said, there is of course inflation in protected industries (such as health care) that seems unlikely to reverse. But I’ve been wrong many times before…

DrewfromOz
DrewfromOz
9 years ago

Malcom Gray beat Ford to the 5 day week. Ford visited his enterprise, and copied him with his own twist. 48 hours, down to 40, with the pay of 48…but productivity had to increase commensurate.
These two folks may have been first……but the pressure was on from unions and other bodies, worldwide. It was coming anyway.

And of course, an 8 hour work day makes shift work easier to coordinate, allows increased production. 2 shifts per day, with time for repairs/restocking in the the other 8.
Interview with Henry on the subject. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/HENRY_FORD:_Why_I_Favor_Five_Days%27_Work_With_Six_Days%27_Pay

Ford’s Sociological Department is also a very interesting read.
http://jalopnik.com/when-henry-fords-benevolent-secret-police-ruled-his-wo-1549625731

TMG
TMG
9 years ago

Mending Wall
BY ROBERT FROST

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
“Stay where you are until our backs are turned!”
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, “Good fences make good neighbours.”
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
“Why do they make good neighbours? Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.” I could say “Elves” to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, “Good fences make good neighbours.”

The wall, the physical boundary, represents the property rights, the legal boundary, of the owners. In the poem the wall needs to be re-established continually as it is under attack by various forms of chaos such as weather and people. The legal boundary of our Constitution has been eroded in the same way.

The poem questions the purpose of the wall, of the boundary marker, and contrasts the traditionalist “darkness” of following blindly with a modernist questioning of purpose. There are traditions that are indeed worth ending, but maintaining a clear agreement of where boundaries lay will always be important. Frost drives this in with the questioning of the mending wall where there seems no physical purpose between the Apples and the Pines. The purpose is not physical but legal. It is the fabric of civilization to have an established law. Mending wall is civics.

To me this echoes the current debate of the importance of the Constitution, the applicability of it today, and work needed to re-establish the authority designated to the People versus the Federal Government versus the States.

For fear and comfort we have ignored our duty of mending wall as a people. We as a people have traded safety and security for self-determination. There is quite a bit of work to do if we are to re-establish the boundary lines that the founding fathers set. The task is not insurmountable, but does require intent, effort, and vigilance. More need to awaken from complacency and stop taking our freedoms and rights for granted to see effective positive change. The revolution may be a slow erosion of Government powers as the juggernaut of The People arises, or something more spectacular. In the meantime, I encourage you all to keep leading by example, understand and effect your circle of influence; the revolution is you.

txmom
txmom
9 years ago

My youngest grandson just turned 1. We realized how many new things he takes for granted. He keeps touching our tv screen and gets frustrated because the “buttons” don’t work. He expects everything to be a touch screen.

His dad has a 3 d printer, so does one of his uncles. His dad has some little robots that he loves to play with. He picks up cell phones and touches them to things trying to get various objects to sync with the phone because that is how you are able to drive the robots through your phone. He expects to be able to control everything thru a phone. His normal.

Normal is having quadcopters fly thru the house. Normal is his siblings to have school at home.

His older brother (9) makes things out of snap circuits and is learning to program, flew to Paris with his dad to help present at a programming conference. At age 1 he expects all phones to have video chat. Anytime one of his parents is out of town they will video chat. I was watching him one night and he grabbed my phone, wanting me to call his parents, but my phone was defective, he wanted video.

His 3 year old sister wanted to watch TV and purchased a movie she wanted to watch on Amazon and played it. (Parents learned to put a lock on that, but they do most of their shopping online, another normal for him)

He loves to dance to music streamed or stored on the phone played through a blue tooth speaker.

He also loves cars, toy trains, balls, and playing outside. And even if he thinks grandma’s electronics are lame, he sure enjoys browsing my garden with his siblings.

When his dad was growing up, having a commodore computer was the new thing. Our telephone still had a cord. When I was younger and my dad in Vietnam the only way we hard from him was an occasional letter on very thin paper or a reel to reel tape. Things have changed much. It will be interesting to see how his upbringing will prepare him for this changing world.

229Mick
9 years ago

This was a GREAT episode! But then I just get excited any time I hear about viable distributed systems!

John Mainwaring
John Mainwaring
9 years ago

Haven’t finished this one yet, but we have been with a faith-based cost share program since the inception of the ACA. They do as they claim and more, paying for our midwife where most standard payers do not in this state. Ours has a limitation on chiropractic care, but I imagine every one is different.

AC_DUDE
AC_DUDE
8 years ago

Jack, where did you get that quote on public/government education by Fitch?