Stop Thinking for Yourself

Everything you have been told before is now different.

See - at one time you knew enough to trust your own sensibilities. That does not work anymore. For instance, Al Gore tells us that a hot day is because of global warming climate change and a cold day is also because of global warming climate change. Which is it?

Then you were expected to believe what they told you on the evening news. But that did not pan out either, since establishment media is stocked with lapdogs for the current administration.

Now and a more profound twist, you can no longer believe what was bad during the campaign is still bad now because, now; it's policy!

Remember, before the election, when Wall Street profits and largess were evil?

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc said quarterly earnings surged 33 percent on blowout trading results, trouncing forecasts and putting the bank on pace for hefty bonuses that could draw unwanted scrutiny.

The results continued Goldman's extraordinary rebound from a near meltdown of the U.S. banking industry last fall that led to a $125 billion taxpayer bailout for its largest members.

Goldman set aside $6.65 billion for salary, bonuses and benefits in the quarter, up by nearly half from the quarter ended in May last year.

That puts the average Goldman employee on pace to earn more than $900,000 this year. Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, senior officers and star traders will likely receive tens of millions of dollars.

Remember, before the election, when we'd see a leaner, more effective government?

Recovery.gov is the Obama administration's website for tracking government stimulus spending. Will there soon be a tracking explanation of the $18 million that the administration has recently dedicated to redesigning and maintaining the newly-launched site for the next four and a half years?

The Maryland-based Smartronix Inc. won a bid for $9.5 million to redesign the already-functional Recovery.gov by January and up to $18 million through 2014, according to a press release from the General Services Administration.

Smartronix isn't giving interviews right now about the deal.

No kidding.

"That's insane," said Brad Crowell, a Los Angeles-based Web designer who worked on a now-defunct media-rich social network. "I would never have to work again in my life... It doesn't even take a million dollars a year to keep a site up."

What a novel use for $18 million of stimulus money; stimulating the website that's keeping track of the stimulus. Remember, before the election, when wasteful junkets were a clear sign of excess?

PHOENIX -- A Social Security Administration motivational management conference held at a high-end Valley resort last week cost $700,000, the SSA told the ABC15 Investigators.

Costs for the conference at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa included airfare, hotel entertainment, dancers, motivational speakers, and food, an administration official said.

A spokesperson outside the SSA's Phoenix office declined to comment.

You don't say.

A spokesperson from the SSA's regional office said the conference was essential, that teleconferencing was not an option, and that all 675 managers needed to meet in person. The SSA provided ABC15 with a list of courses provided at the conference, which included "Techniques to Empower You," "Mentoring the Generations," and "Emotional Intelligence."

What am I thinking; it's only wasteful excess in the PRIVATE sector.

Hope, change; horseshit.