IS IT TRUE September 14, 2012

37

The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE September 14, 2012

IS IT TRUE that on September 13, 2008 that the Real Clear Politics average of presidential polls showed John McCain leading Barack Obama by a margin of 47.4% to 45.0%?…that same poll right now shows President Obama with a 3.3% lead over Mitt Romney?…that the polls in 2008 changed in Obama’s favor by a margin of 8.4% after the 13th of September?…the changes with respect to 2012 are yet to be seen?

IS IT TRUE the Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science made the New York Times yesterday with an article about the newfound Picasso in the box?…we now know that the fortunate discovery did not happen because someone local made the discover but because a New York based art auctioneer traced the piece to Evansville and placed a call looking for it?…the first reaction of the locals was to tell him he had the wrong number but upon thinking things through they looked and voila there was the Picasso in the Box?…the estimate of the value for the Picasso in the Box is between $30 Million and $40 Million based on the experience of the auctioneer?…the tax value of the Picasso in the Box at the time it was donated to the Evansville Museum was $20,000 a mere 50 years ago?…if the same appreciation were to occur over the next 50 years this piece of art would be worth $80 Billion?…that may sound like a reach buy imagine the laughter that would have been aimed in the direction of anyone projecting a value of $40 Million for this in 1963?…This Picasso in the Box was worth only 4 or 5 times the annual salary of an average wage earner in 1963 but that today it is worth about 1,500 times the average annual salary of an Evansville family?…that selling an appreciating asset like an original Picasso is about par for the course in the City of Evansville where our leaders wish to spend over $2 Million per ball field or $1 Million to demolish a perfectly usable stadium?…with judgment like this it is no wonder that Evansville is depreciating, losing people, and seeing its wage base eroded?…this Picasso in the Box has the potential to be a game changer when it comes to tourism?…this Picasso in the Box is worth 4 times the estimated value of the entire art collection of the Evansville Museum?…that the CCO expects that local politicians will find some SNEGAL way to get their grimy hands on this money?

IS IT TRUE that there is no place in the Civic Center that will accommodate a unified county council of 15 members?…in the event that unification passes there will need to be a construction project in the civic center to accommodate 15 elected officials in a single venue?…this will involve moving walls, building furniture, refurbishing a chamber, and all of the IT and recording devices to go with it?…the two questions that our Moles are searching for is where it will be and how much it will cost?

IS IT TRUE that on again off again candidate for Vanderburgh County School Board was spotted at a fund raiser for Gail Riecken at a prominent home in Evansville’s Historic District?…the Mole Nation is telling us that we can soon expect a mea culpa from Ms. Ragland about her withdrawal from the race?…the same Moles are telling us she is now willing to serve another term?…that her eligibility will be something that will have to be determined by a real judge as opposed to an election board or a long time school board attorney?…it is time for E. Lon Walters to step up and do something real about his challenge to her eligibility to serve?

IS IT TRUE that the United States Treasury has announced a plan to buy $40 Billion of securities on the open market to prop up the economy and to encourage banks to lower interest rates and make loans?…this is a destructive way to devalue the currency and will in all likelihood do absolutely nothing to get the banks lending?…what it will most certainly do is take toxic notes out of the hands of banks and into the hands of the American people?…it will also devalue the American dollar even further than it already has been?…there is no reason at all to believe that this action will spur any hiring in the short run?…this program is authorized to be executed at will over a 3 year period making this quasi bailout carry a price tag of nearly $1.5 Trillion?…this is another years deficit and nearly the total of the $1.7 Billion in quantitative easing that has already happened with no appreciable results?…that it was Dr. Einstein who made the statement that “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity”?…that insanity very accurately describes the economic policy of the Obama Administration in nearly every way?

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37 COMMENTS

  1. “Priming the Pump” has not worked! The consequence of the “Fed’s” action? EVERY COMMODITY IN THE REAL WORLD, will take MORE DOLLARS to purchase! Where are the Citizen Statesmen in Washington? The Downward spiral is exercebate by this action by the Fed. Destroy the “Value” of the Dollar,–and thus the Country,– you can hear the Fed. Reserve now.–“Yeah, thats the ticket, print more Fiat Money,—no one can stop us, We have the Population by the Throat!”

  2. Anyone can make a ‘mis-statement” when having a bad day. Maybe this what happened to Karen Ragland.

    The real issue is Mrs. Ragland needs to come forward and admit she mis-spoke and announce if she wins she will serve her 3rd term on school board. If not, she needs to personally withdraw her name from the ballot because we don’t need the school board attorney and his puppets to decide her replacement.

    My advice is for her to run and serve!

  3. Well said qual treatment.

    It’s time for Karen to come forward and and do as the above poster suggests.

    Oh, my friends tell me the Karen Ragland is really one nice person.

    • Karen Ragland, School Board Candidate, is a nice person. But she is not a good current School Board Member. She misses a lot of meetings, comes late most of the time when she attends and is seldom ever prepared for the meeting. Karen really does not want to run, but is being pressured to run by certain black community members.

  5. Your first and last section of today’s “Is It True” are related…

    The price of gold has gone up about $170 since the beginning of August. People with any sense are fleeing Federal Reserve Notes for assets like Picassos. I would share in the Editor’s feeling that it would only be par for the course if The Evansville Museum ended up selling this appreciating asset (an original Picasso) for a depreciating one (a fistful of inflating FRNs). I really hope we are both proven wrong.

    A little investment in a proper and secure display for this piece in the Museum would be a huge tourist boon for the City and the area. With the right marketing campaign, it could be enormous for the Museum as well. An increase in revenue would also mean better art purchases could be made for the coming years.

    The Museum, like the City itself, is at a crossroads. Does it want to resign itself to rust belt obscurity and cash in its chips, or does it want to take steps now to secure its future?

    Steven Krohn, President of the Museum’s Board was actually quoted in the Times article as saying, “Now that we have a full understanding of the requirements and additional expenses to display, secure, preserve and insure the piece, it is clear those additional costs would place a prohibitive financial burden on the museum.”

    This is the essentially saying, “I have no vision. I cannot think of ways to raise the funds for the display. I am too tired to really care about the future of the Museum beyond my own death, therefore screw it, let’s sell this sucker!”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/arts/design/forgotten-picasso-is-windfall-for-evansville-museum.html

    • I agree with you Brad.

      Just one small correction to your statement. It’s not that the cost of gold has grown by $170/oz. It’s that it takes that much more FRN’s to purchase the same amount of gold today. 🙂

      • You’re right, the inherent value has not changed, but the market price in terms of dollars has.

        People with capital to stay ahead of inflation should be ok at least for now, but those on fixed incomes, particularly the poor and elderly will suffer massively due to inflation.

  6. The third quantitative easing since 2008. Fed Interest rates are at 0% and can not be lowered. US corporations sitting on huge off shore foreign profits. Can not reduce incentives to oil companies for fear that it would cause an increase in the cost of their product.

    What this country lacks is leadership.

    __

    • This country also lacks an informed citizenry necessary to understand the true nature of the problem we are in and make proper choices at the ballot box. Besides, our problems are beyond what elections alone can solve. Any new President is going to be held to the same course regardless.

      If I said the words “dollar hegemony” very few people would know what I was talking about, yet it is the crux of our problem. We have entered a situation where American military assets have been pledged as protection for the OPEC nations in exchange for the pricing of their oil in dollars exclusively. Any challenge to this “dollar hegemony” is met with force, e.g. Iraq, Libya, and now Iran.

      What do those countries have in common? ALL of them had talked about changing the pricing of their oil away from dollars to euros in the case of Iraq and Iran, and gold in the case of Libya.

      The problem for us is we’ve traded our morality against perpetual war in favor of the ability to print the world’s reserve currency purely in fiat. Essentially, we have sold our soul as a nation. Like all deals with the devil, our beneficial place in this arrangement cannot last forever. We are in the first death throes of the American Empire. I think it’s going to get much worse before it gets better.

      • Harvard Review [International]

        Future of Dollar Hegemony

        By: Joshua Zoffer

        July 7, 2012

        ” With the euro’s fall in prestige and growing awareness of the dollar’s resilience, it seems likely the dollar hegemony and the privileges that come with it are here to stay.”

        * * * * * * * * * * *

        Somehow it only seems natural that the worlds largest economy has the world’s reserve currency. At least until we are superseded.

        ___

  7. Word at the Civic Center is that Vanderburgh Building Authority already have some start up plans to renovate the third floor of the Civic Center to house the new 15 member Common Council if VandyGov vote passes.

    Word at the Civic Center is that the new Common Council meeting chambers could costs the Vanderburgh County taxpayers up to one million dollars.

    Looks like our “one term Mayor” is one again putting the horse before the cart. Oh, we also need to give credit to Sheriff Eric Williams for causing the taxpayers of this county to pay for this unexpected costs connected to the upcoming VandyGov. vote!

    • You really shouldn’t beleive all the rumors you hear that come out of the civic center.

  8. There’s no way the museum with a budget and endowment like the Evansville Museum of Arts and Science can potentially afford the insurance on an original Picasso that was, heretofore, believed “lost.” They can barely achieve operating funds now and are engaged in an aggressive renovation plan that has a fundraising shortfall. It takes museums of significantly larger endowments to be able to property secure and insure values on this scale (a lot different than insuring your Chevy).

    Also, while I’m not necessarily a fan/advocate of any political party of administration, can we ever let go of the idea that Robert’s Stadium was a “perfectly good stadium”? Have you been there in the last 36 months? The place is a craphole and terribly behind the times of modern conveniences and production capacity. LET IT GO, for God’s sake!!!!!!!

    • You and they are totally ignoring the potential increased revenues of having a Picasso on display. This is just short-sightedness. Anyone saying the Museum can’t afford it is just not seeing the larger picture (excuse the pun).

      With a good marketing campaign and a centerpiece Picasso, the Museum could use this as an opportunity to increase its daily attendance and drum up more patrons.

      • Your accusation of short-sightedness has no basis. Have you reviewed the cost of insuring such a piece vs. the likely revenue in the “Tri-state” area for increased visitation/membership over a 3 or 5 year period vs. the proceeds from a sale and allowing the museum to expand its ability to display collections that keep it sustainable???

        My guess, based on your theory, is no. I have. THat’s the problem with Monday-morning quarterbacks like yourself… we all like to sit back and claim “what is best”, but we won’t/can’t do the work to really look hard at the analysis and understand what can happen or what the real issues are.

        • Have you now? Great! Let’s see those numbers.

          While you’re at it, let us know what you’re basing your projections on.

    • Also, if what you say is true about Roberts Stadium, then government officials wouldn’t be worried about selling it because of hang ups over potential competition.

      How about just selling it and letting some capital investor decide if it’s a “craphole” or not? Can you at least not agree that’s a preferable solution to the City spending millions of tax dollars tearing it down and building another park in an area where there are already two large parks? Can’t you agree that money might be better spend paying down some of our future obligations with the sewer system, and perhaps the prime real-estate upon which Roberts sits could be used by someone to generate jobs and revenue?

      • I agree on Roberts Stadium, put it up for auction with a small reserve and see if there is any interest in it. The city would save a million dollars by giving it away. We’ve already given millions away with no return, the McCurty and earthscram.

  9. OH, forgot to say that the new one million dollar Common Council meeting room shall be housed on the 3rd floor in the now vacant area that once was the county jail.

  10. Got my yes for unification flyer in the mail yesterday from Indianapolis. It lists 10 bullet points:

    1. Save money control taxes.] No savings have been identified.

    2. Better representation.] Better representation is more a function of the quality of the people elected rather than the number of people elected.

    3. Promote job growth.] As in spend even more of our tax money on subsidizing private industry.

    4. Single vision.] Who vision? The “strong mayor”?

    5. Fair taxation.] Like when the mayor signs our name to a $126. million debt without consulting us?

    6. Power to the people.] What leftover relic from the sixties threw this platitude in?

    7. Preserve rural and urban lifestyles.] Like the farmer who was discing his field and was visited by a deputy who said he was creating too much dust, or another farmer who received a visit from a deputy when he was planting at night before a rain and received a noise complaint.

    8. Fair sewer rates.] If it was not for the intervention of some concerned citizens, you would have had the cost of the Johnson Control Inc.- Evansville Water Dept. contract shoved down your throats and your water bills would have skyrocketed even more than they are going to skyrocket because of the negligence of a whole succession of Evansville mayors who did nothing about combined sewers.

    9. Avoid annexation.] This plan is the penultimate annexation plan.

    10. A better future for our children.] The obligatory Hillary Clinton “do it for the children” plea, when in actuality it is the worst thing in the world you can do for the children.

    ___

    • Oh, I almost forgot the most important point: With the two largest employee groups not signed on to this, then there really is no “plan” to vote for!

      __

    • LOL….I got one yesterday also and read it on my walk from the front door (mail drop) to the kitchen trash can, it might have been in my hand a whole minuet, read the bullet points standing over the trash can then dropped it in. 🙂

      JMHO

      • I read it, laughed, tossed it into the trash before making it into the house.

        Just vote NO

      • You guys should put stuff like that in recycle. Then some good would come of it. Seriously.

    • I got one too??? Post Marked from Indianapolis. No Union bug on this one either? Everything comes in 3’s, can not wait till next thursday to see that response. I wonder who is picking the tab up for this?? Southwest Chamber of Commerce, South West League of Woman Voters, or the govenor’s slush funds??????

      • Not having a Union bug on it almost makes me WANT to vote YES. Anything that doesnt have union support has my vote.

  11. Pressanykey you forgot to state that the unification flyer didn’t have the “Union Bug” printed on it!

    Have a question. Could this flyer been printed by ans paid for by the State Chamber of Commerence since it was mailed from Indy?

  12. The Picasso has been collecting dust-insure it, and if someone steals it-collect the appraisal value. Problem solved (it’s butt ugly). Or tour it to other museums, and while you’re at it, farm out that weird visceral mural that scared the beJeesus out of me when I was little-or the naked male statue with impossibly small attributes that we used to giggle at. All these years-the saaaaaaaaaaammmme oooooooooold tiiiiiiiired stuff-and they had items collecting dust? Typical Evansville. No one having an original idea, and anyone that does gets run out by the inbreds.

  13. Elect to Lon Walters to the Vanderburgh County school board!

    Elect Tony Ricketts to the Vanderburgh County school board!

    Don’t re-elect the preacher back on the Vanderburgh County school board!

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