They are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase not as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please which may be good for the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless. It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please...Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect.
Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on National Bank, 1791
The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is engulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge Spencer Roane, Mar 9, 1821
The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric. They are construing our constitution from a co-ordination of a general and special government to a general and supreme one alone.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Ritchie, December 25, 1820
It has long, however, been my opinion, and I have never shrunk from its expression... that the germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal Judiciary;... working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Charles Hammond, August 18, 1821
One single object... [will merit] the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Edward Livingston, March 25, 1825
The Constitution... is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary which they may twist and shape into any form they please.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge Spencer Roane, September 6, 1819
Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Wilson Nicholas, September 7, 1803
Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, June 12, 1823
The construction applied...to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate Congress a power...ought not to be construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part to be so taken as to destroy the whole residue of that instrument.
Thomas Jefferson, Draft Kentucky Resolutions, 1798
The Declaration of Independence... [is the] declaratory charter of our rights, and the rights of man.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Samuel Adams Wells, May 12, 1821
On every question of construction carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, June 12, 182
It is an established rule of construction, where a phrase will bear either of two meanings to give it that which will allow some meaning to the other parts of the instrument, and not that which will render all the others useless. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given to them. It was intended to lace them up straightly with in the enumerated powers, and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect.
Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on a National Bank, February 15, 1791
On every unauthoritative exercise of power by the legislature must the people rise in rebellion or their silence be construed into a surrender of that power to them? If so, how many rebellions should we have had already?
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 12, 1782
It is not honorable to take mere legal advantage, when it happens to be contrary to justice.
Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on Debts Due to Soldiers, 1790
Nothing then is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Cartwright, 1824
It is the duty of every good citizen to use all the opportunities which occur to him, for preserving documents relating to the history of our country.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Hugh P. Taylor, October 4, 1823
In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson, fair copy of the drafts of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, 1798
For example. If the system be established on basis of Income, and his just proportion on that scale has been already drawn from every one, to step into the field of Consumption, and tax special articles in that, as broadcloth or homespun, wine or whiskey, a coach or a wagon, is doubly taxing the same article. For that portion of Income with which these articles are purchased, having already paid its tax as Income, to pay another tax on the thing it purchased, is paying twice for the same thing; it is an aggrievance on the citizens who use these articles in exoneration of those who do not, contrary to the most sacred of the duties of a government, to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens. (In other words, since there is now a federal "income" tax, then to Jefferson it was then "double jeapardy" to then tax "consumption" also such as court fees, patent and trademark fees, gasoline taxes, etc., etc., on top of the "income" tax - either one or the other) . The same would hold true in those states with an "income" tax also which are then taxing "consumption" with sales taxes, use taxes, gasoline taxes, etc., etc.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816
He who is permitted by law to have no property of his own, can with difficulty conceive that property is founded in anything but force.
Thomas Jefferson, January 26, 1788
It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution.
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia Query 19, 1781
It must be observed that our revenues are raised almost wholly on imported goods. (NOT "free" as in "no cost" trade, but "free" as in unregulated as to our ports for commerce between all nations).
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Gouverneur Morris, 1793
Our properties within our own territories [should not] be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own. (No world government)
Thomas Jefferson, Rights of British America, 1774
Taxes should be proportioned to what may be annually spared by the individual.
Thomas Jefferson, 1784
The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to The Republican Citizens of Washington County, Maryland, March 31, 1809
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Abigail Adams, February 22, 1787
Would it not be better to simplify the system of taxation rather than to spread it over such a variety of subjects and pass through so many new hands.
Thomas Jefferson, 1784
Friday, October 22, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The New America: Socializing The Workforce
As an American who due to piggy-back financial reversals which have occurred during this U.S. economic tsunami (and even really before due to progressive legislation that has occurred at both the federal and state levels in the past 10-20 years), has been attempting for literally months to re-enter the job market to put my life back together in later middle age, the changes which have occurred in even the job search process have been an eye opening experience for this boomer.
I had been a semi-retired single mom who had started a small business with my savings mostly from a lifetime of working in the legal profession, and then travel and hospitality fields. I have been involved in at least three "start-ups" of small or family owned businesses personally (in the corporate law field, my ex-spouses new professional practice, and my own website-based retail business) during my working career.
But even having worked in the employment and corporate law fields, and I guess especially so, I have been literally taken aback by the process that is now utilized by most of the major employers and industries in all sectors of commerce at this point.
It isn't a jungle out there anymore and you really aren't competing with the user at the computer station next to you for that open position.
It's a network.
Hour long (and longer) internet employment applications, follow-up questionnaires, disclosure forms for drug, credit and background checks, "big brother" affirmative action forms requesting information on race, ethnicity, veterans status - yada, yada, yada.
No matter what is represented, HAL from 2000: A Space Odyssey is doing the hiring, that much is clear.
From checking your credit scores, investigating your personal history for those background checks through unregulated Internet security firms for infractions and the like, to crunching your resume into "key words" for filtering before it ever even gets to a human being, HAL is at the helm.
And some of the questions!
Here are a few, for those who have not gone through the "New Age" application process:
1. What percentage of politicians do you think are dishonest? (multiple choice: retailer)
2. If you were offered a position by another company at a greater salary, would you accept? (multiple choice: retailer)
3. How often do you use the Internet? (Survey after application and questionnaire, voluntary but would be appreciated)
4. How many rings before answering do you feel are a demonstration of good customer service ( multiple choice: secretarial position)
5. Have you EVER pled guilty or even no contest to a misdemeanor or felony offense (not even been convicted anymore?) (All applications)
6. Have you ever had a bad day (multiple choice: all)
You most likely will never know why you weren't hired, but it just might be that traffic ticket from three or four years ago or unpaid parking fine. Or an identity theft that has messed with your credit score, or losing a home, being unemployed itself and thus late with your bills just might prevent you from being able to secure employment to even attempt to rectify that situation in any respect at all.
Forget work experience. Only the past ten years or so matter in this "science based" hiring process. Even for those fast food restaurant jobs, or seasonal work positions.
As one who was employed for many years in the employment law field, experiencing this first hand at this stage of my life has truly been mindblowing.
It just may not be that there aren't enough jobs out there at all for the available workforce.
Maybe, there just aren't enough HALs that match HALs formula.
Seems maybe our discrimination laws have missed the mark in 21st Century America and may need updating.
I had been a semi-retired single mom who had started a small business with my savings mostly from a lifetime of working in the legal profession, and then travel and hospitality fields. I have been involved in at least three "start-ups" of small or family owned businesses personally (in the corporate law field, my ex-spouses new professional practice, and my own website-based retail business) during my working career.
But even having worked in the employment and corporate law fields, and I guess especially so, I have been literally taken aback by the process that is now utilized by most of the major employers and industries in all sectors of commerce at this point.
It isn't a jungle out there anymore and you really aren't competing with the user at the computer station next to you for that open position.
It's a network.
Hour long (and longer) internet employment applications, follow-up questionnaires, disclosure forms for drug, credit and background checks, "big brother" affirmative action forms requesting information on race, ethnicity, veterans status - yada, yada, yada.
No matter what is represented, HAL from 2000: A Space Odyssey is doing the hiring, that much is clear.
From checking your credit scores, investigating your personal history for those background checks through unregulated Internet security firms for infractions and the like, to crunching your resume into "key words" for filtering before it ever even gets to a human being, HAL is at the helm.
And some of the questions!
Here are a few, for those who have not gone through the "New Age" application process:
1. What percentage of politicians do you think are dishonest? (multiple choice: retailer)
2. If you were offered a position by another company at a greater salary, would you accept? (multiple choice: retailer)
3. How often do you use the Internet? (Survey after application and questionnaire, voluntary but would be appreciated)
4. How many rings before answering do you feel are a demonstration of good customer service ( multiple choice: secretarial position)
5. Have you EVER pled guilty or even no contest to a misdemeanor or felony offense (not even been convicted anymore?) (All applications)
6. Have you ever had a bad day (multiple choice: all)
You most likely will never know why you weren't hired, but it just might be that traffic ticket from three or four years ago or unpaid parking fine. Or an identity theft that has messed with your credit score, or losing a home, being unemployed itself and thus late with your bills just might prevent you from being able to secure employment to even attempt to rectify that situation in any respect at all.
Forget work experience. Only the past ten years or so matter in this "science based" hiring process. Even for those fast food restaurant jobs, or seasonal work positions.
As one who was employed for many years in the employment law field, experiencing this first hand at this stage of my life has truly been mindblowing.
It just may not be that there aren't enough jobs out there at all for the available workforce.
Maybe, there just aren't enough HALs that match HALs formula.
Seems maybe our discrimination laws have missed the mark in 21st Century America and may need updating.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
More Foreclosures, More Economic Disasters To Come
After the earlier reports this week that Bank of America was delaying any more foreclosures on homes pending an investigation into the paperwork surrounding those planned in the "judicial foreclosure" states, it was announced by the AP yesterday that such is not the case and planned to execute on over 10,000 pending foreclosure actions.
Gee, with all that stimulus money which Bank of America received and then used to purchase all that Countrywide debt and paper, I just wonder how much equity those owners have invested in total which Bank of America will be getting, and it does appear that the federal "disclosure" law that simply requires mortgage banks and lenders to disclose the fact that the loan or contract you sign today just may change tomorrow if that note is purchased by another bank or entity is repaying all those lobbying costs those banks used on Capitol Hill the last few years in spades. Over and above all those "bailout" sums.
So what occurred here is that Congress extended credit to Bank of America so that they could then purchase Countrywide, at the taxpayers' expense, which then afforded them the right to foreclose on taxpayer properties which were "at risk," no matter how much equity those owners might have in those homes?
As one who had an original mortgage which was then sold to Countrywide at one point, who then attempted to charge me when I went to refinance for simply providing the payoff figure for the original note, I continue to find it hard to believe that ANY of these banks were "at risk" or bankrupt.
Especially after that revision of the bankruptcy code which also occurred due to banking lobbying efforts back in 2006 right before this tsunami began which in effect precluded then Americans who were facing bankruptcy from in effect writing off any of their credit card debts or home equity loans without going through the Chapter 13 "reorganization" procedures first (which takes a lawyer now to go through, the procedure is so complex) before filing under Chapter 7.
Almost all protections for debtors in bankruptcy procedures have now been removed, yet we continue to live in a credit based society where even paying off your credit card debt counts against you in the configuration of your credit score.
I mean post 9-11 what did President Bush advise the American people to do?
Go shop.
And what has Mr. Obama done also since taking office?
Advised the jobless and homeless American people to either get re-educated (taking out loans for that re-education), or refinance their homes (and pay even more ultimately for your property using those mortgage counselors with additional closing costs and "new" even more restrictive loans most likely than you originally had).
With Washington and the state legislatures continuing to scratch their heads and wonder why the housing market isn't improving?
Sub-prime loans were not the problem (and most of those loans in the areas most affected were not even sub-prime loans but loans based on the London Interbank Origination Rates, not even the U.S. prime), the terms of those 50 page loans and slight of hand which has occurred post the banking bailout defining mortgages as "paper debt" and not the contracts that they are, is what has increased the foreclosures and bulked up Wall Street once again at the cost of the American homeowners.
And contrary to the "economists" predictions, there are thousands of vacant and empty homes at this point, since this tsunami started in 2006 four years ago, so it isn't a dirth of "inventory" that is depressing the market.
It is the refusal of the American people to buy into a now very "risky" investment since I'm sure that what has occurred this past four years had not been lost on the upcoming homebuying public, and just who was "protected" and who lost their shirts...
And shelter.
The announcement that the 50 Attorneys General that are calling for an investigation into the foreclosure mess right before an election is just oh, so typical and oh, so political once again.
Now four years later? Sort of like closing the barn doors after the horse has escaped, and seems merely another job stimulus for the job security of the legal profession. I mean, who will you need to address such a case if not, once again, the foreclosure lawyers who have made a bundle this past four years and seems that the collection and foreclosure industry is another of those "favored special interests" that has benefited tremendously during this recession.
Depressed and vacant housing, thousands of Americans with black markets on their credit unable to get jobs due to the use of those reports by most of those national and global industries, and a low paid workforce due to all the outsourcing and insourcing which has escalated since the Reagan years.
With such a scenario, just how does Washington expect the economy to revive since it has bankrupted at this point a good segment of the American people, at least the middle class and boomer and World War II generation, at this point?
Social Security COLAs denied based on the fact that the COLA has not increased? Just where is the Department of Labor getting those figures, because the cost of living for those over 55 has definitely increased.
Many now have extended family members living with them. Their medical expenses have exploded due to lack of regulation over the mega health care providers, and for those assisting with college costs for the grandkids even, those costs have gone up.
Food prices have increased, and gas is still higher than it was before this recession began.
Instead, a $250 check is in the mail? Seems the new mentality in Washington has also been borrowed from corporate America.
Not benefits, but annual Washington configured rebates. Just where did they get that figure?
Meanwhile, the president and those running for re-election are running around the country contributing to the carbon emissions in order to bulk up those revenues eventually for the new carbon tax.
I've got news for the Washington, the bankers and economists.
The stock market is no barometer of the economic health of America.
The local unemployment offices, residential neighborhoods, and Main Street USA are.
And just where ARE all these candidates getting all that campaign money for all those ads on TV?
Let me guess. The bankers, or "government" contractors in rebates.
Gee, with all that stimulus money which Bank of America received and then used to purchase all that Countrywide debt and paper, I just wonder how much equity those owners have invested in total which Bank of America will be getting, and it does appear that the federal "disclosure" law that simply requires mortgage banks and lenders to disclose the fact that the loan or contract you sign today just may change tomorrow if that note is purchased by another bank or entity is repaying all those lobbying costs those banks used on Capitol Hill the last few years in spades. Over and above all those "bailout" sums.
So what occurred here is that Congress extended credit to Bank of America so that they could then purchase Countrywide, at the taxpayers' expense, which then afforded them the right to foreclose on taxpayer properties which were "at risk," no matter how much equity those owners might have in those homes?
As one who had an original mortgage which was then sold to Countrywide at one point, who then attempted to charge me when I went to refinance for simply providing the payoff figure for the original note, I continue to find it hard to believe that ANY of these banks were "at risk" or bankrupt.
Especially after that revision of the bankruptcy code which also occurred due to banking lobbying efforts back in 2006 right before this tsunami began which in effect precluded then Americans who were facing bankruptcy from in effect writing off any of their credit card debts or home equity loans without going through the Chapter 13 "reorganization" procedures first (which takes a lawyer now to go through, the procedure is so complex) before filing under Chapter 7.
Almost all protections for debtors in bankruptcy procedures have now been removed, yet we continue to live in a credit based society where even paying off your credit card debt counts against you in the configuration of your credit score.
I mean post 9-11 what did President Bush advise the American people to do?
Go shop.
And what has Mr. Obama done also since taking office?
Advised the jobless and homeless American people to either get re-educated (taking out loans for that re-education), or refinance their homes (and pay even more ultimately for your property using those mortgage counselors with additional closing costs and "new" even more restrictive loans most likely than you originally had).
With Washington and the state legislatures continuing to scratch their heads and wonder why the housing market isn't improving?
Sub-prime loans were not the problem (and most of those loans in the areas most affected were not even sub-prime loans but loans based on the London Interbank Origination Rates, not even the U.S. prime), the terms of those 50 page loans and slight of hand which has occurred post the banking bailout defining mortgages as "paper debt" and not the contracts that they are, is what has increased the foreclosures and bulked up Wall Street once again at the cost of the American homeowners.
And contrary to the "economists" predictions, there are thousands of vacant and empty homes at this point, since this tsunami started in 2006 four years ago, so it isn't a dirth of "inventory" that is depressing the market.
It is the refusal of the American people to buy into a now very "risky" investment since I'm sure that what has occurred this past four years had not been lost on the upcoming homebuying public, and just who was "protected" and who lost their shirts...
And shelter.
The announcement that the 50 Attorneys General that are calling for an investigation into the foreclosure mess right before an election is just oh, so typical and oh, so political once again.
Now four years later? Sort of like closing the barn doors after the horse has escaped, and seems merely another job stimulus for the job security of the legal profession. I mean, who will you need to address such a case if not, once again, the foreclosure lawyers who have made a bundle this past four years and seems that the collection and foreclosure industry is another of those "favored special interests" that has benefited tremendously during this recession.
Depressed and vacant housing, thousands of Americans with black markets on their credit unable to get jobs due to the use of those reports by most of those national and global industries, and a low paid workforce due to all the outsourcing and insourcing which has escalated since the Reagan years.
With such a scenario, just how does Washington expect the economy to revive since it has bankrupted at this point a good segment of the American people, at least the middle class and boomer and World War II generation, at this point?
Social Security COLAs denied based on the fact that the COLA has not increased? Just where is the Department of Labor getting those figures, because the cost of living for those over 55 has definitely increased.
Many now have extended family members living with them. Their medical expenses have exploded due to lack of regulation over the mega health care providers, and for those assisting with college costs for the grandkids even, those costs have gone up.
Food prices have increased, and gas is still higher than it was before this recession began.
Instead, a $250 check is in the mail? Seems the new mentality in Washington has also been borrowed from corporate America.
Not benefits, but annual Washington configured rebates. Just where did they get that figure?
Meanwhile, the president and those running for re-election are running around the country contributing to the carbon emissions in order to bulk up those revenues eventually for the new carbon tax.
I've got news for the Washington, the bankers and economists.
The stock market is no barometer of the economic health of America.
The local unemployment offices, residential neighborhoods, and Main Street USA are.
And just where ARE all these candidates getting all that campaign money for all those ads on TV?
Let me guess. The bankers, or "government" contractors in rebates.
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