digital dreams

Federal Reserve

2008-08-13T23:17:00.008-04:00

I had this article published on Anderson Independent Online a couple of months ago. They edited it heavily and I promise the original version was in paragraph form:

The Federal Reserve is issuing $200 billion in loans to investment banks in exchange for bad debts, allowing the banks to put up bad investments as collateral to borrow money they will use to invest.

It’s no surprise that most of the so-called “bad investments” are sub-prime loans that banks made during the housing boom.

At the end of 28 days the investment banks will have to repay the loans.

This is a facade used to make the private investment banks look more profitable than they really are. This angers me because the people that the banks preyed upon and issued these loans to are the ones that are losing their homes. Where is the government help for them?

The Federal Reserve created the $200 billion out of nothing. The credits are transferred to the investment banks; the money is not backed by gold, silver or any commodity.

Pumping $200 billion into an already struggling economy that is so close to hyperinflation is a bad idea.

The stock market responded well with record gains, but is that worth devaluing the dollar by putting even more money into the economy?

Basic economics tells us that creating more money causes the value of the dollar to go down.

This creation of money has driven up inflation since the inception of the Federal Reserve in 1913.

As long as it continues to pump money into the economy we will experience high rates of inflation.

These short-term solutions do little for the long-term economic outlook.

http://www.andersonindependent.com/news/2008/mar/26/short-term-solutions-do-little-economy/

This was in March when the Federal Reserve was bailing out Bear Stearns with OUR tax money. Fast forward five months and the same kind of ideas are circulating about saving the big three auto makers in Detroit. Once again corporate imperialism seeks to privatize the profits and socialize the losses.

Breaking free from free will

2008-08-10T13:55:00.002-04:00

For years I have pondered whether we have free will or not. When I was a teenager I refused to believe that our destinies were predetermined because I felt some innate need for every decision that I made to control my future. I had the common thought that if our destinies were predetermined then I could just sit in my house and everything that was supposed to happen to me would. Years passed by and after several computer science, simulation modeling, and probability classes I started to ponder how you could model the decision making of a human being.

In simulation modeling the larger scale you are trying to model the easier it is. For instance, in our solar system we can model large bodies such as the orbit of planets because we can account for the variables necessary to model their movement. We can accurately predict where each planet will be at a certain point in time such that probability disappears. There is only one outcome of where the planets will be when all variables are accounted for.

The same concept applies to human decision making. When you make a decision there are several internal and external variables that will influence you to make a decision. At the time the decision is made the variables are locked in and there is only one outcome possible for the decision you will make. You may perceive that you could choose other choices, but in actuality at the time of the decision it was impossible to ever choose the other choices. This is what I call perceived free will. I don't think free will exists in any fashion.

If you had to make the same decision a million times you would make the same choice every time because these internal and external variables that guide your decision making would not change. These are what I call the barriers to decision making. The barriers are internal and external variables that limit you to one and only one possible decision.

The decision that you made is the only one that you could have ever made. Studies have shown that your subconscious has already made a decision up to seven seconds before your conscious mind is aware of it. The truth is there is no free will and we need to break free of this illusion.

About digital dreams

2008-08-10T12:25:00.004-04:00

digital dreams are expressions of thoughts, opinions, and dreams in a digital format. Welcome to my digital dreams.

Here you will find topics including politics, comedy, metaphysics, philosophy, computers, science, and pretty much anything that pops into my head.