February 8, 2019

Bush Economics WAS Reaganomics, resulting in the worst monetary crisis since the Great Depression

  To start, you need to understand that George Bush Economics WAS Reaganomics,
  and under Bush's perpetuation of Reaganomics, the United States went through its
  worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  The Romney 2012 thesis state-
  ment was nothing other than Bush Tax Cut Economics 101.
=========================================================
Now, the unemployment rate skyrocketed to 10.8% under Ronald Reagan.  Yet, his
postmortem propaganda machine keeps talking of a Reagan recovery.  News flash:
Reagan tripled the national debt.  The National Debt Ceiling was elevated 18 times
under Reagan.  There was NO Reaganomics-style recovery.  There was the interven-
tion of democrat Tip O'Neill and republican Howard Baker.  Contrary to the conser-
vative assertion, Reagan needed to abandon Reaganomics at mid-stream.   He spent
his way out of the 10.8% unemployment rate, even in increasing the size of the feder-
al government. 

The Leaves on the Reagan Money Tree Were Hand Grenades

No money was being made by America in any aspect of Reagan's exorbitant mili-
tary spending sprees.  This is because all military spending yields negative returns
on investment.  In fact, in your first week of economics courses, you learn that mil-
itary spending is a leak from the circular flow of money.  During Reagan's term, the
national debt kept rising.  Someone else in the future would have to pay for the so-
called recovery.  Reagan was the originator of the Ponzi Scheme.  The two income
family and the latch-key kid was his legacy, also.  In fact, in 1985, the United States
become the top debtor nation on earth, even though it was the #1 creditor nation the
day Reagan took office.

Despite Reagan's attempt to salvage the nation that he was destroying,  the average
American's purchasing power dropped, apartment rental prices elevated,  the price
of houses rose, the wage rates of skilled tradesmen dropped outside of any federal
Davis/Bacon contract, and the two-income family became the norm, in order for a
family to afford during the Reagan years what a one-income family easily afforded
before Reagan took the oath of office.  Thus came the latch key kid ... the neglect-
ed child, thanks to the Reagan.

Throughout this time, the Fed was tightening the money supply, in order to curtail
inflation.  Letting the rich horde money was presented as Reagan's economic stim-
ulus package.  Two and a half years into his first term came the 10.8% unemploy-
ment rate.  His stimulus package backfired.  Now, the Bush tax cut resulted in the
2004 federal revenue being the lowest since 1950, when measured as a percentage
of the economy.  Then came the disaster of 2008.  The Bush tax cut was backfiring,
yet nothing was done to remedy the oncoming crisis.  Republicans have a way of
ignoring indicators.

        Reagan Increased Taxes, to Compensate for his Original Tax Cut

Reaganomics failed so hideously that Reagan and Congress had to keep raising taxes,
while deleting a pivotal COBRA tax deduction.  Reagan still couldn't get the nation's
head above water.  A case in fact was that the former steel capitol of the world went
bust under Reagan.  The steel mills throughout Pittsburgh closed.  Reagan made the
United States weaker.  Ironically, during the Reagan years, which were said to be the
years of fiscal responsibility, the salaries of teachers rose.  There was no curtailing of
local government spending in that department.  Thus came the domino effect of Rea-
ganomics, in as far as concerned compensating for it. 

      Creating Jobs through Taxpayer Money Is Not Economic Recovery

Do you know one of the techniques that a politician uses to create jobs?  ANS:  Gov-
ernment and Military Spending.  It's the act of taking taxpayer money and throwing it
in programs that give the temporary appearance of national recovery.  This included
Reagan's elevated military spending.  It quickly got to the point, under Reagan, where
young adults were unable to find jobs.  So, many joined the armed forces, solely for
the sake of economic survival.  This resulted in the not-so-willful enlistees being tak-
en off the unemployment stats.  It was enlistment by duress.  In addition, bringing
back millions of lesser-paying jobs to the private sector does NOT constitute eco-
nomic recovery, especially when the money supply is being tightened, in order to
reduce inflation.

Lowering the Tax Rates of the Rich Resulted in Them Paying a Higher Share 

Now, the Reaganite theory is that lowering taxes will allow the rich to retain more
money for investment and job creation.  Here is the paradox:   In 1979, the top 1%
of all income earners paid an 18.3% share of the federal government's income tax
revenue.  By the Year 2006, the top 1% were paying a share of 39.1%, and this was
during the Bush tax cut years.  Let us remember that the Bush tax cut is of the same
order as the Reagan cuts.  The bottom line is that lowering the income tax rates of the
rich didn't free-up any appreciable investment dollars.  Economics is more involved
than the tax rates of the rich.

     Empowering the Very Communism He Was Said to Have Conquered

In 1986, Reagan opened the door to lopsided trading with a Maoist Dictatorship who
now owns over a trillion dollars worth of the U.S. Treasury Bonds and who also took
away millions of American jobs.  Reagan set into motion the selling-out of America to
the Atheist Communist Chinese Dictatorship, in the name of flag-waving, God-fearing
democracy ... Mr. Astrology did this.  The Hollywood Commando didn't defeat Com-
munism.  He arranged for Communism to defeat America.  He was no conqueror.  He
was a cowardly spendthrift chicken hawk, acting tough with the blood and money of
others.

                  The Top Consideration for Today, Economically Speaking

Today, what has to be taken into account is that the post-war baby boom generation
is at or near retirement age.  This makes Reaganomics entirely obsolete, especially
if it involves tightening the money supply at the Federal Reserve level.  Baby boom
Americans expect to live off of interest-bearing instruments.  Well, in order to create
wealth, you have create something of value.  Grow something.  Manufacture some-
thing.  Weave something.   Mine something.   Paint something.  Write something.
Record something.  Gather something.  Pull a rabbit out of a hat, if need be.  Wealth
is NEVER created by shifting around the same units of paper money, bonds, com-
mercial paper that have been shifted in musical chairs games. 

The value of any currency ends up shifting its axis in any musical chairs game.  This
is the foundation of any unstable economy.  In fact, failed debenture bonds accompa-
nied the Great Depression.  (Debenture means that no material wealth backs-up the
issued bond.)  In as much, taking the manufacturing base out of America sabotaged
the baby boomers' retirement years.  In 2008, pensions were already evaporating.

Reagan gave the incentive for corporations to no longer manufacture in United States
territory.  Gingrich took the baton and ran the NAFTA route.  He might as well have
pushed the average American off a cliff.  It would have been no different.  This sui-
cide of America was done in the name of Reaganomics.

The goal of Reaganomic propaganda is to con you into thinking that you must let the
rich get richer and free the rich of any regulation which will hold them accountable
for destroying America's environment and pensions.  Yet, the rich already became
outrageously rich, while unemployment and gasoline prices rose.  This shows that
making the rich richer will only make you poorer.  They failed to create the needed
jobs.  After all, how many jobs are required to pass around a derivative written on
paper and in entered into a computer account?

It's demand and not the rich which creates jobs.  It's shoppers and NOT the wealthy
who create employment.  Very simply, if there is no one to buy the product, there
will be no employees hired to sell the product ... or even manufacture it.  The praise
of the Hollywood Commando Ronald Reagan is a con game, designed to let greed-
stricken Republicans run wild with the money supply, from overseas bank account
to shining overseas bank account.

The goals of Reagan Propagandists are to 1} prevent livable-wage laws from pre-
vailing,  2} to have no environmental protection laws, and  3} to be called to zero
legal accountability for their injustices, all the while possessing overseas tax hav-
ens.  Such a thing is known as deregulation.

The lack of common sense in the electorate is their strength.  The misinformation
of the electorate is their power.  An electorate who doesn't think and who only falls
for campaign bumper sticker slogans is their free ride  . . .  these leeches of sweat-
shop workers throughout the world.  In all of their bully pulpit praising of Reagan,
they have one fatal error that entirely negates their praise of the chicken hawk's
style of economics.  That is this:

George Bush Economics WAS Reaganomics, and it resulted in the worst economic
crisis since the Great Depression.  Therefore, Reaganomics already took America
to the brink of destruction, and it will do so again if it's made into the unchecked
law of the land.  In his second term, Reagan had to abandon Reaganomics.  Keep
that in mind.
=========================================================

February 5, 2019

Bill Clinton was the one who had fiscal surpluses. Reagan never did.

  Concerning the National Debt in Relation to Gross Domestic Product

      To Whom it May Concern:

1}  The national debt was NOT reduced to zero during the Clinton Administration.
      Rather, it rose approximately $1.6 trillion, from $4.1 trillion to $5.7 trillion.  In
      as much, Clinton did NOT erase the national debt, as certain people claimed.

2} Nor did the national debt decrease during the Clinton Years.  Instead, the rate
     of increase slowed-down as the Clinton years progressed.  What is significant
     about the national debt during the Clinton years is this:

Firstly, Clinton enjoyed budget surpluses from three out of his eight  in office,
and ...

The National Debt, as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, dropped by 9%
during Clinton's last term.   It went from 65.4% of GDP to 56.4% of GDP.  If
Clinton didn't acquiesce to NAFTA, things would have been much better than
what resulted during his administration.  He sabotaged his own administration
and all of America, for the years to come.  None the less, Clinton did produce
a surplus in terms of the yearly (fiscal) budgets for fiscal years 1998, 1999, and
2000.  The numbers respectively are $69, $77, and $46 billion, if you use the
accrual accounting method is coming to the conclusion.

The accrual method simply records expenses at the time the charge/debt occurs,
as opposed to when the expense is paid.   In accounting a charge/debt is known
as an account payable.  It's regarded as a liability ... a subtraction from wealth of
the company accruing the charge.

Recent Presidencies

In recent presidencies, the Carter administration started with a national debt that
was 35% of GDP and it ended at 32.5%.  Under Reagan, it went from Carter's
32.5% to 53.1%.   Thus comes more evidence that Reagan was NOT the model
of fiscal responsibility that Fox News and the Republican Party make him out to
be.  After all, the national debt ceiling limit was elevated 18 times under Reagan.

Under George Bush I, the national debt's percentage of GDP elevated from 53.1%
to 66.1%.   Under Bush II, it went from Clinton's 56.4% to 84.2%. 

The Post WWII & Vietnam War Presidencies

At the start of 1945, the national debt was 117% of GDP.   The war was still rag-
ing.   Then, in 1949, the national debt was reduced to 93% of GDP.   In 1953, it
was reduced to 71.4%.   Under Ike, it went from 71.4% to 55.2%.  Then, under
Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter it went from 55.2% to 35.8%.  Thus,
Ronald Reagan and the two George Bushes were responsible for significantly ele-
vating the national debt in relation to the GDP.   Under them collectively, the na-
tional debt rose 61.4 percentage points.  This illustrates that the Republican Party
is not the party of fiscal responsibility.  It's campaign platform has been a lie.

Obama walked aboard a sinking ship.  American economic history from 1945 to
1980 shows that there is hope.  However, if the Trade Balance Deficit doesn't end
now, then it will soon be over for the entity once known as the United States gov-
ernment, even if it decides to become Argentina the Second.  Keep in mind that,
during the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, the manufacturing base was in America, and
not in overseas sweatshops.   NAFTA, CAFTA, and any other pending AFTA
must be repealed immediately.   Foreign trade in itself is NOT the problem.  The
problem is trading with a protectionist dictatorship whose workers cannot afford
to buy American products in the same degree that Americans can afford to buy
the products of the protectionist dictatorship.   There must be fair exchange be-
tween trading nations.
______________________________________________________________

        http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt.htm 

The U.S. National Debt

To start, Concerning the Debt-to-GDP Ratio, the United States' National Debt
reach 99.25% of United States' Gross Domestic Product in 2011.

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

Under Jimmy Carter, the debt went to $1 trillion.
Under Ronald Reagan, it was tripled to $3 trillion.
Under George Bush Sr, it crawled to $4.18 trillion.
Under Bill NAFTA Clinton, it went to $5.72 trillion.
Under George Bush Jr, it skyrocketed to $10.62 trillion.
As of October 2014, under Barack Obama, it's $17.8 trillion.

http://www.skymachines.com/US-National-Debt-Per-Capita-Percent-of-GDP-and-by-Presidental-Term.htm
_______________________________________________

As he dissolved the FCC Fairness Doctrine, Reagan sought to destroy equality in American communications.

America is not to operate according to Lies, Injustice, and the Nazi Way.
Reagan put the US on that path, while waving the national  flag in front of your face.
This doctrine was part of the American Way, after gerrymandering was curbed and until
Reagan became president.  Implementing this doctrine is how to neutralize the propagan-
da being disseminated by the Koch Brothers (heirs of a massive fortune).  Their needs to
be a check and balance on all of the lying propaganda being tossed about by the right wing
and left wing and fear-mongering conspiracy theorists.  It has gotten ridiculous, as of re-
cent.  This included the Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq fraud.

Implementing this doctrine can level the playing field that was hideously skewed on ac-
count of the Citizens' United case.

This doctrine is how to stop in his tracks the Marco Rubio who was allowed to lie on
the Fox Network, in telling America that he was against the shutdown, after it failed.

The same doctrine could have shut down Betsy McCaughey's "Death Panel" myth of
1994 that was resumed by Sarah Palin after her loss in the 2008 election, by which the
American electorate let her know that it does NOT want someone as dim-witted and
dishonest as her anywhere near the White House, except for taking tours of it.

The same doctrine would quickly let people know that the "substantive law" (minus
titles and subtitles) in the Affordable Care Act is shorter than Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix

As recently as October 2013, the Red State question was asked

On national television, someone  asked why the poor of the red states vote against their
interests, thereby sabotaging their chance at the American dream.  An answer wasn't
given.  However, words of clear wisdom were spoken, in response.  None the less, the
reason why the working poor and other poor give their vote to those who keep them in
poverty goes as follows:

The undereducated who simply didn't have the money or time or giftedness to attend
college are told that, if the rich don't get richer, the working poor will lose their jobs,
along with their shopping plazas.  These poor individuals don't understand the concept
of Stock Ownership and Corporate Bond Distribution.  They don't understand that any
one corporation is owned by hundreds or thousands of people.  If the FFC Fairness Doc-
trine existed, counterpoint could be spoken on those right wingair waves that suppress
uninterrupted speech and unridiculed speech.  The cultic Koolaid culture of FoxNews
would be as neutralized as caustic acid.

In the 1970s, it was a nightly thing to see Americans exchange point/counterpoint on
even local television stations.  The time reserved for airing the pro and cons of a pre-
vailing issue was usually shortly before prime time and shortly after the 11 O'clock
news.  Depending on the station, such a thing was even aired close to signing-off time.
However, the last thing aired each night was the sermonette.  In the 1970s, television
stations were not 24 hour operations.

The practice of airing point/counterpoint was actually started in 1949.  Known as the
Fairness Doctrine, it was a regulation of the Federal Communications Commission.
Its purpose was to prevent the Big Four networks from holding a monopoly on pub-
lic opinion.

Keep in mind that the year prior was the publication of George Orwell's  1984.  The
Nuremberg trials began the year prior also, and it highlighted the intense repression
of freedom of speech.  Soviet Russia had invaded Czechoslovakia in 1948, and it be-
gan its blockade of West Berlin in the same year.  In 1949, Mao's communist revolu-
tion would reach fruition in October.  So, the U.S. Congress saw that, throughout the
world, freedom remained in jeopardy, despite the destruction of Hitler, Mussolini,
and Tojo in World War II.  Incidentally, in 1949, the Big Four networks were ABC,
CBS, NBC, and DuMont.

Now, the Fairness Doctrine required broadcast licensees to cover issues of public im-
portance and to do so in a fair manner.   Twenty years later, in 1969, Red Lion Broad-
casting sued the FCC, because of being mandated to give equal time to a gentleman
whose reputation was severely attacked on a Red Lion station.  Red Lion refused to
give equal time to the man defamed, and the case found its way to the United States
Supreme Court.

The ruling of the court was that the FCC had the legal right to require the Fairness
Doctrine to be observed by Red Lion Broadcasting, for the sake of the civil rights
of the viewers.  Radio listeners and TV viewers have the right to hear both sides of
a controversial topic.   In addition, the court noted that there were not very many
broadcast stations at the time.   This meant that the FCC had the duty to prevent
the airwaves from being monopolized.

The Fairness Doctrine was seen as essential for the sake of the viewers.   So, there
was America in the 1960s and 1970s, openly exchanging a balance of opinions on
air, on a nightly basis.  Then came the Ronald Reagan presidency.   In 1987, after a
4-0 vote, the Federal Communications Commission repealed the Fairness Doctrine.

This was anticipated.  So, the U.S. Congress passed the Fairness in Broadcasting
Act, two months prior to the FCC's repeal of the Fairness Doctrine.  It was all for
naught.  Reagan vetoed it.  He tossed out the door a post-war American institution.

It is neither propaganda nor hype to claim that Reagan despised equality and fair-
ness.  After all, he was living comfortably in Hollywood, while men were dying
and risking their lives by the thousand, all the while not living a comfortable life.
That was not fair.  See:  (S. 742, 100th Cong., 1st Sess. [1987]).

The importance of the Fairness Doctrine is that a person needs to hear the pros and
the cons of a topic in one sitting, due to the frailty of human memory ... in order to
prevent confusion of mind.  More importantly, the observance of this regulation pre-
vented the complete polarization of America. Today, America is extremely polarized,
in an Us vs Them scenario.  It has gotten to the point, where there has been the emer-
gence of neo-confederatism and talk of a second American civil war.

Ronald Reagan was the president of division.  George WMD Bush adhered to Rea-
ganomics unto the end, bringing to America the greatest economic crisis since the
Great Depression.  Its aftermath is still smouldering.  Occupy Wall Street proved
this to be the case.  Today, due to the policies of Reaganism, America is a house
divided.  A house divided will fall.
__________________________________________________________________

February 4, 2019

Reagan: Hollywood Commando with a 1932 bookkeeper's aptitude.

Humanity needs much more than a trickle of the money supply.
Ronald Reagan was nothing more than a Class B actor and a ticker-tape sports an-
nouncer.  He was neither a scholar nor a decorated combat veteran.  In fact, he only
graduated with a C average in 1932, from Eureka College.  He majored in Sociolo-
gy and Economics, beginning in 1928.  This means that he began his college studies
during the Roaring 20's, when it looks as if prosperity has going to continue into the
1930's.  Then came the Great Depression, when no one was wise enough to know
that it was en route to America.  Thus, Reagan studies during the years when no one
had the answer to the cause of America's worst economic crisis.

Accounting courses during that era was little more than bookkeeping classs, whereas
during the Space Age, ratios, the delineation of costs, formulas, marginal utility curves
comprised accounting.  Incidentally, if you majored in Econ, you were required to pass
a couple accounting courses.  In as much, America and California elected to executive
posts a man who had the economic prowess of a bookkeeper ... literally.

                              The General Scorecard on Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan is the president who I] tripled the national debt, II] saw the national
unemployment rate rocket to 10.8% after having signed the first of two major income
tax rate decreases for the wealthiest Americans,  III] was granted 18 national debt ceil-
ing increases by the US Congress,  IV] signed into law various types of tax increases,
including an elimination of a major COBRA tax deduction.   V] froze the minimum
wage throughout his entire presidency.
                                                                    &
VI} Reagan caused the creation of the two-income family and the lonely phenomenon
of the latch key kid, due to the financial burden that Reagan let be imposed upon any-
one not counted among the rich.  VII] Plus, he funneled weapons to Iran & Nicaragua, 
VIII} set the Savings & Loan Crisis into motion by eliminating a major tax deduction
upon which real estate investors depended,  IX] opened the door to the Maoist sweat-
shop dictatorship in 1986, only for it, to end up owning over a trillion dollars worth of
U.S. Treasury bonds by the Year 2011.

X] In addition, Reagan signed into law the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act
of  1982 —TEFRA—the largest tax increase in the history of the United States, when
combined with 1984 legislation, which was designed  to raise $214.1 billion through-
out a 5 year period, reminiscent, in a way, of one of Stalin's Five Year Plans. 

XI] Year prior, Reagan signed into California law (as governor) the largest tax increase
in the history of any American state, up to that  time.  XII] As president, Reagan froze
the minimum wage throughout his entire presidency.
                                                                      &
XIII] Reagan, in the spirit of his generation's racism, vetoed the Comprehensive Anti-
Apartheid ActXIV] In the spirit of Frick, Carnegie, and the union busters of America,
he let the Pittsburgh steel industry go into nonexistence, despite the fact that it was the
Steel Capitol of the World the day Reagan took office.  XV]  Reagan simultaneously in-
creased the size of the federal government, even though he promised to reduce it, in ele-
vating the number of legislative and executive branch federal employees from 2,860,000
in 1981 to 3,113,000 in 1988.  XVI] Under Ronald Reagan, there actually was a decline
in government revenue as a ratio of national income, compared to Jimmy Carter's final
year in office. 
                                                                  &
XVII] One of the most poignant hypocrisies of Reagan was that he declined to defend
the right of Christians to not be required to desecrate their time-honored Sabbath with
performing unnecessary work under penalty of being fired or not hired, despite the fact
that Reagan presented to the Christian world as the pope of the "Moral Majority."
                                                                 &
XVIII] In 1985, for the first time since 1914, the United States became a debtor na-
tion.  In fact, it became the top debtor nation in the world, despite the fact that, when
Reagan enter office in 1981, the United States was the top creditor nation on earth.
XIX] Vetoed the Fairness in Broadcasting Act.

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/17/business/us-turns-into-debtor-nation.html

http://articles.latimes.com/1986-06-24/news/mn-21190_1_foreign-investments

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1291&dat=19860319&id=VwtUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kowDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6642,6797126

XIX] Under Reagan, from 1981 to 1983, the number of Americans living below the
poverty line went from 31,822,000 to 35,303,000.   As Reagan left office, there would
be more people living below the poverty line in America than when he entered office.
However, he was hailed as having taken millions out of poverty, when the fact is that
he was the one who originally lodged them there, after his 1981 income tax cut to the
rich ... and the income tax deduct was to the rich only.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104525.html 

XX]  Under Reagan, on October 19, 1987, the Stock Markets in America and else-
where crashed, having lost 22.6% of its value in one day.  It was called Black Mon-
day at the time.  The event was officially identified as the Stock Market Crash, by
the Federal Reserve Board and it is involved both the Dow and the S&P 500 index,
as well as the futures market and options market.

This worldwide historic event proves that the right wing conservative Republicans
lied each time in claiming that there was a recovery under Reagan.  Keep in mind
that there was also a Savings & Loan Crisis which began under Reagan's watch.

Black Monday: 25th anniversary of 1987 stock market crash; ABCNews, 2012

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=8852839

Reagan's Leadership, Too, Was Questioned After 1987 Stock Market Drop;
NPR News, 2011

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/08/09/139237597/reagans-leadership-too-was-questioned-after-1987-market-drop

A Brief History of the 1987 Stock Market Crash with a Discussion of the Federal
Reserve Response;  issued by the Federal Reserve Board, 2006

http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2007/200713/200713pap.pdf

Concerning what was called the Reagan Recovery, the University of Virginia's Miller
Center reported how it was dispersed.  The rise in personal income did NOT benefit
Americans equally.  The report was that the income of the rich rose 9%, the income
of the middle class rose only 1%, and the income of African Americans decreased
8% ... so said the Miller Ctr of the Univ of VA.  The Reagan Recovery was merely
the phenomenon of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. 

   One study revealed that while annual income for American families grew 
   by 3.5 percent during Reagan's first term, middle-class families saw only 
   a 1-percent gain, compared to affluent Americans (those in the top quin-
   tile of the income bracket) who saw their incomes rise by 9 percent.  

   In contrast, American families with incomes in the bottom quintile saw 
   their average incomes decline by 8 percent; black families and house-
   holds headed by women were particularly hard hit by declining incomes.  
  Finally, child poverty increased to levels exceeding those of the mid-1960s. 
  Miller Center, Univ of Virginia, Charlottesville.

The list of grievances go on and on, including the fact that 138 members of Reagan's
administration were officially investigated, some of whom were indicted, some of
whom were convicted, included those who were pardoned.  In fact, in having placed
James Watts as the head of the Department of the Interior, Reagan assigned a fox to
guard a chicken coup. 

Reagan's Economic Priority

Reagan's economic priority was that of erasing Taxflation.  This is the phenomenon
of inflation eventually resulting in a higher salary, and therefore, a higher income
bracket which erases some of the increased income through tax liability.  It's also
referred to a 'tax creep,' as in creeping up the tax brackets.  Of course, Reagan's
folly was in disregarding tax deductions, tax credits, and tax incentives which
can erase a person's income tax liability in part or whole.

None the less, in order to prevent taxflation, Reagan lobbied Congress to limit the
income tax brackets to two of them ... one at 28% and one at 15%.  The next prior-
ity was that of decreasing inflation which occurred through low interest rates.  The
book-keeping on the inflation rate was changed by changing the computation of the
Consumer Price Index.  This change made the inflation look like it was steadily
dropping at an impressive rate.  The former way of computing the CPI made in-
flation rates look erratic.  The former way counted home rental prices, but not
home mortgaging, being that a mortgage is a fixed contract that doesn't change
every quarter.

None the less, under Reagan, the price of gasoline decreased throughout his entire
presidency, when measuring year-by-year and not month-by-month.   Of course, they
price was previously far to high and OPEC was retaliating against the Ford and Cart-
er administrations, severely.  However, even though the price of gasoline fell during
the Reagan years, the purchasing power of the individual American citizen decreased
during the same Reagan years, thereby causing the same effect as inflation. 

Plus, Reagan agreed to items in congressional bills that are considered as
anathema by today's Republican propagandists

This part of Reagan's scorecard is significant in that it shows today's right wing con-
servative Republican mouthpiece to be a complete, and not even partial liar:

To start, in 1975, Democratic senator Russel Long, of Louisiana, succeeded in hav-
ing the Earned Income Tax Credit enacted into law.  In was a law fading away, in
terms of impact.  Then, Reagan agreed to have it expanded in the 1986 tax reform
bill.  Yes, the EITC condemned by the party of greed and sweatshop profiteering
found new life in the Reagan years.

In addition, Reagan signed into law the highest corporate tax increase in American
history.  Corporate tax loopholes were closed to the tune of $300 billion 1980 dollars,
while corporate tax liabilities were raised by $120 billion 1980 dollar, for a five year
period.  Thus, Reagan saw to the lowered of the tax rates of the individual wealthy.
This means that Reagan lowered his own tax rate.  Reagan showed that he didn't
care about America ... only his re-election campaign funds and his own bank ac-
counts.  In attacking inflation as he did, he showed that he merely wanted to make
sure that the money he had sitting in financial accounts wouldn't dwindle in value. 

Let's do the Apocalypso

If the aforementioned bibliographical references aren't enough for you, the follow-
ing provides firsthand, close-up, expert assessment of Reaganomics, being that it
was written by Reagan's own budget director, David Stockman.  David spoke of the
Reagan Reformation as the Deformation.  Needless to say, he resigned from the Rea-
gan administration.  His main reason was that Reagan was lying to himself, in insist-
ing to adhere to his unfounded Reaganomic beliefs which were deceptively camou-
flaged behind Milton Friedman's Supply Side doctrine.   Therefore, Mr. Stockman's
2010 New York Times op-ed (opposing editorial) is titled Four Deformations of the 
Apocalypse.  The title is a play on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/opinion/01stockman.html?ref=opinion

To fill in the empty spaces that an op-ed, in its short length creates, the following is
1988 article is in order, and it's brought to you by the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

This is important to note, because Rand Paul, the eye doctor who is NOT a scholar
in economics is heralded as a follower of the Austrian School of Economics, as if
he found a new and improved way to deal with an economy.  It's that the Austrian
school omits from its books measurements presented as essential elements of stan-
dardized economic science.

The point to mentioning this is that Rand is now presented as a Reaganomics guru
in the name of the Austrian school of economics.  Yet, that school sponsored the
full scale condemnation of Ronald Reagan's legacy.  Rand Paul's propagandists
state that Rand studied Austrian economics.  But where?  He was an eye doctor.
So, where were the Austrian Economics course held?

Anyway, the Ludwig von Mises article about Reagan, written at the end of Reagan's
presidency is titled, The Sad Legacy of Ronald Reagan.

                    http://mises.org/freemarket_detail.aspx?control=488

February 3, 2019

The Obsolete Nature of Austrian Economics: Otto von Bismark Economics. Rand Paul's Illusion.

Applying Austrian Economics in the States would rust out America.
Let's address the obsolete nature of Austrian Economics, being that Rand Paul
followers herald it as the newest and latest thing that will save humanity.

Of course, Rand Paul is one sick joke, from A to Z.  Firstly, he advocated abolish-
ing the Americans with Disabilities Act, in the spirit of an Adolph Hitler who could
only think of sterilizing Germany's mentally disabled, followed by exterminating
its physically disabled.  Rand Paul also hadt on his payroll the "Southern Avenger"
and neo-successionist John Hunter who wrote, John Wilkes Booth Was Right.

Plus, plus, plus, Rand doesn't know economics in the least.  And concenring the
20something-year-olds who follow his dad and him, they're the religious fanatics
of greed, thinking that economic anarchy, aka deregulation, will actually make
them insanely wealthy.  They don't realize that deregulation caused the George
Bush Economic Crisis and that a Rand Paul or Ron Paul presidency will econom-
ically destroy America for all time, guaranteed.

Incidentally, if you'rer smirking at the above-statement, you can write to me about
your smirking if and only if  you had your 100% test score in Ivy League account-
ing testing and were inducted into anyhting similar to the Phi Sigma Iota honors
fraternity.  I can't waster my time on arrogant idiots who can't even draw and X
on a sheet of Cartesian paper.  There are basic rules in automechanics, in order
to get an engine to operate.  The same goes with Economics.  These Rand Paul
types are complete illusionists, giving you the carrot and the stick game which
will leave you on the outside, cold and abandoned.  After all, Ron Paul Econom-
ics is nothing more than Dog-eat-Dog-Wild-West-Economics, wheere workers
will be used, abused, and discarded.  And the Ron Paul followers want to be the
abusers.  Let's review the great Rand Paul Illusion called Austrian Economics:

For the record, Austrian Economics is simply Marginalism, and it was founded in

1871, under the influence of Otto von Bismark.  It's nothing more than an offshoot
of Adam's Smith Superlative Advantage treatise which was blown out of the water
decades later by David Ricardi's Comparative Advantage thesis.  Thus,  Austrian
Econ is older than Keynesian Economics, JFK's economics policies, and Theory Z
which was widely popular in the 1980s.  Anyone who follows Austrian Economics
is the backwards one.

The bottom line is this:  Someone should remind Rand Paul that this is 21st Century
America and that we really didn't appreciate politicians such as he who turned the
United States back into a Frick/Carnegie Oligarchy.

Now, the greatest year of revolution in Europe, for the 19th Century, came in 1870.

And why?  ANS:  Because the Vatican, at Vatican Council I, defined an infallible
church doctrine known as Papal Infallibility, and the northern countries freaked.
Even France.  They did NOT want there to be any moral authority in Europe who
would check and balance their lawmaking decisions.  Thus, Otto von Bismark and
confreres wanted to have established theories that accentuated individualism.  Thus,
Austrian Economics was meant to fit into an already existent prejudice.  It was not
a mathematical discovery.  

Furthermore, if Austrian Economics is the answer to life, then there would not have

been the economics disasters that Europe saw in the 20th Century.  Thus, Austrian
Economics is a proven failure.  There was a time in the 20th Century when you lit-
erally had to take a wheel barrow full of cash to the bakery to buy a couple loaves
of bread.  This gave rise to Hitler.  

There's more.  Just keep in mind that neither Ron Paul nor Rand Paul were econom-

ics students.  Rand is so vicious that he proposed the repeal of the Americans with
Disabilities Act.

Let's Review Economics:


In Econ, the first steps are 1} the circular flow of money and 2} the marginal utility

curve which is simply a visual way to show what price a potential customer is will-
ing to pay for one product, and then what he's willing to pay for two of the same
products, and for three ... so on and so forth. 

To start, I'll call Austrian Economics AEcon for short.  At least for now.  

When you're dealing with Austrian Econ, you're dealing with focus on the marginal

utility curve out of the starting gate.  That's the center of AEcon.  Now, AEcon states
that price is more properly determined autonomously by the individual's personal pre-
ference for a product and not by the state.  This is where AEcon lacks an essential
variable its in general equation.  There is a major determinant in what a person is
willing to pay that has nothing to do with personal preference in how he/she values
something.  And that one thing is:

The person's income, ... in relation to something known as the marginal propensity to

consume (the amount of income that the person spends as opposed to saves) and the
person's sum total of liquid savings (the amount of savings he can immediately spend.)  

Very simply, a poor person has a different valuation system  than does a rich person.

This is why price determination is never subjective.  It has its constraints, because the
consumer has the constraint of a limited money supply.

In addition, another determinant in a person's willingness to pay a certain price for a

product is none other than ... the price of the competition's similar products.  But, this
involves the supply curve ... not marginal utility curve ... not the demand curve.

The other factor in price determination is substitute products.  An example is:  A sub-

stitute for vegetables would be bread or fruit.   The price of the substitute products has
 caused a phenomenon, in times of economic crisis, where the increase in a product's
price doesn't result in a decrease in demand, but rather an increased demand for the
higher priced edition of the same one product.  This occurs simply because the price
of the substitute products, such as steak and fruit, have also risen at the same time.

This shows that price determination is never subjective and never autonomous.

Prices are a dominoes effect.  Thus, the marginal individualism of Austrian Eco-
nomics is invalid.

Now, the difference between Austrian econ price determination and the Keynesian

model thereof is that the Keynesian model deals with the aggregate sum of humanity;
a total society, not merely one individual's personal preference.  The Keynesian model
simply determines how many people can afford to buy the product at such-and-such a
price and how many cannot afford to buy it at that same price.

The very first determinant of the price of product is the cost of the good, in terms of

manufacturing, transporting, warehousing, and insuring.  The cost of the good is the
"benchmark" . . . the index constraint.  You cannot set a price lower than cost of goods
sold divided by the quantity being sold.

Now, original economics was called mercantilism, and in those days, the determinant

of the price was labor costs and a fair markup.  That's the foundation stone.  That part
is not subjective in the least.

Here goes a vague conclusion:  


AEcon attempts to apply micro-economic math to macro-economic models.


Now, I have a lot of explanations of economic functions and phenomenon at 

"Humanity at the 11th Hour."  It's found at:

www.11thhourman.com


I wrote those articles so that people will understand the basic motions of economics

which, according to my definition, is the Science of the Flow of Money.

January 16, 2019

Football Concussions: The point of impact from personal experience

       Now that the NFL & NCAA football seasons are well underway, let's talk concussions.
Yours truly, during his fourth football camp.  For the record, yours truly had four concussions, a broken foot, a separated shoulder, a sprained back and whatever else as a result of football.  In fact, he once started and ended a football game with a 102.4 degree temperature, and  even intercepted a pass at the end of that game.  So, you can play full speed in that condition and stay in rhythm.  We did push ourselves to the breaking point, between phases of dogging it and pacing ourselves.  In fact, some of us went past that point and cracked like glass in the end which usually happened during a special teams play.

The following article is a result of the press dedicating time and space to the topic of football head injuries.  The ultimate purpose of this article is to share with you the actual experience of incurring that type of injury.

The danger factor in football head injuries is that, at least half the time, they're extremely pernicious things.  One concussion might result in you seeing flashing lights, while being accompanied by zero pain and no impairment.  Another might involve pain, but is rapidly following by a feeling a instant recuperation.  Things look a little foggy, as if you are looking through a vignette filter.  Yet, you felt functional enough to go back out on the field.  The one exception for me was my first concussion.
It was followed by a chronic headache, day after day.  However, the splitting headaches might have been my sensitivity to the nearby pines.  The following year, our football camp was not held near the rows of pines, and I had no headaches.  Only two concussions that year.

When you get a back sprain, a torn ligament, or a broken arm, you feel it and you know that you won't be playing football the following day and even for the rest of the month.  You feel the pain
as you try to move the injured area.  With head injuries, most of the time you feel that you can go back out on the field at that very moment.    You're a little groggy, but you're not in pain.  So, you have to employ your own sense of rationale to know that you should give yourself a bit of recuperation time and cease full speed contact for at least a short while, lest you cause lingering damage to yourself.

Concussions were not uncommon occurrences

I wasn't the only one to go the concussion route during that time span.  In fact, one of the guys on the team had to be taken out via stretcher, with a neck brace firmly attached to him, during a special teams play.  He was the leading scorer in the entire county, returning a kick-off.  So, perhaps he had a bull's eye on him.  None the less, my worse concussion was during a special teams play.  This is probably because there is a lot more running room on a kick-off and punt play, allowing guys to reach higher speeds than during regular scrimmage line plays.

Another one of the teammates was carried to the sidelines via stretcher, the night when we beat the champs on a rain-soaked field.  He shortly came back to consciousness, leaped out of the stretcher, and went into a high-kick sprint down the sidelines, upon which everyone in the stands was cheering at him and not at the players on the field.  He ended up going to the Air Force Academy, to play football.

There was another player who went the route of multiple concussions.  He was one of the two starting half backs.  He was forbidden by doctor's orders to ever return to a football field, on account of his  concussions.  Ironically, after he left football, he returned as an adviser, took me to the side and showed me the trick in going full speed into any defensive player with an added punch.  From that point on, I never had a head injury again, except for that fateful punt play on the last game of the season.  All in all, when it came to football concussions, I wasn't alone. 
Football head injuries and the media exposure they have been getting

A number of journalists, writers, and web hosts have maturely reported, conjectured, and commented on the phenomenon of football head injuries.  After all, there is an instantaneous concern to it, as it applies to energetic youth who had the discipline to train well enough to be able to take all sort of hits, from all sorts of directions.  However, none of these reporters were able to tell you what it was like to get concussion after concusion after concussion.  All in all, no matter how disciplined and in shape you are, your head remains very vulnerable and you remain completely mortal.  The tragic endings of a few NFL football stars remind us of this.

The Immediately Needed Partial Remedy for the NFL

The NFL needs to bring back its 300 pound weight limit.  Some players today are entirely too big for safety purposes.  The NFL managers of decades prior realized that behemoth players were not conducive to the good of a league that provided role models to many an American youth. 

During those rare plays when my helmet would come off

I can only speak from my experience on the following matter:  On those plays when the hitting was such that my helmet would come off, I felt zero pain.  I didn't even feel my helmet come off.  I simply suddenly noticed that it was off.  Sometimes, I actually saw it rolling.  After the play, I would go and get my helmet, while thinking to myself, "How did that come off?"  That is to say, I never felt the exact hit which dislodged it.  And remember, when you're carrying the ball, you are getting hit by three to six guys in a single play.  Some of those guys are your own players crashing into you and getting pushed into you.  So, I never knew what hit dislodged my helmet from my head.

Also for the record, at no time during my four concussions did I ever see stars.  A concussion is a matter of lights out ... not stars out tonight.

Concussion #1:
When a coach allows a football drill to turn into assault and battery upon a Freshman

During summer camp of my freshman year, the head coach was present while the senior backs were taking turns, giving me violent shots, during a summer camp drill which went awry.  If that type of thing would happen today, it would be on YouTube and that coach's career would have been terminated.  He happened to have been the brother in law of Steeler quarterback, Terry Bradshaw.
The coach's form of football was basically blood thirsty animal thuggery.  Very little technique was taught by him.  Yet, he would obsessively have us redo a play or two during practice, to get it right.
Well, if he taught us more technique, he wouldn't needed to have us practice those plays over and over again.

Incidentally, for those unaware, such as my readers in Turkey, Western Europe, and the Ukraine, Terry Bradshaw possessed four Super Bowl rings.  He was the American football champ four times in his career.  None the less ...

During that summer camp drill, the seniors went out of their lines and proceeded to give me shot after shot after shot, in the same one drill, giving the phrase "football drill," new meaning.  They were absolutely drilling my head ... fracking me and practically fragging me ... and no other freshman had to go through this.

It was that I had a brother who graduated the year prior, and those seniors didn't like him at all.  My brother was the second string fullback the year prior.  This meant that the third string fullback was now the starter and he was ruthless to me.  My brother, incidentally, became a military officer, up to the rank of colonel.  Anway . . .

My course of action at the time was to literally do the Christian turn-the-other-cheek thing.  I conscientiously employed the turn-the-other-cheek policy, as a moral obligation.  So, why was I playing a sport as violent as American football?  Oh ... because there were cheerleaders on the sidelines and fans in the stands.  You would be surprised how many girls would magnetize to you, simply because you were a football player.  None the less, in my freshman year, the seniors took their hatred of my brother out on me.

During that one solitary drill, I would take a shot, and go down to the ground.  Yet the coach, Terry Bradshaw's brother-in-law, wouldn't blow the whistle.  So, I would get back up, only to take yet another hit when I wasn't even 3/4 of the way up.   In fact, I would keep getting up and have to fend off another series of hits.  Never was I given the opportunity to stand up and get set.  I was lunging forward and meeting the hits, because I would get hit immediately upon trying to stand up.  Bam! Over and over again did this happen.  Moreover, this was only the second or third day of camp.

The coach let it go on for an amount of time that was entirely too long.   I even remember seeing the sneering face of one of the seniors, as he made a perfectly aligned helmet-to-helmet hit on me, followed by others taking turns in hitting me at full speed, time after time.  A few days later, I was diagnosed with my first concussion.   Nice guy ... my head coach.   Just what I needed.

I was still playing full contact football during the time between the drill which went awry and the day before my diagnosis. That wasn't a smart thing to do.   I was playing full contact football with a concussion not being given the opportunity to heal.

Incidentally, I went to the doctor because of a chronic headache that wouldn't subside.  Needless to say, I missed the first scrimmage of the season.  But, during the second scrimmage, the following week, I wasn't gun-shy on the field, at all.  For some reason, I was revved-up.  I was so in-tune that I would place one hand on the front-center shoulder pads of the ball carrier, and the other hand on the back-center should pads and literally throw the guy down to the ground.  Something clicked, because of having of been so severely attacked and refusing to quit the team, despite the full-blown physical harassment of seniors.

None the less, during my freshman year, there would be times when, without warning or cause, a senior would hit me full force in the head, during scrimmages.  There was even a time during a scrimmage when the whistle had blown, and everyone stopped, except for the senior wingback, who clipped me at full speed rom behind, resulting in me getting a separated shoulder.  Ironically, the following year, I became the starting wingback  . . .  and right side cornerback.

As was previously mentioned, if those things happened today, I would have gotten a hefty settlement, the coach would have been fired, and the school would have been placed on some type of probation.I took a beating that year.  What made things even more difficult was that my mother was dying and she would be gone during the following calendar year.

Incidentally, whenever a player on the other team would get injured and be unable to take himself off the field, those same seniors would clap and cheer.  Today, that would have incurred a 15 yard penalty and disciplinary action.  That anti-sportsman mindset prevailed throughout that graduating class.  In the years to follow, however, the seniors would be much more civilized.  In fact, one of those abusive seniors (during my freshman year) was recently indicted for a major, high priced fraud. That was a vicious graduating class, to say the least.

Concussion #2:
This one was fascinating.

Concussion #2 happened in the same year, during a Freshman game.  It was played against the one school locally known for its gymnastic talent.  Anyway, I went to the sidelines, only to see in my peripheral vision, two flashing lights that looked like neon signs.  One of them almost looked exactly like an arrow sign that you see when passing a stretch of road under construction.  That is to say, the design of the flashing light was organized and continuous, not morphing into any other design.  None the less, there wasn't any hit that I remember which was hard enough to trigger the flashing lights.   In fact, I wasn't in pain.  I simply saw the flashing neon light phenomenon and knew that it was time to stay on the sidelines for a while.

Concussion #3:
The one which occurred when I was carrying the ball.

This occurred in the middle of my second year.  There was no pain attached to this one, either.  It occurred at practice.  It was a standard, off-tackle run.   The line of scrimmage was a traffic jam.
So, I put my head down and plowed through.  My problem was not using my forearm to absorb some of the contact.

If my memory is correct, I made it past a linebacker and a safety who were were playing the role of welcoming committee upon my person.  However, neither one could make a center-mass hit on me.  So, I went to then end zone.  Then suddenly, it felt as if I were waking up and suddenly materializing on the field.  I turned around a looked at the line of scrimmage which looked like a photo taken in a vignette filter.  It was one of those things when you find yourself thinking in total silence, "Oh no.  Not again.  Another concussion."

Concussion #4:
Walking unconscious

This was the last game of the second season.  It was during a punt play on a Saturday afternoon, when a defensive end collided into the side of my head, in an attempt to block the punt.  I went entirely unconscious, yet I was walking ... instinctively walking toward the sideline, with my right hand on the right side of my helmet.

While coming back into  full consciousness, I heard the sound of a buzzer that sounded like the type you hear in a game show when a contestant gets a question wrong.  In fact, when I came to consciousness, I thought that I was waking up, to go to the game.  Next, I faintly heard cheering.  Then, I loudly heard cheering.  Suddenly, I saw the punt returner headed directly toward me.  About four guys made the tackle fifteen yards away from me.

When I did come back into consciousness, I momentarily experienced the worst pain in my life ... even when compared to the day I was caught between two 2,430 lb steel beams at the heal ... even in comparison to a number of vicious asthma attacks, my separated shoulder, my broken foot, the -30 degree wind chills I endured, the 106 degree Oklahoma weather I once endured, etc.  The pain disappeared when the elongated buzzer sound vanished.  I would then attend two more football camps, in the years to follow ... free of any further concussion.

Now, as far as would go any lingering effect, I had none that affected any mental functionality.  But,  safety improvements are still needed in organized football,  to remedy an eminent danger in a sport that's violent in nature .. unless if the authorities decide to cancel the sport, altogether.  None the less, despite four concussions, I managed: 1} to get published at the age of twenty, along side a handful of laureates, 2} to later get published along side a multiplicity of laureates, 3} to play impressionist poly rhythms in studio piano class, 4} to score a 100% on a national standardized collegiate accounting exam issued by an Ivy League school, 5} to get inducted into what used to be called the National Languages Honors Society, 6} to make the dean's list more than once, 7} to get inducted into the International High IQ Society.

Keep in mind that I had all of my mental faculties almost immediately after incurring each head injury.  The fatal error in a head injury scenario is going back out on the field, instead of heading to the locker room ... or to the team doctor.  In the words of any successful poker player, you gotta know when to fold 'em.  I did, three out of four different concussions. 

The rare summer football camp death in the general area was a matter of course.

During every summer camp season, I expected, as matter of course, to hear news broadcasters report one or two local football-related deaths.  Usually, it was a blood clot in the brain which was the cause.  At least that's how it was registered in my memory.

When the news of the first death of the season would be reported, there would be an impromptu team meeting, headed by the team captains.  Coaches made sure that we wouldn't be deprived of water on the field.  So, we evaded the ultimate football tragedies.  None the less,  I would end up getting four concussions before I would sew my first football letter on to my school jacket. 

A quick note about the team photo above, being
that there was one historic element to our team.

Concerning the photo at the top of the page, the guy to my left was the fastest guy on the team and a bit track-and-field champ.  The gentleman to my right was the starting quarterback.  The taller team mate behind my left shoulder wasn't a lineman.  He was the second or third string quarterback and one of the most personable guys on the team.  The one ace up his sleeve was the distance he could throw a football.  He was also a golden gloves boxer.  But, he just didn't have the speed to be a starter.  The guy behind my left shoulder played defensive and offensive end.  Perhaps you know that phrase:  "A defensive end is someone who can tear a refrigerator apart, while an offensive lineman can tell you how to put it back together, piece-by-piece."  In fact, the worst beating I ever took in my life was at the hands of a defensive end, in a game we won 63-6.  He was revenging the lopsided score on my rib cage.  He beat me ruthlessly on that field.  The more we would score, the more violent he would get.

I already mentioned that our head coach was Terry Bradshaw's brother in law.  He's the one seen celebrating on the field with Terry, at Three Rivers Stadium, in the famous Immaculate Reception film clip that made Franco Harris an icon.  At last count, he was an assistant college coach, to former NY Jet head coach Joe Walton, on the college level.

Pittsburgh Football was, once upon a time, in the image and likeness of its steel mills

Keep in mind that I was raised in the Pittsburgh vicinity ... in the specific borough that once had the largest push button railroad in the world.  Pittsburgh was the King of Steel,  as was evidenced by a 21 mile stretch of the Ohio River whose east and west banks housed some of the steel mills that were arrayed throughout the general region.  In fact, the 21 mile steel line only ended at the property line of the largest push button railroad on Planet Earth (at the time.)  Pittsburgh, at present, is the king of bridges, even more than Venice.  The other thing about Pittsburgh is that it was known as one of the three quintessential football venues in America ... at the time, with Ohio and Texas football being as iconic.

The Pittsburgh vicinity was the home of Dallas star Mike Ditka, Heisman trophy winner Tony Dorsett, New York Jet Super Bowl quarterback Joe Namath, record-setting Miami Dolphin quarterback Dan Marino, Miami Dolphin star Mercury Morris, NFL Hall of Fame running back Curtis Martin, all-pro Chicago Bear lineman Jimbo Covert, all-pro Buffalo Bill lineman Bill Fralic, Cotton Bowl quarterback Kevin Scanlon, Steeler head coach Bill Cowher, Washington Redskin Rich Milot, Notre Dame star Terry Hanratty, four-time Super Bowl quarterback Joe Montana, Oakland Raider legend George Blanda, and others.  In sports, you only become as good as your competition.  These stars had the competition to fine tune their skills and fortify their wills.  Even at that, it was my understanding that Ohio football was tougher, in the contact department. 

Pittsburgh football didn't make you arrogant.  It humbled you.

If you were a multiple letterman in Pittsburgh, as well as someone who played in the formal venues of summer league baseball, one thing was guaranteed.  You would have a number of team mates who would eventually make a national mark in football.  For example, my former team mates included an all-pro lineman who earned a Super Bowl ring, as well as someone who started as quarterback in a Cotton Bowl game, and someone else whose name I heard on ABC television, during an Orange Bowl game.  One team mate would go to such and such university to play football, while another one would go to another American university, to do the same.

Even an occasional guy you would compete-against in track would end up on this WFL team here, while one you faced in summer league baseball would end up on another football team there.  In as much, you would think that coming from an environment such as Pittsburgh would make you arrogant.  The truth is that it made you very humble.   Yet, it wasn't the hits which made you humble.  You could take the hits after your first year of apprenticeship.  The humility factor was in you not being as conditioned as the stars-to-be ... or not as fast ... or not as able to turn the corner without sliding down to the ground ... or not alert enough to avoid from running into your blockers, from time to time.  Do not be deceived.  I was built like an Adonis and was very acrobatic, even to the point of winning an organized summer league batting championship and base-stealing championship on a team of men who became champs of their football division.  Despite this, there were a number of guys against whom I competed who put me to shame.  Pittsburgh was that athletic of a place.  So, I learned a great deal about humility in a place once called the City of Champions.

It Wasn't Always Head Hunting, though

When a defensive back goes head hunting on you and he misses, you are on your way to the goal line.  So, during one particular game, in hometown of Mike Ditka, a linebacker wanted to do little more than make sure that I wasn't going anywhere after catching a short pass, not wanting his coach to lambast him for missing me in an attempted head-hunting play.  So, he would wrap his arms around me so tightly that breathing became a difficulty until the ref blew the whistle.

I spent the entire game as a wing back, going five yards and out, catching five to ten passes in the process.  The same linebacker tackled me every time.  He was a human vice grip as he wrestled me down.  He was just doing his job and played by the rules.  But, I dreaded his grip.  I would have preferred that he take full speed shots at my head, in the attempt to dislodge the ball from me.  But no.  He had to be the human vice grip.   So, he played prevent-defense throughout the entire game and it worked. 

Some opposing players do take revenge during a game.

We played a team in West Virginia during my freshman year and beat them 63-6.  I played right end for the entire second half.  The opposing defensive end beat me to near death.  He kept targeting my rib cage, and even when I cross body blocked him to the ground, his knees would drive into my ribs.  So, I spent an entire half holding my right arm to my right-side rib cage.  The lesson is, just because you win a game in a whitewash, it doesn't mean that it will be a painless experience.  I never took a beating on a football field that badly.

The Coach's On-Field Disciplinary Tactic

When you're a running back and the play doesn't involve you carrying the ball, you have a way of acting as if you're not in the play, meaning that you occasionally miss your blocking assignment.  Well, one day in practice, after having missed my blocking assignment, the coaches decided to do the Pittsburgh version of an intervention.  They called the exact same play, but I was going to be the ball carrier.  They then told the offensive players to not block for me.  They next told the defensive players what the play was and that the offense wasn't going to block for me.

For some reason, I thought to myself, "Oh well. Who cares?  Let's get this over and done with." 
The quarterback called the signals.  The ball was hiked.  It was handed-off to me, and the entire offense went on vacation for the play.  So, who made first contact on me?  A defensive end, of course; ... the one who later went to play for the Air Force Academy.  Next came a few others, and then came everyone else.  I went down facing the sky ... and it didn't hurt at all, because all the other defensive players were absorbing the impact, and because the first defensive end simply wrapped his arms around me and started pushing me backwards, upon which I eventually went down like George Washington's cherry tree.

Of course, I wasn't going to tell anybody that it didn't hurt, lest the coaches call the same play and send the offensive players on another hiatus, in order to "teach me."   This was during my freshman year. 

The injury process on the football field sometimes 
backfired on the player attempting to inflict pain on you

The injury process on a football field can work in reverse.  For example, during my Senior, while I was running an end-around play as a half back, yet another defensive end spiked me as hard as he could in the kidneys, while I was being stood-up by a few defensive players.  He was the one who had to go to the sidelines in pain.  I went back into the huddle, only to be informed by a guard what happened.  I didn't feel it, at all, even though he came at me full speed from behind.  After all, there was more than one guy hitting me, and when that happens, all of the different feelings of impact cancel out each other one.  None the less, in trying to drive me to the ground as hard as he could, the defensive end ended up hurting himself.

American Football was basically legalized venting, unless if you were a pass receiver in the path of a linebacker.  Well, it was venting for the linebacker.  When you went up for a pass, you were completely defenseless, as the hits made upon you were designed to dislodge the ball from your hands.  When you keep taking those kinds of hits repeatedly, something eventually gets dislodged.
       
Junior Year:  My first track meet as a hurdler.  Football players commonly
went out for track or played summer league baseball.  Hurdlers were
the coordinated guys who didn't have the flash speed of a sprinter, 
but who were faster than everyone else.