Saturday, November 30, 2013

Siti Aishah refuses to come home, denies being enslaved, says activist

A Malaysian woman said to have been enslaved for nearly 30 years, Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab, has refused to return to Malaysia and denied she was a slave in London, says activist Hishamuddin Rais.
He said Siti Aishah's denial came from her Marxist ideology.
"Siti Aishah has said she was not anyone’s slave. That is her ideological belief.
"She also does not want to return to Malaysia," Hishamuddin said in London when contacted by The Malaysian Insider.
On his blog, Hishamuddin posted the latest updates on Siti Aishah's reunion with her sister, Kamar Mahtum.
 According to Hishamuddin, Kamar Mahtum had to endure a six-hour journey to meet Siti Aishah, who had previously been reported by British media as being a victim of slavery along with two other women.
 "The journey from London to a secret police safe house took six hours and a change of vehicles twice. Kamar Mahtum was eventually reunited with Siti Aishah, who is being watched by two policewomen and eight policemen," Hishamuddin said.
 The representative from the Malaysian High Commission was not allowed to accompany Kamar Mahtum.
Both sisters cried when they finally met after decades apart.
Hishamuddin said the sisters had a 40-minute reunion. He had accompanied Kamar Mahtum when she departed from Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, determined not to return to Malaysia until she had seen Siti Aishah.
The United Kingdom had confirmed Siti Aishah's status as a Malaysian citizen, registered officially as Aishah Wahab and born on May 27, 1944. Siti Aishah was in a red top and black trousers when Kamar Mahtum met her. She also brought a package for her sister.
He said: "During their brief reunion, Siti Aishah asked about her mother and other siblings. Kamar Mahtum tearfully replied that they had died long ago. The package which Kamar Mahtum brought included headscarves and robes," Hishamuddin said.
He said when Siti Aishah was invited to return to Malaysia to be introduced to her other relatives here, she replied she would return some time in the future. Siti Aishah was also briefed about Islamic teachings by Kamar Mahtum and said she had many Muslim friends in London.
 Kamar Mahtum did her best to persuade Siti Aishah to return home but the latter seemed reluctant. Kamar Mahtum said she nagged Siti Aishah quite a bit during their meeting and described her sister as being extremely British.
 "Kamar Mahtum had a nagging feeling that there was something private in Siti Aishah's life that her sister wanted to share but did not reveal. Kamar Mahtum made three requests of her sister before she left, to read the Quran, write home and to return to Malaysia," Hishamuddin said.
 Siti Aishah is one of three women freed by the police on October 25 in London after one of them contacted the authorities. The other two victims are an Irish, 57, and a Briton, 30. Police also arrested B. Aravindan and his wife, Chanda. – November 30, 2013.

Black Friday: A Shameful Orgy Of Materialism For A Morally Bankrupt Nation

It has been called “America‘s most disturbing holiday”.  Black Friday is the day when millions of average Americans wait outside retail stores in the middle of the night in the freezing cold to spend more money that they do not have for more cheap Chinese-made products that they do not need.  It is a day when the rest of the world makes fun of Americans for behaving like “rabid animals” and “zombies” as we indulge in a tsunami of greed.  It truly is a shameful orgy of materialism for a morally bankrupt nation.  It is being projected that approximately 140 million Americans will participate in this disgusting national ritual this year.  Sadly, most of them have absolutely no idea that they are actively participating in the destruction of the economic infrastructure of the United States.  If you don’t understand why this is true, please be sure to read this entire article all the way to the end.
The amount of merchandise that is purchased on Black Friday is absolutely staggering.  For example, just consider how much stuff is sold at Wal-Mart alone
Wal-Mart said it recorded more than 10 million register transactions between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Thursday in its stores and nearly 400 million page views that day on walmart.com. It sold 2.8 million towels, 2 million televisions, 1.4 million tablets, 300,000 bicycles and 1.9 million dolls. Big-ticket electronics like big-screen TVs and new videogame consoles were among the top sellers.
But each and every year, Black Friday also seems to bring out the worst in many people, and this year was certainly no exception.  The following are just a few of the national headlines about the rioting and the violence that we witnessed…
-”Holiday shopping season kicks off with fights, arrests
-”Violence flares as shoppers slug it out for best Black Friday deals
-”Watch Screaming Mobs Fight Over Televisions At Wal-Mart
-”Two Arrested After Stabbing Over Parking Space At Wal-Mart
-”Rialto Walmart Thanksgiving brawl sends one police officer to hospital
-”Walmart Ejects Customer For Filming Violent ‘Black Thursday’ Mobs
-”Cops: Shoplifting suspect shot after dragging officer
And sometimes the violence extends out into the parking lots and into the surrounding neighborhoods.  In Las Vegas, a man that was carrying a big-screen television home from Target was shot in the leg…
According to police, a man purchased a big-screen television from the Target store near Flamingo Rd. and Maryland Pkwy. While he was walking to a nearby apartment complex, a man approached and fired a warning shot, causing the victim to drop the television, police said.
Officers tell 8 News NOW the gunman then took the television to a nearby car that was waiting, where a second man helped the gunman load the TV into the car.
The victim approached the two men and tried to get the television back. That prompted the gunman to fire several more rounds, shooting the victim in the leg.
Every year I go over to YouTube to check out the madness that breaks out on Black Friday night all over the nation.  Posted below is the best compilation video from Black Friday that I could find.  In particular, I love how this video compares American shoppers to zombies…

And there is one more video that I wanted to share with you.  In this video, activist Mark Dice dresses up like Santa Claus and mocks Black Friday shoppers for being “parasites” and for ruining Thanksgiving…

Meanwhile, as retail stores all over America actively encourage this zombie-like behavior, police are actually cracking down on other groups of Americans that are actively trying to make this country a better place.  For example, a Christian group in Lake Worth, Florida was kicked out of a public park for trying to feed the homeless on Thanksgiving.  Of course this kind of thing happens all the time.  In fact, dozens of major cities all over the country have now passed laws that make it illegal to feed the homeless.  For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled “One Lawmaker Is Literally Smashing The Belongings Of The Homeless With A Sledgehammer“.
At the beginning of this article, I stated that those who go shopping on Black Friday “are actively participating in the destruction of the economic infrastructure of the United States”.
How could that possibly be?
Aren’t they helping the economy by spending their money?
Actually, it isn’t that simple.
Just think about it for a moment.  Where are most of the “advertised specials” that people go crazy over on Black Friday actually made?
If you guessed “China”, you would be correct.  In fact, it is very difficult to find any “Black Friday specials” that are actually made in the United States.
When you buy stuff made in China, you support workers and businesses in China.  As I mentioned in a recent article, the U.S. economy loses approximately 9,000 jobs for every 1 billion dollars of goods that are imported from overseas.
Overall, the U.S. has run a total trade deficit with the rest of the world of more than 8 trillion dollars since 1975.
So when you look around and see lots of unemployed people, it should not be a surprise to you.
Right now, the labor force participation rate is at a 35-year-low and more than 102 million working age Americans do not have a job.  That number has increased by 27 million just since the year 2000.
Because the American people are not supporting American businesses, our formerly great manufacturing cities are being transformed into rotting, festering hellholes.  Just take a look at Detroit.  At one time Detroit had the highest per capita income in the entire nation, but now it is a dying, bankrupt ghost town.
And of course this is happening to manufacturing cities all over the nation.  Since 2001, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities in the U.S. have permanently shut down and we have lost millions upon millions of good paying manufacturing jobs.
Back in the 1980s, more than 20 percent of the jobs in the United States were manufacturing jobs.  Today, only about 9 percent of the jobs in the United States are manufacturing jobs.
Good job America.  And the following are some more facts from one of my previous articles about how our massively bloated trade deficit is absolutely killing our economy…
-There are less Americans working in manufacturing today than there was in 1950 even though the population of the country has more than doubled since then.
-Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs.  Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.
-When NAFTA was pushed through Congress in 1993, the United States had a trade surplus with Mexico of 1.6 billion dollars.  By 2010, we had a trade deficit with Mexico of 61.6 billion dollars.
-Back in 1985, our trade deficit with China was approximately 6 million dollars (million with a little “m”) for the entire year.  In 2012, our trade deficit with China was 315 billion dollars.  That was the largest trade deficit that one nation has had with another nation in the history of the world.
-According to the Economic Policy Institute, America is losing half a million jobs to China every single year.
-According to Professor Alan Blinder of Princeton University, 40 million more U.S. jobs could be sent offshore over the next two decades if current trends continue.
Unfortunately, most Americans never stop to think about what happens when we buy stuff from China.
When we buy stuff from them, our money goes over there.
At this point, they are sitting on trillions of our dollars and they have purchased more than a trillion dollars of our debt.
Up until now, Chinese demand for our dollars has helped keep the value of the U.S. dollar artificially high.  This is one of the reasons why Wal-Mart can sell you those Chinese imports so inexpensively.
And up until now, Chinese demand for our debt has helped keep long-term interest rates artificially low.  So the U.S. government has been able to borrow money at ridiculously low interest rates and U.S. home buyers have been able to get mortgage rates that are well below the real rate of inflation.
But no irrational state of affairs ever lasts indefinitely, and the Chinese recently announced that they are going to quit stockpiling U.S. dollars.  Many analysts believe that this means that the Chinese will soon stop stockpiling U.S. debt as well.
So enjoy those super cheap “Black Friday specials” while they last.  That era is rapidly coming to an end.
Now that the Chinese have stolen tens of thousands of our businesses, millions of our jobs and trillions of our dollars, perhaps they feel that there is not much more looting to be done.  Our economic infrastructure has been essentially gutted at this point.  Moving forward, China can afford to let the value of the U.S. dollar fall and the value of their own currency rise because even Barack Obama admits that “those jobs are never coming back”.
And every single American that went shopping on Black Friday and bought Chinese-made goods actively participated in the ongoing destruction of the U.S. economy.
Good job America.  You are a nation that is utterly consumed by materialism and greed, and you don’t even realize that you are destroying yourself with your own foolishness.
The official blog can be found here.

Distributed by RINF Alternative News



Massive Fraud, Intimidation, and Vote Buying in Honduras

On Sunday, November 24, Hondurans voted. Eight candidates contested for president. Only two mattered.
LIBRE party (Liberty and Refoundation) candidate Xiomara Castro challenged ruling National party’s Juan Orlando Hernandez. A previous article explained.
It said business as usual prevailed. Fraud, intimidation and vote buying were rampant. So were political assassinations. Democracy was nowhere in sight.
Honduras has none. Fascist extremism is official policy. A cauldron of violence and repression persist. Washington offers full support. It does so disgracefully.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psake congratulated Honduras for a “peaceful” election. She lied saying so. She did again calling it “generally transparent.”
She urged Hondurans “to resolved election disputes peacefully through established legal processes.” Honduran rule of law principles don’t exist.
Fascist police states don’t operate this way. They do what they please. They do it unaccountably. They steal elections with impunity.
Sunday was no exception. Election rigging substituted for freedom, openness and fairness. They were nowhere in sight.
Independent observers denounced what happened. The Honduran Equality Delegation (HED) was comprised of US LGBT human rights activists.
They took a historic first step. They addressed dozens of Honduran hate crimes committed against LGBT activists. They include assassinations, beatings, humiliations, and numerous other human rights violations.
Honduras has the most homicides per capita worldwide. It’s unsafe to live there. It’s a breeding ground for human and civil rights violations.
Pepe Palacios heads the Honduran LGBT movement. He called Washington’s supported 2009 coup ousting Manuel Zelaya “our Stonewall. We are not going back.”
Honduran Solidarity Network (HSN) observers denounced Sunday’s results. It documented “serious and undeniable fraud in all 10 districts” it observed.
On November 26, it issued a preliminary report. It’s based on firsthand observations.
Its representatives accompanied Hondurans “in their electoral process as they seek social justice in their country.”
“(W)e find the presidential elections to be inconsistent with democratic principles and rife with fraudulent practices,” it said.
“We were impressed with the peaceful behavior of voters, and in particular the voting participation of youth and senior peoples, despite the widespread voter intimidation tactics we witnessed.”
Numerous human rights violations occurred. Intimidation was rampant. So was vote buying.
Western media ignored what happened. Despite irrefutable evidence, international observer groups were silent.
It was inexcusable. It reflected complicity with rampant fraud. Widespread human rights abuses weren’t addressed. A stolen election went unreported.
The Carter Center fell woefully short. It sent a “high-level delegation.” It didn’t “constitute an electoral observation mission…”
It was “an expression of the international community’s high interest in the ‘democratic’ process in Honduras.”
It bears repeating. There is none. Jimmy Carter and other Center officials know it. They went along with the charade.
They “thank(ed) the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) for inviting them.” They “congratulate(d) the people of Honduras for their peaceful and enthusiastic participation in the elections.”
“It recognizes the effort of the Tribunal, the political parties, and the numerous national and international organizations that have supported the process and contributed to more inclusive and transparent elections than in the past.”
“A number of parties have questioned one or more aspects of the process.”
“The delegation believes that it is very important that the parties make their complaints known to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in accordance with the procedures established by electoral law.”
“It trusts that the Tribunal will resolve these challenges based on the established norms.”
“It encourages all of the actors in the process to continue to work together to resolve electoral disputes in a peaceful and expedient manner for the good of the Honduran people and the newly elected officials.”
“The Carter Center offers its support and collaboration to the people of Honduras to continue the strengthening of their political and electoral institutions.”
These comments turn a blind eye to blatant electoral theft. Jimmy Carter justifiably calls Venezuela’s electoral process the world’s best.
Honduras’ is without question one of the world’s worst. Carter didn’t explain. Sunday’s voting wasn’t an election. It was a sham. It mocked legitimacy.
It was a predetermined process. The outcome was decided in advance. It was enforced through massive fraud, intimidation, vote buying and cold-blooded murder.
Maria Amparo Pineda wore several hats. She was a Cooperativa el Carbon leader. She was a Central National de Trabajadores del Campo member.
She was LIBRE party’s Cantarranas polling station president. On November 23, she was assassinated. She and Julio Ramon Araujo Maradiaga were murdered after leaving an electoral training session.
On election day morning, five Gracias a Dios department city of Lempira people were killed. State-controlled media called it narco-trafficking violence. Authorities closed the polling station. Voters were shut out.
HSN witnessed numerous major electoral irregularities. They included vote buying. Fascist National party representatives “bought smaller political parties’ polling table credentials.”
Many LiBRE supporters were prevented from voting. Others doing so got pre-marked ballots. They supported the National party.
Poll workers outside a Santa Rosa station were assaulted. Their credentials were stolen.
Masked men held 50 others captive in a Paraiso, Copan hotel. Independent observers got intimidating phone calls saying, “You’re still in town? You better leave.”
Transparency in vote counting was absent. HSN expressed concern that around 20% of LIBRA supporter ballots weren’t counted.
Its observers faced intimidation and harassment. Sunday’s result has no credibility whatever. What happened wasn’t an election. It was predetermined selection.
Melissa Stiehler is HED’s international coordinator. It was part of HSN’s observation team. She expressed deep concern about what happened. Sunday reflected electoral theft writ large.
A detailed report is planned. A snapshot of what went on was as follows:
Human rights abuses included election day anti-democratic events. Military forces surrounded national media transmitters.
Their presence nationwide was hugely intimidating. LIBRE party supporters were targeted. So was free expression.
Electoral violations were rampant. As explained above, many voters got pre-marked ballots. They had no choice.
Cash, food and other handouts bought votes. National party hacks took over polling stations. LIBRE supporters were shut out.
Ballots for registered dead voters were cast. Voting secrecy was denied. Inappropriate campaigning occurred.
Voting entrances were blocked. Underage girls wearing National party t-shirts handed out mock ballots.
Many voting stations opened late. Registered voter lists weren’t present. Soldiers intimidated voters. They were deployed in disproportionately high numbers in LIBRE strongholds.
“The integrity and effectiveness of international election observation (was) severely compromised, said Stiehler.” Detailed information will follow. One example reflects others.
An Olancho observer team “was followed by two vehicles without license plates immediately after leaving the polling station they were observing,” Stiehler explained.
“After frantic and evasive driving from one of their accompaniers, the delegates succeeded in avoiding a confrontation.”
At issue was intimidation. It was subverting democratic fairness. It was attempting to deny it entirely. On Sunday, it was nowhere in sight.
US ambassador Lisa Kubiske acted inappropriately. Despite numerous electoral irregularities, she “recognize(d) the announced results.” She urged respecting the outcome before half the votes were counted.
She falsely claimed legal mechanisms exist to challenge results. Honduras has none. Rampant fraud and other irregularities can’t be contested.
Stiehler expressed great concern going forward. She fears more severe human rights abuses. She denounced America‘s role, adding:
“I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn in saying that the US is well aware of the violations that are happening here in Honduras.”
“Despite the Leahy Law (and others prohibiting assistance to governments committing human rights abuses), the US continues to support and aid in increasing militarization in Honduras.”
“It is also not off to say that the US had (its dirty) hand in this election.”
“We believe that the only thing that will change US actions and narratives about this fraud and the massive human rights violations will be pressure, pressure, and more pressure from people like us.”
The National Lawyers Groups sent a 17-member delegation to Honduras. On November 25, they issued the following statement:
“Honduras has a flawed electoral system with many deficiencies including control of the process by political parties, unregulated and undisclosed campaign financing, and inadequate resources, training and voting facilities that disadvantage poor communities.”
“In addition Honduran electoral law provides for no run-off election.”
“Without a runoff election in which a majority of voters choose leadership, the electoral aspirations of two-thirds of Honduran voters who voted for change, are frustrated, and the winner of a mere plurality is denied a real mandate.”
On November 25, the Center for Constitutional Rights headlined “Don’t Rush to Recognize Honduran Election ‘Winner’ Human Rights Group Says.”
“Yesterday’s election in Honduras and subsequent statements by the US Ambassador characterizing the election as ‘transparent’ and accompanied by only few acts of violence are reminiscent of the 2009 election, where the US rushed to validate and help push forward a process as it was being contested by Honduran civil society.”
“There must be an opportunity to do a full and accurate count and fully investigate reports of irregularities and intimidation and threats by authorities.”
“Given the context of widespread opposition to the post-coup government and its violent repression of civil society, CCR urges the international community to do everything possible to ensure respect for and protection of Hondurans’ right to free expression, freedom of the press, and peaceful assembly in the coming days.”
Days before Sunday’s election, Honduran Solidarity Network (HSN) and Alliance for Global Justice (AGJ) delegates were temporarily blocked from visiting a group of campesinos. They’re victims of state-sponsored terrorism.
HSN and AGJ delegates were warned to go back. They were threatened. They were told they would “never leave” the area otherwise.
They ignored the threats. They pushed on by foot. They did so “nervously.” They spent the night. They survived OK. They were lucky.
Honduran immigration agents targeted their Progreso delegations. They were harassed and threatened. They had to cancel planned training exercises. They could have been arrested or worse.
German, Salvadoran, Brazilian and other observers were treated the same way. Police states operate this way.
HSN added the following:
“The aforementioned observations made by HSN delegates were made in good faith by people who voluntarily served as witnesses to the entire electoral process.”
“Given the extensive list of threats and violence before and during the election, and given the hourly revelations of discrepancies in the data on the vote tallies (Acts), and considering the fact that 20% of the votes are held by the TSE (Supreme Electoral Tribunal), the Honduras Solidarity Network cannot and will not in good conscience join in the rubber stamp endorsement of the results as they have been announced by the TSE.”
“We continue to stand with the Honduran people in defense of their human rights and of their struggle to build a Honduras that provides a better life for everyone.”
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.
It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour
The official blog can be found here.

Distributed by RINF Alternative News

Eurozone youth unemployment reaches record high of 24.4%

With 3.58 million under-25s in the euro area jobless in October, youth unemployment is a scar that shows little sign of healing

Eurozone youth unemployment at record high of 24.4%
Barcelona, Spain: Eduard Izquierdo, 20, who is being assisted in his job search by Exit Foundation. Spain's youth unemployment rate increased to 57.4% in October. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images
The crisis facing the younger generation across the Eurozone worsened last month as youth unemployment hit a new record high of 24.4% with under-25s in Spain, Italy and Portugal finding it harder to get jobs.
The grim news on on employment came as the Netherlands was stripped of its prized AAA credit rating despite the country's recent exit from a year-long recession.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's said on Friday that weakening growth prospects showed the country would struggle to improve its financial stability and generate new jobs.
It said: "The downgrade reflects our opinion that the Netherlands' growth prospects are now weaker than we had previously anticipated, and the real GDP per capita trend growth rate is persistently lower than that of peers."
It cited weakening consumer demand, high levels of personal debt and falling house prices for keeping consumer spending and tax receipts low in the next few years. One in four Dutch homebuyers is in negative equity as a result of falling property values.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister, said S&P's downgrade to AA+ was disappointing when the economy had returned to growth.
S&P's action leaves only three members of the eurozone with a top rating from all three agencies – Germany, Luxembourg and Finland.
The Eurozone jobless data showed Spain's youth unemployment rate has now increased to 57.4%, only marginally below Greece's August high of 58% - which remains the highest rate of youth unemployment for any country in the eurozone's history. Italy's youth unemployment rate rose to 41.2%, from 40.5% the previous month. In Portugal, it rose to 36.5% from 36.2%.
The startling figures from southern Europe contrast with rates in the north where Germany has a 7.8% youth unemployment rate and the Netherlands an 11.6% rate.
Italy's credit rating is perilously close to entering junk status and Rome is lobbying hard in Brussels for more time to cut the country's annual deficit. The coalition government headed by Enrico Letta said on Friday it would call a fresh confidence vote in parliament, despite winning a vote earlier in the week, to confirm his government's majority after the withdrawal of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party from the ruling coalition.
Letta said the vote would be held after his centre-left Democratic party elects a new leader on 8 December, and would be based on a new agenda for 2014 which would be discussed with coalition partners.
"The confidence vote will allow us to pass from defence into attack," said Letta, whose government is backed by the Democratic party, a centrist group Civic Choice and a centre-right group that broke away from Forza Italia.
Considering the chaos in Italian politics and the credit rating downgrades affecting some of the EU's traditional paymasters, France and the Netherlands in particular, there are still many analysts who fear for the eurozone's growth prospects over the next decade.
Youth unemployment also remains a scar that shows little sign of healing. While the adult unemployment rate fell across the eurozone from 12.2 to 12.1%, 3.6m under-25s are now unemployed, an increase of 15,000 on the previous month.

Hunger in America

It’s hard giving thanks when you’re hungry. It’s harder living in the world’s richest country. It’s harder still knowing government officials don’t care. It’s hardest of all wondering how you’ll get by.
More below on growing hunger and deprivation. It’s increasing in America at a time trillions of dollars go for warmaking, corporate handouts, and other benefits for rich elites.
Giving thanks predated the republic. In 1621, Plymouth Pilgrims did so. They had nothing to do with originating the idea.
Native Americans did. They gave thanks for annual fall harvests. They did it centuries before settlers arrived.
On November 26, 1789, George Washington proclaimed the first national thanksgiving day.
He called it “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God.”
In 1863, Lincoln used the occasion to boost Union Army morale and patriotic fervor.
He “invite(d) (his) fellow citizens to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”
He “fervently implore(d) the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of he nation and to restore it to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.”
He didn’t live long enough to see it. Government officials today exploit Thanksgiving. They promote the illusion of US exceptionalism, moral and cultural superiority.
Social inequality, moral degeneration, and police state lawlessness reflect today’s reality. Constitutional rights don’t matter.
War on humanity persists. Corporate crooks go unpunished. Democracy is a convenient illusion. Powerful monied interests run things.
Ordinary people are hugely deprived. Growing needs go unaddressed. Government officials able to make a difference don’t care.
Thanksgiving has many disturbing ironies. Presidents annually issue a “pardon.” It spares a preselected turkey’s life. It does so by proclamation. This year two were spared.
It’s unclear precisely when the tradition began. Lincoln did so. Thanksgiving day 1963 was November 28. Kennedy was assassinated six days earlier. Before his death, he let one turkey live. “We’ll just let this one grow,” he said.
Nixon began sending turkeys to a petting farm near Washington. He did so after a White House photo-op ceremony. No formal pardon was given.
GHW Bush was the first president to do it. On November 14, 1989, he said a preselected turkey was “granted a presidential pardon as of right now.”
Obama issued annual presidential pardons. On Wednesday, he spared two turkeys.
“The office of the presidency, the most powerful position in the world, brings with it many awesome and solemn responsibilities,” he said. “This is not one of them.”
“Tomorrow, as we gather with our own friends and family, we’ll count ourselves lucky that there’s more to be thankful for than we can ever say and more to be hopeful for than we can ever imagine.”
A November 27 White House press release said in part:
“On Wednesday, November 27, 2013, President Obama will pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey in a ceremony on the North Portico.”
“The President will celebrate the 66th anniversary of the National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation, reflect upon the time-honored traditions of Thanksgiving, and wish American families a warm, safe, and healthy holiday.”
“After the pardoning, the turkeys will be driven to George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens.”
“The National Thanksgiving Turkey will be on display for visitors during ‘Christmas at Mount Vernon,’ a traditional program through January 6.”
“The turkeys will then travel to their permanent home at Morven Park’s Turkey Hill, the historic turkey farm located at the home of former Virginia Governor Westmoreland Davis (1918-1922) in Leesburg, Virginia.”
Jaindl’s Turkey Farm in Orefield, Pennsylvania, gave President Obama‘s family two dressed turkeys that will be donated to a local area food bank.”
They need much more than that nationwide. Hunger in America is real. Millions are affected.
Official numbers understate a growing crisis. Congress ignores it. Food stamps were cut when they’re most needed. Further cuts are planned.
On December 31, millions will lose extended unemployment benefits unless Congress renews them. Both parties show little inclination to do so. Bipartisan complicity reflects indifference.
On July 28, AP headlined “Exclusive: Signs of Declining Economic Security,” saying:
“Four out of 5 US adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives.”
It’s a disturbing “sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.”
“Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized US economy, the widening gap between rich and poor, and loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend.”
Government data fall short of explaining things. Conditions are much worse than official reports.
Most Americans struggle to get by. Impoverishment or close to it affect them. So do millions experiencing hunger.
Franklin Roosevelt instituted the first Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). It began in May 1939. In 1941, he pledged freedom from want.
On January 11, 1944, he delivered his last State of the Union address. He proposed a second bill of rights.
“This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights,” he said.
“They were our rights to life and liberty.”
“As our nation has grown in size and stature, however – as our industrial economy expanded – these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.”
His solution was “economic bill of rights.” He wanted one guaranteeing:
employment with a living wage;
freedom from unfair competition and monopolies;
housing;
medical care;
education; and
social security.
Imagine if he’d lived long enough to implement it. Imagine this type America today. Hunger, homelessness, unemployment and poverty wouldn’t be major problems.
State-sponsored class war exacerbates them. Growing millions need help. They face increasing hardships.
Force-fed austerity harms America‘s most disadvantaged. Their numbers are far greater than most people think.
Half of US households are impoverished or bordering it. Growing millions struggle to get by. They haven’t enough to live on.
Most households with one or more workers live from paycheck to paycheck. They have little or no savings.
They’re one missed pay day away from being unable to handle daily expenses. They risk hunger, homelessness and deep poverty.
They live in the world’s richest country. It spurns its most disadvantaged. Doing so swells their numbers. They suffer out of sight and mind.
Banks, other corporate favorites and super-rich elites are disproportionately favored. America was never beautiful. It’s less so than ever today. It’s dark side reflects reality.
Obama is no Roosevelt. He’s polar opposite. Anti-populism defines his agenda. Transferring America‘s wealth to its most well-off is official policy.
He wants vital New Deal/Great Society programs eliminated. He wants them privatized en route to doing so.
Throughout his tenure, he instituted numerous social benefit cuts. He’s got more in mind. He’s heading America toward third world status. He lies claiming otherwise.
Hungry Americans don’t matter. Half or more are children. Many attending schools with hot breakfasts or lunches may get their only decent daily meal.
Most households receiving food stamps have at least one employed member. According to the Food Journal, they “typically include a child, elderly person or a disable person, and a gross income of $744 a month.”
Average rents nationwide exceed $1,200 monthly. A tiny upscale Kansas City, MO 800 square-foot one bedroom apartment costs about $1,000 a month.
Median rents in America‘s least expensive cities range from $623 to $730 on average. It’s a far cry from much cheaper earlier times.
Households earning $700+ a month struggle from day to day to get by. They need help doing so. Washington provides increasingly less during hard times.
Republicans and Democrats don’t give a damn. Today’s America is a let ‘em eat cake society.
Growing millions are on their own sink or swim. Protracted Main Street Depression era conditions persist. Things are getting worse, not better.
Thanksgiving is no time for celebration. Not when hunger reflects daily reality for millions. It’s been this way for years. Major media editors largely ignore it.
On November 25, 2009, a New York Times editorial headlined, “A Thanksgiving Toast,” saying:
“Sitting down with friends and family today, there will be thanks for the steady currents, flowing out of the past, that have brought us to this table….And there will be prayerful thanks for the future.”
In November 2010, dismissive Washington Post editors headlined “Thanksgiving’s unchanging appeal,” saying:
We’re “fortunate to be alive and fed and sheltered, and the proper response to our good fortune is not self-satisfaction but gratitude.”
Fact check
Poverty, homelessness and hunger are at Depression era levels. Feeding America (FA) is Chicago-based. It calls itself the nation’s “leading domestic hunger-relief charity.”
It serves the needy “through a nationwide network of member food banks.”
In February 2010, it issued a report titled “Hunger in America 2010.” In 2014, it plans updating it. Conditions now are much worse.
They were bad enough then. About 5.7 million Americans needed emergency food aid. It was over one-fourth more than in 2005.
It said one in eight Americans are food insecure. Around 14 million children were affected. It’s about 16 million now. They don’t get enough food to eat.
FA calls food insecurity “a complex, multifaceted phenomenon that varies along a continuum of successive stages as it becomes more severe.”
Food secure households lets them “access…enough food for an active, health life.”
“(T)he existence of so many people without secure access to adequate nutritious food represents a serious national concern.”
“More than one in three client households are experiencing very low food security – or hunger – a 54 percent increase” compared to data FA compiled in a 2006 report.
At the time, former FA CEO Vicki Escarra said:
“Clearly, the economic recession, resulting in dramatically increasing unemployment nationwide, has driven unprecedented, sharp increases in the need for emergency food assistance and enrollment in federal nutrition programs.”
“Hunger in America 2010 exposes the absolutely tragic reality of just how many people in our nation don’t have enough to eat.”
“Millions of our clients are families with children finding themselves in need of food assistance for the very first time.”
“It’s morally reprehensible that we live in the wealthiest nation in the world where one in six people are struggling to make choices between food and other basic services.”
On November 27, FA’s CEO Bob Aiken said in part:
“With the holiday season here and with many of us sitting down to a table full of food this Thanksgiving, it’s hard not to reflect on the 49 million people in our country who struggle with hunger.”
“And it’s especially hard not to think of those families who earlier this month saw their SNAP benefits cut, further straining their food budgets.”
“We’ve seen throughout our network of food banks the impact that these cuts are already beginning to have – with longer lines and an anticipated growth in need.”
“Our food banks are stretched and charity alone can’t make up for this cut to federal assistance.”
“And with the possibility of further cuts to the program via the farm bill, there is real concern that the need for food will not be met.”
“(W)e know hunger isn’t seasonal – it’s a year-round problem. It’s our job to make sure that we shine a light on this issue all year, not just around the holidays.”
In 2012, FA said 49 million Americans were food insecure. It affected 17.6 million households.
About seven million households experienced “very low food security.” Households with children reported “a significantly higher rate than those without children, 20 percent compared to 11.0 percent.”
Food insecurity persists across America. It’s in every county. It ranges from 2.4% in Slope County, ND to 35.2% in Holmes County, MS.
America‘s national average is 14.7%. Ten states are significantly higher:
Mississippi: 20.9%
Arkansas: 19.7%
Texas: 18.4%
Alabama: 17.9%
North Carolina: 17%
Georgia: 16.9%
Missouri: 16.7%
Nevada: 16.6%
Ohio: 16.1%
California: 15.6%
Hunger in the world’s richest country is intolerable. It’s unconscionable. It persists. It’s worsening. It’s the shame of an uncaring nation.
Families without enough to eat aren’t celebrating. They’re struggling to find enough food to survive. Bipartisan complicity ignores them.
Anti-populism is official policy. Harder than ever hard times persist. Failure to address it reflects America‘s dark side.
Equity and justice aren’t in its vocabulary. It bears repeating. Today’s America is a let ‘em eat cake society. Hard times keep getting harder.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.
It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour
http://www.dailycensored.com/hunger-america/
The official blog can be found here.

Distributed by RINF Alternative News

The Age of Deceit: The Misappropriation of Our Freedoms


The Fed Won’t Taper! Money Managers at Reuters Conference Expect Q.E. Forever


Analysis: Surfing central banks in a benign ‘QE trap’
(Reuters) – The message is sinking in – economies of the rich world face super-easy money far into the future and central banks are now convinced it’s the least of all policy evils.
Despite rumblings of dissent about the financial bubbles and iniquities associated with zero interest rates and money printing, 2013 is ending with a remarkable certainty among global investors that cheap money is around for the long haul.

Britain's banks show they have learned nothing as figures reveal top bankers' salaries soared by more than a THIRD in 2012

  • Top bankers got pay rise of 11% between 2011 and 2012
  • Number of bankers on more than €1m was 2,714 last year
  • That was TEN TIMES more than Germany which came SECOND on the list
By Matt West

Five years on from the financial crisis that brought the global economy to its knees, it appears the British banking sector hasn't learned much: figures released today showed the pay of the so-called 'Masters of the Universe' soar by a third last year.
Average total pay - including salaries, pensions and bonuses - for London's top-earning bankers surged 35 per cent to €1.95million (£1.6million) in 2012, the European Banking Authority said.
The figures show that, after a lull in pay awards in the wake of the banking meltdown, the UK's banks soon resumed bonanza bonus payments to their top staff worth nearly four times annual salaries.
Bonus culture: There have been numerous protests against the amount bankers are paid in bonuses in the past but the EBA data suggests they have achieved nothing
Bonus culture: There have been numerous protests against the amount bankers are paid in bonuses in the past but the EBA data suggests they have achieved nothing

And they picked up bonuses averaging 3.7 times their base salary, up from 3.5 in 2011.
It means 2,714 bankers in the UK earned more than €1million (£833,000) last year - an 11 per cent rise on last year - by far the highest number of any other country in Europe and ten times the number of highly paid bankers in Germany, which came second on the list.


The EBA data showed 212 bankers earned more than €1million in Germany, followed by France with 177,Italy with 109 and Spain.with 100.
In the UK, 81 per cent of the highest earners work in investment banking, with the rest split across asset management, retail banking and other business areas.
The figures will enrage politicians, regulators and the public like. Official figures recently showed average wages nationally have risen by less than 1 per cent in the last year.
Meanwhile, public sector workers including doctors, nurses, firemen and police officers, social workers and civil servants have seen wage rises  frozen at  just 1 per cent a year since 2010.
Over the same period consumer price inflation has been as high as 5 per cent and remains above the Bank of England's 2 per cent target today.
The steep rise in bonuses last year puts the City on a collision course with the new European Union bonus cap set to come into force in 2014.
The UK employs more than three-quarters of the EU's highest-earning bankers - highlighting how many London staff would fall foul of the new EU rules that will cap bonuses to a year's salary - or a maximum of two years if shareholders approve.
It will have an impact on so-called code staff, who are senior, investment bankers.
Chancellor George Osborne has filed a formal complaint against Brussels over the plans amid fears the move will backfire and drive up salaries.
The Treasury lodged legal action in September, arguing the EU had gone beyond its remit in seeking to regulate bonuses, which it claims had been decided without proper consultation and with no impact assessment.
But banks are understood to be planning to sidestep the rules by handing out monthly payments to affected staff.
Barclays reportedly told workers recently it was introducing monthly role-based pay, which will depend on the role of the staff member and the performance of the bank overall.

The Dirty Secret of Black Friday 'Discounts'

How Retailers Concoct 'Bargains' for the Holidays and Beyond

With Black Friday approaching, we explain how retail discounts generally aren't discounts at all — they are priced into it from the beginning. Suzanne Kapner reports on the News Hub. Photo: Getty Images.
When shoppers head out in search of Black Friday bargains this week, they won't just be going to the mall, they'll be witnessing retail theater.
Stores will be pulling out the stops on deep discounts aimed at drawing customers into stores. But retail-industry veterans acknowledge that, in many cases, those bargains will be a carefully engineered illusion.
The common assumption is that retailers stock up on goods and then mark down the ones that don't sell, taking a hit to their profits. But that isn't typically how it plays out. Instead, big retailers work backward with their suppliers to set starting prices that, after all the markdowns, will yield the profit margins they want.
The red cardigan sweater with the ruffled neck on sale for more than 40% off at $39.99 was never meant to sell at its $68 starting price. It was designed with the discount built in.
Buyers don't seem to mind. What they are after, especially in such a lackluster economy, is the feeling they got a deal. Retailers like J.C. Penney Co. JCP +1.09% who try to get out of the game get punished.
"I don't even get excited unless it's 40% off," said Lourdes Torress, a 44-year-old technical designer, as she browsed the sale racks at Macy's Inc.'s flagship store in New York on a recent afternoon.
The manufactured nature of most discounts raises questions about the wisdom of standing in line for the promotional frenzy that kicks off the holiday shopping season. It also explains how retailers have been able to ramp up the bargains without giving away the store.
The number of deals offered by 31 major department store and apparel retailers increased 63% between 2009 to 2012, and the average discount jumped to 36% from 25%, according to Savings.com, a website that tracks online coupons.
Over the same period, the gross margins of the same retailers—the difference between what they paid for goods and the price at which they sold them—were flat at 27.9%, according to FactSet. The holidays barely made a dent, with margins dipping to 27.8% in the fourth quarter of 2012 from 28% in the third quarter of that year.
Customer discounts are way up. But retailers' profit margins are flat. Claudio Papapietro for The Wall Street Journal
"A lot of the discount is already priced into the product. That's why you see much more stable margins," said Liz Dunn, an analyst with Macquarie Equities Research.
Retailers including Best Buy Co. BBY +2.37% , Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT +0.10% and Macy's are warning this will be an unusually competitive holiday season and that all the deals could hurt margins. That can happen when chains have to fight hard for sales or get stuck with excess inventory and have to take heavier-than-planned markdowns. Stores also field loss leaders, true bargains that pinch profits but are aimed at getting customers into their stores. Most deals, however, are planned to be profitable by setting list prices well above where goods are actually expected to sell.
Retailers could run into legal trouble if they never try to sell goods at their starting price. Otherwise, there's nothing wrong with the practice. Companies can be pretty frank about how things work.
Penney, which made a disastrous attempt to move away from discounts under former Apple Inc. AAPL +1.85% executive Ron Johnson, is again playing the standard discount game under new CEO Myron "Mike" Ullman. But first it has to adjust its prices.
"We must and will compete to win," Mr. Ullman said last week on a conference call with analysts. "That means initially marking up our goods to sufficient levels to protect our margins when the discount or sale is applied."
Here's how it works, according to one industry consultant describing an actual sweater sold at a major retailer. A supplier sells the sweater to a retailer for roughly $14.50. The suggested retail price is $50, which gives the retailer a roughly 70% markup. A few sweaters sell at that price, but more sell at the first markdown of $44.99, and the bulk sell at the final discount price of $21.99. That produces an average unit retail price of $28 and gives the store about a 45% gross margin on the product.
Retailers didn't always price this way. It used to be that most items were sold at full price, with a limited number of sales to clear unsold inventory. That began to change in the 1970s and 1980s, when a rash of store openings intensified competition and forced retailers to look for new ways to stand out.
Most deals are planned to be profitable by setting list prices high. Claudio Papapietro for The Wall Street Journal
Enter high-low pricing, a strategy designed to create excitement and lure shoppers by dropping prices for occasional sales. Initially, retailers practiced this strategy with restraint. At Mervyn's, a department-store chain that has since gone out of business, discounted items couldn't exceed 30% of total sales, said Mark Cohen, a professor at the Columbia Business School who worked at the company and has held other retail posts including CEO of Sears Canada Inc. SCC.T +1.59%
But the floodgates have opened. In a 2012 presentation, Mr. Johnson, then still Penney's CEO, said the company was selling fewer than one out of every 500 items at full price. Customers were receiving an average discount of 60%, up from 38% a decade earlier. The twist is they weren't saving more. In fact, the average price paid by customers stayed about the same over that period. What changed was the initial price, which increased by 33%.
"The silliness of it all is that the original price from which the discount is computed is often specious to begin with, because items hardly ever sell at that price, which makes the discount less legitimate," Columbia's Mr. Cohen said.
Can't wait until after Thanksgiving dinner to find all the great shopping deals on offer? MarketWatch's Jim Jelter shares the best tips and apps for scouting out the sales.
The rise of e-commerce has made it possible to track pricing on the Web and see how much time products spend at their list prices. Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +1.79% is featuring a Samsung 005930.SE 0.00% 60-inch HDTV in its 2013 Holiday Gift Guide. The TV is selling at a 45% discount to its list price of $1,799.99. But, according to Decide.com, a price-tracking firm owned by eBay Inc., the TV hasn't sold for anywhere near the list price in months. The most it has sold for in the past eight months is $1,297.85, according to Decide.com. As recently as October, it was priced at $997.99, about the same as its current sale price.
An Amazon spokeswoman said that "showing the most 'recent' price can be somewhat arbitrary and could be confusing to our customers," since the retailer changes prices so frequently in an effort to provide the best deals.
Another tactic involves raising selling prices ahead of the holidays before the discounts kick in. In an analysis for The Wall Street Journal, price-tracking firm Market Track LLC looked at the online price fluctuations of 1,743 products in November 2012. Prices climbed an average of 8% in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving for 366, or about a fifth, of the products; the items were then discounted on Black Friday. Toys and tools had the biggest pre-Black Friday price increases—about 23%.
Mr. Johnson lost his job after he abandoned the discount system abruptly in favor of everyday low prices and sales plunged. But retail executives said he hit on an important insight, that prices had lost their integrity.
Retailers are supposed to offer items at regular prices "for a reasonably substantial period of time" before marking them down, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Cynthia Spann is suing Penney over what she says are phantom discounts. She bought three blouses at 40% off the regular price of $30 in March 2011, according to her complaint. But instead of $30, the prevailing price for the blouses in the three months preceding her purchase was $17.99—exactly the same as the sale price she paid, the lawsuit alleges. Ms. Spann said in the complaint that she wouldn't have bought the blouses if she had known the discount wasn't real.
Through her lawyer, Ms. Spann declined to be interviewed.
A spokeswoman for Penney declined to comment on the litigation, but said the retailer's policy is to sell all items at their original price for a reasonable period of time before putting them on sale.
Similar cases are pending against Kohl's Corp. and Jos A. Bank Clothiers Inc. A Kohl's spokeswoman didn't reply to requests for comment. In its most recent quarterly filing, the company said the legal proceedings it faces likely won't have a material effect. A Jos A. Bank spokesman declined to comment on the pending litigation or the company's pricing strategy, but said two other lawsuits making similar claims were dismissed earlier this year.
Retailers, having trained customers to shop for deals, are stuck with the strategy for now. Macy's tried to cut back on coupons in 2007.
"Customers stopped shopping," said Chief Executive Terry Lundgren, "so we knew that was a bad idea."

 

Netherlands loses 'AAA' credit rating at S&P

By Carla Mozee
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Standard & Poor's on Friday downgraded its long-term sovereign credit rating on the Netherlands to AA+ from AAA, citing growth concerns. S&P said the country's growth prospects are weaker than it had previously anticipated. "We do not anticipate that real economic output will surpass 2008 levels before 2017, and believe that the strong contribution of net exports to growth has not been enough to offset a weak domestic economy," S&P said in a statement. The outlook is stable, reflecting the agency's view "that risks stemming from low growth and the related fiscal outturn are balanced against strong export performance, a net creditor position, and high GDP per capita."

All cash buyers slowly pulling back in California real estate: What happens when one third of your buyers begin moving cash elsewhere?

The cash buying and investor segment of the market has been the major catalyst for the current run in real estate.  Record low inventory coupled by low rates brought on one of the best year-over-year returns for real estate.  The investor crowd can easily pullback as quickly as it dove in head first.  We are already seeing some signs that investment buying is starting to slow.  In real estate, things historically turn very slowly.  The reason for this is because real estate is not a very liquid investment.  However, we’ve never had this much hot money in the market.  Inventory had been on a steady rise starting early in the year but recently, it appears that inventory is creeping back into its cave.  In California those with golden real estate handcuffs are pulling back for possibly better days in 2014.  What is surprising is that rentals and homes for sale both have seen decreases in inventory.  Cash sales were up by 3 times the normal volume from 2001 and nearly twice the historical average going back to 1998.  This average is skewed because it starts around the time of the massive real estate mania.  So what happens when the cash crowd starts pulling back?

The volume of cash buying
In economics you usually look at historical precedents and try to forecast the future as best as you can.  Yet we have never had a situation where investor buying has been so big.  Take a look at the volume of cash buying in California:
all cash buyers
In 2001 8.8 percent of all sales went to cash buyers.  In 2012 it was 30 percent.  This is not a normal market.  This is a giant market with big speculation.  There are multiple cross currents.  Some think that baby boomers will somehow retire and start selling in droves.  We’ve argued that in California many will be treating their grandfathered in homes under Prop 13 like granite plated sarcophaguses.  These people are not going anywhere.  Many couldn’t afford their home today if they had to purchase it based on their earned income.  In fact, part of the pullback in inventory has come from this crowd.  Many are seeing that they had to cut prices to move properties and would rather pull inventory off the market.  Maybe in 2014 they will hit the real estate lottery.  This is one line of thought but where will they move?  My thought is that inventory will remain tight into next year.  Foreclosures are now a tiny piece of the sales market, making up only 6 percent of all sales (versus 56 percent in February of 2009).
Cash buying is slowing
Both sales volume and cash buying is pulling back.  Take a look at this:
Cash buying volume (Southern California)
February 2013:                  36.9 percent (peak all-time)
September 2013:             28.5 percent
October 2013:                    27.5 percent
Sales:                                    Down 4.4 percent year-over-year
Something is changing here.  The hot market of seeing prices going up 30 percent year-over-year was simply unsustainable.  But how much of the rise in prices came from speculators and flippers simply hoping to sell into momentum of a tight market?  It was interesting to hear that many were saying that these people were buying these homes to rent out yet the single family rental volume has virtually disappeared meaning these homes aren’t being put on the market as rentals:
number-of-homes-for-rent
Source:  Quandl, Zillow
A shift occurred earlier in the year as well.  It was clear that from 2009 to early 2013 more rental units were being put on the market but that has changed dramatically recently.  Some investors are likely planning to exit the game taking profits off the table.  The returns are fairly weak in rents for California properties.  Keep in mind that we’ve been in a strong move up since the bottom:
california home prices
The bottom hit in 2011 and 2012.  Since then, prices have rebounded strongly over the last year.  Investors are the most fickle group of them all.  It’ll be interesting to see what happens as those year-over-year gains start declining and sales fall (headlines will be filled with this just like headlines have been filled over the last year about the raging market).  If anyone thinks that psychology isn’t a part of housing is out to lunch.  The real estate market especially in California is driven by mania, euphoria, and bust.  Those arguing we are going to see calm rational behavior after this run are simply ignoring the last couple of decades of history.

Mark Zuckerberg Is Grandson Of David Rockefeller. Real name. Jacob Greenberg.


Ok so this Greenberg / Zuckerberg thing is getting weirder by the second.
A Jacob Greenberg was arrested for possession of Marijuana and this mugshot was taken. It was later revealed that this could indeed be the man the world knows as Mark Zuckerberg.
His family members include David Rockefeller, his Grandfather. A little strange because Rothschild owns 8% of Facebook shares. Both Rothschild and Rockefeller are well known names….TAP with One World Government associations.
and his other granpa….greenberg…CEO of AIG
TAP – Facebook was funded with $500 million from a CIA owned bank, which was a
bit suspicious. I wonder if Google has similar disguised progeny.
Zuckerberg means ‘sugar mountain’.
That’s their secret word for Facebook no doubt. A mountain of information from
which they can extract billions. Bill Gates comes from a multibillionaire eugenicist
family, which was kept well hidden in the early years of Microsoft. The same
families control it all.
The Tap Blog is a collective of like-minded researchers and writers who’ve joined forces to distribute information and voice opinions avoided by the world’s media.
Source

US Recession Is Nigh And The Fed Can’t Stop It. Investors Demand A Sign Of When To Get Out And That Trigger May Have Just Arrived

US recession is nigh…and the Fed can’t stop it: SocGen’s Edwards
The United States might be posting some promising growth data amid government shutdowns and debt ceiling debates, but Albert Edwards, Societe Generale’s uber-bearish strategist, has predicted a recession is coming for the world’s biggest economy.
“No-one expects a recession is around the corner, but in my experience, they never ever do,” Edwards said in his latest note released late on Wednesday.
“The doomsayers who predicted that this recovery was on the verge of faltering have been proved wrong, and like the boy who cried wolf, can be safely ignored by the market. Yet that is exactly what happened in 2006 with the U.S. consumer and housing boom, where the voices of caution had been so wrong, for so long.”
Albert Edwards – ‘Investors Demand A Sign Of When To Get Out And That Trigger May Have Just Arrived”
With every other bear throwing in the towel left and right these days, we fully expected that the latest letter by SocGen’s Albert Edwards would have something about “how much he hates looking at himself in the mirror, but…” and then we would be served with some garbage like the following margin expectations [9]chart.
 
Crying wolf or not, what Bernanke and his central-planning henchmen are now doing, is simply delaying the inevitable day when realty finally catches up with every cycle, and law of nature that the Fed, courtesy of hundreds of billions of de novo liquidity, has – until this point – successfully deferred. The problem is that perhaps the most important law – that of diminishing returns – is now fianlly breathing down Mr. Chair(wo)man’s neck.
Spot The Difference
Greater-est fools? Or different this time?
Poverty under Obama rises to alarming level
NEW YORK – As Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, it is important to remember that despite establishment-media reporting of an Obama “economic recovery,” the number of Americans on welfare today is higher than the number that have full-time jobs, says Michael Snyder, creator of TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com.
Snyder outlined the economic reality in a recent editorial that points out the fragility of the U.S. economy.
“The gap between the wealthy and the poor is at a level that America has never seen before, and this is beginning to create a ‘Robin Hood mentality’ that could cause a tremendous amount of social chaos in the years ahead,” Snyder writes.
“Anger at the ‘haves’ in America continues to rise at a very alarming pace, and the ‘have nots’ are becoming increasingly desperate. At some point all of this anger is going to boil over, and you won’t want to be anywhere around major population centers when that happens.”
“I Work At McDonalds, But I Can’t Afford To Eat There”
For Shawndraka Mack, a 100% pay rise from her current $7.60 “would do just fine.” While some employees turn to blood plasma donation, and most are on food stamps (and other benefits), the mother of two teenagers (on Medicaid) told Bloomberg Businessweek, “I love what I do, but I don’t want to work for nothing.” Between the 40 hours a week she works and the benefits, Mack explains, “I work at McDonald’s and I can’t afford to eat there. It’s crazy.” Of course, McDonalds has ‘tips’ for surviving on their state-subsidized wages but once again, despite Harry Reid’s extrapolated charts, the reality of raising the minimum wage is lost on most who never stop to think of where the ‘money’ comes from; and besidesemployees have little to no leverage as we explained here.
AGAIN? Former Fed Chairman And Bubble Maker Greenspan Sees No Stock Market Bubble
Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) — Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan who has apologized for miscalculations in the past has said the U.S. economy probably will grow more slowly next year than some forecasters predict & indicated that a record U.S. stock market isn’t in a bubble. He spoke in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” airing this weekend. Angie Lau reports on Bloomberg TV’s “First Up.”