DOW 16,000? U.S. Economy Is Falling OFF A CLIFF

Description:
Mortgage rates have been falling for 30 years in a virtually straight line.

Interest rates are at an all time low, fuelling asset bubbles.

“The success or failure of any government must be measured by the well-being of its citizens.”
Franklin Roosevelt

In the U.S., the unemployment problem is, quite frankly, a disaster. As discussed in the previous chapter, this doesn’t apply just to the U.S., but Canada, European countries, and many others. Much of the world is suffering from high unemployment which ultimately drags down economic growth because people can’t spend.

Sources:
http://themoneygps.com/free

$150,000 In Debt Per Taxpayer

National debt today is $17,219,110,204,136.29

 

( Debt Held by the Public vs. Intragovernmental Holdings )

Current	Debt Held by the Public	Intragovernmental Holdings	Total Public Debt Outstanding
11/26/2013	12,262,512,988,251.73	4,956,597,215,884.56	17,219,110,204,136.29

See information on the Debt Subject to the Limit.

 

National debt clock shows $17.197 trillion and as a result shows just $149,827 in debt per taxpayer.

 

SAX

Pay hike for Penang reps too, but less drastic

The Penang government is also expected to increase the monthly salaries of its 40 assemblypersons, albeit by 88 percent, and a proposal to amend a related statute may be tabled next week.

The matter is expected to be announced by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng ( left ) when the session ends by Dec 17.
However, to do this, the state legislative assembly must table an amendment to the Members of the Administration and Members of the Legislative Assembly Enactment (Renumeration) 1980.
It is learnt that the statute - dubbed Statute Paper 1 2013 Penang - for the amendment is already in the parcel of documents handed out to all assemblypersons at the start of today's proceedings.
Currently, the basic salary for each state representative is RM4,112.79 basic with a fixed allowance of RM2,000.
The fixed allowance includes RM500 (special allowances), RM500 (entertainment), RM400 (fixed transport allowance) and RM600 (driver).
If the increase is approved, the state representatives' salaries will be increased to RM6,000 (monthly salary) and RM5,500 for allowances, bringing it to a total of RM11,500 for each assemblyperson.
This includes the increase of special allowance from RM500 to RM1,500, entertainment allowance, from RM500 to RM1,000, driver's allowance from RM600 to RM1,500 and transport allowance from RM400 to RM1,000, bringing it to a total of RM5,000.
The proposed amendment would also include RM500 for housing allowance.
During his budget speech today, Lim confirmed the pay hike in basic salary (RM4,112.79 to RM6,000 per month), saying it was in order as salaries have not increased since 2004.
"This is not in line with the amount of work that our state assembly does.
"So we have proposed amendments to the statute and when passed, the pay hike will be effective on Jan 1, next year," he added.
Admist slight table thumping, Lim also announced that the allowance for the opposition leader - currently held by Teluk Ayer Tawar assemblyperson Jahara Hamid - will be increased 100 percent - from RM1,000 to RM2,000.
Lim, however, was silent on the increase in the state reps' allowances from RM2,000 to RM5,500.
Penang follows Selangor's controversial move
Penang's proposed move follows the controversial pay increase by fellow Pakatan-led Selangor government, which will see the salaries of his MB, assemblypersons, exco, speaker and her deputy go up by 87 percent to 373 percent from Jan 1, 2014.
This raised the of several Pakatan Rakyat leaders, including Opposition Leader and PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim ( right ), who deemed it " quite high ".
The Selangor assembly passed a 268 percent pay hike for its speaker, along with pay rises for the menteri besar (RM29, 250 per month), deputy speaker (RM15,750) and assemblypersons (RM11,250).

Japanese switched at birth would like to 'roll back clock'

A 60-year-old Japanese man switched at birth says he would like to "roll back the clock", days after winning a lawsuit against the hospital that mistakenly cast him into a life of poverty.

The man told a packed Tokyo press conference that he was shell-shocked when he learnt the truth, saying his life would have been starkly different.
"I've wondered how on earth could this happen. I couldn't believe it. To be honest, I didn't want to accept it," he told Japanese media late Wednesday. The man was not identified.
"I might have had a different life. I want (the hospital) to roll back the clock to the day I was born."
A Tokyo district court this week ordered the hospital to pay 38 million yen ($374,000) in damages over its 1953 blunder which saw the man switched with another baby boy who was delivered just 13 minutes later.
The court ruled that 32 million yen should go to the man and the remaining six million to his three biological brothers.
It is not clear if the hospital, which has not commented on the bizarre case, will appeal.
The man, an unmarried truck driver, would have grown up as the eldest of four brothers in a wealthy family where siblings enjoyed a lavish lifestyle including private tutors.
Instead, he was raised on welfare by his non-biological mother who also supported older siblings after her husband passed away.
The family had few frills in their one-room apartment except for a radio, according to the man who studied at night school while working in a factory.
"It was like she was born to experience hardship," the man said of the woman he knew as his mother. She is now also dead.
The man has been helping take care of his non-biological brothers, one of whom suffered a stroke.
The decades-old mistake was uncovered when the wealthy family's three younger brothers had DNA testing done on their oldest sibling -- who looked nothing like them -- after their parents died.
They checked hospital records and confirmed the identity of their biological eldest brother last year.
The four are now working on building a relationship to make up for lost time.
But the man switched at birth said he cried daily for several months after learning the truth.
"As I saw pictures of my (biological) parents, I wanted to see them alive. I couldn't hold back tears for months every time I saw their pictures."
One of my brothers "told me that we will have 20 more years to live so we should make up for lost time", he added.
"I was happy to hear that and I want to do it."
The wealthy family's non-biological eldest son runs a real-estate company while his three siblings work for major firms, media reports said.
The trio, along with their genuine older brother, had asked for a much-bigger 250 million yen in damages.
The mothers in both families had seemingly suspected they had been raising the wrong babies.
"I think my foster mother might have sensed it," the man said, noting physical differences from the siblings he grew up with.
His real brothers remember their mother saying her first baby came back from his first bath in hospital wearing the wrong clothes.
"I've heard mother was a person who hated to lose. I have really hated to lose since I was small and was wondering where this characteristic came from," he said.
"When I heard about her, I thought 'that was it'."

Public Banking: Taking Back Power from Finance Capitalists

This week GRTV talks to Ellen Brown, an attorney, author, and president of the Public Banking Institute.
We begin our discussion with an examination of Brown’s recent article on naked shorting and the suppression of the gold price, and we turn our attention to solutions that the people can use to take back power from the finance capitalists.
We finish on a discussion of the state banking solution proposed by the Public Banking Institute.

“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 besides employees have little to no leverage as we explained here.
Via Bloomberg Businessweek,

Mack, who is 40, has been working in the fast food business for 18 years. For the past six, she’s been at a McDonald’s in South Carolina, working 40 hours a week and making $7.60 an hour. “I love what I do, but I don’t want to work for nothing. I want to work for something,” she says.
…
Her fiancé is on disability, and the $600 he receives every month goes toward insurance for her 1990 Honda Accord, the phone bill, and some spending money for the kids. Her salary covers gas for her commute, electricity, and everything else the family needs. The kids are on Medicaid.

The family gets $345 a month in food stamps. Mack says she goes to the grocery store once a month, and whatever she buys has to last until the next trip. She brings her lunch to work every day. “I work at McDonald’s and I can’t afford to eat there. It’s crazy.”
…
A few weeks ago, Mack joined the effort to raise fast-food workers’ wages to at least $15 an hour. “That would do me just fine,” she says. “I expect to stay at McDonald’s. I just want to get paid more for what I know and what I do. I want to make sure my kids have a better life than I do.”

The harsh reality bottom line is if she wants to be able to afford McDonalds or anything else, she should motivate herself to be something more than a minimum wage food service worker. Because the sad reality for her and millions of other minimum wage, zero leverage workers like her is that the robots are finally coming, and they don’t demand food… or a wage.
With permission
zerohedge.com

Distributed by RINF Alternative News

As Wal-Mart Workers Plan Record Black Friday Protests, Study Says Retail Giant Can Afford Higher Pay

http://www.democracynow.org - As Black Friday approaches, Wal-Mart workers and activists are planning another round of protests and strikes at the nation’s largest employer on the biggest shopping day of the year. The Black Friday protests come at a time of heightened scrutiny for the company. It made headlines last week when a photo surfaced online of a sign made by workers at one of its stores in Ohio. The sign was taped to a table and read: “Please Donate Food Items Here, so Associates in Need Can Enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner.” Wal-Mart says the food drive shows the company tries to help its workers. But critics say it reveals the low wages Wal-Mart pays them. The National Labor Relations Board also ruled last week that Wal-Mart violated the rights of striking workers. We are joined by Catherine Ruetschlin, a policy analyst at Demos who co-authored the new report, “A Higher Wage is Possible: How Wal-Mart Can Invest in Its Workforce Without Costing Customers a Dime.” We also speak with Barbara Collins, a former Wal-Mart employee fired after last year’s Black Friday strike. Collins speaks to us from Bentonville, Arkansas, where Wal-Mart’s headquarters is located. She has been protesting there since Friday as part of a group of eight fired workers who are demanding their jobs back after the NLRB’s ruling that their firing was unfair.