Individual Health Insurance Rates To Rise 30-40% next Year Under new law, Florida Insurance Chief Says

Individual Health Insurance Rates To Rise 30-40% next Year Under new law, Florida Insurance Chief Says
Posted: 7:10 p.m. Monday, July 29, 2013
By Stacey Singer
Health insurance rates in Florida will rise by 5 to 20 percent in the small-group market, and 30 to 40 percent in the individual market, as the Affordable Care Act’s guaranteed coverage rule takes effect next year, Florida’s insurance commissioner said Monday.
It’s a measure of how tough Florida’s insurance market has been for adults with pre-existing conditions that the state’s rates will rise so much for individuals, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post. McCarty said the impact on people with large-group insurance will be negligible.
Read more: http://www.palmbeachpost

Quietly, Obama Begins ‘Regionalizing’ America

Breitbart – by JOEL B. POLLAK
Stanley Kurtz at National Review Online writes about San Francisco’s new Plan Bay Area–a “regional” plan for San Francisco and the surrounding cities that is ostensibly aimed at making sure minorities can afford the local housing market, but which is actually aimed at forcing Americans to live in denser urban areas as part of state and federal initiatives aimed at slowing global warming by restraining suburban growth.  
The background to Plan Bay Area, which is, Kurtz writes, essentially being imposed on local residents with help from the Obama administration, is an activist agenda from the 1990s aimed at redistributing the wealth of the suburbs into failing, Democrat-run cities. One of Barack Obama’s community organizing mentors, Mike Kruglik, is involved in the effort, and Obama was once involved (together with Bill Ayers) in funding it.
Joel Kotkin has written about California’s new planning regime before, accusing Democrats of waging “a hypocritical jihad against basic middle-class aspirations.” But in the counter-cultural critique of Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, on which today’s California leaders were nurtured, suburbs are little more than “ticky-tacky” vehicles of oppressive conformity and waste, those middle-class aspirations are precisely the problem.
That is the perspective Obama adopted early in his political journey, and it is reflected in the left’s efforts to blame the failure of cities like Detroit on conservative policies. The left now wishes to export its failures: “The Obama administration is using traditional anti-discrimination language as a cover for a re-engineering the way we live. The real goal is to Manhattanize America, and force us out of our cars,” Kurtz warns.

Big Banks Manipulated Energy Markets In California and the Midwest … Ripping Off Tens of Millions of Dollars in 9 Months

Energy Markets Are Manipulated
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says that JP Morgan has massively manipulated energy markets in  California and the Midwest, obtaining tens of millions of dollars in overpayments from grid operators between September 2010 and June 2011.
As shown below, big banks have manipulated virtually every other market as well – both in the financial sector and the real economy – and broken virtually every law on the books.
Commodities Are Manipulated
The big banks and government agencies have been conspiring to manipulate commodities prices for decades.

The big banks are taking over important aspects of the physical economy, including uranium mining, petroleum products, aluminum, ownership and operation of airports, toll roads, ports, and electricity.
And they are using these physical assets to massively manipulate commodities prices … scalping consumers of many billions of dollars each year.
Interest Rates Are Manipulated
Interest rates are rigged:
Derivatives Are Manipulated
The big banks have long manipulated derivatives … a $1,200 Trillion Dollar market.
Indeed, many trillions of dollars of derivatives are being manipulated in the exact same same way that interest rates are fixed: through gamed self-reporting.
Currency Markets Are Rigged
Currency markets are massively rigged.
Gold and Silver Are Manipulated
The Guardian and Telegraph report that gold and silver prices are “fixed” in the same way as interest rates and derivatives – in daily conference calls by the powers-that-be.
Oil Prices Are Manipulated
Oil prices are manipulated as well.
Everything Can Be Manipulated through High-Frequency Trading
Traders with high-tech computers can manipulate stocks, bonds, options, currencies and commodities. And see this.
Manipulating Numerous Markets In Myriad Ways
The big banks and other giants manipulate numerous markets in myriad ways, for example:

• Engaging in mafia-style big-rigging fraud against local governments. See this, this and this

• Shaving money off of virtually every pension transaction they handled over the course of decades, stealing collectively billions of dollars from pensions worldwide. Details here, here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here and here

• Pledging the same mortgage multiple times to different buyers. See this, this, this, this and this. This would be like selling your car, and collecting money from 10 different buyers for the same car

• Pushing investments which they knew were terrible, and then betting against the same investments to make money for themselves. See this, this, this, this and this

• Engaging in unlawful “Wash Trades” to manipulate asset prices. See this, this and this

• Participating in various Ponzi schemes. See this, this and this

• Bribing and bullying ratings agencies to inflate ratings on their risky investments

The Big Picture
The big picture is simple:

• The big banks manipulate every market they touch

• The government has given the banks huge subsidies … which they are using for speculation and other things which don’t help the economy. In other words, propping up the big banks by throwing money at them doesn’t help the economy

• The big banks own the D.C. politicians … so Congress and the White House won’t do anything unless the people force change

Republished from: Global Research

Forbes to Moneynews: Stable Dollar, Flat Tax Are Keys to Dow 25,000

A stable dollar and a flat-rate income tax would provide the antidote to America's economic woes, asserts Forbes magazine editor and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes.

"A key thing is having a dollar that is stable in value again, a dollar as good as gold," he tells Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview.  "This undermining-the-dollar policy started under the Bush administration and has continued on steroids in the Obama administration."

Forbes is president and CEO of Forbes Inc. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996 and 2000, urging the adoption of a flat income tax with a single tax rate. His latest book is "Freedom Manifesto: Why Free Markets Are Moral and Big Government Isn't."

Watch our exclusive video. Story continues below.




Failure to buoy the dollar hurts working people the hardest, Forbes says. "And that's what we're seeing unfolding today," he said.

"So a stable dollar, a new simplified tax code, starting over on Obamacare, and you’d see this economy roar back very quickly just as it did in the 1980s when we made fundamental
reforms."

Editor’s Note: Put the World’s Top Financial Minds to Work for You

In a wide-ranging interview, Forbes also discussed:

• Stocks. "You have to remember on equities that even though nominally they are high, in real terms, they're lower than they were in the late 1990s," Forbes said. "So for 15 years, we've been treading water. And until we get some of these economic fundamentals in place, . . . the market isn't going reach many new highs." Once more, a stable dollar and flat tax, along with patient-controlled healthcare, are crucial, Forbes says. "You do those things, and you'll see the market [Dow Jones Industrial Average] go to 20,000 or 25,000 within in 24 months." The Dow closed Monday at 15,521.97.

• The next Federal Reserve chairman. Forbes isn't impressed with either of the front-runners for the job – former White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers and Fed Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen. "This is the equivalent of people running to be chief astronomer who still believe that the sun revolves around the earth -- pre-Copernican economics," Forbes said. "Neither understands that money comes from people doing things with each other: transactions with each other, being innovative, entrepreneurial. They still think it's just printing pieces of paper." Forbes would prefer "somebody like David Malpass, who understands what money is, understands central banking, understands the need for a stable dollar, normal credit markets." The economist served in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations.

• Bank lending. "The way you get capital flowing again is to have a real price for capital instead of the price controls the Federal Reserve has clamped on interest rates," Forbes said. "The Fed has destroyed the credit markets for small and medium-sized businesses or certainly warped it in a very major way." Real prices (interest rates) for money would make "credit flow more freely," Forbes said.

• Unemployment. Forbes' policy ideas would push the jobless rate down quickly, he says. "You'd see companies starting to educate people who need skills. You will get a vibrant economy when you get those reforms in place, and then you're going to have a labor shortage."

Editor’s Note: Put the World’s Top Financial Minds to Work for You

• Housing market. "Homebuilding has come back, but you have to remember that is from almost depression levels," Forbes said. "In a normal economy, you get 1.5 million housing starts a year." The rate was only 836,000 in June. "So we're a long, ways from that," he said. "Again, on these specific industries, the way they get cured is by having a vibrant economy."

Editor's Note: See more from the exclusive Newsmax TV interview:

• Forbes: Yellen, Summers Both 'Pretty Sorry Choice' for Fed Chief

• Fed Has Destroyed Credit Markets

• Forbes: Obama in a 'Bubble' as US 'Crumbles' Under Obamacare

• Forbes: Obama Waging War on New Energy

• Forbes: Reforms to Corporate Tax Codes Means Billions in 'Free Money'






© 2013 Moneynews. All rights reserved.

Hawaii offers homeless one-way ticket off islands

AP Photo: Marco Garcia

Hawaii's new 'return to home' program will pay for homeless people to return to the continental US.

Hawaii hopes the "return to home" program will help the state save on the millions it spends each year on food, shelter and other services for the homeless.

Hawaii is trying a new approach to cut down on the number of homeless in the Aloha State: Ship some of them back to the mainland.
Under a "return to home" three-year pilot program set to launch this fiscal year, the state will buy one-way tickets on planes — and possible even beds on cruise ships — to return eligible homeless people to their families in the continental U.S.
Lawmakers have appropriated an initial $100,000 to fund the program, which will be run by the state Department of Human Services.
The department has expressed concerns about the program's cost and the nature of services to be provided, among other issues.
"The administrative requirements ... are costly and administratively burdensome," department spokeswoman Kayla Rosenfeld said Tuesday in a statement to MSN News. "Provisions include: transportation to the airport, orientation regarding airport security and ensuring proper hygiene. Additionally, if state funds were utilized for the purpose of sending people home, the participants would be required to sign voluntary departure agreements that would need to be recorded in databases. Given these requirements and others, and a minimal appropriation of $100,000 for a three-year pilot project, providers are understandably reluctant to take on a state-funded return to home program."
"The DHS will continue to dialogue with the community around these issues. At the end of the day, however, we remain concerned this program is an invitation to purchase a one-way ticket to Hawaii with a guaranteed return flight home," Rosenfeld said.

NO SILVER BULLET
The program's supporters said the pilot is not a silver bullet in the fight against homelessness, but will help cut down on the millions the state spends each year on welfare and support services.
"It's fractional, it's not for 5,000 homeless people. It's going to be a handful of homeless people that we send home … to their support unit," state Rep. John Mizuno was quoted as saying by Hawaii News Now.

Rep. Rida Cabanilla said even if the homeless return after a few months, the state will have saved thousands of dollars on food, shelter and medical costs, Honolulu Civil Beat reported.
Hawaii has an estimated 17,000 homeless people.
The "return to home" program is voluntary. To be eligible, individuals must have a support system in place in their home state and be indigent and unable to fly back on their own. They can only participate once in the program.
Paying to send homeless people away isn't a novel tactic. New York City; San Francisco; Baton Rouge, La.; and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., are among the cities that have offered one-way transport tickets to homeless people.
"These kinds of programs have been used historically to ship homeless people out of town," Michael Stoops, director of community organizing for the National Coalition for the Homeless, told MSN News. "In the homelessness field it was once called greyhound therapy. Hawaii now goes a step higher with airplane therapy. Oftentimes local police departments run such programs offering the stark choices of going to a shelter, jail or hopping on a bus or plane home."
"If such programs are truly voluntary and that a home at the other end has been confirmed (not a shelter), this is acceptable," he said. "Some homeless people yearn to be reunited with their loved ones or wish to return to their home community."
——

A Disaster Is Waiting To Happen – Fractional Reserve Banking Is The Current Form of Banking In All Countries Worldwide

Fractional Reserve Banking & The Federal Reserve

Fractional reserve banking

Fractional-reserve banking is the practice whereby a bank retains funds equal to only a portion of the amount of its customers’ deposits as readily available reserves (currency on hand at the bank plus deposit accounts for that bank at the central bank) from which to satisfy demands for payment. The remainder of customer-deposited funds is used to fund investments or loans that the bank makes to other customers.^[1] Most of these loaned funds are later redeposited into banks, allowing further lending. Because bank deposits are usually considered money in their own right, fractional-reserve banking permits the money supply to grow to a multiple of the underlying reserves of base money originally created by the central bank.^[2][3]
To mitigate the risks of bank runs (when a large proportion of depositors seek withdrawal of their demand deposits at the same time) or, when problems are extreme and widespread, systemic crises, the governments of most countries regulate and oversee commercial banks, provide deposit insurance and act as lender of last resort to commercial banks.^[2][3] In most countries, the central bank (or other monetary authority) regulates bank credit creation, imposing reserve requirements and other capital adequacy ratios. This limits the amount of money creation that occurs in the commercial banking system, and helps ensure that banks have enough funds to meet the demand for withdrawals.^[3]

Fractional-reserve banking is the current form of banking in all countries worldwide.^[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_reserve_banking

Marc Faber on shadow banking, market psychology, & the global impact of American monetary policy

Critics Say Fed Policies Devalue the U.S. Dollar
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/26/critics-say-fed-policies-devalue-dollar/#ixzz2aUe4In33
The dollar has lost over 96% of its value
To devalue a currency, like the dollar, means that the value of the currency decreases. The value of a currency is also referred to as purchasing power.  The more a currency is devalued, the less you can buy with it because the purchasing power decreases.
The graph below shows the purchasing power of the US dollar since 1913. 1913 is when the Federal Reserve, which is actually a privately-owned central bank, took over the US banking system. As you can see, it’s been pretty much downhill since the Fed took over.  In fact, the dollar has lost over 96% of its value.  That means today’s dollar would be worth less than 4 cents back in 1913.

http://www.comparegoldandsilverprices.com/dollar-devaluation-since-1913/

Chinese national sues Federal Reserve for devaluing the dollar

http://www.examiner.com/article/chinese-national-sues-federal-reserve-for-devaluing-the-dollar

Which Do You Trust More: The Fed’s Implicit Promise That The Stock Market Will Never Crash Again (Because “The Fed Has Our Back”), Or That Every Asset Bubble Boom Is Inevitably Followed By A Bust?

by Charles Hugh-Smith
We are fast approaching the moment when the value of the counterfeit trust, the counterfeit assets and the counterfeit promises are revealed as fakes.
The heart of any con is winning the trust of the mark, and the heart of counterfeiting is persuading the mark that a facsimile of value is real.Counterfeiting is one con among many, but its terrible beauty lies in the durability of the con: just as counterfeit paper currency can continue to pass as authentic money from one mark to the next, counterfeit assets can be traded until the very moment the con is revealed and trust is lost.
Understood in this way, what the central banks and governments of the world are really doing is counterfeiting trust: trust that the paper money in your wallet/purse will hold its value in the future, trust that assets presented as zero-risk can be sold for full face value at a later date, and trust that entitlement promises will be paid.
Please forgive the repetition of this chart of the S&P 500 over the past 18 years, but it raises this question: Which do you trust more: the Fed’s implicit promise that the stock market will never crash again (because “the Fed has our back”), or that every asset bubble boom is inevitably followed by a bust?



When the Fed creates dollars out of thin air to buy Treasuries or mortgages, it is counterfeiting trust: trust that the Fed can manage inflation so that only 3% of our purchasing power is stolen every year, trust that the Fed’s ceaseless support of the banking cartel won’t collapse the financial system (again), and ultimately, trust that a centrally managed financial system is stable and a benefit to the real economy.
When the Treasury sells $1 trillion in Treasury bonds, indenturing future taxpayers to the payment of interest essentially forever, it is also counterfeiting trust: trust that the money refunded to the bond holder upon maturation will be worth its current value in purchasing power, trust that the central state can borrow $1 trillion a year (or more) forever with no systemic consequences, and trust that the interest on this Federal debt will never crowd out funding for all the entitlements promised to 317 million citizens.
What happens when trust in the counterfeiters is lost? What happens when the assets presented as zero-risk lose value? What happens when “the Fed has our back” doesn’t stop the stock market from careening off the cliff of a global credit crisis, which is another term for a crisis of faith that the system is as stable and resilient as it is presented?
Trust is a fragile creature. It is a most ephemeral yet powerful force. Once lost, it can never be fully regained; it can only be earned back, one step at a time.
We are fast approaching the moment when the value of the counterfeit trust, the counterfeit assets and the counterfeit promises are revealed as fakes.

The When: “The Economic Collapse Cannot Be Predicted By Looking at Stock Market Charts or Other Standard Economic Indicators” *Micro Documentary*

Most astute observers and analysts understand that the world is on the brink of a widespread economic collapse. Our debt, the expansion of the U.S. police state, the militarization of governments, and geo-political posturing are all pointing to an end to life as we have come to know it in the modern world.
We know it’s coming.
The question is when?
What signs should we be looking for?
What will be the catalyst?
The following micro documentary from Storm Clouds Gathering examines the complexity of the variables involved, the intentions of those making the decisions, and the various possibilities – real or imagined – that may set the whole thing into motion.

(Video follows excerpts)
As long as the U.S. military is able to crush or intimidate any major oil producing nation that defies them, the Petro Dollar Arrangement will stand, and the dollar will retain its position.
What this means is that the economic collapse cannot be predicted by looking at stock market charts, interest rates, GDP or any of these other standard economic indicators. Because as long as America has the power to write hot checks at the entire planet’s expense they’re going to keep bailing out the banks and corporations. There’s no question about that whatsoever. They’ll drop money out of helicopters if they have to.
Of course, the situation can’t last forever.
The obscene national debt, the massive derivatives black hole still on the books, and the impending municipal bond crisis will eventually destabilize the rest of the system. And if allowed to run its course with these bailouts and the quantitative easing cushioning the fall we would be in for a very slow, painful economic death spiral.
However, that’s not a very likely scenario.
As of right now, our present course has a setting towards a third World War. This is where the game will most likely play out.

The powers that be want to kick this next conflict off very soon – in a matter of months if all goes smoothly. Whether they’re able to pull that off is another question.
If the United States and NATO go into Syria and the conflict spreads to Iran the results would be disastrous. This won’t be a replay of Iraq or Afghanistan.
This will be a whole new level of war, one that will like draw in Russia and China, and which has the potential to bring the entire planet to utter ruin.
Even these so called powers-that-be won’t be able to control what follows. They are quite literally playing chicken with nuclear weapons, gambling all of our lives on their deranged power games.
…
To avoid that scenario [of civil unrest and rebellion] they’re going to preempt it by engineering a crisis. They’re going to knock over the game board like a spoiled brat to bring humanity to its knees, until we’re begging for a solution, until we’re begging for it to stop.
…
When you really see just how many variables are involved here and how many of these variables are human decisions that are impossible to predict, it should be clear that there’s no way to pin down the collapse to a definitive date.
That said, the escalation in Syria and Iran this next year has the real potential to set off a chain reaction that can very easily bring the global economy to its knees.

Watch: When will the economy collapse?

While the collapse of our financial, economic, monetary and political systems may be a foregone conclusion, the timing of these events is difficult, if not impossible, to predict. We know they are coming, as the powers that be have been actively positioning pieces on the global chessboard for many years.
Keeping abreast of current events, especially those events which are not discussed in mainstream reporting circles, is critical to understanding what’s happening and to getting a heads up before this comes to pass.
If you’re paying attention you may have some time to get ahead of the calamity andprepare for the worst case scenario.

How Tax Payers will Bail Out Detroit and every other Liberal Financial Sinkhole in the Nation — through ObamaCare

How Taxpayers Will Bail Out Detroit
On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew ostensibly ruled out a federal government bailout of Detroit following its recent declaration of bankruptcy. “You know George, Detroit’s economic problems have been a long time in developing…I think when it comes to the questions between Detroit and its creditors, that’s what Detroit is going to have to work out with the creditors,” he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. Not quite. Detroit is proposing an effort to offload much of its bloated healthcare costs onto the American taxpayer, using ObamaCare as the vehicle for doing so.
“The Affordable Care Act does change the possibilities here dramatically,” said Neil Bomberg, a program director at the National League of Cities. “It offers a very high-quality, potentially very affordable way to get people into health care without the burden falling back onto the city and town.” In reality, the proposal would do nothing more than shift the so-called “burden” of fiscal irresponsibility produced by decades of “city and town” politicians colluding with labor unions onto other cities and towns that had nothing to do with that irresponsibility. As for “affordability,” such a statement is equally nonsensical. More affordability for Detroit, and other progressive sinkholes, equals less affordability for those expected to make up the difference.
http://frontpagemag.com/2013/arnold-ahlert/how-taxpayers-will-bail-out-detroit/
Detroit’s Bailout “Plan B”: Obamacare

When Detroit filed for bankruptcy, the city’s demands for a Federal bailout promptly rose to the surface and then just as promptly dissipated following a polite but stern rejection by the president, almost too fast and without any fight, according to some. Or maybe that is only how it appeared. According to the NYT, Detroit’s advisors may be looking at a completely different source of Federal “assistance” – a much more indirect one, even if at the end of the day, it is taxpayers who end up footing the bill. Obamacare.
From the NYT:

As Detroit enters the federal bankruptcy process, the city is proposing a controversial plan for paring some of the $5.7 billion it owes in retiree health costs: pushing many of those too young to qualify for Medicare out of city-run coverage and into the new insurance markets that will soon be operating under the Obama health care law.
Officials say the plan would be part of a broader effort to save Detroit tens of millions of dollars in health costs each year, a major element in a restructuring package that must be approved by a bankruptcy judge. It is being watched closely by municipal leaders around the nation, many of whom complain of mounting, unsustainable prices for the health care promised to retired city workers.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-29/detroits-bailout-plan-b-obamacare
DB

Food Stamp Cuts Set To Kick In, Congress Not Paying Attention

WASHINGTON -- Regardless of whether Republicans succeed in cutting food stamps this year, the 22 million American households relying on the program will see their benefits drop in November.
The looming reduction has received little attention since lawmakers set it in motion years ago. The average household's monthly benefit from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will drop by $20 or $25, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal Washington think tank.
"The general public doesn't realize it," Celia Cole, CEO of the Texas Food Bank Network, told The Huffington Post on Monday. "We certainly know the low income people on SNAP don't know the cut is coming."
Cole's organization is publicizing the cut with a countdown clock. On Monday the clock indicated there are 94 days "until every SNAP (food stamps) household in America gets a little hungrier."
But Congress has little appetite for intervention, as the consensus among lawmakers is not whether food stamps should be reduced, but by how much.
The November reduction is happening separately from the debate over cutting food stamps as part of a broader farm bill. The cut is set to kick in because a 13 percent benefit boost from the 2009 stimulus bill is expiring. Initially, the plan was to let inflation catch up with the increase so that SNAP recipients would never see a month-to-month dollar decline.
But in 2010, Senate Democrats and the Obama administration needed money to offset the cost of a series of spending bills. They said at the time they would replace the money later, but they never did. Congressional attitudes toward food stamp recipients have only gotten less generous since then.
The $668 maximum monthly benefit for a family of four will fall to $643, according to the Center on Budget's Stacy Dean and Dottie Rosenbaum. (The average household's monthly benefit is $287.)
"This cut will be the equivalent of taking away 14 meals per month for a family of four, or 11 meals for a family of three," Dean and Rosenbaum wrote in a May report. The pair said that states should make sure recipients know when the cut is around the corner.
First and foremost, Cole said her mission is to get the word out in Texas. Her organization represents 21 food banks serving all parts of the state. Cole also wants members of Congress to feel some pressure.
"I want them to not be able to do it without feeling the shame that they're doing something wrong," she said.

27 Things That Every American Should Know About The National Debt

Source: Michael Snyder, BLN Contributing Writer

 

The U.S. government has stolen $15,876,457,645,132.66 from future generations of Americans, and we continue to add well over a hundred million dollars to that total every single day. The 15 trillion dollar binge that we have been on over the past 30 years has fueled the greatest standard of living the world has ever seen, but this wonderful prosperity that we have been enjoying has been a lie.  It isn’t real.
We have been living way above our means for so long that we do not have any idea of what “normal” actually is anymore.  But every debt addict hits “the wall” eventually, and the same thing is going to happen to us as a nation.  At some point the weight of our national debt is going to cause our financial system to implode, and every American will feel the pain of that collapse.  Under our current system, there is no mathematical way that this debt can ever be paid back.  The road that we are on will either lead to default or to hyperinflation.  We have piled up the biggest debt in the history of the world, and if there are future generations of Americans they will look back and curse us for what we did to them.  We like to think of ourselves as much wiser than previous generations of Americans, but the truth is that we have been so foolish that it is hard to put it into words.
Whenever I do an article about the national debt, Democrats leave comments blaming the Republicans and Republicans leave comments blaming the Democrats.
Well you know what?
Both parties are to blame.  Both of them get a failing grade.
If the Republicans really wanted to stop the federal government from running up all this debt they could have done it.
If the Democrats really wanted to stop the federal government from running up all this debt they could have done it.
So let’s not pretend that one of the political parties is “the hero” in this little drama.
The damage has been done, and both parties will go down in history as being grossly negligent on fiscal issues during this period of American history.
Sadly, neither party is showing any signs of changing their ways.
Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney is promising to eliminate the federal budget deficit in 2013.  They both talk about how the budget will be balanced “someday”, but as we have seen so many times in the past, “someday” never comes.
I didn’t mean to get all political in this article, but the truth is that the national debt threatens to destroy everything that previous generations have built, and our politicians continue to give us nothing but excuses.
The following are 27 things that every American should know about the national debt….

Minimum wage has been killed by soaring inflation: Pay packets no longer match cost of living, worrying new report finds

Minimum wage is not providing the amount needed for a basic standard of living

Minimum wage is no longer useful because soaring inflation means its real value has fallen, a report has warned.
The measure has dropped in value in the past five years after being pegged to wages, which have not kept pace with inflation.
Professor Sir George Bain, the first chairman of the Low Pay Commission which recommends the minimum wage level each year, told The Independent a 'fresh approach' is needed because it is not addressing today’s problems.
A study, by the Resolution Foundation discovered that the minimum wage is not providing the amount needed for a basic standard of living.
James Plunkett, the author of the paper called 'Fifteen years later: A discussion paper on the future of the UK National Minimum Wage and Low Pay Commission', said that the pay needed to be addressed.
The paper said: 'Although extreme, exploitatively low pay has been nearly abolished, one in five workers still earn below £7.49 an hour (two thirds of median pay), just £13,600 a year for working full-time and too little to afford a basic standard of living.'
The paper advised that the government should seek to address low wages, rather than trying to compensate by funnelling more money into benefits.
The paper said: 'At a minimum, it is clear that broad-based income growth in an era of extreme fiscal constraint will require a more assertive effort to tackle low pay at its source, rather than compensating for a lack of wage growth through rising welfare spending.'

 

It said that detailed analysis and planning for the minimum wage measure was necessary if it was to continue to be useful and help the population.
The paper, also penned by Alex Hurrell, said: 'It is now clearer than ever that low pay will not solve itself through a light touch approach of pursuing growth and investing in skills.

Families are being forced to dip into their savings just to make ends meet as disposable incomes plummet in the biggest quarterly drop since 1987

'On the basis of reasonable, conservative projections, the UK is currently heading for a minimum wage in the region of £7.20 an hour in 2017/18—the equivalent of £6.12 in 2012-13 prices, and lower than its level in 2004/05. 
'Moreover, the UK minimum wage has had a relatively narrow effect, doing little to help workers who are paid slightly above the minimum.'
The authors said that the challenge for politicians would be how to raise the legal wage floor without harming the UK economy or unemployment.
The paper urged policy makers to consider what should be done about the minimum wage.
It wrote: 'As the UK enters a long period of extreme fiscal constraint, income growth will necessarily rely more on rising wages, including for low paid workers, than on further growth in state support.
'Far from being an issue that can wait until a recovery, the need for new ideas to tackle low pay has become even more pressing.'
Sir George plans to work with the UK's leading labour market economists and policy experts to test out and recommend practical proposals.
The punishing reality means that families are being forced to dip into their savings just to make ends meet as disposable incomes plummet in the biggest quarterly drop since 1987.
The bleak figures from the Office for National Statistics publish in June suggest the punishing squeeze on household budgets intensified at the start of the year, taking the gloss off the news that Britain never suffered a double dip recession.
Disposable incomes slumped 1.7 per cent in the first three months of the year as wages fell and prices soared.
The drop meant households saved just 4.2 per cent of their incomes in the first quarter, down from 5.9 per cent in the final three months of 2012.
This is the lowest level of savings since early 2009 when the economy dived deeper into recession in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Jeremy Cook, chief economist at the foreign exchange company World First, said: ‘This data release highlights the problems that Britons are currently facing in a nut shell.
‘Levels of disposable income have fallen to the lowest since 1987 as inflation bites at wage packets, whilst savings ratio falls have shown that people are using life savings to keep their heads above water.
‘Whether the UK entered a double dip or it didn’t matters little to the man on the street who is seeing large falls in real-term wage growth as a result of the lack of business output.’
The findings were echoed by a new study released today that suggested families are struggling with an ‘unprecedented’ squeeze on their living standards amid high costs and flatlining wages.
It suggested that the financial pressures on households by rising inflation could be even worse than reflected in official figures, with the minimum cost of living soaring by one quarter since the economic downturn.

Going, going, still going: Detroit family home still for sale after 519 days despite being on the market for just $1

• House built in 1915 has been listed for sale since May 2011
• It was initially placed on the market for $900
• Is one of a number of run-down properties lying in suburbs of bankrupt city

It may not look particularly attractive, but as just $1 this family home is a complete bargain.
However, despite being on the market for the drop-down price since February last year, the Detroit property is astonishingly still for sale.
It is one of a number of run-down properties lying in the suburbs of Michigan's largest city, which earlier this month filed for bankruptcy, crippled by enormous debts.

Bargain: This 1915 home in Detroit has been on the market for just $1 for 519 days

Built in 1915, the property on Saint-Clair Street has been listed for sale since May 2011.
After initially being placed on the market for $900, its price was dramatically reduced to just $1 in February last year.
A description of the property on the Zillow website describes it as a 'Multi Family home featuring 2 units, hardwood floors, basement, and much more!'

 

The home is symbolic of the entire city, which earlier this month filed for bankruptcy. It is one of a number of homes across Detroit on the market for $1.
After standing empty for so long, the houses are often ransacked by thieves who strip them of everything, including water tanks and pipes.

Destroyed: Detroit is a city in ruins, with once thriving neighborhoods reduced to rubble

Lots of history: This three-bedroom one-bath home complete with a one car garage built in 1917 has previously been listed for $1

Estate agent Albert Hakim said the sale of these distressed properties comes with many other fees and expenses, which many buyers are naive to.
'They don't understand, when the house sits vacant, that [thieves are] going to bust in and steal the pipes, steal the water tank,' Mr Hakim told the Huffington Post .
In addition to the expected costs of fixing up homes or bulldozing and starting from the ground up, Detroit has the highest property taxes among big cities nationwide.
According to a new analysis by the Detroit News, half of Detroit property owners also don't pay taxes leaving many that do disgruntled about the underfunded city services expected by homeowners.

Corner lot: This three-bedroom, one bath on Muirland St has also previously been listed for $1

Worrying: Detroit owes $18.5 billion in long-term debt and its population fell 25 per cent in the past decade

'Why should I send them taxes when they aren't supplying services?’ homeowner Fred Phillips who owes more than $2,600 recently told the paper.
'Every time I see the tax bill come, I think about the times we called and nobody came.'
Detroit has seen a 25 per cent drop in the number of homes for sale in the last year.
In its heyday, it was the place where workers in a rising middle class flocked to factories to build the cars that changed America's way of life. It was a city of innovation, of pride, of grit.
Now, there are roughly 700,000 people left, less than half of the 1.8 million who called the city home when population peaked in the 1950s.
The city owes  $18.5 billion in long-term debt. Its police and fire departments are ill-equipped to battle crime and arson, and basic infrastructure and city services desperately need repair.

There Is No Exit Strategy To Fix The Economy Just As Getting Out Of Wars - Gerald Celente

America : Freedom to Fascism

Obama Is Bailing Out Detroit With Tax Dollars Via Obamacare

In a Sunday New York Times piece, Monica Davey and Abby Goodnough indicated that the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) is a key component of Detroit’s bankruptcy plan to bail out Democrat controlled cities and corrupt public employee unions. In other words, Barack Obama is bailing out Detroit and he’s going to use American tax dollars to do it through Obamacare.

As Detroit enters the federal bankruptcy process, the city is proposing a controversial plan for paring some of the $5.7 billion it owes in retiree health costs: pushing many of those too young to qualify for Medicare out of city-run coverage and into the new insurance markets that will soon be operating under the Obama health care law.
Officials say the plan would be part of a broader effort to save Detroit tens of millions of dollars in health costs each year, a major element in a restructuring package that must be approved by a bankruptcy judge. It is being watched closely by municipal leaders around the nation, many of whom complain of mounting, unsustainable prices for the health care promised to retired city workers.
Similar proposals that could shift public sector retirees into the new insurance markets, called exchanges, are already being planned or contemplated in places like Chicago; Sheboygan County, Wis.; and Stockton, Calif. While large employers that eliminate health benefits for full-time workers can be penalized under the health care law, retirees are a different matter.

Detroit has been mishandling public funds for decades and writing checks its government cannot cash, promising high pensions, fully funded health care plans and pay raises for its employees, but unable to deliver. That is most evident in its recent claim of bankruptcy.
However, they’ve now found a way to put their burdensome promises on the backs of the American taxpayers….nationwide.
Is that even legal? Yes, it’s legal. Is it lawful? Not if you are one that adheres to the law of God, it’s not.
Kate Andrews elaborates, “Obamacare has been designed to allow blue cities like Detroit to over-spend on behalf of the public sector and then divert the cost to the American taxpayer, who has no vote or control over the city’s financial decisions.”
“Detroit is not the only city to propose such a controversial plan,” she continues. “Other blue cities, like Chicago, have proposed similar plans to divert city-run health care coverage over to Obamacare; and more cities are likely to follow. A recent Pew Charitable Trust study discovered that 61 of the country’s leading cities have made a combined promise of $126.2 billion worth of retiree health coverage to their public sector workers, yet only 6% of this cost is funded.”
While both Democrats and Republicans have been crying about the escalating financial and economic burden of Obamacare, there is no doubt that piling on city debt to Obamacare will increase the costs even more.
It gets even worse. According to the Pew study:

A number of cities have allowed workers to include overtime, unused sick leave, or unused vacation time to boost or “spike” final average salary—a figure generally used to establish the level of benefits. Late-career promotions also can increase salaries just months before retirement.
Joe Estep, Charleston’s finance director, tells the story of a 50-year-old police lieutenant who retired in 2009 after 24 years of service. In his final three years, the lieutenant earned enough overtime to raise his salary from a base of $49,000 to a three-year average of $78,000. The extra earnings boosted his pension from $33,000 to $53,000 a year. Given his age and life expectancy, the overtime could increase his lifetime benefit payment by $574,000.

The question I pose now to the American taxpayer is “When will you and I have enough of this?” Seriously, why should taxpayers throughout the nation have to pay for the irresponsible liberals who don’t know how to manage a thing, let alone a city. Why should we be called upon to foot the bill for stupid people who put ignoramuses into office, who only continue to give them what is not rightfully theirs and make empty promises they cannot keep? Frankly, I’m thinking of contacting my state representatives and seeing if something cannot be done to bring a halt to federal taxes being taken from our checks to bailout reckless adolescent liberal utopians who are not only spending their people’s money, but they are then reaching across state lines to rip us off as well.

'Starvation & poverty result from Greek bailouts'

The Talmudic Tit Fruit Children of the Father of Lies.

Dog Poet Transmitting.......

May your noses always be cold and wet.

We are all aware of certain things. Then we figure, “Okay, got it, moving right along” and we promptly forget what had seemed memorable and important, only a short while ago. We've all been warned that Hasbara Whores and Sayanim Sociopaths, are hard at work, disseminating false information and performing inhuman acts, upon the human population, as well as pretending to be someone they're not and that involves other armies that are employed by corporations or anyone with the money to spend.. Recently, they have ratcheted up their efforts and expanded in numbers, out upon the landscape, like a swarm of mosquitoes. If you have a blog or blogs and you are someone concerned with the truth, you are automatically made an enemy of the Talmudic Children of the Father of Lies. They are the sworn and unnatural enemy of truth. Positive archetypes and the presence of finer qualities like integrity; honor, compassion and various other invaluable possessions, treasured by those who know the true value of them, cause these pit dwelling night feeders to burn in a frenzy of rage. Their teeth gnash against each other. They cry out in pain, at every and any contact that occurs between them and the forces and serving agents of light. They live to do harm. Accept this, see them for what they are and you will be informed and protected in ways that you may not be now.

They are coming after you and I now. With money stolen from other countries, extorted monies, counterfeit monies and many another, deceptively acquired monies. They have hired legions of programmed vermin, to attack any and all websites, where any opinion, counter to their own lying propagandas may appear. Here's an example of what I am talking about that's generic, meaning it doesn't directly relate to any of the many, many offenses against humanity that are carried out each day by Israelis, or their agents ...but which has to do with policies set in place by them.

How fucked up is the not so human race? Here's a clear example. Here is a psychopathic mass murderer being celebrated for killing people in wars, orchestrated by Israel, in reaction to the 9/11 attacks that were orchestrated, engineered and carried out by Israel. Gaze upon the wise and compassionate face of this testosterone, overloaded steer, this reject from Jersey Shore, this self satisfied, smug asshole, who is too stupid to beat his kids and chew gum at the same time. He and thousands like him, on their way to beer gut heaven, crowd bar stools and pork rind diners, talking about their Glory Days. Forgive me, I'm not where I should be yet. I'm not beyond certain human, all to human reactions to certain things and... I have to say, it would please me. It would please me greatly to see this thug, this tub of contracted lard, with a big red hole in the center of his forehead. No... it's worse than that. I'd like to see him strapped down somewhere where no one speaks English and they interrogate him in an unknown tongue, about things he knows nothing about, until he agrees to everything and anything that is asked of him, whether he understands it or not. Goddamn you to Hell, Brandon Webb. Goddamn you to Hell, Bill Briggs. Goddamn you to Hell, NBC.com. Goddamn you to Hell, nation of Israel. Goddamn all and everyone of you ...who turn the warm heart cold and terrorize the soul.

I know I should be all new age and warm fuzzy, loving them, one and all. I used to have a girlfriend, who wasn't a very nice person and... she could talk a good game of that, while being a flaming hypocrite about many another thing. I see me an army of Eckhart Tolle clones, who talk a good slumber inducing game of that kind of thing, as they go out the door with saddlebags full of cash. I get people coming by here who can look right at the avaricious behavior of these kinds of people and explain it all away, cause they got some kind of an investment in the person, or are just waiting for their chance to do the same thing. No one has ever plumbed the heights and depths of the human heart. We are beautiful beyond comprehension and potentially, equally as vile, in the opposite direction.

We've heard plenty about the NSA and their insane intention to vacuum up every communication and stray bit of information thought, spoken or read, anywhere in the world at any time (I may be exaggerating only a little). Here's what this kind of ignorant and impossible agendas results in. Then I get the unflagging and ubiquitous 'anonymous', showing up and letting me know, through poorly drafted sarcasm, supported by zero facts but plenty of wide-eyed, frothing at the mouth conjectures, that the original Children of the Devil, are actually employees of The Catholic Church. I am pretty confident that he read all about this on some deep purple website, with pink text, that he found at the ass end of the internet.

I have put enough time and attention into studying what seems to be going on behind the scenes, through the employment of both deductive and inductive reasoning that... had I attended various institutions of higher learning, I would have long ago gotten my doctorate. There are quite a few like me out there and... some of us are... 'out there'. My personal preference is to be at the diametrically opposite position as that of Sherlock Holmes, though I use both the deductive and the inductive. That should tell you (immediately in some cases-grin), which reasoning technique I prefer. I have yet to see any new information, in years, that goes 'provably' counter to what my research and ruminations have presented me with. I DID NOT set out already convinced of something and then arrange the facts following to confirm my projections (irony alert). I went where my inquiries and the facts led me. As I have stated in these blogs many, many times, there is no conceivable profit for me to hold the opinions that I do. They are career destroying and pariah making in the extreme but... what do I do? Do I tell the truth to go fuck itself because it didn't make things all wonderfully acceptable to the masses? Do I deny to myself what my Lying Eyes are telling me? I have to live with myself. I have to live with myself and... so do you ...so do you.

You aren't hearing a word about this on the Crass Media. Is it true, untrue, or mere speculation? This deserves to be seen again, especially by those who didn't see it the first time. It tells you, as so many things do, these days, what sort of monsters walk among us. Is this true, untrue or mere speculation? I'll tell you this, when I see things like this, I let off with a war whoop of appreciation and gut level support. I'm no fan of the Taliban's perspective on how life ought to be lived but... that's none of my business. That's how they do it over there, unless they're otherwise occupied as the sodomized targets of the Zionist military, industrial complex. When I see things like this, I let out a war whoop, until it occurs to me that he probably set the whole thing up to collect on the insurance (read the article, sounds like an inside job) and whatever he got kicked back from those he employed to do it. When I see things like this, I got to admit, I'm impressed (but no war whoop) and... since the governments are only the most powerful, organized criminal syndicate, I look at their responses to other criminals, as simply an attempt to eliminate the competition and crack down on entrepreneurship. Nothing is more convincing proof of the criminal nature of ZATO and the governments of the nations that compose it than this. Before the Israeli attack on the Twin Towers, Pentagon and empty Pennsylvania pastureland, which were performed to legitimize gratuitous (for profit) assaults on various nations like Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Syria and sundry, the opium trade from Afghanistan was completely shut down. Now it is rocking along like the American private prison industry. Western military troops are observably employed at protecting the opium fields for multinational drug dealers.

When things reach the zenith of the ridiculous. When it all becomes nothing more than a joke... but it hurts to laugh. When professions held in high regard (probably many centuries ago) are composed of a large percentage of serious incompetents and when professions that are based on an informed knowledge of a process, become professions devoted to the perversion of that process, you know you're in uncertain waters with a thick fog rolling in. When the world's second oldest profession becomes indistinguishable from the world's oldest profession, you know the system is sure and certain to implode, in the not too distant future. When the institutions of moral instruction and the repository of alleged spiritual teachings, are reduced to sexual grazing areas for the ministers and priest employed therein, you know that that infrastructure, of however many thousands of years in existence, is very soon going to tumble to the ground.

Massive and irresistible change is upon us and we can only successfully greet it, by not resisting the changes within ourselves that are taking place at the same time. If we are all hot and bothered about the world changing but inattentive to changing ourselves, change will be forced upon us and the experience will be similar to the difference between consensual sex and forcible rape. Have it your way, you don't have to go to McDonald’s for that to happen and you can get a pink slime shake just about anywhere these days.


End Transmission.......

Laura Ingraham: Obama’s ‘Phony’ Economic Recovery Will Lead Democrats To ‘Drubbing’ In 2014, 2016

July 30, 2013 – In spite of President Barack Obama’s announcement today that he would pursue a “grand bargain” with Congressional Republicans — reducing corporate tax rates in exchange for agreements on new spending proposals — conservative radio host Laura Ingraham told the hosts of Fox & Friends that the president has largely ignored the economy over the last five years. She said that it was possible that Obama’s misplaced priorities could lead to a “drubbing” in the next two election cycles for Democratic politicians.

California prison is charging inmates $155 to upgrade to fancy wing with widescreen TV and ‘quiet surroundings’

Daily Mail – by Ryan Gorman
California prisoners in one town are now able to upgrade their digs if they’ve got deep enough pockets.
Fremont, CA recently began charging inmates $155 a night to stay in a previously unused jail. The program is pay-as-they-go and provides a few perks that might be worth the cost to a few discerning inmates.  
It’s a win-win for both prisoners and the cash-strapped town.

Oh you fancy huh?: Inmates paying for the upgrades get widescreen HDTVs

Prior to the innovative program, the jail had been unused since being built in 2000, according to reports.
‘You do get cable TV, but you don’t get a warm cookie on your bed,’ Lieutenant Mark Devine, of the Fremont Police Department told KPIX.
Not quite a hotel, but better than the average prison, the nightly rate gives prisoners widescreen HDTV and gaming tables – cells, beds, bathrooms and showers are all standard issue though, according to the station. The city is not yet offering suites for an even higher price.
The added cost doesn’t include room service, rather the food and other treatment are the same as at any other jail.

Not that much better: Inmates still share cells, bathrooms and showers

‘They get the same treatment as the general population – same food, same bed, same phone call and TV rights,’ a Fremont Police spokesperson told ABC News.
Currently with only 54 beds, the $10million facility can house up to 96 inmates, according to the city. Inmates are split into pods that can hold up to eight inmates at once.
The program is open only to inmates convicted of misdemeanors who receive prior approval from a judge. Approval is contingent on passing a health screening, which includes a TB test, and a background check to ensure a non-violent past, according to ABC News.
Never expected to be filled to capacity, officials believe the main selling point for the added cost is the peace and quiet that comes with taking a break from the general population.

Not your average jail: Inmates can transfer to Fremont Jail from anywhere in the state, provided they can afford the fancy new digs

‘The only other thing you’re really paying for is the smallness and the quietness of the facility,’ Lieutenant Devine told KPIX.
That peace and quiet is expected to be a windfall for a city struggling to make ends meet. If just 16 inmates stay in the upgraded cells for only two days a week, Fremont would turn a tidy $244,000 profit annually.
‘We are the trustees of a large facility that was paid for with taxpayer money. Now we need to be good stewards of that investment and maximize its use and efficiency for the taxpayers,’ Lieutenant Devine told KPIX.
Similar programs are offered in jails in California in Anaheim, Beverly Hills and Roseville,

Pelosi Wants To Free Parents From The ‘Burden Of Childcare’

The Lonely Conservative
Nancy Pelosi has been doing her best to ignore her party’s war on women while touting her bogus economic agenda for women, as if a healthy economy can be legislated into existence. Part of that agenda includes freeing parents from the “burden of childcare.”  

Pelosi spoke about her recently announced “When Women Succeed, America Succeeds: An Economic Agenda for Women and Families,” on Weekend Edition Sunday, an agenda that includes equal pay for women, an increase in the minimum wage, universal pre-school and access to child care for women who work.
“The child care issue probably has to be done in steps,” Pelosi told NPR host Susan Stamberg. “But when children are learning, parents can be learning.”
“And when the children are in preschool, that frees parents to earn without carrying the burden of the child care,” she said. (Read More)

This is nothing new, it’s just part of the Democrats’ cradle-to-grave nanny state agenda.
How many women out there wish their husbands made enough money so that they could stay at home and handle the “burden” of childcare without any government intervention?