Rand Paul Faces Backlash After Suggesting That America's Poor Don't Have It That Bad (VIDEO)

AP/Huffington Post - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul says the poor in America are "enormously better off than the rest of the world," citing an old Cold War film that showed even impoverished homes had color televisions.

Paul's recent remarks at his first forum with Democratic opponent Jack Conway stirred some anger in impoverished pockets of Kentucky, where as many as a third of residents live in poverty.

The libertarian-leaning Paul addressed the issue of poverty by alluding to a decades-old, anti-American propaganda film by the Soviet government designed to criticize the free-market system.

"They filmed a building in the poorer section of New York with some broken windows and they said, `Oh, this is how the poor in America lives,'" Paul said at last week's forum. "But it backfired on them because the Soviet citizens looked at that video closely and they saw flickering color television sets in all those windows."

Paul went on to say that "the poor in our country are enormously better off than the rest of the world. It doesn't mean we can't do better. But we have to acknowledge and be proud of our system of capitalism."

Conway did not respond directly to Paul's comments about poverty, but told the audience he thinks Kentucky's best days are ahead. He said he supports small business tax credits and other measures to boost job creation.

Charles Hardin, a Democratic judge-executive from eastern Kentucky's Magoffin County, said Monday that Paul's comments rubbed him the wrong way and he criticized Paul for relying on "anecdotal tales."

Dollar slides after Greek debt auction bolsters confidence in Europe, while US data weak

NEW YORK (AP) - The dollar has drifted lower after Greece successfully sold debt to investors while U.S. economic data remained weak.

The euro rose to US$1.2702 in late New York trading Tuesday, from US$1.2598 late Monday. The British pound rose to US$1.5156 from US$1.5033, and the dollar edged up to 88.57 Japanese yen from 88.54 yen.

The successful auction of Greek government debt helped allay some investor anxiety over a downgrade of Portugal's credit rating, lessening the dollar's safe-haven appeal.

Greece raised 1.625 billion euros in its first auction since getting emergency financing in May. The country could instead have used the bailout money for funds. Choosing to go to investors instead was a vote of confidence in Greece's ability to raise money in the markets after deep cuts to government spending.

- AP

Canadians falling short on saving

Ninety-four per cent of Canadians say they feel better when they have a safety net of savings to fall back on.

But nearly one-in-five, or 19 per cent, haven’t put any money aside for a rainy day, according to a survey released Tuesday by Scotiabank.

Personal finance experts say everyone should have an emergency fund that would cover one to three months’ worth of household expenses.

The bank’s survey found that one-quarter, or 25 per cent, of those surveyed have that much set aside. Another one-third have more than three months’ worth, and 23 per cent have squirreled away less than one month of expenses.

Sixty-eight per cent of Canadians say they have a plan in place to achieve their savings goals.

But nearly one-quarter, 23 per cent, say they like to live day-to-day and do not worry about saving money.

“We’re really become a consumer society and we are encouraged to spend. Having the discipline to put aside part of your income for the future or saving for discretionary needs are not things we are necessarily guided to do,” said Chris Hodgson, Scotiabank’s head of Canadian banking.

“There’s an opportunity to raise a level of awareness on how Canadians can build more of a nest egg. To us, this is an issue for Canada.”

Figures from Statistics Canada show that the personal savings rate was 2.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2010. That’s down 0.7 per cent from the last three months of 2009 and a decline of 2.4 per cent from the previous year.

Scotiabank released the survey as part of the kickoff to its Let the Saving Begin program. The goal is to “break the inertia around saving and help spark a movement among Canadians,” the bank said.

It has recruited broadcaster Valerie Pringle to travel across the country to speak with Canadians about the challenges they face when trying to put money aside.

“It’s like we’ve been living in a fool’s paradise of cheap money and buy, buy, buy, and our grandparents concept of saving to buy a refrigerator sounds like something from the dark ages,” Pringle said in an interview.

“There’s a lot of pressure on people, on families, and their wallets. We want to make Canadians aware that small steps can make a difference. Figure it out, get some advice, make changes and make yourself more financially healthy.”

Nearly three-quarters, or 72 per cent, of Canadians surveyed said that saving an additional $1,500 would improve their financial well-being.

“That’s about $4 a day. It’s not a huge amount,” Hodgson said.

Scotiabank will match 10 per cent of savings up to $150 accumulated between July 5, 2010, and Oct. 31, 2011 using automatic savings plans. Details are available on the bank’s website.

The online survey, conducted in late March, also found that the majority of Canadians, 83 per cent, said they would make some change to their spending habits to save more money, with 20 per cent saying they would make large changes and 63 per cent saying they would make small changes.

“We’re talking about creating a balance between borrowing and saving,” Hodgson said. “We’re not suggesting Canadians should be moving away from borrowing to buy a house or a condo or get an education, but there has to be a balance between the two.”

Is Military Spending Saving or Enslaving?

The latest announcement that the Pentagon's military research division, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), has created shape-shifting robots sounds like another Terminator sequel, but this is mainstream news. Sure, this is still theoretical, as these robots are just half a millimeter thick, but it portends a future where, "it will be used to create full-sized cars and aircraft that morph as they move, or robots that can 'flow' like mercury into small openings, or multipurpose military uniforms that can adapt to different environments." There is no discussion in the article about the benefits to mankind, only the military applications.

Whether or not the categories listed below were conceived of by individuals who had a desire to contribute to Humanity's progress, the fact remains that between 45%-90% of American taxpayer money now goes to military spending. The U.S. has set the stage, but many other governments certainly have received their marching orders. The relationship between the foreign battlefield and civilian life at home can be traced back to the advent of world wars, as private research and development was often subsumed into the military mission. In our modern era of perpetual war on nebulous terror, it might be worthwhile to ask: Is our support of military spending helping humanity or enslaving us?

Surveillance -- Spy technology was naturally a military creation. One could certainly argue that every country has real enemies, and it would be profoundly naive not to conduct surveillance against potential saboteurs. However, the citizens of the world who have paid the bill for this technology have clearly had it turned upon us. The ways we are being tracked, traced, and databased certainly makes it seem like we the people are the enemy.

Communications -- High-tech surveillance is at its core pure communications. The military enhanced telephone, radio and TV technologies long ago. A joint working relationship with communications companies led to the eyes in the skies of satellite technology, which initially was designed to communicate with military units. It eventually had wide applications in the early space program. Radar is ubiquitous; another military application. And, yes, the Internet was conceived in a DARPA think-tank; it became a vehicle for secure communications between universities and military research sites in the early '60s. Since then, the Internet has positively affected the lives of billions of people, offering freedom to communicate to anyone, anywhere in the world. However, the new Cybersecurity Act calls for government oversight of not only the infrastructure, but of citizen-created content as well (noted in the bill as "data").

Transportation -- The military academy, West Point, was the first engineering school in the United States. It was denounced early on as being incompatible with democracy, as its graduates became key civil engineers and educators in every part of society. Those four-lane highways that we all love, as we cruise down them in cars that have come to signify American independence, were created by an Eisenhower directive in 1956 to accommodate military transport and escape from atomic attack. Naval passage has had wonderful uses, but funding by taxpayers has still led to "stealth, speed, and firepower" as an enduring submarine slogan. The first practical helicopters were used by the Germans in WWII. The Wright Brothers are American legends, but they had their military connections as well. We need only to compare the flight technology used in commercial travel vs. what was announced the other day by the British military: Taranis. Taranis (pronounced: Tyrannis, of course) is an unmanned stealth fighter that can hit any continent in the world and, "is built to carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance on enemy territory using onboard sensors." The cost is £143 million during the worst economic crisis of modern times.

Weapons and Security -- Tasers and sound cannons, are just two of the myriad weapons of modern war. And, yet, these torture technologies are now routinely appearing where citizens attempt to peaceably assemble. This militarization of domestic security functions can create an adversarial relationship between law enforcement and the people they are sworn to protect. One only has to walk through a naked body scanner at the airport, under the auspices of the abusive TSA, to learn what it feels like to live in a war zone.

Science -- Scientific research has always been the thread that binds all of the disciplines of modern warfare. The history is a byzantine one, but had its official origins in the Council of National Defense, 1916, which coordinated industry for national defense. This mindset led eventually to The Office of Scientific Research and Development in 1941. Vannevar Bush, the director of The Carnegie Institution at the time, was bothered by the "lack of cooperation between civilian scientists and the military." He was an early computer genius, a proponent of technocracy, and he advocated a system of connectedness called The Memex that was an absolute blueprint for the functions of the Internet that we see today. In short, a scientific dictatorship has been imagined, beta tested, improved upon again, and activated. Consider this quote from Bush in 1945:

Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. It needs a name, and to coin one at random, "memex" will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.

It consists of a desk, and while it can presumably be operated from a distance, it is primarily the piece of furniture at which he works. On the top are slanting translucent screens, on which material can be projected for convenient reading. There is a keyboard, and sets of buttons and levers. Otherwise it looks like an ordinary desk.
- Vannevar Bush; As We May Think; Atlantic Monthly; July 1945.

This is how behind the times we are as recipients of information from the elite circles. Perhaps, when we hear that terrahertz surveillance blimps are hovering above us; or that nanotech particles can control our minds from a distance; or there is a military-UFO connection in China; or weather modification arrays can ignite the atmosphere, we might do well not to immediately laugh at such "crazy" claims, but to investigate them.

Dwight Eisenhower succinctly warned us 50 years ago of a "Military-Industrial Complex."



Do we in fact have a military-industrial complex today? This list of companies fulfilling military contracts certainly is indicative. Maybe the question shouldn't be: Is military spending enslaving us, but are we enslaving ourselves when we support the concept of war itself?

by Michael Edwards
Original link from http://www.activistpost.com/2010/07/is-military-spending-saving-or.html

White House hits the panic button on fall elections

Amid new polls showing Democrats losing momentum with voters, the White House is sounding less confident about its chances in November.

The new posture is one-half reality check, one-half calculated strategy -- aimed at waking the party's base from a state of general apathy.

"I think I did what is maybe uncommon in this town," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. "I opened my mouth and stated the obvious."

Gibbs over the weekend publicly acknowledged for the first time that Republicans could win control of the House.

It was not a far-fetched conclusion. A new Gallup poll found 38 percent of Republicans very enthusiastic about the midterm elections, compared to 25 percent of Democrats.

The pollsters also found the parties statistically tied heading into November, and noted that Democrats are unlikely to gain a substantial lead in the meantime.

That means for the White House, hitting the panic button for Democratic voters is now just as important as crafting an appealing message.

The Obama administration has struggled recently to calibrate its appeal -- by sounding confident but also injecting pragmatic notes and warning that Republicans don't have the answers.

"You're going to have a choice between the leadership that we have now and the leadership that that believes that BP should be apologized to, first and foremost, and that the type of calamity wrought by the financial meltdown in the end of 2008 is analogous to the size of an ant," Gibbs said.

President Obama has lost the support of many of the independent voters who helped him win two years ago. Many have told pollsters they now favor Republican candidates.

The Democratic Party is focusing its efforts on getting Obama's 2008 voters back to the polls in November -- a dicey prospect for a midterm election when Obama is not on the ballot.

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found 62 percent of Americans believe the country is moving in the wrong direction, and 57 percent said they disapproved of President Obama's job performance.

That's good news for Republicans, who want to make the election a referendum on the first two years of Obama's presidency. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal pollsters surmised that Republicans could claim both chambers of Congress.

"You look at the polls right now, and I think the rankings of the Democratic Party have softened; the rankings of the Republican Party have not gone up," said Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind. "The public is looking at Washington and saying, 'A pox on all of their houses.' "

Even among Democratic voters, however, 17 percent said they disapprove of Obama's policies, according to the poll.

Key issues are his handling of the economy and more recently, the BP oil spill. An emerging issue is immigration reform, which is always divisive even in a nonelection year.

Over the weekend, administration officials conceded that Guantanamo Bay prison may not close this year, and that hurdles still exist in prosecuting Sept. 11 terrorists -- once hot-button issues for the White House lately engulfed by more recent events.

U.S. banks laundering Mexican cartels' drug money

A report in the August 2010 issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine sheds light on the role that U.S. banks have played in helping to finance the violent drug trade that has plagued the U.S. - Mexico border for years, resulting in over 22,000 dead on both sides of the border since 2006. Among the dead are police, soldiers, journalists and ordinary citizens.

Last December, a statement by Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, was largely dismissed by U.S. corporate media. He said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organized crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352 billion of illegal drug profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.

A document obtained by Bloomberg seems to confirm Costa's statement. It is an agreement between Wachovia, now owned by Wells Fargo & Co., and U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors in which Wachovia officials admit the bank had not done enough to watch for money-laundering schemes among some $378 billion it transferred between its branches and Mexican currency-exchange houses from 2004 to 2007. Wachovia has admitted in court that its unit failed to monitor and report suspected money laundering by narcotics traffickers - including the cash used to buy four planes that shipped a total of 22 tons of cocaine.

Among some of the details reported by Michael Smith for Bloomberg:

• On April 10, 2006, a DC-9 jet landed at the international airport in the port city of Ciudad del Carmen, 500 miles east of Mexico City. After the crew tried to shoo Mexican troops away, the troops became suspicious and searched the jet. They found 128 black suitcases, packed with 5.7 tons of cocaine, valued at $100 million. Law enforcement officials also discovered something else. The smugglers had bought the DC-9 with laundered funds they transferred through two of the biggest banks in the U.S.: Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America Corp.
  
• Two front companies, Grupo ETPB SA and Grupo Rahero SC, made 12 cash deposits totaling $1 million at an HSBC Mexican branch, Mexican investigators found. The funds financed a Beechcraft King Air 200 plane that police seized on Dec. 29, 2007, in Cuernavaca, 50 miles south of Mexico City. For years, federal authorities watched as the wife and daughter of Oscar Oropeza, a drug smuggler working for the Matamoros-based Gulf Cartel, deposited stacks of cash at a Bank of America branch on Boca Chica Boulevard in Brownsville, Texas, less than 3 miles from the border. “Everybody in there knew who they were - the tellers, everyone,” said an investigator. “The bank never came to us, though.”
  
• In Tijuana, 15 miles south of San Diego, Gustavo Rojas has lived for a quarter of a century in a shack in the shadow of the 10-foot-high (3-meter-high) steel border fence that separates the U.S. and Mexico there. He points to holes burrowed under the barrier. “They go across with drugs and come back with cash,” Rojas, 75, says. “This fence doesn’t stop anyone." Drug money moves back and forth across the border in an endless cycle. In the U.S., couriers take the cash from drug sales to Mexico - as much as $29 billion a year, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That would be about 319 tons of $100 bills.

According to Bloomberg, US banks, including Wachovia, Wells Fargo & Co., HSBC and Bank of America are playing a crucial role in the running of the Mexican drug trade, allowing their facilities to be used to launder money.

Bloomberg also reports that a former Wachovia executive in charge of anti-money laundering operations "quit the bank in disgust" after managers ignored his reports that drug money was being laundered through its facilities. He said, “if you don’t see the correlation between the money laundering by banks and the 22,000 people killed, you’re missing the point."

“Wachovia’s blatant disregard for our banking laws gave international cocaine cartels a virtual carte blanche to finance their operations,” said federal prosecutor Jeffrey Sloman according to Bloomberg. Wachovia agreed to pay $160 million to settle the court case in exchange for charges being dropped, a move Sloman described as "historic." Historic, perhaps, but that is chump change for a bank that posted $7.79 billion in profits in 2006 - while engaging in these blatant violations of federal law.

If any American is caught with even a small amount of drugs in their possession in these border states, they are looking at a stiff prison sentence. Yet the people who finance the drug trade get off with a slap on the wrist while making huge profits from it. Perhaps instead of incarcerating Americans, tracking the "illegals" and talking about building worthless fences on the border, federal investigators should follow the money. It may lead to the real criminals.

Autos, Gasoline Drag Retail Sales Lower in June

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales at retailers fell for a second straight month in June on weak receipts at automotive dealers and gasoline stations, further evidence the economic recovery has slowed in the past few months.

Retail sales slipped 0.5 percent after a 1.1 percent drop in May, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. Analysts had expected a drop of just 0.2 percent in June.

The report was a latest in a series of weak data -- from homes sales to factory activity to hiring -- to suggest the recovery from the most severe recession since the 1930s is softening a bit earlier than economists had expected.

"You have seen a little bit of cooling on the consumer side of the ledger," said Kevin Flanagan, chief fixed income strategist at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Purchase, New York. Still, he said a "double dip" recession did not appear in the cards.

The broad Standard & Poor's 500 index <.SPX> opened lower, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq <.IXIC> rose modestly on better-than-expected results from Intel Corp. U.S. Treasury debt prices were higher.

After strong gains in the first quarter, consumer spending is losing steam as households grapple with a 9.5 percent unemployment rate and sluggish income growth. In June, earnings slipped as employers trimmed working hours.

Slackening demand may already be making businesses wary of building inventories, an exercise that has been largely behind the economic recovery that started in the second half of 2009.

Business inventories barely rose in May as sales fell for the first time since March 2009, the Commerce Department said in a second report.

The sluggish recovery and lofty unemployment have become a headache for President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill, who face a struggle to maintain majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate in November elections.

Republicans charge that Obama's efforts to stimulate the economy have failed, although the White House argued on Tuesday that the $862 billion stimulus plan it backed has saved or created 3 millions jobs.

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