16 SHTF Barter Items to Stockpile

debtreckoning.com

by Tyler on March 12, 2012

Every good survivalist has a stockpile of things he or she recognizes their family may need to survive a natural or man-made disaster. However, many people forget the value of maintaining a barter store as well.

If things hit the fan, particularly in an economic collapse where the dollar is nearly worthless, a number of non-monetary goods will be more valuable than a fistful of dollar bills.

It’s also important to recognize that we can’t possibly store enough of every item to account for every scenario for an indefinite period of time. However, what we can do is have some items on hand to barter with neighbors to plug gaps in our preparations.

Imagine a neighbor with a large garden and some chickens trading a half dozen eggs and some squash for a box of ammo, or a small bottle of Vodka.

Consider stocking up on the following items, even if you have no plans to use them yourself, for their potential barter value.

16 Things to Stockpile with High Barter Value

Cigarettes. I hate smoking, and can’t stand being around anyone that smokes. Having said that, I recognize that in a SHTF situation many others will be cut off from their access to cigarettes, so there is plenty of barter potential.

Soap. Bars of soap, and even those little cleaning napkins/wipes that you get at the BBQ restaurants could be very valuable in a SHTF scenario. Ever see “The Book of Eli?”

Bullets. Obviously, it’s a good idea to have a decent store of ammo representing all calibers of the weapons you own. However, it is also a good idea to store extra ammo in common calibers (9mm, .22, .38, 12-guage shells, etc.) as a potential barter. After all, a gun without ammo is just an inacurate throwing object.

Alcohol. Alcohol could serve a variety of purposes in a SHTF situation. It is valuable as a potential bartering commodity, and it also has medicinal uses. Did you know Vodka is a great home remedy to counteract the reaction to poison ivy?

MREs. More portable and easier to barter than larger 5-gallon buckets, or even #10 cans of dried foods, MREs are great to have on hand for bartering. Keep a variety of flavors and different kinds of foods because you could be holding something that could complete a meal for a hungry person.

Silver Coins. Keep in mind this doesn’t necessarily mean only silver dollars with a full ounce of silver, but even older, less expensive coins with a high silver component (the 1964 Kennedy half-dollar, for example).

Detergent. Don’t think people are interested in bartering detergent? Check out the story about the recent rash of detergent thefts across the country. Apparently, Tide detergent on the black market is now referred to as “liquid gold.” Interesting.

Water bottles. To someone in bad need of water, a water bottle could be worth its weight in gold. Remember the rule of threes: you can live three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food. Store accordingly.

Matches and lighters. A box of matches is relatively inexpensive, but for someone needing to build a fire a pack of matches or a lighter could be very valuable. Be sure these are stored safely, and if they are not waterproof make them so by storing in a watertight container.

Sugar. My grandfather used to tell stories of things that were in limited supply in the Great Depression. Sugar was something he often mentioned. Imagine how easily you could win over a sweet-tooth with the promise of a bag of sugar in exchange for something you are short on.

Toilet paper. This one is rather self-explanatory, isn’t it? Sure, there are substitutes for Charmin, but who wants to keep using leaves when paper feels so much better.

Water Filters/Purifiers. Water purification drops and filters could mean the difference in offering family members treated water or potentially harmful, bacteria-infested water. Who’d be willing to trade for that?

Bleach. May be used to disinfect water, or keep living quarters and soiled clothing sanitized.

Batteries. Can be used to power up flashlights, radios, and other electronic devices.

Candles. Emergency candles would be a great barter item for those in need of providing some light to their living quarters without electricity.

What other items would you add to your barter store?

Wall Street Is Betting on Higher Oil Prices

as prices continue to rise, which is finally giving Republicans an issue. Mitt Romney is demanding the President open up more domestic drilling; the super PAC behind Rick Santorum just released a new ad in Louisiana blasting the President on gas prices; and the GOP is attacking the White House on the Keystone XL Pipeline.

But the rise in gas prices has almost nothing to do with energy policy. It has everything to do with America's continuing failure to adequately regulate Wall Street. But don't hold your breath waiting for Republicans to tell the truth.

As I've noted before, oil supplies aren't being squeezed. Over 80 percent of America's energy needs are now being satisfied by domestic supplies. In fact, we're starting to become an energy exporter. Demand for oil isn't rising in any event. Demand is down in the U.S. compared to last year at this time, and global demand is still moderate given the economic slowdowns in Europe and China.

But Wall Street is betting on higher oil prices in the future - and that betting is causing prices to rise. The Street is laying odds that unrest in Syria will spill over into other countries or that tensions with Iran will affect the Persian Gulf, and that global demand will pick up as American consumers bounce back to life.

These bets are pushing up oil prices because Wall Street firms and other big financial players now dominate oil trading.

Financial speculators historically accounted for about 30 percent of oil contracts, producers and end users for about 70 percent. But today speculators account for 64 percent of all contracts.

Bart Chilton, a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission - the federal agency that regulates trading in oil futures, among other commodities - warns that too few financial players control too much of the oil market. This allows them to push oil prices higher and higher - not only on the basis of their expectations about the future but also expectations about how high other speculators will drive the price.

In other words, a relatively few players with very deep pockets are placing huge bets on oil - and you're paying.

Chilton estimates that drivers of small cars like Honda Civics are paying an extra $7.30 every time they fill up - and that money is going into the pockets of Wall Street speculators. Drivers of larger vehicles like the Ford Explorer are paying speculators $10.41 when they fill up.

Funny, but I don't hear Republicans rail against Wall Street speculators. Could this have anything to do with the fact that hedge funds and money managers are bankrolling the GOP as never before?

Wall Street isn't bankrolling Democrats nearly as much this time around because the Street is still smarting from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law pushed by the Democrats, and from the president's offhand remark in 2010 calling the denizens of the Street "fat cats."

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is trying to limit how much speculators can bet in oil futures - a power it was given by Dodd-Frank. It issued a rule in October, but it won't take effect for another year.

Meanwhile, Wall Street has gone to court to stop the rule. It's already won a stay.

As rising gas prices start wagging the election-year dog, the President should let America know what's really causing prices to rise.

---

Robert Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written thirteen books, including "The Work of Nations," "Locked in the Cabinet," "Supercapitalism" and his latest book, "AFTERSHOCK: The Next Economy and America's Future." His 'Marketplace' commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.

 

As Chuck E. Cheese Goes So Goes America

Why are wild brawls breaking out at Chuck E. Cheese restaurants all over the United States?  Sadly, the epidemic of Chuck E. Cheese fights that we have seen in recent months is just another symptom of what is happening to America on a larger scale.  The truth is that the fabric of our society is slowly but surely coming apart, and the rest of the world is laughing at us.  But it is really sad to see Chuck E. Cheese become known more for brawls than for entertainment.  When I was a kid, I loved to go to Chuck E. Cheese.  The combination of pizza, arcade games and animatronic music shows was irresistible.  But if you go to Chuck E. Cheese today, there is a chance that you might get taken out of there in an ambulance.  In Susquehanna, Pennsylvania police were called out to one particular Chuck E. Cheese restaurant 17 times in just one recent 18 month time period.  Of course it is not just Chuck E. Cheese that is having these kinds of problems.  All over the nation we are seeing brawls break out in public places, we are seeing thieves become incredibly bold, and we are seeing a general breakdown in civilized behavior.  So where does America go from here?

That is a very good question.

If we are seeing parents brawl with each other in front of their children at Chuck E. Cheese restaurants all over America, what does that say about the character of our citizens?

Susquehanna Police Chief Robert Martin told ABC News the following about why there have been so many of these brawls in his neck of the woods....

"It got crowded, and kids would run into each other or fight over games, which would lead to parents getting involved in fights."

When I was growing up I don't remember parents getting into wild brawls.
So what has changed?

These days, many Americans seem to be so "on edge" that just about anything can cause them to snap.  The following is what one mother remembers after being brutally attacked by another mother while at Chuck E. Cheese....

"All I remember was hitting the floor and being kicked again and again in the head," she told "Nightline." "I think her husband jumped in and was kicking me too."
Clifton said she believes she was targeted because her children were taking too long in the photo booth.
"My daughter threw up, and another one of the children wet their pants because they were so scared," she said.

If you go on to YouTube and do a search for "Check E. Cheese fight" it will bring up dozens and dozens of search results.

But of course the same could be said about Denny's, IHOP and McDonald's too.

The Chuck E. Cheese brawls are particularly disturbing because Chuck E. Cheese is supposed to be a place for children.  It is supposed to be a place where they can feel safe and forget about the worries of the world for a little while.
Unfortunately, Chuck E. Cheese is now a place where violence could break out at any time.  For example, the following is a news report about a 60 year old grandmother that was taken away in an ambulance after being brutally attacked at a Chuck E. Cheese in Michigan....

This next video is a compilation of news reports about brawls at Chuck E. Cheese put together by Current TV....

If you want to see more you can go on to YouTube and watch restaurant brawl videos from all over America for hours.

So why are Americans acting this way?

What is causing all of this anger and frustration to come out?

Up in Massachusetts, one very angry father brutally assaulted a 6th grade basketball coach after his son's team lost a recent game and actually bit off a piece of his ear.

Why would someone do something like that?

Of course the economy has gotten much worse over the past few years, but certainly that can't account for all of this behavior, can it?

Another very disturbing trend is that thieves all over America are becoming much bolder and are stealing things that you normally wouldn't think they would steal.

For example, Tide detergent has become a form of alternative currency in many urban areas and there is now an epidemic of Tide thefts from coast to coast.

Yes, really.

The following is from a recent article from The Daily....

Theft of Tide detergent has become so rampant that authorities from New York to Oregon are keeping tabs on the soap spree, and some cities are setting up special task forces to stop it. And retailers like CVS are taking special security precautions to lock down the liquid. 
One Tide taker in West St. Paul, Minn., made off with $25,000 in the product over 15 months before he was busted last year.
“That was unique that he stole so much soap,” said West St. Paul Police Chief Bud Shaver. “The name brand is [all] Tide. Amazing, huh?”
Tide has become a form of currency on the streets. The retail price is steadily high — roughly $10 to $20 a bottle — and it’s a staple in households across socioeconomic classes.

Special "task forces" to deal with Tide theft?
That can't be a good sign.

In some communities across America, thieves has become so desperate that they are literally tearing apart buildings brick by brick.  Just check out what is happening over in St. Louis....

The bandits who are slowly dismantling north St. Louis -- brick by brick -- are becoming more daring these days.
Architectural historian Michael Allen, who has perhaps written more than anyone on the subject of brick thievery, notes on his blog that the mason rustlers are now working heavily trafficked streets north of Delmar Boulevard.
"Brick thieves apparently have carte blanche to harvest building stock on the north side's busiest streets," writes Allen, who reports that two abandoned properties on Page and St. Louis avenues have recently been targeted.

When Americans start tearing apart their own communities in a desperate attempt to find things to sell, that is a clear indication that our social decay has gotten quite bad.

There are millions of Americans out there that are desperate and hungry and that don't really care how their actions affect the public.

In New Haven, Connecticut thieves have been stealing dozens of sewer grates....

Police in New Haven are trying to figure out who's been swiping dozens of sewer grates from city streets.
Fair Haven Heights has been hit hard. At almost every turn of Russell Street new grates are visible. Police say they're replacing them as fast as they can.

As economic conditions get even worse, there are going to be even more desperate criminals running around looking for anything that they can steal and sell.

Nobody is going to be immune from this.

Already, there are some thieves that are even stealing from churches....

A local church has become the latest victim of the growing number of copper thefts in Burke County.
Congregants at Willow Tree AME Church reported Saturday that someone stripped four heat pumps at the 2500 Willow Tree Church Road building, according to a sheriff’s report. Damage was estimated at $18,000.
The Rev. Rupert G. Ferguson said his parishioners are irate about the theft.

Each year, a couple million more Americans fall into poverty and right now there are an all-time record 46.5 million Americans on food stamps.

There is a whole lot of economic suffering going on in this nation right now, and there are an increasing number of Americans that will do just about anything for money.

In Ohio, two men recently abducted a family dog and held it for ransom.

How would you feel if that was your dog?

In America today, people are becoming very cold-hearted and many people are only looking out for themselves and for their own families.

When our economy really starts falling apart, there are going to be millions of desperate people out there that will not hesitate to steal the things that you own if it will make things better for them.
So don't ignore what is going on at Chuck E. Cheese restaurants right now.
The fights and the brawls at Chuck E. Cheese are symptoms of what is happening to America on a larger scale.

Our country is changing and it is not emotionally prepared for what is about to happen.
Let us hope for the best for America, but let us also prepare for the worst.

Greece develops cashless, Euro-free currency in tight economy

Topics: Maria Choupis ♦ Theodoros Mavridis ♦ Volos

 

Jon Henley, The Guardian
A determination to ‘move beyond anger to creativity’ is driving a strong barter economy in some places
In recent weeks, Theodoros Mavridis has bought fresh eggs, tsipourou (the local brandy: beware), fruit, olives, olive oil, jam, and soap. He has also had some legal advice, and enjoyed the services of an accountant to help fill in his tax return.


None of it has cost him a euro, because he had previously done a spot of electrical work – repairing a TV, sorting out a dodgy light – for some of the 800-odd members of a fast-growing exchange network in the port town of Volos, midway between Athens and Thessaloniki.
In return for his expert labour, Mavridis received a number of Local Alternative Units (known as tems in Greek) in his online network account. In return for the eggs, olive oil, tax advice and the rest, he transferred tems into other people’s accounts.
“It’s an easier, more direct way of exchanging goods and services,” said Bernhardt Koppold, a German-born homeopathist and acupuncturist in Volos who is an active member of the network. “It’s also a way of showing practical solidarity – of building relationships.”
He had just treated Maria McCarthy, an English teacher who has lived and worked in the town for 20 years. The consultation was her first tem transaction, and she used one of the vouchers available for people who haven’t yet, or can’t, set up an online account.
“I already exchange directly with a couple of families, mainly English teaching for babysitting, and this is a great way to extend that,” said McCarthy. “This is still young, but it’s growing very quickly. Plainly, the more you use it the more useful to you it gets.”
Tems has been up and running for barely 18 months, said Maria Choupis, one of its founder members. Prompted by ever more swingeing salary cuts and tax increases, she reckons there are now around 15 such networks active around Greece, and more planned. “They are as much social structures as economic ones,” she said. “They foster intimacy and mutual support.”


The network is currently busy transforming a disused building owned by Volos university into a permanent exchange and barter space. It will host a daily market from next month at which members can meet and exchange without using cash. Several highly successful open-air markets were held throughout last summer, Choupis said, until the weather got too cold.
“They’re quite joyous occasions,” she said. “It’s very liberating, not using money.” At one market, she said, she approached a woman who had come along with three large trays of homemade cakes and was selling them for a unit a cake. “I asked her: ‘Do you think that’s enough? After all, you had the cost of the ingredients, the electricity to cook …’
“She replied: ‘Wait until the market is over’, and at the end she had three different kinds of fruit, two one-litre bottles of olive oil, soaps, beans, a dozen eggs and a whole lot of yoghurt. ‘If I had bought all this at the supermarket,’ she said, ‘it would have cost me a great deal more than what it cost to make these cakes.’”
What rules the system has are designed to ensure the tems continue “to circulate, and work hard as a currency”, said Christos Pappionannou, a mechanical engineer who runs the network’s website using open-source software.
No one may hold more than 1,200 tems in the account “so people don’t start hoarding; once you reach the top limit you have to start using them.”
And no one may owe more than 300, so people “can’t get into debt, and have to start offering something”.
Businesses that are part of the network are allowed to do transactions partly in tems, and partly in euros; most offer a 50/50 part-exchange.
“We recognise that they have their fixed costs, they have to pay a rent and bills in euros,” said Pappionannou. “You could say that their ‘profit’ might be taken in Tems, to be reinvested in the network.”
Choupis said she thought the network would have grown even faster that it has if people were not so “frozen, in a state of fear. It’s like they’ve been hit over the head with a brick; they’re dizzy. And they’re cautious; they’re still thinking: ‘I need euros, how am I going to pay my bills?’ But as soon as people see how much they can do without money, they’re convinced.”
The Greek parliament recently passed a law encouraging “alternative forms of entrepreneurship and local development”, including exchange networks such as Volos’s, giving them official non-profit status for tax purposes.
Choupis said there was a new mood abroad in Greece, a determination to “move beyond anger to creativity”.
“You are not poor when you have no money,” she said, “you are poor when you have nothing to offer – except for the elderly and the sick, to whom we should all be offering.”
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2012</p>
(Typical greek taverna with tables outside in the yard via Ragne Kabanova/Shutterstock.com)

Grime Wave: Tide Detergent Thefts Sky Rocket; Masses Turn to Black Market For Essential Goods

With real unemployent approaching 25% of the population, 50 million Americans on food stamps, and the prices of essential goods rising every month, it’s no surprise that black market peddlers are turning to new product offerings to make a buck.
In What Is Money When the System Collapses? we highlighted some items that would take the place of traditional currency in the event of a catastrophic financial and economic collapse – things like food, fuel, firearms and footwear.
But for many, the world as they know it has already collapsed. Unable to afford retail prices for home essentials, these people will do what they need to in order to survive, and that includes the bartering and exchange of goods similar to what will happen in a complete economic meltdown. As Brandon Smith of Alt-Market recently pointed out, when the totalitarians squeeze the masses, those rebelling against the system because they have been left with no other choice will turn to the free (black)  market to make ends meet.
These most recent thefts have law enforcement officials ‘puzzled’, but the reasons behind them are pretty simple to understand if you consider the bigger picture:

Law enforcement officials across the country are puzzled over a crime wave targeting an unlikely item: Tide laundry detergent.
Theft of Tide detergent has become so rampant that authorities from New York to Oregon are keeping tabs on the soap spree, and some cities are setting up special task forces to stop it. And retailers like CVS are taking special security precautions to lock down the liquid.
One Tide taker in West St. Paul, Minn., made off with $25,000 in the product over 15 months before he was busted last year.
“That was unique that he stole so much soap,” said West St. Paul Police Chief Bud Shaver. “The name brand is [all] Tide. Amazing, huh?”
Tide has become a form of currency on the streets. The retail price is steadily high — roughly $10 to $20 a bottle — and it’s a staple in households across socioeconomic classes.
Tide can go for $5 to $10 a bottle on the black market, authorities say. Enterprising laundry soap peddlers even resell bottles to stores.
“There’s no serial numbers and it’s impossible to track,” said Detective Larry Patterson of the Somerset, Ky., Police Department, where authorities have seen a huge spike in Tide theft. “It’s the item to steal.”
Source: The Daily

While detergent soap, in this case Tide, may be the item of the day, it’s only a small part of the expanding black market for home essentials and critical goods.
Nutritional assistance benefits are another example of a black market that moves millions of dollars of goods monthly. Those receiving benefits – often times through fraudulent means – will utilize government issued EBT cards to purchase meat, cheese, milk and other products at retail grocers, only to redistribute those items at 25% to 50% discounts on the street. In this case, both parties win. Buyers stay ahead of food inflation by getting items at discount, while sellers are able to make a living in an environment plagued with job losses. Everyone’s a winner – except, of course, the taxpayer who has  to foot the bill.
So long as the economic situation in America continues to deteriorate, these black markets will continue to expand. This is exactly what happened in crumbling economies of the East Block, where cigarettes, alcohol, food and Western goods became hot commodities in underground circles.
This, and the crime that will come with it, is an inevitable outcome of a nation that has bit off more than it can chew.

80 Percent Of Americans Say That They Are Not Better Off Than They Were Four Years Ago

Source: The Economic Collapse

Are you better off today than you were four years ago?  If not, then you are just like most other Americans.  According to a CBS News/New York Times poll that was released a few days ago, 80 percent of Americans say that their financial situation is not “better today” than it was four years ago.  But if you turn on the television and listen to what the “pundits” are saying, you would be tempted to think that we were in the midst of a robust economic recovery.  You would be tempted to think that the U.S. economy is in great shape and that we are heading for a really bright future.  But the fact that the stock market is soaring does not mean much to most Americans.  In fact, most Americans couldn’t care less that the Dow is well above 13,000 and that the NASDAQ is above 3,000.  What most Americans care about is having a job and being able to provide for their families.  If you haven’t paid the mortgage in three months or if you don’t have enough money to take your daughter to go see the doctor it really is not going to matter to you how well the boys and girls over on Wall Street are doing.  Right now most American families are doing worse than they were doing four years ago, and no amount of media hype is going to change that fact.

 

Yes, the stock market is doing really well for the moment, but the truth is that more than 50 percent of all stocks and bonds are owned by just 1 percent of the U.S. population.
Good for them.  It looks like the trillions of dollars that the Federal Reservepoured into the big Wall Street banks is really paying off nicely for the financial community.
Meanwhile, much of the rest of the country is deeply suffering.
It was recently reported that 1.5 million American families live on less than two dollars a day (before counting government benefits).
That is horrifying.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of Americans living in “extreme poverty” is now sitting at an all-time high.

All across this country poverty is exploding.  Food banks are experiencing more demand than ever before and those offering free healthcare are absolutely swamped.
And every single measure of government dependence has gone way up since Barack Obama entered the White House.
For example, since Barack Obama became president the number of Americans on food stamps has gone up by 45 percent.
Just think about that.
At this point the federal government is helping to feed an all-time record 46.5 million Americans every month.
Oh yeah, times are good.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of all Americans live in a home that receives direct monetary benefits from the federal government.
That is much higher than it has been historically.
For example, back in 1983 less than a third of all Americans lived in a home that received direct monetary benefits from the federal government.
The big problem is that there are simply not enough jobs for everyone.
Listening to the media, you would be tempted to think that the U.S. economy is now pumping out huge numbers of good jobs.
But that is simply not the case.
Right now there are 5.6 million fewer jobs than there were when the last recession began back in late 2007.
So where are the millions of jobs you promised us Obama?
The federal government is trying to convince us that the unemployment rate is going down, but that is not really true.
The key is to look at the percentage of working age Americans that actually have jobs.  During the last recession that percentage fell dramatically as you can see from the chart below.  After every other recession since World War II the employment to population ratio has always bounced back.  But it has nothappened this time.  Instead, the employment to population ratio has remained between 58 and 59 percent since the end of 2009….

We have not had a jobs recovery.  Hopefully we will have one before the next recession hits, but we are running out of time for that.
Tonight there are millions upon millions of hard working Americans that are staring at their television screens and wondering why they can’t find good jobs.  The pretty people on television are telling them that the employment situation is getting much better but they can’t find work no matter how hard they try.  It is a cruel joke on them.
When Barack Obama entered the White House, the number of “long-term unemployed workers” in the United States was approximately 2.6 million.  Today, that number is sitting at 5.6 million.
Thanks for the improvement Obama.
Meanwhile, the average duration of unemployment continues to hover near a record high.  Just look at the chart posted below.  Does this look like a “jobs recovery” to you?….

But of course Obama and those that support him want to make things sound like they are getting better.  They want people to run out and vote for him again in November.
If things are going well for you right now, be thankful, and also remember the millions upon millions of Americans out there that are deeply hurting in this economy.
If you gathered together all of the workers that are “officially” unemployed in the United States at this point into one nation, they would constitute the 68th largest country in the entire world.  It would be a nation larger than Greece or Portugal.
That is a lot of people.
Obama promised us that the Wall Street bailouts would make everything better.  He promised us that if we poured gigantic mountains of money into Wall Street that it would end up helping “Main Street”.
Well, the last time I looked Goldman Sachs was doing just fine.
So where is the help for Main Street?
In the United States today, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined.
How much wealthier do they have to get before they start creating more jobs for the rest of us?
Obama (like most of our politicians) is a complete fraud when it comes to the economy.  He is all saddle and no horse.  He talks a good game but he doesn’t have any game.
As Wall Street has recovered, the rest of the country has actually been in decline.  Median household income in the United States is down 7.8 percentsince December 2007 after adjusting for inflation.  Millions of American families are reaching the breaking point and millions of other families have already reached it.
Incomes have been declining but the cost of living has not.
For example, health insurance costs have risen by 23 percent since Barack Obama became president.
Has your paycheck increased by 23 percent?
The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States has increased by more than 90 percent since Barack Obama became president.
Has your paycheck increased by 90 percent?
Millions of American families have lost their homes while Obama has been president and millions more will soon lose their homes.  At this point there aremore than 6 million mortgages in the United States that are overdue.
It is a horrible, horrible feeling to know that you can’t pay your mortgage and that you will soon lose your home and your family will be put out on the street.
None of us would ever want to end up in that situation.
And the housing market sure has not shown any signs of recovery under Barack Obama.
In January, U.S. home prices were the lowest that they have been in more than a decade.
Weren’t home prices and home sales supposed to be turning around by now?
Under Barack Obama, new home sales in the United States set a brand new all-time record low in 2009, they set a brand new all-time record low again in 2010, and they set a brand new all-time record low once again during 2011.
That trend is not going in the right direction.
Of course Barack Obama is not solely responsible for the performance of the U.S. economy.  Congress should share part of the blame as well, and the Federal Reserve is more responsible for our economic performance than anyone else is.
But one area where Barack Obama has had a huge impact is in the area ofgovernment spending.
While Barack Obama has been president, the U.S. national debt has risen from 10.6 trillion to 15.5 trillion.
Thanks Obama.
During the first three years of the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did between 1776 and 1995.
So is Obama planning a change of course?
Of course not.
At this point, our national debt is increasing by about 150 million dollars every single hour.
So should we be thanking Obama for stealing 150 million dollars from our children and our grandchildren every hour?
Should we be thanking Obama for ruining our future?
I think not.
But you know what?
According to the CBS News/New York Times poll mentioned above, about half of America would actually vote for Obama if the next presidential election was held today.
That alone is a clear sign that this country is in a massive amount of trouble.
The truth is that the leaders we elect are an accurate reflection of who we are as a country.
And when you look at the collection of misfits in Washington D.C. right now, that does not say a lot about the character of this nation.
So where does America go from here?
That is up to you America.

Iran's banks to be blocked from global banking system

Swift, the body that handles global banking transactions, says it will cut Iran's banks out of the system on Saturday to enforce sanctions.

The move will isolate Iran financially by making it almost impossible for money to flow in and out of the country via official banking channels.
It will hit its oil industry, but may also have a heavy impact on Iranians who live abroad and send money home.
The move follows EU sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.
The US and its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons - a charge it denies.

Sanctions expert Mehrdad Emadi: "Losing Swift facilities is equivalent to not having travel documents for a business person"

Iran last week agreed to hold talks with six major world powers over its nuclear programme, although no date or venue has been set.
Almost all banking transactions pass through Belgium-based Swift, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, which is sometimes called the "glue" that holds the financial system together.
Swift will pull the plug at 1600 GMT on Saturday, in what is all but the final blow to Iranian business dealings.
Oil Its announcement coincides with news that major money exchange houses in the nearby United Arab Emirates have stopped handling Iranian rials over the last few weeks, something that has further reduced Iran's ability to trade and acquire hard currency.
Iran's business activities had already been restricted by US anti-money laundering legislation which made it risky for banks around the world to do business with Iran, including trade financing.
It is heavily reliant on its oil industry.
China and India have said they will still take Iranian oil, but the only obvious way for Iran to be paid for it is now in gold.
One Iranian businessman said Swift's move would make it now impossible to conduct business with Iran.
Morteza Masoumzadeh, a member of the executive committee of the Iranian Business Council in Dubai and managing director of the Jumbo Line Shipping Agency, told the Reuters news agency: "If Iranian banks cannot exchange payments with banks around the world then this will cause the collapse of many banking relations and many businesses."
Lazaro Campos, chief executive of Swift, said: "Disconnecting banks is an extraordinary and unprecedented step for Swift. It is a direct result of international and multilateral action to intensify financial sanctions against Iran."