Saturday, June 4, 2011

If This Is the Free Market, Why Do I Feel So Unfree?

It’s remarkable, considering how frequently our politicians and cable news commentariat remind us of the “free market” we live in, just how existentially unfree things seem down here where the rubber meets the road. We constantly see the Washington Consensus and the neoliberal order equated to “our free market system.” But as I always understood it, a free market was simply a system of free exchange. Why does this so-called “free market system” seem to require, for its survival, a regime of totalitarian lockdown resembling Verhoeven’s take on “Starship Troopers?”

Never mind stuff like the military-industrial complex, the prison-industrial complex, and the United States government’s perpetual wars to make the world safe for corporate domination. I’m more interested in the forms of authoritarianism we encounter on a daily basis, as a direct adjunct of maintaining what neoliberals consider a “free market” as such: Increasingly draconian restrictions on the most basic rights of free speech, an upward ratcheting of the surveillance state, and all sorts of other authoritarian intrusions we’d normally associate with the old communist regimes of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union — and all in the name of “our free market system.”

Take, for example, “intellectual property” — a state-granted monopoly central to the corporate neoliberal order, but which has precious little to do with anything remotely resembling an actual free market. Your Internet service provider isn’t a business performing a service for you — the paying customer — so much as an adjunct of the RIAA and MPAA and their lackeys in government. Your ISP spies on you on behalf of Big Content to ensure you’re not downloading any big torrents.

Ever get a threatening phone call from your ISP? You might as well be their employee, rather than the reverse. Ever get a DMCA takedown notice? Ever have a website taken down by your host in response to an unsubstantiated complaint? Welcome to “our free market system.”

Remember the Pinkertons, uniformed private thugs the bosses used to hire to bust union organizers’ heads? Now Monstanto hires them to snoop around private farms, testing farmers’ crops to see if they contain any genetic material from engineered seeds under patent. The Runyons, an Indiana farm family, were invaded in 2008 by Monsanto’s hired goons in response to an “anonymous tip” that their farm hosted Roundup-ready soybeans. Sounds almost like — ahem — the Drug War, doesn’t it?

Never mind that the Runyons never planted Monsanto’s seed. Never mind that their crops were contaminated — very much against their will — by GMO pollen blowing over from a neighbor’s farm. You might think it was the Runyons who had a cause of action for the contamination of their crops with frankenfood DNA. But not in our so-called “free market system.” In this thing the neoliberals call a “free market,” being contaminated by Monsanto DNA — even against your will — is prima facie evidence of “piracy.” You’re guilty until proven innocent.

Orwell once observed that after 1914, the states of the 20th century were resurrecting forms of torture and atrocity largely unseen since the Inquisition. Likewise, under “our free market system,” we’re seeing a resurgence of — believe it or not — debtors’ prison. In the “old days” — as recently as the 1990s — creditors would attempt to collect debts in-house, then write them off. Now collection agencies buy up debt for pennies on the dollar. After serving process at an address where you lived three moves ago, they get you declared in contempt in absentia and jailed. Or you might just find your bank account cleaned out by your bank in collusion with the creditors, without warning.

And then there are “food libel laws” and FDA restrictions on commercial speech. If you label your milk rBGH-free, you can expect to be muscled by Monsanto’s lawyers. The very act of informing your customers your milk lacks rBGH constitutes disparagement of the frankenmilk from those factory dairies, you see. If you advertise that you inspect your meat for Mad Cow Disease more frequently than the USDA requires, you’re disparaging your competitors by implying that simply meeting the regulatory standard — a standard based on SOUND SCIENCE! — is somehow inadequate. And someone’s feelings might get hurt.

Never mind all the rhetoric you hear about “our free market system” on CNBC or read on the WSJ editorial page. If it requires the kind of statist authoritarianism we used to associate with the Soviet Union, it’s not a free market.

Protesters take over Finance Ministry as Athens granted more cash

A woman looks toward the Finance Ministry building, on which protesters have hung a giant banner calling for a general strike, as Greece wraps up tough talks with international officials and successful negotiates for the next installment in its bailout package, in Athens on June 3, 2011. AP photo

A woman looks toward the Finance Ministry building, on which protesters have hung a giant banner calling for a general strike, as Greece wraps up tough talks with international officials and successful negotiates for the next installment in its bailout package, in Athens on June 3, 2011. AP photo

Protesters took over the Finance Ministry building in Athens on Friday, hanging a giant banner from the roof calling for a general strike, as Greece wrapped up tough negotiations with international officials and succeeded in being granted the next multi-billion-euro installment from its bailout package.

About 200 protesters blockaded the entrance to the ministry from dawn, preventing employees from entering, the Associated Press reported. They hung a banner draping five floors in front of the building and took down the European Union flag from the top of the ministry.

The protest came as experts from the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, or IMF, were wrapping up a review of Greece's implementation of economic reforms in return for 110 billion euros ($159.06 billion) in rescue loans from the EU and IMF.

The three bodies, known as the troika, decided in favor of granting Greece its fifth tranche, worth 12 billion euros, of bailout loans agreed last year.

The nearly month-long inspection of Greek finances by the troika concluded "positively" on Friday, the country's Finance Ministry said, according to the Associated Press.

Greece has removed obstacles on foreigners willing to purchase real estate in border regions, according to Milliyet newspaper. The newspaper said Friday that those who are not a citizen of an EU country will also be able to buy property in the border regions of Greece, without receiving pre-authorization from the Defense Ministry. The approval for such sales will be given by local committees, Milliyet said.

Islands across Turkey’s Aegean shores are defined as within the “border region” of Greece, according to laws that regulate the purchase and sale of properties. Turkish citizens can now buy property in the islands, Milliyet reported.

Greece has so far received 53 billion euros from its rescue deal since it first started tapping into the international bailout package in May last year.

The Blood Drinking, Zombie Cannibals are Imploding.

Dog Poet Transmitting.......

‘May your noses always be cold and wet’.

I said it recently and I will say it again; “Those whom the gods would destroy they first drive mad”. From the Zio-Con Weiner, ‘tidy whitey’ boy, to Sue Wallis in Wyoming who wants to slaughter horses for food and is connected to a slaughterhouse and the lobbying industry, the insane are rising up among us, consonant with the degree of self interest that motivates them. Self interest is a primary driving force behind insanity. Arrogance, fascist oppression, intentional poisoning with laboratory agents made by corporate and government practitioners of the scientific black arts, are all mad as hatters.

The money men are losing it. The politicians and police who serve them are losing it. The economy is losing it; strangled by the machinations of the few, who cut off the flow to the rest of us. A system must operate as a system from all levels. When it becomes perverted it begins to die.

Yet another greedy swine, Stephen Swartzman has gone nova with mind parasites. Read the article on what this raging egotist has been up to; one million dollars for Rod Stewart to sing to him; Patti Labelle singing that he’s got the whole world in his hands and look at those in attendance. This is like the man who made the faulty body armor and then paid ten million dollars for his daughters Bat Mitzvah. You can find the lineup of musicians who played at that for huge sums of money, while soldiers died on the battlefield, in wars that were engineered by the drinking buddies of these men and women. You can look at the pictures to the right of the article and read about the behavior of celebrities, who are also insane and acting like it.

I spoke about Satanism in the last posting at Smoking Mirrors. As anyone would know, Satanism is very big in Hollywood, always has been. Here’s a Christian forum thread that talks about all sorts of things and you can find pictures of Sammy Davis Junior, John Travolta. Jayne Mansfield and a host of others, getting photo-ops with Anton Szandor Lavey, by utilizing the search engines. Of course, Scientology qualifies as an ancillary engine of similar cant. If you read the Laurel Canyon stories, you’ll be knee deep in all sorts of oddities and speculations about lifestyles and deaths of the famous.

Stephen Swartzman is Skull and Bones. Skull and Bones is a satanic organization. My mind comes around on occasion to a Massachusetts Senator, who presented himself as one thing and now is an agent of another. It’s foolish to tell yourself they do this for money and power. These might enter in as motivations that brought them into the club but after that they do it by directive. They do what they are told.

These things flourish in times of material darkness and glamour. It’s like the way certain bacteria spread in warm, dark environments. This is exactly how it is. The world you move through is ruled by these cabals and is the explanation for the madness being manifested by TSA and all of the governing authorities who have their marching orders handed to them. They are in the club.

Every so often I hear from a misguided soul who has these outbreaks of writing in all caps; a sure sign of mental derangement. This person insists that all Masons are bad. This type of person is a dupe of the very thing they imagine they are exposing. They are actually working for the dark side when they seek to spread this kind of BS. All Masons are not evil. All Christians are not evil or insane. All members of any of these larger aggregates of humanity are not evil. When you study the tenets of these organizations you learn that they are vehicles for higher understanding, when they are operative in their original form. They are parts of the building blocks of society and you don’t have a society, without organizations and groupings of like minded souls seeking the expression of their beliefs. Whether it is Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, it is essentially a benefic construct, when it seeks to express the higher reaches of human imagination and possibility. The deeper interpretations of things are not known by the general public. They get the moral codes and rules of life by which to abide and in good times it is a good thing.

You hear all sorts of things on the internet about Albert Pike. Here’s a brief bit of evidence of what goes on in the interpretation of occult things and the performance of occult orders.

There is a system. There is more than one system, whereby things can be made to happen and can be prevented from happening and so on and so forth. The world you move in has its foundations and features because of this. It’s because of the tool and die people and the dreamer people that you have what you see around you. If all of this is evil, then you are evil too. It doesn’t work like that. There is a system and it can be manipulated in various ways and the understanding of how to employ these manipulations, is in the hands of organizations that have physical and non physical residence in certain locations.

A system becomes corrupt when those controlling it are corrupt, which is why a high moral standard has always been demanded by those seeking to enter into the mysteries. The mysteries of light can be perverted by the intelligences of darkness and this is more so or less so, depending on the tenor of the times in which you find yourself.

There is a great deal that I do not know but one thing I do know is that everything is under control for the purpose of demonstration. This is how those in the general public, evolve into inner councils and the like. There’s more than one of these things, going on for centuries, for the performance of a ‘demon’stration. They come up against each other. They are populated by corrupted and not corrupted agents of varying agendas. This is the thing about humanity finding its way; being shepherded and also driven in a variety of directions for particular purposes. Keep this particular phrase in mind, “By their works ye shall know them”.

In darker times, the inner chambers of ‘whatever’ can become corrupted by the self interest and profit and control seeking entities, who are always busy looking for ways to turn you into either an omelet or the bad guy; when they are the bad guy.

Some people think they are very clever. They paint themselves as the victims of histories and policies that they caused and promote. You can look right at it, if you have any objective reasoning and see what’s going on. It’s been going on for awhile. There are more facts than anyone needs to get the ball rolling and the ball is rolling, just like those precision engineered balls that rolled down the viaducts in ‘primitive’ Peru, with lazar like precision in composition, which sort of ties into the new discoveries that the pyramids were wired and might have been a source of power.

The disease of evil is in a terminal phase. It looks for quick fixes and cures and most definitely it is looking to lay blame elsewhere and create distractions to take your attention away from the fact, that it has done what it has done ...and so all sorts of odd outbreaks of viral threat by certain cabals are a warning to non cooperating countries; Eric Cantor coming off against his Tribe associate Weiner, shows that there is dissension in the ranks. Certain scaly dinosaurs are agitated in their lower parts because of their conspicuous consumption of the world’s goods.

Evil never wins but it does horrific damage on its way out. It does it to maintain its profits and to increase them. It does it to distract from its actions and it does it for pleasure because evil takes pleasure in the misery of others and evil is assisted by powerful non human energies that can accomplish all kinds of mischief through perverted magics for the purpose of: gain, control, position. These lodges, orders, organization follow humanity in its quest toward self realization. Some dramatically assist in this and some operate for their own purposes.

The Apocalypse is pushing the evil out in all of us. It is pulling up the curtain and it is ushering the players forward. The players think they are operating according to their own intentions but this is not so. This is a dramatic rendering, that the world needs to see, concerning what has been being done to it. These shameless predators cannot help themselves. They announce themselves and.. and...? Something has gone wrong with the program. One would be entertained and informed to watch that great film, “Time Bandits” and pay close attention.

All Masons aren’t evil. Masonry isn’t evil. It is the men in high positions who have corrupted the light, who are evil and deluded in their pursuit of power and privilege and the more they take for themselves; the more they take from you. Hopefully the reader will get the message that is being presented here and not be off tilting at windmills and imaginary dragons. There are dragons real enough to be concerned with. Systems and orders are based on verities and some endure and some do not. Some are benign and some are not. Some are compromised. Many good people are about and working for the good of all. We are in the middle of enormous transformation, so it is good to be focused on what is enduring and what is basic.


End Transmission.......

Moody’s May Cut BofA, Citi, Wells Rating

Moody's Investors Service said Thursday that it was reviewing the ratings of Bank of America Corp. Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. for possible downgrades.

The three banks' current ratings are already in the middle of the investment-grade corporate credit ratings. And that's with a boost from Moody's assumption the federal government would prevent them from failing in a crisis. Moody's said Thursday that this "too big to fail" assumption may no longer be true.

In a statement accompanying the announcement, Moody's senior vice-president Sean Jones said the Dodd-Frank Act makes clear the government "does not want to bail out even large, systemically important banking groups." One aim of the Dodd-Frank Act, which was signed into law last July, is to make it easier to break up large financial institutions.

Moody's currently rates Bank of America's senior debt A2, Citigroup's A3 and Wells Fargo's A1. But the implied government backing pushes those ratings up from where they would be otherwise.

But the banks may not lose all of that ratings cushion. Moody's said Citigroup and Bank of America's improving financial strength may temper the size of any cuts to their ratings.

A downgrade would likely raise the banks' borrowing costs.

In total, eight banks have higher ratings from Moody's on the assumption of government backing. The others are JPMorgan Chase & Co. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and State Street Corp. Moody's said it continues to evaluate its assumption of federal backing for all of them.

Read Full Article Here...

Alan Grayson: "Has The Federal Reserve Ever Tried To Manipulate The U.S. Stock Market?" (VIDEO)

Video: Grayson vs. Alvarez -- Audit The Fed Congressional Hearings

Editor's Note: I am re-posting this Grayson clip from last year, in conjunction with the story from Dylan Ratigan on a 'rigged stock market.'

The original text is below.

---

By far the most entertaining and cogent portion from today's hearing on Ron Paul's HR 1207, as Alan Grayson questions Fed general counsel Scott Alvarez. Turn up the volume because the questioning starts immediately.

My commentary:

  • Grayson is also rightfully curious about alleged JP Morgan front-running on trades on behalf of the Fed's monstrous portfolio.
  • Just what are they doing on their prop desk while the handle the Fed's order flow?
  • Federal Reserve manipulation of the gold market is part of Grayson's focus.
  • Does the PPT really exist (yes it does) and how often is it called into service by the Fed and Treasury to support markets. The President's Working Group On Capital Markets needs some transparency as well.

---

Transcribed portion:

  • Grayson: I would like to know whether it is within the Federal Reserve's legal authority to try to manipulate the stock market or the futures market.
  • Federal Reserve Counsel Alvarez: I don't believe the Federal Reserve tries to manipulate the stock market.
  • Grayson: Does the Federal Reserve actually possess all the gold that's listed on their balance sheet?
  • Scott Alvarez: Yes.
  • Alan Grayson: Who actually executes the trades for the Federal Reserve in the markets?
  • Scott Alvarez: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which executes trades through Primary Dealers.
  • Alan Grayson: Can you name one Primary Dealer?
  • Scott Alvarez: JP Morgan Chase
  • Alan Grayson: Do you mind if we have a GAO audit to see if there has been front-running or insider trading by them? Do you mind? Is that ok with you?
  • Scott Alvarez: I am not sure...

---

Dylan Ratigan:

Greenspan: GDP & Unemployment NBC - 6/03/2011

Reuters: Ron Paul expects debt limit deal, but 'big trouble' ahead

New Decentralized Currency Stimulating Underground Barter Economy

New grassroots cyber currency, the Bitcoin, may provide the perfect vehicle to operate outside the establishment economy and snub the all-powerful banking cartels -- it's decentralized, quasi-anonymous, and its supply is regulated by an algorithm to actually create deflation over time.

Source: BitcoinMe.com
Eric Blair
Activist Post

The masses are beginning to understand that the greatest threat to human freedom is the international banking cartel and their debt-based monetary system. Together with governments, they squash any manifestation of a free marketplace and personal freedom. Between runaway money printing, corporate cartel control, subsidies and taxes, and regulations and fees; the free market is nothing more than an ideology -- for now.

As the "Too Big to Fail" private banks consolidate even further with the help of their central baking partners and government puppets, it would seem that they form an all-powerful cartel. They force us to use their monopoly money to pay for all necessary goods and services. They track every economic transaction to plunder as much manufactured taxes and fees as possible. Income taxes are extracted to prop up the debt-based system, the Wall Street casino, the domestic surveillance prison, and endless wars. And on top of that, the consumer is ravaged by increasing inflation. Indeed, the system smashes personal and economic freedom.

Incidentally, it seems the precise remedy to such a system would be decentralization of currency and banking, or functioning in an underground economy outside the system. There may be hope for accomplishing both with the new crypto-currency that is beginning to gain recognition, the Bitcoin. Can this decentralized barter currency free humanity from the grip of the slave masters and provide for a truly free-market economy?

First, what is a Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a voluntary digital currency that can be transferred peer-to-peer over the Internet. The open-source cryptographic program secures the electronic transactions without the need for a third party, like a bank or PayPal. There are no transfer fees or centralized clearing house needed for peers to trade Bits. Bitcoins are held in a wallet that carries an anonymous address in the system. Watch the brief video below for a concise description:



MIT's Technology Review recently reported on the functionality of the Bitcoin and its "booming" rise to $40 million in circulation:
In 2008, a programmer known as Satoshi Nakamoto—a name believed to be an alias—posted a paper outlining Bitcoin's design to a cryptography e-mail list. Then, in early 2009, he (or she) released software that can be used to exchange bitcoins using the scheme. That software is now maintained by a volunteer open-source community coordinated by four core developers.
...Nakamoto wanted people to be able to exchange money electronically securely without the need for a third party, such as a bank or a company like PayPal. He based Bitcoin on cryptographic techniques that allow you to be sure the money you receive is genuine, even if you don't trust the sender.
The report explains what makes the peer-to-peer currency secure and anonymous:
Once you download and run the Bitcoin client software, it connects over the Internet to the decentralized network of all Bitcoin users and also generates a pair of unique, mathematically linked keys, which you'll need to exchange bitcoins with any other client. One key is private and kept hidden on your computer. The other is public and a version of it dubbed a Bitcoin address is given to other people so they can send you bitcoins. Crucially, it is practically impossible—even with the most powerful supercomputer—to work out someone's private key from their public key. This prevents anyone from impersonating you. Your public and private keys are stored in a file that can be transferred to another computer, for example if you upgrade.
Understandably, many readers of this will be leery of a "cashless" currency due to the stigma attached to the idea by the global banking cartel's stated agenda of creating a "cashless society" allowing for total economic dominance. However, the Bitcoin is the antithesis of centralized control. The nature of the peer-to-peer digital transfers of bits is uncontrollable, as we've seen with BitTorrents.

The shutting down of Napster back in the day and the DHS' endless efforts to seize "pirate" websites will never stop peer-to-peer sharing of information. With Bitcoins, the transaction takes place from your personal computer out into a vast network of servers that process the transaction into the recipient's anonymous wallet located in his computer. This realization that this currency is virtually impossible to consolidate or shutdown would seem to make Bitcoins one of the biggest threats the control system has ever faced.

As evidence of Bitcoins being used to openly defy the system, an underground online drug trade has sprung up, as reported by Gawker. This so-called "Amazon" of illegal drugs accepts only Bitcoins as payment and is virtually untraceable unless the authorities assign massive resources to the endeavor; and even if they shut down the website, another will likely pop up to replace it. It's probably not the kind of press that the founders of Bitcoin would like, but it underscores the unconquerable nature of voluntary exchange between two individuals and the Bitcoin technology. When an authority tries to prohibit products that people demand, black markets will always pop up. And as we've seen with the war on drugs, it is impossible to stop no matter how much they throw at it.

As for how the long-term supply and value is controlled, MIT reported:
Nakamoto's rules specify that the amount of bitcoins in circulation will grow at an ever-decreasing rate toward a maximum of 21 million. Currently there are just over 6 million; in 2030, there will be over 20 million bitcoins.
Nakamoto's scheme includes one loophole, however: if more than half of the Bitcoin network's computing power comes under the control of one entity, then the rules can change. This would prevent, for example, a criminal cartel faking a transaction log in its own favor to dupe the rest of the community.
It is unlikely that anyone will ever obtain this kind of control. 'The combined power of the network is currently equal to one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world,' says Garzik. 'Satoshi's rules are probably set in stone.'
It is unlikely any major retailers will sign on to accept Bitcoins because they are deeply entrenched in the establishment economy and are likely saddled with debt to the banking cartel. The Bitcoin economy is more a grassroots opportunity for small businesses and individuals to sell used or self-produced products or services. Look for Ebay or Amazon knock-offs to pop up and allow individuals to sell items. Look for online casinos to spring up for Bitcoin players. Look for local organic cooperatives to implement them. Anything that a consumer desires that can be facilitated online can conceivably be done with an anonymous Bitcoin transaction in this emerging peer-to-peer barter market.

Nothing could be a more genuine example of a free market than two people voluntarily bartering for an item without a middleman or big brother snooping the transaction. The banks serve no purpose in online commerce except that most people pay for things from money in banks. Now, their role will seem to be diminished should the Bitcoin economy take off. Bitcoin seems like the ideal online currency to support if one wishes for freedom and anonymity, or to protest the centralized power of the banking cartel and their tax-thirsty puppet regimes.

Maybe I want to believe in it too much, so tell me where I'm wrong in the comment section. Activist Post may soon accept donations in Bitcoins and add a miner to support its growth. Tell us if your research says it passes the smell test or not.

White House rules out 'double dip' recession

© AFP/File Jewel Samad
AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House on Friday ruled out anxiety over the possibility of a "double dip" recession after disappointing jobs numbers augmented previous data suggesting the recovery may be slowing.

"Not at all," said White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest when asked whether President Barack Obama was concerned about a possibility of a return to economic contraction or a "double dip" recession.

"If you look at the overall trajectory of our economy there is a lot of cause for optimism," said Earnest aboard Air Force One as Obama flew to Ohio to tout the success of his auto industry bailout.

"In just the last six months we are looking at about a million private sector private sector jobs created, the average over the last four months is 200,000 private sector jobs created.

"There are a lot of economic indicators that are out there -- what we are looking at -- it is not just the one month numbers, regardless of what those numbers are. We are looking at the trend."

The Labor Department reported Friday that the economy added a paltry 54,000 jobs in May, one-quarter of the February-April pace, intensifying the challenge to the Obama administration to get the economy growing.

The figures followed recent data showing the housing market remains moribund and lower than hoped-for economic growth which has dampened expectations that the economic recovery will accelerate.

© AFP -- Published at Activist Post with license

HBO Films: Too Big To Fail: Opening The Vault On The Financial Crisis (HBO)

Unemployment During the Great Depression Has Been Overstated and Current Unemployment Understated (We've Now Got Depression-Level Unemployment)

The commonly-accepted unemployment figures for the Great Depression are overstated.
Specifically, government workers were counted as unemployed by Stanley Lebergott (the BLS economist who put together the most widely used numbers) ... even though gainfully employed and receiving a pay check.

If we're trying to compare current unemployment figures with the Great Depression, the calculations of economists such as Michael Darby are more accurate.
Here is a comparison of Lebergott and Darby's unemployment figures:


Year Lebergott Darby

1929 3.2% 3.2%

1930 8.7% 8.7%

1931 15.9% 15.3%

1932 23.6% 22.9%

1933 24.9% 20.6%

1934 21.7% 16.0%

1935 20.1% 14.2%

1936 16.9% 9.9%

1937 14.3% 9.1%

1938 19.0% 12.5%

1939 17.2% 11.3%

1940 14.6% 9.5%

(see Robert A. Margo's Employment and Unemployment in the 1930s.)

We've Got Depression-Level Unemployment

Unemployment is currently underreported. Even government officials admit that their "adjustments" to unemployment figures are inaccurate during recessions.

In addition, the most widely-cited statistics use the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics' "U-3" methodology. But "U-6" figures are more accurate, because they include people who would like full-time work, but can only find part-time work, or people who have given up looking for work altogether. U-6 is also is closer to the way unemployment was measured during the Great Depression than U-3

Current levels of unemployment are Depression-level numbers, especially when compared to Darby's figures.

For example, economist John Williams puts current U-6 unemployment at 15.9%. That's higher than 9 out of 12 years charted by Darby.

And there are certainly Depression-level statistics in some states. For example, official Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers put U-6 above 20% in several states:
  • California: 22.0
  • Nevada: 23.7
  • Michigan 20.3
  • (and Los Angeles County has 24.1% unemployment, higher than any of the Depression years as reported by Darby)
Williams puts SGS unemployment - which he claims is the most accurate measure - at 22.3%. That's higher than 11 out of 12 years charted by Darby.

Youngstown State University's Center for Working Class Studies puts the "De Facto Unemployment Rate" at 28.76%. I'm not sure if that compares to methods used during the Great Depression, but it surpasses all 12 out of 12 years charted by Darby.

More People Are Unemployed than During the Great DepressionAs I noted in January 2009:
In 1930, there were 123 million Americans.
At the height of the Depression in 1933, 24.9% of the total work force or 11,385,000 people, were unemployed.

Will unemployment reach 25% during this current crisis?

I don't know. But the number of people unemployed will be higher than during the Depression.

Specifically, there are currently some 300 million Americans, 154.4 million of whom are in the work force.

Unemployment is expected to exceed 10% by many economists, and Obama "has warned that the unemployment rate will explode to at least 10% in 2009".

10 percent of 154 million is 15 million people out of work - more than during the Great Depression.

Given that the broader U-6 measure of unemployment is currently around 17% (ShadowStats.com puts the figure at 22%, and some put it even higher), the current numbers are that much worse.
Unemployment is Long-Term

USA Today reported in December:
So many Americans have been jobless for so long that the government is changing how it records long-term unemployment.

Citing what it calls "an unprecedented rise" in long-term unemployment, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), beginning Saturday, will raise from two years to five years the upper limit on how long someone can be listed as having been jobless.

***

The change is a sign that bureau officials "are afraid that a cap of two years may be 'understating the true average duration' — but they won't know by how much until they raise the upper limit," says Linda Barrington, an economist who directs the Institute for Compensation Studies at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

***

"The BLS doesn't make such changes lightly," Barrington says. Stacey Standish, a bureau assistant press officer, says the two-year limit has been used for 33 years.

***

Although "this feels like something we've not experienced" since the Great Depression, she says, economists need more information to be sure.
The Wall Street Journal noted in July 2009:
The average length of unemployment is higher than it's been since government began tracking the data in 1948.

***

The job losses are also now equal to the net job gains over the previous nine years, making this the only recession since the Great Depression to wipe out all job growth from the previous expansion.
The Christian Science Monitor wrote an article in June entitled, "Length of unemployment reaches Great Depression levels".

60 Minutes - in a must-watch segment - notes that our current situation tops the Great Depression in one respect: never have we had a recession this deep with a recovery this flat. 60 Minutes points out that unemployment has been at 9.5% or above for 14 months.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David M. Kennedy notes in Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (Oxford, 1999) that - during Herbert Hoover's presidency, more than 13 million Americans lost their jobs. Of those, 62% found themselves out of work for longer than a year; 44% longer than two years; 24% longer than three years; and 11% longer than four years.Blytic calculated last year that the current average duration of unemployment is some 32 weeks, the median duration is around 20 weeks, and there are approximately 6 million people unemployed for 27 weeks or longer.

As Calculated Risk noted last month:
According to the BLS, there are 5.839 million workers who have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks and still want a job. This was down from 6.122 million in March. This remains very high, and is one of the defining features of this employment recession.

Job Destruction is Permanent

Many leading economists say that America is suffering a permanent destruction of jobs.
For example, JPMorgan Chase’s Chief Economist Bruce Kasman told Bloomberg:
[We've had a] permanent destruction of hundreds of thousands of jobs in industries from housing to finance.
The chief economists for Wells Fargo Securities, John Silvia, says:
Companies “really have diminished their willingness to hire labor for any production level,” Silvia said. “It’s really a strategic change,” where companies will be keeping fewer employees for any particular level of sales, in good times and bad, he said.
And former Merrill Lynch chief economist David Rosenberg writes:
The number of people not on temporary layoff surged 220,000 in August and the level continues to reach new highs, now at 8.1 million. This accounts for 53.9% of the unemployed — again a record high — and this is a proxy for permanent job loss, in other words, these jobs are not coming back. Against that backdrop, the number of people who have been looking for a job for at least six months with no success rose a further half-percent in August, to stand at 5 million — the long-term unemployed now represent a record 33% of the total pool of joblessness.
And see this.
Despite What the Government Says, Reducing Unemployment Is a Very Low Priority

While government officials talk a good game, government policy has actually not been geared towards fighting inflation, not creating more jobs.

Some Jobs Are Being Created ... But Mainly In the Military

127,000 jobs need to be created each month just to make sure that things aren't getting worse. (127,000 is the monthly population increase in the United States.)

But - according to ADP - last month only 38,000 jobs were created in the private sector.

There is fierce debate about how much the government has spent to create a few measly jobs. Some say that it is an insane amount, while others say the figure is lower. And see this .

But the truth is that there wasn't very much government stimulation aimed towards creating jobs at all ... other than in the military. As I pointed out in 2009, public sector spending - and mainly defense spending - has accounted for virtually all of the new job creation in the past 10 years:The U.S. has largely been financing job creation for ten years. Specifically, as the chief economist for BusinessWeek, Michael Mandel, points out, public spending has accounted for virtually all new job creation in the past 10 years:

Private sector job growth was almost non-existent over the past ten years. Take a look at this horrifying chart:
longjobs1.gif


Between May 1999 and May 2009, employment in the private sector sector only rose by 1.1%, by far the lowest 10-year increase in the post-depression period.

It’s impossible to overstate how bad this is. Basically speaking, the private sector job machine has almost completely stalled over the past ten years. Take a look at this chart:

longjobs2.gif
Over the past 10 years, the private sector has generated roughly 1.1 million additional jobs, or about 100K per year. The public sector created about 2.4 million jobs.

But even that gives the private sector too much credit. Remember that the private sector includes health care, social assistance, and education, all areas which receive a lot of government support.
***

Most of the industries which had positive job growth over the past ten years were in the HealthEdGov sector. In fact, financial job growth was nearly nonexistent once we take out the health insurers.
Let me finish with a final chart.
longjobs4.gif
Without a decade of growing government support from rising health and education spending and soaring budget deficits, the labor market would have been flat on its back.
Indeed, Robert Reich lamented last year:
America’s biggest — and only major — jobs program is the U.S. military.
Raw Story argues that the U.S. is building a largely military economy:
The use of the military-industrial complex as a quick, if dubious, way of jump-starting the economy is nothing new, but what is amazing is the divergence between the military economy and the civilian economy, as shown by this New York Times chart.
In the past nine years, non-industrial production in the US has declined by some 19 percent. It took about four years for manufacturing to return to levels seen before the 2001 recession -- and all those gains were wiped out in the current recession.
By contrast, military manufacturing is now 123 percent greater than it was in 2000 -- it has more than doubled while the rest of the manufacturing sector has been shrinking...
It's important to note the trajectory -- the military economy is nearly three times as large, proportionally to the rest of the economy, as it was at the beginning of the Bush administration. And it is the only manufacturing sector showing any growth. Extrapolate that trend, and what do you get?

The change in leadership in Washington does not appear to be abating that trend...
So most of the job creation has been by the public sector. But because the job creation has been financed with loans from China and private banks, trillions in unnecessary interest charges have been incurred by the U.S. And this shows military versus non-military durable goods shipments:



[Click here to view full image.]

So we're running up our debt (which will eventually decrease economic growth), but the only jobs we're creating are military and other public sector jobs.

This might be okay from a strictly economic (as opposed to moral) perspective if defense jobs reduced unemployment. But, as many economists point out, the fact is that massive military spending actually increases unemployment in the long-run.

For example, PhD economist Dean Baker notes that America's massive military spending on unnecessary and unpopular wars lowers economic growth and increases unemployment:
Defense spending means that the government is pulling away resources from the uses determined by the market and instead using them to buy weapons and supplies and to pay for soldiers and other military personnel. In standard economic models, defense spending is a direct drain on the economy, reducing efficiency, slowing growth and costing jobs.
A few years ago, the Center for Economic and Policy Research commissioned Global Insight, one of the leading economic modeling firms, to project the impact of a sustained increase in defense spending equal to 1.0 percentage point of GDP. This was roughly equal to the cost of the Iraq War.

Global Insight’s model projected that after 20 years the economy would be about 0.6 percentage points smaller as a result of the additional defense spending. Slower growth would imply a loss of almost 700,000 jobs compared to a situation in which defense spending had not been increased. Construction and manufacturing were especially big job losers in the projections, losing 210,000 and 90,000 jobs, respectively.

The scenario we asked Global Insight [recognized as the most consistently accurate forecasting company in the world] to model turned out to have vastly underestimated the increase in defense spending associated with current policy. In the most recent quarter, defense spending was equal to 5.6 percent of GDP. By comparison, before the September 11th attacks, the Congressional Budget Office projected that defense spending in 2009 would be equal to just 2.4 percent of GDP. Our post-September 11th build-up was equal to 3.2 percentage points of GDP compared to the pre-attack baseline. This means that the Global Insight projections of job loss are far too low...

The projected job loss from this increase in defense spending would be close to 2 million. In other words, the standard economic models that project job loss from efforts to stem global warming also project that the increase in defense spending since 2000 will cost the economy close to 2 million jobs in the long run.
And the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst has also shown that non-military spending creates more jobs than military spending.

Government policy has largely caused the current unemployment crisis. And until Washington and Wall Street are forced to change course, things will not meaningfully and significantly improve for a long time.

Spinning the Economy to a Recovery

Dees Illustration
Greg Hunter
USA Watchdog

Remember back in early-2009, when the mainstream media (MSM) started with the ridiculous “green shoots” talking point? Even though the data was dismal and there were no signs of the economy recovering, the “green shoots” term was used by just about everyone in the MSM. I think not long after economist Nouriel Roubini said that the much talked about “green shoots” was really “yellow weeds,” the talking point changed to “recovery.” (Click here to read the complete “Yellow Weeds” article from professor Roubini.) Ever since, the MSM has described the so-called “economic recovery” in terms such as “fragile,” “jobless” and “tenuous,” to name a few. The data has repeatedly shown the “recovery” isn’t any of these terms because THERE IS NO RECOVERY. Oh sure, the stock market has gone up, but so have the number of people on food stamps, which is at a new record of 44 million. There is also no recovery for the 33 million people who are unemployed. Forget the government B.S. of 9%, the true unemployment rate has been stuck north of 22% for months according to Shadowstats.com.

The latest numbers have shown there is bad news across the board for housing, autos, manufacturing, employment and consumer confidence. Well, here we go again with the spin by the MSM. Even though many are now admitting there is a double-dip in the economy, the talking points used to describe this new downturn are things like “temporary,” “transitory” and a good old fashion “soft patch.” Here’s how the Associated Press reported the story after a nearly 300 point drop in the Dow this week. It said, “We’re definitely in a soft patch,” says Steve Blitz, senior economist for ITG Investment Research. No one knows whether the slowdown is a temporary setback or the start of a prolonged period of anemic growth. Many analysts hold out hope that the economy will rebound in the second half of 2011.” (Click here for the complete AP story.) “Soft patch, temporary,” see what I mean? Since when is holding out “hope” and investment strategy? Me and the people I have been quoting on this site have been clearly telling readers there would be another plunge in the economy. We were right and the MSM was wrong—again.

Read Full Article

DOW Dropping As America Officially Reaches 9.1% Unemployment

Echos of the same are circling the corporate media with one headlines such as ‘Payrolls in U.S. Rise 54,000; Jobless Rate Climbs to 9.1%’ while newscasters puppet the information on the television.

The official admitted unemployment number is now 9.1%, we can safely assume the real number is well over 20% and rising fast.

Only 54,000 jobs were created over the last month and the numbers are declining rapidly. Over 200,000 were predicted — falling way short of the anticipated goal.

Over 150,000 new jobs per month are needed just to keep up with population growth alone.

The stimulus was a total failure — not to mention an outright criminal looting of the government by nefarious entities and globalist oligarchs.

We are looking to go into total decline over the coming months.

Now 14 trillion in debt and rising fast — the country is in shambles.

Meanwhile the powers that be are playing the old — look at Congressman Weiner while we get you from behind trick.

The metals market has been holding steadily low for the time being as the DOW dips upon opening early Friday morning, marking the fifth straight week of decline in the markets.

Fears of a future collapse are brewing as we await the prospects of a not so bright outcome.

10 Reasons Why The “Economic Recovery” Is a Fraud

Americans have been continually deceived about the true state of the financial system

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Thursday, June 2, 2011

Yesterday’s so-called “horror” show for the US economy with the release of new data illustrating how the economic “recovery” has all but ground to a halt was met with feigned astonishment and shock by the establishment media, and yet for the past two years the public has been continually deceived about the true state of the financial system.

All the hot air about an “economic recovery” has served to hide the fact that the United States is slipping back into a double-dip recession, if not a second “great depression,” as market strategist Peter Yastrow told CNBC yesterday.

1) In 2009, when the media claimed the economic “recovery” had begun, oil prices averaged $54 dollars a barrel. In the 24 months since, the cost has doubled. Americans are paying more and more to fill up at the pump with Goldman Sachs predicting that gas will hit $5 dollars a gallon by summer. This figure was already reached in Washington DC two months ago. Far from representing a “recovery” this is in fact another crippling expense that many Americans people simply cannot afford.

2) The housing market has shown no “recovery” whatsoever. The collapse in US house prices “is now greater than that suffered during the Great Depression.” Prices have plunged by 33 per cent since 2007. Home ownership is at its lowest level for 20 years.

3) The collapse in home ownership has flooded the rental market, leading to massive inflation “pushing up the cost of leases across the nation’s 38 million rented residences,” reports Bloomberg. Far from enjoying a “recovery,” US citizens lucky enough not to be stuck in underwater mortgages are instead paying through the nose for rental inflation that represents a huge chunk of the overall consumer price index.

4) Food price inflation is also savaging Americans who are being browbeaten by the word “recovery” while the cost of their groceries soars to unaffordable levels, forcing them to buy cheap unhealthy GMO crap or simply go hungry. Food prices in the US are climbing at the fastest rate since the 1970′s.

5) While Americans were being told to jump on the “recovery” bandwagon and spend more money to reinvigorate the economy, their median incomes were plummeting. Americans are getting poorer. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, median household income in the United States fell from $51,726 in 2008 to $50,221 in 2009 and has been flat since, even as the cost of living continues to rise.

6) While the Federal Reserve points to GDP growth as evidence of recovery, citing figures of $700 million in growth from 2008-2011, the government had to borrow and spend $5.1 trillion just to attain that level. “The Federal government borrowed and spent $5.1 trillion over the past four years to generate a cumulative $700 billion increase in the nation’s GDP. That means we’ve borrowed and spent $7.28 for every $1 of nominal “growth” in GDP,” writes Charles Hugh Smith.

7) While the establishment media and the government pretends that US unemployment numbers are on the decline, the real unemployment figure stands at over 22 per cent. An even more alarming figure shows that fewer than 46 per cent of Americans actually have jobs, with employment rates in California and Arizona hovering around 37 per cent.

8) Along with almost all paper currencies, the dollar has drastically declined in comparison to commodities like gold and silver since the so-called “recovery” began in 2009. At the bottom of the economic slump in the middle of 2009, the greenback was hovering around the $950 dollar an ounce level – it is now well above $1500 and only soaring higher. A weakening dollar reduces Americans’ buying power and makes them pay more for staple necessities like food and fuel as the cost of living skyrockets.

9) Far from staging a “recovery,” US consumer confidence is now lower than during all the financial crises or tragedies of the last several decades. From the crash of ’87, to Enron, to 9/11, to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, Americans have never been so pessimistic about the economy.

10) Of course, the only people enjoying a financial “recovery” are the Wall Street bankers and the financial terrorists who pulled the plug on the economy in the first place. Since its 2009 low of 7062, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained by almost 6,000 points. This means little to the average American that can barely afford to put food on the table, never mind invest in the stock market.
*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/10-reasons-why-the-economic-recovery-is-a-fraud.html

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Gave $1.29 Million to China

(CNSNews.com) – The Environmental Protection Agency has given at least $1,285,535 in grants to China to promote environmental research in the country.

EPA logo

In all, the EPA issued six grants that went to China, most of which pertained to researching methane in Chinese coal mines and reducing carbon emissions in China, a communist dictatorship long criticized by human rights groups. Two of those grants were awarded during the Bush administration; four were awarded during the Obama administration.

The issue, at a time of mounting debt and deficits, is about fiscal responsibility, said Robert Gordon, senior advisor for strategic outreach for the Heritage Foundation, who has closely monitored EPA grants, and recently wrote a piece criticizing the Chinese grants.

“I’m just not sure that the EPA has addressed all the things it’s supposed to be doing here in the best manner possible before they’re spending money overseas,” Gordon told CNSNews.com. “At the end of the day, we’re spending money that we don’t have and on things we shouldn’t be spending it on if we had it.”

The grants to China were awarded through the EPA’s Coalbed Methane Outreach Program (CMOP). Since 1994, CMOP has worked cooperatively with the coal industry in the U.S. and internationally to reduce coal mining methane emissions, according to the EPA.

“U.S. companies are in the forefront of coal mine methane recovery and utilization. CMOP plays a lead role in bringing Chinese delegations to meet American companies, as well as connecting U.S. companies with CMM [coal mining methane] project opportunities in China,” the EPA told CNSNews.com in a statement responding to questions about the grants.

“Due to the large energy demand in China, many US companies are expanding their sales and operations there. These include coal companies (such as Peabody and Arch Coal), equipment manufacturers (such as Caterpillar and Megtec), and service providers (such as drilling companies, geologists and engineering firms),” EPA added.

The EPA statement continues, “By helping to identify and implement methods to recover and use CMM instead of emitting it to the atmosphere, CMOP reduces global greenhouse gas emissions while providing economic benefits both at home and abroad.”

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), a long-time critic of the human rights record in China, did not single out the EPA, but said the entire federal government should make grants contingent on human rights progress.

“I hope with China we would make human rights, especially gendercide and forced abortion, torture, their ongoing squashing of religious freedom and the torture, often to death of people of faith simply because of their belief in God, that we would condition all of our grants with China because China has actually gotten demonstrably worse in the last several years,” Smith told CNSNews.com.

“I think after [Chinese President] Hu Jintao’s visit, they feel the U.S. has lost its voice in human rights,” Smith continued. “Certainly President Obama did. We now have these human rights dialogues which are sideshows and good talking points. They do not produce tangible results.”

The largest EPA grant was for $290,000 for a project that began on Jan. 1, 2010 and is estimated to end on Dec. 31, 2014.

The project description says the grant is to: “Strengthen China's capacity to improve performance in 5 areas of environmental management: (1) air; (2) water; (3) toxic chemicals; (4) hazardous, medical and solid waste; and (5) environmental law, implementation and enforcement,” the description said.

“For the initial funding, project is to pilot test one or more enforceable policies to enhance the effectiveness of a pollutant discharge fee program; to track mercury fate and transport, and reduce emissions, from coal-based vinyl chloride monomer production; and to identify policies that promote/enable the development of a solid waste treatment industry,” it said.

Another grant for $230,000 went to the China Association of Rural Energy Industry. The project began in Aug. 1, 2007 and ended Jan. 31, 2011.

“The China Association of Rural Energy Industry will help 100,000 Chinese adopt cleaner technologies that improve health while protecting the environment (reducing deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions),” the EPA grant description said.

EPA issued a grant of $210,000 to the International Cooperation Center for Environmental Protection for a Chinese project funded from Sept. 1, 2009 through Feb. 28, 2011.

“This project will build on the previous successes of the Guizhou International Cooperation Center for Environmental Protection (GZICCEP) in promoting methane capture and use in Guizhou, China,” the EPA project description said.

“The GZICCEP will promote the recovery and utilization of coal mine methane (CMM) in Guizhou Province, China, and develop two pre-feasibility studies that can be used by the host coal mines to develop into full feasibility studies for project financing and implementation. The results of the prefeasibility studies will provide a valuable reference for other Chinese coal mines interested in developing CMM projects,” it added.

The EPA further proved a grant of $199,805 to the China University of Petroleum in Beijing and the Jincheng Anthracite Coal Mining Group in Shanxi Province for the period beginning July 1, 2009 and ending on June 30, 2011.

“The China University of Petroleum, Beijing will partner with the Jincheng Anthracite Coal Mining Group in Shanxi Province to analyze the efficiency of its existing Coal Mining and Methane recovery projects and develop a series of recommendations to enhance methane recovery and reduce emissions in its mines,” the EPA project description said.

“The resulting recommendations and lessons learned can be used as a template for other Chinese coal mines to implement Coal Mining and Methane projects. The University will also promote the recovery and utilization of methane in China by serving as a central repository for Coal Mining and Methane information in Shanxi Province, and will conduct CO2 sequestration modeling,” it added.

EPA issued a grant of $180,000 to the China Coal Information Institute for a project that started July 15, 2009 and concluding on June 15, 2011.

“The China Coal Information Institute (CCII) will conduct an analysis of Coal Mine Methane (CMM) utilization technologies used in Chinese coal mines, examine the efficiencies of these technologies and assess their CO2 reduction benefits,” the EPA description said.

“The goals of the project are to improve CMM recovery and utilization technologies that currently are being used in China. CCII will develop and disseminate a CMM drainage technical model and gas utilization tool for Chinese coal mines. This project will raise the visibility of CMM recovery and utilization technologies adopted in China (including VAM utilization) and provide recommendations for improvement,” it added.

The least expensive grant was for $175,000 for a Chinese project that began on Aug. 1, 2008 and ended on March 1, 2011.

“The overall objective of this project is to reduce methane emissions and to maximize energy recovery from existing landfills in China,” the project description said. “Feasibility studies allow for assessing the energy potential methane reductions from a given landfill and can lead to landfill gas to energy project development. Landfill gas to energy projects both reduce methane, a greenhouse gas, and have positive impacts on local air quality.”

War Zones: As The Economy Dies, Murders, Shootings, Robberies And Looting Erupt All Over America

As the U.S. economy falls apart and millions of Americans descend into despair we are seeing some really shocking things start to happen all over America. The mainstream media keeps telling us that crime is under control, but they are also the ones that keep telling us that we are in the midst of an “economic recovery”.

Unfortunately, the truth is that the economy is slowly dying. Today, an all-time record 44 million Americans are on food stamps. That number is 18 million higher than it was just four years ago. When people can’t get jobs and when people feel deprived they get desperate.

The incidents that you are about to see and read about below are very disturbing. Many American communities are rapidly turning into war zones. Sadly, it is mostly young people that are involved in the crimes and the violence that are now sweeping America.

Yesterday, I wrote an article entitled “18 Signs That Life In U.S. Public Schools Is Now Essentially Equivalent To Life In U.S. Prisons“, and there were some readers that objected to the article because they said that the youth of today are so wild that if you don’t use extreme measures they will just be completely out of control.

Sadly, it is true that many of our young people are extremely wild. But a lot of that is our own fault.

We did not believe in teaching our kids about “morality”, and so now they do not have any. We did not believe in having the Ten Commandments around, and so now many of our young people feel free to steal and murder. We allowed television and movies to raise our kids, and now they are acting out what they have been watching all of their lives.

If your community is not a war zone yet, you should consider yourself to be very fortunate. There are many communities across the United States where people simply do not go out at night anymore.

Wherever large groups of Americans gather these days, big problems often seem to follow. The following is video that was shot during the recent Memorial Day weekend in Miami Beach….

The following is how activist Herb Sosa described what went down in Miami Beach last weekend….

Esteemed Miami Beach Mayor, Commissioners & concerned citizens.

Please view the attached YouTube video (one of many) already posted for the world to see, about Memorial/Urban Weekend 2011 in Miami Beach. http://youtu.be/cjxxGBJmOqQ

It shows our city as nothing short of a warzone – Filthy streets, a drive by shooting, multiple cars crashed in the process, and total chaos on the streets. This is unacceptable and must be controlled before we totally lose our city, tourism & residents. It is not limited to Ocean Drive or Collins – there isn’t a residential street in South Beach not affected by tons of garbage, crime to our vehicles, excessive noise 24 hours a day, and simply a lack of respect for our community, citizens & property.

But it just wasn’t the Miami area that was transformed into a war zone last weekend.

Let’s take a look at what happened in some other U.S. cities….

-Long Island: “A Long Island police department says it had to call for backup to quell a beach melee involving hundreds of people that spilled out onto the streets and a nearby bus depot.”

-Chicago: “As Chicagoans headed to the beach to celebrate the unseasonably warm Memorial Day, violence erupted throughout the city. Six people were killed and at least 21 people wounded by gunfire Monday afternoon into early Tuesday morning.”

-Myrtle Beach: “Myrtle Beach police received reports of five armed robberies, a stabbing, a shooting and an incident involving a shotgun being pointed at a security guard during a nearly eight-hour period in the city early Sunday and Monday.”

-Rochester, New York: “A busy Memorial Day evening at the beach ended abruptly when fights broke out among at least 100 youth.”

-Boston: “Fights broke out among rival gang members on Carson Beach in South Boston yesterday and spilled out across the city, triggering a massive law enforcement response from at least five agencies to stem the violence.”

-Charlotte, North Carolina: “In Charlotte, North Carolina, a man was shot and killed on Sunday morning after two rival groups began fighting. Police said at least 70 people were arrested in the melee that lead to the shooting.”

-New York City: “A violent Memorial Day weekend around the city left at least seven people dead, including a mother of four whose 2-year-old son was clutching her hand when she was shot.”

Just another holiday in America.

For more examples of the increasing violence we are seeing all across the country, check out this article: “Americans Gone Wild“.

But it isn’t just violence that is increasing. One very disturbing trend that is on the increase is the number of “mob robberies” that we are seeing around the United States. Large groups of youths are storming into retail establishments, looting whatever they want, and storming right back out. The following are a couple of examples…..

*Las Vegas*

*Washington D.C.*

For more examples of “mob robbers“, just check out this article: “Mob Robbers And Rampant Looting: Is This The Future Of America?

Are you alarmed yet?

You should be.

The truth is that there are some really good reasons why so many people are looking to move out of urban areas. America is changing. We have lost our morality and that has consequences.

In a recent article entitled “Moral Relativism” I discussed some of these consequences….

A lot of people don’t like to talk about morality. In fact, many of my regular readers will probably throw a fit just because I am using the word “morality” in an article. But you know what? Without morality a society cannot function. Our founding fathers knew this. But somehow we have come to believe that morality and politics can be separated.

The truth is that when you fully take all morality out of politics you end up with a Hitler or a Stalin or a Mao. You end up with death camps, torture, mass genocide and social chaos.

Unfortunately, Americans can’t really seem to agree on what is “moral” and what is not anymore. Moral relativism dominates in our society today. Nobody really knows what the “rules” really are.

But if we all are living by different rules, then how is society going to continue to function? The truth is that moral relativism simply does not work and our society is starting to find that out.

If America continues on the road that it is on, we are going to see some things happen in this nation in the future that are going to be absolutely unspeakable.

John Adams, the second president of the United States, once made the following statement: “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.

Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”

Today, we have an incredibly wicked and immoral government that is governing a population that cannot even agree on what “right and wrong” are anymore.

If we stay on this path, things will continue to get even worse. Even more of our communities will become war zones. This country will continue to fall apart.

If you don’t live in America, please say a prayer for us – we really need it.

40 Signs The Chinese Economy Is Beating The Living Daylights Out Of The U.S. Economy

It is time to face the truth. The Chinese economy is simply beating the living daylights out of the U.S. economy. Whether you want to call it a rout, a slaughter or a thrashing, the reality is that the Chinese are absolutely embarrassing America on the global economic stage. At this point, the Chinese are playing economic chess while the Americans are playing economic checkers. China is poised to blow past the United States and become the largest economy in the world. Not only that, some economists are projecting that the Chinese economy could be three times larger than the U.S. economy by mid-century. The age of U.S. economic dominance is ending, and most Americans still don't even understand what is happening.

Several decades ago, big corporations started figuring out that they could make a lot more money if they sold goods that were made overseas. At the time the United States was so dominant economically that it didn't even matter who was in second place. We started shipping in lots of products that were made somewhere else and the American people loved it because the prices were lower and they could buy more stuff. U.S. corporations loved it because profit margins were higher. Foreign nations loved it because we were helping to develop their economies and they were getting richer. Everyone seemed to be winning and it was a lot of fun while it lasted.

But then the trickle of jobs and factories leaving the country started to become a flood. Then it became an overwhelming torrent. The number of "middle class jobs" in the United States began to shrink continually. Suddenly it seemed like most of the jobs that were available were low paying "service jobs". The prices of the goods in the stores were still low, but average American families were feeling increasingly squeezed so they started to borrow massive amounts of money in order to maintain the same standard of living.

Most Americans were willing to go into constantly increasing amounts of debt in order to buy cheap products that were made overseas. This seemed to work well for everyone involved and so the consumer debt bubble just kept growing and growing and growing.

As businesses and jobs fled the country, the U.S. tax base just wasn't as robust as it was before either. The federal government, state governments and local governments all started borrowing gigantic amounts of cash from the countries we were sending all of our money to.

In particular, China really started to emerge as an economic powerhouse over the last couple of decades. Once China joined the WTO they aggressively started to flood our shores with really cheap products. When you have hundreds of millions of workers willing to work for about a dollar an hour that is not that hard to do.

Most Americans didn't care where all of the cheap products were being made. They just kept running out to the retail giants and filling up their carts. Of course this was largely done with borrowed money, but at the time nobody really seemed to really care.

It is a lot of fun to run up huge amounts of debt, but eventually bills have to be paid. All of this borrowing has enabled the U.S. to enjoy the greatest standard of living in the history of the world, but it has been a false prosperity. The American Dream was purchased with borrowed money.

Now the United States is drowning in consumer debt and government debt from sea to shining sea. We sent gigantic amounts of wealth over to China and other foreign nations and they sent us gigantic amounts of cheaply made products.

It was supposed to be a good deal for both sides.

In the end, it turns out it was a great deal for them and a crappy deal for us.

The following are 40 signs that the Chinese economy is beating the living daylights out of the U.S. economy....

#1 The Chinese economy has grown 7 times faster than the U.S. economy has over the past decade.

#2 According to the IMF, China will pass the United States and will become the largest economy in the world in 2016.

#3 According to one prominent economist, the Chinese economy already has roughly the same amount of purchasing power as the U.S. economy does.

#4 At the turn of this century the United States accounted for well over 20 percent of global GDP and China accounted for significantly less than 10 percent of global GDP. But since that time America's share of global GDP has been steadily declining and China's share has been steadily rising.

#5 Nobel economist Robert W. Fogel of the University of Chicago is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040 if current trends continue.

#6 According to Stanford University economics professor Ed Lazear, if the U.S. economy and the Chinese economy continue to grow at current rates, the average Chinese citizen will be wealthier than the average American citizen in just 30 years.

#7 During 2010, we spent $365 billion on goods and services from China while they only spent $92 billion on goods and services from us.

#8 Since 2005, Americans have gobbled up Chinese products and services totaling $1.1 trillion, but the Chinese have only spent $272 billion on American goods and services.

#9 The United States has lost an average of 50,000 manufacturing jobs per month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, and the U.S. trade deficit with China is now 27 times larger than it was back in 1990.

#10 Back in 1985, the U.S. trade deficit with China was 6 million dollars for the entire year. For the month of April 2011 alone, the U.S. trade deficit with China was 18.8 billion dollars.

#11 Since China entered the WTO in 2001, the U.S. trade deficit with China has grown by an average of 18% per year.

#12 According to a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute, between 2001 and 2008 the U.S. lost approximately 2.4 million jobs due to the growing trade deficit with China. Every single state in America experienced a net job loss due to our trade deficit with China during this time period.

#13 The United States had been the leading consumer of energy on the globe for about 100 years, but last summer China took over the number one spot.

#14 China produced 19.8 percent of all the goods consumed in the world last year. The United States only produced 19.4 percent.

#15 China now consumes 53 percent of the world's cement.

#16 Last year, China produced 11 times as much steel as the United States did.

#17 Since China joined the WTO, approximately 46,000 factories have been transferred from the United States to Asia.

#18 China now has the world’s fastest train and the world’s largest high-speed rail network.

#19 Is alternative energy the future? If so, the Chinese economy is positioned well. China is now the number one producer in the world of wind and solar power.

#20 Chinese solar panel production was about 50 times larger in 2010 than it was in 2005.

#21 Today, China controls over 90 percent of the total global supply of rare earth elements.

#22 85 percent of all artificial Christmas trees are made in China.

#23 Back in 1970, 25 percent of all jobs in the United States were manufacturing jobs. Today, only 9 percent of the jobs in the United States are manufacturing jobs.

#24 The United States has lost a staggering 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.

#25 Between December 2000 and December 2010, 38 percent of the manufacturing jobs in Ohio were lost, 42 percent of the manufacturing jobs in North Carolina were lost and 48 percent of the manufacturing jobs in Michigan were lost.

#26 There are more pigs in China than in the next 43 pork producing nations combined.

#27 China now possesses the fastest supercomputer on the entire globe.

#28 Back in 1998, the United States had 25 percent of the world’s high-tech export market and China had just 10 percent. Ten years later, the United States had less than 15 percent and China’s share had soared to 20 percent.

#29 Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry was actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.

#30 In 2002, the United States had a trade deficit in "advanced technology products" of $16 billion with the rest of the world. In 2010, that number skyrocketed to $82 billion.

#31 Over the past 15 years, China has moved up from 14th place to 2nd place in the world in published scientific research articles.

#32 According to one recent study, China could become the global leader in patent filings by next year.

#33 Do you remember when the United States was the dominant manufacturer of automobiles and trucks on the globe? Well, in 2010 the U.S. ran a trade deficit in automobiles, trucks and parts of $110 billion.

#34 According to author Clyde Prestowitz, China's number one export to the U.S. is computer equipment.

#35 In 2010, the number one U.S. export to China was "scrap and trash".

#36 In 2009, the United States ranked dead last of the 40 nations examined by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation when it came to "change" in "global innovation-based competitiveness" over the previous ten years.

#37 Russia and China have announced that they have decided to quit using the U.S. dollar and instead start using their own national currencies when trading with each other.

#38 A Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted a while back found that 61 percent of Americans consider China to be a threat to our jobs and economic security.

#39 The average household debt load in the United States is 136% of average household income. In China, the average household debt load is 17% of average household income.

#40 China has accumulated the largest stockpile of foreign currency reserves on the entire globe - $3.04 trillion as of the end of March. That figure was an astounding 24.4 percent higher than it was exactly one year earlier.

So where in the world did China get all that money?

That is an easy question to answer.

They got it from us.

We are the wealthy rube sitting at the poker table getting bled dry by all of the sharks.

We gave trillions to the Chinese instead of giving it to U.S. businesses and U.S. workers.

Now our economic infrastructure is in shambles and tens of millions of Americans can't find decent jobs.

Our government officials are wondering where all of the tax revenue went, but the reality is that you can't tax workers that don't have jobs.

Sacrificing jobs and economic infrastructure for "cheap stuff" is kind of like using pieces of your house to keep your fire going. In the end, you won't have any house left at all and your fire will go out.

The greatest economy on earth is being ripped to shreds right in front of our eyes and most of our politicians do not seem to care.

This has been a slow-motion disaster that has taken decades to play out. This is not something that happened overnight.

Sadly, the vast majority of the American people are still clueless about all of this. That is one reason why I write so fervently about economic news. My hope is that the American people will wake up before it is too late.

Unless fundamental changes are made, the current trends we are witnessing are only going to continue to accelerate. The Chinese economy is going to continue to beat the living daylights out of the U.S. economy.

So what do all of you think about the dominance of the Chinese economy? Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion below....