Monday, May 6, 2013

BN wins, Najib shocked by ‘Chinese tsunami’; Anwar rejects outcome


Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak (2nd L) and his other party leaders shout slogans after winning the elections at his party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur early May 6, 2013. Malaysia's governing coalition won a tight national election on Sunday to extend its 56-year rule, fending off an opposition alliance that pledged to clean up politics and end race-based policies in Southeast Asia's third-largest economy. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad (MALAYSIA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS)
Reuters/REUTERS - Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak (2nd L) and his other party leaders shout slogans after winning the elections at his party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur early May 6, 2013. Malaysia's

BY CLARA CHOOI
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Barisan Nasional (BN) survived a hard-fought polls battle in face of “Chinese tsunami” yesterday, but rival Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has vowed to fight the result following allegations of widespread fraud. The BN chairman admitted it had not expected the wholesale abandonment by the Chinese community, which he blamed on the Pakatan Rakyat’s alleged play on racial sentiments to woo support from the country’s second largest ethnic group.
“I think they were taken in by some of the undertakings given by the opposition... and that’s why there was that swing.... and a lot of sentiments there, some of them racial in nature, that were being played up in this election, which is not very healthy for this country,” he told a 1am press conference at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) today, shortly after a simple majority victory cemented BN’s place in Putrajaya.
“I expected it but I did not expect it to this extent. None of us expected it to this extent. But despite the extent of the swing against us, BN did not fall,” he added.
At a separate press conference, PR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the pact rejected the results of the poll, pointing to unanswered allegations on electoral fraud.
“As of now, we are not accepting the results... until the EC (Election Commission) responds and issues an official statement to the allegations of irregularities and fraud,” he told reporters.
As at 12.50am this morning, BN retained federal power with a simple majority, scoring 112 seats to PR’s 58.
Najib urged Malaysians and leaders in the federal opposition to accept tonight’s results “with an open heart”, and warned against any street demonstrations to protest the outcome.
He said BN will establish a mechanism to look into all the promises it made during campaigning to ensure that these will be implemented in full.
“One of the things we will do is the process of national reconciliation,” he said, noting the trend in Chinese support for the opposition.
“Overall, the decision made by the rakyat shows a certain trend in votes that worries the government because if it is not handled well, it could create tension and conflicts in our country,” he said.
BN scored poorly in the most Chinese-majority seats nationwide, indicating a massive swing in the community’s support towards the opposition.
The pact suffered significant defeats in its Johor fortress, losing in key seats like Kluang, Kulai and Gelang Patah, where DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang trounced political heavyweight Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, the state’s four-term mentri besar.
“There are a lot of factors that occurred, effects from the support of the Chinese to BN. The tsunami that I mentioned earlier, this tsunami of the Chinese community, led to large numbers supporting the opposition,” Najib said.
“We are still trying to absorb the results and the total ramifications. Give us a few days or weeks for us to hold discussions and have a kind of national reconciliation.
“We can reject the politics of extremism and racism, and work towards more moderate policies for the country,” he added.

Fraud claims mar Malaysia vote

Malaysia's tight general election wraps up amid controversy as the opposition leader's daughter is briefly turned away from a polling inspection. Lindsey Parietti reports.

Dow 15,000: Why Stocks Keep Hitting New Records

Sometimes on Wall Street, the thing everybody expects to happen is the one thing that doesn't. So with many analysts predicting a stock-market correction, perhaps it's fitting that the Dow Jones Industrial Average keeps hitting new records.
[READ: Why the Dow Is Outperforming the Economy]
A better-than-expected jobs report for April was all it took to push the Dow to its latest peak. The Dow briefly eclipsed 15,000 Friday for the first time , while closing at 14,973, a new high. The unemployment rate is still elevated, at 7.5 percent, and employers created a modest 165,000 jobs in April. But economists had been expecting fewer new jobs, so investors interpreted the report as a sign of strength in the economy.
Some analysts still believe the market is getting ahead of the real economy, which could occasion a late-spring or early-summer pullback. But for now, investors seem emboldened by three factors:
1. Austerity measures in Washington don't seem to be harming the economy. President Barack Obama predicted a dire outcome if spending cuts went into effect as scheduled on March 1. But so far there's little sign that the "sequester," as it's known, has persuaded consumers to stop spending or businesses to stop hiring.
[MONEY: Best Mutual Funds]
"There is no evidence--yet--of a sequester-induced slowdown in hiring," Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, wrote in an analysis. "The April number provides a good starting point for the second quarter."
2. Investors finally seem eager to get into stocks. For most of the past five years, investors have flocked to supersafe assets such as Treasury bonds and even bank accounts--even if record-low interest rates mean they're losing money after inflation. Financial advisers are finally starting to convince them that stocks are a better bet than assets with puny returns. "Retail investors have been overinvested in bonds and underinvested in stock for a while," says Art Steinmetz, chief investment officer for Oppenheimer Funds. "Stocks aren't expensive. If anything, they're fantastically cheap relative to bonds."
Even if they're feeling more adventurous, however, many investors are buying "defensive" stocks, such as consumer staples companies, that are likely to hold up well if there's a downturn. That indicates many investors are still trying to play it safe.
[BROWSE: Political Cartoons on the Economy]
3. The economy is still weak enough to keep the Fed on the case. The job numbers and other indicators still show considerable weakness in the economy, which is actually good news for stock owners because it suggests the Federal Reserve will continue its easy-money policies well into next year. Those policies have deliberately inflated stock values and boosted corporate earnings, in order to embolden companies, which of course is good for Wall Street. "It's the best of all worlds," writes economist Joel Naroff. "Growing earnings and lots of liquidity. If only that meant more jobs, not just higher equity prices." For now however, higher equity prices is a heckuva lot better than nothing.
Rick Newman's latest book is Rebounders: How Winners Pivot From Setback To Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman.

We Are At War

By Jim Kirwan
5-5-13


 
Here is the Enemy that launched this WAR
Obviously we need to add to those in opposition to Israel!

Cheney and Bush Junior told the country that “We Are at War” back in 2003 when we preemptively attacked Iraq. That was a lie then. But the statement is true today because it is America herself that is under attack by foreign forces and traitors inside the United States of America.
The nation seems to have forgotten that Bush Jr. is still AWOL from the Texas National Guard. He deserted his post during the Vietnam War and went on to become the appointed president of the country, when the Supreme Court illegally intervened in the 2000 election process.
Those two high-crimes put the national-outrage that Bush junior always was, illegally, into the Oval Office. The nation thus began the New Millennium with a criminal appointee in the one office that was supposed to be legitimate. Bush was succeeded by a creature with three names and no personal history who is now directing the shadow-world takeover of what remains of the USA.
Shekinah (Shock & Awe) is about to begin on American soil.

The United States of America, as you know it, is not a country. It is a corporation that is owned by the Queen who is in turn owned by the Vatican who is in turn owned and controlled by the Rothschilds and banking-dynasties of this planet ­ that controls every single thing that you’re seeing taking place in your life and all around the world.
Eric Holder has written back to Sam Brownback of Kansas, informing him that the Obama administration considers state attempts to protect the second amendment is unconstitutional.
And that federal agents will continue to execute their duties regardless of state statutes to the contrary!” (1)
This feral-attempt to disarm America is directly-tied to the WAR that has already begun, on American soil. The history from Cheney-Bush and the Jewish Neocons began this takeover and all the events, as well being behind the facts behind 911 that are clearly delineated in this 14 minute 16 second video which is documented clearly lays the responsibility for the invasion of the USA on Israel. Believe it or not these charges are actually coming from MSNBC. (2)
This morning it was reported that Israel launched another illegal airstrike inside Syria. International borders apparently mean nothing to Israel, given that 400 have now died in Syria due to this latest attack, by Israel. This is just the latest provocation by the Zionists to drag the US into another regional war. If Hezbollah in Lebanon decides to attack Israel, for this illegal airstrike, which was supposedly aimed at destroying weapons that were transiting from Iran thru Syria to get to Hezbollah in Lebanon: Then because Iran is allayed with protecting both Lebanon & Syria—a much wider and far bloodier war might result.


If Israel is not attacked in response to this bloodbath, then there is
no hope of stopping this USI-Israeli preemptive strike from becoming the excuse needed to give the warmongers what they want to justify the total-liquidation of Syria, and the possible justification for attacking Lebanon if not also Iran. All of that would be because three other nations are now actively resisting Israel’s illegal military-attacks that are designed to add three more nations to the illegal GREATER STATE of Israel. If the US joins Israel in this, then the world will have no choice but to conclude that we have just seen the beginning of WWIII - started by Israel and corporate-USI to deflect attention from the war for the remainder of the United States that has already begun, here, on U.S. Soil! Israel is still officially silent. There’s a 15 min Video (3)
Between the illegal and blatant federal gun-grab, which the unindicted criminal AG of the United States, in his & Obama’s Fast & Furious Crimes over giving U.S. guns to the Drug Dealers in Mexico—has just announced: And the global-threat that Israel has just increased to deflect from what is about to happen here—the people of this country appear about to be targets, in the FREE-FIRE ZONES, that will be what the Disunited States may soon consist of.

FBI agent Tim Clemente admitted on MSM that ALL phone calls, texts, and e-mails are permanently captured and stored by the NSA, and have been for some time ON ALL AMERICANS, so in the case of Tammerlan and his wife, they simply pulled up all his past phone conversations and played them back. This is also being done on you, even if all you ever do is talk football and fishing. Interesting it is those calls between him and his wife netted nothing.

So as I have already said in the past, the police state is totally ubiquitous and a full blown reality, this is not the result of a warrant, it is a full time always on recording of everything on everyone everywhere. Read the following, quoted from the Guardian, and weep. Yep, there will be NO rebellion if it is EVER discussed over the phone. We are already SCREWED.” (4)
We’ve also been physically attacked financially, repeatedly, since this shadow-war began. The broken-scales of “just-us” have been artificially weighed down with stolen-gold while denying the sustenance that Americans need just to stay alive.
This is on-going in tandem with the Gun Grab and all of it is about to be shoved aside to deal with four nations (Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Israel) that are on the verge of WWIII in the Middle East.
It’s no accident
Oh are we being ripped off. And now we've got the data to prove it. From 2009 to 2011, the richest 8 million families (the top 7%) on average saw their wealth rise from $1.7 million to $2.5 million each. Meanwhile the rest of us -- the bottom 93% (that's 111 million families) -- suffered on average a decline of $6,000 each.
Do the math and you'll discover that the top 7% gained a whopping $5.6 trillion in net worth (assets minus liabilities) while the rest of lost $669 billion. Their wealth went up by 28% while ours went down by 4 percent.
It's as if the entire economic recovery is going into the pockets of the rich. And that's no accident. Here's why.
The bailouts went to Wall Street, not to Main Street.” (5)
So the real war has already given the filthy-rich and their underling’s one hell of a totally-illegal bonanza: While we did nothing to stop it.
Will the Gun Grab be equally quiet? Probably not! Americans will fight because all we have left to lose is our lives: The Outlaws have already stolen everything else—and ironically we have paid for every single crime they chose to commit against every one of us!
1) Red Alert! Eric Holder says Feds Will Ignore State Laws and Enforce Gun Grab!
http://investmentwatchblog.com/red-alert-eric-holder-says-feds-will-ignore-state-laws-and-enforce-gun-grab/
2) 'Jewish NeoCons' Responsible For Iraq War: MSNBC ­ 14min VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DwJnCblsbY0
3) Israel launches second Syria airstrike in two days ­ reports http://rt.com/news/damascus-syria-explosions-sunday-831/ VIDEO
5) The Rich Have Gained $5.6 Trillion in the 'Recovery,' While the Rest of Us Have Lost $669 Billion http://www.alternet.org/economy/rich-have-gained-56-trillion-recovery-while-rest-us-have-lost-669-billion

Bloodman Sachs Suckers | XRepublic

Bloodman Sachs Suckers | XRepublic

60 Completely Outrageous Ways The U.S. Government Is Wasting Money


60 Completely Outrageous Ways The U.S. Government Is Wasting Money - Photo by Little Mountain 5End of the American Dream – by Michael
Is there anyone better at wasting money then the U.S. government?  Despite the sequester and all of the talk about “deep cutbacks”, the federal government continues to waste money in some of the most outrageous ways imaginable.  For example, does the U.S. government really have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to study the size and shape of the reproductive organs of ducks?   
Does the U.S. government really have to spend 1.5 million dollars to study why so many lesbians are overweight?  There is so much waste that could still be cut out of the federal budget, and yet the very small sequester cuts that just happened are being described as “catastrophic” by many of our politicians.
But you know what?  The federal government will still spend more money in fiscal year 2013 than it did in fiscal year 2012 even after the sequester cuts are factored in.  So if this is how much whining our politicians will do even though government spending is still going up, what would they do if we were actually forced to start living within our means at some point?  That is something to think about.
In any event, please show this article to anyone that believes that the U.S. government is actually “tightening the belt”.  Sadly, the truth is that the federal government is still wasting our money in some of the most frivolous ways that you could possibly imagine.
The following are some of the completely outrageous ways that the U.S. government is wasting money…
#1 The National Science Foundation has given $384,949 to Yale University to do a study on “Sexual Conflict, Social Behavior and the Evolution of Waterfowl Genitalia”.  Try not to laugh, but much of this research involves examining and measuring the reproductive organs of male ducks.
#2 The IRS spent $60,000 on a film parody of “Star Trek” and a film parody of “Gilligan’s Island”.  Internal Revenue Service employees were the actors in the two parodies, so as you can imagine the acting was really bad.
#3 The National Institutes of Health has given $1.5 million to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts to study why “three-quarters” of lesbians in the United States are overweight and why most gay males are not.
#4 The National Institutes of Health has also spent $2.7 million to study why lesbians have more “vulnerability to hazardous drinking”.
#5 The U.S. government is giving sixteen F-16s and 200 Abrams tanks to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt even though the new president of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi (a member of the Muslim Brotherhood), constantly makes statements such as the following
“Dear brothers, we must not forget to nurse our children and grandchildren on hatred towards those Zionists and Jews, and all those who support them”
#6 During 2012, the salaries of Barack Obama’s three climate change advisers combined came to a grand total of more than $370,000.
#7 Overall, 139 different White House staffers were making at least $100,000during 2012, and there were 20 staffers that made the maximum of $172,200.
#8 Amazingly, U.S. taxpayers spend more than 1.4 billion dollars a year on the Obamas.  Meanwhile, British taxpayers only spend about  58 million dollars on the entire royal family.
#9 During 2012, $25,000 of federal money was spent on a promotional tour for the Alabama Watermelon Queen.
#10 The U.S. government spent $505,000 “to promote specialty hair and beauty products for cats and dogs” in 2012.
#11 NASA spends close to a million dollars a year developing a menu of food for a manned mission to Mars even though it is being projected that a manned mission to Mars is still decades away.
#12 During 2012, the federal government spent 15 million dollars to help Russian weapons institutes recruit nuclear scientists.
#13 Over the past 15 years, a total of approximately $5.25 million has been spent on hair care services for the U.S. Senate.
#14 The U.S. government spent 27 million dollars to teach Moroccans how to design and make pottery in 2012.
#15 At a time when we have an epidemic of unemployment in the United States, the U.S. Department of Education is spending $1.3 million to “reduce linguistic, academic, and employment barriers for skilled and low-skilled immigrants and refugees, and to integrate them into the U.S. workforce and professions.”
#16 The federal government still sends about 20 million dollars a year to the surviving family members of veterans of World War I, even though World War I ended 94 years ago.
#17 The U.S. government is spending approximately 3.6 million dollars a year to support the lavish lifestyles of former presidents such as George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
#18 During fiscal 2012, the National Science Foundation gave researchers at Purdue University $350,000.  They used part of that money to help fund a study that discovered that if golfers imagine that a hole is bigger it will help them with their putting.
#19 The U.S. government is giving hundreds of millions of dollars to the Palestinian Authority every year.
#20 Federal agencies have purchased a total of approximately 2 billion rounds of ammunition over the past 10 months.  It is claimed that all of this ammunition is needed for “training purposes”.
#21 During 2012, the National Science Foundation spent $516,000 on the creation of a video game called “Prom Week” which apparently simulates “all the social interactions of the event.
#22 If you can believe it, $10,000 of U.S. taxpayer money was actually used to purchase talking urinal cakes up in Michigan.
#23 When Joe Biden and his staff took a trip to London back in February, the hotel bill cost U.S. taxpayers $459,388.65.
#24 Joe Biden and his staff also stopped in Paris for one night back in February.  The hotel bill for that one night came to $585,000.50.
#25 If you can believe it, close to 15,000 retired federal employees are currently collecting federal pensions for life worth at least $100,000 annually.  That list includes such names as Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole, Trent Lott, Dick Gephardt and Dick Cheney.
#26 The U.S. Department of Agriculture has spent $300,000 to encourage Americans to eat caviar.
#27 The National Institutes of Health recently gave $666,905 to a group of researchers that is conducting a study on the benefits of watching reruns on television.
#28 The National Science Foundation has given 1.2 million dollars to a team of “scientists” that is spending part of that money on a study that is seeking to determine whether elderly Americans would benefit from playing World of Warcraft or not.
#29 The National Institutes of Health recently gave $548,731 to a team of researchers that concluded that those that drink heavily in their thirties also tend to feel more immature.
#30 The National Science Foundation recently spent $30,000 on a study to determine if “gaydar” actually exists.  This is the conclusion that the researchers reached at the end of the study….
“Gaydar is indeed real and… its accuracy is driven by sensitivity to individual facial features”
Here are 30 more examples of outrageous government waste from one of my previous articles entitled “Chimps Throwing Poop And 29 Other Mind Blowing Ways That The Government Is Wasting Your Money“…
#1 In 2011, the National Institutes of Health spent $592,527 on a study that sought to figure out once and for all why chimpanzees throw poop.
#2 The National Institutes of Health has spent more than 5 million dollars on a website called Sexpulse that is targeted at “men who use the Internet to seek sex with men”.  According to Fox News, the website “includes pornographic images of homosexual sex as well as naked and scantily clad men” and features “a Space Invaders-style interactive game that uses a penis-shaped blaster to shoot down gay epithets.”
#3 The General Services Administration spent $822,751 on a “training conference” for 300 west coast employees at the M Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
The following is how the Washington Post described some of the wasteful expenses that happened during this “conference”…
Among the “excessive, wasteful and in some cases impermissable” spending the inspector general documented: $5,600 for three semi-private catered in-room parties and $44 per person daily breakfasts; $75,000 for a “team-building” exercise — the goal was to build a bicycle; $146,000 on catered food and drinks; and $6,325 on commemorative coins in velvet boxes to reward all participants for their work on stimulus projects. The $31,208 “networking” reception featured a $19-per-person artisanal cheese display and $7,000 of sushi. At the conference’s closing-night dinner, employees received “yearbooks” with their pictures, at a cost of $8,130.
You can see some stunning pictures of GSA employees living the high life in Las Vegas right here.
#4 Do you remember when credit rating agency Egan Jones downgraded U.S. government debt from AA+ to AA?  Well, someone in the federal government apparently did not like that at all.  According to Zero Hedge, the SEC plans to file charges against Egan Jones for “misstatements” on a regulatory application with the SEC.
Normally, the SEC does not go after anyone.  After all, when is the last time a major banker went to prison?
No, the truth is that the SEC is usually just a huge waste of taxpayer money.  According to ABC News, one investigation found that 17 senior SEC officials had been regularly viewing pornography while at work.  While the American people were paying their salaries, this is what senior SEC officials were busy doing…
One senior attorney at SEC headquarters in Washington spent up to eight hours a day accessing Internet porn, according to the report, which has yet to be released. When he filled all the space on his government computer with pornographic images, he downloaded more to CDs and DVDs that accumulated in boxes in his offices.
An SEC accountant attempted to access porn websites 1,800 times in a two-week period and had 600 pornographic images on her computer hard drive.
Another SEC accountant used his SEC-issued computer to upload his own sexually explicit videos onto porn websites he joined.
And another SEC accountant attempted to access porn sites 16,000 times in a single month.
#5 According to InformationWeek, the federal government is spending “millions of dollars” to train Asian call center workers.
#6 If you can believe it, the federal government has actually spent $750,000 on a new soccer field for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.
#7 The U.S. Agency for International Development spent 10 million dollars to create a version of “Sesame Street” for Pakistani television.
#8 The Obama administration has plans to spend between 16 and 20 million dollars to help students from Indonesia get master’s degrees.
#9 The National Science Foundation spent $198,000 on a University of California-Riverside study that explored “motivations, expectations and goal pursuit in social media.” One of the questions the study sought an answer to was the following: “Do unhappy people spend more time on Twitter or Facebook?”
#10 The federal government actually has spent $175,587 “to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail engage in sexually risky behavior”.
#11 In 2011, $147,138 was given to the American Museum of Magic in Marshall, Michigan.  Their best magic trick is making U.S. taxpayer dollars disappear.
#12 The federal government recently spent $74,000 to help Michigan “increase awareness about the role Michigan plays in the production of trees and poinsettias.”
#13 In 2011, the federal government gave $550,000 toward the making of a documentary about how rock and roll contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union.
#14 The National Institutes of Health has contributed $55,382 toward a study of “hookah smoking habits” in the country of Jordan.
#15 The federal government gave $606,000 to researchers at Columbia University to study how heterosexuals use the Internet to find love.
#16 A total of $133,277 was recently given to the International Center for the History of Electronic Games for video game preservation.  The International Center for the History of Electronic Games says that it “collects, studies, and interprets video games, other electronic games, and related materials and the ways in which electronic games are changing how people play, learn, and connect with each other, including across boundaries of culture and geography.”
#17 The federal government has given approximately $3 million to researchers at the University of California at Irvine to fund their research into video games such as World of Warcraft.
#18 In 2011, the National Science Foundation gave one team of researchers$149,990 to create a video game called “RapidGuppy” for cell phones and other mobile devices.
#19 The U.S. Department of Agriculture once handed researchers at the University of New Hampshire $700,000 to study methane gas emissions from dairy cows.
#20 In 2011, $936,818 was spent developing an online soap opera entitled “Diary of a Single Mom”.  The show “chronicles the lives and challenges of three single mothers and their families trying to get ahead despite obstacles that all single mothers face, such as childcare, healthcare, education, and finances.”
#21 The federal government once shelled out $2.6 million to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly.
#22 Last year, the federal government spent $96,000 to buy iPads for kindergarten students in Maine.
#23 The U.S. Postal Service once spent $13,500 for a single dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.
#24 In 2011, the Air Force Academy completed work on an outdoor worship area for pagans and Wiccans.  The worship area consists of “a small Stonehenge-like circle of boulders with [a] propane fire pit” and it cost $51,474to build.  The worship area is “for the handful of current or future cadets whose religions fall under the broad category of ‘Earth-based’, which includes Wiccans, druids and pagans.”  At this point, that only includes 3 current students at the Air Force Academy.
#25 The National Institutes of Health once gave researchers $400,000 to study why gay men in Argentina engage in risky sexual behavior when they are drunk.
#26 The National Institutes of Health once gave researchers $442,340 to study the behavior of male prostitutes in Vietnam.
#27 The National Institutes of Health once spent $800,000 in “stimulus funds” to study the impact of a “genital-washing program” on men in South Africa.
#28 The National Science Foundation recently spent $200,000 on a study that examined how voters react when politicians change their stances on climate change.
#29 The federal government recently spent $484,000 to help build a Mellow Mushroom pizzeria in Arlington, Texas.
#30 At this point, China is holding over a trillion dollars of U.S. government debt.  But that didn’t stop the United States from sending 17.8 million dollars in foreign aid to China in 2011.
So what do you think about all of this government waste?
Please feel free to share your thoughts by posting a comment below…

"The ECB, Banks Of Japan And The FED Are Rigging The Game" - Gerald Celente, Sean Brodrick - May 4, 2013

The Financial Press – A Disinformation Machine

Paul Craig Roberts
Activist Post

Dave Kranzler of Golden Returns Capital declares the April payroll jobs report that was released on May 3 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to be “fictitious.” (Source)

Statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) says both the jobs report and unemployment rate are “nonsense.”

I agree with both. But don’t expect the financial press to report the facts.

Let’s take a walk through the BLS report and you can arrive at your own conclusion.


The BLS report says that the private sector created 185,000 service jobs in April. Even if this report were true, it would have negligible effect on the unemployment rate as about 127,000 new jobs are needed each month just to stay even with population growth and current unemployment rate. (Source)

But is the BLS report true?

We can answer that question by examining the areas where the jobs reportedly materialized: 29,300 in retail trade with general merchandise stores accounting for about half of that number, 73,000 in professional and business services with temporary help services accounting for 42 percent of that number, 26,100 in health care and social assistance with ambulatory health care services accounting for 52 percent of that number, 45,100 in accommodation and food services with waitresses and bartenders accounting for 84 percent of the jobs, and 8,600 jobs created for bill collectors.

That’s it. The federal government lost 8,000 jobs, the postal service lost 4,900 jobs, state government lost 1,000 jobs and local government lost 2,000 jobs.


There were zero jobs created in manufacturing.

Considering the credit-restrained and hard pressed consumer, the jobs figure for bill collectors is likely correct. But why would there be 29,000 new jobs in retail trade when real retail sales are falling? Why would there be new professional service jobs when large consulting companies such as IBM are reducing the hours of their contract employees? How can 38,000 waitress and bartenders be hired in one month when consumers have so little discretionary income?

Notice, too, that the BLS reports that 6,000 construction jobs were lost in April. Yet, the financial press is full of reports of “housing recovery.”

You know those thousands and thousands of fracking jobs that the fracking industry has been hyping so that communities, desperate for jobs, ignore the destruction of their surface and ground waters? Well the BLS report shows that oil and gas extraction jobs, which includes normal oil and gas recovery, peaked in February. Only 900 jobs were created in April, a small reward for destroyed aquifers and surface streams. People who live in fracking areas have been warned to open their windows when showering to avoid being asphyxiated because of the methane in the water and to not be surprised if their water actually burns. There is no doubt that fracking because of its enormous external costs produces a net economic loss.

In America everything is hype for a buck. They will sell you any lie. And the bulk of the population, of course, can be counted on for falling for every lie.

In my opinion, the March BLS jobs report of only 88,000 new jobs, only 69 percent of those needed to stay even with population growth, undermined the Obama regime’s recovery hype and the stock market’s confidence in “recovery.” Even brainwashed Americans have learned that “jobless recovery” is an oxymoron. So the word was passed to the political appointee overseeing the BLS to avoid further embarrassments. However, like the old Soviet press, the professional staff delivered the required report in a way that undermined it. Goods-producing jobs are reported to have dropped by 9,000 and retail stores are being closed, so why are 100,000 new jobs needed in retail trade and professional and business services?

John Williams explains the deception in the unemployment rate reporting. The 7.5 percent reported rate is not the product of new jobs generated by a recovering economy. It is the result of discouraged workers who, unable to find jobs, give up looking and, thus, cease being counted in the work force. The real rate of unemployment when discouraged workers are counted as unemployed is 23 percent. You can see the truth of this in the collapsing labor force participation rate. The collapse in the participation rate is not the result of a return to the prosperity of my youth when one-earner families were the norm. It is the result of millions of Americans unable to find employment and no longer being counted in the labor force.

Just as the government lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and is now repeating the lie about weapons of mass destruction in Syria, the government lies about jobs and the unemployment rate. What doesn’t the government lie about?

Anyone who thinks an economic recovery has been ongoing since June 2009 can cure themselves of the delusion by looking at this chart:


Dear Readers: If you have not read “You Are The Hope”  please do so now and make a donation. Due to readers’ inquiries about last Friday’s job numbers, I have had to shorten the time between the quarterly appeal and a new posting. Also, those who have asked if there would be a second printing of How The Economy Was Lost, that book is now available on the CounterPunch website in electronic form. For those readers who have asked for a print version of The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism, one might soon be appearing. As the government’s lies come faster and more furious, more demands my attention. Please keep this in mind if you do not receive answers to your emails.

This article first appeared at Paul Craig Roberts' website Institute For Political Economy.  Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His Internet columns have attracted a worldwide following.

What Would War Between Israel And Syria Do To The Already Fragile Global Econom

by Michael
War Between Israel And Syria?
War is a horrible thing.  Just ask anyone that has ever been in the middle of it.  And in this day and age governments around the world possess weapons of such incalculable power that war should be unthinkable.  In future wars, we could literally see millions of people killed on a single day.  Nobody should want that or look forward to that.  Unfortunately, the next major regional war in the Middle East appears to be closer than ever.  But nobody should want it to actually happen.  During the next major regional war in the Middle East we will likely see death on a scale that is unprecedented.  It won’t be like the wars of 1967 or 1973.  It will likely be a fight to the death where nothing is held back.  You see, the truth is that most Americans have no idea what is really going on in the Middle East.  There are ancient grudges and ancient hatreds that go back for thousands of years.  There is no “peace plan” that is going to suddenly make everything okay.  The Middle East is a simmering volcano of hate and resentment that could erupt at any moment.  That is why what is happening in Syria right now is so important.  An Israeli airstrike in Damascus that reportedly was attempting to destroy a shipment of Fateh-110 missiles that Iran was sending to Hezbollah has brought Israel and Syria to the brink of war.  In fact, Syria is calling the airstrike a “declaration of war” and is vowing retaliation.  The Syrian government is saying that “Israeli aggression opens the door to all possibilities“, but they have not provided any specifics about what they plan to do.  Meanwhile, Israel has made it very clear that they will do whatever is necessary to keep Fateh-110 missiles from getting into the hands of Hezbollah.  With those missiles, Iranian-backed Hezbollah would have the capability of striking the heart of Tel Aviv with a very high degree of accuracy.  So it is definitely understandable why Israel would not want Hezbollah to have those missiles.  Just think about it – would you want Russia or China to deploy highly advanced missile systems in northern Mexico which could rain down hell on Los Angeles and Dallas in less than five minutes?  Unfortunately, this gives Iran the perfect way to provoke a war between Israel and Syria.  All they have to do is keep rolling trucks loaded with Fateh-110 missiles through war-torn Syria toward Hezbollah bases in Lebanon.  Israel will feel forced to intervene, and the rest of the Islamic world will get angrier and angrier.
The explosions that rocked northern Damascus on Sunday were absolutely massive.  It is being reported that they registered about two or three on the Richter scale, and enormous balls of fire that lit up the sky could be seen from all over Damascus.
The following is how the Washington Post described the attack…
Israeli warplanes bombed the outskirts of Damascus early Sunday for the second time in recent days, according to Syrian state media and reports from activists, signaling a sharp escalation in tensions between the neighboring countries that had already been exacerbated by the conflict raging in Syria.
Videos posted on the Internet by activistsshowed a huge fireball erupting on Mount Qassioun, a landmark hill overlooking the capital on which the Syrian government has deployed much of the firepower it is using against rebel-controlled areas surrounding the city.
So why did Israel do this?
Despite what the anti-Israel crowd is suggesting, Israel did not do this just to be mean.  As Reuters is reporting, Israel was specifically targeting Fateh-110 missiles that were on their way to Hezbollah…
Israel does not confirm such missions explicitly – a policy it says is intended to avoid provoking reprisals. But an Israeli official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the strikes were carried out by its forces, as was a raid early on Friday that U.S. President Barack Obama said had been justified.
A Western intelligence source told Reuters: “In last night’s attack, as in the previous one, what was attacked were stores of Fateh-110 missiles that were in transit from Iran to Hezbollah.”
These missiles would significantly change the balance of power if they got into the hands of Hezbollah.  According to the Times of Israel, Fateh-110 missiles would be a very serious threat not only to Tel Aviv – these missiles would also threaten cities all the way down to Beersheba…
Uzi Rubin, a missile expert and former Defense Ministry official, told the Associated Press that if the target was a consignment of Fatah-110 missiles, then such weaponry did constitute a “game-changer”: Fired from Syria or south Lebanon, these missiles, he said, could reach almost anywhere in Israel with high accuracy.
Rubin emphasized that he was speaking as a rocket expert and had no details about the reported strikes.
“If fired from southern Lebanon, they can reach Tel Aviv and even [the southern city of] Beersheba,” Rubin said. He said the rockets are much five times more accurate than the Scud missiles that Hezbollah has fired in the past. “It is a game-changer because they are a threat to Israel’s infrastructure and military installations,” he said.
So that is why Israel carried out these airstrikes.  They feel like they simply cannot allow Hezbollah to have these weapons.  And with Hezbollah’s track record, that is very understandable.
Unfortunately, these airstrikes have also brought the Middle East much closer to the next war.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Syria is positioning units for a potential conflict with Israel…
Syria has stationed missile batteries aimed at Israel in the aftermath of alleged Israeli air strikes in the country, the website of Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV, considered close to the regime of President Bashar Assad, quoted a top Syrian official as saying on Sunday.
In response, Israel has deployed two Iron Dome batteries to northern Israel, they have closed off airspace in northern Israel to commercial traffic, and Israeli embassies around the world have been put on high alert.
But Syria may choose not to retaliate against Israel directly.  According toWND, Syria may decide to allow jihadist groups to carry out their vengeance for them…
The Syrian government will soon declare it is opening its borders with Israel for Palestinian and other jihad groups to carry out attacks against the Jewish state, a senior Syrian official told WND.
Separately, informed Middle Eastern security officials said the Syrian army held a meeting Sunday afternoon with the leaders of the military wing of the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad terrorist group to discuss retaliation against Israel for the recent air strikes near Damascus.
According to those officials, Islamic Jihad and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah are coordinating a possible reaction to Israel’s reported strikes.
In any event, things are definitely becoming more unstable over in the Middle East.
So what would a war between Israel and Syria do to the already fragile global economy?
Well, a war between Israel and Syria would likely paralyze the entire region.  Hezbollah and Hamas would almost certainly jump into the war on the side of Syria, and there is the potential that nations such as Iran, Egypt and even Jordan could get involved as well.
In such a scenario, the flow of oil from the Middle East could become interrupted for an extended period of time, and that would have serious consequences for the global economy.
But the bigger threat to the global economy would be the fear that a regional war in the Middle East would create.  Global financial markets respond very badly to fear, and right now the world economy is already teetering on the brink of disaster.  Much of Europe has already descendedinto a full-blown economic depression, and there are signs that thegreatest debt bubble in the history of the planet is starting to burst.
The next major wave of the economic collapse is rapidly approaching, and a major regional war in the Middle East would greatly accelerate our economic problems.
Unfortunately, it appears that such a conflict is inevitable.
I don’t believe that it will happen yet though.  For the moment, I believe that cooler headers will prevail.
But as tensions continue to rise, I believe that we will see tempers boil over and the Middle East will descend into full-blown warfare at some point within the next several years.
Of course I could always be wrong about this.  We will just have to wait and see what happens.
So what do you think?
Do you believe that we will see a regional war in the Middle East soon?
Please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts below…
The Beginning Of The End by Michael Snyder

Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk ~ Federal Reserve Blows More Bubbles


Ron Paul: "This Is A House Of Cards"
Federal Reserve Blows More Bubbles

Last week at its regular policy-setting meeting, the Federal Reserve announced it would double down on the policies that have failed to produce anything but a stagnant economy. It was a disappointing, but not surprising, move.

The Fed affirmed that it is prepared to increase its monthly purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities if things don’t start looking up. But actually the Fed has already been buying more than the announced $85 billion per month. Between February and March, the Fed’s securities holdings increased $95 billion. From March to April, they increased $100 billion. In all, the Fed has pumped more than a half trillion dollars into the economy since announcing its latest round of “quantitative easing” (QE3) in September 2012.

Although many were up in arms when the Fed said it would buy $600 billion in government debt outright for the previous round, QE2, all seems quiet about the magnitude of QE3 because it doesn’t come with huge up-front total price tag. But by year’s end the Fed’s balance sheet could hit $4 trillion.

With no recovery in sight, where’s all this money going? It is creating bubbles. Bubbles in the housing sector, the stock market, and government debt. The national debt is fast approaching $17 trillion, with the Fed monetizing most of the newly issued debt. The stock market has been hitting record highs for the past two months as investors seek to capitalize on the Fed’s easy money. After all, as long as the Fed keeps the spigot open, nominal profits are there for the taking. But this is a house of cards. Eventually, just like in 2008-2009, the market will discipline the bad actions of the Fed and seek to find the real normal.http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-05/ron-paul-house-cards

Parents Told to Pay to See School Curriculum



WND – by John Griffing A controversial school curriculum management system in Texas that once included a description of the Boston Tea Party as terror, and has referenced Islamic terrorists as freedom fighters, now has been found to be trying to charge parents hundreds of dollars to see the instructional materials being used by their own children, officials said.
However, under Texas Education Code Chapter 26, all parents have the undisputed right to see any and all instructional materials used in state classrooms.
The program is CSCOPE, and Amy Zimmerman, a mother in the Collinsville Independent School District, asked to see the 7th grade CSCOPE science lessons used between September 2012 and May 2013, citing her “parental right” under state law.
However, instead of the materials, what she got was a letter from an attorney for the district requiring the payment of $770 so see the materials.
Gerry Miller, an attorney with expertise in education law, said that doesn’t appear to align with the law.
“Suffice it to say the statute is mandatory because of the use of the word ‘shall,’ it is therefore incumbent on the school to comply with the parent’s request. No provision is made for payment by a parent as a ‘condition precedent’ to obtaining the teaching material,” Miller said.
“If a school district demands fees, especially exorbitant fees, to review teaching material, such action has the effect of invalidating the statute’s intent,” he said. “I would fully expect a judge to apply the statute as written and order the school to provide the information without charge.”
Miller also explained an added complication would be that property taxes have been used to support CSCOPE, which has faced heavy criticism by parents, teachers and legislators, culminating in hearings that revealed serious academic deficiencies in the areas of math, science and English, as well as what many critics believe is an agenda-driven bias in social studies content that promotes a negative view of America.
WND has reported on lessons claiming the Boston Tea Party was a terrorist act, and lessons requiring students to design flags for a new communist country.
Teachers also have told WND:
  • Lessons are not matched to grade level; a ninth-grade lesson asks students to circle capital letters in a sentence.
  • One social studies lesson teaches that capitalism is obsolete and communism is the best economic system, using a diagram that shows a man climbing a ladder towards communism.
  • A third-grade lesson defines American “equality” as “fair share.” Competing definitions that include “equality under the law” or “equal opportunity” are not discussed.
  • Muhammad is portrayed as a social justice crusader. There is no mention of his marriage to a young girl or his beheading of indigenous population groups.
  • Political parties are taught from what critics claim is a subjective and left-leaning perspective, e.g. Democrats “benefit each individual” while Republicans “favor big business.”
WND has also recently acquired lessons covering the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, teaching students that “medicine” and “food” are “rights,” and not a matter of personal responsibility.
Students who do not answer that “medicine” and “food” are “rights” have their answers marked as incorrect, sources report.
Other controversial lesson content includes a science lesson that instructs students to set things on fire in the middle of class and also lessons that promote anorexia and mercy death, according to Mary Bowen, a curriculum expert and teacher of 30 years who corresponds with WND.
CSCOPE also has come under fire for its secrecy and lack of transparency, forcing teachers and districts to sign “user agreements” – what whistleblowers say amount to “gag orders.” Teachers are exposed to legal liability if they share lesson content or other class materials with the general public, and threats of termination have been reported by teachers who attempt to engage parents about controversial CSCOPE content.
One result of legislative hearings was the suggestion for changes in user agreements, but sources have told WND that existing users are not included in any changes; they are only for new groups who want to sign up.
A CSCOPE program advising on the privacy requirements for the content notes users are required to not allow “unauthorized users to have online access … or gain permanent possession of … content.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/05/parents-told-to-pay-to-see-school-curriculum/#V7em4VhJWiQE1v5W.99

The young, educated, and massively in debt college generation: Total student debt outstanding approaches $1.1 trillion. 65 percent of all outstanding student debt held by those 39 and younger.

It is interesting to hear older politicians take the podium and wax and wane poetically how young Americans are not working hard enough or need to take responsibility for their actions in the current economy.  The reality of the situation is the recent recession has punished the young disproportionately.  The young have seen their net worth crushed and job opportunities shrink in the current recession.  Most of the student debt outstanding is in the hands of younger Americans simultaneously going up with rising college tuition.  The price of going to college can no longer be support by merely working a minimum wage job.  I’ve heard some out of touch politicians argue that instead of going into debt, current students should work instead of going into debt.  Even with a minimum wage job someone would have to work 40 hours or more just to cover a regular state school tuition in most states in the country.  The student debt problem is largely a young American issue.

Total student debt
The amount of student debt outstanding is quickly approaching $1.1 trillion:
student loan debt clock
Most of the student debt is now being owned and guaranteed by the Federal government.  At this point, most realize that a bulk of this student debt is never going to be paid (similar to our national debt).  Why would you continue lending if you knew a large portion of the principal wasn’t going to be paid?  The markets understand this and that is why the government owns most of the newly minted student debt:
student-debt-held-by-government
The amount of student debt directly held by the government has jumped by a factor of six only since 2009 from roughly $100 billion to $600 billion.  Keep in mind the government backs hundreds of billions more in student debt but this amount is directly held and will be a responsibility to the government.
The young and in debt
What is even more troubling is the amount of the $1.1 trillion in debt held by the young:
Those under 30:
under 30
Those 30 to 39:
30 to 39
Those over 60:
60 and up debt
Roughly 65 percent of all student debt is held by those 39 and younger.  The amount of student debt held by those 60 and older is nearly invisible and keep in mind many went to school when prices were reasonable.  So Congressmen that are 60 and older lecturing young Americans on buckling up and paying $20,000 or $30,000 a year by working part-time jobs to go to school are disconnected from the real economy.  The average per capita wage in the US is $25,000!  So even someone working full-time with a high school degree may not even cover the basic amount to attend school.
Inflation has had a massive impact on college tuition:
inflation factor
So while wages have gone stagnant since 1995, the cost of going to college has increased many times over.  The option for many Americans is to get into debt.  Young Americans have the option to struggle in an economy with no jobs for the uneducated or go to college, get into debt, and have a fighting chance at a middle class life.  So it isn’t hard to understand why student debt continues to rise.  What is hard to understand is why the costs continue to soar while wages have gone stagnant.  What is increasing the cost so quickly?  The big reason is the amount the government is willing to back and spend.  Certainly we can eliminate the subsidy to paper mill for-profits for example that have no track record of success.
The young largely carry the burden of $1.1 trillion in student debt outstanding.  With poor job prospects does anyone realistically think that $1.1 trillion is going to be paid back in this lifetime?  This is why many young Americans end up broke, educated, and massively in debt.

America Under Siege!

By Jim Kirwan
5-4-13


 
When Rumor & Truth are locked in total-conflict
No one can survive!

The Disunited States is under siege by the lawless elements of the planet and increasingly there are fewer and fewer places to hide from this global-attack. In the long history of the world, no country has ever been able to achieve “full-spectrum dominance” for very long. In fact before computers the very idea of such a plot was not possible—much less as thinkable as it has become today. For any state no matter how well armed, to attempt to ‘manage’ an entire nation state in even in the smallest parts of its society is still impossible. To attempt to “manage” the entire planet in that way goes far-beyond traditional-folly. But to attempt to “manage’ the entire planet in this totalitarian way is total insanity: That is where the world finds itself today.
The military tactics used in Watertown, Mass. perfectly mirror the way Israel treats its own citizens and those they are supposedly responsible for throughout the Middle-East. What America can expect from Israel’s lock-downs or “Shelter-in Place” are only the tip of Israel’s double-bladed axe: BTW “Shelter in Place is actually a far more-dangerous tactic than almost anything else any potential victim could do; because it means that the victims so instructed can not escape whatever is coming… And America is about to become the western version of Gaza, even before the summer starts. (1)
We know that the coming Economic Disaster is being managed by the Zionists that own the banks-globally. Politically the same kinds of no-win choices are being presented to the world to “control” the savagely-damaged political-fabric of the earth that under Israeli and New World Order voodoo are offering nothing but total-servitude and unending wars to anyone they decide might be allowed to live to see the end of the year.
The arrogance and the greed being expended on this criminal-takeover of what were the world’s leading nation’s amounts to an international-siege without relief. Those that have used and abused global free-trade agreements to inflict the greatest income-transfer and theft, in the entire history of the world - will fail, but apparently not until at least half the population of the planet is also erased.
There is a single bright spot still available. But the only way we can win is if the planet decides to take back the nukes that Israel has stolen, and force them to have to live with the legitimate nations that currently surround them. This is what the last sixty-five years have been about—yet still there has been no-change in Israel’s demands except to increase the Israeli call for unconditional-surrender from every nation and people that surround them.
Israel has bled the United States dry with thefts from the black-ops budget, the stealing of military secrets and weapons, as well as obscene amounts of “aid” while Americans are dying in the streets to pay for Israel’s addiction to illicit power and the paranoia they cannot escape over their current positions on top of the real powder-keg they created. Their prisons, razor-wire and torture make the Inquisition look like a game for four year olds.
Ironically none of this could have been possible if the USA had not been forced to pay for everything that is now being done to us—as the latest series of victims that must now beg Israel for the crumbs of existence needed, just to survive. (2)
This cannot continue in a world where the bulk of the nations tend to try to respect international-borders but where USI & the Zionistas continue to flaunt every law, every code of decency, every human instinct which they destroy with every breathe they continue to steal from the rest of the people on the planet. The only way this can be prevented is if we take away Israel’s nuclear weapons. But that’s the real and very physical power that Israel has been using, since they acquired nuclear-weapons, to blackmail the rest of the known world with!
Trying to watch USI “manage” the global situation along with all the massive inequities, not just in every downtrodden nation-state—but now it’s the USA that is being ripped apart and imprisoned under the bloody yoke of Israeli-terrorism in every place that Israel decides she has an interest in stealing.
There will be a BACKLASH coming and when it happens no Israeli sympathizer will escape. When it’s over there will be an uninhabitable desert where Israel exists today; because there have too many lies, far too much deception, and absolutely no cooperation that ever comes from anything that involves Israel, no matter how small.
I have lived with Israel’s atrocities for my entire life. They have cost me several professions, and over thirty years of war with various agencies and governments in this country—yet still it continues because they will not stop until they have total control of everything and everyone on this earth: No race, no individual, or country is that “SPECIAL” because the world is still too large to ever shrink itself down to just one of every facet in every society.
They have used FALSE-SECURITY as their answer to the world’s problems. But since they began this final chapter in their evil plan to bankrupt and steal the known world ­ the poverty of their plans has become clearer with the passing of every bloody-day and haunted-night: Without surcease!
There is not room enough upon this planet if Israel is allowed to continue to exist. The people of the planet must come together to make life for every Zionist, impossible to continue to exist with—unless there are enough of us to crush them as Israeli’s so richly deserves. Israel’s Zionists hide behind walls, behind global-terror, and beneath any shred of human-decency. But the earth has a responsibility to erase these criminals from anywhere on the planet, to live out whatever they might have left of their pitiful lives…