Why Are the Bankers and Ex-Intel Types Running For Their Lives? (Confirmed for MONTHS by my vanishing sources)

[GoodETxSG]

Some have spoken on FEAR and it affect on us during this time. There is a current thread here on Avalon: 2014 The Year of the Great Unraveling - https://projectavalon.net/forum4/show...eat-Unraveling.

This interview is an excellent one to listen to as it is not fear based and is hope based. I know there is a lot of anxiety out there among many individuals who are going through quite a bit right now. It is very understandable... the powers that be want us anxious and off kilter so we are easy to panic and are reactionary... thus easy to herd like cattle and control. This is a bit of a repeat of what is on the above mentioned thread but it is worth the read and visit to the site and listen to the interview.

The guest explains the prior bubbles and collapses very well and then lays out what to expect in 2014 (His most probable future expectations anyway).
===========================

http://awakeningzone.com/Episode.asp...ID=2611#Player

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

LIVE Broadcast
The Year of the Great Unraveling with Jim Self

In collaboration with Tree of Life Celebration Group http://www.facebook.com/TreeofLifeCelebration
According to international teacher, speaker and author Jim Self, what once seemed unthinkable is now a looming reality—America’s star is rapidly waning, the world’s global power structure is tilting to the East, China is no longer buying US debt, and the future of oil, gold, and petro dollars is becoming more and more uncertain. If that fills you with anxiety or panic, be aware that, actually, all is very much in order. For the long-awaited “shift of the ages” is now well and truly in progress, and while its erosion of every facet of life that we used to believe in and rely on is unnerving for many, the truth is that the only foundations that are shaking, are those that have become so unbalanced as to be completely out of kilter with where we are heading.
As we continue our transition from the 3rd to the 5th dimension the old 3-D world of inequality, competition, restriction, entitlement, reaction and fear that we have all experienced will give way to a 5th dimensional state of wellbeing, cooperation, respect and freedom. 2014 is the year of the “great unraveling”—the fall of the American Empire will bring about the demise of domination as well as the rise of human consciousness, and life on planet Earth will never be the same again.
But those in control are far from happy. The pendulum has swung too far, the scales have over-balanced, and now the snowball is gathering the weight of all their misdeeds as it hurtles down the mountain. And while the transition we are experiencing will lead us into a brilliant future, it’s important to remember that change is rarely accomplished overnight.

So how do you prepare yourself for what’s to come when you can’t trust what the media tells you, and it’s not in the interests of the money men or the politicians to tell you the truth? What will you do when the collective consciousness starts to panic? How deep does your spiritual training really go? When push comes to shove, how certain are you that you’ll still be able to walk your talk?

Inthis special Winter Solstice edition of Keeping Pace with the Shift, Jim Self and Sandie will discuss:
•The fall of the American Empire, the demise of domination, and the rise of human consciousness

•What the media doesn’t want you to know about Chase bank, oil, gold manipulations, petro dollars and fracking

•The facts about US reserve currencies and alternative currencies such as Bitcoin

•What you need to know about quantitative easing, and the Federal Reserve Bank’s wanton printing of money

•China no longer buying US debt, and Japan’s 25 years of deflation

•Wall Street, and the “City” inside London that even the Queen has to have permission to enter

•Social Security, housing insurance companies, and the healthcare situation

According to Jim Self, everything that is out of balance will unravel over the next two years. The choices and decisions you make now will do much to ease your experience of the inevitable challenges most will be facing.

GUESTS

Jim Self
As an international speaker and author, Jim is often introduced as a teacher’s teacher and a healer’s healer. He has been leading seminars and teaching healing, clairvoyance and personal energy management courses since 1980 and is the founder of Mastering Alchemy.
Since childhood, Jim has retained a conscious awareness and ability to recall his experiences within the sleep state. Over the last ten years, this awareness has expanded into relationships with the Archangels, Ascended Masters and Teachers of Light. The tools and information presented in the Mastering Alchemy programs is a co-creation of these relationships.

Jim walks with a foot in both worlds. At the age of twenty-six, he was elected to his first of two terms to the San Jose, CA City Council and later became the Vice Mayor. Before completing his second term, he was asked by President Jimmy Carter to be an advisor and the Director of Governmental Operations for the Dept. of Energy.

As an entrepreneur, he has successfully built and sold two corporations, and is the founder and current Board Chairman of a third.
Jim is a recognized leader in the field of spiritual development. He is a mentor and personal coach to many and sought-after speaker.

[GoodETxSG]

MORE DOOM AND GLOOM PREDICTIONS FOR 2014... ITS LIKE WE HAVE LOST BEFORE WE HAVE STARTED! IS THIS BEING ENGINEERED SO WE DO NOT TRY TO CHANGE THINGS???

I say we can make changes. First we do need to collapse the economic bubbles and expose all of the political and economic corruption... It will be a nasty job and will freak a lot of people out but has to be done. Once we get the economy back down to REAL numbers, currency back on a gold/silver standard and replace ALL politicians, judges and disband several government agencies we can put the free world back together again.

If we start off feeling defeated then what motivation will we have to ever clean things up? Will we just wail until the whole house falls on our heads and then wait for someone to come dig us out and help us rebuild? This way of thinking has been programmed into us for generations now. IMHO.

WE CAN MAKE OUR OWN DESTINIES... WILL WE?
--------------------------------------

2014 Predictions

by Stephen Lendman2014



Some are best guesses. Others are easier to make. For billions worldwide, 2013 was grim. Expect 2014 to be no better. For many it’ll be worse.
Conflicts without end continue. Waging them threaten humanity. War profiteers never had it better.
Washington bears most responsibility. One nation after another is ravaged, destroyed and plundered.
It’s the American way. Advancing its imperium matters most. So does benefitting the nation’s privileged class.
War criminals and crooks run things. The criminal class in Washington is bipartisan. They’re waging war on humanity.
They’re ravaging the world for unchallenged dominance. Millions of lost lives don’t matter. It’s a small price to pay, they claim. So is unspeakable human misery.
Whole continents are carved up for profit. Resources are plundered. Ordinary people are exploited. America has been at it for centuries. Post-WW II, things accelerated.

Post-9/11, they spun out-of-control. Expect a bloody 2014. Expected more death, destruction and human misery. Expect it globally.
Expect merchants of death to keep profiting hugely. Expect corrupt politicians to get their share. Expect America’s most disadvantaged to be left increasingly on their own out of luck.

Safety net protections are on the chopping block for elimination. In 2014, expect more erosion. Republicans and Democrats agreed. So did Obama.
He spent his entire tenure shifting wealth disproportionately to Wall Street, war profiteers, other corporate favorites, and super-rich elites.
He’s a job destroyer, not creator. He’s doing nothing to stop offshoring many of America’s best jobs. He’s letting them be replaced with low pay/poor or no benefit ones.

He’s continuing America’s race to the bottom. He’s got more of the same in mind. He pretends otherwise. He says one thing. He does another. He scorns the rights of ordinary people. He’s done it since his Chicago days.

He’s pro-war, pro-Wall Street, pro-business, pro-privilege, pro-super-wealth, anti-dissent, anti-democracy, anti-civil and human rights, anti-labor, anti-environmental sanity, and anti-government of, by, and for everyone equitably and just.
He’s polar opposite what most people want, need, and won’t get with him as president. Nor with congressional Democrats in lockstep with Republicans on issues mattering most.

Only a Democrat president would do what Republicans on their own wouldn’t dare. Obama is a stealth corporatist hardliner. He’s been this way throughout his political career.

It elevated him to America’s highest office. It’s pay back time for power brokers who chose him. They wouldn’t have done it otherwise.
On December 28, Congress and Obama cut off extended unemployment benefits. They harmed 1.3 million Americans. They did so when they most need help. They did it disgracefully.

In 2014, they’ll end them for another 3.6 million jobless Americans. They’ll lose out through no fault of their own. Emergency benefits were previously extended from 40 to 73 weeks.

They’re now 26 weeks. It’s when growing millions of Americans can’t find work. Highly touted recovery is fake. Main Street Depressions conditions persist.
Bipartisan cruelty makes things worse. Help when most needed is denied. Imagine any country anywhere doing it. Imagine the world’s richest one.
Imagine heartlessness writ large. Imagine criminals running today’s America. Its wealth goes for warmaking, corporate handouts, and benefits for super-rich elites.
Ordinary people are betrayed in the process. Washington’s FY 2014 budget deal benefits privileged interests. It does so at the expense of popular ones.
Winners include bankers, war profiteers, other corporate favorites, multi-millionaires and billionaires.

Losers are millions of unemployed, underemployed, and impoverished people, government workers, retirees, veterans and active duty military personnel.
Corporate handouts remain policy. So do tax cuts for the rich. In 2014, more are planned. Both parties agreed. So did Obama.
They conspired quietly. Media scoundrels said nothing. Corporate rates will drop from 35% to either 28 or 25%. Most large companies already pay less than half that amount.

Many pay much less. Some pay nothing. Others get rebates in profitable years. Tax breaks under Bush and Obama added around $10 trillion to their balance sheets.
Much was shifted to offshore subsidiaries. Doing so avoids US taxes altogether. It’s unknown how much corporate wealth sits in tax havens.
A previous article discussed a Tax Justice Network (TJN) report. It’s titled “The Price of Offshore Revisited.” It explains what insiders won’t discuss.
It estimates up to $32 trillion of hidden and stolen wealth stashed largely tax-free secretly. It was published in July 2012.

Huge profits and ill-gotten gains were accumulated since then. Perhaps $40 – 50 trillion remain hidden tax free today. It represents a black hole of unfairness.
It comes at the expense of billions worldwide. Ordinary Americans get lump of coal harshness. Expect more of the same in 2014. Bipartisan complicity assures it.
Expect 2014 to be tougher than ever for growing millions. It’s planned. It’s baked in the cake. It’s coming.

Obama demands it. He’s the Grinch who stole fairness. He’s done it throughout his tenure. He’s got lots more hard times in mind. Austerity writ large remains policy.
Obama’s waging war on ordinary people. He heads a homeland police state apparatus. Expect meaner and nastier year ahead policies.
He wants vital safety net protections eliminated. They’re coming when longterm unemployment, underemployment, hunger, homelessness and human misery are growing.

On November 1, $11 billion in food stamp cuts over three years took effect. It’s the first time since Franklin Roosevelt instituted the first Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). It began in May 1939.

The program ended temporarily when conditions warranting it no longer existed. In 1959, Eisenhower reinstated it.
Jack Kennedy’s first Executive Order expanded it. Lyndon Johnson enacted the 1964 Food Stamp Act.

He called doing so “a realistic and responsible step toward the fuller and wiser use of an agricultural abundance.”
It’s vitally important. It provides food for growing millions unable to afford enough. In the 1980s, cutbacks began. Clinton continued them.

They’re prioritized more now than earlier. Recipient benefits drop to under $1.40 per person per meal. Imagine the impossibility of proper nutrition on that amount.
Imagine the effect on children. Imagine the harm to America’s elderly, ill or weak. Imagine too little food leaving millions hungry most days.
Imagine the unimaginable in the world’s richest country. Imagine it because it’s official policy.

Imagine agribusiness handouts growing at the same time. Imagine bankers and other corporate favorites getting theirs.
Feeding America’s poor doesn’t matter. Nearly 50 million need food stamps to eat.

Since 2008, recipients increased over 70%. Perhaps 80% by end of 2014. It comes at a time hunger in America is growing.
Privately run food banks are more than ever hard-pressed. A previous article discussed AP headlining “Exclusive: Signs of Declining Economic Security.” It said:
“Four out of 5 US adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives.”
It’s a disturbing “sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.”
“Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized US economy, the widening gap between rich and poor, and loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend.”

Government data are manipulated to distort. Conditions are much worse than reported. America is the United States of Unfairness, Cruelty, Inequity, and Injustice.
Throughout Obama’s tenure, things got worse, not better. Ordinary Americans today suffer more than at any time since the Great Depression.
Year 2014 promises worse. Increased austerity assures it. Imagine force-feeding it when vital aid is needed more than ever since the 1930s. Imagine anti-populism becoming official US policy.

Imagine Obama and Congress mandating it. Imagine them leaving America’s most disadvantaged hung out to dry.
Imagine them wanting vital safety net protections destroyed altogether. Imagine them thirdworldizing America. Imagine them turning it into a dystopian backwater.
Imagine kleptocrats stealing the nation blind. Imagine corrupt politicians letting them. Imagine paradise for America’s privileged class. Imagine Kafkaesque harshness for all others.

Imagine deepening repression. Imagine America’s war on Islam continuing. Imagine its war on terror waged more ruthlessly than ever. Imagine state terror institutionalized as official policy.

Imagine harder than ever crackdowns on nonbelievers. Imagine America’s surveillance society operating more lawlessly.
Imagine freedom increasingly disappearing in plain sight. Imagine America more unfit to live in than already. Imagine constitutional and international law protections no longer helping.

Imagine police state harshness replacing them. Imagine full-blown tyranny approaching. Imagine the unimaginable.
Imagine 2014 potentially being America’s worst year ever. Imagine conditions becoming too intolerable to bear. Imagine harder than ever hard times reaching new depths.

A Brief Summary
Expect 2014 to include:
direct and proxy wars continuing without end;
new ones beginning;
America’s wealth increasingly transferred to corporate and privileged interests;
ordinary people increasingly on their own sink or swim; a race to the bottom continuing;
America’s disadvantaged harmed most;
poverty, unemployment, underemployment, hunger and homelessness worse than ever in modern times;
bipartisan complicity assuring it;
social safety net protections increasingly eliminated;
freedom disappearing in plain sight;
police state harshness increasing;
local police collaborating with federal authorities;
NSA watching everyone more closely;
Washington increasingly waging war on ordinary people;
full-blown tyranny approaching;
America more than ever unfit to live in;
2014 exceeding the worst of Orwell’s 1984.

It does already. It’s not getting better. Washington’s criminal class is bipartisan. Obama heads its police state apparatus. He plans the worst of all possible worlds.
Expect 2014 to be grim. Expect growing millions to suffer horrendously. Expect greater global misery. Expect despair to replace hope.
Expect the American dream to disappear altogether. It’s more illusion than reality for most people. George Carlin once said you have to be asleep to believe it.
Nightmarish conditions persist. Expect worse ones next year. Happy tidings await better times. Maybe some day. Not now. Not next year. None whatever in sight.

[GoodETxSG]

http://beforeitsnews.com/economics-a...in.info%2FrRtA

According to this latest episode of the X22Report , ‘this is how it begins’. With the people of America no longer believing in their government, and citizens of the world following suite in many Western nations, the potential for civil unrest and the government need to ‘clamp down’ grow. With the economic collapse now assured but when and the MSM keeping ‘terror’ in American’s eyes, it’s only a matter of time for the next domino to fall…

Portugal is going after the people’s money any way they can, tax on pension or increase pension contribution. People in Spain, France, Italy, US and more do not believe their Governments that the economy is getting better. Unemployment, underemployment high and GM sales way down. Gun confiscation begins as President Obama is going after the mentally ill which is really the veterans. NSA expanding their spying matrix and building lists of those who will be a threat to them. The Corporate media is keeping terrorism in front of all American’s this is in preparation for the false flag event.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FpMSick0zBc

[GoodETxSG]

DEBT!!!

http://beforeitsnews.com/economy/201...in.info%2FqRhN

Western Debt Exceeds 200 Year High, IMF Warns Of 1930′s Depression Style Write Offs Ahead

Friday, January 3, 2014 4:43
0
(Before It's News)

According To The IMF in a “White Paper” just release at the end of December 2013, warns much of the Western world will require defaults, a “savings tax” and “higher inflation” to clear the way for Western Economic recovery as debt levels reach a 200-year high. This according to a new report by the International Monetary Fund. IMF.org pdf



The IMF working paper states that debt burdens in developed nations have become extreme by any historical measure and will require a wave of haircuts, either negotiated 1930s-style write-offs or the standard mix of measures used by the IMF in its “toolkit” for emerging market blow-ups. This would mean that America’s low income and middle class would feel the financial pain the most, as they did during the Great Depression.



“The sheer magnitude of the problem suggests that restructuring will be needed, for example, in the periphery of Europe, far beyond anything discussed in public to this point,” said the paper, by Harvard professors Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff. How will the public react now that the IMF has made public their “White Paper” that announces the coming 1930′s style depression that lies ahead?



The IMF white paper said policy elites in the West still are still clinging to the illusion that rich countries are different from poorer regions and can therefore chip away at their debts with a blend of austerity cuts, growth, and tinkering (“forbearance”). But history reveals that this simply is not true.



The presumption is that advanced economies “do not resort to such gimmicks” such as debt restructuring and repression, which would “give up hard-earned credibility” and throw the economy into a “vicious circle”. (Depression)



Chart From telegraph.co

But the paper says this mantra borders on “collective amnesia” of European and US history, and is built on “overly optimistic” assumptions that risk doing far more damage to credibility in the end. It is causing the crisis to drag on, blocking a lasting solution. “This denial has led to policies that in some cases risk exacerbating the final costs,” it said.

While use of debt pooling in the eurozone can reduce the need for restructuring or defaults, it comes at the cost of higher burdens for northern taxpayers. This could drag the EMU core states into a recession and aggravate their own debt and ageing crises. The clear implication of the IMF paper is that Germany and the creditor core would do better to bite the bullet on big write-offs immediately rather than buying time with creeping debt mutualisation.

The paper says the Western debt burden is now so big that rich states will need same tonic of debt haircuts, higher inflation and financial repression – defined as an “opaque tax on savers” – as used in countless IMF rescues for emerging markets.

“The magnitude of the overall debt problem facing advanced economies today is difficult to overstate. The current central government debt in advanced economies is approaching a two-century high-water mark,” they said.

Most advanced states wrote off debt in the 1930s, though in different ways. First World War loans to the US were forgiven when the Hoover Moratorium expired in 1934, giving debt relief worth 24pc of GDP to France, 22pc to Britain and 19pc to Italy.



This occurred as part of a bigger shake-up following the collapse of the war reparations regime on Germany under the Versailles Treaty. The US itself imposed haircuts on its own creditors worth 16pc of GDP in April 1933 when it abandoned the Gold Standard.

Financial repression can take many forms, including capital controls, interest rate caps or the force-feeding of government debt to captive pension funds and insurance companies. Some of these methods are already in use but not yet on the scale seen in the late 1940s and early 1950s as countries resorted to every trick to tackle their war debts.

The policy is essentially a confiscation of savings, partly achieved by pushing up inflation while rigging the system to stop markets taking evasive action. The UK and the US ran negative real interest rates of -2pc to -4pc for several years after the Second World War. Real rates in Italy and Australia were -5pc.

Both authors of the paper have worked for the IMF, Prof Rogoff as chief economist. They became famous for their best-selling work on sovereign debt crises over the ages, This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly.

They were later embroiled in controversy over a paper suggesting that growth slows sharply once public debt exceeds 90pc of GDP. Critics say it is unclear whether the higher debt is the problem or whether the causality is the other way around, with slow growth causing the debt ratio to rise to faster.

The issue became highly politicised when German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble and EU economics commissioner Olli Rehn began citing the paper to justify eurozone austerity policies, over-stepping its more careful claims.

Critics says extreme austerity without offsetting monetary stimulus is the chief reason why debts have been spiralling upwards even faster in parts of Southern Europe.

The weaker eurozone states are particularly vulnerable to default because they no longer have their own sovereign currencies, putting them in the same position as emerging countries that borrowed in dollars in the 1980s and 1990s. Even so, nations have defaulted through history even when they do borrow in their own currency.

[GoodETxSG]

The gist of a few of these articles is that the PEOPLE are getting sick of corruption AKA OR are "Waking Up" so the powers that be need to prepare for social upheaval...

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/01...s-shenanigans/
Americans sick and tired of Washington shenanigans: Harris

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Sat Jan 4, 2014 8:55AM GMT

Interview with Mike Harris
Download | Embed
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Related Viewpoints:
Manipulations rule markets: P.C. Roberts
Press TV has conducted an interview with Mike Harris, finance editor of Veterans Today from the city of Phoenix, to shed light on the outlook for the United States’ economy and the Americans’ view about the future of their country.

What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Mike Harris let me ask you whether you agree with this Associated Press poll, of which most Americans, as deemed by the results, are pessimistic about the future. The number 54 percent expect American life to go downhill, 23 percent think it will improve.

Do you agree and why?

Harris: Well, I absolutely agree with the view. There has been a number of what I would call policy mistakes going back to 1965 until present. You look at the immigration reform act in 1965, it has been changing the demographics of this country ever since. You look at the immigration problem that we have here, when we have 50 million illegal aliens living here and all of these things depress wages in the US.

You look at the failure of the free trade agreements, NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement), GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade); allowing China enter the WTO.

All of these things have put downward pressure on the American worker and it left the American workers not prospering and doing well, but the American people are not doing well [either].

Wall Street is doing tremendous, Wall Street is prospering but that is because the Federal Reserve Bank has been pumping so much liquidity into the system but it is not trickling down to main street at all and the American people are hurting.

In fact in the last decade the American people have lost 40 percent of their net worth. We have more people out of work than ever. The unemployment statistics that we see have been adjusted, they have changed the metrics.

If we were using the same metrics that were used back in 1980, then we would have the unemployment number probably 20, 22 percent, 23 percent and so it is understandable that people would have a very pessimistic issue because they are working harder, they are making less money and the prospects..., the jobs simply are not there and until we change and evaluate these failed policies things are going to continue downhill.

Press TV: Well, Mike Harris, let us extend a little bit further on what Carol Gould there said. I mean when we want to look at the government shutdown for example, I mean patience was growing thin with many Americans during that time, the Americans were facing an uncertain future with the antics that were going on in the Congress. Republicans and the bickering that was going on and it is very interesting that during that time, House Speaker John Boehner said when he was asked what happened in November 6, 2012? This is what he said: “Was there something going on that night I was not made aware of?

Of course that is the time when Obama got reelected. How much did this type of political bickering between the Democrats and the Republicans affect the way that Americans view the Congress?

Harris: Well, let us look at our political parties right now, because we have Democrats and Republicans, we have left and right; it is really a false paradigm, because if you look at who the major contributors are to both parties, the top ten contributors, the ones who give the most money, are the same to each party.

So really we have a single party in this country and that is the Wall Street Party, it is not the American people party and the American people need to start evaluating their politicians on the basis of, is my life getting better? Is my quality of life improving? Or is it declining? And in most cases you are going to find this, declining.

Just because Wall Street is doing well, main street is dying, the main street is dying, the main street is suffering. I mean every strip mall, every shopping center, there is vacancies, everywhere, small businesses going away. And Ms. Gould made reference to union membership. Union membership is down, it is historically at a low level.

My grandfather was president of the United States’ workers union in Saint Louis back in the day when he still was alive and that is when the labor movement was vibrant, but while Reagan, through deregulation, allowed consolidation of all industries in this country; we used to have numerous airlines, now we are down to five or six, we used to have numerous televisions and media outlets and now we are down to six.

There is consolidation across the board that has been brought about by this deregulation and really we are having less competition in this country, we are having, really, corporate dominance of every factor of American life and it is time for the American people who have always been pro-small businesses and entrepreneurial in nature and that is being crushed and that needs to be revised.

Again referring to free trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, letting China in to the WTO, this was a wholesale exporting of US jobs and until the United States government takes a position to rectify that mistake and realize that these free trade agreements where mistake, that they were detrimental to the American worker..., China is doing very great; we had a very good Christmas, they are making a lot of money but the American workers are not seeing the benefits of the stimulus that is being provided by the Federal Reserve.

So things like maybe an import tariff on everything that is not manufactured in USA, no matter whose label it is on, I do not care if it is General Electric or General Motors or Apple Computer. If they do not make in the US, put a 45 percent tariff on it, that will drive jobs back into this country because they will make it more difficult to take advantage of cheap labor in China and of course the other third world countries.

Press TV: Well, Mike Harris, from the outside looking in, just a few things here come to mind when we look at 50 plus million Americans who are on food stamps for example or the ones who are unemployed, for example the one million who are on federal assistance, that their assistance now got cut off.

We look at how the United States sends over three billion dollars annually for example to Israel or the trillions of dollars that they have spent on wars and are still engaged, not to mention the upkeep of over 700 military bases, you know, these budgets..., or their nuclear facilities, and upgrade of 300 billion dollars recently was announced.

Does not that seem like budgets should be focused on Americans themselves? Just from the outside looking in, when we are looking at the dire state of economy.

Harris: Well, first of all I agree with Ms. Gould because we are still in control of our destiny here in this country. We can make the policy adjustments that we need to get our country back on track.

Like I said, we have had a series of misguided policies and it is time to address those policies and your point about military spending being out of control, the US spends more than the next ten countries combined, on the military.

Dwight Eisenhower warned us back in 1959 to be aware of the military industrial complex, and we should, because that is who makes the money. They make the most of the money, they have an enormous budget, nothing is ever cut, it only grows.

They will cut veterans’ benefit, they will cut medical care for veterans but they will not cut spending on these projects.

Our budget needs to go through a line by line review and US made a policy mistake when they took away the president’s authority to, essentially, have a line-item veto; his rescission authority. When they did that, the Congress went out of control and all these guys could spend as much money as they wanted and the US really has got to get the priorities right.

I am not particularly in favor of expanding social programs because you will....., Lyndon Johnsons, the war on poverty, we are going to help everyone up. Now here we are, four or five generations later, we have people, families who have not worked in four or five generations. We have made a welfare dependency.

We need to change that and realize that the best social program is a good job and if we can get people to work, the American people to work, deporting illegal aliens and shutdown our legal immigration process until we can get everyone in this country fully employed, but like I said put an imports tariff and bring those jobs back home. That is really it, because there is no better social program that benefits people like a good job, a good paying job where they can make a decent living wage and that is really what I am proposing here and that is really what I am advocating.

Press TV: Mike Harris your final thoughts on the issue of privacy? Americans are not having the freedom they used to have. In 30 seconds or less tell us how much that has been affected in the United States?

Harris: Well, people are waking up. It is time that we realize we need a regime change in this country and we need to expel these professional Congressmen, professional Senators, who have never held an honest job in their lives...

We need a new management in this country, we need a new way of thinking, we need to become a sustainable economy. It is time for some fundamental, structural changes in how the US conducts business. And I agree with Ms. Gould that these illegal wars are out of hand and yes indeed Al Gore was robbed, George W. Bush stole that election and he should still be prosecuted for that crime and the supreme court of justice is culpable ; we should throw all of them out as well.

The people in this country have had enough of Shenanigans in Washington, it is time for a clean and honest government. We are ..., we are sick, we are done, we are tired we want new a new management here.

MY/HMV

[GoodETxSG]

Sadly, this is an option that my Wife and I am actively working toward currently. We have a country, city and community in mind. The America that 6 generations of my family fought/served for no longer exists in its current form.

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Can Parents Save Their Children by Leaving the USA?
January 3, 2014
Dave Hodges

January 3, 2014

The Common Sense Show



broke



An expatriate who has left America for the greener pastures of Germany, has written to me over a dozen times telling me to get out of America while I still can. I freely admit, that on the balance sheet, the reasons to leave outweigh the reasons to stay. And the reasons to move our children away from the growing tyranny in this country are even more numerous. However, our enemy calls themselves the New World Order for a reason. It may be possible to move to a place like Norway and get some temporary relief, but in reality, you would only be staying one step ahead of the burning bridge.

A burglar breaks into your house, you retreat to your bedroom and the burglar kicks in your bedroom door. You hide under the bed and the burglar overturns your bed. Then you run into the closet and you realize at that moment that you have run out of places to hide and you must fight the burglar or die. This is where America is today. We run from reality by playing fantasy football and watching Duck Dynasty. We think it is someone else’s problem to solve. We are afraid and we keep running to a new distraction. Then there is the reality that we are out of places to hide. And there is even a more sobering reality, American parents have lost the ability to protect their children.

This is the first part in a series which illustrates that we are out of places to run and it is time to stand up, resist, or perish. The ultimate benefactors, or victims, of our collective action, or inaction, are our children.

Americans Are Leaving the Country In Record Numbers
It is becoming increasingly clear, that if we want to be able to enjoy our golden years and give our kids a future, we need to stop running from our problems and face reality. Last year over a 155,000 Americans expatriated to foreign countries, mostly for economic reasons. I have bad news for these people. You expats may have temporarily escaped high taxes and over regulation from the federal government, however, when, and not if, the dollar collapses, all foreign currencies will collapse as well and you will be trapped in a foreign land.

I do not disparage the expatriates and their reasons for leaving. America is a shell of its former self. Our nation has been conquered and is now being occupied by the bankers. Your reasons for leaving are valid. However, at the end of the day, it will not make any difference with regard to your final fate.

Our Children Have a Bleak Economic Future
If there is a compelling reason to leave America, it would be to provide our children with a future which is much brighter than the future that they will be burdened with in the United States.

Even if there are not any severe political/military disruptions in America’s immediate future, our children have a dismal future and the numbers do not lie.

At this point in time, about half of all recent college graduates are working at jobs that do not even require a college degree. The number of Americans in the 16 to 29 year old age bracket with a job declined by 18 percent between 2000 and 2010. Incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation since the year 2000. In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees. One poll discovered that 29 percent of all Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are still living with their parents. Overall, approximately 25 million American adults are living with their parents according to Time Magazine.

America is no longer the land of opportunity as the United States is not even in the top ten. In fact, the United States only ranks 20th in terms of overall gross pay!

We Have Left Our Children With No Escape Valve
With the education system we have left our children, we have not provided them with any chance to climb out of this tremendous economic hole that we have put them in. The Education Policy Institute assessed the affordability of higher education costs and found that the United States ranks 13th in higher education affordability. The United States is dead last in educational achievement among the most developed nations.

Americans need to stop listening to Obama and the mainstream media, there is not going to be any economic recovery. No matter how many times they lie and bend the numbers to cushion America’s fall from financial grace, we have no hope economically because there is nothing left to salvage. America only has to look at three economic indicators to know that we are in a lot of trouble, The debt is $17 trillion dollars, unfunded (partially or otherwise) mandated social programs constitutes another $240 trillion dollars and the credit swap derivatives total between $1 quadrillion dollars to $1.5 quadrillion dollars, which is six times the GDP of the planet. Do you get it now? There will be no recovery.

When we let the bankers steal from us, our children ultimately paid the price. America’s parents have miserably failed their children.

Conclusion
There are very sound economic reasons to look at when deciding on whether on should leave the country. However, I strongly feel that you are only delaying the inevitable by leaving. We are not just going to see an American economic collapse, we are going to witness a global collapse.

The next part in this series examines the political reasons for leaving the country and how these reasons will impact your children.

[GoodETxSG]

I think it is obvious that we should keep an eye on what the Billionaires are doing with their money and assets...
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Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Outbrain/billionaires-dump-economist-stocks/2012/08/29/id/450265#ixzz2pT2etrbK

Billionaires Dumping Stocks, Economist Knows Why

Friday, 03 Jan 2014 04:22 PM
By Newsmax Wires

Despite the 6.5% stock market rally over the last three months, a handful of billionaires are quietly dumping their American stocks . . . and fast.

Warren Buffett, who has been a cheerleader for U.S. stocks for quite some time, is dumping shares at an alarming rate. He recently complained of “disappointing performance” in dyed-in-the-wool American companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Kraft Foods.

In the latest filing for Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has been drastically reducing his exposure to stocks that depend on consumer purchasing habits. Berkshire sold roughly 19 million shares of Johnson & Johnson, and reduced his overall stake in “consumer product stocks” by 21%. Berkshire Hathaway also sold its entire stake in California-based computer parts supplier Intel.

With 70% of the U.S. economy dependent on consumer spending, Buffett’s apparent lack of faith in these companies’ future prospects is worrisome.

Unfortunately Buffett isn’t alone.

Fellow billionaire John Paulson, who made a fortune betting on the subprime mortgage meltdown, is clearing out of U.S. stocks too. During the second quarter of the year, Paulson’s hedge fund, Paulson & Co., dumped 14 million shares of JPMorgan Chase. The fund also dumped its entire position in discount retailer Family Dollar and consumer-goods maker Sara Lee.

Finally, billionaire George Soros recently sold nearly all of his bank stocks, including shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs. Between the three banks, Soros sold more than a million shares.

So why are these billionaires dumping their shares of U.S. companies?

After all, the stock market is still in the midst of its historic rally. Real estate prices have finally leveled off, and for the first time in five years are actually rising in many locations. And the unemployment rate seems to have stabilized.

It’s very likely that these professional investors are aware of specific research that points toward a massive market correction, as much as 90%.

One such person publishing this research is Robert Wiedemer, an esteemed economist and author of the New York Times best-selling book Aftershock.

Editor’s Note: .

Before you dismiss the possibility of a 90% drop in the stock market as unrealistic, consider Wiedemer’s credentials.

In 2006, Wiedemer and a team of economists accurately predicted the collapse of the U.S. housing market, equity markets, and consumer spending that almost sank the United States. They published their research in the book America’s Bubble Economy.

The book quickly grabbed headlines for its accuracy in predicting what many thought would never happen, and quickly established Wiedemer as a trusted voice.

A columnist at Dow Jones said the book was “one of those rare finds that not only predicted the subprime credit meltdown well in advance, it offered Main Street investors a winning strategy that helped avoid the forty percent losses that followed . . .”

The chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor’s said that Wiedemer’s track record “demands our attention.”

And finally, the former CFO of Goldman Sachs said Wiedemer’s “prescience in (his) first book lends credence to the new warnings. This book deserves our attention.”

In the interview for his latest blockbuster Aftershock, Wiedemer says the 90% drop in the stock market is “a worst-case scenario,” and the host quickly challenged this claim.

Wiedemer calmly laid out a clear explanation of why a large drop of some sort is a virtual certainty.

It starts with the reckless strategy of the Federal Reserve to print a massive amount of money out of thin air in an attempt to stimulate the economy.

“These funds haven’t made it into the markets and the economy yet. But it is a mathematical certainty that once the dam breaks, and this money passes through the reserves and hits the markets, inflation will surge,” said Wiedemer.

“Once you hit 10% inflation, 10-year Treasury bonds lose about half their value. And by 20%, any value is all but gone. Interest rates will increase dramatically at this point, and that will cause real estate values to collapse. And the stock market will collapse as a consequence of these other problems.”

See the Proof: .

And this is where Wiedemer explains why Buffett, Paulson, and Soros could be dumping U.S. stocks:

“Companies will be spending more money on borrowing costs than business expansion costs. That means lower profit margins, lower dividends, and less hiring. Plus, more layoffs.”

No investors, let alone billionaires, will want to own stocks with falling profit margins and shrinking dividends. So if that’s why Buffett, Paulson, and Soros are dumping stocks, they have decided to cash out early and leave Main Street investors holding the bag.

But Main Street investors don’t have to see their investment and retirement accounts decimated for the second time in five years.

Wiedemer’s video interview also contains a comprehensive blueprint for economic survival that’s really commanding global attention.

Now viewed over 40 million times, it was initially screened for a relatively small, private audience. But the overwhelming amount of feedback from viewers who felt the interview should be widely publicized came with consequences, as various online networks repeatedly shut it down and affiliates refused to house the content.

“People were sitting up and taking notice, and they begged us to make the interview public so they could easily share it,” said Newsmax Financial Publisher Aaron DeHoog.

“Our real concern,” DeHoog added, “is the effect even if only half of Wiedemer’s predictions come true.

“That’s a scary thought for sure. But we want the average American to be prepared, and that is why we will continue to push this video to as many outlets as we can. We want the word to spread.”


Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Outbrain/bill...#ixzz2pT2etrbK

[sygh]

Posted by gripreaper (here)

Posted by GoodeTXSG (here)

U.S. System Dependent on Crime and Fraud

-Catherine Austin Fitts

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=gssxv35TA-8

Well, she is right about several things. We ALL support the corrupt system in one form or another, have been complicit with the fraud because we don't want our entitlements and retirements to be devastated, so we continue to support the militaristic colonialism and imperialism which built this country.

So the game continues to it's inevitable outcome and people continue to jockey for position to do damage control and positioning themselves to take advantage and to come out as unscathed as possible.

Until we get to the point that we go to the mirror and admit we are complicit, that we let the Kennedy assassinations and the 9-11's go by and the Wall Street fraud go by un-prosecuted, and we are willing to get off the imperialistic colonialism and debt based currencies, nothing will change.

Until we admit the US is bankrupt, all assets were pledged including us and our labor in perpetuity, and that we own nothing, have no representative government, and are fully indentured slaves no matter where we fall on the economic scale, then we will not choose to change it.

Until we quit playing the game, the game continues.

Exit the system, agreed. But respectfully, I do not agree to share the guilt; we are not all guilty of being complicit. If a doctor gave me a lobotomy without my knowledge or consent, would I be responsible for it?

[GoodETxSG]

In previous posts I have shown the evidence that ALL of the ground work and infrastructure has already been put in place HERE IN THE USA to do a "Cyprus Style Bail In" of the Banks/Economy if an emergency is declared. It may look much like this in the beginning.

One of the people I used to work with (Kind of for in a round of bout way) that considers herself an Elite (Though she is rich but I knew some of the people with real clout, she is not in this category) recently said "You pay your tithes to your Church, why would it be such a big deal to pay a one time 10%-33% of your savings/assets as a sign of patriotism to keep your country running? I didn't reply as I knew it would just be a circular conversation.
================================

Martin Armstrong Warns Europeans Of The Coming Expropriation Of 10% Of Everyone's Accounts
Tyler Durden's pictureSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/02/2014 12:04 -0500

France International Monetary Fund Martin Armstrong Napoleon

As we have discussed in depth previously (2 years ago here as "muddle through has failed" and most recently here as the IMF discussed a "one-off" wealth tax), a confiscation (akin to Cyprus overnight debacle) is coming and Martin Armstrong believes sooner than most think.

Submitted by Martin Armstrong via Armstrong Economics,

Anyone who thinks it is a fantasy that government will simply just confiscate 10% of everyone’s accounts in Europe better have another look at the fool they see in the mirror staring back at them. This IMF solution is traditionally French and is really coming because the people in charge are effectively Marxists and this idea came from the IMF under the control of French ideology. They will expropriate these funds to save a banking system that they screwed up and will never reform anything because they are incapable of admitting any mistake.

These European government officials really are playing a dangerous game that is inviting total chaos, civil unrest, and may set themselves up for invasion. Instead of Napoleon invading Russia (1812.479), it may be the other way around when they smell weakness.


Lagarde Christine imf

Let me make this very clear. I have many French friends and they know the people in charge are just Marxists. Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations because he visited France to investigate Physiocracy that argued agriculture was the only real wealth. Karl Marx did not come up with Communism himself. He was more of a socialist. He did not advocate confiscating all property. It was the French movement of a commune at the time that convinced him their way was better. It was Engels who steered Marx into Communism. These ideas have emerged from France and this is why we have some of the most insane ideas still emerging from this country. There is a core philosophy among some that this socialism is correct.

The IMF proposal to expropriate everyone’s accounts in Europe will happen. The consequences could be absolutely the collapse in confidence that will be off the charts. Why should people trust government ever again or any bank for that matter?


Hollande-3

My advice to Europe – move as much as you can... - Hollande will come up with that one you can bet. He will weaken Europe and destroy the future of generations yet to come.

When they took the funds in Cyprus, the EU did not distinguish between European, American, or Russian accounts.

[GoodETxSG]

The CYPRUS STYLE BAIL IN's will not help as the QE's didn't help... All of the fraud pumped into the various bubbles is just throwing good $ after bad... It is all now in a death spiral that has only been disguised and slowed down here and there. We are now seeing the boldest of economic experts giving gloomy predictions for 2014/2015. We shall hold on by the seat of our pants and see shall we?
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http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/01...g-us-recovery/

The case of the missing US economic recovery



Above, a homeless man is seen sleeping in a subway near the White House, Washington DC, the US. (File photo)
At a time when most Americans are running out of coping mechanisms, the US faces a possible financial collapse, writes Paul Craig Roberts. Above, a homeless man is seen sleeping in a subway near the White House, Washington DC, the US. (File photo)
Sat Jan 4, 2014 8:53AM GMT

By Paul Craig Roberts

Related Interviews:
Americans disillusioned with their govt.
Latvia joining EU, horrible mistake

Have you seen the economic recovery? I haven’t, either. But it is bound to be around here somewhere, because the National Bureau of Economic Research spotted it in June 2009, four and a half years ago.

It is a shy and reclusive recovery, like the “New Economy” and all those promised new economy jobs. I haven’t seen them either, but we know they are here, somewhere, because the economists say so.

Congress must have seen all those jobs before they went home for Christmas, because our representatives let extended unemployment benefits expire for 1.3 million unemployed Americans, who have not yet met up with those new economy jobs, or even with an old economy job for that matter.

By letting extended unemployment benefits expire, Congress figures that they saved 1.3 million Americans from becoming lifelong bums of the nanny state and living off the public purse. After all, who do those unemployed Americans think they are? A bank too big to fail? The military-security complex? Israel?

What the unemployed need to do is to form a lobby organization and make campaign contributions.

Just as economists don’t recognize facts that are inconsistent with corporate grants, career ambitions, and being on the speaking circuit, our representatives don’t recognize facts inconsistent with campaign contributions.

For example, our representative in the White House tells us that Obamacare is a worthy program even though those who are supposed to be helped by it aren’t because of large deductibles, copays, and Medicaid estate recovery. The cost of this non-help is a doubling of the policy premiums on those insured Americans who did not need Obamacare and the reclassification by employers of workers’ jobs from full-time to part-time in order to avoid medical insurance costs. All it took was campaign contributions from the insurance industry to turn a policy that hurts most and helps none into a worthy program. Worthy, of course, for the insurance companies.

Keep in mind that it is the people who could not afford medical insurance who have to come up with their part of the premium or pay a penalty. How do people who have no discretionary income come up with what are to them large sums of money? Are they going to eat less, drive less, dress less? If so, what happens to people employed in those industries when demand falls? Apparently, this was too big a thought for the White House occupant, his economists, and our representatives in Congress.

According to the official wage statistics for 2012, forty percent of the US work force earned less than $20,000, fifty-three percent earned less than $30,000, and seventy-three percent earned less than $50,000. The median wage or salary was $27,519. The amounts are in current dollars and they are compensation amounts subject to state and federal income taxes and to Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes. In other words, the take-home pay is less.

To put these incomes into some perspective, the poverty threshold for a family of four in 2013 was $23,550.

In recent years, the only incomes that have been growing in real terms are those few at the top of the income distribution. Those at the top have benefitted from “performance bonuses,” often acquired by laying off workers or by replacing US workers with cheaper foreign labor, and from the rise in stock and bond prices caused by the Federal Reserve’s policy of quantitative easing. Everyone else has experienced a decline in real income and wealth.

As only slightly more than one percent of Americans make more than $200,000 annually and less than four-tenths of one percent make $1,000,000 or more annually, there are not enough people with discretionary income to drive the economy with consumer spending. When real median family income and real per capita income ceased to grow and began falling, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan substituted a credit expansion to take the place of the missing growth in income. However, as consumers became loaded with debt, it was no longer possible to expand consumer spending with credit expansion.

World War II left the US economy the only undamaged industrial and manufacturing center. Prosperity ensued. But by the 1970s, the Keynesian demand management economic policy had produced stagflation. Reagan’s supply-side policy was able to give the US economy another 20 years. But the collapse of the Soviet Union brought an era of jobs offshoring to large Asian economies that formerly were closed to Western capital. Once corporate executives realized that they could earn multi-million dollar performance bonuses by moving US jobs abroad and once they were threatened by Wall Street and shareholder advocates with takeovers if they did not, American capitalism began giving the US economy to other countries, mainly located in Asia. As high productivity manufacturing and professional service jobs (such as software engineering) moved offshore, US incomes stagnated and fell.

As real income growth stagnated, wives entered the workforce to compensate. Children were educated by refinancing the home mortgage and using the equity in the family home or with student loans that they do not earn enough to repay. Since the December 2007 downturn, Americans have used up their coping mechanisms. Homes have been refinanced. IRAs raided. Savings drawn down. Grown children, now adults, are back home with parents. The falling labor force participation rate signals that the economy can no longer provide jobs for the workforce. In such a situation, economic recovery is impossible.

What the Treasury and Federal Reserve have done, with the complicity of the White House, Congress, economists, and the media, is to focus on rescuing a half dozen banks “too big to fail.” The consequence of focusing economic policy on saving the banks is rigged financial markets and massive stock and bond market bubbles. To protect the dollar’s exchange value from quantitative easing, the price of gold has been forced down in the paper futures market, with the consequence that physical gold is shipped to Asia, where it is unavailable as a refuge for Americans faced with currency depreciation.

At a time when most Americans are running out of coping mechanisms, the US faces a possible financial collapse and a high rate of inflation from dollar depreciation as the Fed pours out newly created money in an effort to support the rigged financial markets.

It remains to be seen whether the chickens can be kept from coming home to roost for another year.

[sygh]

Fulford is a disinformation specialist. I'm not about to try to waddle through his half-truths while I'm waiting for the next creepy monster to be removed from his spine. You go, Fulford dude monster!

http://www.rense.com/general84/abso.htm

While believing this growth could very well have been removed from Fulford's spine, I can't help but question his validity. Oh, and I'm editing this to ask everyone if Fulford ever returned with a report on the analysis of what the growth was? No analysis?

[Redstar Kachina]

..........

[GoodETxSG]

Great Cycles of time repeat themselves... Humans do not learn from mistakes so they repeat those as well. Even the ones that potentially cost millions of lives. We have seen how we can line up charts of the Great Depression to what is occurring NOW... Charts of Nazi Germany and what is happening NOW... We see lists of "LEADERS" in America and the EU that are eager to repeat this cycle of bloodshed and economic collapse (All Wars Are Bankster Wars... Every Single One!).

We are well into repeating another terrible cycle while in complete denial NOW... Yet we will continue to move forward anyway. Do you still believe in "EVOLUTION"? Humans have stepped off of that train a long time ago it seems, IMHO...

http://stratrisks.com/geostrat/17313

January 4, 2014

Are we on the brink of war? Academic sparks debate by drawing comparisons between 1914 past and 2014 present


Source: News AU

A CENTURY ago, a simple assassination was enough to topple a tenuous balance between the old and new worlds. The resulting war killed millions and spanned the globe. Is history about to repeat itself?

The year was 1914. The world was experimenting with economic globalisation.

Optimists believed this new world economy would eliminate war.

But the concept proved to be in conflict with old notions of empire and fresh attitudes of expansionism.

There was friction between the industrial and military powers of the “old” world and the ambitions of the revitalised “new” economies.

Add a century to the date and ask yourself: does this scenario sound familiar?

According to Oxford professor of international history Margaret MacMillan, it does.Her essay addressing China’s recent flexing of its economic and military muscles has sent ripples around the world.

And she’s not the only one. Diplomats, academics, authors and journalists across the globe have reached the same conclusion.

And so has China.

“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it”.

Really?

Perhaps

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme,” quipped Mark Twain.

Here are some of the verses:

- Fading empires: Fearing the future and grasping at what they have

- A “place in the sun”: With new power comes big ambitions

- Global ‘flashpoints’: Rogue states and disputed regions

- Globalisation: With all its benefits and pressures

- Arms race: New technology negates old might

The rhythm is there. The tone is there. The tense is now.

Here’s how the two “14s” compare:



The rise and fall of the American republic ... Close parallels have been drawn between the decline of the British Empire and ...
The rise and fall of the American republic … Close parallels have been drawn between the decline of the British Empire and the waning influence of the United States. Source: Supplied



FADING EMPIRE

What had been the world’s sole economic and military superpower for almost a century suddenly found its authority being challenged. This was largely its own fault. The industrial revolution that gave it strength and arrogance led to expensive technological breakthroughs that rendered its own military might largely obsolete seemingly overnight. This exposed it to a new arms race and economic competition it could ill afford.

A century ago, this was the British Empire.

Now, is it the United States?

In 2013 the world’s sole superpower suffered a near mortal blow to its credibility. The leaks of Julian Assange, Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden have exposed the nation’s rampant exceptionalism.

Its diplomatic and moral credentials are in tatters. Yet it still maintains its stance as the world’s moral compass.

It’s a nation facing as much internal tension as it is international, as Obama seeks to impose universal healthcare on a suspicious population.

It’s a nation that criticises the likes of China for their spying activities while amassing an almost incomprehensible amount of information on millions of individualsworldwide, including its own population.

It’s a nation that raises its voice in outrage at acts of terror as its own drones bomb Arab weddings.

Now, for the first time in more than a decade, its enormous military is not at war. It’s a monolithic institution that must find a new cause through which it can justify continued immunity from looming budget-cuts.

The United States has been living beyond its means for far too long. But can it bring itself to face reality?

With dwindling resources and ballooning debts, the United States appears to feel the need to prove to itself that it is still the world’s benevolent judge, jury and executioner.

Just what it is prepared to do to maintain this illusion has already been seen in Iraq and Afghanistan.



Bright future ... A growing economy. A proud history. An expanding military. Territorial ambitions. Are we talking 1914 Germa...
Bright future … A growing economy. A proud history. An expanding military. Territorial ambitions. Are we talking 1914 Germany or 2014 China? Source: Supplied



A PLACE IN THE SUN

Back then, the new world power was Germany. It had modernised its economy. It had secured its finances. What it didn’t have was empire or international influence. What it didn’t have was the resources to feed its demanding industry. It also had a long list of grudges relating to historic wars and territorial compromises. As it grew stronger, Germany grew more demanding. A series of provocative diplomatic “incidents” were met with uncertainty and appeasement by the rest of the world. This gave the Kaiser the confidence and arrogance which would lead to war in 1914.

Are there parallels with China?

Yes.

Its economy is growing like no other. Its industry is world-leading. Its resources are being stretched. Its military might is growing.

It’s new muscle they’re already flexing.

Their ambitions towards the South and East China Seas are open knowledge. The aggressive expansion of an “air-defence zone” over islands claimed by Japan and South Korea is just the latest “testing” of international resolve. As was the near-ramming of a US cruiser “observing” China’s new aircraft carrier.

But China has grounds for resentment.

It has been the victim of a string of wars few other nations have cared about. It has been exploited and repressed through a series of treaties taking advantage of its internal turmoils.

Now, it is being forced to “fit” into a world system based on Western European values. This is something that rankles an extreme national pride based on its millennia-old culture.

And it doesn’t have to put up with such treatment any more.

Then there’s India.

It is a nation of a billion people. Its economy is going from strength to strength. Its military is expanding – particularly its navy.

It’s just another “upstart” that US military strategists have to contend with.



Tumultuous times ... Global instability and civil unrest are common themes linking us to times a century past.
Tumultuous times … Global instability and civil unrest are common themes linking us to times a century past. Source:Supplied



GLOBAL ‘FLASHPOINTS’

Today we call it terrorism. A century ago it had another name: Anarchy

Car bombs. Political assassinations. Random acts of politically-motivated violence. All filled the headlines then as they do today.

All contributed to – and stemmed from – social unrest that surpassed borders, languages and religions.

Then, as now, the “lone wolf” had the power to change the world.

Then, as now, one well-place bullet at the right time in the right environment with a suitable frenzied response could have international implications.

Then, it was the assassination of an Austrian Archduke by a Bosnian anarchist movement which triggered a cascade of failed diplomacy. This provided the “excuse” needed for war.

And nations still have territorial ambitions.

In 1914 it was Alsace-Lorraine.

It was a lush territory on the border between France and Germany that the nations had been fighting over for centuries.

In 2014, there is Taiwan.

It’s China’s major embarrassment. It’s the last bastion of the “old China” Chairman Mao sought to overthrow in 1949.

It’s still there. China still regards it as its own territory and its own people – and that the whole matter is an “internal” issue the rest of the world should butt-out of.

The United States, of course, refuses. As the world’s policeman, it sees enlightened self-interest in keeping Taiwan’s economic strength out of China’s embrace. Taiwan is also an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” from which the US can exert regional influence.

Japan’s ancient enmity with China also must not be forgot. The brutal occupation of Chinese territories in the 1930s (resulting in the murderous ‘rape of Nanking’) is still an open wound. Japan’s ongoing denial of its past errors has done nothing to help this tension.

And then there are the alienated ambitions scattered around the rest of the world. Russia. South America. North Korea.

All are “rogue states” of increasing power and confidence.

All are capable of starting a conflagration that can encompass the globe.



Power shift ... The United States, for so long the world's economic
Power shift … The United States, for so long the world’s economic “safe haven” is now itself deeply in debt. Is China taking its place at the centre of economic influence? Source: AFP



GLOBALISATION

Then, the British Empire was at the centre of the world’s economy. It had been the first to embrace the industrial revolution. Combined with its naval dominance, the little cluster of islands conquered an empire that would cover almost a third of the globe.

It set the standards for a new world; a world of advancing medicine, technology and communications.

It grew complacent in its might.

Other nations began to modernise and reform their economies as the British Empire stagnated.

Sound like the United States?

The industrial strength of the “New World” has propelled us all into the space and information ages.

But the very arms-race which caused the USSR’s economy to implode and propelled the US into sole-superpower status has come back to haunt it.

The US never lost its obsession with more and more expensive weapons. And it’s been prolific in their use, with a string of “little wars” since 1990.

Now there is a new arms race. And its centred of Asia.

The “pivot” by the US to shift most of its existing forces into the region is just that superpower’s first reaction.

But the US faces potentially crippling challenges.

Its invention of the internet has also had unexpected repercussions, propelling the world towards a globalised economy far faster than anticipated.

As a result, the United States is in debt. Deeply.

And its major creditor is China.

It’s an unstable relationship that is causing jitters in the globalised economies of nations the world over.

And China’s economy continues to grow as that of the United States’ contracts.

Such a shift in strength can, and will, send seismic shocks around the globe.



Technological race ... The pace of the adoption of new technology is faster than ever before, with new products obsolete even...
Technological race … The pace of the adoption of new technology is faster than ever before, with new products obsolete even before they enter production. Source: Supplied



ARMS RACE

Then, England ruled the waves.

Her vast fleet was unmatched in size and strength. It plied the seven seas with confidence and impunity.

Then, the Royal Navy invented the “Dreadnought” — a warship like no other.

Overnight, the investment of decades had been rendered obsolete.

Unintentionally, Britain had levelled the playing field.

A new and incredibly expensive race to build the biggest and best navy began.

All this took place even as such mighty ships were being rendered redundant: The rise of air power was taking place almost unnoticed.

Now, the United States rules the waves.

Her vast fleet is unmatched in size and strength. It plies the seven seas with confidence and impunity.

She has the added reassurance that her jets also rule the skies.

But the world is changing.

The trump-card of nuclear weapons is now part of the arsenal of a growing number of nations.

And is the potential of cheap, automated drones and missiles similar to that of the unrecognised power of the machinegun of 1914?

And what of cyber war? Just how much damage can computer-based attacks inflict on a nation?

Unfortunately, it will probably take a major war for the world to find out.



READ OXFORD DON MARGARET MACMILLAN’S ESSAY ‘THE RHYME OF HISTORY’ HERE[COLOR="red"]

[GoodETxSG]

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-new...7t+Warn+You%29
How Will The Economy Improve In 2014 If Almost Everyone Has Less Money To Spend?
Michael Snyder
January 1st, 2014
Economic Collapse Blog
Comments (365)
Read by 10,871 people



Piggybank-Photo-by-Damian-OSullivan-300x199Is the U.S. consumer tapped out? If so, how in the world will the U.S. economy possibly improve in 2014? Most Americans know that the U.S. economy is heavily dependent on consumer spending. If average Americans are not out there spending money, the economy tends not to do very well. Unfortunately, retail sales during the holiday season appear to be quite disappointing and the middle class continues to deeply struggle. And for a whole bunch of reasons things are likely going to be even tougher in 2014. Families are going to have less money in their pockets to spend thanks to much higher health insurance premiums under Obamacare, a wide variety of tax increases, higher interest rates on debt, and cuts in government welfare programs. The short-lived bubble of false prosperity that we have been enjoying for the last couple of years is rapidly coming to an end, and 2014 certainly promises to be a very “interesting year”.

Obamacare Rate Shock

Most middle class families are just scraping by from month to month these days.

Unfortunately for them, millions of those families are now being hit with massive health insurance rate increases.

In a previous article, I discussed how one study found that health insurance premiums for men are going to go up by an average of 99 percent under Obamacare and health insurance premiums for women are going to go up by an average of 62 percent under Obamacare.

Most middle class families simply cannot afford that.

Earlier today, I got an email from a reader that was paying $478 a month for health insurance for his family but has now received a letter informing him that his rate is going up to $1,150 a month.

Millions of families are receiving letters just like that. And to say that these rate increases are a “surprise” to most people would be a massive understatement. Even people that work in the financial industry are shocked at how high these premiums are turning out to be…

“The real big surprise was how much out-of-pocket would be required for our family,” said David Winebrenner, 46, a financial adviser in Lebanon, Ky., whose deductible topped $12,000 for a family of six for a silver plan he was considering. The monthly premium: $1,400.

Since Americans are going to have to pay much more for health insurance, that is going to remove a huge amount of discretionary spending from the economy, and that will not be good news for retailers.

Get Ready For Higher Taxes

When you raise taxes, you reduce the amount of money that people have in their pockets to spend.

Sadly, that is exactly what is happening.

Congress is allowing a whopping 55 tax breaks to expire at the end of this year, and when you add that to the 13 major tax increases that hit American families in 2013, it isn’t a pretty picture.

This tax season, millions of families are going to find out that they have much higher tax bills than they had anticipated.

And all of this comes at a time when incomes in America have beensteadily declining. In fact, real median household income has declined by a total of 8 percent since 2008.

If you are a worker, you might want to check out the chart that I have posted below to see where you stack up. In America today, most workers are low income workers. These numbers come from a recentHuffington Post article…

-If you make more than $10,000, you earn more than 24.2% of Americans, or 37 million people.

-If you make more than $15,000 (roughly the annual salary of a minimum-wage employee working 40 hours per week), you earn more than 32.2% of Americans.

-If you make more than $30,000, you earn more than 53.2% of Americans.

-If you make more than $50,000, you earn more than 73.4% of Americans.

-If you make more than $100,000, you earn more than 92.6% of Americans.

-You are officially in the top 1% of American wage earners if you earn more than $250,000.

-The 894 people that earn more than $20 millionmake more than 99.99989% of Americans, and are compensated a cumulative $37,009,979,568 per year.

It is important to keep in mind that those numbers are for the employment income of individuals not households. Most households have more than one member working, so overall household incomes are significantly higher than these numbers.

Higher Interest Rates Mean Larger Debt Payments

On Tuesday, the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries rose to 3.03 percent. I warned that this would happen once the taper started, and this is just the beginning. Interest rates are likely to steadily rise throughout 2014.

The reason why the yield on 10 year U.S. Treasuries is such a critical number is because mortgage rates and thousands of other interest rates throughout our economy are heavily influenced by that number.

So big changes are on the way. As a recent CNBC article declared, the era of low mortgage rates is officially over…

The days of the 3.5% 30-year fixed are over. Rates are already up well over a full percentage point from a year ago, and as the Federal Reserve begins its much anticipated exit from the bond-buying business, I believe rates will inevitably go higher.

Needless to say, this is going to deeply affect the real estate market. AsMac Slavo recently noted, numbers are already starting to drop precipitously…

The National Association of Realtors reported that the month of September saw its single largest drop in signed home sales in 40 months. And that wasn’t just a one-off event. This month mortgage applications collapsed a shocking 66%, hitting a13-year low.

And U.S. consumers can expect interest rates on all kinds of loans to start rising. That is going to mean higher debt payments, and therefore less money for consumers to spend into the economy.

Government Benefit Cuts

Well, if the middle class is going to have less money to spend, perhaps other Americans can pick up the slack.

Or maybe not.

You certainly can’t expect the poor to stimulate the economy. As I mentioned yesterday, it is being projected that up to 5 million unemployed Americans could lose their unemployment benefits by the end of 2014, and 47 million Americans recently had their food stamp benefits reduced.

So the poor will also have less money to spend in 2014.

The Wealthy Save The Day?

Perhaps the stock market will continue to soar in 2014 and the wealthy will spend so much that it will make up for all the rest of us.

You can believe that if you want, but the truth is that there are a whole host of signs that the days of this irrational stock market bubble are numbered. The following is an excerpt from one of my recent articles entitled “The Stock Market Has Officially Entered Crazytown Territory“…

The median price-to-earnings ratio on the S&P 500 has reached an all-time record high, and margin debt at the New York Stock Exchange has reached a level that we have never seen before. In other words, stocks are massively overpriced and people have been borrowing huge amounts of money to buy stocks. These are behaviors that we also saw just before the last two stock market bubbles burst.

If the stock market bubble does burst, the wealthy will also have less money to spend into the economy in 2014.

For the moment, the stock market has been rallying. This is typical for the month of December. You see, the truth is that investors generally don’t want to sell stocks in December because they want to put off paying taxes on the profits.

If stocks are sold before the end of the year, the profits go on the 2013 tax return.

If stocks are sold a few days from now, the profits go on the 2014 tax return.

It is only human nature to want to delay pain for as long as possible.

Expect to see some selling in January. Many investors are very eager to start taking profits, but they wanted to wait until the holidays were over to do so.

So what do you think is coming up in 2014? Please feel free to share what you think by posting a comment below…

Michael T. Snyder is a graduate of the University of Florida law school and he worked as an attorney in the heart of Washington D.C. for a number of years. Today, Michael is best known for his work as the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and The American Dream. If you want to know what things in America are going to look like in a few years read his new book The Beginning of the End.

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Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=P35BIykSecQ

Posted by addsub (here)
From the meeting with a high level money wonk from Europe - his simple response to the issue of currency wars and devaluation, as well as a new currency was this: "it's a scary situation". That statement doesn't sound like there is a viable Plan A or B in the works that all parties will agree to at this time. Expect a period of relative chaos before all sides agree to a replacement for the fiat currencies currently in use today.

Watch http://youtu.be/P35BIykSecQ?t=38s to get an idea of what's in the works for 2014 and beyond.

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[TODD & NORA]

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[greybeard]

Posted by shmoopie_3119 (here)
The Event – Important News!!!

http://youthemeus.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/286/

Very funny and true
Thanks
Chris

[Redstar Kachina]

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[Humble Janitor]

Posted by GoodeTXSG (here)
I think Bill has the right idea here... Do your own research!!! The info and all of the pieces of the puzzle are on the table. Take some time and put them together... The Essential Reading Link for Avalon Members was a treasure trove of info!

'2016': Obama plans to 'take America down'
http://www.wnd.com/2013/11/2016-obam...-america-down/

Expect Devastating Global Economic Changes In 2014
http://beforeitsnews.com/economy/201...SplittedPage=1

Is A Military Coupe To Topple Obama Possible
http://beforeitsnews.com/politics/20...rticalresponse

U.S. generals now take action to watch Obama
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/11/u-s-gener...Po7KwTSZBRh.99

What is Eternal Solutreanism?; Obama OMINOUSLY purges generals and admirals; WNs who are afraid to die
http://www.democratic-republicans.us...-afraid-to-die

DISTURBING: The List of Purged Military High Officers Under Obama
http://conservativeangle.com/disturb...s-under-obama/

ALL are known conservative/right wing websites. That immediately discredits this information in my mind.

I don't like the energy that this thread is putting out.

[GoodETxSG]

Well, if you do not like the tone (Or Energy of this Thread) of the the above you will not like the tone of the below. Singing kumbaya by the Marxist Camp Fire with other blind folded and brainwashed sheeple is another way to ride out what is occurring. No one has dis-proven that the entire western economy is built on fraud and that it has been pushed past the point of being sustained by quick fixes and public relations gimmick's. Nothing I say will convince those that disagree and I am not here to do that. Like I have said several times before (All one has to do is read over my prior comments in this thread responding to voices of disagreement and descent.)
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90% Collapse Of The Stock Market!?! Billionaires Dumping Shares Fast (Video)

Saturday, January 4, 2014 12:26


By Susan Duclos

If you want a good gauge of how bad the US economy is and how close a dollar, stock and total economic collapse is, watch the wealthy, the millionaires and the billionaires. In doing so, it is being reported that they are dumping shares in major American corporations. In other words, they are getting out before the US economy takes them down with it.

Billionaires Warren Buffet, John Paulson and George Soros are just a few that have dumped tens of millions of shares in American companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs.

Why?

After all, the stock market is still in the midst of its historic rally. Real estate prices have finally leveled off, and for the first time in five years are actually rising in many locations. And the unemployment rate seems to have stabilized.

It’s very likely that these professional investors are aware of specific research that points toward a massive market correction, as much as 90%.

The illusion that has been created by bailouts and bait and switch games the Obama administration has been playing for the last fives years, is about to collapse and when the stock market crashes the whole US economy will go down with the it.

More at NewsMax and in the video below.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=K9F3mtxVCqo

[GoodETxSG]

Maybe its time to Re-Read POST #1 of this Thread for some...
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Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=KOZ1BU5jxg8

More "Radical Right Wing"... "Inconvenient Truths" (I am not L or R, because I see BOTH being apart of the problem... I am Independent! Some of the info I post is from the Right or leaning Right because only they are reporting on the Kool Aid drinking Marxists and Bankster NWO types that are fighting in public to keep us divided but shaking hands making deals in private and having parties while laughing at our stupidity and ease of manipulation. It is true weather you want to believe it or not.)

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Have Americans Lost ALL of Our Constitutional Rights?
Posted on January 5, 2014 by WashingtonsBlog


http://www.theispot.com/images/sourc...d1.jpgPainting by Anthony Freda: www.AnthonyFreda.com

How Many Constitutional Freedoms Have We Lost?

This post explains the liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights – the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution – and provides a scorecard on the extent of the loss of each right. (This is an updated version of an essay we wrote in February. Since then, it has become apparent that the few rights we thought we had left are largely illusory.)

First Amendment

The 1st Amendment protects speech, religion, assembly and the press:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The Supreme Court has also interpreted the First Amendment as protecting freedom of association. However, the government is arresting those speaking out … and violently crushing peaceful assemblies which attempt to petition the government for redress. A federal judge found that the law allowing indefinite detention of Americans without due process has a “chilling effect” on free speech. And see this and this. There are also enacted laws allowing the secret service to arrest anyone protesting near the president or other designated folks (that might explain incidents like this). Mass spying by the NSA violates our freedom of association, chilling our willingness to associate with people who are not firmly in the mainstream. The threat of being labeled a terrorist for exercising our First Amendment rights certainly violates the First Amendment. The government is using laws to crush dissent, and it’s gotten so bad that even U.S. Supreme Court justices are saying that we are descending into tyranny. For example, the following actions may get an American citizen living on U.S. soil labeled as a “suspected terrorist” today:

Having an almanac
Complaining about the taste of your tap water
Being young (if you live near a battle zone, you are fair game; and see this)
Using social media
Reporting or doing journalism (and here and here)
Having “strange odors” or “bright colored stains on clothes” (what if you eat mustard or ketchup?)
Speaking out against government policies
Protesting anything (such as participating in the “Occupy” or “Tea Party” movements)
Questioning war (even though war reduces our national security; and see this)
Criticizing the government’s targeting of innocent civilians with drones (although killing innocent civilians with drones is one of the main things which increases terrorism. And see this)
Asking questions about pollution (even at a public Congressional hearing?)
Paying cash at an Internet cafe
Asking questions about Wall Street shenanigans
Holding gold
Creating alternative currencies
Stocking up on more than 7 days of food (even though all Mormons are taught to stockpile food, and most Hawaiians store up on extra food)
Having bumper stickers saying things like “Know Your Rights Or Lose Them”
Investigating factory farming
Infringing a copyright
Taking pictures or videos
Talking to police officers
Wearing a hoodie
Driving a van
Writing on a piece of paper
(Not having a Facebook account may soon be added)
And holding the following beliefs may also be considered grounds for suspected terrorism:

Being frustrated with “mainstream ideologies”
Valuing online privacy (and see this)
Being a libertarian
Liking the Founding Fathers
Being a Christian
Being anti-tax, anti-regulation or for the gold standard
Being “reverent of individual liberty”
Being “anti-nuclear”
“Believe in conspiracy theories”
“A belief that one’s personal and/or national “way of life” is under attack”
“Impose strict religious tenets or laws on society (fundamentalists)”
“Insert religion into the political sphere”
“Those who seek to politicize religion”
“Supported political movements for autonomy”
Being “anti-abortion”
Being “anti-Catholic”
Being “anti-global”
“Suspicious of centralized federal authority”
“Fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation)”
“A belief in the need to be prepared for an attack either by participating in … survivalism”
Opposing genetically engineered food
Opposing surveillance
Of course, Muslims are more or less subject to a separate system of justice in America. And 1st Amendment rights are especially chilled when power has become so concentrated that the same agency which spies on all Americans also decideswho should be assassinated.

Second Amendment

The 2nd Amendment states:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Gun control and gun rights advocates obviously have very different views about whether guns are a force for violence or for good. But even a top liberal Constitutional law expert reluctantly admits that the right to own a gun is as important a Constitutional right as freedom of speech or religion:

Like many academics, I was happy to blissfully ignore the Second Amendment. It did not fit neatly into my socially liberal agenda. *** It is hard to read the Second Amendment and not honestly conclude that the Framers intended gun ownership to be an individual right. It is true that the amendment begins with a reference to militias: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Accordingly, it is argued, this amendment protects the right of the militia to bear arms, not the individual. Yet, if true, the Second Amendment would be effectively declared a defunct provision. The National Guard is not a true militia in the sense of the Second Amendment and, since the District and others believe governments can ban guns entirely, the Second Amendment would be read out of existence. *** More important, the mere reference to a purpose of the Second Amendment does not alter the fact that an individual right is created. The right of the people to keep and bear arms is stated in the same way as the right to free speech or free press. The statement of a purpose was intended to reaffirm the power of the states and the people against the central government. At the time, many feared the federal government and its national army. Gun ownership was viewed as a deterrent against abuse by the government, which would be less likely to mess with a well-armed populace. Considering the Framers and their own traditions of hunting and self-defense, it is clear that they would have viewed such ownership as an individual right — consistent with the plain meaning of the amendment. None of this is easy for someone raised to believe that the Second Amendment was the dividing line between the enlightenment and the dark ages of American culture. Yet, it is time to honestly reconsider this amendment and admit that … here’s the really hard part … the NRA may have been right. This does not mean that Charlton Heston is the new Rosa Parks or that no restrictions can be placed on gun ownership. But it does appear that gun ownership was made a protected right by the Framers and, while we might not celebrate it, it is time that we recognize it.

The gun control debate – including which weapons and magazines are banned – is still in flux …

Third Amendment

The 3rd Amendment prohibits the government forcing people to house soldiers:

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

While a recent lawsuit by a Nevada family – covered by Mother Jones, Fox News and Courthouse News – alleges bodily violation of the Third Amendment, such literal violation is rare today. However, the NSA is stationing “digital troops” within our homes, taking over our computers and phones, and interfering with the quiet use and enjoyment of our houses. As such, the NSA is arguably violating our Third Amendment rights every single day.

And given that the Founding Fathers warned against standing armies and foreign entanglements, saying that overgrown military establishments destroy our liberty, and given that economists such as Nobel prize winner Joe Stiglitz have demonstrated that large military budgets and war destroy our economy, and make the American people poor, being forced through taxes to pay for a bloated military-industrial complex is at least analogous to being forced to quarter troops.

In America, Journalists Are Considered Terrorists


Painting by Anthony Freda: www.AnthonyFreda.com.
Fourth Amendment

The 4th Amendment prevents unlawful search and seizure:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

But the government is spying on everything we do … without any real benefit or justification. Indeed, experts say that the type of spying being carried out by the NSA and other agencies is exactly the kind of thing which King George imposed on the American colonists … which led to the Revolutionary War. And many Constitutional experts – such as Jonathan Turley – think that the police went too far in Boston with lockdowns and involuntary door-to-door searches.


Paintings by Anthony Freda: www.AnthonyFreda.com.
Fifth Amendment

The 5th Amendment addresses due process of law, eminent domain, double jeopardy and grand jury:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

But the American government has shredded the 5th Amendment by subjecting us to indefinite detention and taking away our due process rights. The government claims the right to assassinate or indefinitely detain any American citizen on U.S. citizen without any due process. And see this. As such, the government is certainly depriving people of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. There are additional corruptions of 5th Amendment rights – such as property being taken for private purposes. And the right to remain silent is gone. The percentage of prosecutions in which a defendant is denied a grand jury is difficult to gauge, as there is so much secrecy surrounding many terrorism trials.



HUNG LIBERTY (NYSE)Image by William Banzai

Sixth Amendment

The 6th Amendment guarantees the right to hear the criminal charges levied against us and to be able to confront the witnesses who have testified against us, as well as speedy criminal trials, and a public defender for those who cannot hire an attorney:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Subjecting people to indefinite detention or assassination obviously violates the 6th Amendment right to a jury trial. In both cases, the defendants is “disposed of” without ever receiving a trial … and often without ever hearing the charges against them. More and more commonly, the government prosecutes cases based upon “secret evidence” that they don’t show to the defendant … or sometimes even the judge hearing the case. The government uses “secret evidence” to spy on Americans, prosecute leaking or terrorism charges (even against U.S. soldiers) and even assassinate people. And see this and this. Secret witnesses are being used in some cases. And sometimes lawyers are not even allowed to read their own briefs. Indeed, even the laws themselves are now starting to be kept secret. And it’s about to get a lot worse.

Seventh Amendment

The 7th Amendment guarantees trial by jury in federal court for civil cases:

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Technically, this right is still being respected. However, financial sheninagins have made it very difficult for most Americans to be able to enjoy this right. Specifically, the austerity caused by redistribution of wealth to the super-elite is causing severe budget cuts to the courts and legal assistance institutions. Moreover, there are two systems of justice in America … one for the big banks and other fatcats, and one for everyone else. The government made it official policy not to prosecute fraud, even though fraud is the main business model adopted by Wall Street. Indeed, the biggest financial crime in world history, the largest insider trading scandal of all time, illegal raiding of customer accounts and blatant financing of drug cartels and terrorists have all been committed recently without any real criminal prosecution or jail time. On the other hand, government prosecutors are using the legal system to crush dissent and to silence whistleblowers. And some of the nation’s most powerful judges have lost their independence … and are in bed with the powers-that-be.



Painting by Anthony Freda: www.AnthonyFreda.com
Eighth Amendment

The 8th Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Indefinite detention and assassination are obviously cruel and unusual punishment. The widespread system of torture carried out in the last 10 years – with the help of other countries – violates the 8th Amendment. Many want to bring it back … or at least justify its past use. While Justice Scalia disingenuously argues that torture does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment because it is meant to produce information – not punish – he’s wrong. It’s not only cruel and unusual … it is technically a form of terrorism. And government whistleblowers are being cruelly and unusually punished with unduly harsh sentences meant to intimidate anyone else from speaking out.

Ninth Amendment

The 9th Amendment provides that people have other rights, even if they aren’t specifically listed in the Constitution:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

We can debate what our inherent rights as human beings are. I believe they include the right to a level playing field, and access to non-toxic food and water. You may disagree. But everyone agrees that the government should not actively encourage fraud and manipulation. However, the government – through its malignant, symbiotic relation with big corporations – is interfering with our aspirations for economic freedom, safe food and water (instead of arsenic-laden, genetically engineered junk), freedom from undue health hazards such as irradiation due to government support of archaic nuclear power designs, and a level playing field (as opposed to our crony capitalist system in which the little guy has no shot due to redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the super-elite, and government support of white collar criminals). By working hand-in-glove with giant corporations to defraud us into paying for a lower quality of life, the government is trampling our basic rights as human beings.



Tenth Amendment

The 10th Amendment provides that powers not specifically given to the Federal government are reserved to the states or individual:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Two of the central principles of America’s Founding Fathers are:

(1) The government is created and empowered with the consent of the people and (2) Separation of powers

Today, most Americans believe that the government is threatening – rather than protecting – freedom. We’ve become more afraid of our government than of terrorists, and believe that the government is no longer acting with the “consent of the governed“. And the federal government is trampling the separation of powers by stepping on the toes of the states and the people. For example, former head S&L prosecutor Bill Black – now a professor of law and economics – notes:

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the resident examiners and regional staff of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency [both] competed to weaken federal regulation and aggressively used the preemption doctrine to try to prevent state investigations of and actions against fraudulent mortgage lenders.

Indeed, the federal government is doing everything it can to stick its nose into every aspect of our lives … and act like Big Brother. Edward Snowden showed us that the NSA spying programs “were never about terrorism: They’re about economic spying, social control, and diplomatic manipulation. They’re about power.”

Conclusion: While one or two of the liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights still exist, the vast majority are under heavy assault.

Other Constitutional Provisions … and The Declaration of Independence

In addition to the trampling of the Bill of Rights, the government has also trashed the separation of powers enshrined in the main body of the Constitution. For example, the NSA is spying on Congress. The government is also engaging in activities which the Founding Fathers fought against, such as taxation without representation (here and here), cronyism, deference to central banks, etc. As the preamble to the Declaration of Independence shows, the American government is still carrying out many of the acts the Founding Fathers found most offensive:

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. [Background] He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. [Background here, here and here] *** He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: [Background] *** For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences [Background] *** He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. [Background] *** He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. [Background here, here and here]