Just how deep does the rabbit hole go?
Finance
The Markets, Currency, the Transfer of Wealth and anything else that affects your wallet.
United States Is Fighting 74 Wars
08 hours ago
United States Is Fighting 74 Wars
Posted by NextNewsNetwork
Stream: http://NextNewsNetwork.com
Researchers Linda J. Bilmes and Michael D. Intriligator have documented that the Pentagon is presently involved in 74 conflicts world-wide, either in an active combat role, or by supplying military “advisers” to friendly governments.
This report also includes…
Oil company offices in London, the Netherlands and Norway were raided by regulators from the European Commission on May 15 as part of an investigation into suspected price-fixing, pressuring companies such as BP, Shell, and Statoil of Norway to end the banking secrecy.
According to official estimates, more than 50,000 Pakistanis have died as a result of the so-called war on terror — which is why both contenders in the recent presidential election, in which incumbent Nawaz Sharif turned back a challenge by the immensely popular Imran Khan — openly campaign for an end to the country’s involvement in the US war on terror.
The U.S. Navy test-launched an unmanned drone the size of a fighter jet on May 15. The prototype X-47B drone, which has a range of 2,100 nautical miles and a ceiling of more than 40,000 feet, took off from the USS GEORGE HW BUSH in a test flight over the Atlantic Ocean.
Should anyone be taxed over 100% of income? Happened to some in France for tax year 2011
021 hours ago
Source: http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org
Should anyone be taxed over 100% of income? Happened to some in France for tax year 2011.
Photo: http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org
Vive le France? Well, one of the reasons there is less “vive” in France these days is because of asinine policies such as the one imposed by France’s current Socialist government which is highlighted below.
Eat the rich? See how many of the rich stick around to be eaten.
How on earth would a country ever turn itself around with this sort of economic mentality? The French are basically saying that they don’t want capital creation within their borders.
(From Reuters)
“…the exceptionally high level of taxation was due to a one-off levy last year on 2011 incomes for households with assets of more than 1.3 million euros ($1.67 million).
President Francois Hollande’s Socialist government imposed the tax surcharge last year, shortly after taking office, to offset the impact of a rebate scheme created by its conservative predecessor to cap an individual’s overall taxation at 50 percent of income.”
The Slow, Agonizing Death Of The American Worker
12 days ago
Source: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com
10 Amazing Charts That Demonstrate The Slow, Agonizing Death Of The American Worker
The middle class American worker is in danger of becoming an endangered species. The politicians are not telling you the truth, and the mainstream media is certainly not telling you the truth, but the reality is that there is nothing but bad news on the horizon for workers in the United States. In the old days, when the big corporations that dominate our society did well, that also meant good things for American workers since those corporations would need more of us to work for them. But in the emerging one world economic system that our economy is being merged into, those corporations have other choices now. For instance, the big corporations can now choose to limit the number of “expensive” American workers that they employ by shipping millions of jobs to the other side of the world. And from their perspective, it makes perfect sense. They can make much bigger profits by hiring people on the other side of the planet to work for them for less than a dollar an hour. If they can get good production out of those people, then why should they hire Americans for ten to twenty times as much, plus have to give those Americans health insurance and other benefits?
Another major factor in the slow, agonizing death of the American worker is technology. We live during a period when technology is advancing at a pace that is almost unimaginable at the same time that it is steadily becoming cheaper and cheaper. That means that it is going to become easier and easier for companies to replace workers with robots and computers. As I have written about previously, it is being projected that our economy will lose millions of jobs to technology in the coming years. Yes, some of us will still be needed to help build the robots and the computers, but not all of us will. And of course the overall general weakness of the economy is not helping matters either. The American people inherited the greatest economic machine in the history of the world, and we have wrecked it. Decades of very foolish decisions have resulted in the period of steady economic decline that we are experiencing now.
America is simply not the economic powerhouse that it once was. Back in 2001, the U.S. economy accounted for 31.8 percent of global GDP. By 2011, the U.S. economy only accounted for 21.6 percent of global GDP. That is a collapse any way that you want to look at it.
Today, American workers are living in an economy that is rapidly declining, and their jobs are steadily being stolen by robots, computers and foreign workers that live in countries where it is legal to pay slave labor wages. Politicians from both political parties refuse to do anything to stop the bleeding because they think that the status quo is working just great.
So don’t expect things to get better any time soon.
The following are 10 amazing charts that demonstrate the slow, agonizing death of the American worker…
#1 Wages And Salaries As A Percentage Of GDP
As you can see, wages as a percentage of GDP are hovering near an all-time record low. That means that American workers are bringing home a smaller share of the economic pie than ever before.
#2 Average Annual Hours Worked Per Employed Person In The United States
We are an economy that is rapidly trading good paying full-time jobs for low paying part-time jobs. The decline in average annual hours worked that we have witnessed represents the equivalent of losing millions of jobs. There has been an explosion of “the working poor” in the United States, and this trend is probably only going to accelerate in the years to come.
#3 Manufacturing Employment
As you can see, there are less Americans working in manufacturing today than there was in 1950 even though the population of the country has more than doubled since then. The United States has lost more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities since 2001, and yet our politicians stand around and do nothing about it.
#4 Employment-Population Ratio
This is one of my favorite charts. It shows that there has been absolutely no employment recovery at all since the end of the last recession. The percentage of working age Americans that have a job has stayed under 59 percent for 44 months in a row. How much worse will things get when the next major economic downturn strikes?
#5 Labor Force Participation Rate
This is how the Obama administration is getting the “unemployment rate” to magically go down. They are pretending that millions upon millions of Americans simply do not want to work anymore. As you will notice, the decline of the labor force participation rate has accelerated greatly since Barack Obama entered the White House.
#6 Duration Of Unemployment
The average amount of time that it takes an unemployed worker to find a new job has declined slightly, but it is still far above normal historical levels. It is a crying shame that it takes the average unemployed worker two-thirds of a year to find a new job, but this is the new economic reality that we are all living in.
IRS Handed Out Nearly 100 Million In Bonuses Since 2009
0Source: http://weaselzippers.us
By Nickarama
I disagree, there was apparently plenty of “performance” out of Obama’s IRStasi. Meanwhile, Obama lectures the rest of us about “shared sacrifice” from the vacation golf course.
There is a new report by the Washington Examiner claiming IRS Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner took home tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses, and she is not alone. Nearly $100 million went toward agency bonuses since 2009 during the period when the IRS was targeting conservative groups, according to the report.
Washington Examiner executive editor Mark Tapscott joined Neil Cavuto to discuss the findings. He said that about 16,000 of the IRS’ 97,000 employees got bonuses that averaged about $5,500 per year.
What were the bonuses based on? Tapscott said, “The civil service bases its performance award system on a number of factors, many of which are very vague, escape definition and generally leave a great deal of discretion to whomever you work for. Trust me, they have very little relationship with the kind of bonuses people get in the private sector for actually producing.” He added, “This is indicative of the culture of pay without performance, which is typical of federal civil service.”
David Stockman speaks at the Manhattan Mises Circle
06 days ago
How Crony Capitalism Corrupts the Free Market
Source: http://www.lewrockwell.com
Posted by Ryan W. McMaken
The Biggest, Most Corrupt Bank Scheme That’s Not Being Stopped
01 week ago
Posted by TheYoungTurks
“Conspiracy theorists of the world, believers in the hidden hands of the Rothschilds and the Masons and the Illuminati, we skeptics owe you an apology. You were right. The players may be a little different, but your basic premise is correct: The world is a rigged game. We found this out in recent months, when a series of related corruption stories spilled out of the financial sector, suggesting the world’s largest banks may be fixing the prices of, well, just about everything.”*
The Libor bank scandal has nothing on the newest interest rate swap manipulation scheme where bankers are going completely unchecked. This is a $379 trillion market– why are bankers allowed to manipulate it without restraint? Cenk Uygur breaks it down.
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Yes, a major bank scheme, yes, the game is rigged, and this bank scheme is only one of many.
The Monarchs of Money
01 week ago
Source: http://www.cbc.ca
The Monarchs of Money
The world’s central banks have printed unimaginable amounts of money in recent years. Neil Macdonald explores what this means for the global economy and for your financial well-being.
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Republished with permission.
Thermometer Cost Taxpayers $643,997.60
0Source: http://libertycrier.com
By binaryloop
Thermometer Cost Taxpayers $643,997.60
Wondering if it’s too hot to go outside at your workplace? Don’t bother checking the thermometer or stepping outside: the Federal government has the answer and, it only cost taxpayers $643,997.60! Josh Peterson of the Daily Caller reported in 2012 about a smartphone app created by OSHA that uses temperature and humidity data to warn workers if it is too hot outside:
“According to OSHA’s website, the “Heat Safety Tool”—available forAndroid, Blackberry and iPhone—“allows workers and supervisors to calculate the heat index for their work site and, based on the heat index, displays a risk level to outdoor workers.” The app also provides “reminders about drinking enough fluids, scheduling rest breaks, planning for and knowing what to do in an emergency.”
A recent Freedom of Information Act request by the free-market oriented Americans for Limited Government revealed that the Labor Department contracts for the development of the “Heat Safety Tool” and related Web 2.0 technologies cost the taxpayer $643,997.60. The contracts were awarded under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus package.
OSHA’s Heat Safety Tool
Rich Jones, the 23-year-old, Boston-based Android app developer who originally reported on the tool said: “When I first tried the application, it told me that it was currently 140F in Boston. It is also extremely slow, it looks like ****, and it crashes all the time. It is completely horrible in every way. If I had to reproduce it, I’d say that it would take be about 6 hours at the maximum. At my hourly rate of $100, that’s $600.”
The company responsible for developing the app was Eastern Research Group, a Lexington, Massachusetts-based environmental services company that was bought out by AEA Technology in the U.K. in 2010. Basically, Americans’ hard-earned money was being given to a foreign company to create a high tech way of telling the weather. To make matters worse, it doesn’t even work well — iTunes users who ranked the app give it just 2.5 out of 5 stars.
“It is obscene that Obama’s Labor Department wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on a mobile application to alert workers that it is hot, presumably something they would know based upon their being outside,” Rick Manning, director of communication for Americans for Limited Government.
Ron Paul On The Bubbles the Federal Reserve Is Creating
01 week ago
Source: http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com
On Monday, Ron Paul continued his examination of failed Fed policies in his latest “Texas Straight Talk”.
Dr. Paul said:
Although many were up in arms when the Fed said it would buy $600 billion in government debt outright for the previous round, QE2, all seems quiet about the magnitude of QE3 because it doesn’t come with huge up-front total price tag. But by year’s end the Fed’s balance sheet could hit $4 trillion.
With no recovery in sight, where’s all this money going? It is creating bubbles. Bubbles in the housing sector, the stock market, and government debt.
The stock market has been hitting record highs for the past two months as investors seek to capitalize on the Fed’s easy money. After all, as long as the Fed keeps the spigot open, nominal profits are there for the taking. But this is a house of cards. Eventually, just like in 2008-2009, the market will discipline the bad actions of the Fed and seek to find the real normal.
Here’s the full broadcast:
If it’s a “states’ rights” issue, why are they asking permission from the federal government? (Internet Sales Tax)
02 weeks ago
Source: http://www.bcpublicrecord.com
By Tona
For many months now, “limited government, free market, reduced spending, Conservative Republicans™” Lamar Alexander, Bob Corker and Bill Haslam have been lobbying for and/or sponsoring the Marketplace Fairness Act, also known by a more appropriate title: the Internet Sales Tax. The tax-raising Republicans have been touting this as the states collecting taxes “that were already theirs”, or “making it fair for the brick-and-mortar businesses located in the state”, or “restoring state sovereignty” as if this is some sort of 10th Amendment takeback from the federal government – when in reality it is just a tax increase. Their appeal to the currently popular anti-federal sentiment in the country is not only unconvincing, it is without constitutional merit. Note that they are counting you as fools to fall for this “states’ rights” language.
If these leaders truly believed in “marketplace fairness” for brick-and-mortar stores, then Tennessee would not have cut the sweetheart deal with online retailer and corporate welfare queen Amazon to locate here and not collect any sales taxes – even for sales within the state. How’s that for an unfair advantage? Nobody argues that a sale made within the state isn’t subject to state sales taxes – except for our state government and Amazon, who enjoys an unfair advantage over all the other brick-and-mortar retailers in Tennessee thanks to Governor Haslam who now claims to be interested in “marketplace fairness”. Amazon also received a 10-year, 50% tax break on property taxes to locate in Loudon County. Apparently tax revenue (or is that “fairness”?) is for sale to the highest bidder. We don’t need a new federal law to correct that.
Article 1, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution states in part:
“No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.”
The federal government cannot issue a federal tax on interstate sales. They are exports, whether to another state or another country. The federal government can however regulate interstate “commerce” or transportation of the goods between states. The states themselves do not have this power over one another. They cannot regulate interstate trade period – which is precisely why sales taxes for purchases you made in another state have not been collected. They are exports to your resident state. So the money-grubbers in the state created the “use” tax to take some of your money anyway – despite the fact that they provide zero services to the brick-and-mortar store in the other state you imported from and your “use” of the item you purchased doesn’t induce any burden on your neighbors that require additional tax revenue that isn’t covered somewhere else by another tax.
So why ask permission from the federal government? Because they have to. Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution states in part:
“No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws: and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress.”
So guess what? The states are only entitled to collecting their new Internet Sales Tax and subtracting their expenses for executing inspections of these imports/exports. The rest of the revenue is required by the U.S. Constitution to go to the U.S. Treasury. At best, Tennessee could add more cigarette gestapo agents to the state Department of Revenue. The net revenue proceeds to the states legally should be ZERO, because see, the founders really did believe in some semblance of free trade and INDEPENDENT states.
There is no “state right” to this money. There never was.
This is a work in progess, a self learning tool and fun little project. Please excuse the slow development as it seems the needed proper time is always lacking. It is my hope that the combination of content and links to other sources of information in this simple blog may help awaken a few of the sleeping masses and encourage and inspire others to initiate their own research, ultimately for each person to be a light to help awaken others. Opinions expressed belong to me, myself and I. Also, a big thank you to all that take the time to visit, it is appreciated :)
