Category Archives: Debt

"11 Long-Term Trends That Are Absolutely Destroying The U.S. Economy"

Business, Debt, Labor, Outsourcing, Political Economy

The Business Insider’s list of “Long-Term Trends That Are Absolutely Destroying The U.S. Economy” should form the sub-headings issuing from an overarching main causal agent: The State, its onerous regulations, and its mint. Over the decades, the Federal Reserve Bank, with State imprimatur, has debauched the currency and it manipulates interest rates so that the economy can never self-regulate.

In any event, The Business Insider may, at times, confuse cause with consequence, but, at least, it has looked beyond short-term trends; in itself a break from the trend.

See what you think (and do follow the hyperlinks before you accuse me of being remiss):

Long-Term Trend #1: The Deindustrialization Of America.
Long-Term Trend #2: The Exploding U.S. Trade Deficit
Long-Term Trend #3: The Shrinking Middle Class
Long-Term Trend #4: The Growing Size Of The U.S. Government
Long-Term Trend #5: The Constantly Growing U.S. National Debt
Long-Term Trend #6: The Ongoing Devaluation Of The U.S. Dollar
Long-Term Trend #7: The Derivatives Bubble
Long-Term Trend #8: The Health Care Industry
Long-Term Trend #9: Financial Power Is Becoming Concentrated In Fewer And Fewer Hands
Long-Term Trend #10: Rampant Corruption On Wall Street
Long-Term Trend #11: The Growing Retirement Crisis That Threatens To Bankrupt America

See the details HERE.

“11 Long-Term Trends That Are Absolutely Destroying The U.S. Economy”

Business, Debt, Economy, Labor, Outsourcing, Political Economy

In any event, The Business Insider may, at times, confuse cause with consequence, but, at least, it has looked beyond short-term trends; in itself a break from the trend.

See what you think (and do follow the hyperlinks before you accuse me of being remiss):

See the details HERE.

Global Ghouls Rising

Debt, Economy, EU, Europe, Political Economy, Regulation, Taxation

Since the onset of the economic crisis, the din has grown louder from assorted international institutions. It goes without saying that the demands are never for a dispersion of power. There have been various lunges for EU types of controls over financial institutions. Most of the resistance to the pull has come not from the US.

For example, and as I documented over this space, the Canadian government, not the American one, resisted a bank tax suggested by the the global regulatory regime.

Ministers fanned out across the world to raise opposition to the proposal for avoiding another financial crisis. ‘Canada is, and will remain, opposed to a tax that would penalize financial institutions that remained strong and prosperous while many of the world’s banks failed,’ Clement told a press conference with Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon.”

“In an apparent attempt to reignite damped discussions on a key regulatory issue,” reports the Wall Street Journal, “the IMF proposed that a half-dozen or so of the countries with the biggest financial centers—such as the U.S., U.K., and Japan—voluntarily agree to a set of guidelines to resolve failed systemically important international financial firms.”

Not-so curiously, in opposition are the European countries: “it is uncertain whether [they] want to cede sovereignty on the issue.” Some of these countries have also implemented austerity measures, which have angered hedonistic B. Hussein. Remember when our president instructed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to “print more money, not make it”?

If the IMF is looking for the political will to galvanize the globe, they will surely find it in the US.

UPDATED: Tea Party Must Go To War With The War Party (Abu Ghraib à la Afghanistan)

Debt, Economy, Foreign Policy, Neoconservatism, Propaganda, War

Ending the warfare state is the only ray of hope for down-and-out, indebted America. With laser-like precision, Pat Buchanan zeroes in on the tack the tea party must take if it is to tackle the federal-induced “deficit-debt crisis, a national debt nearing 100 percent of gross domestic product and a deficit of 10 percent of GDP.” There is only “one place where a bipartisan majority may be found for major spending cuts: defense and the empire, the warfare state.”

“After Iraq and Afghanistan,” writes Buchanan, in “Tea Party vs. War Party?”, “the American people are not going to give the establishment and War Party a free hand in foreign policy. Every patriot will do what is necessary and pay what is needed to defend his country. But national security is one thing, empire security another.”

There is another matter I have raised in “Statism Starts With You!” and other recent columns, and it is “America’s fondness for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — which combined, account for close to half of the federal government’s budget.” “Only 7 percent of the country will consider slashing the first two welfare programs. And a mere eleven percent of those living in the ‘Land of the Free’ are prepared to pare down Medicaid. Keep the government out of my Medicare!”

For a lack of any other viable option for stalling State spending, the Tea Party must position itself in opposition to Obama’s volitional and inherited wars; ignore Mr. Hannity’s nagging about “Empire security,” and preach and proselytize about the end of Empire.

If ever there was a religious cause, ending America’s military forays abroad is it.

UPDATE: Abu Ghraib à la Afghanistan. You remember the pornographic pictorials from Abu Ghraib prison, starring some sadistic and slutty servicemen and women? Well, GI JOE and GI HO have relocated. And they will continue to do their thing until the US government stops unleashing them in other countries. (Place them on the US-Mexico border where they can scare some gangsters their own size—drug cartel members—if that’s not posse comitatus.)

HERE goes:

Those who have seen the photos say they are grisly: soldiers beside newly killed bodies, decaying corpses and severed fingers.
The dozens of photos, described in interviews and in e-mails and military documents obtained by The Associated Press, were seized by Army investigators and are a crucial part of the case against five soldiers accused of killing three Afghan civilians earlier this year.