Is insider trading wrong? Most Americans would say that it is. In fact, some very wealthy and very prominent Americans (including Martha Stewart) have gone to prison for it. It just is not right for those with inside information that is not generally available to the public to make huge profits in the stock market by making key trades based on that information. But there is one group, members of the U.S. Congress, that can do all the insider trading they want and get away with it. That is because insider trading is perfectly legal for members of Congress. Yes, you read that correctly. So how would that work? Well, for example, a member of Congress may know that a law that is about to be proposed would have a very positive effect on a particular company and could buy up a ton of stock in that company a few days before that law is introduced. Isn’t that wrong? Of course. Is there any law against it? Not at all. (Read More...)
Politics
What Do The American People Believe About Government?
As the November elections draw near, a number of polling organizations have been asking the American people fundamental questions about what they believe about politics and what they believe about government. So what have these polls shown? Well, it is undeniable that distrust and dissatisfaction with the government is growing. The American people are getting fed up with what is going on in Washington. It is also clear that the number of Americans that are in favor of big government is decreasing. But it is actually more complicated than that. It appears that the American people want the government to get off their backs, but they also want the government to do more and to provide more services. The American people apparently want fewer laws but more protections. The American people seem to want lower taxes but also more government spending to stimulate the economy. In other words, the American people want to have their cake and eat it too. (Read More...)
One Out Of Every Six U.S. Taxpayers Will Be Hit By A Tax Increase Averaging $3,900 This Year And Most Of Them Don’t Even Realize It
Did you know that there are two different sets of federal income tax rules in the United States? It’s true. Each year, most U.S. taxpayers either pay income tax under the system that most of us are familiar with or they pay the “Alternative Minimum Tax” – whichever amount ends up being greater. For years, the U.S. Congress has passed one year “fixes” that have exempted millions of middle class American families from the Alternative Minimum Tax. This has essentially been a huge tax cut each year for those millions of American families. But this year, the Democrat-controlled Congress has not passed a “patch” for the Alternative Minimum Tax. So now one out of every six U.S. taxpayers is going to be hit by the Alternative Minimum Tax. The taxpayers most likely to be affected are married couples, very large families, home owners and taxpayers in states that have high state and local taxes. The average tax increase that these taxpayers will be facing is going to be approximately $3,900 and most of them have no idea that it is coming. At a time when an increasing number of families is barely getting by, a tax increase of this magnitude is simply going to crush the American Dream for literally millions of families. Talk about a cruel surprise for tens of millions of Americans this upcoming tax season! (Read More...)
Only 23 Percent Of Americans Believe That The Federal Government Has The Consent Of The Governed
Have you ever noticed that no matter what political party is in power in America nothing really seems to change that much? Sure, a lot of the faces change and there are some small shifts in ideology here and there, but more or less the policies of the U.S. government have been remarkably consistent over the last 40 years. Have you ever wondered why that is? Well, the truth is that America’s “ruling class” has an absolute stranglehold on both political parties. You see, the little lie that we were told that “anyone can grow up and be president” simply is not true. Living the American Dream takes connections. Without the backing of the “establishment”, you simply are not going to go very far in politics. In fact, without the “establishment” you aren’t going to go very far in law, the corporate world, the media or in the highest levels of education either. Sure you might experience some success on the lower levels, but without fully becoming “connected” to the establishment to at least some degree you just are not going to advance to become one of the elite in any of those fields. (Read More...)
Will The Tea Party Movement Succeed Or Will Ideological Divisions Doom It To Failure?
The Tea Party movement has been one of the most exhilarating things to happen to American politics in decades. Millions of Americans who have become increasingly frustrated with government and who feel that they are not being represented have banded together to take collective action in what is truly one of the greatest grass roots movements in U.S. political history. Some have even suggested that the Tea Party movement should become a new political party. Every single day now, the Tea Party movement makes headlines all over the globe and it has had some tremendous success in getting some candidates elected recently. But are there problems on the horizon? The truth is that there are only a few things that almost everyone in the Tea Party movement agrees on. But there are a whole bunch of issues that are creating major ideological divisions among Tea Party activists. In fact, most of the issues listed below will create huge arguments at any Tea Party gathering. The reality is that the Tea Party movement has attracted a very diverse group of people, and there are only a few points that they all agree on. So can such a fractured movement survive in the long-term? (Read More...)
Invasion! Mexican Drug Cartels Are Openly Conducting Military Operations Inside The United States
Many people wonder why so many of us are so hard on illegal immigration. Well, it is not because we are against migrant workers coming into the United States to help agricultural giants pick fruit. Certainly those workers should not be entering the country illegally – so if there is a real need for them a mechanism for bringing them in legally should be worked out. No, the reality is that securing our border is actually a national security issue. Federal agents and local law enforcement officials are now openly announcing that they are outgunned, outmanned and are increasingly being shot at by the Mexican drug cartels that are openly conducting military operations inside the United States. Things have actually gotten so bad that the U.S. government is warning U.S. citizens to permanently stay away from certain areas of Arizona. The truth is that so many of us are so worked up about illegal immigration not because we want to deny the “American Dream” to all of the people south of the border, but rather because we are actually witnessing a military invasion of our soil by some of the most ruthless and powerful drug cartels on earth. It is unconscionable for our politicians to stand by and do nothing to secure the border as foreigners continue to pour in and openly conduct military operations against the American people. (Read More...)
Economic Austerity Measures: Bitter Financial Medicine For Nations That Have Been Living Beyond Their Means
Over the past several decades, most of the major industrialized nations have been borrowing and spending unprecedented amounts of money. This has enabled them to greatly stimulate their economies, and has allowed hundreds of millions of people to live fabulous lifestyles. But there is a problem when nations try to live beyond their means for decades. A big problem. The problem is called debt. Right now the world is facing a sovereign debt crisis that threatens to throw the entire globe into a very, very deep recession. In fact, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King recently called this the worst financial crisis in history. While that might be a bit dramatic (at least at this point), the reality is that the situation in the financial world is becoming very, very serious. You see, debts have to be paid back eventually. All over the globe, national governments are trying to deal with debt and interest on debt that has piled up so dramatically that they don’t know what to do about it. For example, the United States is in a complete mess. The U.S. national debt is scheduled to soon surpass 13 trillion dollars. To get an idea of how big that is, if you went out and spent one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend one trillion dollars. It would take you more than 403,000 years to spend 13 trillion dollars. Are you starting to get the picture? This gigantic debt that the U.S. government has accumulated is about to turn the American Dream into the American Nightmare. It is literally impossible for the United States to ever pay the national debt off, and as it continues to explode it will increasingly become a crushing load that the U.S. economy can simply not support. (Read More...)
Will The New Green Economy Kill The American Dream For Millions Of People?
As Barack Obama and U.S. Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman continue to try to ramrod a “green economy bill” down the throats of the American people, many Americans are openly wondering what this new green economy is going to cost all of us. After all, two new reports have just come out that clearly indicate that “climate change legislation” is really, really bad for an economy. In fact, many are projecting that the cap and trade system that Barack Obama and the Democrats wish to impose on all of us will end up killing the American Dream for millions of people. At a time when the U.S. economy is already coming apart at the seams, the last thing we need is another huge mountain of oppressive regulations heaped on to American businesses. This is especially true considering the fact that global corporations have already shown that they will ship manufacturing jobs out of the United States at the drop of a hat. The reality is that the new green economy is not going to be good for any of us, and the American people need to wake up to that fact. (Read More...)