Do you own a cell phone? Do you think that it is private and secure? You might want to think again. The truth is that there is virtually no privacy when it comes to cell phones. In fact, the amount of cell phone surveillance that goes on is absolutely staggering. For example, one German politician named Malte Spitz recently went to court to force Deutsche Telekom to reveal how often his cell phone was being tracked. What he found out was absolutely amazing. It turns out that in just one 6 month period, Deutsche Telekom recorded the longitude and latitude coordinates of his cell phone 35,000 times. Not only that, in the United States cell phone companies are actually required by law to be able to pinpoint the locations of their customers to within 100 meters. Most cell phone carriers are able to track their customers far more accurately than that. The truth is that your location will never again be truly “private” as long as you are carrying a cell phone. (Read More...)
A List Of 28 Things That Will Make You Think That There Is Something Seriously Wrong With This Country
What in the world is happening to America? Perhaps you have asked yourself that question from time to time. Today it seems like everything is falling apart. Our economy is crumbling, our politicians are incompetent, we have just gotten involved in another war, corruption is everywhere and the Americans people are so addicted to entertainment that hardly anything can wake them from their stupor. It is enough to make you think that there is just not much hope for America. But the truth is that we should never give up. It is when the times are darkest that the greatest heroes arise. We truly do live in challenging times, but that just means that there are great victories to be won and great stories to be written. There may be a whole lot of things that are very wrong with America right now, but that doesn’t mean that the game is over quite yet. (Read More...)
Broke And Getting Broker: 22 Jaw Dropping Statistics About The Financial Condition Of American Families
Most American families are really struggling in this economy and they see most of the families around them really struggling, but they don’t have any hard numbers to back up the feelings of economic despair that they are experiencing. Well, below you will find 22 statistics that prove that American families are broke and getting broker. Today, the financial condition of most middle class families is rapidly deteriorating. The number of good jobs is declining, incomes are down, debt loads are up and bankruptcies and foreclosures just continue to increase. If you step back and really examine the statistics, it becomes really hard to deny that American families are getting poorer. Well, the wealthiest 5 percent are still thriving, but everyone else is really having a tough time. The truth is that a large percentage of the U.S. middle class is slowly but surely going broke. Unfortunately, this is being caused by long-term economic trends that simply are not going to be fixed overnight. (Read More...)
10 Facts About Corporate Taxes That Will Make Your Blood Boil
As the rest of us fill out our federal tax returns this year, we can all take great comfort in the fact that many of the largest corporations in the United States are not paying any federal taxes at all. Over the past couple of decades, multinational corporations have become incredibly skilled at avoiding taxes. It has become routine for big companies to shift profitable operations to divisions in other countries where tax rates are lower. It has also become routine for big companies to set up “sham headquarters” in tax havens around the world. Many U.S. corporations have even renounced their status as American companies in order to avoid paying taxes. All of this has had a dramatic impact on the income of the federal government. Corporate taxes now account for less than 7 percent of all federal revenue. Back in the 1950s they accounted for about 30 percent of all federal revenue. Meanwhile, the 35 percent corporate tax rate in the United States is chasing companies (and the accompanying good jobs) out of the United States at a blinding pace. In a world where big corporations will go to any lengths to “game the system”, this is absolutely devastating our economy. (Read More...)
Glenn Beck And The Federal Reserve
Last Friday, Glenn Beck did an entire show on the Federal Reserve. It had been a highly publicized show and many people were wondering how Beck was going to handle the subject. Well, to his credit, the show actually contained a lot of truth and it was definitely anti-Federal Reserve. Was the show perfect and 100% accurate? No, not by a long shot. But for a big name personality like Glenn Beck on a big cable network like Fox News to do an hour long show on why the Federal Reserve is bad is a very big deal. Many of us in the alternative media have spent a lot of time bashing the mainstream media (and rightly so), but when someone does something right, we should applaud them for it. The Federal Reserve was the topic for the entire show, and Beck and his guests discussed the creation of money, debt, the history of banking and the current financial problems of the United States. Glenn Beck even had G. Edward Griffin on the show. That was huge. There is not usually much on the mainstream news worth getting excited about, but in this case Glenn Beck’s show on the Federal Reserve was a very good step forward, and hopefully more mainstream news programs will begin to feel comfortable with taking an honest look at the Federal Reserve. (Read More...)
Radioactive Cesium With A Half-Life Of Approximately 30 Years Is Being Released At About 60 Percent Of Chernobyl Levels
Why does it seem as though the nuclear crisis in Japan just keeps getting worse with each passing day? TEPCO has announced that extremely radioactive water is now leaking from reactors 1, 2, and 3 at their damaged nuclear complex. On Thursday, three workers stepped into water in reactor 3 that contained 10,000 times the normal amount of radiation. Two of the workers experienced significant radiation burns and all three were sent to the hospital. Authorities have also announced that it is very likely that the containment vessel in reactor 3 has been breached. That is extremely alarming because reactor 3 is the one that uses plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel (“MOX fuel”). So is plutonium being released into the surrounding environment? That would be absolutely catastrophic. But what we know is happening already is quite catastrophic. According to a recent NewScientist article, radioactive iodine-131 is being released at 73% of the level that it was being released at during the Chernobyl disaster. But iodine-131 only has a half-life of about 8 days. According to that same article, radioactive cesium-137 is being released at 60% of the level that it was being released at during the Chernobyl disaster. Cesium-137 has a half-life of approximately 30 years. That means that all of this cesium is going to be with us for a very, very long time. (Read More...)
Gold And Silver Are Thriving While The U.S. Dollar Is Dying
Have you heard the news? Gold hit another new record high on Thursday. It reached $1447.40 before settling back a bit. Most people responded to that news with a yawn. Why? Well, because it is happening so frequently these days. It seems like the price of gold is constantly setting a new record. Silver likewise is thriving. The price of an ounce of silver briefly hit $38.13 on Thursday. That was the highest price for silver in 31 years. But most people also responded to that news with a yawn. Why? Well, because the price of silver always seems to be going higher these days. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar is struggling. The ICE Dollar Index fell to 75.340 earlier this week. That was the lowest it has been since December 2009. Even at a time when the sovereign debt crisis in Europe is flaring up again and there is tremendous instability all over the world the U.S. dollar still can’t find much traction. In fact, many are convinced that the U.S. dollar is on the verge of another major fall. So what in the world is causing all of this? (Read More...)
Should Residents Of Tokyo Be Preparing For Massive Radiation Exposure? 12 Disturbing Facts To Consider
Does anyone really know what is going on at the Fukushima nuclear complex? When problems at the facility first surfaced, authorities promised that no significant amounts of radiation would be released. Then we were told that only those living within 20 kilometers of the complex needed to take precautions. After that we were told that radiation was showing up in many different types of vegetables all over northern and central Japan but that it was not a major concern. Now we are being told that the tap water in Tokyo is unsafe for infants to drink. So what are they going to tell us next? Should residents of Tokyo be preparing for massive radiation exposure from this disaster? Tokyo is only 150 miles away from the damaged nuclear complex. If a worst case scenario plays out, exactly what would that mean for the over 30 million people that live in and around Tokyo? (Read More...)