Is greed out of control on Wall Street? Typically, liberals, Democrats and socialists say yes, and conservatives, Republicans and Tea Party supporters say no. But just because you are not a socialist doesn’t mean that you have to support the wild greed that is happening on Wall Street right now. As the rest of the U.S. economy deeply struggles, the major financial firms down on Wall Street are projected to pay out an all-time record of $144 billion in compensation for 2010. Just think about that. Not 144 million dollars – what we are talking about is 144 billion dollars. Not that making money is a bad thing. Capitalism is a great thing (although what the United States has now is not capitalism). Free enterprise is a great thing. But any economic system begins to break down whenever massive amounts of financial power is concentrated in just a few hands. Wall Street firms have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying to get the game rigged in their favor, and Wall Street firms have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on campaign contributions to keep things that way. For example, three of Barack Obama’s six biggest campaign donors were Wall Street firms (Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup). These big Wall Street firms dominate the U.S. financial landscape to a degree that is almost impossible to understate. Now of course part of the American Dream is being able to work hard and make as much money as possible, but when monolithic financial firms are able to corrupt the game so severely and funnel such massive amounts of money to themselves, at what point are we going to finally admit that there is something fundamentally broken about the system? (Read More...)
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...)
21 Reasons Why Donald Trump Is Right – China Is Just Ripping This Country Like Nobody Has Ever Ripped Us Before
Earlier this week, an interview with Donald Trump on Fox & Friends made headlines all over the world. During that interview, Trump stated that he was “absolutely thinking about” running for president in 2012. But what didn’t get as much attention is why Donald Trump is so motivated to possibly run for president. It turns out that Donald Trump is horrified by how China (and other nations as well) are absolutely taking advantage of the United States in global trade. Trump put it this way during the interview: “China is just ripping this country like nobody has ever ripped us before.” And you know what? Donald Trump is absolutely right about this. You see, China has been openly manipulating its currency for years and years so that their products are far cheaper than those produced in America. This has put entire industries out of business in the United States. Not only that, but China also openly subsidizes many of their industries, thus giving them a competitive advantage over U.S. businesses and our government does nothing about it. In addition, China has exploited the fact that they allow their workers to be paid near slave labor wages to attract thousands upon thousands of factories and manufacturing facilities to their shores. China dumps massive amounts of cheap goods on our shores while openly discriminating against many U.S. good and services. This kind of unfair trade has enabled the Chinese government to pile up hundreds of billions of dollars in excess currency reserves which it ends up lending back to the U.S. government. Basically, China is running a massive scam on us and is getting tremendously wealthy in the process. (Read More...)
Inflation Or Deflation? It Is The Fourth Branch Of Government (The Federal Reserve) That Will Make That Decision For Us
Today there is a great debate in the economic community about whether we are going to have crippling deflation or unprecedented inflation in the years ahead. For decades, a never ending spiral of debt has fueled the almost unbelievable prosperity that Americans have enjoyed. We have lived way beyond our means, and in the process we have piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world. Now, the fourth branch of the U.S. government (the Federal Reserve) has a decision to make. Will the Federal Reserve allow the U.S. economy to deleverage, thus setting off a deflationary nightmare worse than the Great Depression, or will the Federal Reserve attempt to crank up the debt spiral one more time by flooding the U.S. economy with another giant wave of paper money? (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...)
Bank Of America, JPMorgan Chase And GMAC Suspend Foreclosures Due To Serious Concerns About Foreclosure Procedures
In an absolutely stunning development, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and GMAC Mortgage have all suspended foreclosures in many U.S. states due to serious concerns about foreclosure procedures. There has been an absolutely massive tsunami of foreclosures in recent years and it turns out that mortgage company officials dealing with foreclosure paperwork have not always taken the time to process each foreclosure properly. Things have gotten so bad that a number of U.S. states have actually opened up official investigations that are looking into some of these foreclosure practices. But what did everyone expect? There has been such a dramatic surge in foreclosures over the past several years that it was almost inevitable that shortcuts would start to be taken. Back in 2005, there were only about 100,000 home repossessions in the United States. Last year there were about 1 million home repossessions in the U.S. and RealtyTrac is projecting that there will be a record 1.2 million home repossessions this year. Needless to say, this has created a paperwork headache for mortgage companies of unprecedented magnitude. (Read More...)
The Green Agenda Is About Getting Rid Of As Many Humans As Possible
Most people tend to think of environmentalists as warm, cuddly hippies that just want all of us to love one another and to do what is right for the environment. And in fact, there are a few people out there who are actually like that. However, the people at the very heart of the green agenda are a quite different breed. The truth is that there are a growing number of environmental activists (including some very, very famous people) who are publicly advocating the end of our freedoms, the establishment of a Big Brother style world government and the systematic eradication of at least 90% of humanity all for the good of the environment. Unfortunately, this is not a joke and it is not an exaggeration. As you will see below, these people are very, very serious. To these eco-fascists, climate change is the number one threat to the earth, and in order to eliminate that threat “democracy must be put on hold”, an authoritarian world government must be established and we need to start getting rid of as many humans as possible. (Read More...)
Median Household Income Is Falling In Almost Every Single Major American City
Median household income is falling in the vast majority of U.S. states and in virtually every single major U.S. city. According to the Census Bureau’s annual survey of income and poverty in the United States, of the 52 largest metro areas in the nation, only the city of San Antonio did not see a decline in median household income in 2009. Needless to say, that is not good news. If incomes are falling from coast to coast, then how in the world can anyone claim that we are experiencing a “recovery”? The truth is that we are not in the middle of an economic recovery. What we are in the middle of is a long-term economic decline. Incomes are going down and middle class American families find themselves squeezed like never before. Meanwhile, unemployment has skyrocketed in recent years and it has become much harder to get a good job. Less Americans than ever are able to achieve anything even close to resembling the American Dream. Things are getting really tough out there, and as more jobs and factories leave the United States, as the U.S. government goes into even more debt and as the economy continues to implode things are going to get even worse. (Read More...)