What in the world is happening in the middle of the United States right now? Thousands of birds are falling dead from the skies, tens of thousands of fish are washing up on shore dead, earthquakes are popping up in weird and unexpected places and people are starting to get really freaked out about all of this. Well, one theory is that the New Madrid fault zone is coming to life. The New Madrid fault zone is six times bigger than the San Andreas fault zone in California and it covers portions of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. The biggest earthquakes in the history of the United States were caused by the New Madrid fault. Now there are fears that the New Madrid fault zone could be coming to life again, and if a “killer earthquake” does strike it could change all of our lives forever. (Read More...)
The Debt
30 Reasons Why 2011 Is Going To Be Another Crappy Year For America’s Middle Class
Do you think that 2011 will be a good year for America’s middle class? Well, you might not be so optimistic after you read the 30 statistics posted below. The truth is that 2011 is going to be another crappy year for America’s middle class, and there is not a whole lot that you or I can do about it. Sadly, what we are facing as a nation is not just a short-term economic downturn. Rather, there are some very serious long-term economic trends that are absolutely ripping apart the U.S. middle class. For example, did you know that even though our population has been growing at a brisk pace we have lost about ten percent of our middle class jobs over the past decade? The vast majority of jobs that have been created have been low paying service jobs. We now have hordes of highly educated young people that are waiting tables and that are welcoming customers to Wal-Mart. Without good paying jobs there is no middle class, but today American corporations are actually creating more jobs overseas than they are inside the United States. This has helped pad the profits of the big corporate fatcats, but it has been devastating for middle class communities across the United States. Every time a factory gets closed down in America and gets set up in some other country instead, it means that the U.S. middle class is shrinking just a little bit more. The new “global economy” has been good for the bottom line of the largest U.S. corporations, it has been great for countries like China and India, but it is absolutely wiping out the U.S. middle class. (Read More...)
What Kind Of Mood Are The American People In As We Enter 2011?
Around the end of the year a ton of polls and surveys get taken. Media organizations love to get a “snapshot” of how the American people are feeling as the new year begins. So what kind of mood are the American people in as we enter 2011? Well, if the polls are to be believed, they are less optimistic, they are a bit scared, they are very frustrated and they are becoming increasingly angry. A solid majority of Americans believe that the country is moving in the wrong direction and they desperately want someone to fix the economy. What Americans seem to want most of all are good jobs. At the end of the day, Americans want to be able to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. If they can’t do that, then what is going on with other “important issues” really isn’t going to seem very important to most of them. (Read More...)
Bye Bye American Pie: 10 Reasons Why America’s Economic Pie Is Rapidly Shrinking
All over the mainstream media today, the wealthy are being pitted against the poor. Those advocating for the wealthy claim that if we could just cut the taxes for the rich and make things easier for them that they will create lots of jobs for the rest of us. Those advocating for the poor claim that the gap between the rich and the poor is now larger than ever and that if we could just get the workers to fight for their rights that we could get things back to how they used to be. It is a very interesting debate, but it totally ignores a reality that is even more important. America’s economic pie is rapidly shrinking. As part of the new globalist economy, every single month massive amounts of U.S. wealth is being transferred out of the United States and into foreign hands in exchange for oil and cheap plastic trinkets. In addition, every single month our national government goes into more debt, our state governments go into more debt and our local governments go into more debt. The interest on all of this debt represents a tremendous transfer of wealth. What most Americans fail to grasp is that our collective wealth is getting smaller. There is now less of an “economic pie” for all of us to divide up. (Read More...)
Will The Obama Tax Cut Deal Save The Economy? NO!!
All over Washington D.C., top Republicans and Obama administration officials are running around declaring that the tax cut deal that was just passed will save the U.S. economy. But is this even partially true? Of course not! Mostly, what the “tax cut deal” does is keep tax rates exactly where they already are. Now, many of us are extremely thankful that we will not be paying higher taxes, but the truth is that if these tax cuts were going to “save the economy” they would already be saving it. Yes, this tax cut deal will provide a minor short-term stimulus to the economy, but it will also add $858 billion (some say closer to $1 trillion) to the projected federal budget deficits over the next two years. You see, this tax cut deal contained “all candy and no spinach”. In other words, the tax cuts were not accompanied by corresponding spending cuts, and that is going to lead to big trouble in the long run. (Read More...)
Desperation Sets In: More Than 100,000 People Apply For Low Paying Flight Attendant Positions With Delta Air Lines
All across America, job seekers are becoming increasingly desperate. Today, unemployed Americans often find themselves competing against hundreds or even thousands of other job applicants for the same position. An absolutely stunning example of this happened recently when more than 100,000 people applied for just 1,000 open flight attendant positions with Delta Air Lines. The starting salary for these positions is only “in the upper $20,000s”, and serving peanuts and sodas to cranky passengers can get really old really fast. But this just shows how desperate people are becoming. For many unemployed Americans, any job is a good job at this point. Right now there are approximately 5 unemployed Americans for every single job opening, and 6 million Americans have been out of work for 6 months or longer. When you get that many unemployed people fighting over so few positions the desperation in the air becomes almost palpable. (Read More...)
16 Nightmarish Economic Trends To Watch Carefully In 2011
If you only watch the “economic pundits” on television, it can be very confusing to figure out exactly what is happening with the U.S. economy. One pundit will pull out a couple statistics that got a little bit better over the past month and claim that we have entered a time of solid recovery. Another pundit will pull out a couple statistics that got a little worse over the past month and claim that we are headed for trouble. So what is the truth? Well, if you really want to get a clear idea of what is really going on you have to look at the long-term trends. There are some economic trends which just keep getting worse year after year after year, and it is those trends that tell the real story of the decline of our economic system. (Read More...)
The New American Dream: Sprawling Tent Cities Filled With Tents Made In China
What would you do if you had your job suddenly ripped away from you and you ended up losing your home? Well, that is exactly what hundreds of thousands of families across America have found themselves facing during this economic downturn. So what would you do? Would you move in with relatives? Would you join the ranks of those living in the tent cities that are popping up all over the nation? Would you live in a van down by the river? The truth is that with each passing month even more Americans find themselves pushed to the brink of absolute desperation. For many of our fellow citizens, the American Dream has been reduced to finding some way to keep the rain off of them each night and finding someone who will be kind enough to give them some food during the day. (Read More...)