Tag: Economic Problems

The Real American Addiction

To close out my posting day I would like to re-visit posts from the past…..

I have written about our addictions in the past….our addiction to drugs or the addiction to war…..but our real addiction is……. consumerism….

Whatchu talking about professor?

You Are An ADDICT!

Let me refresh your memory if I may…..these are from past posts here on IST….

For those who think this will be a diatribe on the value of Marx’s statement on religion….you would be mistaken.  While I appreciate a lot of the work of Karl Marx I will disagree with …

Source: The Real “Opiate Of The Masses” – In Saner Thought

Or a later post……

We all are addicted to something…..drugs, cigs, sex, whiskey and so on……but we Americans have an addiction to……consumerism.  A couple of years ago I wrote a piece enti…

Source: The Power Of Addiction – In Saner Thought

About here you are starting to wonder just why I bring this past posts up, right?

The iPhone7…..is the answer.

Apple has released the new version of its popular iPhone series…..

Apple has officially announced the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus today. The new iPhone features a design that’s very similar to last year’s iPhone 6S (and the year prior’s iPhone 6), with a rounded aluminum body. But what’s entirely new is the phone’s water resistance, which means you can get the iPhone 7 or the larger iPhone 7 Plus wet without worry. Also new is the long-rumored dual camera system, stereo speakers, and a darker black color scheme. And, as expected, the iPhone 7 does not have a headphone jack, rendering countless 3.5mm headphones useless with the device (or requiring the use of an adapter).

The new phone may look very similar to last year’s models, but instead of the matte metal finish we’ve become used to, it has a glossy, mirrored design. The new color is called jet black and is much darker and richer than the space black of years past. Apple is also releasing a standard black model, along with gold, silver, and rose gold.

People will stand in line to acquire this new gizmo….even if there is NOTHING technologically new with it…..

It is a sickness…….And that my friends is an addiction!

Consumerism….the Real Opiate of The Masses!

Income Inequality Will Get Worse

The Dems and their candidates have all jumped on the income inequality thing….they have set about outlining so many different programs that will eliminate this growing problem if they are elected……to that I has Bullsh*t!

Why would I say that?

They are lying…..they are promising something they cannot deliver….all to get a vote and to go to the Big House of government…….

It will get worse before it gets better…if it ever does……

We’ve all heard about rising income inequality, and for good reason: It’s a huge problem. Just consider the fact that the wealthiest 1% of Americans accounted for roughly 21.2% of all earnings in 2012, compared to just 8.9% in 1973, according to UC Berkeley’s Center for Equitable Growth.

But far less obvious is the eventuality that things will get much worse before they get better. Don’t believe it? Here are a couple of specific reasons why we’re in for more darkness before dawn, plus some ideas on how we can fix the underlying problems.

Source: Why Income Inequality Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better | Alternet

Who Gives A Crap About “Brexit”?

Most Americans have NO idea what the term “Brexit” means….to most it is a reality show with some pasty face hillybilly with an eating disorder…..it is the movement for Britain to leave the EU…..simple huh?

In Britain these days, it’s all about “Leave” vs. “Remain.” Those are the two choices voters will have in a June 23 referendum on whether the UK should exit the European Union—or Brexit, as it’s known in shorthand. Some coverage:

Rupert Murdoch’s Sun tabloid just came out in favor of leaving the EU, and it urges readers to vote for Brexit here.

A political professor now puts the odds of leaving at 33%, up from 25% less than a month ago. Bloomberg assesses.

Along those lines, a major bookmaker predicts the Leave camp will become the majority by this weekend, per Business Insider.

Yes, the Leave camp has momentum, but the Financial Times explains why it’s not time for David Cameron and the rest of the Remain backers to panic.

The Telegraph looks at six factors, including the often-overlooked group of voters in Northern Ireland, most of whom seem to want to stay in the EU.

Still, US markets are starting to get worried about the ramifications of a Leave vote winning, reports CNNMoney. Global markets, too, notes the Wall Street Journal.

The New York Times covers the broad strokes of the opposing sides’ views in a basic primer here.

Another Times story looks at the huge ramifications for foreign workers in Britain if Brexit prevails.

This movement could push other countries to beat feet from the EU…..

The U.K. may not be the only one mulling its future in the European Union (EU). In fact, the fierce debates and headline-grabbing warnings surrounding the Brexit vote in June have given hope to euroskeptics around Europe.

Denmark, the Czech Republic and Poland could face their own referendums on EU membership if the U.K. votes to leave, experts believe.

“The main concern is that an unexpected exit of the U.K. from the EU could lead to similar initiatives in other member states, making Brexit the first step towards the disintegration of the union,” Antonio Barroso, senior vice-president of political risk consultancy, Teneo Intelligence, said in a report this week.

(CNBC)

If the EU starts breaking up it would effect everyone…thanx mainly to globalization….and that includes the US…..

The countries with the highest exposure to British capital will suffer most. These countries are the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Portugal and Greece. France and Poland are also exposed to Brexit in specific areas. Germany will suffer too. Poland, in particular, is most exposed through migration and the EU budget.

Just to give some facts: Dutch firms have direct investments worth £180 billion in the UK, earning over £9billion in 2013, which is equivalent to 1.5% of Dutch GDP. Germany has a trade surplus with the UK of over £28 billion. German manufacturers alone export £50 billion to the UK, or 2.4% of GDP. Just imagine what is going to happen to German industry if a new Britain, outside the EU, pursues an import-substitution, protectionist policy. This means that all Japanese and German producers will have to abandon their British factories, with Britain re-building its own car industry and steadily adopting a new industrial policy, moving away from financialisation/globalisation.

A new industrial society will be created and services will cease to be the backbone of the economy.  There are almost 750,000 Poles living in the UK. This is the single biggest group of foreign nationals. Their remittances sent back to Poland amount to over £1.1 billion each year. This is a significant boost for the Polish economy.

So the question is….who will benefit from the exit from the EU?

Will “Brexit” become a rolling stone and take the whole of the EU with it on the way out of the door?

Down The Rabbit Hole

I recall the reports after the 2003 invasion and the occupation of Iraq that the US sent in palettes of cash to be used in the after war programs that the US was planning……and somewhere down the line palettes starting disappearing with millions of dollars and to this day few seem to know where this money went….probably into the bank accounts of the many private contractors that were crawling all over Iraq like maggots on a corpse…..

Source: Missing Iraq money may be as much as $18 billion

I bring all this up again because it appears that Iraq was not the only time that American cash has disappeared when “aiding” another country with its pro-American policies…..

Ukraine’s oligarch-owned propaganda TV channel Ukraine Today announced to the world a milestone in the fight against corruption. In response to the solicitation of two Verkhovna Rada parliamentarians (members of president Petro Poroshenko’s cabinet), the Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office (GPO) initiated an investigation of the missing two million dollars of U.S. and EU aid that was originally allotted to reform the country’s judiciary.

While two million dollars is chump change in comparison to size and history of Ukrainian corruption, such quick action by the (until now) very shy Ukrainian prosecutors has raised eyebrows in political circles around the world. This is in sharp contrast to 2014, when in one of the biggest heists of aid money anywhere—an estimated two billion dollars in IMF aid for Ukraine—speedily exited the country via PrivatBank, owned by the politically-connected oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky.

Source: The U.S. Is ‘Missing’ Millions in Ukraine | Observer

Granted the cash missing in Ukraine is chump change as compared to the billions lost in Iraq……however the point is that taxpayer money is being thrown down an abyss when it could be made useful in this country.

How long will this type of crap continue?

The Donald Predicts

I see Trump has jumped on the Glen Beck bandwagon and is predicting doom and gloom for the economy…..the difference is that Beck wants you to buy gold from his sponsors and Trump wants you to vote for him.

Donald is saying that we will be sucking if we do not vote for him…..

In a wide-ranging interview this week, Donald Trump said the US economy is headed for disaster—unless, it seems, he takes the reins. He also compared himself to the Lone Ranger and predicted the American people will “be falling asleep” if he becomes president. Among the highlights of his Washington Post interview with Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:

  • The economy is going into a “very massive recession,” says Trump, despite popular economic forecasts to the contrary. “It’s a terrible time right now” to invest in stocks, he adds. Will his words hurt financial markets? “I know the Wall Street people probably better than anybody knows them. I don’t need them.”
  • “I’m pessimistic,” he says about the economy. “Unless changes are made. Changes could be made. I can fix it. I can fix it pretty quickly.”
  • Trump says he can wipe away $19 trillion in US debt without gouging the nation’s $4 trillion annual budget. “I’m renegotiating all of our deals, the big trade deals that we’re doing so badly on,” he explains. (Barry Bennett, a senior Trump advisor, also says Trump could sell off $16 trillion in government assets—although NBC News notes that the US government values its own assets at just $3.2 trillion.)
  • “I bring rage out,” Trump says of his combative style. “And after it’s all over, [my opponents] end up being my friends. And I see that happening here.” But maybe not his GOP rivals: “I’m not sure they can ever go back to me. I was very rough on Jeb.” He used phrases like “Jeb: Low energy. Little Marco,” Trump recalls. “Names that were devastating.”
  • With his go-it-alone style, is he the Lone Ranger? “I am,” he says. “Because I understand life. And I understand how life works. I’m the Lone Ranger.”
  • “And after I win, I will be so presidential that you won’t even recognize me. You’ll be falling asleep, you’ll be so bored.”

I think he is right….the economy is headed to some treacherous waters but for me it is more the games being played by the financial institutions than who we vote for……

Are we headed for a problem?

What Middle Class? | The American Conservative

Since the end of world War 2 the industrial engine of the US has been on the backs of the middle class…..everyone. politicians that is, wants to embrace the middle class and speaks to them at every outing……but in the last couple of decades this system has been slowly strangling the middle class out of existence……

I am concerned that once the middle class is eliminated then the political elites will take complete control and we know where that will lead…..we are already flirting with a very ugly political ideology……and the path we are on today will lead to the extinction of the middle class once and for all…..

I read this article in the American Conservative and found it an interesting piece with some excellent insights…..check it out and then tell me what you think….

Everyone loves the middle class. Everyone claims to be middle-class—some to put a gloss on their sketchy escutcheons, others to dodge chastisement for their awkward riches.

Source: What Middle Class? | The American Conservative

Is the Middle Class doomed?  Is there hope it can be saved?  If so, then who will save it?

Puerto Rico: Trouble In Paradise?

If you have never been to Puerto Rice then get off your ass and visit……it is the tropics, gorgeous beaches, friendly people and you do NOT need passport……..BTW it is a girl watchers paradise….just saying……

But what brought me out to post on Puerto Rico?  It seems they are having a bit of a monetary problem…..

There’s something about Puerto Rico that has caused many commentators to describe it as “America’s Greece,” and it definitely isn’t yogurt. Instead, it’s the terrible state of the US commonwealth’s economy, which has caused Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla to admit that its $72 billion debt is “not payable,” the New York Times reports. “This is not politics, this is math,” he says. The island’s rate of debt to GDP is higher than that of any US state, and its government could run out of cash as soon as July, triggering a government shutdown and other measures, reports the Wall Street Journal, which notes that Puerto Rico’s deep recession began after corporate tax breaks expired in 2006 and manufacturers started to leave the island.

The governor says Puerto Ricans are already struggling with issues such as government austerity, rising crime, and high unemployment and that it’s time for creditors to share the pain by deferring repayments. “If they don’t come to the table, it will be bad for them,” he tells the Times. “What will happen is that our economy will get into a worse situation and we’ll have less money to pay them. They will be shooting themselves in the foot.” Some 24% of Puerto Rico’s bonds are held by so-called “vulture funds” that specialize in high-risk efforts and have opposed efforts to restructure the debt, the Guardian reports. The Times notes, though, that many Americans may have Puerto Rican investments tied up in mutual funds and not be aware of it.

Wait a minute!  Is Puerto Rico a US “territory”?

This country can force feed our cash and stuff to Israel but it cannot find a way to help to help out in Puerto Rico?  Wassup with that?  We accepted this “territory” after the Spanish American War so we are responsible for its upkeep and security.

Time for this country to start acting like the country we were promised back in 1776 and stop helping only those countries that think killing is the only answer……or cut them loose and let them be their own nation.