STATE OF THE UNION TIGER STYLE

Approaching the New Year we need to take a look at the real state of the union.  All charts in this post are extracted from SHADOW STATS.  You will notice they have no resemblance to the numbers the government pushes at us.  The reason for the difference is Shadow Stats uses the original formula for each not the adjusted ones used by the government.    So let's get started.
To view other charts click on the SHADOW STATS LINK ABOVE.  Extracting some of the numbers in my last post  and insert them into the effect on the below charts and you will probably come to the conclusion that things are not as good as we are told.  Again using the numbers from my last post , when look at what folks believe , you won't come away optimistic of our immediate future.  


UNEMPLOYMENT

.While we are told unemployment is 5 or 6%  this chart shows you that unemployment has been in  the 22 or 23 %  range all the way back to 2008.  On top of that many of the jobs that have been added are low wage service jobs.  Huge numbers of 18 to 34 year old are living with their parents out of necessity.  Without a return of manufacturing we will not have a sustainable ecoomy.

GDP

Official GDP this quarter is supposed to be 5 1/2 % but it actually has been in the -2%  range for years.  The resulting numbers as you can track one another but vary by a large amount.

INFLATION

50 NUMBERS YOU'LL FIND HARD TO BEIEVE

This piece written by other I am posting to give you a better picture of what your fellow citizens think.
Some you will find hard to believe and might even try to disprove,(If you do send me the link)

HERE'S THE STORY

A GAME OF CHANCE

The big bad US is mad at Russia and is stamping it's feet like a spoiled brat.  We are trying to surround Russia with enemies in our Shift to Asia, problem is Russia is responding and countering our moves with moves of their own.

First out of the barrel they make beg gas deals with China and Turkey.  Now China is stepping up an backing Russia all the way. We of course say we can counter the Chinese moves, somehow I can't believe that they can.  The bottom card is the threat of nuclear war.  Even our leaders as stupid as they appear to be cannot possibly believe the world can survive a nuclear war.

If you have been following my posts you know that all of the accusations we have flung at Russia are pure bullshit.  MH 17 shoot down and been without a doubt pinned to Ukraine itself. It was a bald faced attempt to get Russia a stupid move , but Putin is smarter than that.  The danger is that we now  are shipping weapons to the Nazi's in power in Ukraine.   Even crazies like them cannot possibly think they can beat Russia.  If you compare armaments of Nato and Russia for a land war Russia is better equipped.

When you look at the big picture and want to get a feel for how this could work out, just look at the Christmas presents as you unwrap them, whoops, made in China.  The populace would scream bloody murder when that supply chain was stopped.  Of course China would hurt like hell for awhile but nowhere as bad as we would.. It would take a large amount of time to rebuild our manufacturing base.

So far in this contest Putin in my estimate has made better moves than the Obama administration.
The BRIC alliance has the potential of knocking the dollar off the reserve podium which would be one hell of a curve ball to hit.

Just days after starting to normalizing relations with Cuba , saying that 50 years of sanctions against them have not worked , we put sanctions on Russia..  Take note that Cuba survived aided by the Venezuelan government just like China stepping up to back Russia.  It appears to me to be another fight we will loose.  Time will tell, so pay close attention.
HERE'S the story that bought this on.

AN EXAMPLE OF GOVERNMENT MANIFPUALTION

 

SILVER CONTRACTS

After all my talk of manipulation of markets by the government deserve a picture to show that most of what I have been talking about is actually happening.   This graph depicts how after the market closes shares are traded when lite volume exists to buy huge blocks of contracts to move the price up or down.  The drop between the black indicators shows government action to drive the price down.  This same action takes place in a lot of markets.   

HERE IS THE STORY BY ROBETS

CONTROL FREAKS

You and I sit here and wonder at the working of the modern world, not really knowing that what were watching is a giant shell game.  First you see it and then you don't.  What seems to be the problem here.
The simple answer is we are being presented horse shit instead of the truth.  Damn near all the info you are presented on the TV is straight bullcrap.

A present example in all the stories circulating about Russia.  An easy one to point out this theory is the story making it's rounds this week is that Russia is selling Gold because of the collapse of oil prices which is 50% of Russian income.  A look at what is going on is pretty easy to see.  Oil prices have tanked and gold has gone right along with it.  A little know fact is that the Ruble is backed by gold. Another fact is Russia is sitting on a pile of dollars because oil is traded in dollars.

 

VALUE OF THE DOLLAR

 

RUBLES TO BUY DOLLARS

So what would a smart Russian government be doing, simple eh what, use your oil based dollars to buy gold..  Since Russia is the number 2 oil producer in the world they have a lot dollars as a result of that.
Strangely you would think that Gold would be going up given all the shenanigans going on around the world but the exact opposite is true... Gold value is down.

  All of this action has been caused by the good ole USA jawboning the Saudi's to lower oil prices to bankrupt Russia and at the same time pushing the price of Gold down by flooding the market with naked short selling of the gold contracts.

The US has also placed sanctions on Russia in order to bring their economy down.   It could work if they put the right sanctions in place but so far all they have accomplished is to force Russia into making huge deals with China , India and Turkey.  Placing sanction on Russia and in the same breath remove some sanctions with Cuba saying that 50 years of sanctions of not had the required effect.  So if it don't work in one case we should try it again..Kinda like hitting your left finger with a hammer and then hitting the right one to get a different effect.

All this being just one facet of a multiple pronged attack to bust Russia so we can complete our goal of world hegemony.   The guiding forces behind this plot are desperate as they are running out of plays.  So desperate are that they are on record saying that a nuclear war is winnable.

So if you are confused about the world , don't worry , you have lots of company. 

“America uber alles.” or WATCH THE EAGLE FALL

This piece my Paul Craig Roberts a former republican official and now a good guy ( I guess) but that aside he has been putting info on line in sync with my thoughts of world events.   Read HIS ARTICLE.

The one piece of good news in this piece is among the final  thoughts, Economic Collapse is more survivable than a Nuclear War.+

His post is more an item list of the wrongs done to us over the last few decades by both parties, Items you have seen listed here over time.  The problem is the majority are deep asleep and could care less.  There seems  to be no organization or leader on the horizon to jerk the public awake.

The latest attack on Ukraine as been successfully linked to Putin which is a flat our lie orchestrated by the good ole US.  We want to reduce the power of Russia and China making our Pivot to Asia possible.

We are being told that the sanctions on Russia are really working and their economy is collapsing which is far from the truth.  While we have been busy putting the blame on Putin he has been out there making huge deals with China ,India and others not just in oil and gas, but also a new economic system to counter the IMF.  If the info I read today is correct , Putin is sitting there with a big grin on his face and a pocket book full of American that he will use to buy back his rubles at rock bottom prices.

So my take on this is Russia will come out just fine, but we will be short a bunch of expensive oil producers.  Of course you and I  will pay for this mess now that they have moved derivatives under FDIC.  One thing is certain and here I will hedge my bet , the world as we know it will be gone in a very few years.  What will replace it is unknown to at least me at this time.. Do you have a guess, let's here it.

ONE LINE SAYS IT ALL

Washington is prepared to defend this extortionist petrodollar recycling system to the end, even if it means nuclear war.

This one line lifted from a Mike Whitney post on Counterpunch today commenting on the fall in oil prices so quietly arranged by the US and Saudi to destroy Russia and bring down Syria and Iran too.
A stupid plan on the surface and disaster at best with the possible destruction of the world as a final outcome.  An outcome we are apparently ready to live with.

The real bitchy part of this scheme is that the best result we can hope for is a crashing of all the economies of the world.  The EU already in it's death throes will not survive this game and most likely nobody else will either.

Most oil producers need oil in the 80's or 90's to break even.  The US fracking companies need more than that and are leveraged with derivatives to the hilt.  Derivatives that when they go bad will be paid by us as the last budget bill put those instruments under the protection of the FDIC making us citizens responsible for that debt. (roughly 300 trillion dollars worth) an amount that will bring us to the bottom.

WHY BABY WHY? my brain has been screaming at me. Why would they do something this stupid,  POW, the answer hit me right between the eyes.  The POWERS THAT BE, have come to realize that American Hegemony is a dream that cannot be reached and therefore they are willing to risk a nuclear war (they think they can win) .  Just in case you think like them consider this.  If Russia fired no nukes in response to a US launch (which would probably be massive) the world would still come to an end.  4000 nukes are way more than enough to turn out all the lights.

I wish I could think of one positive thing to say on closing , but nothing comes to mind.  The end may be insight.    

THE EXCEPTIONAL NATION THAT HAS BECOME UNEXCEPTIONAL

READ THIS FIRST

If you like me have been scratching your head trying to figure out just what the hell our government is up too, you have been reluctant to call it for what it is , dangerous war mongering that has a final goal of a confrontation with
Russia as an end game.

Using Ukraine as a crutch to stir the fire, they tried to paint Putin into a box and bring about a confrontation with him.  Outfoxed on every front the US had to have another plan.  Surrounded by a bunch of warmongering staff none of which has any military experience and keep the president isolated from anybody with another opinion (like Hagel)  they put plans into play they have either not thought out or just not smart enough to carry out their end game.

So when Ukraine didn't work they hatched another plan.  In league with the Saudi's they lowered oil prices hoping to put Russia in a financial bind, through this and sanctions on them..  They claim all kinds of damage to the Russian economy and there probably has been some but the end result is something they hadn't planned on.  Putin has cut deals with other countries that make our messing around not count for much/(A side note here, oil producers hedge their oil bets in the derivative market to insulate them from a drop in price)

Putin put together the Bric nations to sidestep American intervention.  They have agreed to trade in their own currencies making the dollar irrelevant. He has made new gas deals with Germany and Turkey subverting US attempts to control the EU gas market.  In fact at every turn Putin has outfoxed us with our every move.

The problem is the American citizen has found it  easy to find Putin as a very bad man (in olden days he might have been) but in this go around the bad guy label is on us.

I am asking you to stop and consider our plight if Putin had been dumb enough to take the bait.   Here we sit a country that has not won a conflict since WW2 . Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and trillions of dollars down the drain and none of these contest did we win.  Yet the brains around Obama think think we can win a conflict with Russia including a first strike nuclear option that any thinking man knows is pure folly.

We are told we are the exceptional nation , but there are times in the past  when we might have said we were that but that was a long long time ago.  In my lifetime my thinking has changed on that fact.  I once believed we were not war mongers we were in a controlled standoff with the Soviets in a cold war. Both sides had enough operational nukes to blow the world away at the push of a single button..We both still do, the difference being we use to say we wouldn't launch first but now we think we have a first strike capability.  They use a missile defense system that at best is not 100% effective to believe we can shoot first.  To believe that you have to be willing to accept a level of losses probably in the millions at least.  In reality I believe that a first strike will bring about the end of people on the earth.. How many of the 4000 nukes Russian will make it through is anybodies guess and I am not willing to find out.. How about you.  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHEAP OIL A BLESSING OR THE FINAL STRAW

Us peasants are rejoicing over cheap gasoline and going about our merry way thinking now I know where the money for Christmas is going to come from..Very true, those with much of a commute have a lot more bucks in our pocket.  Seldom does it cross their minds that this fall in oil is a bad thing but the truth is it could be.

Oil companies buy derivatives to protect against falling prices , so they buy derivatives to guarantee the future price of their oil  so they really don't care if the price of oil falls.  They are protected  , so the question is who eats the losses... In this case the big six banks and they hold enough of these contracts to force them into default and if that should happen the whole system goes down.

HERE'S THE STORY

UP SCOPE-TARGET 2016

Yeah I know , it's to early to start thinking about the next president, wrong, it's not to early to start.. You can easily see the republicans lining up to make a run for it and of course Hillary is already getting measured for her cape.  So it's not to early for a liberal to stand up and say no I don't want her as president, since in my opinion Bill Clinton was the worst president of my 77 years. Would Hillary be any different , I don't think so, she is associated with the same advisers that Bill used and we know what that got us.  So it's time to start considering some one else. Several have started showing interest and either of the two I have in mind individually would be a better choice, together they would be dynamite .  Yeah I mean Sanders and Warren.

Sanders is starting to work a little harder towards that goal and here's his 12 point plan to right a fallen country.   RIGHT HERE

It's probably a stretch to believe either Sanders or Warren can win but any other option is unthinkable.  All republicans and most other democrats will keep us on the same road we are currently on.  We know that don't work for the common man and someone other than the current frontrunners need to be encouraged.  The problem Warren and Sanders both have is they do not take corporate money.  Can they compete without that money.  Off the top of my head I would think not. Then I think of Howard Dean's grass roots organizing for Obama that was a 50 state strategy brought record numbers of liberals to the polls.  They might possibly (if they brought their wallets with them) could pull it off.

Quite possibly I have been smoking the wrong weed, and and overthrow of the money men is an impossible task.  But until we try we won't know.. Look at this , this way, If you back them , yet still loose what have you lost , a few bucks perhaps and a nasty outlook for the country , but yet it is possible.. Remember Hillary was the one  in 2008 and she lost to an unknown Obama.. Warren and Sanders are better known than Obama , yet he won.  It could happen again unless you pull your blanket over your head and don't get involved..

GOOGLE IT GOD DAMN IT! OR ARMOR UP FOR WAR!

Far too many people believe that Russia is the aggressor in the Ukraine struggle needs to crank up their google machine and look at the evidence that discounts . All UN-doctored evidence points at US involvement in the overflow of a duly elected government and put in place a proudly Nazi regime.  They immediately began to cleanse the country of people deemed not worthy to live in the Ukraine.

Mass graves, buildings boarded up building then torched with people inside being prevented from escaping by armed thugs.  Day after day horror stories come out of the country on the monstrous acts of these thugs.

Due to the information being aired on MSM    a majority of the US public believe that this is all Russia's fault when the exact opposite is true.  We saw day after day pictures claiming too portray the trail of a missile streaking toward MH 17 an event that did not happen.  As usual our allies help in the distribution of propaganda pointing a finger Russia as the culprit.

While other nations not under US domination showed evidence that MH17 was shot down by a pair of Ukraine planes.  Pictuhttp://www.4thmedia.org/2014/11/all-out-war-in-ukraine-natos-final-offensive/res of pieces of the plane have become available that clearly show bullet holes that don't come from any missile.

Meantime most of the US still believes that Russia started this.  They did not.  Don't believe me , that's why there is the :GOOGLE MACHINE" USE IT GOD DAMN IT AND QUIT BEING TAKEN IN BY GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA.

READ THIS STORY FOR MORE!

FRACKING STUPID

Somebody needs to get a grip on these folks.  Fracking companies have been pumping used fracking fluid into clean water aquifers contaminating them so they can't be used for drinking or farming.  The State troops say it must have been a paper work error but the size of the screw up indicates to me at least that somebody was on the take and allowed this to happen.  3 billion gallons of fracking fluid have been injected into these aquifers and that amount of water couldn't be a mistake.  Something terribly wrong with this.   The story is HERE 

WHAT ON EARTH HAVE WE DONE?

 have just lived through the midterm elections, where according to popular opinion that the people were angry with politicians and threw the bums out and elected a solid republican congress.

So it's time to see exactly what we have to look forward to the next couple years.

Here's a list of the priorities of the people:
1.   Access to lower cost student loans--80% support.

  2.   Increase spending on infrastructure--75%

3.   Raising the minimum wage--65%

4.   Emergency funding for fighting Ebola in Africa--60%

5.   Addressing climate change/reducing carbon emissions--59%

6.   Building Keystone Pipeline--54%

Here's  the republican to do list:

1.   Authorize Keystone Pipeline.

2.   Repeal ACA ("Obamacare")


 3.   Pass the "Hire More Heroes" (veterans) Act.

4.   Pass Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement with Asia.

5.   Lower corporate taxes.   

6.   Thwarting Obama on Immigration Executive Action.



7.   Reign in the EPA and roll back environmental regulations.


 

It is plain to see that the newly elcected have an agenda that puts none of the electorates choices on the to do list.  The  item that appears on both lists is the Keystone pipeline and both sides are wrong on that choice.

A close look at the republican agenda if enacted will destroy what little is left of the middle class.  The TPP alone will place the country at the whim of the world corporations and that means lower wages, benefits.  Repealing Obamacare would remove health care from a wide rage of people who for the first time have health care.  Lowering corporate taxes which are currently the lowest in history.  Rolling back EPA regulations is exactly the wrong move.  Immigration that Obama put in place by executive action they want to remove allowing families to be split up by deporting parents from children.  

The hot button items on the republican , Removing Obamacare and Immigration change will be disrupting talk on items on the peoples list.
Of course they always have and are talking now of impeachment.  Those three things will lock the wheels of congress up and nothing will be done exactly like the last six years.  More of the same is the order of the day. 

THEY WANTED ECONOMIC CHANGE

  CHART   The voters supposedly wanted economic change, so they voted republican?   Further proving that the voters don't have a clue as to who stands for what.  Certainly proving they haven't been paying attention for quite awhile.

This chart above shows thousands of manufacturing jobs going away and being placed in service jobs paying a lot less.  Half of all this years college grads are working at occupations they did not train for.  To top off this glum picture this piece says that half of today's jobs will be gone in decade.

It impossible for me to wrap my head around just how this will all turn out.  Sure I know how, but I don't want to admit it.  With wages down and jobs missing it is not a wonder why consumption is down and will stay down till? How (if) we will get out of this mess is yet to be seen.

STOP THINKING -NOW SHOOT YOUR FOOT.

Have you been excited by lower gas prices , I was, but didn't expect it would be done by our government in a secret deal with Saudi to flood the market with oil to make the prices drop.  A favor to us , not hardly!  It was done to put the hurt on Russia and Iran by decreasing their income from low oil prices.  So of course all countries are forced to pump more oil to meet their bills.

Shooting your foot.  What these rocket sleds didn't see was the lower oil prices will essentially kill fracking as a production process.  Already a poor return on investment fracking wells will cease to be useful.

With most of the sweet spots already drilled and output falling at a astounding rate , punching more holes just to keep up will become impossible.  The money to finance them will disappear as the riskiness of getting your invest back gets slimmer and slimmer.

For a glimpse of the economics behind all this read this article  .

As readers if this blog know I have been harping on the bullshit story of a 100 year supply of fracking gas , and the destruction of the environment it causes by destroying water sources for years. For a country to putt all it's card on such a fragile technology is very difficult to understand.  Just another short term scheme to generate a few bucks.

It gives me some pleasure that I have been able to point the finger ahead of time at an obvious hoax on the people once again.  When the PTB finally figure out they have screwed up they will have to turn to Nuclear power to meet our future needs.  As the fossil energy is used up or is made unaccessible the evident need for another power source will become obvious.  The remaining sources are limited at least at this time leaving only nuclear plants as the solution.  Yeah I know you are all scared by  Fukushima but many improvements on design have come as a direct result of that accident.  Peaks at the new design give me even more confidence that the new reactors on the drawing board and some already under construction will reliably fill our power needs of the future.         

THE NATION HAS SPOKEN

But lord knows what they had in their minds.  We have been in recession /depression since 2007 mostly held down by austerity cuts forced by a congress that has had it head far up their asses , right along with President Obama.  If you look at the real numbers(not the government type) you find that we have made zero headway on a sustainable recovery.

So what does our esteemed voters do, well of course they gave the republicans complete control of both houses.  The bunch of loonies will most likely force more cuts and succeed in driving what little recovery we have made.  The recovery we have made is only supported by low wage service jobs that come and go with fluctuations in the economy.


So what do I expect the next two years to bring.  More of the same I would guess , more bills will be passed but the big question is how many or them will Obama sign..  Or perhaps the Democrats play the same game in the Senate as the republicans and block everything from coming to a vote then we will have four more years of nothing of note happening.

So my question to you is simply this " What will the voters do in 2016 if this congress does absolutely nothing?"

FIRST , DETERMINE WHAT YOU WANT TO PROVE.

Them manipulate the data to prove your point.  The study done out a
Tulane think tank wants you to believe that Charter schools are far superior to our conventional public institution.

HERE IS THE STORY

I was tempted to title this story "The Illusion of Smarts"  but hell you probably already figured where I was on this piece.  So many lies, not enough think tanks or propaganda mills( called media)  to disseminate bullshit

THE MUSHROOM TREATMENT

Were just a pile of mushrooms , kept in the dark and fed bullshit to keep us happily at our appointed tasks.

Some say as many as 70 percent of us citizens have a very hard time believing the misdeeds of those in power.  Even when the evidence is presented to them ( which is seldom the case) , with the exception of a few of us cynical types who don't believe one damn thing that comes out of politicians or corporate mouthpieces.

This PIECE spells out in detail some of the major crimes of the past 30 years or more depending on how far you want to go back.

Most of the mentioned events concern our actions in foreign lands to garner and control the natural resources of the world.  making life extremely hard for common citizens.  You can check  our shenanigans in South America in the 80's , and then look at today.  The difference WE , you and me are in the cross hairs , and they are determined to wring the last cent of profit out of us they can.  What  end game they have in mind I'm sure is the biggest fairy tale ever told.

It has to happen someday, and I hope I'm still around to see it.  When the citizens wake up and understand they have been led down the road to poverty what will be their reaction?  When they finally understand they will never be able to pay off their student loans,. on their minimum wage jobs.  At about the same time they will realize they will probably never own a house, or have a family, or consider a retirement.

Ill let you look at history for yourself and see where you think it will end up.  I think I know and I'm sad.

FOURTY MILLION DOLLARS DOWN THE DRAIN

The Senate Intelligence Committee (? on the intelligence part) spent 40 million investigating responsibility for our beloved torture program.  It did not include the president of his cabinet in the study.  There overall finding "The CIA and the Justice Dept lied to them.

No shit Sherlock , what did you expect?   They knew the team wasn't looking at the White House team so they could pretty much say whatever came to mind.

6000 pages in the study of which we will only get  to see a redacted summary about 500 pages long.

We all know from other info that there were regular round table meeting in the White House with a selected team that actually discussed what torture to use on an individual basis, but none of this is exposed.

To sum it up , just 40 million bucks pissed down the drain , the most damned expensive white of late.

Here is the story HERE

Keep in mind just  for clarity the 911  Committee report that was another waste of money to publish porn.  (It was a fuck story as we know now)

THE ILLUSION OF LEADERSHIP

No matter where you look the leadership of many institutions is manned by folks who cannot tell the truth and seem to make up laws as they go  From judges, to bankers, to presidents , to military leaders,to ceo's they all lead us into a catastrophic ending.

For years I have observed what appears to be big problems in military leadership.  Captains and Exec's and Command Master Chief's have been relieved for mostly unstated causes.  Some have been tied to harassment. Now there is a new survey of active duty sailors that says 90% of them say they do not trust their leaders.  Something definitely is going on in the Navy particularly.  More collisions at sea then I can remember.  Many more technical blunders like building ships that cannot do the mission they were supposedly designed for, buying big ticket items that are not needed and not wanted. Attempting to attack pay and benefits of active and retired sailors as they think the demand for them  will diminish as the Navy automates.

It's easy to pick on presidents, one at a time or as a group and many have done so in many ways.  I will simply say we have not had a president that was for the people since at least 1980.  Since Ronald Regan set us on the course of conservative economics the course has been followed by each party when they have the reins.

This slacking of the reins during the years after 1980 has allowed our bankers and ceo's get filthy rich, some with quasi legal methods and others flat committed felonies in the pursuit of personnel wealth at the expense of the working man.

So far I have targeted the big leaders but the truth of the matter is that the sickness flows down the ladder to those of who serve below.  It would be easy to say it's because of the flawed leadership at the top that those below somehow don't want to do their jobs.  One of the most glaring examples comes to mind in thinking about the attack of the towers, when it was announced by the EPA that the air  quality around the towers was safe.  Just about any fool could look at the clouds of crap flowing in the streets and know it  was toxic , and it turned out to be very toxic killing many first responders from respiratory illness.

Agency heads, one after the other appear before Congressional committees and appear to have little knowledge of the agency they head.  There is a possibility that they were playing stupid but when you look at the performance of their agencies you are lead to believe they don't have a clue.

This latest Ebola adventure is a perfect example  of leadership failing to take command of a problem and we are finding out facts one would have assumed would be the natural flow of things. Finding out that the CDC has no legal authority over rules it puts in place was a shocker.  We  find that the Dallas hospital invented it's own rules that proved to be inadequate in the end.   Being shown the protection provided by Doctors Without Borders vs what the Dallas hospital provided gave us a clear idea of who was screwed up, and that there were no enforceable rules in place.  The second nurse from the Dallas hospital was out of town when she got a fever and called the CDC before catching a flight home, they said sure fly your ok to go.  There own guidelines say that she should have been put into isolation immediately.  Once again an agency poorly led with employees not up to par handling cases as this.

I have to throw in a dig against the Federal Reserves handling of the economy.  After throwing trillions of dollars into saving the banks act surprised that it did not bring about a recovery.  Meantime said banks and their Hedge fund buddies raped the American economy by running stocks and commodities up and down like a  yoyo , along with the corporations themselves buying back their own stock instead of investing in the economy and it's people.  This week QE was stopped and of course the market took it unkindly and plunged, and event long overdue.Now there is talk of more QE to stabilize the markets.  It won't do a thing for the real economy but they will probably follow the same ole path.

Take a look a Europe, they are entering what some are calling a third round of recession when a stronger look will tell you that they never came out and that we really are in a different kind of depression.  Different in that nobody calls it that, but when you look at the real numbers instead of the manufactured data we have been in a constant downturn world wide for a very long time.  With the austerity binge going on world wide to think that somehow that would bring about a recovery was far from the truth and if they didn't know it would work you fall back on the leadership is not up to the task that it should be able to handle.

Everywhere you turn from government to business to educators all seem to be leading us down the wrong path.  Conservative economic thinking has been a disaster demonstrated world wide since at least 1980.  It looks like nobody ever looks at history for guidance they follow the little red ball of conservative thinking.

I could go on raving about this and that but I think you get my drift by now.  We are in a depression and the powers that be have no intention of leading us out to prosperity. How anybody could think any of the fixes would work is beyond my grasp.  My big problem is I can see no White Knight leading us out of darkness.  With money controlling government what chance do we have?

It's sure as hell isn't putting a Congress controlled  (both houses) by republicans.  If you think things have not being going in the right direction just wait and see what a fully conservative congress will give us.

PREPARE TO DIVE you will need to run deep and quiet to come out the other side of this mess.

WHAT IS NOT BEING SAID!

No ground troops to Iraq.  Now we have to define troops.  What the president really means is no fighting men on the ground.  While even that is not the entire truth but the glaring fact left out of the discussion is that the Pentagon has called for a bunch of new contractors to go to Iraq instead of military troops.

No matter what you call the folks doing the fighting , dead is dead , so there will be Americans dying on the ground in Iraq as there will be more of in Afghanistan.

The cost of a military type is about $19000 /yr  while a contractor can cost $150K to $250K .  With no real numbers shown us and certainly no costs are we allowed to know but you can easily see contractors cost a lot of bucks.  But we must be putting them in country without shoes, since we aren't going to have boots on the ground.

PIVOT TO ASIA ANOTHER NEOCON WET DREAM

The downplayed reason of the Pivot is to prepare for a war with China.  Oh now there is a good idea.

To grease the way for this final confrontation we are poking sticks at the Russian bear by leading Ukraine into a confrontation with Russia as a way to get our anti missile defense closer to the Russian border.   Brilliant thinking from the Neocons in thinking they can actually put up a system that gives you first strike capability.  Insane shit at best. If the big red button was pushed and your guess on how many of their missiles would achieve launch , it would be too late to say oops.  Every military decision the neocons have launched in the last 40 years has ended up a disaster.

If they are successful in this latest attempt of world domination it could very well be the end  of earth .

DUMB AND DUMBER

School boards or Administrators are pretty well in a tie for being the dumbest folks on the planet.  Damn near daily you see reports of misdeeds authorized by these Neanderthals against our kids we send to their care daily.

Today's offering takes the cake for stupid rules.  This school board has forbidden the use of Chapstick on school grounds because it is an over the counter drug.  Oh yes , it's a gateway drug to what I am not sure.  

STORY IS HERE

Quite often you see stories on how overpaid/lazy/dumb/unqualified for their jobs from the mouths of (most of which) require nothing more than a political mouth spouting uneducated plans for their district that go way past stupid.  These teacher that others like to complain about have to live with stupid rules like these on a daily basis trying to make the teachers so busy policing policies they had no say in formulating.

Administrators who like their jobs gladly enforce the stupid rules passed by these boards and then add their own brand of bullshit to the mix.    

Dead brains are not limited to local folks , no the gang in Washington comes up with their own brand of stupid.   The New Lunch program is a great example of unthinking done by our leaders.  Any one who ever thought you can get kids to eat stuff they don't like as a steady diet must not have raised too many kids.  Remember the video of the kid left sitting at the dinner table with a plate of peas in front of him he has to eat before he can leave. We all know who wins that one.  If you really are worried about obesity how about regulating the fast food served by  our nations thousands of joints where lots of these kids eat regularly.  Instead we put in a program  to control what they eat in school.  How great a success was this , well daily you see school after school abandon the program for two reasons , the kids won't eat it and the dumpsters are fuller than ever.

From the days of zero tolerance till today, one program more stupid than the last has been pushed on our kids and teachers.  Meantime media throws at the kids the untruth that you must go to college to succeed, while thousands of tech jobs go unfilled due to a lack of qualified people and college grads go without jobs or at best a job they did prepare for.

If a ships performance is subpar you relieve the Captain.   We need to relieve a whole bunch at the top of the education system.

A BLACK HOOD

You have all seen prisoners with black hoods over their heads. The purpose to keep the individual in the dark about where he is or where he is going or what is going to happen to them.

It's easy to do to an individual but much harder to do to a large group.  The corporations of the world have decided to put a hood over the entire world while they negotiate the infamous TPP (Trans Pacific Trade agreement) .  You may have heard about this agreement but so damn little of what is in it.  Bits and pieces have drifted out when some have seen small parts of the agreement have been leaked .  If you were one of the 600 corporate shills who are participating in drafting this agreement  you of course have full access to the agreement.

Congressman Grayson of Florida has fought his way into seeing the agreement but is forbidden to reveal what is in it.  He didn't like what he saw but we may never get to know what is in it till it is already law.

Interesting enough several countries object to parts of the agreement , mostly over trying to protect parts of their economy that are important to the culture nature of the products they are trying to protect.  Other countries involved want to throw them out of the agreement rather than allow them the protection they want.  In the end it is my opinion this will be the death of the agreement as there are many of these disagreements in the wording right now.  If the disagreeing nations are allowed to keep their protections the deal is dead .

The is a complicated agreement that effectively seeds all power to corporations and supersedes national agreements.  READ HERE SOME OF WHAT IS CONTAINED IF THE AGREEMENT. 

If they ever get to  to passing Fast Track political process I implore you to fight with all  your might to keep them from fast tracking this deal.. If opened to a full debate on the pieces of this deal it will never get ratified.  Too many will be against pieces of the bill that just perhaps there will be enough opponents to the deal to overcome the zillions of dollars the corporations will be throwing at congress.

A small example of what this treaty will do you have seen demonstrated when Monsanto  has successfully won settlements in court because a farmer was found to have GMO products in their fields when they were not supposed to.. Of course the GMO seeds had been blown there and not stolen didn't seem to matter and the farmer was driven out of business do to legal expenses.

Think of a world where all products were protected by the corporations who own them and any who oppose would be destroyed.  Of course it would give the corporations exactly what they want, maximum profits with no competition.

Most likely this will come to the front after the election.  Keep your head up and prepare to fight this with all your might.  We cannot afford to loose this one.

42 YEARS LATER AND I'M STILL PISSED

42 Years ago the USS Liberty was attacked by Israel in international waters.  All attempts to come to the Liberty's aide was called back by President Johnson so as to not embarrass Israel.  (unbelievable) Then to compound matters all military leaders and even the crew were ordered to keep their mouth shut about this incident.

HERE'S THE ACCOUNT IN GOOD DETAIL

To this day this incident keeps me from being sympathetic toward Israel.  The  incident itself is enough to enrage me but even deeper rage and disrespect of our leaders civilian and military has been caused by the cover up of our leaders to keep the countries support of Israel high.

  The abandonment of our sailors by their whole chain of command is an act that I will never be able to forgive.  On the other hand I am unable to understand why someone in the chain of command didn't rat out the operation.
I'm sure they would have vanished from the face of the earth but having provided the evidence to one of a few reporters who are brave enough to make it public.  No one ratted the higher ups although the story  pieces did surface the whole story never made it to the public.

When you loose trust of your leaders you lead and unsettled life.  When you automatically question what comes from our leaders mouth it keeps you busy sorting out fact from fiction.  With our MSM parroting what ever the offical word is your pretty much on your own to dig out the truth.  Thanks to the Internet you can dig out scraps and eventually piece the story together.  The one thing  that gives you a starting point is you can pretty well count on the company line being a lie.

WHAT AUSTERITY HAS DONE TO ALL OF THE EU

It had to happen.  Any econ 101 student knows what will happen if you load up a country in additional debt to pay off criminal bankers who through the great American derivative scheme drove those countries into debt they couldn't pay.  So in desperate measures had to sell off a countries treasures, public utilities, ports and all else of value to the bankers of the EU and still that hasn't been enough.

So the creditors of the EU have driven them into a Greater depression with negative growth, high unemployment , loss of export sales , and on and on.  Things look glum indeed with no way clear of the problem.  So an entire continent has been driven to their knees by crooked bankers.

The problem is not limited to the EU.  Take a good hard look at Detroit and you can examine up close the same effects being seen in the EU right here in the good ole USA.  

The PTB will not be satisfied till they have the whole world crawling on their knees begging for scraps.  A once great America is turning into a third world country with even worse effects predicted down the road.  Future job predictions show a glim picture of future jobs on top of the horrible loss of industrial production in this country.   With 23.3 percent unemployment  at present with more to come down the road.  The jobs that have been generated are mostly low wage service jobs .  Things are so bad that even Walmart is having trouble quarter to quarter.

Predictions down the road talk of robots replacing jobs like customer service, bus drivers, cab drivers, cooks, wait persons, almost all assembly jobs, nurses , doctors and on and on and on.  Which leaves one to ask "What the hell are all these folks going to do for income?"

The few who are reaping the benefits of this destruction are not concerned that the masses will have no way to keep their money machines going.  On investigations they really think they can put us all into slavery and still have all their money and growth.  History shows that when driven to desperation lots of things are possible.. The greedy of the time seldom can hold on to what they have and ours will not be able to either.

Of course all this could have been avoided if we had kept the regulations in effect that were placed to keep another great depression.  Those regulations worked for 50 years till rules were taken away piece by piece starting with Regan starting the ball rolling with the destruction of the Air Traffic Controllers union.  From that victory onto removing all the regulation controlling markets.  Dose after dose of trade treaties facilitating the destruction of almost all manufacturing jobs in this country.  Even once lucrative jobs on Wall Street have now been replaced with computers that do something over 80% of daily trades.  No brokers needed, just turn your computer on and trade , trade, trade.

Creating generations of people with no hope of rising out of poverty, slavery , or whatever name you put to it, find a way to change it back to how it was.  We shall just have to wait and see how it changes , knowing that it will get better in the future .  We have done it before now we have to do it again.  

The Asian countries have received most of the benefits of these acts as far as the common worker is concerned.  However a closer look at China, India and other countries in the Asian arena sees the eventual downfall of all these countries do to critical shortages in breathable air, drinkable water, and a deficit of power to push them to even more growth.   As those problems get worse you will see jobs return to the US but will this growth pick up those who have been left behind these last 30 years?  

OUR MORAL COMAPSS IS BROKEN

One could always hope that it only appears broken do to the Information Age resources we have today.  With 850 channels on my satellite TV to all the info available on the net we see daily acts of violence in much larger numbers then in the past.

However things seem to be a bit more complicated than that.  For instance violence by cops seems to be a lot worse today than anytime in my 77 years. Daily it seems another case of unnecessary police brutality  hits the tv.  When you arm even the smallest police department like a Seal team and train them in their tactics I guess we shouldn't be surprised at the outcome.

The leadership in all aspects of our society has demonstrated to us in the last 30 years that a huge majority of them are dishonest to flat out thieves and liars.  From government to leaders of industry we see icons of the country telling flat out lies and robbing us blind.

Being straight out lied to to attack Iraq, and then told we do not torture (while holding circle meeting in the White House to discuss methods of torture to be used on a particular victim), to being told that Global trade and all the treaties that sent most of our industrial base overseas, leaving mostly low wage service jobs for some of out workers.

Now after 30 years of this nonsense we see the results of all these lies.  America being classified as a third world nation kinda tells the whole story. With the elite strutting across our screens pushing their chests out proclaiming how great they are while at the same time chiding us at if we are not making it it's our fault.

History shows us that when you push a Nation's population to it's brink of destruction bad shit happens,  not a threat , just a look at the past to tell you where we are headed..

So we most of our leaders corrupt and  being supported by our equally corrupt media we are left to flop around on deck like a fish out of water.  I just wish to stay around till the bad guys get the ole heave ho..

INSANITY AT THE TOP

The planning coming from our defense geniuses if nothing else will make you loose your mind.   The people involved in this planning are of both parties and further proving they both are completely insane.

Read this insane piece if you dare

Six simultaneous wars?  You gotta be shitting me.  Unless my memory is totally shot, recent history (if you call 50 years recent) we have been unable to come away the winner of any war.  Sure if you are a company man you might call Iraq won and I'm sure they will call Afghanistan won we we finally leave.  The winning? in both those countries leaves a lot of their citizens wondering what the hell happened.

Iraq is about to be run over by some of the craziest Muslims in the world with plans to take over much of the Middle East.  The force of Allah is strong and ISIS could actually pull off big plan.  Afghanistan the minute our last trooper leaves  will turn back into a state run by the Taliban. So not being able to defeat even these minor players we are planning to do 6 at one time.

The panel says that this plan will be expensive and the only way to pay for this size military is to cut social programs and to reduce military pay and benefits, now there is a very popular program... The kicker is they say they can't  do this force with an all volunteer army  and will go back to conscription.  Good luck with that!

One thing you have to consider in thinking conscription is what will be the state of the economy when they try to pull this off.  If the country is still lacking decent paying jobs the military might be a viable option.

Very little info coming from government sources can be believed , most when researched is total fiction to further whatever the program is today.  In recent history we have been told so many lies you might have become doubtful of anything the government says.

A couple of government programs I offer as examples.  The MH17 shoot down , the Russians weren't involved as further evidence has shown.  The US was exposed using Twitter and Facebook as reliable sources, really?  Every trade program in my lifetime has been sold to the public as a good deal for us, history shows it has destroyed the country.  Allowing financial companies to run rampant thru our country destroying us with much of the  rest of the world, and on and on.

So in a nutshell leadership in most at the top of the elite are nuts with focus on their own agenda without a thought at what it will do to the rest of us.  For that include leaders of both parties and the military personnel to suggest that a first strike nuclear attack is doable is at the top of the insane list.

Just a few things to consider when contemplating a nuclear attack.   Their are 17000 warheads with 4000 of those ready for immediate use.  Russia and the US have 2000 ready warheads , contemplating a first use says you believe you can knock out every one of those before they have a chance to fire is beyond insane..
If they launch or  not is almost immaterial to the survival of the world.  For us to insure that we got all their missiles we would have to fire a large number of ours.  So the question is , what would be the state of the world after a launch such as this.  Nothing, is the logical answer and only an insane bunch would be able to ignore the final consequence of such a launch.

ASKING FOR IT!

The City of Detroit is just asking for it.  Turning off water to thousands of household in the city for water bills owed .  A water system that has been privatized as part of the bankruptcies proceedings, and as happens in all privatizing schemes they jump prices way out of reach to normal people.  Detroit being particularly vulnerable because of low paying or non existent jobs.

For people on low income with children during a blistering hot summer will bring about a great unresting and without some relief things could turn ugly. It doesn't take much to turn it into an unruly mass with basically revenge on it's mind.  People already struggling in life should not have to scrounge water.  Imagine trying to keep a family together while trying to scrounge water to cook, clean, bath your kids.

Surely there is a better way to defuse this problem.

THE GAME PLAN

Paul Craig Roberts formerly of Republican regimes, turned critic of the whole mess that is US policy today , lays out what our game plan is and has been for a very long time.  Needless to say administrations  of both camps have carried the ball and never  changed a line of the game plan.

In other blogs I have called to view some of the insane ideas floated by the bunch of crazies we call our government, the most egregious of those being the change of our nuclear strike force from retaliation to a first strike system.  A totally stupid and earth ending scheme.  With thousands of warheads on both sides some of which are deployed at see submerged and withing minutes of striking either country , the thought that either side can pull off a first strike is ridiculous.  One missile boat on either side can throw enough into the air to totally destroy either country taking the rest of the world with us.

Equally stupid is massing troops and materials for a ground attack on Russia.  Seems to me the Germans got their asses handed to them by these same Russians in WW2, didn't they?  Yet we can't kick scraggly armies like Iraq, or Afghanistan yet we think we can take Russia.

Some time somewhere common sense has to take hold and reign in these assholes or have destruction  of the whole world.  If we the people don't wake up and take charge of our own government then I guess you could say we deserve what we get.  But shit Oh Dear I would prefer to go of old age not as nuclear dust.      

ON MH17 CLAIMS BY ME ON THE 21ST

As any good reader of my blogs it is your duty to call a post bullshit and research it on your own.  On 21 July I created a post stating that the whole gig was a US scheme to blame Russia for the shootdown and therefore get NATO nations to join a boycott of Russian business.  That didn't work out to good as news started filtering in from non us sources proving that it wasn't Russia and it wasn't pro Russian rebels but was actually shot down by Ukraine forces.

So having failed to pull that off over the weekend a State dept official Tweeted that he had Google Earth images showing Russian artillery was shooting into Ukraine,  once again another false flag operation.

Early research showed the whole gig was a US plot to stir the pot and put Russia on the defense .  Russia being a primary supplier of Natural gas to all of Europe.. An example they supply 40% of Germany's gas.  There are no alternate supplies to replace their gas so any sanctions we float will not be successful.

Although not mentioned anywhere in relation to the Ukraine mess I am convinced the driving forces behind this move are the fear that the BRIC agreements essentials bypassing the dollar in trade between these four countries with others considering joining has the US shitting in their pants.  Once the dollar ceases to be the primary trade currency we loose control of the world.  This has been predicted for a long time and perhaps this is the beginning of the end of the dollar dominance .

Day by day more evidence surfaces that this whole boondoggle is of US design.  So stay focused and stay ahead of the propaganda.

IF THEIR MOUTH IS MOVING THEY ARE LYING!

Days after beating the drums that Russian forces were behind the downing of flight 17 the intelligence community is stepping forward and saying that the company line is basically bullshit.  HERE'S THE STORY .

In a previous post I put forth my idea that it was not the rebels or Russia that downed the plane but it was actually the Ukraine army that did it.

This  goes along with the other (evidence? ) that was total fiction so badly put together that anybody really taking a few minutes to consider it as evidence had to start laughing.  Geez, if you gonna tell lies hire somebody  good to do it.  Romney or GW Bush, or maybe even Dick Chaney are probably available for a fee.

What bothers me deeply is the attempt once again by our government to lie us into another confrontation to foster their own intent.  In my short lifetime we have been lied into the Viet Nam War, Iraq, Afghanistan being the major ones, not counting the hundreds of little incursions we have initiated.

Out brutish actions have caused Nations to start forming alliances for monetary action, military actions and severance of ties to the dollar.  Even German who has stood by our side forever is having second thoughts .  So taking stock we have pissed off every Muslim in the world, and turned many into actively trying to hurt us.  Half of Europe, Asia, Japan, Brazil, India are turning away from our hegemony goals as so they should.

Perhaps, this could be the start of really downsizing our military forces.  It is already happening with the Army announcement they were releasing 8000 officers from duty early.   Coupled with  expensive weapons systems that don't work and or not wanted, take for instance the F35, The Osprey , The Littoral ship and many other systems so expensive to boggle your mind.  Just eliminating the few mentioned would reduce the military budget by a bunch.

ANOTHER BOTCHED EXECUTION!

Another prisoner has had to suffer through another two hour prolonged execution.  Yet still keep trying these ineffective drugs. If you are one who just has to have a life to pay for a life then here's away to do the  job without it getting messy.

A shot of twilight sleep followed by hookup to a tank of nitrogen and 10 seconds it's over, no fuss, no mess, just over.

Given the know state of the countries courts and their perverted attempts to create justice along with the proven mistakes they often make, it would be better to just do away with the death penalty.

But if you just have to do it, then do it as above, you will have your dignity left and allow the convict have some too.

HEY! YOU WANNA BE ON THE TERROIST LIST?

Here's how your status is being determined.  HERE.  Within the article is  link to the actual handbook of rules.  It is quite astonishing how little info is required to get on the list, but how next to impossible it is to get off.  A kid could say I heard my mom say communism  isn't so bad to his teacher and bam dear old ma is on the list.  

HOW DID I DECIDE WHO DID IT TO MH17

Sure I am well aware my take on MH17 is 180 out from what your hearing from US news (propaganda ) sources.  That's the main reason for posting, after hour after hour of talking heads spouting what hour by hour to be totally wrong from facts independently  gathered I felt it necessary to post my take from my gathering of facts.  Below is just a few links used to from my decision.

Before listing the links I would like to point out that the national news this morning is waffling all over the place trying to get out of the bullshit they planted the past few days.

The National news have all bared their selves to us to show they truly are just a propaganda machine. Every one of them hacked the same tired old story over and over and over again, therefore by government definition becomes (THE TRUTH)

SO HERE ARE A FEW OF MY LINKS
1.HERE
2.HERE
3.HERE
There are many other links if you want to find your own.

ON FLIGHT MH 17

Take a deep breath, and throw away at least half of what you are hearing blaming it on the Pro Russian forces.

Just answer a few questions for me will you.
1. What could the rebels possibly have to gain by pulling this off?
   When at best it could bend world opinion against them.
2.  There is damn little evidence that the rebels had an operational missile unit.
3..  There is evidence that Kiev control rerouted the plane across a route taking them directly across a dangerous route. (the control tapes have been confiscated by Ukraine)( but wait that data will be on the black boxes)
4. The attempt to classify this as a terrorist act is plainly an attempt to align other nations to the idea that the rebels did it.
5.  Little mention of the 20 missile batteries that Ukraine has.
6. No discussion of what the rebels have to gain out of this act. and a better question what would Ukraine have to gain by doing it.  My thoughts are that Ukraine had a lot more to gain, painting the rebels as terrorists .

There are many events building up to this action.  Russia even made a better offer to Ukraine than the EU offer of more austerity and years of pain, this brought about the overthrow of the government and installed a US puppet to power.  Who incidentally their first acts after gaining control is to start a purge of Russian speaking Ukrainians , and other Nazi like tricks.

The fact that the US is once again caught with it's hands in somebody else's cookie jar and as usual screwing it up.  This all only makes sense when you consider the stated US shift to the Pacific area military wise gives you a sense of what this is all about.  The control of EU energy supplies is what they are after and at the same time limit Russian influence in the EU.

To think for one minute that , that part of the world is sitting on their hands letting us run away with the cookies.  Of course they are not.  You have probably heard that the BRIC nations have formed an economic pact to counter the horrible world of the IMF, and now rumors are flying that a lot of the rest of the G20 are interested in joining .  My what a change that would make if they could make the IMF go away.

My bottom line is and this is on the record"  I believe that Ukraine is responsible for this act, all of common sense dictates that they had the most to gain if they could blame this on the rebels, while the rebels had absolutely nothing to gain by this act.  The Ukrainian butchers are capable of this act  and had the motivation to do this deed.

IN CASE YOU WERE EVER IN DOUBT

As to if the dispersement of military grade hardware to police department would ever be used , well here is a very good example of it being used to disperse an orderly crowd protesting the shutting off of water to citizens in the Detroit area.

They were a peaceable assembly exercising what use to be our right to assembly and protest, that seems to be  thing of the past. We have heard about these ear shattering devices were being handled out to the police and had been used once before during an Occupy demo.  Now they have been used to quell an assembly protesting the shutting off of thousands of water users in Detroit.

Detroit seems to be the cutting edge of what they intend for the rest of us, one state at a time.  Water shut off, street lighting disabled, pensions cut, benefits cut, the sale of publicly  owned art work.  They are not finished yet, and others are eying the success of these operations, so stand for more of the same where you live.

Meantime the cities creditors are getting most of their loot back much of which was put in place by criminal action (according to me).   The city utilities are  being sold off to private companies who of course will raise the prices of these necessary utilities.  Living in Detroit in the summer without A/C or water has to be loads of fun.  Yeah sure 50 years ago most didn't have A/C and we survived but that was then and this is now.  Water is not a nicety it is a necessity and now they are shutting it off or pricing it out of the reach of the average citizen.

If you want to see the results of this kind of privatizing of utilities read this piece that points out the failures of privatizing of utilities world wide with examples of how the people took care of the problem .

TAKING STOCK

The attached link is a discussion by 6 leading thinkers talking about the immediate problems facing the planet   here

Three major crisis take center stage and should be known by everyone.  A financial crisis is due any time soon with almost nothing you and I can do to prevent it.  The second crisis we are already feeling the effects of is our water supply.  The third crisis is oil depletion.

So lets look at the financial problem.  We have a stock market at all time highs with lots of margin money in play, buying all kinds of junk, including the same deadly derivative packages still being created.  Some say the market is not in a bubble that P/E ratings are in a normal range and on the surface it looks ok, but when you dig deep in the garbage pit you find that a substantial portion of the supposed profit was gotten on the backs of laid off workers, buying back of their own stock, moving factories out of country and other underhanded stunts to make their bottom line look good.

With the whole world playing the austerity game, consumption is falling everywhere as the effects of firings, layoffs, and closings take effect.  Coupled to a new labor market that has supplied mostly low wage jobs to replace the blue collar jobs that have disappeared.  Household income in the US has been falling steadily for many years and inflation (held to be low by government numbers) is actually over 10% on the things every family consumes each month.

If that wasn't enough there is a concentrated movement out there to bust what few unions still exist, strip benefit packages from all workers including those already retired.  For an example look at what is going on in Detroit.  During their bankruptcy  they  have cut wages and benefits for all city workers including those already retired.  Detroit is being watched carefully as the PTB would like to bring it to more troubled cities and more that likely on to federal government workers at some point in time. And if that ain't enough the workers are being screwed by union management.

Another good deal in Detroit they are privatizing all city services, water, sewers, garbage pickup, museums etc. which always ends up costing the citizens more for these services .  The saying use to say "As go GM so goes the nation"   it now says, "  As goes Detroit so goes the nation"  Is the game that wants to be played.

For half the nations households 50K/yr is about as much as they can expect in the US today and many have to do with much less. 

Trade treaties  and government policies have eroded the economics of most families during the last 34 years.  The PTB are still not satisfied and are pushing more treaties such as the TPP to push us further into the ditch.

Meanwhile most of the citizenry seems to be able to ignore what is going on probably for lots of reasons.  Prime reason being they just don't know what to do about it.  While it does seem to be an impossible task sooner or later the people will have enough and find a way to get back to the game.  

Meanwhile new alliances are being formed and finalized to form new world currencies, some have already started trading in their own currencies and it seems to be spreading throughout Asia.  When enough counties trade without dollars involved the dollar as the one world currency is history and it's value will drop like a rock.  Putting further economic burden on us.

With the world getting tired of the US's hegemony plans, they are starting to take actions to isolate the US from a lot of the world.  Yet we still are messing with countries that we want to control, like Venezuela, Ukraine, Cuba and more.
Now we are starting the all adviser game in Iraq , remember Nam, that's how that started.  With Russia and Iran coming to the aid of the current Iraq government it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.