Sen Bernie Sanders Tells it like it is

Sen. Sanders speech tells it like it is. That our government is bought and paid for and that we the very people that are supposed to be represented are last in line. This is one of my favorite speeches and I haven’t see this on the mainstream news.
Sanders lets them have it

No Compromise On Obama Compromise

No we will not continue to funnel money, to the rich. they had the bail out, they had there tax cuts . now shut the hell up.


The idiotic lie that trickledown economics benefits us all is old and tired. The top 2 percent of the income bracket have 23% of total income. How much more money do we need to give these people to get them to start the Magic businesses that will save us all . Bull crap. Obama can keep his compromise bill and the rich can stick it. Ok Republicans, go ahead don’t give the middle class the tax cut, oh and don’t renew unemployment, ( even though both these things would benefit the economy, because they need this money to pay bills, buy milk they cant save it ) when the people who cant find a job because there aren’t any come for you, because guess what there’s no hope either, lets see what you tell them when they beat you to death with our own tired rhetoric and excuses. lets not forget your more of the same jackasses that sent all the jobs overseas in the first place .

War Against the Middle Class

Bernie Sanders impassioned speech on the floor of the house, speaks the truth to a deaf audience both in congress and in the media, I have seen no coverage of this in the national media. Reguardless of your politics watch this, his facts are correct . To bad neither party will change anything  and the vast majority are dazzled by the distractions thrown up by the Dems and the Rep both.

 Video

What Free Market

Here is an excerpt from a really great article from http://www.frumforum.com/the-middle-class-hits-a-dead-end

It highlights I think all of our concerns about the economy and the truly unfair TARP and the policy's that got us here, check it out.

Excerpt:
One of the great undercurrents of contemporary politics is the growing sense of economic frustration or even despair among a broad swath of the American public.


But then, when a hedge fund or banking group risks faltering, the mantra from the same talking heads that ridiculed the economic difficulties of other workers suddenly changes. No longer can the free market have winners and (sometimes massive) losers. Now, it’s a CRISIS. Not giving bailed-out money
The point here is not to dispute the value or even the necessity of the various bail-outs that took place in 2008: the point is that many Americans, who lack PhDs in economics and may not have a great interest in the details of high finance, notice a surprising difference in elite attitude when the financial fortunes of multi-millionaires and billionaires are at stake than when the middle class suffers

Impossible Change

There is a flavor in the air, a feeling, that we may be entering a time of change, cultures beliefs ideology's and religions seem opposed and positions have become polarized in, whatever genre you wish too look at. There seem to be few great challenges that engage our society's at a truly gut level. We may have our pet causes and some few may obsess over them but there is no space race, no great society no coming together in the face of adversity.  Hope seems to be in short supply, people fill their lives with inconsequential things, maybe it's always been that way, its hard to tell.  My own faith in the wisdom of our civilization is limited. I believe we think to much of what we have done, our advances have come at such cost to people and too the world. We use things up thoughtlessly  without consideration of the consequences. That's a bad habit whatever your views, it lacks a common sense. I you know that things need to change  why don't you? Will you tell others, yes I saw there were problems but I ignored them. I don't think those people they show on television, you know the neighbors just down the street from the serial killer, they always say oh he seemed so normal, no he didn't, he seemed like an odd ball and that strange smell , all the time coming from the house, but they never say that, do they.No they say," I hadn't a clue" , why you ask because they don't want to be told well why didn't you say something, do, something.  Its easier to just let it slide, we my friends are the generation of letting it slide.

End of Our Golden Age

It has been some time since my last post, I thought I would take the time to say a few things.  In the time that's passed the recession has ended they say , but I see no sign of it here, and from the news and reports I have read I don't see it elsewhere either, I believe this is, but the calm before the storm and that the truly hard times lay ahead.

I cant have these conversations with most people, they don't know and they do not  care that our society economy and perhaps the very fabric of our modern civilization are about to come undone.

Here in America in the last few years anyone who has bothered to look can tell that the majority of the news supports big industry and big government , how could it be other wise as there owned and operated by the very companies and mega cooperation's they are supposed to be reporting on.

The model that our economy is based on is broken, and there seems to be no way to fix it given the current political and economic situation. More, we lack the will for it to be fixed . The government stepped in and saved not the American people but the company's. Spending Trillions of dollars not to better the lives of the average American but to line the pockets of business and the rich.

Where, I ask are the billions we gave the banks in the bailouts, still in the banks and reinvested in the market very little money has been loaned to anyone. The banks have again been turned into giant casinos, benefiting only the house and its investors.

The myth of the American dream of the working class has been shattered, proven wrong and impossible to reach in this day and age, our savings and investments in the market that always goes up gone or reduced to a pittance of its former worth.

The dollar worth less and less over time, the real prices we pay go up and up but the government doesn't count these costs into its information because its too volatile and it alters the numbers. Well of course it does, in reality our incomes have steadily decreased since the 1970's and our cost have gone up and up. Do your own research its true.

There are so many uncertainties in the world today, so many interrelated factors that we only vaguely understand.

Each day offers a new crisis, as the media and politicians divert, obscure and mislead. no I don't think there is a plan, I just think its human nature and today most bend the way the wind blows , thinking that this to will pass and all will be well.

Good luck people, and remember the past always repeats itself , so prepare we have  seen the end of the golden age .

Jobs Report From BLS At Odds With Reality

The new BLS employment numbers are out and it looks like the numbers are a wash we have certainly not really gained 162’000 jobs in this country. The report is not accurate due to the underreported and needlessly complicated process the BLS uses, and what jobs we have gained are still being offset by the loss of quality jobs all across the country.

Facts you will not see in the BLS report are that unemployment among teen agers is 75% nationally. This means that all school aged kids out looking for work over the summer will be unable to find jobs and there is the fact that we need to create 100,000 jobs a month just to break even because of people entering the work force every month.

We continue to lose quality jobs that are only replaced with seasonal part time and Crap jobs in Retail and fast food. Americans are becoming more desperate and fed up with the Spin on the data coming out of the government across the board, and in particular with the White House, the FED, and every government agency that is selling a recovery that is total fiction.

The crazy’s are starting to come out of the woodwork fueled by the irresponsible rhetoric that comes from the cable news channels and even the floor of the house and senate.

To many in office and in the media these antics are just another round of gamesmanship by the press and politicians that care nothing for the damage they are doing but only for profits, ratings and political notoriety.

Damage is being done that will take, if we are lucky decades to repair most likely our grand children and great grand children will be dealing with the ripple effects of our economy and the political decisions that are being made for a hundred years.

The BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) reports a net gain of 162,000 new payroll jobs in March 48,000 at least (probably more) are temporary census jobs so that’s 114,000 real jobs right, well maybe not the current ADP payroll report indicates that payrolls actually dropped by 23,0000 in March . Bear with me here so we have the BLS reports a net gain of 162,000 jobs ADP repots a loss of 23,000 ADP does not count government payroll jobs. So the census jobs would not be included in this total so that’s a difference of 25,0000 jobs . Also the numbers on the BLS report do not add up (as usual) in addition they do admit the long term unemployed went up to 44.1 percent a new record. it looks like the numbers are a wash as we continue to lose quality jobs and they are replaced with seasonal part time and Crap jobs in Retail and fast food if at all. The BLS did state long-term unemployed made up 44.1 percent of all unemployed persons, a record high. What this means is that Americans have been unemployed longer and there is no real end in sight. See my blog post for the Feburary BLS Report

Here are links to the latest BLS report and related stories you may find of intrest.

The BLS Report just released today
States, employment rose by 162,000 in March, unemployment rate was 9.7 percent for the third month in a row. The March employment increase also included 48,000 workers hired by the federal government for Census 2010.

LA Times Reports

March yields first solid growth in jobs since recession

ADP National Employment Report Shows U.S. Employment Decreased by 23,000 Private Sector Jobs in March
(The ADP National Employment Report, created by Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP®), in partnership with Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, is derived from actual payroll data and measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month.)

CBS Money Watch Reports
Memo to Congress: Stop Touting Small Business Job Growth

Fox Business Reports
Though most forecasters did not revise their outlook in light of the surprising ADP report showing a loss of 23,000 private sector jobs in March, the real ADP disappointments were that February jobs losses went from 20,000 to 24,000 and service sector jobs gains in January turned negative. The underlying messages in the ADP data were a) private sector hiring is continuing to lag other indicators and b) weather played little role in February’s report of 36,000 job losses, except to the extent that a smaller percentage of businesses contacted responded to the February jobs survey than the January survey. (Since participation in the survey is voluntary, firms which chose not to respond may have instead chosen to use the time to clear up work which had been put aside due to February storms.)

Several analysts did some strained verbal gymnastics to explain why they were not taking the ADP report into consideration and revising upbeat forecasts for the Friday jobs report, though in advance of the ADP numbers some of the same analysts noted how the ADP and BLS numbers (for private sector payrolls) have converged in recent months.

TARP Creates jobs OVERSEAS Where are the American Jobs

Ok I have to do a blog about the stimulus for the environmental initiative that was put into the TARP you know the one that was going to create thousands of job here in America doing making homes energy efficient building wind farms and solar farms all across America. That’s what they told us anyway and at the time I didn’t believe it then and it seems not to be true now.

Excerpt : BP, Europe’s second-largest oil company, said March 26 that it’s stopping manufacturing at its Frederick, Maryland, solar plant and cutting 320 jobs because of high costs and declining panel prices. The announcement came seven weeks after London- based BP said the division that includes solar and wind power was losing almost $183,000 an hour.


Solar companies are ramping up manufacturing in Asia even as they take government incentive funds to hire in the U.S. Suntech Power Holdings Co., which got $2.1 million to assemble panels at a 70-worker plant in Arizona, will employ 11,000 people in China to build components. Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar Inc. plans to do 71 percent of its manufacturing hiring in Malaysia after getting $16.3 million in federal funding to hire 200 people at an Ohio plant.

The millions of dollars we pumped into this have gone where, overseas to china and Malaysia and other countries where the pay some poor Indian or Malaysian or Chinese ten bucks a day to put stuff together with his feet, why you asked because we don’t build anything here anymore .

We don’t we don’t build cars or planes or pencils for gods sakes American manufacturing has been in the shitter for years, why you ask? Several reasons the cost of labor has gone up dramatically here, it’s just cheaper to manufacture overseas.

The companies here don’t care about the country, the towns they work in or the people working for them, they care about profit. Cooperate ethics is a ten minute segment of the business course no one pays atention to because hey we know the corperations are above the law.

Profit for the multinational company why do they call it multinational why because it’s not really based in any one country it owes no allegiance to any one country its only loyalty and motive is profit by any means at any human environmental or economic cost dam the consequences to the workers there families the communities they are in and the countries that host them.

And after they have bled the area dry of resources devastated the environment and ruined the local economy they move on to the next place the next country the next profit.

Corporations owe a responsibility to their workers and there families the communities that host them the countries there are in and to the world as a whole. There was a time in America and around the world that this was understood, not always and the ruthless robber barons have time after time done great wrongs and sadly have never been held to account for their actions but enough good honest men and women were there to make a difference.

Sadly all we get these days is bread and circuses smoke and mirrors, when will the American people realize we do not have to settle for this and that we have the power to change the government and the world, what sacrifice is too much what degradation too horrible to bear what lie is too much

American Stonehenge in Georgia

The Elberton Guide stone Mystery


I came across this article at CNN it’s about the Elberton guide stones, I myself lived in Georgia for many years and had never heard of the Georgia Stonehenge as some call it, the stones located outside of Elberton about a 100 miles east of Atlanta in what was a farmer’s field have a gift shop and are something of a minor tourist attraction . The stones were commissioned by a man who used the name of R.C. Christian who hid his true identify. The only man who still knows the identity of the mysterious man is an old banker, a local named Wyatt Martin who says he made a gentleman’s agreement not to reveal the man’s true identify.

The very fact the stones were commissioned at all is odd and to compound the mysterious nature of the stones they are have the following inscriptions consisting of a set of ten guidelines or principles is engraved on the Georgia Guide stones in eight different languages, one language on each face of the four large upright stones. Moving clockwise around the structure from due north, these languages are: English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian.

THE MESSAGE OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.

2. Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.

3. Unite humanity with a living new language.

4. Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason.

5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.

6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.

7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.

8. Balance personal rights with social duties.

9. Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.

10.Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature.

The monument was commissioned In June 1979, Supposedly using Wyatt Martin as an agent the Elberton Granite Finishing Company was hired to build the structure.

Apparently local opinion holds that the owner of the Elberton Finishing Company, Mr Joe H. Fendley Sr, built the monument to express his own beliefs and at the same time promote the local granite businesses. He apparently published a booklet in 1981, that said a minimum 12 additional stones could be built if “ a group of 'conservation-minded' sponsors willing to pay the price could be found, page 39 of the booklet states that Fendley is a high-ranking Freemason.

In addition to the guide stones Christian left behind a 1986 book, "Common Sense Renewed," that is still for sale at the Elberton Granite Museum.. In 1986, copies of the book were distributed to several thousand "political officials and shapers of public opinion" throughout the world. All members of the United States Congress received copies, as did Reagan and Gorbachev.

I have read a few pages of the book online, the parts I have read don’t seem so disturbing but then again the whole project seems to me to be the project of an eccentric. The stones and the book have become part of the conspiracy theory groups the tablets are said to be the work of the masons or the illuminati or some other new world order group.

In the end R.C. Christian whoever he was has achieved at least some small notoriety for himself and his message and after all that was his goal.

Consequences’ of the end of oil

This is a three part report on the predicted impacts of peak oil to society and the world economies. The report while couched in the jargon of the scientific academia is terrifying in its implications. This scholarly article is a joint effort between two highly respected organizations.

Feasta, a leading international think-tank exploring the interactions between human welfare, the structure and operation of human systems, and the ecosystem which supports both, and,


The Risk/Resilience Network, an initiative which was established in order to understand energy induced systemic risk, the scope for risk management, and general and emergency planning.

For god,s sake at least look at the summary of the report

This paper talks about the likely systemic impacts of peak oil, including the possibility of collapse. With a long publication such as this, it is difficult to know how to present a reasonable subset of the material. In this post, we are publishing the Summary as Part 1. Our tentative plan is to publish three additional excerpts from the paper later. Those who wish to read the paper now can download it from the link .


The lead author of this publication is David Korowicz. You may remember him for his talk at the Oil Drum/ASPO Conference at Alkatraz, Italy last summer called Things Fall Apart: Complexity, Supply Chains, Infrastructure & Collapse.

Tipping Point: Near-Term Systemic Implications of a Peak in Global Oil Production - Part 1 - Summary (report excerpt)


by Gail Tverberg

For Example : The credit crisis exemplifies society's difficulties in the timely management of risks outside our experience or immediate concerns.  TRANSLATION people and society cannot handel events outside its immediat experiance AKA dident see it comming now were screwed, save me save me.

As individuals, and as a social species we put up huge psychological defences to protect the status quo. We've heard this doom prophesied for decades, all is still well! What about technology? Rising energy prices will bring more oil! We need a Green New Deal! We still have time! We’re busy with a financial crisis! This is depressing! If this were important, everybody would be talking about it!
TRANSLATION Its always been that way my daddy, mydaddies daddy  have been living the fat happy good life and so will I.

Global Warming Is dead here comes Global Cooling

Global cooling trends combine with volcanic eruptions in Iceland to create a more massive and devastating impact. Cooling is much more devastating than warming to society at large combined with the ever dwindling supply of oil and the devastating impact to agriculture the trends clearly show that the earth has in fact been cooling over all, for the last ten years not warming as previously predicated by the IPCC and the greens. Again the issue has been what is new and sexy and can be used to the greatest political and emotional impact. The scientific community has again failed us because of the desire to manipulate data to support their views in order to obtain funding for their own pet projects, and we have suffered for their arrogance and greed.

The potential eruption of Iceland's volcano Katla would likely send the world, including the USA, into an extended deep freeze.


"When Katla went off in the 1700s, the USA suffered a very cold winter," says Gary Hufford, a scientist with the Alaska Region of the National Weather Service. "To the point, the Mississippi River froze just north of New Orleans and the East Coast, especially New England, had an extremely cold winter.



Twelve-month long drop in world temperatures wipes out a century of warming


Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile -- the list goes on and on.

No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously

Wall Street Despised, Most Want Oversight, Poll Shows

Wall Street Despised, Most Want Oversight, Poll Shows

Most people interviewed in the Bloomberg National Poll say they don’t like Wall Street, banks or insurance companies

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-24/wall-street-despised-most-want-oversight-poll-shows-update1-.html



Sales of new homes in the US fell to their lowest level on record

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8585568.stm



The latest Fox News poll finds that 79 percent of voters think it’s possible the economy could collapse, including large majorities of Democrats (72 percent), Republicans (84 percent) and independents (80 percent).

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/23/fox-news-poll-say-economy-collapse/



Fla. jobless rate reaches record 12.2 pct in Feb

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hQ-fyW7bNW0jkjNFEavBzzxs84UwD9EMFKP00



Colorado Jobless Rate Rises to 7.7 Percent in Feb.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/26/business/AP-US-Unemployment-Colorado.html

States Reduce Services to Poor

Minimal attention that is being shown by the media to the budgets crisis that is happening across the country and the massive impacts that this is having and will have across the country.


“Taxes are being raised. Draconian cuts in services are being made. Public employees are being fired. The tissue-thin national economic recovery is being undermined. And in many cases, the most vulnerable populations — the sick, the elderly, the young and the poor — are getting badly hurt.”

There will be more cuts that affect the poor the young and the middle and lower incomes. Truly we have the best government money can buy, and to that extent they are taking care of their constituents there constituents’ being big business and the rich, and we have politicians lining their own pockets spending their terms in office and then moving out into multimillion dollar lobbyist jobs and jobs working for the very company’s there are supposed to be providing oversight on.

The headlines when you can find them are grim prices continue to rise dramatically across the board for everyday goods that we all use but somehow don’t make the consumer price index. Real working people who make twenty to thirty to thousand dollars see their marginal incomes eroded further each day.

I don’t sense that our government really cares or they even really understand the hopelessness that more and more Americans feel every day. What further events will bring we can only wait and see

Colorado Out of Unemployment Money, Forty Other States As Well

Colorado is just one of forty states borrowing money from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits the question really is where is the federal government getting the money? Colorado is just one of FOURTY states that do not have the money to continue to pay unemployment benefits’, the issue becomes what happens next, we are printing money that has less and less value every day, real inflation (what we really pay for goods and services as opposed to the fictional numbers the Fed and the what house puts out) cost us more and more every day.

There is no economic recovery remotely on the horizon barring a miracle we are headed for massive unemployment far exceeding the 24 million we currently have. The economic disaster on the horizon will be compounded by the 8,000 boomers a year retiring the housing market the artificially inflated values of the stock market. See the full story

Colorado unemployment fund out of money, but still paying

The fund officially ran out of state money Jan. 20, but the state has borrowed $122 million from the federal government as of Wednesday to keep benefits flowing to unemployment insurance recipients, according to Wayne Peel, chief financial officer of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. The state borrows the money from the federal government on a daily basis and does not exceed what the state needs to pay unemployment benefits.

Colorado is one of 30 states and U.S. territories receiving federal help to pay unemployment benefits. Peel said he expects three more states — Arizona, Delaware and New Hampshire — to join the list by the end of the month. The federal government expects to loan money to as many as 40 states by the end of the recession, Peel said.

The Colorado fund’s insolvency stemmed from high demand for benefits — the state processed 19,141 first-time, unemployment-insurance claims in June 2009, compared to 7,790 in June 2007 — and a system for filling the trust fund that hasn’t changed with inflation in more than 20 years. The fund’s balance shrank from $676.5 million in November 2008 to $161.7 million in November 2009, according to materials the Department of Labor and Employment presented to the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee in December. The state paid an average of $88 million a month in the first 10 months of 2009.

Gasoline Prices Back On the Rise\Production Falls

• U.S. Petroleum Product Prices. Regular-grade gasoline prices averaged $2.35 per gallon in 2009, increasing from an average of $1.79 per gallon in January 2009 to $2.61 per gallon in December. EIA expects these prices will average $2.84 per gallon in 2010 and $2.96 per gallon in 2011. Average regular-grade pump prices likely will exceed $3 per gallon at times during the upcoming spring and summer and will easily pass that benchmark in high-cost regions, such as the West Coast. Due to forecast growth in motor gasoline consumption, the difference between the average gasoline retail price and the average cost of crude oil increases slightly in both 2010 and 2011.
Production growth in 2011 slows sharply to 20,000 bbl/d, as substantial declines in the Federal Gulf of Mexico and Alaska almost offset gains in lower-48 on-shore production.

States Scramble To Cover Expenses

Some news items that show how city’s and states are struggling with their defects, note the amounts of money here, we will see more city’s slash budgets reduce services and come after more of your money in tax dollars. The first is a Fed reserve official saying that we cannot continue to print money as we have our debts now exceed the GNP for the average year, the consequence of this will be massive inflation unemployment and the virtual destruction of the middle class. We have still not learned any lessons from this we continue as a country to write checks we cannot cash. The news you hear of low inflation, the drop in jobless claims and a decrease in unemployment is complete fiction, Washington has made an art out of feeding misinformation to the American public. The saying goes to be forewarned is to be forearmed listen , hear, watch, observe, prepare, make what preparations’ you can for the coming hardship we all face. Good luck.

Govts Need Fiscal Stimulus Exit Plan

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Calling government budget deficits unsustainable, a top Federal Reserve official on Thursday called on national leaders to start laying out plans that would allow a move back to more manageable spending levels.
"Just as there needs to be a credible exit strategy for monetary policy to anchor inflation expectations, there also needs to be a credible exit strategy from fiscal policy stimulus to anchor expectations about the risks of sovereign debt default," Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said Thursday.

California:


The first attempt at solving some of California's $20 billion budget deficit ended far short of the goal Thursday, as the Legislature adjourned its special session on midyear cuts to the state budget.

Illinois : Budget Woes Have Schools Expecting the Worst

In Elgin on Monday night, it is not going to matter who is bluffing, winning or losing in the heated debate under way in Springfield over the state’s gargantuan budget hole.

The legislature may argue for months over Gov. Patrick J. Quinn’s proposed $1.3 billion in education cuts and his plan to raise state income taxes, or they may ignore it. But school officials cannot wait.


New York: A Way to Bail Out New York

New York State is facing a $9 billion budget deficit in the coming fiscal year — a calamitous shortfall that is likely to get worse before it gets better. The state’s credit rating is at risk, and painful budget cuts are inevitable.


New Jersey:

Chris Christie on N.J.’s budget crisis

GOVERNOR CHRISTIE: It's going to be painful, Pat, it really is. We have an inherited an 11.2 billion dollar budget deficit for next fiscal year. We'll be addressing that budget deficit in my speech on Tuesday and I will tell you it's going to be painful for all New Jerseyans. But I know that if we dig in and we fix our problems honestly now that we'll be in a position for economic growth as the economy recovers.



Hawaii's budget outlook gets slightly worse

HONOLULU -- Hawaii's projected budget deficit grew by about $50 million Thursday, a relatively small bump based on signs that the economy is stabilizing.

The state Council on Revenues, which predicts how the economy will influence tax collections, left its forecast unchanged for the current fiscal year ending in June, but it toned down its prior optimism about next fiscal year.



Maryland

The highwaymen from Annapolis

With state lawmakers clamoring to find ways to reduce spending, it’s not surprising that Baltimore’s share of transportation aid has drawn attention like hungry lions eyeing a wounded zebra. But a proposal to cut $30 million in city aid, not to help balance the state budget but to enrich more affluent jurisdictions, demonstrates how nature’s carnivores have nothing on the predators in Annapolis.

Such blatant theft would surely make the Sheriff of Nottingham proud. Taking so-called Highway Users Revenue from Baltimore and giving it to the counties is nothing short of stealing from the poor to benefit the rich. With a potential $2 billion deficit looming next year, state spending needs to be cut, but that doesn’t mean legislators should be harder on the city than local governments with fiscal problems nowhere near so dire.

Inflation Food and Energy

I was looking for information on what the actual rate inflation , not what we hear on the news. You only have to go to the store buy a gallon of gas a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk to be able to tell that there is something fundamentally wrong with the numbers coming out of Washington these days.  I think the explanation is very well thought out and I recommend reading the whole article.
 

The folling is an excerpt of an article by By Jerome R. Corsi at World Net Daily


What's America's real inflation rate?


Why is it that the federal government says the U.S. has virtually no inflation – less that 2 percent – but everything keeps getting more expensive, especially food and gasoline?

When removing expensive items from the CPI market basket of goods and services was not enough to depress inflation numbers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics innovated even more, changing the "weighted factors" used in calculating CPI statistics, so the results end up under-reporting the true inflation people experience in everyday living.

So, when you wonder why food and gasoline cost so much when the government says inflation is low, just remember: You are being lied to – something we suspect you figured out long ago, just by going to the supermarket.

Media Ignores State Financial Misconduct

While I am currently working on a new article about the massive budgets deficits that 48 of the 50 states currently have, the expected deficits this year as well and into 2011 as well, I have noticed an ever growing trend of virtually every major city in the country proposing either massive budget cuts that affect city services or major tax increases or both. Nowhere have I see any real reporting by the main stream media about why just about every city and state is in financial crises that is only going to get worse in the coming months.


All governments, Federal, State and local seem to have two things in common the first is that they invest our hard earned tax dollars into what have turned out to be poor investments, and second they spend every dollar that comes in the door , I mean every dollar not just on infrastructure ,like roads and bridges sewers and water, actually the trend has been they have spent less and less money on infrastructure and more on social programs.

I do not doubt the need for such programs, I doubt the management and the waste of everything the government does. Take for example what happens if an administrator is wise and frugal and does a good job and actually doesn’t use all the money in their budget for the year, are they rewarded no they are punished the budget is actually cut by that amount the next year . This encourages waste because they are by god going to spend every single dime they get and ask for more next year saying it was not enough.

So why is there no reporting on this issue essentially the times were good and every one spent or invested all the money, now times are bad and there all broke. I challenge you to try this in your personnel finances, if you did you will shortly find yourself broke or in jail maybe both. How can we hold our government to a lesser standard than we ourselves must adhere to.

Tom Delay: People Are Unemployed Because They Want To Be

Tom Delay is a jackass and clearly is out of touch with most of America. As the unemployment rate, which some estimates put at 24 million soars. According to Mr. Delay that’s because those 24 million people god bless em just don’t want to work. Delay: well, it is the truth. And people in the real world know it. And they have friends and they know it. Sure, we ought to be helping people that are unemployed find a job, but we also have budget considerations that are incredibly important, especially now that Obama is spending monies that we don't have.
Perhaps Mr. Delay has forgotten that he and his cronies have played a major part in the financial disaster unfolding that is impacting mostly, Oh, yeah the poor and the middle class but they really do not count in Mr. Delay’s world do they.

"You know," Delay said, "there is an argument to be made that these extensions, the unemployment benefits keeps people from going and finding jobs. In fact there are some studies that have been done that show people stay on unemployment compensation and they don't look for a job until two or three weeks before they know the benefits are going to run out.

I am infuriated that Mr. Delay feels that his virtue is such that he can cast aspersions on the character of millions of Americans when he has clearly been found to lack any trace of character or moral fiber himself.

Texas courts charged Delay with criminal violations of state campaign finance laws and money laundering.

Charges which he has yet to face because the good ole boy network is alive and well and the rule is here in America is that if you have enough money power and influence, you can be convicted of nothing.

Mr. Delay speaks the thoughts that many on both sides of the isle in Washington believe, there is no thought given or blame taken for the myriad mistakes that have been made dating back to the Nixon administration, and continued president by president congress by congress for the last forty years. The incompetence greed and absolute disregard for the country the people and the ideals on which this nation was founded. We have in Mr. Delay's eye become a nation without the capacity to work out of choice.

The bill for all of these mistakes is coming due now, and it is we the American people who will pay the price.

The rich the powerful will as they normally have, bide their time isolated from the very chaos that the greed and manipulation, of markets, politics, and the U.S. economy have caused.

Mr. Delay is representative of his kind in that he blames the very people that he has wronged.

At this point how I can really be angry at a few hundred thousand malingers out of 24 million unemployed. A wise man once told me that attitude reflects leadership and that, any organization over time comes to be a reflection of its management.

Collapse Documentary Is a Must See

Radical thinker Michael Ruppert outlines his apocalyptic vision of our world after the collapse of industrial civilization. A documentary by Chris Smith, the director of "American Movie" & "The Yes Men"

This movie is well worth checking out Michael Ruperts ideas are thoughtful plausible and not the usual ravings you get from some of the peak oil crowd.

I recommend checking out his book.:

Confronting Collapse: The Crisis of Energy and Money in a Post Peak Oil World
See the reviews at Amazon.

At the least the works should provoke some thoughtful debate about our economy and the world at large.

BLS Snow job on the Jobless Numbers in February

BLS reports jobless rates inflated due the February snow. The snow indeed has fallen like a blanket across the white house and federal government. All major media outlets have jumped on the bandwagon and report that everything is really much better. Never mind they report the national average for unemployment is around 9% when it is really over 16% close to 17%. Also they lay the ground work to blame the march report again on the February snows and no one is even mentioning the fact that march numbers will show a gigantic drop in unemployment due to the hiring of 3.8 million temporary census workers for the 2010 census.


There are still over 17 million unemployed in this country and probably more to come. Obviously they believe the average American to be an idiot and having seen the lack of public response to the blatant propaganda coming from the government and frrm wall street I would have to agree.

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- FEBRUARY 2010

Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed (-36,000) in February, 9.7 percent overall, Employment fell in construction and information, while temporary help services added jobs. Severe winter weather in parts of the country may have affected payroll employment and hours; however,(Bold underline added) it is not
possible to quantify precisely the net impact of the winter storms on these measures. For more information on the effects of the severe weather on employment estimates, see the box note at the end of the release.

Clinton Warns Of Iranian Threat

A story on the National terror alert web page warns us of the effects of  EMP over the U.S.


An EMP is a broadband, high-intensity, short-duration burst of electromagnetic energy.


In military terminology, an EMP bomb detonated hundreds of kilometers above the earth's surface is known as a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) device.

Electromagnetic Pulse Still a Risk Three days ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it could take months for new UN sanctions against Iran. Today, The Wall Street Journal reports that, in addition to China, the Obama administration is increasingly worried about gaining the support of other members of the U.N. Security Council


Effectively, the U.S. would be thrown back to the pre-industrial age following a widespread EMP attack.”Congress has already begun to address this threat. They created the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse EMP Attack, who has since issued reports in 2004 and 2008. The Commission concluded: “EMP is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences.”

Basically a nuclear detonation produces an EMP it acts like a giant wave and travels line of sight which with a ground burst limits the effects of EMP to about 15 miles. With an air burst an emp can affect a much larger area the higher you are the greater the line of sight. The direct damage cause by the blast of nuclear detonation in the upper atmosphere would zero, radiation would be minimal and would be quickly dispersed. The damage comes from the elector magnetic wave traveling at light speed, the wave travels so fast and with so much electromagnetic energy that it shorts everything in its path and I mean everything. As few as 3 HEMP detonations could effectively blanket the whole country taking down the grid and making every electrical component of modern life a paper weight.

All of this would happen instantly just milliseconds from detonation. Planes would fall from the sky every car and truck would stop in its tracks gas water and electricity would cease to flow. Only hardened electrical devices would survive and not all of those, this means no help from the government the military or from anyone within line of sight of the blast.

Portions or even all of the U.S could be instantly transported back to 1880’s technology with none of the infrastructure or technology in place or more importantly the general knowledge to live without our modern devices. The secondary effect of this would be millions of deaths from starvation and from the lack of shelter and medical care; this doesn’t even consider the effects of the possible breakdown of social order.

This is really a very simple and easy way to take out a country or several countries it’s low cost and can be done with a limited technological base it just requires a very few or even one nuclear weapon lofted into the upper atmosphere.

An attack such as this has been studied and reported to congress as usual they have ignored the warnings and in reality it would be very hard to stop such an attack if well planned and executed with the covert assistance of any of the major or even not so major powers.

If you haven’t heard of it theirs a novel that came out last year by William Forstchen called “One second after” it’s a decent read and uses the premise of just such an attack on the U.S. as the basis for the story. Check it out.

New Jobless Numbers ?

The department of labor releases it’s February jobs report tomorrow ahead of this release the news seems to be rushing to say that the winter storms over the last month may affect the numbers by as much as a 100,000. While I am sure the weather plays a part, I don’t see that it can possibly be blamed for the over 17.4 Million unemployed we currently have in this country. See my post of 2/5/10 for a refresher on how those numbers are put together. How Many People Are Unemployed in America

What I can glean from this is the white house is already spinning the numbers for the best possible outlook while separate sources like the LA times quote reports of the loss of over 20,000 private sector
Jobs in February. Others crow about the slowing amount of new unemployment a claims which at this point really means that most of the layoffs have already happened. NPR reports that the boost to the employment numbers the temporary Census jobs will create are looked forward to with anticipation.

 We have now sunk so low that we are supposed to be excited over the mostly low paying census jobs?

USA Today reports

It's a thin silver lining to the financial crisis as high unemployment and economic uncertainty make recruiting 3.8 million Census workers this year and next a lot easier. The hiring binge is adding jobs that pay $10 to $34 an hour and may last a week to two years across the USA: 7,000 people in the next 18 months in Montana and northern Wyoming; more than 800 people in Kern County, Calif.; 800 in Vermont. The New York regional office, which includes New York City and 10 counties in New Jersey, will need about 6,000 people this spring.

The vaunted jobs bill just passed by the Senate has very little to do with jobs and a whole lot to do with pork. The bill is primarily a boon to state highway construction projects and will mostly reduce the number of layoffs of state workers and may possibly create a few very low paying minimum wage jobs. The $35 Billion dollar bill is poorly written makes little or no impact on the issue of job creation and seems to be the best that that the house and senate can do. No major legislation has been passed by both houses since the TARP when they gave Trillions of dollars to Wall Street. Where did all that money go?

New Fed Report Dismal With a Chance Disaster

Here is an excerpt from the Fed’s latest economic survey released today I read the summary for each area and have to say that the Feds assessment is at best overly optimistic and at worst a complete fiction. I pulled the story and the report off the AP feed my comments are in bold italics throughout. The other sources of information listed by the states for the Boston region are all from recent stories from the major papers in the areas.
Overall the economic conditions range from dismal to abandon hope all ye who enter here.
Unfortunately I didn’t have much trouble finding information that seems clearly contrary to the mostly lackluster description of the economy by the Fed. I grew weary of looking up the available information that just shows this report is just more of the same BS we have been hearing for months . As you can see it's broken doen by area so take a look at your region and see if you agree with the Fed. 


Highlights from the Fed's latest economic survey

By JEANNINE AVERSA (AP) – WASHINGTON — Highlights from the Federal Reserve's survey of economic conditions nationwide. The survey, released Wednesday and known as the Beige Book, is based on information collected from the Fed's 12 regional bank districts.

BOSTON (This region covers Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and part of Connecticut.)

Economic conditions showed improvement. Most manufacturers said demand strengthened, with makers of semiconductors and related equipment reporting "sharp snapbacks." Merchants reported mixed sales results and are cautious about the outlook. Home and condo sales picked up, helped in part by the government's homebuyer tax credit. Signs of modest improvements in commercial real-estate activity reported.

My comments : other sources report;


Boston: Though residential real estate is seeing improvements, a commercial real estate collapse threatens to wreak havoc on the economy should preventative measures not be put in place. How the Metro Boston region will be affected remains to be seen My comments Also the jobs outlook looks to be more low paying and temporary jobs and hireing for the census , Looks like the Fed is a little off on the outlook again. Other sources report: Temporary jobs are currently up. The 2010 census will also bring in a bevy of new, temporary jobs, and other industries are starting to hire again. Professional businesses are now hiring managers, consultants, accountants and lawyers.


Maine : Baldacci, who outlined his proposals at a news briefing in his office, did not rule out further changes in the weeks left before lawmakers adjourn, saying the economy -- which drives the state budget -- remains unpredictable.


"Despite today's good news, we know the economy is fragile and our economy is far from certain," the governor said.


Vermont: State and local governments have already cut about 150,000 jobs since August 2008, according to Kavet. Without the federal recovery money, that number might have reached 450,000. The purpose of the federal recovery money was to keep people working, including people in the public sector who are doing important work. As legislators winnow through proposed cuts in state spending and their effects both on Vermonters receiving services and on Vermont jobs, they need to employ a many-sided analysis, including the potential effects of targeted tax increases as a way to preserve services and to keep the economy from sinking beneath the burden of another 1,000 lost jobs.


New Hampshire : Insurance goes up by 12% WellPoint Inc., which is under congressional scrutiny for insurance rate hikes in California as its profits climbed last year, will raise individual market rates by about 12 percent in New Hampshire, according to a new report.


My comment:Water goes up: The increase in utility revenues resulted from the net effect of higher water rates granted by the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission


My comment:Jobs Decline: State officials said New Hampshire's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in January was 7 percent, up 0.1 percentage points from December's revised rate ...


Rhode Island : Rhode Island currently has a 12.9% unemployment rate, and 50000 Rhode Islanders are receiving unemployment insurance (UI) benefits

NEW YORK

(This region covers New York and parts of Connecticut and New Jersey.)

The economy flashed further signs of strengthening, despite some slowing in the housing market. Many manufacturers planned to increase employment and capital spending in the months ahead. Retailers mostly reported sales ahead of expectations, although some said February's severe snowstorms did slow business. Tourism activity in New York City picked up before the bad weather but was crimped when the storms hit. Both the residential housing and the commercial real-estate markets softened. Banks reported weaker demand for all types of loans and rising delinquency rates mostly for consumer loans.

PHILADELPHIA

(This region covers Delaware and parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.)

Economic conditions improved in some places. Factories reported widespread increases in shipments and new orders. Retailers, however, said a rising sales trend was interrupted by February's snowstorms. Similar reports came from car dealers, residential real-estate agents and home builders. Across industries, businesses say they expect only slow improvements in sales in the months ahead.

CLEVELAND

(This region covers Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky.)

The economy showed signs of improvement, although activity still remains below pre-recession levels. Factories said production was stable or rose modestly, and orders increased. Steel shipments were in line with expectation. Freight companies reported an increase in shipping volume. A majority of retailers said sales improved slightly from a year ago. Shoppers continued to focus on buying necessities. New-home sales picked up slightly.

RICHMOND

(This region covers Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and parts of West Virginia.)

Economic activity slackened or remained soft across most industries because of severe winter storms. Retail sales — with the exceptions of items like food — were weaker. Big-ticket sales, including cars, dropped sharply. The bad weather also hurt sales at service companies, with airports, hotels and restaurants feeling the pinch. Many manufacturers lost a few days of production during the storms but were able to make up most of the lost activity. The housing sector was mixed, with bad weather limiting activity in many areas. The jobs market weakened.

ATLANTA

(This region covers Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.)

Economic activity was mixed. Retailers said sales were lower than expected, although tourism-related spending increased. Miami saw strong demand for hotel bookings due to the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl. New Orleans got a boost from Mardi Gras. Factories noted some improvements in new orders and the decline in production eased. New-home sales softened, with the weakness most pronounced in Georgia.

CHICAGO

(This region covers Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and parts of Illinois and Indiana.)

Economic activity improved at a moderate pace. Consumer spending increased slightly, although auto sales were weak. Factory activity gradually improved and orders increased, mostly reflecting the restocking of shrunken inventories. Demand from Asia boosted exports, but with growth in China expected to slow, companies predicted export activity would moderate as well. Construction activity stayed weak. In agriculture, corn prices fell amid last fall's record harvest. Hog and cattle prices rose, while dairy prices flattened.

ST. LOUIS

(This region covers Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky, and parts of Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee and Mississippi.)

Economic conditions were mixed, but showed signs of improvement in some areas. Manufacturing picked up, with more factories planning to expand operations or increase hiring. Retailers saw sales decline from a year ago. Auto sales were roughly the same. Home sales were mixed, as was activity in the commercial and industrial real estate markets. In agriculture, production of corn, soybean and rice rose in 2009 from 2008 in most states in the region. Production of sorghum, winter wheat, cotton and tobacco fell.

MINNEAPOLIS

(This region covers Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin and Michigan.)

Economy grew modestly. Growth was reported in consumer spending, the services sector, energy, mining and home construction. Tourism was mixed, while manufacturing and commercial construction activity were stable. Softness in labor markets persisted. In agriculture, activity was down. Lenders expect overall agriculture income and spending to decrease in the first quarter of this year.

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

(This region covers Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and parts of Missouri and New Mexico.)

Additional signs of modest growth reported. Manufacturing activity expanded but didn't lead to more hiring. Residential real-estate markets benefited from tax credits, while commercial real-estate activity weakened. Retailers' sales were weaker than expected, with some mall operators attributing that to winter storms. Energy activity expanded, with new drilling for gas concentrated in Oklahoma. In agriculture, the winter wheat crop was in good conditions, with limited reports of freeze damage.

DALLAS

(This region covers Texas and parts of New Mexico and Louisiana.)

Economic activity improved. Retailers' sales improved from a year ago, and department store sales were better than expected. Manufacturers tied to construction-related industries continue to hurt. High-tech manufacturers continued to see strong growth in production and orders. Makers of fabricated metals, though, saw a slightly pickup in orders, while makers of transportation equipment said activity was mixed. Home building picked up, but commercial real estate activity remained depressed.

SAN FRANCISCO

(This region covers California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Hawaii and Alaska.)

Economic activity increased modestly. Retail sales firmed, with discount chains and department stores reporting sales increases. New car sales slipped. Factory activity was mixed. Demand grew for semiconductors. New orders for commercial airplanes and parts was sluggish, but backlogs of unfilled orders kept production steady. The pace of home sales was mixed, and the supply of unsold homes is high. Prices rose a bit. Commercial real-estate activity weakened. Sales grew for agricultural products, but oil drilling and capital spending were held down by weak global demand.

From The Soapbox

Think of these things as you go about your day.

There are simple truths good people do good things bad people do bad things. The intent is in the action. One is known by their actions not their words. Treat others as you would be treated. We are judged by how we treat the least among us not by how we treat the best or the brightest. The love of money is the root of all evil; add to this power and envy and greed of all things. Our needs are simple shelter food health and love. Work is what we do to feed and care for ourselves work above providing for our basic needs should be a gift not a burden. Desire is a curse. The desire of things for mere possession is or should be abhorrent to us all, un- checked desire is a crime. There are absolutes of good and of evil. You cannot buy character. Faith Hope and Love are the most important words in the world, Have faith, Give Hope and Love like there is no tomorrow because nothing is guaranteed. Do not live every day like it was the last instead live it like it is the first, full of joy and wonder and delight with what is. Glory in the world every day as it is unique and will never come again. Finally, believe in something good, fight for what is right, stand for what is just.

Today is opinion day. I am at saturation on the news and events leading to probable major economic collapse in this country, and actually feel that we have past the point of no return. My mind wanders to will I still have a job in 18 months, this is the arbitrary date that I have set in my own mind as the latest possible time for one of the many balls in the air to drop, be it a war in Iran the crash of the EU or the crash of the former eastern bloc countries or even China.

At this point there are very few sound economy’s left in the world everyone has jumped on the bandwagon. Banks no longer serve as true banks but are now just the local branch of the stock exchange.

Remember it’s not just banks but schools and collages everyone is mortgaged to the hilt because it just made so much sense to borrow every dime you could and invest invest invest why the market always goes up ye ha jump on the band wagon.

Reality is, the banks and business should have, must have been allowed to stand or fall on their own whatever the effect would have been, it will now be far worse because we have nothing left to give they have taken it all.

We now will face even more massive unemployment layoffs and people will have no benefits. You will see that in every case this has ever happened anywhere anytime in the world the poor the middle class all those except of the rich have suffered untold cruelty and misery. Where are the ideals of the great men of history of Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, T.R and FDR, Wilson.

Congress has failed us as have the presidents at this point Obama seems to be providing the same ineffective leadership that we have had for so long. The simple case is that our government has been taken over by the banks the businesses and Wall Street. Even the Supreme Court has failed us giving the business free reign to contribute as they will to any campaign (yes I know that’s not what they said but that’s what it will do). They have effectively given every election in this country to big business. You will now see every elected official vying for the money available they will take over every elected position in the country affecting local courts as well as national ones.

Public service is just that, in service to the public no one should or was ever supposed to get rich off of public office.

Businesses have been given the considerable tax advantages they have in order to benefit the public good. Corporations have a responsibility to the nation the communities they are in and their employees.

Businesses were not given these advantages in order to rape and pillage their way across the country and the world. The pittance that these mega corperations contribute is nothing compared the money they make.

As Orwell said “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

There is no vestige of common sense or responsibility left in our government the very few that do have the genuine concern for the welfare of there constituents are powerless to affect any change. Until unless We the people take back our government, our values freedoms and possibly our very existence is in doubt. The only thing that allows this farce to continue is the fact that we allow it, we have the power to vote all these jackasses out of office and I mean all of them. We need some real everyday people in office so give up your delusions of having the poster boy or girl candidate in office. Pick real people who have worked and cried and succeed and even by god failed because we learn from our mistakes so much more than we do our successes. If your candidate does not vote the way you tell him to vote his or her ass out of office. Yell scream holler and cuss if you have to, get your family friends and neighbors to do it too. We outnumber the government the banks and the business’s take a hand in the destiny of the country its ours, take it the hell back.

DoD Joint Chiefs and Army war collage Brace for Civil Unrest

I at first doubted the veracity of reports stating that the Army War college in Ft Leavenworth had advised that U.S. Troops will be needed to maintain or restore civil unrest due to possible riots because of the collapsing economy, unemployment and growing dissatisfaction over the way our government is being run.  These reports are indeed true . Initially the troops were to be used as a rapid reaction force to respond in the case of a chemical, nuclear, or biological attack. More recently there mission seems to be changing to more of a peace keeping role in the event of wide spread civil unrest. Translation: Americans decide they have had enough not being fairly represented by the congress and the federal government and actually do something about it for a change.

This story was originally reported in the Washington post (see the whole story).

Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security

By Spencer S. Hsu and Ann Scott Tyson

Washington Post Staff Writers

December 01, 2008 "Washington Post" -- The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

KBR a halliburton subsidiary a private security contractor (read mercenary) has been awarded a contract to build detention camps for a supposed sudden influx of illegal immigrants. The key phrase in this story is:


The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency, such as a natural disaster.


Given halliburtons track record and KBR , do we really want these types of non governmental soldiers for hire running detention camps . Think WWII what do Japanese Americans think of this as they have already had a taste or our gentle government stripping away there rights there possessions and goods and being thrown into prison for countless years during WWII.  

More concerning is the fact that these plans are orchestrated and conducted almost off the radar with little or no public scrutiny or over site. We have seen what happened in the banking and economic sector  in the absence of government or public scrutiny. I have great concerns about these plans as from my experience in the military , we only hire contractors to do things that are too  dirty too questionable for regular U.S. forces.

This is the whole story from the WSJ:
By Katherine Hunt HAL




SAN FRANCISCO (Market Watch) -- KBR, the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton Co. said Tuesday it has been awarded a contingency contract from the Department of Homeland Security to supports its Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in the event of an emergency. The maximum total value of the contract is $385 million and consists of a 1-year base period with four 1-year options. KBR held the previous ICE contract from 2000 through 2005. The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to expand existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs, KBR said. The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency, such as a natural disaster, the company said.

I include the whole story here because its important to realize that the report and story would not have been released had the Army War Collage not been allowed to. The further issue is that even the suggestion of using U.S. troops on American soil is totally contrary to the military mindset and the fact that the war college the premier think tank and training center for all high ranking military commanders  is  working  to develop plans and training guidelines of this type or scenario is disturbing to say the least .

I was in the Army during the Waco incident and I remember the controversy that the use of combat troops form Fort hood in the attack on the compound caused. I do not now nor did I believe that the use of us combat troops used against American citizens was right justified or legal under the Constitution. 

December 29, 2008


McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

A U.S. Army War College report warns an economic crisis in the United States could lead to massive civil unrest and the need to call on the military to restore order.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Nathan Freir wrote the report "Known Unknowns: Unconventional Strategic Shocks in Defense Strategy Development," which the Army think tank in Carlisle, Pa., recently released.

"Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities ... to defend basic domestic order and human security," the report said, in case of "unforeseen economic collapse," "pervasive public health emergencies," and "catastrophic natural and human disasters," among other possible crises.

The report also suggests the new (Barack Obama) administration could face a "strategic shock" within the first eight months in office.

Fort Bliss spokeswoman Jean Offutt said the Army post is not involved in any recent talks about a potential military response to civil unrest.

The report become a hot Internet item after Phoenix police told the Phoenix Business Journal they're prepared to deal with such an event, and the International Monetary Fund's managing director, Dominique Strauss-Khan, said social unrest could spread to advanced countries if the global economic crisis worsens.

Javier Sambrano, spokes-man for the El Paso Police Department, said city police have trained for years so they can address any contingency, but not with the military.

"The police (department) trains on an ongoing basis as part of its Mobile Field Force Training," Sambrano said. "As a result, the police will be able to respond to emergency situations, such as looting or a big civil unrest. The police (department) does not train with Soldiers."

Earlier this year, Pentagon officials said as many as 20,000 Soldiers under the U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) will be trained within the next three years to work with civilian law enforcement in homeland security.

Joint Task Force-North, a joint command at Biggs Army Airfield, which conducts surveillance and intelligence along the border, comes under NORTHCOM. No one was available at JTF-North to comment on the Army War College's report. NORTHCOM was created after the 9-11 attacks to coordinate homeland security efforts.

Soldiers under the former Joint Task Force-6 (now JTF-North) supported the Border Patrol in El Paso with its drug-interdiction operations.

In case civilian authorities request help or become overwhelmed, El Paso has several National Guard and military reserve units that can be called on. In 1992, National Guard and active Marine and Army units were deployed to help police control riots and looting in Los Angeles.

Charles Boehmer, political science professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, was skeptical about the Army War College report.

"The military was not called out during the Great Depression, and I don't think our economic problems are as bad as they were then," he said. "The military always has contingency plans. It's a think tank's job to come up with scenarios, but that doesn't mean it represents an active interest on the part of the (Pentagon)."