Share Some Sugar, Middle Class Woes

Bruce’s Poor Man Survival Bulletin
Your choice for urban survival resources
http://www.PoorManSurvival.com

In This Issue:

Short essays on decline of middle class
Girl Scouts dumping its American supplies in favor of China?
This week’s resources
Nat’l Buy Nothing Day & ShareSomeSugar



“Every friend of freedom must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence."
-- Milton Friedman
(1912-2006) Nobel Prize-winning economist, economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan, "ultimate guru of the free-market system


Even the Chinese want the Poor Man

On a somewhat bizarre note…the Chinese are known for their expropriation of technology secrets, but stealing the Poor Man too? The Poor Man Survival name is trademarked and we paid for its domain and several variations but I got a letter from the non-profit group in China which is responsible for domains in that country and it seems a business there is attempting to register our names…what will they want next-my ex-wife?

Speaking of China, news reports have that the Girl Scouts are contemplating placing all future uniform orders with a Chinese company vs. the New Jersey firm which has supplied them for the past ten years. If that happens, everyone we know is going to stop buying their cookies…enough already of shipping America to China!

With the hoopala surrounding the coming elections, a reader asked me why I haven’t run for office. Well fellow Romans…I once considered a career in politics after serving as a young volunteer for Cong. Chas Vanik (D) [now deceased] of Ohio and was told I should get involved with the ‘party.’

Being young, my ambition at the time was to emulate the writer Hemingway and lead a life of adventure, hard drinking and women while writing novels…that never happened either, but I did serve as a city councilman for a spell. Beside, the Poor Man has enough skeletons in his closet that the press and pundits would have had a field day with my past escapades.

Borrowing beats buying or so states a new online community of folks seeking to share or borrow items rather than buy them…everything from ladders to carpet steamers. Their site suggests how users can create a sharing group. Check it out at: www.ShareSomeSugar.com

November 15th is America Recycles Day and November 26th is Buy Nothing Day, a reminder to turn away from mindless shopping and tune into life.
Sources:
www.AmericaRecyclesDay.org
www.BuyNothingDay.org



This week’s odds n ends



Google Patents

Are you a tinkerer? An inventor? Maybe deep down inside there's a mad scientist, just screaming to get out! Well, whatever the case, Google is here to make sure that an idea you've come up with hasn't already been patented.

Here's how to get to it:

Browse to Google.com, and in the upper left-hand corner you'll see a list of filters (Web, Images, Videos, etc.) – click more. A drop-down list with more options will appear. Go to the bottom and click the even more>> option.
The next page that appears is chock-full of Google goodies, but the option we're looking for is on the left side about a third of the way down the list. It's called Patent Search.

Now, simply type the name or description of your invention into the search box and Google will look through over 7 million patents to see if anyone has beaten you to the punch!

You can also click the Advanced Patent Search link to the right of the search box and input other criteria like patent number, inventor and more!

WinUtilities Free Edition

I'm always looking for new products that will clean junk from my computer. As a result, after repeatedly installing new junk removing software, more junk accumulates. While I have kept, and still use, several other utilities, none seem to clean as thoroughly as WinUtilities. Most maintenance software misses or ignores certain items, including WinUtilities, but this one seems to find and correct more problems than any of the others. It also includes more features than any I've tried. http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/winutilities-free-edition

Turn your old electronics into cash
Sell you iPods, cellphones, printers & computers - trade them in for gift cards or a check. Here are a few more resources to use:
www.BuyMyTronics.com
www.YouRenew.com
www.BestBuyTradein.com


Free Samples-USA
http://www.freesamplesdirectoryusa.com/Free_Newsletter.html

More free stuff via daily deals
http://www.dailyedeals.com/free_stuff/freebies.htm

Get free groceries-click on your state
http://freegroceriesdirectory.com/?sjid=B001

Kellene Bishop’s an NRA instructor & training pro-check her blog
http://www.preparednesspro.com/blog/

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The Era of Big Government is Over!
--1996 William Jefferson Clinton
Aka: Slick Willie

Some mini-essays on the decline of America’s middle class, national suicide & how Washington is destroying the USA…

Deception has been the key to
Success for the globalists


America's Middle Class Has Become Globalization's Loser
By Gabor Steingart
At the beginning of the 21st century, the United States is still a superpower. But it's a superpower facing competition from beyond its borders as well as internal difficulties. Its lower and middle classes are turning out to be the losers of globalization.

Editor's Note: The following essay has been excerpted from the German best-seller "World War for Wealth: The Global Grab for Power and Prosperity" by SPIEGEL editor Gabor Steingart. SPIEGEL ONLINE is publishing a series of daily excerpts from the book.

There are essentially three exclusive characteristics whose simultaneous development have served as the foundations of the United States's success up until now -- and they only appear in this particular combination in America. They are not only the country's biggest strengths, but also its greatest weaknesses
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,439766,00.html




For the past two centuries, America's middle class thrived. It bulwarked the foundation of our liberties and became the envy of the world.

Today, because of Congressional-sponsored insourcing, offshoring, outsourcing along with FTAA, CAFTA, NAFTA and other corporate tools, Americans find themselves joining the "race to the bottom."

In his laser-piercing book, "AMERICA'S ENGINEERED DECLINE," William Norman Grigg, editor of the New American, said, "Even as our nation exports jobs that once opened the door to the middle class, we are importing waves of unskilled immigrants, including millions of illegals. No longer our protector, our political elite schemes to merge our country with other nations of this hemisphere into a continent-spanning socialist mega-state modeled after the European Union."

He quotes Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo who echoes Grigg's conclusions, "We are undergoing a radical change in our national character and social structure, not to mention language, and it shouldn't be allowed to happen without at the very least the informed consent of the public. I am among those who believe that it shouldn't be allowed to happen, period-and that's the majority view, which is probably why it's being done by stealth and misdirection."

Grigg presents cogent examples why Americans sweat over their country's future. America suffers growing consequences in every sector-mirroring the corruption seen in Third World countries. Instead of our Congress adhering to the Constitution, a majority march to the beat of a different drummer with a social experiment much like what Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev forced on Russia.


The sky isn't falling, exactly. America isn't on a fast track to irrelevance. Even in a state of total neglect, we could probably shamble along as a disheveled superpower for a few more decades.

But all empires end, and the warning signs of American decline seem to be blinking more consistently.
In the latest annual "prosperity index" published by the Legatum Institute, a -based research firm, the United States ranks as the ninth most prosperous country in the world. That's five notches lower than last year, when America ranked No. 4. The drop might seem inconsequential, especially in the midst of a grueling recession—except that most of the world has endured the same recession, and other countries are bouncing back faster.

Real household income in America has flat-lined, for instance, which means many middle-class families are barely keeping up with inflation. The exploding federal deficit hamstrings the government's ability to help. Healthcare is too expensive, America's manufacturing base is eroding, and two open-ended foreign wars are draining the national treasury. This is not a recipe for building national wealth.

Economic growth. The IMF also predicts that the U.S. economy will grow 1.9 percent in 2010. That's a tad better than the average for all advanced economies, but at least 10 developed nations will grow faster. Woo-hoo. Three cheers for mediocrity.

Poverty. The U.S. poverty rate, about 17 percent, is third worst among the advanced nations tracked by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In that sample, only Turkey and Mexico ranked worse.

Education. American 15-year-olds score below the average for advanced nations on math and science literacy. But don't worry, our nation's future leaders are still ahead of their peers in Mexico, Turkey, Greece, and a few other places.
Prosperity. The most prosperous nations, according to the Legatum report, are Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. These fairly homogenous European countries are the teachers' pets of global rankings, often appearing near the top because of right-sized economies and a relatively small underclass.
For a huge economy like America's, a No. 9 ranking is still respectable. And part of the drop from last year's No. 4 spot is a change in methodology that puts more emphasis on the health and safety of citizens. Still, in the index's subrankings, the United States isn't even in the top 10 for economic fundamentals, safety and security, or governance. We should do better.
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2009/10/26/9-signs-of-america-in-decline.html

In 1847, Marx and Engels proposed ten steps to convert the Western nations to Communist countries without firing a shot. Most of these ideas have been successfully implemented in our own country with little, if any, resistance! ...

One of the ten steps called for "centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly" just like our own Federal Reserve! ...
Another of the ten steps called for instituting "a heavy progressive or graduated income tax" just like our own federal income tax! ...
Another step proposed by Marx and Engels was "abolition of all right of inheritance," which we come ever closer to as inheritance taxes increase. Taking wealth at gunpoint, if necessary that one person has created and given to another person is theft. Whether the wealth creator is alive or dead, the act and the impact are the same.
Another step was "free education for all children in public schools." Although our country still has many private schools in addition to the public ones, the content of both is dictated by aggression-through-government, to teach aggression.
Marx and Engels also recommended the "extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state." In the past century, more and more services have become exclusive, subsidized government monopolies (e.g., garbage collection, water distribution, mass transit, etc.). As a result, we pay twice as much for lower quality service!
Marx also called for the "centralization of the means of communications and transport in the hands of the state." Television and radio stations are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission. A station that does not pursue programming considered "in the public interest" is stopped at gunpoint, if necessary from further broadcast. ... Radio stations have an elite ownership as well. Those who benefit from aggression-through-government have little incentive to tell the public that licensing is a tool of the rich! ...
Another of the ten steps calls for "confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels" ... [O]ur law enforcement agents can seize the wealth of anyone suspected of drug crimes without a trial! [T]he Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has also been seizing the assets of taxpayers without a trial if the IRS thinks they might have underpaid their taxes! The wealth we have created can be taken from us at gunpoint, if necessary without a formal accusation or a chance to defend ourselves! ...
In addition, Marx and Engels called for "abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes." In other words, land would not be privately owned. No homesteading would be permitted. Our federal and local governments have title to 42% of the land mass of the United States. Most of the remaining land is under government control as well. For example, today's homeowners can pay off their mortgages, but must still pay property taxes to the local government. If they stop payments, their property is taken from them. They are, in essence, renting their home from the local government."
-- Dr. Mary J. Ruwart
(1949- )
Source: Healing Our World: The Other Piece of the Puzzle, Ch 19. (1992)

The Post American World

The economy is in trouble, and there’s little the Federal Reserve can do about it, says esteemed Yale economist Robert Shiller.

Economic growth slowed in both the first and second quarters, he notes in an interview with Yahoo’s Tech Ticker. “That’s not a very strong indicator, but it does suggest a recession may be coming soon,” Shiller explains. “Things are looking weaker now.”

As for the Fed, it already has pushed short-term interest rates to zero. “So they can’t do anything more about it,” Shiller says.

“They’re pushing on a string. It’s just not enough. If people don’t want to spend, if they aren’t confident about the future, even if you offer them a zero borrowing rate, they don’t want it.”

That situation amounts to a “liquidity trap,” a phrase legendary economist John Maynard Keynes coined to describe the Great Depression.

Gluskin-Sheff economist David Rosenberg says the only factors supporting the economy are government handouts, which now make up over 20 percent of personal disposable income.

“For all the talk of how a double-dip was averted, we may look back at a 50 reading on consumer confidence — 20 points below recessionary averages in the past — as a sign that the original downturn never really ended,” Rosenberg writes in a note to investors.

Parag Khanna who worked for the World Economic Forum and the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote a book titled The Second World, in which he argues the US is currently in decline to becoming a second-class nation saddled by debt and taxes. The United States share of the world economy has fallen from 50% to 25% since WWII and is quoted as saying the US could “long remain on the debt-funded consumption binge that fueled the world in the 90s….because America’s (gov’t) debt payments already exceed the investment it receives, it is living beyond the wealth saved for the next generation.”

Big Money, Lousy Politicians

My conclusion - The American people have been screwed by greedy, short-sighted politicians and Wall Street globalists who now reap what they’ve sown because so few of the population awoke to the massive fraud foisted upon our country. The war on the middle class has been about big money vs. every American. The greatest heist in history has been going on right under the nose of most citizens.

Democracy in America is dying, replaced by an irresponsible government, controlled by global corporations.

Finally, it’s always puzzled me why the globalists, or the Washington-Wall Street Cartel (as I have termed them) would go so far as to decimate the middle class as that has been the engine which drove the world economy. Goes back to what I began writing about in the mid-1980s when the pirates who ruled Wall Street began shipping blue collar and then white collar jobs overseas and I wrote burger flippers can’t afford $40K cars and these idiots, so blinded by greed, still don’t get it!


http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/ShillerEndofTaxCreditMayDoomHousing-BanksasRecessionLooms/2010/10/27/id/375084?s=al&promo_code=B06D-1

Lena Hill Weed, Norwalk , Conn. Served 3 day sentence in D.C. prison for carrying banner, 'Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.'



Parting shots…

It seems to me every president and politician lies to the American people including Obama, Clinton, Bush and others with the possible exception of Washington & Jefferson. We need a National Inspector General or something akin to this to reign in the bullcrap fed to us by Washington.

One of our subscribers sent me an email outlining how one older woman was happy to have Obama on board as the President, then proceeded to outline how his actions have sparked more of a resurgent interest in conservatism than this country has seen since Reagan was in office and how liberals such as Harry Reid were likely to be gone…good point! As the Poor Man has always stated, career politicians beginning with the start of WWI have not proven good for this country.

Another subscriber sent me an email detailing the horrors of the women’s right to vote movement as described in an HBO documentary…those many fearless women were often jailed and tortured by local police for having the nerve to stand up to government in order to fight for your rights which is why it’s important to find the time to vote.

The political climate has changed significantly in this country and many now fear speaking out against the government since Bush was in office. The government spies on its citizens, which is abhorrent in itself but keep in mind two things:

---The government (aka: poor leadership) is the primary cause of our problems
---Since our founding, Patriots such as Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Adams, etc. put their life on the line to ensure our freedom from bad government.

Keep in mind too, both parties have proven dangerous to America. Clinton undermined our intelligence community & allowed a law to lapse that would have prevented Wall Street from becoming a mere casino with your money. Bush ruined the office of the presidency with executive orders weakening the Constitution and Congressional lapdogs and spent more money than he should have.

Can we not do better? Though we still enjoy a healthy measure of freedom, Americans have lost a lot during the past 30 years and there is no question, our own government is the biggest threat to our freedom, privacy and economic security.

Yours for freedom…the Poor Man

http://www.PoorManSurvival.com
http://www.GreenIrene.com/Poorman
http://www.OldBookNook.com
Don't Get Caught With Your Pantry Down-New 11th Ed.
http://tinyurl.com/PMBasics



A Shallow Planet Production