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Friday, August 29, 2014

The Triumph of Ignorance


 

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


 

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

 

"Restraint of government is the true liberty and freedom of the people."
-- John P. Reid
 
 
 

The Triumph of Ignorance

 Americans have become embarrassingly stupid, having the attention span of a gnat.

It’s little wonder why daily newspapers are vanishing and even network news and news magazines are in decline or as we call it ‘a systemic media failure.’

The general public, especially those under age 34, seem oblivious to just about everything that isn’t entertainment oriented [no doubt this is why even local nightly news features so much irrelevant soft news and infotainment crap].

Stupid people are easier to control and manipulate as they rarely question anything…politicians know this have been taking advantage of the nation as a result because:  STUPID PEOPLE JUST DO WHAT THEY ARE TOLD.

The Associated Press reported last year that although it’s long been known that America’s school kids haven’t measured well compared with international peers, a new study shows that American adults don’t either.

In math, reading and problem-solving using technology – all skills considered critical for global competitiveness and economic strength – American adults scored below the international average on a global test, according to results released Tuesday.

Adults in Japan, Canada, Australia, Finland and multiple other countries scored significantly higher than the United States in all three areas on the test.

The American Dream has been decimated, stolen or destroyed by Wall Street grafters who corrupted Congress and stole what they could from the American people [corporations now pay less taxes, no longer provide pensions, decent pay and few even offer health insurance coverage –they leave that to taxpayers-].

I wonder what the government will do after everyone is finally subjugated to slavery status, blind obedience levels or have gone underground to find freedom?

Readers ask me why I frequently focus so much attention on politics…The answer is simple: because since the 1960s our government has become the 800 pound gorilla crushing everything we do.  It has eroded our freedoms, decimated our privacy, and blasted the middle class with its anti-citizen policies.

Years ago my political science professor told me something which always stuck with me “when a nation stops producing, its decline is assured.”

I’ve seen that happen to our nation and it angers me so I continue my uphill battle to educate folks of government wrongdoing [despite the fact our population is getting dumber and shows little interest as to how they’re getting screwed by the ill conceived policies from the Washington-Wall Street Cartel.

Of course, there are those few extraordinary folks that make this country work, the men and women who often devise thoughtful solutions to the crap the Washington-Wall Street Cartel dishes out.

Sadly, more people today distrust their government than perhaps at any other previous time in our history!

It is easy to become discouraged as response is often tepid but I’ll be a muckraker until I die and if I open the eyes of a few people along the way, I’ll die a happy man.

As the American economy sputters along and many people live paycheck-to-paycheck, economists say a highly-skilled workforce is key to economic recovery. The median hourly wage of workers scoring on the highest level in literacy on the test is more than 60% higher than for workers scoring at the lowest level, and those with low literacy skills were more than twice as likely to be unemployed.


 

By any standards it's been a bloodbath for retailers…

Many consumers are not better off but continue to spend like they are!

 

We have read in recent weeks and months about the continued movement of corporate profits by US corporations to their overseas subsidiaries in order to avoid paying taxes here on those profits.  Walgreens almost went that route recently but they decided to not do what is called an "inversion" to avoid taxes.  At least for now.

 

 Nine straight quarters of loss at Sears and we saw its stock plummet 15% this year alone. K-Mart is on life support, after contributing to the near $1 billion loss for the holding company that owns both for the first half of this year. Over at Target, still reeling from customer outrage at its data breach, things weren't much better. Profits plunged 62% and on Wednesday, Target cuts its profit predictions again to avoid a wholesale run against its stock as Wall Street expectations continue to drop. Its stock is off 5% this year. At that flagship of retail, Walmart, seas are swirling as the giant reports flat sales and financially reluctant shoppers. Most of its growth is coming from smaller stores though its superstores maintain the sales course for the massive chain. Company earnings grew at a crawl of 2.8% this year despite massive sales promotions and even deeper price cuts.

 

Even consumer electronics big leaguer Sony announced plans to close most of its retail outlets in the U.S.

 

It is predicted Radio Shack will be out of business soon...Oh but the nightly news is filled with reports of how rosy things are you say?

 

In the mid-1980s I had a nationally syndicated business column.  That’s when GE announced they were getting rid of US jobs and many, many corporations followed their lead.  I wrote then that ‘Burger flippers can’t afford your $40, 000 car” as witnessed how US tax policies favored these corporations and the shedding of US jobs. 

 

Must be nice to get rid of one’s US corporate citizenship and undermine the social contract as does GE, Apple Computer, FedEx, Verizon and like Exon-Mobil which earned a $43 billion profit in 2012 and paid ZERO taxes!

 

Starting in the 1960s our tax policy changed from corporations paying the bulk of taxes to where the middle class shouldered the bulk of the burden.  All the while corporations also got rid of pensions and medical coverage…hell, why remain a good corporate citizen?

 

We have one of the most antiquated and complex tax policies in the world and Congress does not have the cajones to fix it.  We need to create a system which rewards corporations for creating jobs and penalizes those which off-shore jobs.  Too many corporations pollute and grab natural resources and get rewarded for it (low cost federal rent on public lands for example).

 

We don’t have a budget crisis, we have a political crisis which no longer rewards those who create in this country.  Is it any wonder our infrastructure is crumbling as our tax base erodes thanks to ignorant policies?

 

 


 

How Tax Reform Can Save the Middle Class


In part two of his interview, Joseph E. Stiglitz says corporate abuse of our tax system has helped make America unequal and undemocratic. But the Nobel Prize-winning economist has a plan to change that. (Watch part one »)

 

Cops, Gun Culture and Anti-Government Extremism


That they're policing a country with more guns than any other doesn't excuse brutal policing, but it helps explain cops' mindset. By Joshua Holland


 


Now free of charge…Your survival guide plan!  [Share with others]

Our paychecks are remaining very stable while the cost of almost everything that we spend money on consistently (food, gas, health insurance, etc.) is going up rapidly.  Bloomberg calls this "the no-raises recovery"...

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Yours in freedom,

Bruce ‘the Poor Man’

 


A Shallow Planet Production

 

1 comment:

JAD said...

It is sad. I see more and more stupid people everywhere I go in America.