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Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Boo Hoo: Speculators angry over low oil prices, Citizens happy but angry over Big Government


Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


 

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

"All I ask is equal freedom.
When it is denied, as it always is,
I take it anyhow."

-- H. L. Mencken

 

 


Happy Days are Here Again in 2015

 

    As I’ve written for a decade, the U.S. middle class is well on the way to being destroyed.  Nearly 40 percent of all American workers now make less than what a minimum wage worker made back in 1968 after you account for inflation.  America has lost roughly 15% of its middle class just since 2008!

For years I had made it my mission to provide this information along with survival tools people need.  Yet, the onslaught of the Washington-Wall Street Cartel against the American worker has only increased and SADLY, few seem to care!

 

News Flash: Confirming the 2014 election zeitgeist, a new Gallup poll finds that Americans are fed up with ever-encroaching, corrupt and incompetent government, as represented by ObamaCare and other federal policies.

For the first time since Gallup has conducted polling, people say that the "biggest problem" in America is "the government." It topped all other categories, including terrorism. "2014 was the first year ever in Gallup records that dissatisfaction with government topped the list," the 80-year-old firm said. "Government includes dissatisfaction with President Obama."

And angst over government has been climbing each year since 2009, when Obama took office, breaking a long period of relative satisfaction with government.

 


The 2008 collapse was just a dress rehearsal compared to what the world is going to face this time around…

 

The American people are feeling really good right about now.  For example, Gallup’s economic confidence index has hit the highest level that we have seen since the last recession.  In addition, nearly half of all Americans believe that 2015 will be a better year than 2014 was, and only about 10 percent believe that it will be a worse year.

 

Indeed, another Gallup Poll says that Hillary Clinton and President Obama are the most admired Americans!  This simply gives more credence to what many already feel – Americans are getting dumb and dumber!

 

Each of these career politicians are simply examples of how lying in politics became the new normal.

 

Neither party has proven to be good stewards of our economy or our rights.  They’ve both become equal opportunity destroyers of the American Dream so I foresee 2015 as another year of politics as usual [meaning the taxpayer be damned].

 

Despite two decades of economic profits by corporations, the rest of the workforce isn’t doing so hot, median household income is down.  The majority of wealth during the past 30 years continues to pour into the pockets of the top 0.1% who now make more than $27 million per household versus the average income of the bottom 90% of a paltry $31,000!

 

Keep in mind that two-thirds of US corporations pay no federal taxes!  This is a 360 degree shift from how it was in the 1950s and 1960s!

 


The United States…

Once thought of as the Land of the Free, the country has now dropped to 12th place in last year’s Economic Freedom of the World Index, behind the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

Government debt levels soared to unprecedented $18 trillion this November, and nothing is being done about it, with unfunded liabilities well over $200 trillion.

As a percentage of GDP, official debt now exceeds 100%. Of course, the only reason they’re able to run such a prodigious debt is because the rest of the world buys Treasuries and uses US dollars.

So you’d think that the US government would go out of its way to treat the rest of the world with respect and dignity in gratitude for continuing to buy US debt.

2014 showed the US government taking a giant, steaming dump on the generosity of foreigners, chasing away friend and foe alike.

They were caught spying on their own allies. They extorted foreign banks (a single fine against French bank BNP Paribas totaled $9 BILLION).

They used credit rating agencies as political pawns (downgrading Russia back in April).

They destroyed their own balance sheet and that of the Federal Reserve. (The US is totally insolvent, and on a mark to market basis, the Fed is nearly insolvent).

And they passed insane regulations, then arrogantly commanded the rest of the world to comply.

Most notably, key provisions from the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act were implemented in 2014.

This law should have never been passed. And they had years to undo it.

It’s amazing how many politicians got worked up about repealing Obamacare, but not a single soul gave a damn about repealing FATCA, the law which will probably be directly responsible for the US losing its status as the world’s dominant banking center.

Oh yeah, that happened too. 2014 saw the rest of the world get fed up. Developing nations led by China banded together to create their own reserve bank to compete directly with the IMF.

Congress is hell bent on destroying this country and are succeeding because so few of us are paying attention.  We have a collective ATTENTION DEFICIT SYNDROME!

 

Our antiquated tax system and other laws continue to favor Wall Street and not one person from the financial crash of 2008 has done any jail time…indeed one Standard & Poor’s manager wrote another, “Let’s hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters.”

 

Our European counterparts fare much better with increased benefits such as long term paid maternity leave, up to six weeks of paid vacation annually, free college tuition for most and a whole lot more. 

 

Our spending continues to place the nation into hock and for some damned reason, taxpayers are on the hook for an undisciplined Congress and White House.

 

 Half the country is on welfare assistance of some sort. Seventy million Americans receive some kind of federal assistance in obtaining food. The United States is one disaster from total anarchy. The disaster is likely to result from an economic collapse.

 

 
$50 a Barrel [or less] Was the Norm for Oil for Decades…and our economy prospered.  So why are Wall Street speculators whining?

 

If you’re like most Americans, then you are singing gleefully over the price you paid this week for a gallon of gas. Just a couple of years ago it was not uncommon to see a $75 price tag for filling up your car. Today, you might be driving off for half that amount.

 

One problem:  At about $54 a barrel, oil has lost 50% of its value in a few months, putting US oil workers at risk of being laid off.  [Keep in mind these jobs are among the few in America which still pay superior wages].  No sooner did America regain its dominance in the oil industry and it could actually steer us toward more economic disaster.

 

  As I reported a week ago, there are several reasons why the price of oil is falling and the Arabs are the primary factor.  They’re engineering a ‘price war’ hoping to drive US producers out of business.  Other contributing factors include the economic sanctions we’ve imposed on Russia and the decline of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency.  We faced a similar set of circumstances in 2009-2009 and ultimately saw the near-collapse of our economy.

 



Government Trends-Updates

 

11 Predictions Of Economic Disaster In 2015 From Top Experts All Over The Globe


 

 

A very bad year for the U.S. Constitution »
As 2014 draws to a close, we can look back at many instances when an out-of-control federal government wasted tons of the money it took from us, repeatedly deceived us about its activities, and time and again trampled on the rights of its citizens. In short, it's been a very bad year for the U.S. ConstitutionMore »

 

 
Government snoops encourage self-censorship in free countries on par with that under totalitarian regimes »
A new analysis of how government surveillance has affected writers throughout the world finds that those living in liberal democracies censor their own material at a rate on par with intellectuals in countries deemed "not free," including Russia China and SudanMore »

 
America used to be the land of freedom and self reliance…now, in our Nanny State we’re all about eroding freedom.

 
Well perhaps the new Congress in 2015 will bring a better future, but I am certainly not holding my breath…let’s at least hope they can avoid another stupid war or send us into even more debt.

After all, Happy Days are here again!

Bruce ‘the Poor Man’




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