The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society

[Fiat Currency]

This is a sobering read ...

http://ampedstatus.com/the-critical-...-of-us-society

[Starving Steve]

Re: The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society

This is a sobering read ...

http://ampedstatus.com/the-critical-...-of-us-society

Part II entitled, "The Environmental Crisis", is complete bologna-sausage. There may be some truth in the rest of the article, however.

As for global warming, strangely we have more ice now in the Southern Hemisphere than ever before in my lifetime, and this happily cancels-out any loss of ice in the Northern Hemisphere. The Earth's climate seems to be rather in-balance according to ice surveys, not-to-mention temperature records.

Anyone who thinks the climate may have changed just might scan the temperature trend at San Francisco Airport compared to the 30-year normal. The graph is on the front page the NOAA website for SF:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr

The trend looks pretty darn normal to me--- and downright boring.... Instead of modelling or dreaming-up new climate theories, climate scientists would do well just to study the boring climate data on Earth, day-by-day, season-by-season, decade-by-decade, as it unfolds.

There is a water crisis in California and Baja California, but that crisis is because the radical environmentalists would not allow new dam construction in California. They also blocked dam construction on the Eel River, California's largest river in volume of water, so that salmon habitat would be preserved.........Salmon have bountiful fresh water in California, but the people of California have a water shortage.:rolleyes:

[Rajiv]

Re: The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society

From the report -- courtesy alternet

15 Signs American Society Is Coming Apart at the Seams

Editor's note: The following is an edited excerpt from the Amped Status report, "The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society."

The economic elite have launched an attack on the U.S. public and society is unraveling at an increased rate.You may have missed it in the mainstream news media, but statistical societal indicators are reading red across the board. Let’s look at the top 15 statistics that prove we are under attack.

1) The inequality of wealth in the United States is soaring to an unprecedented level. The U.S. already had the highest inequality of wealth in the industrialized world prior to the financial crisis. Since the crisis, which has hit the middle class and poor much harder than the top 1 percent, the gap between the top 1 percent and the remaining 99 percent of the U.S. population has grown to a record high.

2) As the stock market went over the 10,000 mark and just surged to a 13-month high, the three big banks that took taxpayer money and benefited the most from the government bailout have just set a new global economic record by issuing $30 billion in annual bonuses this year, “up 60 percent from last year.” Bloomberg reported: “Goldman Sachs, the most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history, had a record profit in the first nine months of this year and set aside $16.7 billion for compensation expenses.” Goldman Sachs is on pace for the best year in the firm’s history, and it is also benefiting by only paying 1 percent in taxes.

3) The profits of the economic elite are “now underwritten by taxpayers with $23.7 trillion worth of national wealth."

As the looting is occurring at the top, the U.S. middle class is just beginning to collapse.

4) Workers between the ages of 55 to 60, who have worked for 20 to 29 years, have lost an average of 25 percent off their 401k. During the same time period, the wealth of the 400 richest Americans went up by $30 billion, bringing their total combined wealth to $1.57 trillion.

5) Home foreclosure filings "hit a record high in the third quarter (of 2009)… They were the worst three months of all time… 937,840 homes received a foreclosure letter" in this three-month period; “3.4 million homes are expected to enter foreclosure by year’s end, with some experts estimating that next year will be even worse.”

President Obama has enacted a $75 billion taxpayer funded program that has been a spectacular failure in stemming the foreclosure crisis and has proven to be another massive waste of billions of taxpayer dollars.

6) 25 million people are unemployed or underemployed.

This means we have 25 million people who urgently need to increase their income, and they’re quickly running out of options. The unemployment rate is expected to rise further and remain high for several years. “The president’s chief economic adviser warned that the nation’s unemployment rate could stay ‘unacceptably high’ for years to come."

The New York Times reports: "Americans now confront a job market that is bleaker than ever in the current recession, and employment prospects are still getting worse. Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking….” As this ratio continues to grow, it will lead to a further reduction in wages -- average worker wages have seen a sharp decline over the past year.

Economist Nouriel Roubini, a man who accurately predicted our current crisis, just reported on unemployment stating: “Think the worst is over? Wrong. Conditions in the U.S. labor markets are awful and worsening…. So we can expect that job losses will continue until the end of 2010 at the earliest. In other words, if you are unemployed and looking for work and just waiting for the economy to turn the corner, you had better hunker down. All the economic numbers suggest this will take a while. The jobs just are not coming back.”

7) As the few elite banks thrive, there have been 123 U.S. bank failures thus far this year. Recently, three banks that the government declared “healthy” and gave taxpayer money, have folded. The Wall Street Journal reports: “U.S. regulators have seized or threatened at least 27 banks that got capital infusions from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, including some lenders government officials knew were troubled when they awarded the money. The troubles put taxpayers at risk of losing as much as $5.1 billion invested in the banks since TARP was launched in October 2008.”

8) As bankruptcies surge across the board, 10 U.S. states are on the verge of bankruptcy, with several ready to declare a financial state of emergency. California, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin are all “barreling toward economic disaster, raising the likelihood of higher taxes, more government layoffs and deep cuts in services."

9) This is occurring at a time when the “federal budget deficit for the fiscal year that just ended was $1.4 trillion, nearly a trillion dollars greater than the year before." In total, "U.S. public debt topped $12 trillion for the first time in history… The public debt topped $10 trillion in September 2008. The debt is quickly approaching the statutory limit of $12.104 trillion, meaning Congress would have to raise the ceiling to prevent a shutdown of government operations."

Economist Dean Baker explains the risk of running such a large deficit: "The debt limit must be increased at regular intervals in order to allow the government to function normally because the government is currently operating at a deficit. If the debt limit is not passed, then at some point the government will not be able to pay workers and contractors. It won’t be able to send out Social Security checks or make payments for Medicaid and unemployment insurance to state governments. And, it will not be able to make interest payments on government bonds, effectively defaulting on the national debt."

Needless to say, all of this will make life drastically more difficult for American citizens. As the middle class continues on the path of economic decline, the number of citizens living in poverty has already hit an all-time high.

10) Although the government’s official figure tries to low-ball the number, 47.4 million U.S. citizens live in poverty, and the U.S. poverty rate is the highest in the industrialized world.

Predictably, homelessness is rising at an increased rate as well. "The U.S. government does not tally the numbers but interested organizations say that more than 3 million people were homeless at some point over the past year…. The fastest growing segment of the homeless population is families with children.”

Children have been hit especially hard by the economic crisis:

11) * 50 percent of U.S. children, one out of every two children, will need to use food stamps to eat.

One out of every two children in the United States of America will need to use a food stamp… to EAT!

If you didn’t think starvation was a serious threat in the U.S., just read this new Washington Post report: “The nation’s economic crisis has catapulted the number of Americans who lack enough food to the highest level since the government has been keeping track, according to a new federal report, which shows that nearly 50 million people — including almost one child in four — struggled last year to get enough to eat… Several independent advocates and policy experts on hunger said that they had been bracing for the latest report to show deepening shortages, but that they were nevertheless astonished by how much the problem has worsened. 'This is unthinkable. It’s like we are living in a Third World country,' said Vicki Escarra, president of Feeding America."

The United States Department of Agriculture released these findings in a study that was completed in December 2008, which means these numbers don’t take into account the millions more unemployed throughout 2009. The numbers of people living in poverty and struggling to eat has seen a significant increase since then.

This a national tragedy. But it gets much worse.

12) In 2008, according to the Census Bureau, the number of U.S. citizens without health care grew to a record 46.3 million. “The new figures, however, understate the severity of the economic downturn because a large portion of the nation’s job losses and unemployment rate increases occurred after the Census survey data was collected in March as part of the annual Current Population Survey."

13) Lack of health insurance has caused 45,000 preventable U.S. citizen deaths in the past year. The American Journal of Medicine recently released a study that stated, “Nearly two out of three bankruptcies stem from medical bills, and even people with health insurance face financial disaster if they experience a serious illness.”

A Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study reported that 17,000 children have died due to lack of health care. You can also add in a recent report that revealed that 2,266 U.S. veterans have died in 2008 due to lack of insurance.

The 50 million now uninsured and the 45,000 preventable deaths per year statistics are expected to drastically rise over the next few years. As the Senate continues to strip meaningful amendments from a health care bill that wouldn’t even take effect until 2013, it has become clear that, despite the media hype, the health care bill is going to fall far short of meaningful reform and continue to rig the game in favor of large insurance company profits at the expense of the U.S. population. With the highest cost healthcare in the world, current trends will continue and much needed change is not on the horizon.

Never before has the United States had so many citizens with so little means, little to no income and heavy debt. Debt and costs of living have now shackled U.S. citizens just as they have shackled people throughout the world. The economic hit men have now hit the United States as well and millions of American citizens are now effectively sentenced to a slow death.

Economic Imperial blowback has hit the mainland.

And the clock is ticking louder by the day…

And here’s two more facts for you:

14) The gun and ammunition manufacturing industry in the United States has over 200 companies producing billions of dollars in annual revenues. This huge manufacturing base cannot fulfill demand quickly enough. The demand for guns and ammunition has hit a record high and the gun industry cannot produce enough bullets to keep up with orders.

Americans are arming themselves to the teeth!

15) In the past year, 100 new armed militia groups have been formed, as militia members have doubled in numbers. Federal authorities are gravely concerned about the “uptick in militia activities." One federal authority recently said, “All it’s lacking is a spark. I think it’s only a matter of time before you see threats and violence."

So let’s break down these numbers.

You have a population of 50 million people who are in desperate need of money, they most likely have no health insurance and can’t afford to get health care or help of any kind. Part of this population probably also has loved ones who can’t get life sustaining medical treatments, or loved ones who have already died due to lack of costly medical treatment. The clock is ticking loud for these people and they are running out of options fast, and time delayed is time closer to death.

While the richest 1 percent have never had it so good, a significant percentage of the U.S. population now has firsthand experience in this. Millions upon millions of Americans are poor, broke, struggling, starving, desperate… and armed.

We are sitting on a powder keg!

We are now witnessing the critical unraveling of U.S. society.

[Rajiv]

Re: The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society

One more items to the list - The next economic perfect storm - should start mid February.

it may crush the existing structure of Fannie and Freddy and drag the economy further down, no matter how many dollars the fed throws at it

here are the events:

each individual event will have no visible effect, but combined will crash the economy:

these are all pending events, many listed on MW as individual events, but no one looks at them all together - but that is how we will feel them in our wallets

financial:
- the next wave of ARMs will start to reset,
- mortgage rates will go up,
- the next wave of foreclosures will hit,
- the default on holiday expenditures will cause more chapter 7 and 13 filings,
- retailers will know how little they made, and many will go chapter 11, or just close

taxes:
- the fed will start seeing how little revenue they got from business because of COBRA extensions and funding, and push for new taxes
- states will start locking in on the lower incomes from wage taxes, and looking to raise taxes,

employment
- employer hiring will slow even more, as the employer tax mandates for health care kick in
- employers will see the new unemployment tax rates which will come due, and lay off or not hire to be able to meet those expenses
- seasonal job losses will be posted as the holiday labor surge ends
- this also be when the numbers are issued for the “new” unemployment extension enrollment and it will “true” the unemployed picture,

health reform effect:
- consumers will see the effect of the new FICA rates and cut spending even more
- the 40% luxury tax on those fine health plans will kick in, and families will see a 20 - 30 % drop in disposable income
- the insurance companies will pass on the taxes they have under the new health bill, and that will cut another 5 - 10% off of each person’s disposable income
- the manufacturers of medical products (tampons, bandages, medical wipes, chairs etc) will pass on the tax they were given, further affecting disposable income
- the Fed will have published the health bill details - and states will see how much they will have to pay, forcing tax increases
- insurance company rates will climb as a result of the new health plan taxes, effective immediately

banking:
- FDIC will collect next 3 years worth of fees to cover the depleted funds from the bank failures
- banks will tighten lending even more, as they scramble to meet the FDIC “tax”,
- 10% of banks will become financially unstable because of the depleted reserves and will be taken over by the newly funded FDIC

and so the next economic collapse happens -just in time for the elections

those that remember history will see that this perfect storm will make the impact of the “luxury” tax and it’s effect on RV’s, Boats and similar look like nothing

- P-T-Barnum-was-right

[cmalbatros]

Re: The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society

Read & Listen, 1st part very disturbing - http://thecomingdepression.blogspot....y-serious.html

[raja]

Re: The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society

Read & Listen, 1st part very disturbing - http://thecomingdepression.blogspot....y-serious.html

Very interesting . . . and, yes, disturbing :eek:
The only good thing about it is that we'll know by the end of the year if it's true, or not.

I don't have the experience or background to know if what he says is accurate . . . but it seems that Chapman has some depth of economic understanding, more than I do, anyway.

Can some of the senior members here comment on it? Is it just another wacko conspiracy theory, or is was he says plausible to some degree?

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society

Read & Listen, 1st part very disturbing - http://thecomingdepression.blogspot....y-serious.html

The full text of Chapman's November piece can be read at PrisonPlanet Topic: "Most Important Info Ever Published" by Bob Chapman, and it was (briefly) discussed on the iTulip thread Bob Chapman - Federal Reserve: Banks which received TARP funds are to restrict commercial lending.

As I commented last night in a post on The Run on the Banks will be Unavoidable ZH:

Everything, in my view, that can be done is being done to push money toward Treasuries and the Fed's balance sheet. There the Dollar will make its last stand as the world's reserve currency.

What Chapman describes can be viewed as additional measures to concentrate money in the Fed.

This resembles what the body of a warm blooded animal does when hemorrhaging badly. It shuts down blood circulation to the periphery to protect the core - the heart and brain. By analogy, I would take the Fed to be the heart. I'm still trying to find the analog of the brain :rolleyes:.

[touchring]

Re: The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society

Something which I don't understand, isn't it a foregone conclusion that all financial and economic problems can be solved by central banks printing money? DJI up 159 points right now. :eek:

[Jay]

Re: The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society

The full text of Chapman's November piece can be read at PrisonPlanet Topic: "Most Important Info Ever Published" by Bob Chapman, and it was (briefly) discussed on the iTulip thread Bob Chapman - Federal Reserve: Banks which received TARP funds are to restrict commercial lending.

As I commented last night in a post on The Run on the Banks will be Unavoidable ZH:
What Chapman describes can be viewed as additional measures to concentrate money in the Fed.

This resembles what the body of a warm blooded animal does when hemorrhaging badly. It shuts down blood circulation to the periphery to protect the core - the heart and brain. By analogy, I would take the Fed to be the heart. I'm still trying to find the analog of the brain :rolleyes:.

What's gold, the holy spirit?

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society

What's gold, the holy spirit?

Gold might be the premier lymph interstitial fluid. Fiat currencies are the equivalent of blood, the extraordinarily fungible fluid that enables warm blooded animals. Fiat currency enables modern economies. Under stress and deprived of blood, the individual cells of warm blooded animals can make do with lymph fluids for a while, but only more primitive organisms thrive without a circulating blood system.

If we fail to maintain a functioning "fiat" currency, modern civilization collapses catastrophically. I rather hope we don't go there.

So hopefully the dollar does not totally collapse, but rather the world's fundamental (reserve) currency evolves, perhaps in another episode such as Bretton Woods or the Louvre Accord, to something "beyond" the dollar.

The warm-blooded corpus of human civilization needs some "better blood" (freed from the the Triffin Dilemma,) not systemic collapse.

In this interim time of stress, gold can be useful. But be careful. The time will come, perhaps with little warning, when some new world currency regime puts gold back in its place, as a local, limited, more primitive economic fluid, quite unable to sustain the dynamic economics of present day human civilization.

[Rajiv]

Re: The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society

More Bob Chapman:

Bob Chapman talks to Melody Cedarstrom about the new dollar and the coming devaluation
recorded on December 28th 2009