Yearly Archives: 2013

Dutch PM: Eurozone needs exit clause

"The EU should have legal mechanisms for countries to leave the euro, says Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. In a letter responding to a question in the Dutch Parliament, Rutte and his finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said that his governing coalition had agreed that 'it should be possible under mutual consideration to exit from the community arrangements (Schengen, eurozone, European Union).' The letter follows Rutte's intervention last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he said that it "should be possible" for countries to leave the eurozone and indicated that certain EU policy areas should be repatriated to national governments." Continue reading →

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Americans Collecting Disability Increased 1,385,418—Now 1 for Each 13 Full-Time Workers

"During President Barack Obama’s first term, the number of Americans collecting federal disability insurance increased by 1,385,418 to a record 8,827,795. As a result, there is now one person collecting disability in this county for every 13 people working full-time. Forty-two years ago, in December 1968, there were 51 people working full-time in this country for each person collecting disability. Back in January 2001, there was one person collecting disability for every 23 full-time workers; by December 2004 there was one person collecting disability for every 19 full-time workers; and by December 2008, there was one person collecting disability for every 16 full-time workers." Continue reading →

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Bad Economy Has Young Europeans at Home

"In 2011, more that 50 percent of the 25- to 34-year-olds in Greece, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Malta still lived in their parents' homes. In Portugal, Italy, Hungary and Romania more than 40 percent of those in this age group remain in the nest (see graphic). These numbers are in stark contrast to those in the EU's most northerly member nations, with less than 5 percent of 24- to 34-year-olds in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. A similar phenomenon, dubbed the 'boomerang generation,' has been identified in the United States, where some 29 percent of Americans in the same age have had to return to their parents' home in recent years." Continue reading →

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Well Educated Young Spaniards Move Back In With Parents

"Nationwide, more than half of people under 25 can't find jobs, while in Andalusia the figure is higher than 62 percent. Those who are a little older -- around 30 and well educated -- are seeing their lifelong dreams turn into failures. Many are forced to do what García and Vivar have done. The two grown men gave up their apartments and moved back into their parents' homes, because they were no longer making enough money. According to figures by the European Union statistics agency Eurostat, 37.8 percent of Spaniards under 35 are now living with their parents." Continue reading →

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Nearly Half Of American Families Live On The Edge Of Financial Ruin

"A sobering new report by the Corporation for Enterprise Development shows nearly half of U.S. households (132.1 million people) don't have enough savings to weather emergencies, or finance long-term needs like college tuition, health care and housing. According to the Assets & Opportunity Scorecard, these people wouldn't last three months if their income was suddenly depleted. More than 30 percent don't even have a savings account, and another 8 percent don't bank at all. Plenty of the middle class have joined the ranks of the 'working poor,' struggling right alongside families scraping by on food stamps and other forms of public assistance." Continue reading →

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Nigel Farage: West Headed Into Orwellian Nightmare & Bankruptcy

"I tell you what, with every day that goes by it begins to look more real. It’s almost as if there is this massive attempt to make us all give up our freedom. To make us all surrender our liberty. To make us all sign up to a system where they (central planners) can monitor our emails. Where they can, effectively, monitor and censor what we say, what we’re allowed to read, and what we’re allowed to hear. They are leading much of the Western world towards bankruptcy. I just think there must be people sitting there in Singapore, India, in China, and they must be laughing their socks off." Continue reading →

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What Actually Is or Will Be Obama’s Foreign Policies in the Vampire-Empire?

"What this Meliorism and Empire amount to, beside all their destructive effects, is a big tax on productive working Americans. This tax goes straight into the hands of all those persons, groups, NGOs, government officials, bureaucrats, corporations, armed service personnel, defense companies, armaments manufacturers, electronics developers, planners, aides, rebels, communications people, educators doing studies, advisors, contractors, food suppliers, construction personnel, and on and on who execute or do the actual work of the Empire in these activities and lands." Continue reading →

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Newspapers accused of ‘shameful’ complicity for hiding existence of secret U.S. drone base

"US news organisations are facing accusations of complicity after it emerged that they bowed to pressure from the Obama administration not to disclose the existence on a secret drone base in Saudi Arabia despite knowing about it for a year. On Tuesday, following Monday’s disclosure by NBC of a leaked Justice Department white paper on the case for its controversial targeted killing programme, the Washington Post revealed it had previously refrained from publishing the base’s location at the behest of the Obama administration over national security concerns. The New York Times followed with its own story." Continue reading →

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Florida growers leery of cost of FDA’s new food safety rules

"It remains to be seen how the new rules — 1,200 pages total to be published in the Federal Register — will affect Florida growers and shippers. The act, signed into law by President Barack Obama two years ago, represents a major shift in the agency's approach to food safety — from reaction to foodborne illnesses to a focus on prevention of microbial contamination. The rules to put the law into effect have been stalled in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for more than a year." Continue reading →

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Food Freedom vs. Regulatory Busybodies

"Cottage food laws, state laws permitting people to sell some foods prepared in the home, are one such development. In California, the state’s new cottage food law (which I wrote about previously here) appears to be a huge hit just a month into its existence. The law has already helped formerly illicit sellers to enter the legal food market. State laws permitting cottage foods are quickly catching up with the demand for looser regulations. Nearly three-dozen states now have cottage food laws in place. And advocates in other states—including Minnesota and Alabama—are pushing to add their states to the growing list." Continue reading →

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