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Bill Bonner: How America’s Working Stiffs Got Stiffed

“The Party leadership is not infallible. Neither in China nor in the US. In both countries, the feds – looking out for themselves – make policy decisions that are disastrous for others. We have no idea what calamity the central planners will cause in China. But we can take a fair guess of what they will do to America. Broadly, China’s feds build too many factories, malls and apartments. America’s feds encouraged the opposite error – borrowing and spending too much for consumption purposes. China’s real wages doubled in the last 10 years… after doubling in the previous 10 years. That is why the Chinese feel so much better off. They ARE much better off.” Continue reading →

Federal Debt: Frozen for Two Months. A Miracle!

“How is is it that the official debt of the United States government has been frozen at $16,699,396,000,000.00 for over 70 days? The Secretary of the Treasury is not saying. He merely reports that this is the case. ‘Trust me.’ Congress is trusting him. The Media are trusting him. The voters are trusting him. How does the U.S. government deal with an annual deficit of at least $600 billion, yet the official, on-budget debt does not change for over two months? Inquiring minds want to know. Actually, they don’t want to know. This willingness to believe in miracles is part of the national pastime: ‘kick the can.'” Continue reading →

Bernanke Must Testify Under Oath

“In September 2008 the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a privately owned entity, paid $182 million to buy 80% of the busted insurance firm AIG. Why would any privately owned company pay par value for the shares of a company that had only hours to live? That’s what the court wants to know. Why? Because — you’ll love this — the former CEO of the almost busted insurance company says he was cheated. The value of his stock was diluted. How? By all that money. All that money let an outside agency — the New York FED — buy 80% of his worthless shares. He wants payback. From whom? ‘The U.S. government.'” Continue reading →

Treasury’s Lew: Congress Needs to Pass Debt Limit

“Congress needs to raise the debt limit and take away the ‘cloud of uncertainty’ about the nation’s ability to pay its bills, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said. ‘The fight over the debt limit in 2011 hurt the economy, even though, in the end, we saw an extension of the debt limit. We saw confidence fall, and it hurt the economy. Congress needs to do its job. It needs to finish its work on appropriation bills. It needs to pass a debt limit,’ Lew said on NBC’s Meet The Press. Senior lawmakers on Capitol Hill are trying to come up with must-do legislation to keep federal agencies running after Sept. 30 and prevent the possibility of a government shutdown.” Continue reading →

Cuba looks to medical tourism to entice international visitors

“Drug rehab, post-accident motor skills rehabilitation, treatment for eye diseases and plastic surgery — foreign patients can get all of these services and more in Cuba, and at competitive prices. As the communist government of President Raul Castro seeks to revive the island’s moribund economy, it is turning to medical tourism as a revenue generator. Cuba’s main source of foreign income is the sale of medical services to other countries — legions of doctors and nurses, who are public employees, travel abroad to work following an agreement with the host country. Cuba has the highest number of doctors per resident in the world.” Continue reading →

Cities’ Strategy in Health Insurance for Retirees: “Dump Them Into ObamaCare!”

“The 61 largest U.S. cities in 2009 were in the hole by about $118 billion to retirees’ health insurance obligations. They now think they have a way out: default on these obligations and force retirees into ObamaCare. This gets the obligations off their backs and onto the backs of the federal government. This is what Detroit is doing. Other cities’ officials are impressed. But Detroit is declaring bankruptcy. How can the other cities get out from under without declaring bankruptcy?” Continue reading →

Obamacare panel approves free cancer screenings for heavy smokers

“Using a highly sensitive test like a CT scan to look for early signs of lung cancer will undoubtedly result in high rates of false positives. The NLST found that 320 high-risk smokers had to be screened to prevent one lung cancer death. Because of that, and the risk from radiation from the CT scans, LeFevre stressed that the screening should only be used in the high-risk groups specified by the guidelines. What worries LeFevre and others is that some doctors and hospitals will try to profit from screening, which costs a few hundred dollars a test. ‘We hope that physicians will not use this recommendation to exaggerate the benefits of screening,’ he said.” Continue reading →

BGPSEC: More Internet Control In The Name Of “Security”

“BGPSEC is a control that, once fully implemented, would allow the federal government to instantly revoke an ISPs right to advertise specific IP addresses, effectively shutting off all services that exist on those addresses. BGP is a key component of the Internet infrastructure, existing barely above the physical cables and fibers that carry data. BGPSEC provides much more sweeping control over who and what can exist on the Internet. BGPSEC combined with the DNS system which is already managed by the government means a giant step forward for Big Brother. ARIN has already begun offering the capability as a free ‘service’.” Continue reading →