Middle Class Dismissed

It Is Illegal To Feed The Homeless In Cities All Over The United States

"More than 50 large U.S. cities have adopted 'anti-camping' or 'anti-food sharing' laws in recent years, and police are strictly enforcing these laws. Sometimes the goal appears to be to get the homeless people to go away. Apparently heartless politicians believe that if the homeless can't get any more free food and if they keep getting thrown into prison for 'illegal camping' they will eventually decide to go somewhere else where they won't be hassled so much. This is yet another example of how heartless our society is becoming. The middle class is being absolutely shredded and poverty is absolutely exploding, but meanwhile the hearts of many Americans are growing very cold." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIt Is Illegal To Feed The Homeless In Cities All Over The United States

Chi Raq

"The first in a series of exclusive commissions for Protein TV, Chi Raq is an intimate video portrait of life in South and West Chicago. For the past decade, Chicago has been enduring a violence epidemic, with a death toll in the thousands and casualties mirroring the losses experienced by the US army in Iraq war over the same period. Allowing its subjects to take centre stage and tell their stories in their own words, Robson-Scottʼs film is unflinchingly honest in its depiction of life on the streets of one of the most dangerous cities in America." Continue reading →

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Study Indicates That America’s Driving Boom is Over

"After decades of adding more cars to their household fleet while moving further and further out into the suburbs, Americans are waiting longer to get licensed, driving less and increasingly turning to alternatives such as mass transit or car-sharing programs, according to a new study by the U.S. Public Research Interest Group, or PIRG. It's not just millennials. Overall, the percentages of Americans of driving age who actually were licensed fell to just 86 percent in 2011, a 30-year low. As recently as 1992, the figure stood at 90 percent. Meanwhile, the number of vehicles Americans owned has also begun to tumble." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStudy Indicates That America’s Driving Boom is Over

Bill Bonner: ‘Return to Zombieland’

"It’s a gold rush. People now come to Washington to get rich. That was never the defining ethic of the town, certainly 30 years ago. There is now so much money. It is now the wealthiest community in the United States. It is home to 7 of the wealthiest 10 counties in the United States. If you can sell yourself as someone who knows how Washington works, someone who has these relationships, someone who can get on the phone and get the president of the United States… that’s a very, very marketable commodity. I mean, if you are seen as someone who knows how this town works, someone who is a usual suspect in this town, you can dine out for years. That’s why no one leaves." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: ‘Return to Zombieland’

Former Cyprus President Named In Loan Write-Offs Leading To Banking Insolvency

"We asked 'how much longer will the rule of law remain in Cyprus once the 99% are generously handed the list of the 1% who were 'informed' enough to pull their money from the flaming sovereign equivalent of Bernie Madoff?' We may get the answer much sooner than expected, as the first iteration of this list, one naming the beneficiaries of millions of loans written off by the now insolvent Cyprus banks and therefore indirectly responsible for the 'impairment' of the banks' depositors, was released yesterday by Greece's daily Ethnos newspaper. But what virtually assures substantial political fallout is that among the people listed is Cyprus' former president, George Vassiliou." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer Cyprus President Named In Loan Write-Offs Leading To Banking Insolvency

Immense, Needless Human Misery Caused by Speculative Credit Bubbles

"Speculative bubbles based solely on cash have very short lifespans, as the bubble bursts violently as soon as the gamblers' cash has been sucked into the vortex. Truly devastating speculative bubbles require a vast expansion of credit and the corruption of the political class that feeds off the state. As Credit is ultimately managed by the state, central banks and the banking cartel, no speculative credit bubble can arise without the complicity and collaboration of all three. The destructive incentives, corruption and erosion of productive investment are masked by the rapidly rising phantom wealth created by the bubble in real estate and stocks." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingImmense, Needless Human Misery Caused by Speculative Credit Bubbles

Even Eurocrats Realize that Taxes Can Be Too High

"Tax increases imposed by the Socialist-led government in France have reached a 'fatal level', the EU's commissioner for economic affairs said today. Olli Rehn warned that a series of tax hikes since the Socialists took power 14 months ago – including €33bn in new taxes this year – threatens to 'destroy growth and handicap the creation of jobs'. President Hollande has kept his electoral promise to attack French deficits and accumulated debt. He has done so, however, almost entirely by tax increases rather than by cuts in a state apparatus which swallows 56.6 per cent of the country’s GDP. It has emerged that final budget plans for 2014 will include at least €6bn in tax rises." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEven Eurocrats Realize that Taxes Can Be Too High

France: A Proud Nation Ponders How to Halt Its Slow Decline

"Can the Socialist government of President François Hollande pull France out of its slow decline and prevent it from slipping permanently into Europe’s second tier? At stake is whether a social democratic system that for decades prided itself on being the model for providing a stable and high standard of living for its citizens can survive the combination of globalization, an aging population and the acute fiscal shocks of recent years. Changing any country is difficult. But the challenge in France seems especially hard, in part because of the nation’s amour-propre and self-image as a European leader and global power." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrance: A Proud Nation Ponders How to Halt Its Slow Decline

TSA-Type Drama at U.S. Open

"The USTA has implemented new safety procedures for this year’s tournament. All fans will have to go through metal detectors for the first time. As WCBS 880′s Peter Haskell reported, the additional security checks had some fans lined up waiting to enter the grounds for up to two hours earlier Monday. The Associated Press reported that the lines snaked for a quarter mile or more — from the exit point of the No. 7 train to the east entrance of the Billie Jean King Tennis Center. 'This is terrible, this is horrible. I’ve been going to the US Open for the last 10 years, I’ve never seen it like this,' one fan told Haskell." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTSA-Type Drama at U.S. Open

Russia closes 700 schools amid dramatic drop in birth rates

"Russia saw birth rates drop dramatically in the turbulent 1990s and its demographic situation has remained negative, with more deaths than births, ever since. President Vladimir Putin last year urged Russians to have at least three children. 'We plan to close 733 schools this year,' said the outspoken public health official Gennady Onishchenko, quoted by the Interfax news agency. 'You understand the reason: there aren’t enough children.' 'For some reason we have forgotten why we came into the world and we came with only one aim: to create new life, to continue our line,' said Onishchenko, who has three children. A recent uptick in births is partly driven by a wave of immigrants." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRussia closes 700 schools amid dramatic drop in birth rates