Welfare-Warfare State

Free Lunches for All Students in Boston

"The federal government has taken a chunk of taxpayers’ money and handed it over to Boston’s tax-funded schools. The money will be used to supply free lunches for all students. There will be no means-testing. Rich kids will get free meals. Why? So as to avoid the sense of shame in the hearts of poor kids, who might see their families as charity cases, which of course they are. Reality is painful. Self-awareness is painful. Politicians spend their careers trying to find ways to shield voters from reality." Continue reading →

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Obama Calls Income Gap ‘Wrong’ — After Widening It

"The Census Bureau's official measure of income inequality — called the Gini index — shows similar results. During the Bush years, the index was flat overall — finishing in 2008 exactly where it started in 2001. It's gone up each year since Obama has been president and now stands at all-time highs. It's worth underscoring that the growing income gap under Obama isn't the result of the rich getting fabulously richer. Nor is it any sort of indictment of 'trickle down' economics. Instead, it is the direct result of Obama's historically weak economic recovery, which has left the rest of the country falling behind while the wealthy have managed to make gains." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Calls Income Gap ‘Wrong’ — After Widening It

Why a single mom is better off with a $29,000 job than a $69,000 job

"Let’s take the example of a single mom with two kids, 1 and 4. She has a $29,000 a year job, putting the kids in daycare during the day while she works. As the above chart – via Gary Alexander, Pennsylvania’s secretary of Public Welfare — shows, the single mom is better off earning gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income and benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income & benefits of $57,045. It would sure be tempting for that mom to keep the status quo rather than take the new job, even though the new position might lead to further career advancement and a higher standard of living." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy a single mom is better off with a $29,000 job than a $69,000 job

Bill Bonner: Empire of Debt

"Everywhere you look the scene is the same. The insiders are taking more and more wealth from the outsiders. Everyone wants to be an insider. And in a democracy especially, over time, more and more people find ways to game the system and join the insiders. Finally, everyone seems to have an angle. And soon civilization is on the road to decline and ruin. This happens when there are more parasites than producers… and more voters with their hands in the cookie jar than there are people making cookies!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Empire of Debt

Bill Bonner: Empire of Debt

"Everywhere you look the scene is the same. The insiders are taking more and more wealth from the outsiders. Everyone wants to be an insider. And in a democracy especially, over time, more and more people find ways to game the system and join the insiders. Finally, everyone seems to have an angle. And soon civilization is on the road to decline and ruin. This happens when there are more parasites than producers… and more voters with their hands in the cookie jar than there are people making cookies!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Empire of Debt

Is the 30-Year Bond Bull Market Over? You’re Darn Right It Is!

"Three decades is a long time. And for the past three decades, America has known nothing but steadily falling interest rates. Oh, sure, there have been spikes during that time. It hasn’t been a one-way trip. Federal Reserve rate-hiking cycles and the occasional bond market rout have interrupted that process. But, by and large, it’s been a consistent, steady march lower from around 20 percent for short-term rates and 15 percent yields on the 30-year Treasury bond. That decline is now over. Kaput. That’s what I believe. That’s what many experts believe. Heck, that’s what at least one Fed policymaker has gone on record saying he believes. And that’s what the market is telling us day in and day out." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs the 30-Year Bond Bull Market Over? You’re Darn Right It Is!

Is the 30-Year Bond Bull Market Over? You’re Darn Right It Is!

"Three decades is a long time. And for the past three decades, America has known nothing but steadily falling interest rates. Oh, sure, there have been spikes during that time. It hasn’t been a one-way trip. Federal Reserve rate-hiking cycles and the occasional bond market rout have interrupted that process. But, by and large, it’s been a consistent, steady march lower from around 20 percent for short-term rates and 15 percent yields on the 30-year Treasury bond. That decline is now over. Kaput. That’s what I believe. That’s what many experts believe. Heck, that’s what at least one Fed policymaker has gone on record saying he believes. And that’s what the market is telling us day in and day out." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs the 30-Year Bond Bull Market Over? You’re Darn Right It Is!

Max Keiser’s Marshmallow Gun of Truth: Think Tank

"Abby Martin talks to Max Keiser, host of RT's 'Keiser Report' about everything from why a supposedly broke country always has money for war, and the often illogical outcomes of important events, citing Halliburton stocks rising following revelations of the company's criminality." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMax Keiser’s Marshmallow Gun of Truth: Think Tank

Jacob Hornberger: Who’s Really Getting Punished?

"It’s not just the Syrian troops and 'collateral-damage civilians' who will bear the cost of Obama’s punishment of Assad. Also paying the price will be us — the American people — who will continue to suffer the consequences of military empire, a national-security state apparatus, and an interventionist foreign policy. Our punishment will come in the form of continued destruction of our freedom, inner peace, harmony, and economic well-being at the hands of our own government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJacob Hornberger: Who’s Really Getting Punished?