Welfare-Warfare State

Porn, wine and kazoos on IRS worker charge cards

"The IRS allows some of its 90,000 employees to use company charge cards to buy work-related items, such as office supplies. However, employees made a host of 'improper' purchases -- ranging from a dinner averaging $140 per person to Thomas the Tank Engine rubber wristbands. The inspector general said the IRS has been negligent when it comes to catching employees who circumvent $3,000 caps on transactions, by splitting purchases into several transactions. The agency also doesn't have a good record at turning off credit cards as soon as employees depart or retire." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPorn, wine and kazoos on IRS worker charge cards

Is Your Retirement Planning as Bad as Most Americans’ Planning? Find Out Here.

"Approximately 38,000,000 working households in the United States do not own any retirement assets. This is about 45% of all the working households in the United States. They do not have an IRA. They do not have a 401(k). They do not have anything. In other words, they have made no plans whatsoever to fund their retirements. If we take into consideration all households in America, the median retirement account balance is $3,000. Got that? $3,000. The utter impossibility of this situation should be obvious. This is not a slight shortfall. This is a guaranteed head-on collision inside the American social order. That is because the Social Security system is going bankrupt." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs Your Retirement Planning as Bad as Most Americans’ Planning? Find Out Here.

Oklahoma tornado victims denied permits to rebuild their homes

"Rhonda Northcutt said she is unable to get a building permit from the city because of where her home was located before it was destroyed. Northcutt and her neighbor Jennifer Wisooker live in a neighborhood near May and SW 149th street. Their homes were destroyed by the May 20th tornado. According to the city, there are homes in the neighborhood that are located in an area designated as a flood way. The city said it is unable to give permits to build new homes in these types of areas because of FEMA requirements. Even though their homes were there before the storm, Wisooker and Northcutt might not be able to re-build." Continue reading →

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Get Out of Muni Bond ETFs Now

"The biggest exchange-traded fund tracking the $3.7 trillion U.S. municipal market is selling at its deepest discount ever to the value of its assets. The $3.5 billion iShares S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Fund, known as MUB, touched $100.42 (the net asset value is 105.3). This is the lowest since April 2011 according to, data compiled by Bloomberg. The move reflects yields on benchmark 10-year local debt climbing as high as 2.68 percent , the most since October 2011. The plunge follows investors pulling $1.86 billion out of U.S. muni mutual funds from Jan. 1 through June 19, Lipper US fund Flows data show." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGet Out of Muni Bond ETFs Now

Bill Bonner: The Bear Market in Bonds

"Get out now. You can ask all the questions you want later. Everyone saw (or still sees) a turn in the bond market coming. Bonds have been going up for 33 years. They can't go up forever. What can't last forever has to stop sometime. This seems like as good a time as any. But everyone cannot get out of their bond investments at the same time in a calm, orderly way. Some will hesitate... wait too long... and then, every bounce will encourage them to wait longer, hoping to recover their losses. Others will stumble and be crushed underfoot, selling their bonds at panic prices. Is the panic happening already? No. We've only smelled the first faint whiffs of fear." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: The Bear Market in Bonds

Glenn Greenwald: Snowden’s revelations ‘not espionage in any real sense of the word’

'I think it’s very surprising to accuse someone of espionage who hasn’t worked for a foreign government, who didn’t covertly pass information to an adversary [or] enemy of the United States, who didn’t sell any top secret information,' Greenwald told Hayes, arguing that Snowden 'asked newspapers to very carefully vet the information to make sure that the only thing being published are things that informed his fellow citizens but doesn’t harm national security.' 'This is a 1917 statute enacted under Woodrow Wilson to criminalize opposition to World War I. It has been used very, very sparingly throughout American history until the Obama administration.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Snowden’s revelations ‘not espionage in any real sense of the word’

Charles A. Burris: War Crimes, the Holocaust, and Today’s National Security State

"Vocal defenders of the National Security State loudly proclaim that such extra-constitutional intrusions into the privacy of Americans are justified on the grounds of 'national security' because we are at total war with Radical Islam and its alleged supporters. 9/11 changed everything. The rule of law and constitutional safeguards are to be suspended during this national emergency. The Constitution is not a 'suicide pact.' Survival of the state is the only thing that counts. These are precisely the very arguments used by Otto Olendorf, commander of Einsatzgruppe D, and his fellow defendants in their Nuremberg War Crime Trials following World War Two." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCharles A. Burris: War Crimes, the Holocaust, and Today’s National Security State

U.S. Promises Smooth Transfer of Quagmire from Afghanistan to Syria

"Supporters of the United States’ twelve-year quagmire in Afghanistan cheered the news today that the U.S. would strive to achieve a seamless transfer of that quagmire to Syria, effective immediately. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sought to reassure those who were concerned that the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan signalled a wavering of the nation’s commitment to being mired in open-ended military muddles: 'I am confident that we could be involved in Syria for many, many years before figuring out why we are there.'" Continue reading →

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Marco Rubio’s Immigration Scam: “You Dumb Gringos”

"All the bill requires is that Homeland Security submit a 'strategy' for securing the border, then certify that steps to implement this are 'commencing.' The bill sets up a fund, amounting to $50 million (with more money to be added as needed), to represent illegals in every phase of the process – seeking provisional immigration status, filing appeals, blocking efforts at deportation, obtaining naturalization, and so on. And who might be the people funded by this $50 million? They will be – surprise – non-profit 'immigrant-serving' organizations 'whose staff has demonstrated qualifications, experience and expertise in providing quality services to immigrants.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarco Rubio’s Immigration Scam: “You Dumb Gringos”