Welfare-Warfare State

Obama would rather look stupid than interfere with the flow of cash to drug-war profiteers

"The White House spends all year traveling around the country talking about their 'third way' and their '21st Century Drug Policy' — that the focus needs to be on treatment and that we can’t arrest our way out of drug problems. That there’s too much focus on incarceration. At the same time, they’re dealing with severe national budget pressures, so you’d think this would be the perfect excuse to actually significantly reduce spending on things like domestic drug law enforcement. Well, the budget for domestic drug law enforcement was 9.4 billion in 2012, and they’re asking for 9.5 billion in 2014." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama would rather look stupid than interfere with the flow of cash to drug-war profiteers

Another Federal Housing Bailout: FHA Needs $943 Million

"What’s the problem at the FHA? It’s almost out of money. But what about all those loans it made? Too many of them have gone bad. Sorry about that. For four years, the FHA has assured Congress that this was not a problem. Sorry about that. What will Congress do about that? Hand out our money, of course. Congress will blame the FHA for making all those bad loans. It will blame the FHA for having misinformed Congress. Then it will reward the FHA to the tune of about a billion dollars. Lesson: nothing succeeds like failure." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnother Federal Housing Bailout: FHA Needs $943 Million

The Tunnel People That Live Under The Streets Of America

"Did you know that there are thousands upon thousands of homeless people that are living underground beneath the streets of major U.S. cities? It is happening in Las Vegas, it is happening in New York City and it is even happening in Kansas City. As the economy crumbles, poverty in the United States is absolutely exploding and so is homelessness. In addition to the thousands of 'tunnel people' living under the streets of America, there are also thousands that are living in tent cities, there are tens of thousands that are living in their vehicles and there are more than a million public school children that do not have a home to go back to at night." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Tunnel People That Live Under The Streets Of America

Detlev Schlichter: Good riddance to deposit ‘insurance’

"Although the mechanics of fractional-reserve banking have not changed in 300 years the public’s expectations have evidently changed greatly. Today banks are expected to lend ever more generously while depositors are supposed to not incur any risk of loss at all. State deposit 'insurance' is not insurance. Insurance companies calculate and calibrate risks, charge the insured party and set aside capital for when the insured event occurs. A state deposit ‘guarantee’ is simply another unfunded government promise, extended in the hope that things won’t get that bad. When they finally do the state does what it always does: it will take from Peter to pay Paul." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDetlev Schlichter: Good riddance to deposit ‘insurance’

Bill Bonner: Will Japan’s radical gamble work?

"The BOJ says it just wants to get inflation to 2%. It says it will buy assets with money that didn't exist previously...and keep buying...until inflation reaches 2%. Then what? Well, we guess it will stop. And then what? Then, it will have an economy that has come to expect 70 billion yen in new money every month. And an economy with a monetary base of BOJ assets maybe twice what it is today. People make radical gambles now and then. Businessmen might take a chance now and then. Gamblers might go for long odds. Lovers might hope to get lucky. For a central bank to make a 'radical gamble' bespeaks desperation and lunacy." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Will Japan’s radical gamble work?

Bill Bonner: Will Japan’s radical gamble work?

"The BOJ says it just wants to get inflation to 2%. It says it will buy assets with money that didn't exist previously...and keep buying...until inflation reaches 2%. Then what? Well, we guess it will stop. And then what? Then, it will have an economy that has come to expect 70 billion yen in new money every month. And an economy with a monetary base of BOJ assets maybe twice what it is today. People make radical gambles now and then. Businessmen might take a chance now and then. Gamblers might go for long odds. Lovers might hope to get lucky. For a central bank to make a 'radical gamble' bespeaks desperation and lunacy." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Will Japan’s radical gamble work?

The Fuse Is Burning Brightly on France’s Fiscal Time Bomb

"The public sector in France is more bloated than the ones that exist in Italy, Sweden, and Greece! That’s quite an achievement. And then remember that the new French President is imposing a new top income tax rate of 75 percent. Though, to be fair, President Hollande generously says he doesn’t the overall tax burden on any taxpayer to exceed 80 percent. All hail Francois the Merciful! Notwithstanding this magnanimous gesture, some taxpayers have the gall (no pun intended) to object to this level of fleecing. Famous actors and successful entrepreneurs are among those saying Au Revoir and moving to jurisdictions that have less punitive tax laws." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Fuse Is Burning Brightly on France’s Fiscal Time Bomb

Astonishing Number of College Graduates Had Minimum-Wage Jobs Last Year

"About 284,000 Americans with college degrees were working minimum wage jobs last year, according to WSJ. That’s 70 percent more college grads working for the minimum wage than 10 years ago. Nearly half of the college graduates in the class of 2010 are working in jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree and 38 percent have jobs that don’t even require a high school diploma, according to a January report from the Center for College Affordability and Productivity." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAstonishing Number of College Graduates Had Minimum-Wage Jobs Last Year

‘Carrying the Future’ in Afghanistan

"The rest of the world does resist. It does not want our propagandistic textbooks, it does not want our drones, it does not want our support of radical Islamists, it does not want our soldiers, and it does not want our diplomats or NGOs engaging in all manner of manipulation of domestic affairs overseas. Sadly, until young Americans like this foreign service officer start to question the mythologies spouted by politicians and duly amplified by the corporate media about the indispensability of the US 'carrying the future,' there will be many more unnecessary deaths -- on all sides." Continue reading →

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Army’s $900 Million in Warehouses Full of Useless Vehicle Parts

"The Pentagon got caught by the Defense Department’s Inspector General’s office. Again. This time it was for a military vehicle called the Stryker. It has $900 million in spare parts in just one warehouse. It keeps thousands of these vehicles in warehouses around the nation. It has so many Strykers that it lost track of them. The gear is outdated. Example: $57 million in outdated infrared equipment. The Inspector General’s Office submitted a report. No one in the media read it until a small-town newspaper in Tacoma, Washington ran a story over the weekend." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingArmy’s $900 Million in Warehouses Full of Useless Vehicle Parts