As a result, decades of deregulation, outsourcing, economic financialization,and casino capitalism followed, producing asset bubbles, record budget and national debt levels, and depression-sized unemployment far higher than reported numbers, albeit manipulated to look better.

After the financial crisis erupted in late 2007, even harder times have left Main Street in the early stages of a depression, with recovery pure illusion. Today’s contagion has spread out of control, globally. Wall Street got trillions of dollars in to socialize losses, privatize profits, by blowing public wealth into the financial sector, corporate favorites, and America’s aristocracy.

While Wall Street boasts it has recovered, America keeps imploding.  High-paying jobs are exported.  Economic prospects are eroding.  Austerity is being imposed, with no one sure how to revive stable, sustainable long-term growth.

Do you know where the bank gets the $275,000 for your mortgage?  It’s very simple.  Someone walks over to a computer and types 275,000 beside your name.  With only $27.93 of cash reserves for every $10,000 of assets the bank has just created the remaining $274,722 of that interest-earning money out of thin air.  When, after 30 years of hard work, you pay off your mortgage, the $274,722 vanishes back into thin air.  Not so the interest however.  It vanishes into the banker’s pocket.

This is called fractional reserve banking, and it is the greatest scam of all time because it creates debt for no reason other than to enrich the banking class.  Its long term effect is to move wealth into the hands of a few people, a fact that bankers and most politicians stubbornly refuse to admit.  The historical name for this evil is usury and many codes of law and famous writers dating back to biblical times have condemned it for more than two thousand years.

So, how did the banks gain this oppressive power of charging interest on mere computer entries?  Very simply private banking and government collusion.  Our politicians gave it to them.  Back in 1909, before the history of the crash of 1929 unfolded, an unholy alliance was taking place.  Private bankers and politicians held a secret meeting on Jekyll Island in Georgia at which the Federal Reserve was conceived; the birth of a banking cartel to protect its members from competition; the strategy of how to convince Congress and the public that this cartel was an agency of the United States government. 

In 1913, a mixture of ignorant and corrupt politicians passed the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.  The Act let powerful bankers usurp money creation authority in violation of the Constitution’s Article I, Section 8, giving only Congress the power to “coin Money (and) regulate the Value thereof….”.  Thereafter, powerful bankers used their control over money, credit and debt for private self-enrichment, bankrolling and colluding with Congress and administrations to implement laws favoring them.  This private banking cartel has been sacking the wealth of this country ever since.

Americans have been fleeced.

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.  Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the Government at defiance.  The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs” – Thomas Jefferson

Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most conspicuous and sacred responsibility, all talk of democracy is futile.  Usury once in control will wreck any nation. 

Is history repeating itself?

Obama Defeats Romney & Gingrich in Global Poll Showing Republican Weakness

Headlines would have you believe the world and possibly the country believe Obama to be the better choice amonst the presidential candidates.  In a recent poll performed by Bloomberg Obama won out over Romney 39% to 36% and beat Gingrich 45% to 29% for Gingrich.  What the articles are not saying is that clearly 55%-61% of the folks out that have no confidence in any of the candidates.  In fact recent studies are showing voter confidence at historical lows.  By now it is hard to ignore that our government is in collusion with the Financial industy.  People, no matter how distracted they be, are all coming to the same conclusion that a fundamental change may be needed in our government before partisan politics bankrupt this country.  Just 17% of Likely U.S. Voters say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, December 4.  This is a 5% decline since march when the confidence level was at 22%. 

If 83% of us are in agreement that things are moving in the wrong direction, what are we going to do about?  Moan, groan and complain about partisan politicians but at the end of the day nothing?

“Citizens of good conscience should actively oppose unjust government policies through nonviolent resistance, such as refusal to pay taxes.  They should even be willing to go to jail rather than yield to immoral or unethical government laws and activities.”  Sound pretty radical?  This was a popular theme in the 1840’s and contributed to the American Civil War (1861-1865).  Civil disobedience is not a new or even radical concept in this country.

”If… the machine of government… is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.  ~Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobediance, 1849”

Civil Disobedience is as old as our species, as old as war and peace. Civil Disobedience has never been easy or safe; but in America it is constitutional: Civil Disobedience is at the heart of American constitutionalism.  Civil Disobedience possesses hallowed status in constitutional history. Magna Carta, the Boston Tea Party and the Declaration of Independence are illustrious Examples.

The United States of America was founded on the principles of resistance and revolution.  Decades before the War of Independence.  Many of our founding fathers believed that civil disobedience, resistance, and revolution were inalienable rights, and they wrote these rights into the Declaration of Independence. One of the most famous founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, asked rhetorically, “And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?”  Jefferson’s “spirit of resistance” refers to the right of civil disobedience. Non-violent resistance is a compromise, a way to safely vent emotion about unjust laws, a middle ground between blind obedience to corrupt rulers and unjust laws and an outright revolution.

What are you going to do? The time to act is now!

Two banks, instituting higher margin requirements for Italian bondholders, raised the cost and hence the risk of owning Italian bonds—and yields pushed past 7%. But Thursday morning’s auction of short Italian bonds, supported in large measure by ECB purchases, calmed the waters a bit.

It won’t be enough. The bigger test comes next year, when almost 12% of the country’s debt has to be refinanced, or rolled over. Bonds that currently pay a yield of 4.5% or a bit more would, if issued today, have to pay more than 7%, and the country simply can’t afford that kind of load.

Italy, interestingly, isn’t running a budget deficit, as their revenues already cover their government’s expenses day-to-day. What they don’t have is enough revenue to cover their interest costs, and higher interest rates on new bonds will only exacerbate the problem, hence the need to reduce debt somehow.

This story is far from over and unfortunately comes at a time when things are looking a bit rosier here at home. While there still aren’t any real signs of significant improvement in the housing market, employment numbers are slowly and surely creeping higher.

Last Friday’s US employment report had something for everyone. First, the headline number fell from 9.1% to 9.0% unemployment—an unimpressive move. But prior months’ data was revised higher and while October’s job creation number of 80,000 looked pretty punk, revisions to August and September added 112,000 jobs that hadn’t been accounted for the first time around.

And Thursday’s unemployment claims data supports the notion that companies are both holding on to their workers and possibly doing some hiring as well. That’s good, but still not enough to be a meaningful turnaround to the jobs picture in the U.S. just yet.

You may have heard of a huge, $3 billion municipal-bond default in Alabama could trigger the take down the entire muni-bond market.  I would appear that concerns that the muni market was headed for massive defaults is finally coming true.

Three years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers touched off a tidal wave of bankruptcy filings, corporate failures may be about to pick up again, with some big-name companies among those struggling for survival.  Companies in a range of businesses, including hair salons, restaurants, renewable energy, and the paper industry, have tumbled into Chapter 11 in the past few months.

The weak economy, lackluster consumer spending, a shaky junk-bond market and increasingly tight lending practices are also threatening struggling companies in industries as diverse as shipping, tourism, media, energy and real estate.

AMR Corp’s American Airlines may need to go to court to restructure its labor contracts, though a spokesman for the airline reiterated on Monday that bankruptcy is not the company’s goal or preference.

Kodak confirmed that a law firm known for taking companies through bankruptcy has been advising on strategy as attempts to overcome the loss of its traditional photography business falter. It has denied any intention of filing for bankruptcy.

Some bankruptcy and restructuring experts warn a fresh U.S. recession would trigger a string of failures to rival the one that followed Lehman Brothers, which in 2008 filed the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Chapter 11 filings are picking up, bankruptcy data show. Ten companies with at least $100 million in assets filed for bankruptcy in September, the most since 17 filed in April, which was the busiest month since 2009, according to Bankruptcydata.com.

Recent failures included renewable energy companies Evergreen Solar and Solyndra. The latter collapsed in a politically-charged bankruptcy after taking a $535 million loan from the federal government.

Other recent bankruptcies include glossy magazine paper manufacturer NewPage Corp, which was the largest bankruptcy of the year and the largest non-financial company filing since 2009; Graceway Pharmaceuticals, which makes skin creams; Hussey Copper Corp., which makes the copper bars used in switchboards, and the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League.

So far this month, five companies with more than $100 million in assets have filed, including the Friendly’s ice cream chain – and wireless broadband company Open Range Communications Inc.  A recent report from Reuters.com highlights a growing trend of business bankruptcy filings in the U.S. While personal bankruptcy filings have actually decreased in recent months, some lawyers are predicting that 2012 through 2014 will see upticks in business bankruptcy reorganizations.

Some lawyers, it seems, have already reported an increase in clients. One factor some analysts are watching is the U.S. economy’s ultimate move toward or away from a double-dip recession. First, a quick look at where the economy is now: though unemployment remains high and the housing market has still not recovered from the rash of foreclosures that touched off the Great Recession, the U.S. is technically not in a recession right now – probably.

A recession only occurs when the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) recedes, or shrinks over successive quarters. In other words, when there is a decrease from one measurement period to the next, the country is in a technical recession.  The problem is, there’s no way of determining whether an economy is in a recession until after the fact – that is, we can’t measure this month’s data until next month.

Recessions & Business Bankruptcies

During economic recessions, bankruptcy filings tend to rise. That’s led some insiders to point at recent numbers reported on BankruptcyData.com: Ten companies worth $100 million or more filed for bankruptcy in September of this year. The $100 million mark is often considered the threshold for a “large” company. September had the highest rate of business bankruptcies since April, when 17 large companies filed. Business bankruptcy filing rates have not been so high since 2009, when the country was in the thick of the recession.

After Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou stunned the world by putting to a referendum the recently passed European bailout plan, stocks on the Continent and in the U.S. tumbled. That news overshadowed the U.S. ISM manufacturing report for last month, which suggested America is still a good place to invest.

Manufacturing in China and the U.S. slowed in October, which was unsettling to investors who expected to see gains in both countries. Those two reports, compounded by the eurozone’s instability, set the stage for a big decline in the market.

But there was a disconnect with the U.S. report. Major manufactures such as Ford, Caterpillar and DuPont said in their recent earnings results that sales growth is accelerating in the U.S. and decelerating in China.

Investors may be undervaluing some of those and other U.S. bellwether stocks, discounting them on the expectations for slowing growth in the U.S. Today’s ISM number would seem to support this theory, but I take the opposite view. North American manufacturing businesses are fueling the recovery in this country and quality stocks may be worth considering buying now.

China’s Purchasing Managers Index, which measures manufacturing. The gauge slowed to 50.4 in October from 51.2 a month earlier, the lowest level since February 2009.

The U.S. ISM Manufacturing Survey decreased to 50.8 in October from 51.6. Economists were forecasting an increase. As companies shrunk inventory to reflect demand, growth was diminished. A level above 50 represents growth in the manufacturing sector, whereas a level below 50 represents contraction. Still, an index above 42.5 generally indicates an expansion in the overall economy.

To be sure, China is still in expansion mode, growing at a faster pace than any other leading economy. The moderation in growth is partly being driven by the government’s attempt to rein in inflation  and asset bubbles. Interest rates have been increased three times and the reserve-requirement ratio was lifted to cap inflation, which is now running at a three-year high. Unlike the U.S., the Chinese government has the ability to reverse the monetary tightening that was implemented over the past few years.

The U.S. economy is slowly emerging from the Great Recession  and the manufacturing sector is in the driver’s seat. Growing demand from emerging markets and increased capital investment domestically should help drive increased order volume going forward. What’s more, domestic companies have the advantage of a tax depreciation allowance on equipment bought before the year ends.

The much dreaded LCH margin hike came and went and while initially the market participants thought it was just a joke as nothing bad is ever allowed to happen anymore in these neverneverland markets, a few hours later the realization that this is all too real finally dawned on them. The result is an epic bloodbath everywhere, but nowhere more so than in Europe, where one can kiss Italian bonds goodbye, and shortly French too, as the bond vigilantes demand that the ECB print now or else. Visually this is presented as follows: a 30 point drop in the ES, an unseen collapse in Italian bonds, and an explosion in the French-Bund spread.

On the bright side

Italy’s bond market collapse puts US back in favor.  Italian bond market confusion is pushing money towards US treasuries, resulting in Italian bond yields soaring and US bond yields contracting.

Responding to the money shifts, Reuters has reported US government bond prices gaining ground as investors flee the Italian market, the third biggest bond market in the world.

“There’s just a lot of confusion, and in this environment that’s friendly for Treasuries,” Suvrat Prakash, interest rate strategist at BNP Paribas in New York told the news agency.

This week’s bond market drama shows that while concerns still remain for the unfathomable size of the US economy’s fiscal challenges, the US is nonetheless a huge deep $35 trillion market.

Investors not wanting to head to the US market only other options are the Japanese bond market, the world’s second biggest, or moving down the league table to petro-dollar economy bond markets, into smaller European country markets or Asia.

These dynamics imply Asia could be big secondary winners notwithstanding that region’s inflation worries. Food and fuel prices across the region have jumped an estimated 7% this year.

Money exiting Italy has driven down the capital base and skyrocketed Italian yields to 6.7%, their highest level in more than a decade, resulting in a spread of almost 500 basis points compared to German bunds.

Foreign investors rushing back into US treasuries has other offsets, however. It will dilute the 27% foreign share of the US government bond market owned by China and Hong Kong, which incidentally shows how intertwined these economies are now.

This week’s developments are expected to dampen to the 7.4% annual returns from international bonds, perhaps offset by relaxing the upward on the AUD as previously Australia-bound capital renews interest in the US.

In a case of good timing, Reuters reported that the US is this week selling $72 billion in long dated bonds.

Rapidly changing bond money movements continue to explain the confounding impact of this year’s S&P downgrade of US debt.  Ironically, it’s being reported that the ratings agency is again considering another downgrade, from AAA to AA+, following concerns over the political impasse in Washington. However, events in Europe suggest, foreign investors will hardly notice.

Market confidence in Italy collapses

By David Oakley, Robin Wigglesworth and Patrick Jenkins in London and Guy Dinmore in Rome

Italian bond yields on Wednesday saw their biggest one-day rise since the launch of the euro amid fears that investors had lost confidence in the world’s third-biggest debt market.

In a sharp worsening of the eurozone crisis, Italian 10-year bond yields rose nearly three-quarters of a point to 7.48 per cent – a level considered unsustainable by many economists.

The Italian bond sell-off, which sparked a fall in the euro, European equities and bank stocks, was triggered by a move by clearing houses to increase the cost of margin payments for trading the country’s bonds.

The markets were also hit by worries that Rome would not drive through necessary economic reforms swiftly given the uncertainty following Silvio Berlusconi’s announcement on Tuesday night that he would step down as prime minister.

Traders said that intervention by the European Central Bank stemmed the rise in Italian yields.  The central bank was reported to be buying small amounts of bonds to settle the markets. However, Italian 10-year yields remained well above 7 per cent, prompting some investors to suggest that the market had lost confidence in Italy’s ability to tackle the debt crisis.

John Stopford, head of fixed income at Investec, said: “We have seen huge movements in Italian yields, taking us to levels that look unsustainable. We are at or approaching a tipping point in this crisis.”

The intense market pressure appears to have focused minds in Rome, with politicians across the spectrum agreeing to pass emergency economic reforms through parliament within days, possibly by Saturday, to be followed by the prime minister’s immediate resignation.

Giorgio Napolitano, head of state, said that market fears that Italy would be paralysed for a prolonged period were groundless. He is working to find parliamentary consensus for the formation of an interim government led by technocrats. Failing that, he said that he would dissolve parliament and call early elections, the route favored by Mr Berlusconi.

Corrado Passera, head of Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest retail bank, told the Financial Times: “I believe an election now would not be the right thing and would make the situation of the markets even worse.”

LCH.Clearnet, Europe’s biggest clearing house, imposed additional margin charges on the use of Italian bonds as collateral in “repo” trades, a move that previously led to both Ireland and Portugal being forced to seek emergency rescue loans. CC&G, the Italian clearer, announced a similar move.

According to Barclays Capital, the increased margin requirements on Italian bonds could cost Italy’s five largest banks up to €8bn. However, the biggest worry for some is contagion spreading to France, which saw its premium over Germany to borrow in the markets jump to fresh euro-era highs.

One economist said: “France is the next country to watch. If French spreads and yields start rising in a similar way to Italy, then that really would be the tipping point for this crisis and potentially the end of the euro. The ECB may at that point have to buy government bonds in much bigger size.”

With personal incomes, and particularly disposable personal incomes, deflating on a year-over-year basis, combined with rising food and energy prices, the reality of “stagflation” becomes all too clear for many Americans. This becomes even more apparent when you realize that real incomes are declining as well. In the recent reports every discernible measure of real disposable incomes was negative. Consumer confidence has shrunk to historically low levels. When food and energy are already consuming more than 22% of wages and salaries, things are tough. Now, utilities and medical bills are eating away at the balance. No wonder consumers still say that the economy never left recession territory, because for them it hasn’t. Considering that nearly 1 in 5 Americans are unemployed, underemployed or simply not counted, these huddled masses are dependent on some form of government assistance, which includes those approximately 45 million poor souls utilizing food stamps. That is nearly 15% of the entire US population.  So how surprising is it really that nearly 25% of personal incomes are comprised of some form of Government assistance.

But you are saying that recent reports are that the economy grew by 2.5%.  So things are improving, right?  Where did this growth really occur?  If we dig behind the details of the PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) we find that health care and utilities drove consumer spending last quarter, demonstrating continued consumer “frugality”, as they are spending on necessities rather than luxuries. So lets remember those same analysts and economists who are currently throwing in the towel on the recession are the same ones who threw in the towel on the uptick in economic growth in the 2nd Quarter of 2007 when growth was an annualized 2.9% just before the country’s slide into the biggest recession since the “Great Depression”.  A recession that is still continuing today.

So what do we know?

We know incomes declined, which means that less money was coming into the household to meet spending requirements. We now know that the majority of the funds were spent on food, utilities and healthcare and not much anywhere else. My best guess remains that the economy will be in a continued recession in early 2012 without further intervention from the Fed which, at this point, would not surprise me at all. However, even their intervention may not be enough to stave off further economic decline.

Could we see a complete financial collapse in the US in 2012?

As the Feds are continuing to devalue the US dollar by an ever increasing rate by printing more and more money to cover the national debt we are quickly setting this country up for a complete financial collapse. As the treasury note auctions are held to finance US government operations, the majority of these notes are now being bought by the Federal reserve.  How is the Federal reserve able to purchase the trillions of dollars of bonds used to finance the Government?  Simple the Federal Reserve simply prints more currency.  But this elaborate house of cards could all come crashing down.  The only reason it has not already happened already is the fact that the USD has been the world currency standard since around 1944.  This leaves the US in the envietable position of being the only nation on earth that can simply print more money without the immediate effect of hyper-inflation on it’s own economy.  Historically the USD has been the most valued currency.  However even with that said, at our current rate, in two years or so the US will not be able to even pay the interest on the debt no matter how much money Federal Reserve prints.

But everything could change even before that happens.  There have been some recent private meetings of world banking consortiums to explore the possibility of removing the USD as the world standard currency.  There is a proposal be positioned by the IMF for a new currency standard called bancor that would be based on the currencies of several counties but not include the USD.  It would also be partially backed by gold.  A central bank would be established to print currency and be detached from all other national interests.  The USD would have to be converted to the new world currency and at our current rate of devaluation that could be at a rate of 100 USD to a single Bancor note, or even worse.  If this proposal by the IMF were to go into motion we could see runaway inflation in just a matter of weeks occur in the US.

The last time something like this was even discussed was in the early 80′s when the Japanese Yen was being increasingly used for world currency conversions.  But the great economic collapse of Japan in 1990 that lasted till around 2000/2001 put an end to that becoming a reality.  This current situation is much different since the change is being proposed by many of the nations that have historically been the biggest lenders to the US.  Our very own bankers that are part of this IMF proposal are suggesting that they no longer feel comfortable with the level of ever increasing debt that the US has plundged headlong into.  Recent downgrading of the USD by Standard & Poors has only strengthened these discussions.

2012 could be the pivotal year to what happens going forward since the world will be watching the upcoming elections very closely.  Based on there outcome we will see what changes our bankers have in store for the US.  In the meantime the Feds ability to borrow is being reduced daily.  Some nations have refused to trade in US dollars altogether and others have put huge restrictions on trade and forced currency conversions away from USD.

We can only hope that this IMF proposal does not come to pass.  Unseating the USD as the world currency standard could trigger hyper-inflation in the US.  Consumer savings and investments could be wiped out overnight.  Food items like bread could skyrocket up in price to $100 a loaf.  Gas could jump to $20-30 or even $40 a gallon overnight.  Some companies would be forced to shutdown due to runaway costs.  True unemployment could rise above 50%.  Homelessness, poverty and starvation would be reality in every town and city in America.

You may think these events to be virtually impossible to happen but you would be very wrong.  History has proven out that every nation that has attempted to follow the current fiscal policies that the US has been following for the past several years has ended up in a total financial collapse.  The economic and financial collapse of some of these nations has lasted as long as 10-15 years.  And the US is more posed for collapse like this than any country in history.  Just look at Germany in 1919, China in 1936, Peru in 1985 or Russia in 1994.  The facts speak for themselves.

The answer to these problems cannot be solved by printing more currency or continued borrowing from foreign governments.  Nor will we be solving them during a single Presidents term.  The changes that must be made will likely be difficult and unpopular but to continue to “Kick the can down the street” is definitely a recipe for disaster.

As a result of the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street, the American people have experienced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans, through no fault of their own, have lost their jobs, homes, life savings, and ability to send their kids to college. Small businesses have been unable to get the credit they need to expand their businesses, and credit is still extremely tight. Wages as a share of national income are now at the lowest level since the Great Depression, and the number of Americans living in poverty is at an all-time high.

Meanwhile, when small-business owners were being turned down for loans at private banks and millions of Americans were being kicked out of their homes, the Federal Reserve provided the largest taxpayer-financed bailout in the history of the world to Wall Street and too-big-to-fail institutions, with virtually no strings attached.

The emergency response from the Fed appears to have created two systems of government in America: one for Wall Street, and another for everyone else. While the rich and powerful were “too big to fail” and were given an endless supply of cheap credit, ordinary Americans, by the tens of millions, were allowed to fail. They lost their homes. They lost their jobs. They lost their life savings. And, they lost their hope for the future. This is not what American democracy is supposed to look like.

The time for change is now!

While I remain neutral on the proposed acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T, I find it interesting that the DOJ would make such a dramatic play as to file suit to block the transaction based on the premise that it will reduce competition in the marketplace.   Metro PCS, Moose Mobile, Virgin and other companies did not exist just a few years ago and I would imagine, if the marketplace can support it, more will startup as the result of this merger.

Definition of capitalism–“An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.”

Sounds to me like what these two companies are trying to do fulfils that definition.

So if the DOJ is so worried about our right to an open and competitive marketplace where have they been when numerous energy or financial institutions have merged or been acquired?

This same DOJ made no effort to block the merger of Exxon/Mobil or Several banking organization mega mergers.  Yet the competitive marketplace of the Oil & Gas industry has continued to be reduced to a handful of companies that control the single most expensive commodity that every American must purchase.  Exxon-Mobil has laid off over 15,000 workers in just the last couple of years and outsourced thousands more.  Meanwhile AT&T announced 5,000 good paying jobs coming back to the US and has outlined an ambitious network expansion that will employ thousands more

No one seems to be the least bit concerned about the single largest energy company receiving billions in government concessions and assistance or making record profits year after year. And no one is raising concerns about Financial Institutions making unbelievable profits just 12 months after receiving government assistance to keep from going bankrupt, but DOJ is really concerned that our cell bill might (and I repeat, might) go up by as much as $5 a month in the next few years?

Maybe I am just an ignorant fool but it seems to me that there is more going on here than concerns for the American public and our “rights” to have low cost cellular service.  At a time when thousands of Americans are out of work and millions more are at risk of lousing their homes, are we really focusing governmental attention on whether the number of cell phone companies is reduced by one?

It would seem to me that we have more problems in this country that need real solutions, like jobs, affordable housing and reasonably priced medical care for starts.

“The accounts of the United States ought to be, and may be made, as simple as those of a common farmer, and capable of being understood by common farmers.” (Thomas Jefferson)

Transparency in government  .  .  .

“If there can be added a simplification of the form of accounts in the Treasury department, and in the organization of its officers, so as to bring every thing to a single center, we might home to see the finances of the Union as clear and intelligible as a merchant’s books, so that every member of Congress, and every man of any mind in the Union, should be able to comprehend them, to investigate abuses, and consequently to control them.  Our predecessors have endeavored by intricacies of system, and shuffling the investigation over from on officer to another, to cover everything from detection.”  (Thomas Jefferson)

Local Representation.  .  .

“It is a singular phenomenon, that while our State governments are the very best in the world, without exception or comparison, our General Government has, in the rapid course of nine or ten years, become more arbitrary, and has swallowed more of the public liberty than even that of England.” (Thomas Jefferson)

Why less Federal Government is so important  . .  .

“Local Government vs.—It is not by the consolidation, or concentration of powers, but by their distribution, that good government is effected. Were not this great country already divided into States, that division must be made, that each might do for itself what concerns itself directly, and what it can so much better do than a distant authority. Every State again is divided into counties, each to take care of what lies within its local bounds; each county again into townships or wards, to manage minute details; and every ward into farms, to be governed each by its individual proprietor. * * * It is by this partition of cares, descending in gradation from general to particular, that the mass of human affairs may be best managed, for the good and prosperity of all.” (Thomas Jefferson)

There is one sector of American life where business is booming and jobs are plentiful — the business of government regulations.  This past Tuesday, President Barack Obama announced that his administration is tweaking 500 or so regulations, eliminating duplication and confusion from the federal regulatory register. .At a time when the overall economy only grew by 5%, government regulatory agencies have seen their budgets balloon by 16% since 2008 to more than $54 billion per year.  Since March of 2010 Federal regulatory agency jobs have increase by 5.2% while overall Private sector jobs only increased by 1.4%.  At a time when areas of the Governments should be looking for ways to scale back, Federal regulatory agency jobs have increased by over 3 times the rate of the private sector.

Interesting way to reduce!

The real question is what is the Administration going to do about the mountains of paperwork coming at businesses in terms of the new health care law, the new financial regulations law, new laws coming out of the EPA, new regulations coming out of Department Labor and the NLRB; all of these things add up to an uncertainty amongst small businesses that we know are the economic backbone of America. 

We need a top-to-bottom overhaul.  It is time Americans exercise our constitutional rights to require our Government to get back to the agenda of issues mandated by the people.

Let’s not forget  .  .  .”That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, are at all times amenable to the people.”

“That government is, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the people, nation, or community; of all the various modes and forms of government that is best, which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured against the danger of mal-administration; and that whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right, to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.”

It should be obvious by now that our public servants are more interested in serving partisan politics than the mandates of the people that elected them.  Therefore it is our right, moreover our duty, as americans to have these “servents” removed from office and replaced by those individuals that will serve in the true interests of the people and are capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety.

This Great recession and its recovery have unique factors from previous recessions.  In the recession of 1991, it was impacted by a glut of commercial building – a result of the S&L-funded boom of the 1980s, as well as a decline in retirees interested in moving to Florida, the result of lower birth rates during the Great Depression in the 1930s.  Recovery from the Great Recession will face even tougher challenges. The collapse of the housing sector has left such a large surplus of homes either on the market or waiting for foreclosure that it will be years before prices start to rise and construction returns to normal.

Public job loss is projected to increase by another 20,000  jobs over the next year.  Moreover, retiree-related population growth, which has long been a staple of Florida’s overall population and economic growth are also down significantly.  Among the factors impacting public employment, state and local governments will be squeezed by falling property tax revenues, the end of federal stimulus money and escalating pension and medical costs for retirees. Additionally, the economists argue that data shows some public employees earn far more than average Floridians – such as police officers earning 175 percent of the median pay in the state – putting additional pressure on governments to reduce those costs in other areas.

As part of his election platform Gov. Rick Scott promised to create 700,000 new jobs over the next seven years in addition to the expected growth of 1 million jobs economists had projected over that time.  But this number is far from being achieved.  a loss of 22,000 Florida jobs in July, the second-worst job loss among all the states, has slowed that growth dramatically.  Since he has taken office Scott is counting all jobs toward his total, claiming more than 64,000 jobs have been created since he became governor in January, roughly an average of 9,000 jobs per month. A number that is less than ½ of the projected or promised job growth.

Eventually construction will return to normal and lost government jobs will be replaced by private jobs, but the transition is likely to be slow and will take many years.