Monday, March 11, 2013

The Apple is So Rottten,the Worm can only Laugh at Us

It used to be funny to pick up a newspaper or go on an internet news site and see the contradictory headlines; the utter disconnect of what story A was stating vs the direct opposite in story B...

When it comes to the US economy and the jobs' picture, its just sad.

Story A:  "US Jobless Rate Falls to 7.7% as Jobs Surge" (AP)

Story B:  "JC Penney's cuts an additional 2,200 workers" (AP)

Story C:  "Google plans layoff of 1,200 Motorola Mobility employees" (AP)

Story D:  "U.S. Job Cuts Rise 37% in February" (Fox Business)

So that's a reduction of 3,400 jobs right there--  on the same day we're told jobs surged...  

And why did the jobless rate really fall?   The answer is found at literally the second to last paragraph of a very long and wordy article..  It reads...

"The jobless rate fell as 130,000 people dropped out of the labor force. The labor force participation rate eased to 63.5 percent from 63.6 percent.

Total employment climbed in the three months to February by an average of 191,000 jobs a month, well below the average of 250,000 economists say is needed to significantly lower the jobless rate.

The number of people unemployed edged lower, to 12.0 million, but the number of the long-term unemployed -- people without jobs for at least 27 weeks -- was essentially unchanged at 4.8 million, or two out of every five people without jobs."

And on cue, the utterly detached Wall Street who looks upon the 99% with a 'Let them eat rancid cake and then go be sick upon each other' pursing of the lips, rose on the 'good news' that their created and contrived 'recovery' like the Emperor's New Clothes were still a sight to behold...
According to the Weekly Standard, as of December 2012, 47,791,996 people were receiving food stamps... That's the largest the food program has ever had to dole out..

Now you'd think those in Washington would want to remedy this much like remedy the overall jobless situation, instead of this continual recovery con-game...

Wrong.   Why?   Well its profitable for the government that people are dependent on it...The Department of Agriculture proudly declares: ‘Each $5 in new [food stamp] benefits generates almost twice that amount in economic activity for the community.'

Well if that's true, what's the incentive to curb the program or establish new work-based programs that give people good paying jobs?
After all, the better you pay employees, the less profit the corporations keep which translates to less stock dividends and less for the shareholders and then a falling Dow...  It also means the more money people have to pay down credit cards, mortgages, etc-- that's less interest collected and banks suffer..

And who in power really wants That??

You may be the sun, the moon and all the sparkling stars in-between to those who love you but through the eyes of the powers that be, you and we and all in-between... we are meant to do four very specific tasks:  Work, Consume, Pay Taxes and Obey the Law...

And beyond that, no one above us really cares a fig what happens to us collectively and most certainly as individuals.

'Here's some more cake..'  ~shoves into mouth...
One last thing on our minds for today...

We read an article this morning in Financial Times-- quite a glowing assessment of that bearded bastard, Ben Bernanke... Said history would treat him kindly... That he saved the world singlehandedly from ruin.. blah blah..

Well, why wouldn't an elitist financial publication with a yearly subscription fee of $600/yr take any position that wasn't fiscally aristocratic?

But there's always a rich irony that when it comes to the 99% who represent the bottom feeders, they deserve no handouts or collective spreading of the wealth (Socialism!!!) and Yet back in late 2008 who did all the begging for handouts?   The corporations... the well-to-do..

And did you know the Federal Reserve not only uses US tax dollars to benefit US bigwigs and financial elite, but send it abroad to assist other nations' power players too..

For instance, remember a week or so ago when the precious stock market was rocked -200 pts because of fears Italy's elections wouldn't go to the benefit of the power classes?

Bernanke in response according to the latest Fed Reserve H-8 statement (Assets and Liabilities of Commercial Banks in the United States -Weekly) injected a record $99 billion of excess reserves into foreign banks soaring from $836 billion to a near-record $936 billion.

And Ta Daaaaa... no more market worry for the present...

We're all getting played like utter fools every day...  So poorly educated as a people..even those with advanced degrees...  We all know so little... intentionally so.

And how can any of us even begin to contemplate fighting such a monster or seeking how to survive through it all when we know so little of the enemy's inter-workings...
Let us restate what's going on as clear-cut as we can...

a)  25% of all Americans do not work.

b)  Of those 75% who do, depending on your pay scale, between 13-26 weeks of all the work you do-- the time you give to your employer... that $$ goes to the government.

c)  The government takes your $$ then spends it on war, food-stamps and unemployment (as profit creation mechanisms), boistering the banks (3 cents of every tax dollar last year went to subsidize the banks according to Bloomberg, who then claimed that $83 Bill. as 'profit')

d)  The government does not collect much in the way of taxes from corporations.. Many like GE, Facebook and Goldman Sachs will literally pay zero dollars this year.  These are multi-billion dollar corporations..
e)  The Federal Reserve has created over $3.18 Trillion and counting in new debt (not counting the $16+ trillion held already on the books as National Debt) which is to be repaid by the people

f)  Bernanke has spent it not only to buy bonds and US treasuries, toxic mortgages and direct injection into the stock market but about $1 Trillion of those funds have gone to benefit the wealthy abroad though direct injection into foreign banks, corporations and credit markets.

g) Open-ended QE4 & QE5 equal $85billion/mo ($1Trill per calendar year)

And because we the people have no true leader or teacher to educate us the masses as to how rotten this 'apple' is and how to combat it...   What can we do but vent into a pillow.. or block it out of mind with some beers and sports on TV...

Its really fascinating when you compare today to colonial times..  How easy they had it back then.. Just pay a couple cents more in taxes to buy stamps or tea and god-bless their King..

And yet they created a literal revolution and overthrew what they perceived as a government of financial and social tyranny.

And we all in 2013 tolerate so much... we take so much more nonsense and yet feel freer as a people than back then.. Illusionary freedom.  

But the more possessions one acquires in a lifetime, the greater the fear it will all be taken away

And if Spain or Greece who are in far far worse an economic predicament than we in the US are do not have the courage or cojones to take a Stand, how can we be expected to, where 2nd mortgages and credit cards allow most to still believe life is good...

There has to be an end point to all this at some time... yes?


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