2012: The Year The BRIC Comes Crashing Down On Our Heads

Its All Downhill From Here

Have you been to the grocery store lately? I estimate that the cost of food has risen around 15 – 20% in a month or so. This doesn’t affect rich people at all, nor the comfortably numb, much… at least, yet.

But it will affect the 50% of Americans considered poor or in poverty.

The Baby Eaters don’t mind as I have pointed out here. This is just fresh, juicy morsels to them. But as Franz suggests in the comments here, they will eventually feel the same pain. Too bad it will be too late then. The thing that gets me, tho, about these supposedly “smart people” is that they can’t seem to understand how bad things really are. They tout small, ineffectual “offerings” that are meant to appease the masses, then scurry around to blame Cadillac Queens and the rest of us low-lifes and have not the integrity, wherewithal, or sanity to begin to see the lies for what they are… much less see the travesty about to set forth in America. They are too stupid to understand that they are next. Poor, ignorant bastards.

I want to offer the following video by Snordlehans, which is a take-off of a post done by Videorebel, considering information and inflation percentages from Zero Hedge. The synopsis of the Zero Hedge post is that most of us are about to take a scalping. We are about to see a dollar devaluation, one more obvious than what has been occurring right before our eyes, except the MSM won’t talk about it. We are talking about wages going to half of what they are now. That’s bad enough, but when the rest of the world does what China, Russia and other BRIC nations are doing (ridding themselves of the US Dollar and the investments into our debt), what you see now (as hard as it is for most of us) is a piece of cake.

You want to know why I am on this hell-bent directive to address Paul’s rhetoric? because the more I look into the man, the more I see him being the “Savior” that will actually be “The One” to implement the worst of what is coming. Sure, Obama is a murderer and is bad. But what would be worse is a person whose entire life has been one of this ideological Disney Land… a magical kingdom where everyone has a job… corporations are our friend… rich people care for the indigent and poor…. and there is no sickness… no poor… and everyone is healthy, wealthy and wise.

You know: Never Never Land.

It’s not like this wasn’t seen by some of us. It has been going on in open secrets for a while. I have written about it many times.

Prepare for what you are experiencing right now… but on steroids.

Extremely high costs for the essentials. Food, power, housing… EVERYTHING.

If you are poor (like me or worse, for I am in some of the better shape than most people I know, but I hold no illusions of grandeur that I am immune to the obvious), plan the best you can for the food prices.

And by the way, this IS all orchestrated. Ben Bernanke was clear about what would take place and how. He laid it all out in a Nov 21, 2002 speech at the National Economists Club. He was clear about the road they would take. To understand what he was saying, you must understand that when the Fed buys Treasury Bills, it is monetizing the debt. He breaks it down into 5 points to “make sure deflation doesn’t happen”:

1. Lower interest rates to near zero (check)
2. Buy Securities to expand Federal balance sheet (check)
3. Increase money supply (check)
4. Buy foreign and domestic government debt (check)
5. Devalue the Dollar (Next)

The man told us what he was going to do and they have done it. This is all planned. They are destroying the dollar and your lives along with it. But now you have others than a dumb ole redneck telling you.

You know what their plan is. So, what are you going to do about it?

The Heretic presents The Visionary Horse 237 from Video Rebel’s Blog with: “Translating Zero Hedge: Your Wages Will Be Cut In Half” at; http://vidrebel.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/translating-zero-hedge-your-wages-wi…

Yesterday Zero Hedge ran a story that most people will never see or really understand. Zero Hedge reported that the Russians have sold off half of their US Treasury bonds over the past year. China has been dumping their dollar holdings too but still have over a trillion dollars left. Other foreigners have been dumping their dollars too. The current US inflation rate is 12%. Ben Bernanke has been creating trillions of dollars to bail out banks in Europe, to buy worthless securities from US banks and to fund the US debt. That will accelerate inflation. Inflation will go from 12% to 15% and then 20% in less than a year. The media will no longer be able to repeat the lie that the inflation rate is only 3 1/2%. Inflation will become an issue in the 2012 races for congress, Senate and the presidency.

Accelerating inflation will force people overseas to dump any dollars they receive for selling Americans food, clothes, electronics, cars, oil and other raw materials as soon the transaction is completed. This phenomenon is called an increase in the velocity of money. It is a sign your economy is transitioning from an inconveniently high rate of inflation to hyperinflation. The US dollar is an international reserve currency which means that if France wants to buy food from Brazil they will likely have to use US dollars to make that transaction. In colonial America the colonists had to earn British pounds or gold to buy something from overseas. Michael Hudson in his book Super Imperialism described how the US was funding its wars by inflating the supply of currency used to settle trade. Since WW II we have been getting real goods like cars and clothes from foreigners in exchange for increasingly worthless paper. When Hudson explained this to the Pentagon, a general said, “Wow. We are ripping people off.”

I would define hyperinflation as beginning at 25% for an international reserve currency like the dollar. That is why when inflation surged in the latter part of the Carter presidency (1979-1980) Chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker raised interest rates. Home mortgages went to 15 1/2%. Ben Bernanke cannot raise interest rates today. His only option would be to devalue the dollar which is what he said he would do in that now infamous speech he made in Washington DC on 11-21-2002.

That means after the 2012 elections the Russians, the Chinese, Iran, Venezuela plus their clients states and a few other nations can and will force a devaluation of the dollar by refusing to accept Federal Reserve Notes in international trade. If Americans balk, China just has to dump a hundred billion dollars and buy commodities driving the price of food out of the reach of WalMart shoppers. Of course I realize the Chinese will just be doing what the bankers want them to do.

An international conference will be held at which the dollar will be devalued by about 40% as predicted by Bernanke. This will complete that 50% pay cut I have been predicting.

The Chinese will have dumped most of their dollars before the conference so that their economy will not be harmed by a dollar devaluation. If Americans can’t afford to buy Chinese products, China will just sell them to people whose currencies were revalued upwards.

I would suggest you buy storable food, silver coins (not collectibles) and household items that will just increase in cost.

Of course this was all planned long ago by the bankers. I will conclude with this quote from a previous essay:

The Fundamental Fact of Your Existence as a modern man or woman is that the bankers of New York and London want to reduce you to Debt Slavery.

Accept that fact and move on to the solution.

And I also said:

That is their plan for you.

What is your plan for them?

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BROKEST CITY IN AMERICA – My Hometown is #1

I’ve watched over the last 4 years, and sometimes wrote and commented about how ‘bad’ things are in my neck of the woods. Some understood what I was talking about as they’ve watched many in their own areas struggle to make ends meet during this most recent depression. However, I dont think many understood completely what I was seeing in my area.

The city I grew up in, Columbus Georgia, which I now live 15 miles to the north of has been hit hard. While the local news along with the mainstream news continues to paint a rosy picture, many know the rose is dead.

Columbus Georgia in it’s heyday was a bustling textile / mill town. It was also called a military town due to the adjacent Fort Benning Georgia. In all respects it is now only a military town. The mills shout down and moved off shore. What local business that remained through the years, many have closed their doors, unable to compete with the big box stores, or off shored the labor as well.

There are a few big name companies in Columbus Georgia. Few of them hire folk that worked in the mills due to lack of formal education, or who recently left the military and stuck around. We have AFLAC which insures more than 60 million people worldwide. We have TSYS the largest processor of merchant acquirers and bank credit card issuers. We have Synovus which is a a financial services company. Synovus laid off 850 employees and closed multiple bank branches in early 2011. We have what is left of the W. C. Bradley Co. the maker of ‘Char-Broil grill’. I say what is left because W. C. Bradley moved Char-Broil grill production from Georgia to China in 2006. The Char-Broil division is still headquartered in Columbus but the jobs are in China. Columbus is also the birth place of Coca Cola and RC Cola. My how times have changed.

To be honest with you, there isn’t much left around here other than civilian employment at the Army base, Ft. Benning. This was one of the main reasons I am so pissed off about the illegal immigration situation in this country, let alone my neck of the woods. No jobs, yet they let the illegals stay and take them. I mentioned this countless times on my old blog. If it weren’t for Ft. Benning, as much as I hate the military industrial complex [MIC], Columbus in my eyes would have been another Detroit. Detroit is number 18 on the list, which I might add, most of us have heard how bad it is/was in Detroit the past year or so. Ghost town

Over on The Daily Beast, they have just released a list of 30, what they call ‘America’s Brokest Cities’. Four of Americas brokest cities reside in Georgia and many more are throughout the southeast.

VIA The Daily Beast

To find the most struggling cities in the country, we used three data points weighted equally: the most recently available unemployment rate (August 2011), median household income, and average debt. Data is from a recent report by Experian and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average credit score for each city is included in the gallery, though not taken into account to determine the final ranking. If this data is any indication, the cities struggling the most right now—the ones that may take the longest to recover—are clustered in the South and along the Pacific Coast.

#1, Columbus, Ga.

Unemployment: 9.8%

Median household income: $36,553

Average personal debt: $27,928

Average credit score: 721

#10, Augusta, Ga.

Unemployment: 9.6%

Median household income: $44,477

Average personal debt: $26,204

Average credit score: 709

#14, Macon, Ga.

Unemployment: 10.4%

Median household income: $37,507

Average personal debt: $23,775

Average credit score: 715

#25, Savannah, Ga.

Unemployment: 9.5%

Median household income: $46,755

Average personal debt: $25,561

Average credit score: 716

Of course the 1% in Columbus dont see it that way. Of course they have no idea what the other 99% are going through. Here is what the current Mayor has to say.

Via wtvm.com [local Columbus GA news station]

Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson called the article "patently absurd" and "irresponsible".

"We know for certain that their data is wrong. The median income figure and the employment rate are not correct. Accordingly, we have no reason to believe their so-called ‘personal debt' level is current. Probably the most telling error is that even using their own incorrect data, their math is wrong. So, by the article's own alleged three-pronged criteria, Columbus is not the ‘brokest' on the list, much less America," Mayor Tomlinson explains.

"The numbers presented show there is no rational basis for the approach used. The slightest change, such as using the more accepted debt-to-income ratio instead of the personal debt amount dramatically adjusts the ranking. Including the referenced, but mysteriously excluded, ‘credit score' in the computation also dramatically adjusts the ranking. If there was any legitimate statistical point to be made here, the rankings would not fluctuate so when similar or related data is used", continued Mayor Tomlinson.

Yep, just like the rest of the 1%, 'those numbers are wrong'.

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The Greatest Country in the Fking World

Where once you’ve lost everything, you cant even live on public land in peace. Public land your taxes paid for, while you were a good little worker bee.

This is but one ‘Tent City’ that has sprung up in the past years. There will be more in the future of this recovering? eCONomy. Many of these homeless camps scattered across the greatest nation on earth house not only discarded adults, but their children as well.

From looking at the pictures included in this article, these homeless folk have it much better than their counterparts in similar situations. Most homeless folk dont have half the luxuries, or for that matter, a store of food. Maybe that is why the powers that be found it necessary to destroy some of what they had. Cant have a homeless person living in a somewhat comfortable setting.

VIA Business Insider: AMERICA TODAY: Heartbreaking Pictures From New Jersey’s Homeless ‘Tent City’

Tent City made the news recently and while community leader Steven Brigham says the media attention brought in greater donations, it also brought unwanted attention from the local politicians.

After battling with the city for years to have access to the public land here, Brigham found a New Jersey lawyer to represent his case pro bono.

The attorney, Jeff Wild, argued that the homeless population are part of the public and should therefore have access to public lands. Rather than take the case to court, Lakewood City Council settled, and Brigham signed an agreement to put up no more shelters and allow no more than 70 people to stay.

But last winter the community put up three wooden structures to house everyone and keep them warm.

“We didn’t lose anybody last year,” Brigham says, “and nobody got sick.”

This year could be different. After City Council members saw the shelters on TV, they sent demolition crews in. The walls were torn down around whatever was inside, and meager furnishings were left to the elements.

You can view more pictures at the link above.

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Happy Corporation Day: Rejoice, Labor Is Dead!

“Labor Day” should be renamed “Corporation Day” or “War Day”

(Beware: the above link takes you to a Dr Paul Roberts article at Infowars)

There is a group of “persons” who have been able to gain control over every branch of our government. In an orchestrated and vicious take-over, Corporations have been able to buy the servants, making it possible to strip away Labor’s collective advantage of control. Corporations (persons) have rights that you and all us rednecks have. I contend that they have more rights than regular human beings, as a matter of fact.

This melding of Corporations and our government puppets is Fascism 101 and certainly isn’t good for normal, everyday rednecks like me. It always leads to poverty for the common man and eventually slavery and death. Yes, Labor is Dead and should be mourned as such.

So, as we celebrate this day with picnics, parades, and frivolous activities, I ask you to take a moment to mourn the loss of Labor Day and it’s true meaning and to say a silent prayer for the unemployed whose loss of dignity may take decades to recover.

I have worked for decades without stop. Until this year, I have never drawn unemployment compensation and will be losing whats left of those benefits soon. I will need to re-invent myself, yet again, for the 5th time (having experienced industry job losses in various sectors now in Asian and Mexico). This is getting old and anyone actually paying attention knows that it will only get worse.

In contrast, there are those who thought that 2011 was going to be a good year (I made this screenshot of a friend’s FB post on New Year’s Day):

Wonder how my friend feels today? Did great things occur for him? Does he believe that those of us struggling are simply upset because things aren’t “perfect”? Does he believe that simply by “believing” good things will happen?

Well, maybe for corporations.

Corporate profits are up 22%. I assume, then, that YOUR “profits” are up, as well, correct? I know that my “profits” are soaring right into oblivion.

Happy Death of American Labor & The Middle Class Day

Even if you do still have a job, are you experiencing the Great SpeedUp? Are they pushing you harder and harder but offering less and less compensation for that work?

Worse, yet, are you one of those (like a lady I spoke with this past week), who insisted that she was sick and tired of those people using unemployment and the system when they should be working. Or the very old lady who insisted those living in the duplexs and low-income housing are not trying and especially since they are black (which, the majority is NOT black) they are just lazy (yes, she said it).

People are brainwashed. People are racist. People regurgitate the garbage they hear on TV and believe it to be the truth.

But we better wake up and realize that these TV goons, the government criminals, and the complicit Sheople who fall for every smooth talking politician/TV anchor are lying to us. They have been lying to us all along. As Dr Roberts points out in that first link (sorry, its InfoWars) they lie about unemployment numbers and when forced to correct it at the end of the year, there is no mainstream coverage.

It is a Death-ocracy (I especially enjoyed his explanation of how it is truly falling apart and you should try to prepare as you can):

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Breaking News: S&P downgrades US debt from AAA to AA+

Credit rating agency S&P downgrades US debt from AAA, first debt downgrade in US history ! The United States of America is now rated AA+ with negative outlook by Standard & Poor’s.

The Hurt is only beginning. What we have witnessed in the past 4 years means absolutely nothing. You can expect everything form bread to gas to sky rocket. I hope you have been paying attention and have your shit together, for now the shit is about to hit the proverbial fan.

I saw this coming. I tweeted earlier today, Dateline August 8 2011 ..#wallstreet opens with a bang. bada bing, and before that I said Beating the #economy with a dead cat, something sure does stink., and still in between those tweets I said Gambling with your taxes, #wallstreet crash 2011…we have nothing to loose, it’s your #money #Suckers .., and to end it all I said, Gotta go now, have #bodies to hide and more #suckers to #swindle. A fellow could get used to this kind of work. #politicians

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All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Revolt or WordPress.com

U.S. Credit Rating Downgrade / Default

WHile rulers and runners of America’s economy continue to use scare tactics on the American sheople fearing default, no one really gives a rats ass. Why should we ? There is nothing an average Joe can do about it; is there. Whether the U.S defaults or not, average people are still hurting and will continue hurting. Sure a default would make the pain worse for average Joes but that would also hurt Big Government, which is why it will not occur. Besides, they will raise the debt limit whether you are against it or not. This campaign for recovery and spending is like many of the other campaigns, even elections. It is to make you think you have a choice, a say in the matter, which in reality we know we don’t.

But what of a ‘credit rating downgrade’. The pain is going to get worse and it isn’t going to hurt ‘big government’. Why ? Because they will continue spending and getting loans although at a higher interest rate, passing the higher cost on to the sheople. In other words, The shit is going to hit the fan again for average Joes, and there is nothing you can do about it other than tighten your belt around your already thinning waist. Again!

Nothing is going to change for ‘big government’. They’ll still have and keep their jobs. They’ll still be getting fat off the hard work of average Americans. They’ll still be funding wars and bullshit programs that benefit only the rich. They’ll still live in the big houses and drive the fancy cars, and take those extravagant vacations to tropical destinations and snow capped mountains. All the while, the average Joe will once again be required to decide whether to pay the power bill, or splurge on some beans and rice like third would sheople.

It’s coming again folks, make no mistake about it. Jobs will be cut. Unemployment will rise. Prices will rise. Families will loose their homes. This is what a downgrade will do. If there were ever a default of payment, which if it happened once would continue down a slippery slope, we would be shit out of what little luck some of is have.

The thing here is, even if the debt ceiling is raised, they will still cut the programs that average Joes depend on. Funding for the military industrial complex, the police state, the black ops, the salaries of the assholes running the show will not be affected. Matter of fact, they’ll probably pat each other on the back, smile, and give each other a raise and a hand-job.

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All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Revolt or WordPress.com

The Banker

Crucial Lists

I have been preaching about being ready for the fall for quite some time (that link is but one of many examples). But I have not only preached to you, I have lived by my sermons. I run across various lists and only on a few occasions have highlighted them here. But maybe it is a good idea to share some of these, in case you learn something new.

Today, my buddy Ed at Not Another CONspiracy shared a list of 19 facts from The Economic Collapse Blog that addresses the de-industrialization of America and how this is affecting us, the poor folk in America.

#1 The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001.  About 75 percent of those factories employed over 500 people when they were still in operation.

#2 Dell Inc., one of America’s largest manufacturers of computers, has announced plans to dramatically expand its operations in China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.

#3 Dell has announced that it will be closing its last large U.S. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in November.  Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.

#4 In 2008, 1.2 billion cellphones were sold worldwide.  So how many of them were manufactured inside the United States?  Zero.

#5 According to a new study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, if the U.S. trade deficit with China continues to increase at its current rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million jobs this year alone.

#6 As of the end of July, the U.S. trade deficit with China had risen 18 percent compared to the same time period a year ago.

#7 The United States has lost a total of about 5.5 million manufacturing jobs since October 2000.

#8 According to Tax Notes, between 1999 and 2008 employment at the foreign affiliates of U.S. parent companies increased an astounding 30 percent to 10.1 million. During that exact same time period, U.S. employment at American multinational corporations declined 8 percent to 21.1 million.

#9 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output.  In 2008, it represented 11.5 percent.

#10 Ford Motor Company recently announced the closure of a factory that produces the Ford Ranger in St. Paul, Minnesota. Approximately 750 good paying middle class jobs are going to be lost because making Ford Rangers in Minnesota does not fit in with Ford’s new “global” manufacturing strategy.

#11 As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing.  The last time less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.

#12 In the United States today, consumption accounts for 70 percent of GDP. Of this 70 percent, over half is spent on services.

#13 The United States has lost a whopping 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.

#14 In 2001, the United States ranked fourth in the world in per capita broadband Internet use.  Today it ranks 15th.

#15 Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.

#16 Printed circuit boards are used in tens of thousands of different products.  Asia now produces 84 percent of them worldwide.

#17 The United States spends approximately $3.90 on Chinese goods for every $1 that the Chinese spend on goods from the United States.

#18 One prominent economist is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040.

#19 The U.S. Census Bureau says that 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty and according to them that is the highest number of poor Americans in the 51 years that records have been kept.

I gotta ask you rednecks if you have ever worked in some manufacturing plant? Most of the people who I know do or have. Many are telling me about even more plant lay-offs and factory closings that were once the very bread and butter of a small town (or, at least one of the key employers). I attended a “Job Fair” in Mississippi last week and saw a very old friend who had been working at World Color and she told me that they are shutting down that plant.

I spoke with representatives from Caterpillar who told me that even tho they were attending and manning the booth at this Job Fair, they didn’t have any active jobs available, except in their temporary operator program (this is code for “we don’t have to pay any other perks or guarantee even 40 hours per week”). There was a booth for a local plastics company, but they didn’t have any viable positions open, either.

As a matter of fact, I am not sure why they bothered to hold this event, if the truth be known. I must have asked 25 people, at least, if they got anything out of the event. Not one person told me they did. And this venue was PACKED out with every sort of person you can imagine, looking for a job.

There were countless community colleges and technical schools present and the spiel was that if you could get the grants, they could teach you something and you could use the rest of the money to take care of your other needs (I am not saying this is a bad thing, but the quest SHOULD be to gain knowledge that will put you to work later, I would think).

The entire group of unemployed workers, by and large, looked like a bunch of beat-down zombies looking for brains to eat. Unfortunately, all the non-zombies have already been eaten.

So, it is apparent to me that there will be little in the way of industrial jobs available any time soon. What does that mean? Well, you can always apply at the Carlisle Group’s table and get a job at Wendy’s. Or take any of the many sales jobs that pay commission only and hope for the best (lame assed insurance jobs).

Or maybe, JUST maybe you need to get prepared, just as I have been warning you for over a year.

The Ten Things You Should Be Doing NOW and Everyday

TIP ONE: Get Real. You must realize you are being lied to by the media, the politicians and the experts. If you don’t accept this reality, then you will not be serious in your efforts to change your situation.

TIP TWO: Be Prepared. Figure out what you’ll need to survive and examine what you have. This will tell you what you don’t have. Start a plan so you can get what you need, but don’t yet have.

TIP THREE: Become Self-Sufficient. The more dependent you are on others, the less likely your chances of survival. Start with the basics: food and water. Do you have a plan for feeding yourself if the food supply chain breaks down, supermarkets go out of business and your cupboards are bare?

TIP FOUR: Be Secure. As things get worse, those that have will become targets of those who have not. Is your home secure? Are you hiding your “wealth” and looking poor? Are your assets easy to get to but securely protected?

TIP FIVE: Get Off the Grid. As resources dwindle a steady, reliable source of power will become a necessity. Solar, wind and hydropower are all within the reach of the individual, depending on your location. Transportation
needs also must be considered, especially if you are reliant on public transit. Do you have a bicycle?

TIP SIX: Get Out of the Dollar. You will need an emergency fund. Dollars are not the currency you want this fund in. Think precious metals and buying a safe to store them in as your bank may not be around much longer.

TIP SEVEN: Think Individually, Act Privately. Be brutally honest about your skills. If your skill set will enable you to do things that others are going to need, you’ve just improved your odds of survival.

TIP EIGHT: Educate Yourself and Your Family. Go old school. Read books. Don’t satisfy yourself reading just those who mimic your beliefs; read about alternative viewpoints, too. The more you know, the more you grow. The wise man learns something new every day. When was the last time you learned something new?

TIP NINE: Investigate the Opportunities. Every situation has opportunities, even our current economic climate. Keep your outlook positive, surround yourself with upbeat people and keep your eyes open for opportunities to present themselves. They will. Just make sure that you seize them when they do.

There is a Tenth Tip, but I won’t feature it here, for if you are hurting for money, one of the last things you (or I) can do is buy a video. Maybe this site will find some way to offer the video in some other format, if they are serious about helping. But, as I review the other hints, I can’t find much to argue with and have done most of it, personally.

I am actively working to set up my “network” or “community”. This is nothing more than trusted friends who have something to offer the community when the SHTF. I am becoming much more vocal in real life (as an example, I recently turned on my next door neighbor to the eBook, “Earth’s Forbidden Secrets” that I featured here by Max Igan. This work is a preface to understanding my goal of community and how we can defeat the current, corrupt system. You can also access it from the sidebar on the right.

North Dakota: The How-To On Fighting Big Banking

Compare all the devastation spread throughout the country and it is pretty scary. But I bet you haven’t heard about the one place in these United States of America that actually is doing pretty well for itself… North Dakota:

Under state law the bank is the State of North Dakota doing business as the Bank of North Dakota.

It seems that someone had some sense and decided to start their own State Bank. They didn’t like the central banking cartel that owns the rest of the 49 and by playing the Oligarchs game, were able to beat them at it (at least temporarily). They did this by creating a “Socialist Bank” or their own central bank with all funds guaranteed by the government (you know, like this entire NATION used to have before allowing the Federal Reserve to gain control… the private, centralized banking cartel that owns and runs America).

You should really go to Max Keiser’s On The Edge and see all of his interview with Ellen Brown (extremely enlightening, especially considering the High frequency trading scam).

What is High Frequency Trading? Go to the Wiki link and read for yourself. What is most important about this is that first, it is done in the off hours and by computer programs and second, it makes up 73% of the trades (where are the humans?):

As of 2009, high frequency trading firms account for 73% of all US equity trading volume.

But more importantly, there are only 2% of the 22,000 Investment firms doing this type of trade (making up the vast majority of all trades). And to top that, they do this with:

few or no regulatory requirements

As Max and Ellen describe, banks like Goldman Sachs (yes, of course, one of those select and privileged 2%) are able to manipulate the stock prices with this “tool”.

Sound fiscal responsibility is not on the minds of the currently elected scumbags in Congress or any branch of our government. With only one or two exceptions, they all kowtow to the heavy dollars being given and they seemingly don’t care if Americans find out. They must believe that most of America is too stupid to figure this out (and from what I see, they are probably correct).

Asia Wins Again and Again While The USA Loses

I have been in sales for a long time. High end automation. Over the years I have watched the decline of manufacturing (and discuss it here often enough) and always listened as those folks responsible for NAFTA, CAFTA and every other “SHAFTA” they could think of to enrich corporations (to the detriment and loss to the American worker) as they told us that we will focus on high-tech manufacturing and allow general industry and heavy manufacturing to go off shore.

It was for the betterment of the country, don’t ya know?

I have sold multi-hundred thousand dollar machine tools and virtually every type and level of automation (including robotics, etc). I even had some very good years in 2003 and 2004. But, I knew it was slowly dissolving… disappearing into other lands. With our government’s help (doing the bidding of the Corporations that own them lock, stock and barrel), they dismantled one key industry that we had superiority in and allowed China and other Asian nations to develop their engineering and products until we cannot compete. In most, if not all cases, their high-tech manufacturing is protected by their government, where here, not so much (not at all, in actuality).

In Manufacturing and Technology News, Richard McCormack shows us how we lost the advantage and explains who has it in his article U.S. Precision Machine Tool Industry Is No Longer A Global Competitive Force:

U.S. producers of some of the most technologically advanced machine tools are in trouble, according to an assessment by the Department of Commerce. Sales of high-precision five-axis machine tools are declining. U.S. share of global exports is in a freefall. Foreign companies in China and Taiwan have caught up with U.S. technical capabilities, rendering stringent U.S. export controls moot. U.S. companies are being purchased by foreign rivals. A lack of training programs has created a shortage of skilled workers able to use the complex machinery. Commercial and U.S. government customers prefer foreign machine tools. Export controls are hampering foreign sales. The entire U.S. machine tool industry spends only $1 million a year on research on five-axis machine tools.

These are some of the findings from a “Critical Technology Assessment” conducted by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security.

U.S. producers of five-axis machine tools had sales of $253 million in 2008, down 11 percent from 2005 sales of $284 million. That was before the U.S. machine tool industry suffered a meltdown in 2009, when domestic consumption tumbled by 60.4 percent, according to the Association of Manufacturing Technology.

Sales of five-axis machines to domestic customers from U.S. producers declined by 19 percent from 2005 to 2008, from $242 million in 2005 to only $195 million in 2008. There are six American companies dedicated to producing five-axis machine tools, and at least 20 in China. Five-axis tools are used for the production of precision components in the aerospace industry, in making gas and diesel engines, automobile parts, and throughout the medical, textile, oil, glass, heavy industrial equipment and tool industries. “Many other industries are discovering the advantages of these machines,” says the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

This is not new, but devastating, nonetheless. It happened with robots (only a handful of US manufacturers to compete with very good foreign brands). It happened with PC Board chip mounting equipment. It happened with 3 Axis routers (similar to the 5 Axis stuff Robert discusses). It is happening, even tho we were told that it was this stuff we would keep. We would let the small, mass-produced stuff go offshore and focus on high-tech, leading edge products and manufacturing.

Again, we find that either they made ANOTHER monumental mistake (does it seem like our government is the most inept entity on the face of the earth, or what?)…. ORRRRRR…. they do this shit intentionally. I have to ask folks, can our leadership make THIS MANY mistakes? Do we continually elect the most ignorant and foolish leaders or are they intentionally doing this stuff? For the life of me, I find it hard to believe they are this stupid.

Whatever. Its leaving the US, no matter what the reason. And so is another highly touted industry: the solar panel building companies.

Evergreen Solar Heads To China ‘As Quickly As We Can’

If you can’t beat China and can’t get the U.S. government to understand what you’re up against, then you may as well join them.

That is what Evergreen Solar has decided to do, shifting production of solar fabrication and assembly from its factory in Devens, Mass., to Wuhan, China.

Evergreen Solar CEO Rick Feldt went to Washington, D.C., and met with Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. He told them Chinese government policies made U.S. production uncompetitive. But the Obama appointees do “not quite [have] the understanding that we think is necessary about what’s actually happening in this industry,” Feldt told financial analysts on Feb. 9. “The United States keeps talking about keeping jobs. You go to the President’s State of the Union Address and he said, ‘I want to keep jobs in the United States.’ It’s easy if you say it, but you’ve got to do something to do that.”

Without an adequate response from the U.S. government to counter competitive forces working against domestic production, “we are going to China as quickly as we can,” Feldt told the analysts. “The issue for us is just how long does it take to get there. We’ve got the China operations underway as we speak.” The company expects to spend $50 million this year on its Wuhan, China, facility.

Now read the rest of the article and think about that for a minute. Think about this statement:

In response to the Chinese competitive challenge, Evergreen Solar has two options. It can try to counter China’s advantage by reducing its costs in Massachusetts as low as possible, or “get to China as fast as we can,” said El-Hillow. “We’ve tossed internally about becoming more aggressive in Washington, trying to get them to understand the situation that we face as a solar manufacturer and leveraging our wafer technology. There’s no silver bullet here. It’s an incredibly tough situation.” Added CEO Feldt: “The issue for us is just how long does it take to get [to China].”

And you would think that since the government offered Big Money to help them get started, they would have some sort of patriotic duty to stay… some small bit of conscious that would do whatever they could to stay here, or, our government do more to help level the playing field. But, no, this company took that money, developed the processes and manufacturing systems with that money, and now will do whatever it can to get out of the USA.

And you silly rednecks think that the problem is “liberals”…

In 2007, the company received $23 million in grants from the State of Massachusetts to build its facility on state-owned property in Devens. It also received $17.5 million in low-interest loans along with a 30-year lease on the property.

For now, the company will keep cell manufacturing in Devens. “We think we’re extremely competitive making wafers any place in the world,” said Feldt. “We have this fixed investment in cell manufacturing so it comes down a little bit to cash versus GAAP accounting depreciation [and] amortization.” Even if the company continues to improve its Devens, Mass., plant “it’s not all clear to us that we’d be better off by buying a whole new set of equipment in a salvaging operation in China and scrapping the equipment we have here. These cell lines are not easy just to pick up and move — of course it’s possible — so we’ll have to play that one by ear. We think that we will continue to reduce wafer and cell costs efficiently that would make sense given our fixed investment here. Of course if it doesn’t we would take other action.”

You may not give a damn about manufacturing. But you should give a damn about how money is taken, used up then the corporations shit on you by going elsewhere. THAT should bother you. But that is the entire problem across the board. These very same big corporations don’t give a f#ck about you. They don’t care if you or some little chinese f#cker make the shit that we gobble up.

THEY DON’T GIVE A F#CK ABOUT YOU (see the Carlin video to understand), yet they are considered “persons” by the courts in this land. These very same corporations that will take the money and run are considered the same as you. Can you believe that shit? And how do they get by with it? They own the “parties”, especially the leadership within those parties.

Let me explain something to you by using some old guy’s own words. I know most of you think that this guy isn’t worth hearing about, but it might help you in your search for “why” (go to the link to read the entire thing, well worth the education). I want to focus on a couple of points that he addressed regarding political parties and how they culminate in what we are now experiencing first hand (we should have paid attention to this old coot):

From: Washington’s Farewell Address

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and the duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true— and in governments of a monarchical cast patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest instead of warming it should consume.

Did the man wake up, dig out from his grave and write this yesterday? Either that or he predicted what would happen. Whatever. The man was right and if we were to seriously believe in the Constitution, we would dissolve those two complicit evil and murderous parties that have melded into one monster that is (from every indication) purposefully tearing America apart and giving the crumbs to the rest of the world.

More Than 1 in 6 Tennesseans on Food Stamps

I was part of a brief conversation with a racist redneck woman yesterday where I commented about her snide innuendo about food stamps and buying steaks, beer and whatever for “her baby daddy”. I hope that this stupidity, this clownish, hateful behavior, is still among the old assholes and the young ones are realizing how insane it is to fall for their wedges.

What these stupid-assed old rednecks fail to understand is that Food Stamps and food assistance programs are over burdened and are giving out record amounts. For this to happen, it can’t SIMPLY be a bunch of “no-good black folks” who are using this resource. No, these stupid people believe that there are no white folks on Food stamps and that only a worthless sponge would ever use such a thing.

I have news for you, folks. This shit is going to get worse before better. You better grab whatever food you can from whatever source you have. You will need it.

Posted: // Jan 04, 2010 4:56 PM CST Monday, January 4, 2010 5:56 PM EST

// NASHVILLE, Tenn. – More and more Tennesseans are turning to food stamps to make ends meet.

Nearly 1,186,000 Tennesseans, or more than one in six residents, currently receive some kind of food stamp assistance and the number continues to climb.

h/t PrisonPlanet and originally at WKRN.com

Charming Mr Bernanke Cares For You, Mr America

This is how much he cares about you, redneck:

“Willie Sutton robbed banks because that’s where the money is, as he put it,” Bernanke said. “The money in this case is in entitlements.”

Wow. Now go read the entire shit-filled dialog here.

Willie Sutton robbed the banks because THAT is where the money is. Yet, if it weren’t for the American taxpayers, there would be not a nickel in the banks for Willie to rob today. But thank goodness for Mr Bernanke. Now they have money again. Let us raise Willie from the dead and get him to get our money back from that crooked piece of shit liar.

Am I the only redneck alive that sees the hypocrisy?

Here is his plan for you:

“It’s only mandatory until Congress says it’s not mandatory. And we have no option but to address those costs at some point or else we will have an unsustainable situation,”

You see, the seed is planted. If you think that your SS and or Medicare is safe, then think again. Oh, and did ANYONE speak about the festered sore draining our life away called the Military Industrial Complex? All you brave souls in Congress?

Naaa. Nothing to see there. No money to be gained for their campaign and absolutely NO help for Americans there. Better just cut off their only support and fund even MORE wars, right?

I hope that some of you wake up, soon. But methinks it is too late.

“Best Cost Countries” And How To Blame The Government For The Failure Of Corporate America

As I have done before, I receive regular articles from Manufacturing & Technology News and wanted to post the article with my observations. To me, this simply points out that Corporatism rules this country and that those who are in control of corporations don’t give a single rat’s ass about the American workers or their well being (at least from their job perspective).

Corporations are anti-worker. Corporations are entities set up with one goal in mind: making the most profit for their share holders as possible. Period. They do this off of the backs of labor and always have.

So, when I read such stuff as Mr Farr writes (and Richard notes) like blaming government for the current fiasco, I have lived the last 30+ years watching corporations take off towards those “best cost countries” (aka cheapest labor and overhead possible). His blame is hollow when he and his ilk are just as responsible for this mess as any government official ever alive. And both parties are complicit.

I have been calling on Emerson Electric companies for 20+ years. I have actually sold Emerson Electric owned product and know first hand how cheap they are and how they run in to the ground any entity they buy up. So, Mr Farr, excuse me as I call your Bullshit for what it is… Bullshit.

Emerson Electric Votes With Its Feet, Saying The Goverment Is Destoying American Manufacturing

By Richard McCormack
richard@manufacturingnews.com

One of the country’s most important industrial companies says the United States is not a good place to manufacture and it will continue moving its assets offshore.

The federal government is “doing everything in [its] manpower [and] capability to destroy U.S. manufacturing,” says David Farr, chairman and CEO of Emerson Electric Co., in a presentation at the Baird 2009 Industrial Conference in Chicago Ill., on Nov. 11. In comments reported by Bloomberg, Farr added that companies will continue adding jobs in China and India because they are “places where people want the products and where the governments welcome you to actually do something. I am not going to hire anybody in the United States. I’m moving. They are doing everything possible to destroy jobs.”

In his Powerpoint presentation available on the Emerson Electric Web site, Farr notes that the federal government is damaging prospects for U.S. economic growth with a $1.41 trillion federal deficit (10 percent of GDP); $12 trillion in government debt that will grow to $20 trillion in 10 years; a policy of printing money; a “non-targeted $800-billion stimulus”; bailouts for Wall Street and the automobile companies; the prospect for cap and trade legislation; a “government takeover” of health care to the tune of more than $1 trillion; increasing taxes and regulations; and a “lack of U.S. $ support” for manufacturing. The global stimulus “soon will fade,” says Farr.

What does it mean for a company like Emerson? “We continue to increase our international and emerging market presence,” says Farr. The company has increased its emerging market sales by 19 percentage points over the past 10 years, from 13 percent of total sales in 1999 to 32 percent in 2009. It is now generating 55 percent of its sales from overseas operations, a figure that will grow to 60 percent by 2014, with 40 percent of total sales coming from emerging markets.

“Emerson’s investment in emerging markets is continuing to pay off with sales growth,” say Farr. In 1999, the company generated $12.4 billion in annual sales from mature markets and $1.9 billion from emerging markets. By 2009, sales from mature markets grew to $14.2 billion, while sales from emerging markets more than tripled to $6.7 billion.

The company projects sales from mature markets in 2014 of between $16 billion and $17 billion, while emerging market sales will reach almost $12 billion.

Between 1999 and 2009 “73 percent of growth is from emerging markets!” Farr exclaims. “More than 60 percent of our growth is expected to come from emerging markets over the next five years so Emerson will continue to invest in these key markets.”

In 2001, the company had 21 percent of its 360 manufacturing facilities located in “best cost countries.” Today, Emerson has 250 manufacturing locations and 36 percent of them are in “best cost countries.” That percentage is going to increase to more than 40 percent.

Emerson is following the money. Infrastructure investment in the United States now accounts for 21 percent of the global total of $12 trillion, down from 27 percent in 2004. Asia Pacific’s share of global infrastructure investment has increased from 18 percent of the global total in 2004 to 27 percent in 2009. That number is expected to continue going up — to 31 percent of global investment in 2014 and 37 percent in 2019.

The current recession has been destructive and the United States will have a hard time recovering, says Farr. U.S. job losses of 7.3 million to date are only slightly less than the total of the last four recessions combined (8 million). The current downturn is having a big impact on Emerson and its employees. The company has reduced its headcount by 15 percent. It has closed 55 facilities and has incurred $540 million in restructure expenses.

The 2001 recession was also tough on the company. It reduced its headcount by 14 percent, closed 75 facilities and incurred $437 million in restructuring expenses. “But the world did not change much,” says the Emerson CEO. With the current recession, “there will be some fundamental changes going forward.”

The company reported sales for its 2009 fiscal year ending in September of $21 billion, down from $25 billion in 2008 and $22 billion in 2007. It had an operating profit of $3.2 billion in 2009 (15 percent of sales).

I will say this. At least now we will see the true spirit of the Corporate Controllers of this country. What you, as a poor redneck just trying to make ends meet needs to know, these jobs will NEVER come back. The vast majority of jobs that have folded up (either for good or to move overseas to those “best cost countries”) are NEVER going to come back to the USA. If you had a decent paying job making parts for an American automotive company… sorry, your job is gone FOREVER. If you were lucky enough to move to an Asian automotive company, get ready to see your wages decrease (or NEVER increase to accommodate inflation). And when it gets bad enough, watch as these jobs disappear, as well.

We used to think that China was the “best cost country”, but I read recently that Mexico is now.

You think that is going to help your chances keeping a good job as these corporations (who ONLY care about the profits) move out even more over the next two years?

It is a snow ball rolling down hill and I see it growing and growing.

BTW: My comment on the article:

Comment: Mr Farr’s comments have a ring of BS to them. I have called on Emerson Plants for almost 20 years and have watched as they took every advantage of “best cost countries”, with NEVER a thought of the American worker in mind. This moving away was happening long ago and the fact is that government and Corporations are BOTH instrumental in this fiasco. Corporations control our government. This is so evident that surely there is no argument. So, Mr Farr, I see this as just another way for you to fulfill your obligations to make as much profit for your shareholders as you can. But do not think for a second that you can start this crap and think that everyone will believe it. Emerson Corp is set to make money… with or without Americans. I say you take your entire shebang elsewhere, then.

How’s That New Military Job Working For You?

The MIC (Military Industrial Complex or Big Military) is in full tilt. They are growing in terms of money spent and control they have in the world.

But even worse is the fact that as normal industrial output is stifled and jobs are forever lost, we have the military to take their place, right? Just like the other night at the Veterans Day Parade and the young father whose son just joined the Air Force simply because he could not find work or afford college: we are being forced into service (one way or the other) of the military, instead of items we can use and consume for peaceful purposes.

But, if you ever took time to study history, you would find that previous Empires died the same death while the citizens were being told the same lies. The Roman Empire was over-extended and became too militaristic and could not support the behemoth it grew in to (much of its purpose, too, was to control the earth’s resources).

I have always questioned the replacement jobs that military produces for the manufacturing sector and whether or not it is sustainable. It, of course, is not, but it is a seeming light at the end of the tunnel for poor, young, rednecks and minorities. Nothing could be further from the truth, as is displayed by the fact that we have privatized much of our military and it costs us far more to do what we could do by necessity, if we were truly attacked (and we have not been attacked by any of the people we now occupy).

Read the full story at Washington’s Blog, but it has been confirmed that Defense Spending Creates Fewer Jobs Than Other Types Of Spending:

The table first shows in column 1 the data on the total number of jobs created by $1 billion in spending for alternative end uses. As we see, defense spending creates 8,555 total jobs with $1 billion in spending. This is the fewest number of jobs of any of the alternative uses that we present. Thus, personal consumption generates 10,779 jobs, 26.2 percent more than defense, health care generates 12,883 jobs, education generates 17,687, mass transit is at 19,795, and construction for weatherization/infrastructure is 12,804. From this list we see that with two of the categories, education and mass transit, the total number of jobs created with $1 billion in spending is more than twice as many as with defense.

So how do you like the idea that your country has strong-armed us into being its military slaves while, at the same time, indiscriminately killing and occupying innocent others?

B’Man’s Patriot Watch: US Rep. Marcy Kaptur

She is the longest term congresswoman in office right now. That means that her peeps like her. I can see why.

She said the following in an interview with Bill Moyers on Friday night:

* The Federal Housing Agency used to insure 1 in 50 mortgages. But FHA now insures 1 in 4 mortgages, as the debt for bad mortgages has been dumped on the American people

* “Banks have the power to create money”. This again confirms and verifies that banks create money out of thin air, not based on the amount of reserve deposits on hand. See this and this

* While – on paper – there are reserve requirements, banks have gone from 10 to 1 leverage (where they could lend out 10 times their reserves) to – in the case of JP Morgan – 100 to 1 leverage. But with derivatives, leverage might be much higher

* Instead of holding hearings on the core problems with the financial system, Congress is holding hearings solely on arcane, peripheral issues

Let me explain this to those who believe that their particular congressperson cares about their constituents: they would act like this woman does, if they actually gave a rat’s ass about you. If you rdnecks think that Marsha Blackburn gives even half a rat’s ass, you are sadly (and stupidly) mistaken. Goes for 97% of them.

h/t Washington’s Blog