Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Global governments have done an excellent job hiding their insolvency
It's ugly out there, the world is flooded with fiat currency and in debt to its eyeballs.
Global governments have done an excellent job hiding their insolvency and keeping the people they represent in the dark.
Remember, the government is technically 'the people,' so the gold at Fort Knox (if there is any) is our gold and the debt the government has accumulated, is our debt.
We find it sad that so many Americans go to the government for help after the government is the very entity that put them in a personal mess. Prior to the government entering our housing market, the max you would see for a home mortgage was 7 years, however, in order to make homes more affordable, the government started backing 30 year loans. The government's definition of affordability is you making a payment for life and not actually having ownership. Every government program designed to help has driven costs up through inflation, direct taxation, regulations, and or course the redistribution of wealth.
Recently, Lew Rockwell posted some ugly facts about Americans' personal debt. Please note that it is the Federal Reserve that sets interest rates, this is the key factor in what a debt payment will be, so the lower rates are, the more Americans are encouraged to load up. If the rates aren't low enough for you, state and local governments have special deferred payment plans and government backed loans.
The result of all this help is 16.5 trillion in official national debt, over 100 trillion in debt liabilities, and an entire class of debt slaves.
Debt Slaves
Student loan debt in the U.S. is nearing 1 trillion dollars
With government support, colleges can raise tuition to whatever they want, and they have. The only thing rising faster than college tuition is our government health care system.
Two-thirds of all college students graduate with student loan debt
Borrowing for college students is up 100% in the past 10 years
Today, 46% of all Americans carry a credit card balance month to month
Americans have 600 million active credit cards in the U.S.
Consumer debt has increased over 1,700% since we dropped the gold standard and went 100% fiat
45% of cars are now being financed for 6 years
70% of ALL car purchases in the U.S. involve an auto loan
45% of auto loans are subprime
Right now 8 million Americans are at least one mortgage payment behind
Mortgage debt as a percentage of GDP has more than tripled since 1955
So who stands to profit from all this debt?
U.S. Banks have more equity in U.S. homes than the American people do, the government has a highly motivated class of workers (need to keep making payments), and lastly, what better way for the powers that be to keep people ignorant of their government than to put them in a situation where they are literally living in a rat race.
Seriously, look around the next time you are on the freeway or at the mall, everything from cars to clothes is financed.
Fixing America's debt problem starts with each of us changing the way we think and teaching others to do the same. Instead of focusing on the quantity of life, how much stuff can we get our hands on, focus on the quality of life, the peace of mind of a real ownership society.
Future Money Trends
Windows 8 Computers to Have Remote Kill Switch
Janne Kytömäki, a Finnish software developer, was cruising Google’s Android Market for smartphone apps last year when he noticed something strange. Dozens of best-selling applications suddenly listed the same wrong publisher. It was as if Stephen King’s name had vanished from the covers of his books, replaced by an unknown author. Kytömäki realized the culprit was a piece of malware that was spreading quickly, and he posted his findings online.
Google responded swiftly. It flipped a little-known kill switch, reaching into more than 250,000 infected Android smartphones and forcibly removing the malicious code. “It was sort of unreal, watching something like that unfold,” says Kytömäki, who makes dice simulator apps. Kill switches are a standard part of most smartphones, tablets, and e-readers. Google, Apple , and Amazon all have the ability to reach into devices to delete illicit content or edit code without users’ permission. It’s a powerful way to stop threats that spread quickly, but it’s also a privacy and security land mine.
With the rollout of the Windows 8 operating system expected later this year, millions of desktop and laptop PCs will get kill switches for the first time. Microsoft hasn’t spoken publicly about its reasons for including this capability in Windows 8 beyond a cryptic warning that it might be compelled to use it for legal or security reasons.
Vision America
Chinese government is ramping up its military budget dramatically
As Americans ponder ways to cut defense spending, the Chinese government is ramping up its military budget dramatically. Spending on China's armed forces is being increased by 11 percent this year, on track to pass the $100 billion level for the first time in history.
While that remains far below U.S. spending levels - President Barack Obama proposes a $524 billion Pentagon budget for the coming year - it still represents a change certain to worry policymakers in Washington.
What is of particular concern is China's strategy of building up its force projection capability. For decades, Chinese strategy was to maintain a massive homeland defense force, coupled with a relatively modest arsenal of strategic nuclear weaponry.
Now, leaders in Beijing want the force projection ability to use conventional forces regionally and, perhaps, throughout the globe. China's first aircraft carrier has been built. Smaller, long-range troop carriers are planned. Clearly, the regime's goal is to be able to send Chinese troops to regions where their use is desired, and to support them with air power.
That presents a potential challenge to U.S. interests throughout Asia, and perhaps on a wider stage.
Yes, U.S. military spending needs to be more efficient. But given the new strategy adopted by Beijing, it also needs to craft responses to a new catalogue of threats, and that could be more difficult to do if reductions go too far. Lawmakers should keep that in mind when discussing potential budget cuts.
Minot Daily News
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has said the strategic partnership between Iran and Russia will guarantee regional stability
TEHRAN – The deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has said that the strategic partnership between Iran and Russia will guarantee regional stability.
“Iran and Russia have common opportunities and (face common) threats on the international stage… the strategic partnership between Tehran and Moscow is a win-win game for the two sides and the people of the region, which will guarantee the security and stability of the region,” Ali Baqeri said during a meeting with the visiting deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Yevgeny Lukyanov, in Tehran on Monday.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian official pointed to ongoing political developments in the Arab world and said that the Islamic awakening of the people of the region has accelerated the decline in the power of the United States in the region.
Lukyanov also criticized the West for adopting double-standard policies on international issues and supporting terrorist groups in Syria.
In addition, he said that Russia attaches high importance to its strategic cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran in all spheres.
Tehran Times
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