Friday, October 4, 2013

US Economy is Just One Giant Hedge Fund

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Max Keiser, the host of RT’s ‘Keiser Report,’ is a former stockbroker, the inventor of the virtual specialist technology, virtual currencies, and prediction markets.
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American lawmakers have colluded with Wall Street executives to build an economy that no longer works in the best interest of, or even needs, the majority of the American public, according to RT financial host Max Keiser.
RT: There’s a lot of hype and some would say overreaction around all of this but the tell-tale sign is the markets. They haven’t reacted negatively. Is there really a crisis here?
Max Keiser: I think we should take the words of Warren Buffet to heart. He basically described the Federal Reserve Bank and the American economy as one giant hedge fund. And he is absolutely correct. The way that Wall Street, Washington, and these large funds approach America is as a trade that is backed by $120,000 or $130,000 of debt and that debt gets traded around every day. And the whole initiative here is to buy hedge funds and try to squeak out profits, and they don’t really care who they hurt in the process. Remember America is run by what I call financial jihadists who are basically suicide bankers. Warren Buffett, of course, is one of these suicide bankers and America, from the outside of course, looks like they’re trying to commit financial suicide. But that’s what a financial jihadist does, or a suicide banker. They blow themselves up for their cause and in this case it’s market fundamentalism, a belief in the profit – not the prophet.
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RT: But other tell-tale signs of the economy improving are there, Max. Are we to believe the economic indicators which suggest the US economy is on the up?
MK: Well, you look at a deal recently between Carl Icahn and Apple computers. It’s the story of two different economies because most Americans deal day-to-day, hand-to-mouth, paycheck-to-paycheck. Then you have the other economy which is the Wall Street economy, the financial jihadist economy. Carl Icahn can tweet about getting Apple to buy back $150 billion of their own stock, which of course is financed with zero percent interest rates and if they make a mistake they get bailed out just like long-term capital management was bailed out. Remember that in the late 1990s, early 2000s, long-term capital management ran into trouble. Alan Greenspan – the Fed chairman at the time – bailed them out. He lowered interest rates to bail out a hedge fund. What will happen here – this is the outcome, there’s two outcomes – either the Federal Reserve Bank will increase their monthly buyback of bonds from $85 billion a month to $120 or $130 billion a month, or America defaults on its sovereign debt like it did in 1971 when it closed the gold window. Those are the two outcomes. So what we see here is jockeying between these two powerful sources in Washington, Congress, and the Senate. By the way – they all own stocks. Insider trading is legal. They’re all trading this information, they’re on their little phones and they’re trading stocks up and down and making money at the expense of the American people because they are financial terrorists as well. Financial terrorists have captured the American economy. I mean that’s plain and simple. Warren Buffet hit the nail on the head – America is just one giant hedge fund.
RT: But they will raise the debt ceiling won’t they? Or will they not, because Obama is clearly worried about that? They’re arguing about Obama’s health care. What’s going to happen with that crisis?
MK: The smart money would be short stock market right now and then when they raise the debt ceiling and print $120 billion to $130 billion a month in brand new quantitative easing there’ll be another huge rally. That’s the insider’s scoop; I’m telling you how to make money on this façade, this Kabuki theater that has become America. America is the most watched soap opera in the world right now; it’s a huge hedge fund. You’ve got CNBC covering it like it’s an episode from “Breaking Bad,” the popular show about methamphetamine on cable TV. Ben Bernake and Barack Obama, you can almost picture them in the back room cooking up some meth and selling it on the street to finance their habit, which is defense spending, torture, extraordinary rendition, bombing people overseas, droning people that costs a lot of money. The only way they can finance that is by treating the entire economy like it’s a hedge fund where they just extract wealth second by second, manipulating markets, trading inside information. JP Morgan, Lloyd Blankfein, HSBC, Barclays, inside trading, market manipulation; they’ve been caught at it time and time again. Laundering money from drug cartels in the face of HSBC over and over again. It’s just drugs, insider trading, market manipulation, and Warren Buffett. That’s all that’s left in America.
RT: You’re great with the plot lines so how is this particular episode going to end? The episode of the federal government shutdown. Is it going to end soon? Could it drag on for three weeks like we’ve seen in the past?
MK: A lot of people get hurt but the people in Washington consider the American public to be expendable. They don’t need the American public. They don’t need their taxes, they don’t need them working – because when they need money they just print it. It’s like Saudi Arabia in America. In Saudi Arabia when they need more money they just pump more oil. They don’t need the population, that’s why they live in destitute and why there’s so much poverty in Saudi Arabia. It’s the same thing in America – there’s a huge amount of poverty because…when they need some cash, they just get Ben Bernake to print it. It’s Saudi Arabia, it’s called the new American dream. The Saudi Arabian dream is alive in America.

Woman shot by Capitol police after ramming barricades was on psychiatric drugs, antidepressants

Woman shot by Capitol police after ramming barricades was on psychiatric drugs, antidepressants

Congress Gives Standing Ovation To DC Cops For Executing Unarmed Mother (Video)

Friday, October 4, 2013 6:10


Essentially, lawmakers were expressing gratitude for the cops protecting them from the deadly threat posed by 34-year-old Connecticut resident Miriam Carey, a dental hygienist who the media is now trying to demonize as mentally unstable yet whose boss Dr. Brian Evans said was a “happy” and “stable” individual. Friends described her as “friendly and dedicated.” Her former boss Dr Steven Oken said she was “always happy,” while neighbors said Carey was “a nice young lady, stable.”
As the mainstream media portrayed the incident as some kind of dramatic gun battle and car chase involving a deadly terrorist who had attempted to attack the White House, the truth began to emerge. Carey’s worst crime appears to have been driving erratically and freaking out at a checkpoint when police aimed guns at her head.
Contrary to initial media reports that Carey had somehow tried to breach sensitive White House property, the checkpoint was a temporary “outer perimeter” fence, making it quite possible that Carey was confused and frightened as to why she was being stopped in the first place. The temporary checkpoint may have been part of a drill that was running simultaneously.
Makes sense right?  Friends and family are contradicting the official story and thereis absolutely nomotive for her actions which also says to me that this is some tragic accident played out on national TV.   Absolutely the DC police should nothaveshot that woman to death,it is suppose to be the duty of all police to serve and protect, not shoot now ask later.  If she was unstable, if was their job to protect her as she was out of her mind therefore there shouldnt have been no deaths.  Shoot out her tires, make her surrender, they had her dead bangif she tried anything but no, tey just open up on her, kill her only to find out her baby is in the backseat and she was totally unarmed.  What killed this woman was the police state and their likely will be no real investigation. -Mort

Obamacare subjects entire nation to ransom demands of coercive government

naturalnews.com

Originally published October 4 2013
Obama

Obamacare subjects entire nation to ransom demands of coercive government

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) You've probably noticed I'm not covering pure politics anymore here on Natural News, but I am covering Obamacare and health issues quite intensely. And when it comes to Obamacare, you can't separate the insane politics from the Affordable Care Act policies, so I'll give you an advance warning that this article delves into some hard-hitting issues of what I believe is really wrong with America today.

For starters, the rhetoric over Obamacare and the government shutdown has reached a point of insanity. Obama himself has begun using "gun to the head" rhetoric, invoking highly-inappropriate violent imagery and trying to cast it upon his political enemies. Furthermore, with Obama's approval, White House spokespeople have also begun characterizing Republicans as "terrorists, kidnappers and arsonists" for their taking a stand against Obamacare. Even the more mild characterizations depict Republicans as "holding the nation ransom" while behaving like "suicide bombers" for daring the question the sanity of government gone insane.

Click here to read 11 more violent metaphors currently being invoked by liberals against the GOP.

I'm no water-bearer for the Republican party, as you well know, but this poisonous rhetoric from a failed, desperate administration demands to be honestly answered. If we're going to invoke these metaphors, after all, let's do it accurately. Because if you get right down to it, Obamacare subjects the entire nation to the ransom demands of a criminal, coercive regime that seems more rooted in Soviet-style communism than American freedom.

If Obamacare were a person passing you on the sidewalk, he would pull out a gun, stick it to your forehead and scream at you to "Give me all your money or else!" The so-called "Affordable Care Act" is built on a foundation of coercion and theft. It is not a voluntary program. It does not ask for nor require your consent. It is a grotesque example of government abuses gone terribly wrong at the hands of a wildly deceptive, insidious administration that honors no law whatsoever.

Metaphors that make sense: the Obama administration is a mafia

What's emerging right now in the actions and rhetoric of the White House is that there is no difference whatsoever between the philosophy of the Obama administration and the philosophy of a criminal mafia. Both the mafia and the Obama administration:

• Use fear and intimidation to force people into surrendering their money.

• Threaten the use of force to coerce you into capitulating to their demands.

• Lie to the media and the public about their true intentions.

• Have a strong contradiction between their public persona of "compassion" versus their private behavior of ruthless aggression and destruction.

• Believe they have an inherent right to rule over everyone else.

• Have no respect whatsoever for individual rights, liberties or the rule of law.

• Believe they can simply invent the rules as they go along, complete outside of law.

• Believe they are exempt from the same laws and rules they force everyone else to follow.

• Blame everyone else for the problems and disruptions they have caused to society.

• Are led by sociopaths.

Unlimited theft is now the Big Government game plan

The "Affordable Care Act" is the landmark legislation of the Obama mafia, because it establishes the government's "right" to engage in unlimited theft and confiscation of money from the American people. Thanks to Chief Justice Roberts and the U.S. Supreme Court, a dangerous precedent now exists that allows the federal government to simply seize funds out of your bank account at any time, for any amount, for any reason whatsoever, as long as they call it a "tax."

This is a mafia-style approach to governing by coercion. Before long, Obama (or a future president) might decide that every American should buy war bonds through a mandatory "Affordable War Bonds" program. Such a program might automatically withdraw $500 from your bank account each and every month, redirecting that money to the wealthy arms manufacturers whose bombs and missiles need replacing because we're suddenly in a war with Eurasia... or wherever.

Understand the gravity of this when I explain that the federal government now has no limits whatsoever to its powers of confiscating private wealth. This is crucial to really grasp because it means that when the government runs out of suckers willing to keep lending it more cash -- and it can no longer print new money without triggering a global sell-off -- there is a 100% chance it is going to resort to the nationwide confiscation of private wealth in order to keep itself afloat.

Yes, you head me right: Your retirement funds, pension funds, private bank account and investment funds will all be subject to government confiscation, much like what recently happened in Cyprus. And because there are no longer any limits to government -- the Constitution apparently be damned! -- there is no way to stop this cancerous plague of economic destruction from sucking a significant portion of the private wealth in America into a black hole of bureaucratic waste and crony capitalism.

That's what politicians like Obama do, of course: They are destroyers of wealth, destroyers of liberty, destroyers of opportunity and destroyers of the American dream. The No. 1 side effect of Obamacare is to destroy the U.S. economy and thereby create a nation of bankrupt victims who desperately vote for Democrats because that's who's pimping the handouts, the free mobile phones, the welfare and government food stamps. This is why the growth of food stamps under Obama has been 75 times greater than the growth of jobs under Obama.

The intentional destruction of the middle class

The game plan of the Democrats, whether you're talking Obamacare, immigration, minimum wages or anything else, is to annihilate the middle class and turn America into Mexico, where a tiny ultra-wealthy elite class rules over a massive population of impoverished, dumbed-down voters fed pesticide-ridden genetically modified foods washed down with fluoride and aspartame.

If you really want to talk metaphors, the Obama administration is waging a campaign of economic terrorism against the American people, destroying jobs, work hours and small businesses at every opportunity. This is not by accident. This is how Democrats gain power: by turning would-be entrepreneurs and small business owners into impoverished, unemployed government entitlement recipients who depend on government to put food on the table.

Individualism is the enemy of the Obama administration, because individuals might think for themselves or demonstrate socioeconomic mobility. This simply cannot be tolerated, so the American dream must be crushed at every opportunity to keep the people oppressed and destitute.

Obama's big debt lie

Since day one of taking office, Obama has spent America to the brink of debt default, then he blames the Republicans for not wanting to raise the debt ceiling yet again. Obama lies to the public and claims, "America pays its bills" when the simple, mathematical fact of the matter is that America does NOT pay its bills, which is exactly why the debt ceiling needs to be raised yet again. If America paid its bills, it wouldn't need to go deeper into debt, would it?

In the history of our great nation, no President has ever done more economic damage to this country than Barack Obama. Yet, at the same time, the American population has never been more delusional about worshipping a politician like a God even though he is destroying their very future.

Using neurolinguistic programming and carefully-crafted logical fallacies combined with expert con man delivery, Obama continues to keep millions of Americans enslaved to his spells, sapping from them any will to think critically about the reality of what is really happening around them. The very same people who are losing their jobs, their work hours, and their benefits right now are, for the most part, the people who put Obama in office. And in their desperation and fear, they will continue to worship the very man who is destroying their future, like moths to the flame.

The administration of "hope and change," it turns out, is actually running a game plan called, "destroy and conquer." Obamacare is just one small part of that plan, and if it is allowed to remain in place, America as we know it is lost.

A popular revolt seems just around the corner

It is also apparent to me that a popular revolt is now in the making. It is a revolt of veterans, law enforcement members, business owners, liberty lovers, farmers, parents of vaccine-damaged children, entrepreneurs and many others. This revolt will transcend political parties as all those driven into bankruptcy and suffering by Big Government join together to march on Washington and take back their country from the enemies of America currently occupying the White House and the Senate.

America is reaching a breaking point. The suffering and despair that has been unleashed by Obama and the entire Democratic party has nearly reached a tipping point. The condescension towards veterans; the attempted destruction of the Bill of Rights; the punitive IRS tax audits; the criminally-run Department of Justice; the open tolerance of widespread voter fraud; the nauseating arrogance of people like Nancy Pelosi; the traitorous betrayals of the Supreme Court... all these things are contributing to a growing groundswell of resistance against tyranny that will soon burst into the open with a powerful force and the will of the People.

Why government is arming to the teeth

There is a reason DHS, FEMA and every police department across the country has been buying military assault vehicles, tanks, machine guns and barricades, folks. Even the ACLU can't believe how rapidly local police departments are "going military" and acquiring military-grade hardware.

At the highest levels of government, there is a certainty that mass nationwide riots are now inevitable. In fact, many in government probably can't believe the American people haven't already marched on Washington.

We are one systemic bank failure away from total nationwide chaos. And Obama, by demanding we raise the debt ceiling and keep spending money, is accelerating us all ever faster toward that economic implosion. That he would dare call Republicans "terrorists" for their attempt to halt the financially bleeding out of this nation is unconscionable. It enters the realm of pure evil.

Although I don't wish for it, I give America a 20% chance of finding itself in an outright civil war before the year 2016 if this abusive government continues its march of destruction.

I'm also guessing that America has a 70% chance of collapsing into financial default before the year 2020, regardless of who is in the White House at the time, unless emergency spending cuts are made in the very near future.

If you really want to know where things are headed financially, tune in to the Peter Schiff YouTube channel.

If you want to survive the coming social chaos that will undoubtedly be unleashed when the Obama economic terrorism team has finished its work, make sure you read www.SurvivalBlog.com

www.DontFundIt.com




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James Clapper Says They're Just Trying To 'Understand' Tor To Keep Terrorists From Killing You

from the why-so-afraid-people? dept

Ah, the inevitable misleading bullshit response from James Clapper to today's revelations about the attempts to hack Tor is the usual doubletalk and propagranda we've grown accustomed to from the confessed liar. The short version is that they're just trying to "understand" Tor, because if they don't you'll probably die from terrorists.
The articles accurately point out that the Intelligence Community seeks to understand how these tools work and the kind of information being concealed.

However, the articles fail to make clear that the Intelligence Community’s interest in online anonymity services and other online communication and networking tools is based on the undeniable fact that these are the tools our adversaries use to communicate and coordinate attacks against the United States and our allies.
In other words: we decimate your privacy, because we care. Sorry, Clapper, we're just not feeling that caring spirit out here in the public. It sure seems like you're a creepy big brother, using any and all methods to distort this discussion and debate, while seeking to collect any and all information you can get your hands on "just because" it might possibly be useful someday -- and with little to no concern for how that impacts everyone else.

NSA Trying Hard To Compromise Tor, But It's Still Mostly Safe

NSA Trying Hard To Compromise Tor, But It's Still Mostly Safe

Active Military Drill in DC During Capitol Police Shooting

According to government sources a military drill was taking place at the same time as the police shooting at the capitol

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 03: U.S. Capitol police respond to reports of shots fired at the U.S. Capitol. October 3, 2013 in Washington, DC. Capitol police locked down the facility during the incident. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 03: U.S. Capitol police respond to reports of shots fired at the U.S. Capitol. October 3, 2013 in Washington, DC. Capitol police locked down the facility during the incident. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
By JG Vibes
Intellihub.com
October 4, 2013
Details are still emerging about the police shooting that left a mother dead after she drove through a restricted area near the US capitol building. [1]
At first the media reported that she was a terrorist who fired shots, but hours later we learned that the woman was in fact unarmed, and was shot through the car for failing to pull over for police.  There was also a 1 year old child in the car who luckily was not struck by a stray bullet.
To make matters even more suspicious, there was also a live military drill taking place during the incident.
According to Army.com “Emergency vehicles and first responders are once again in action in the National Capital Region and will be thru Oct. 3. They are participating in “Capital Shield 2014.” More than 38 participating agencies from DOD and Capital region response agencies will perform mock mass casualty rescues, Defense Support to civil agency technical rescues and law enforcement tactical responses. The goal of the exercise is to ensure government agencies at every level are prepared to coordinate action to protect the public in the event of an actual disaster in the National Capital Region.”[2]

Since the police shooting occurred today, the actual webpage for the capital shield drill has been taken down by whoever operates the site.[3]
This may only just be a drill as they are saying it is, but these drills are important to look out for, because all too often when something goes wrong, the government is coincidentally staging some sort of “training exercise” nearby.

Sources:
[1] Woman breaches white house security, shots fired! – Intelihub
[2] Capital Shield 2014: First responders train in nations capitol – Army
[3] Capital Shield 2014 – MD Army

Federal Agencies Have Slowly Taken Over Every Aspect of Public Life

As the noose on our public institutions tighten, it is important to recognize the overall effect and design of these tactics. 

capitol-washington_dc (Copy)By Dave Healey
Intellihub.com
October 3, 2013
As the government monopolizes more and more public institutions, it is also manipulating wages and creating hazardous career environments for the people that educate, police, and heal the citizens of the United States.
Three different sectors of public life have all been monopolized by the federal government who have come in and taken over after so many states claimed bankruptcy.
Three sectors currently under fire are Education, Police, and Health, three of the most vital and important institutions we rely on are either under-skilled, under-paid, or drastically over-worked, and it is an issue that has been overlooked for too long.
We start first with the Health sector, and in this particular case, the Nurses that hustle and bustle to support Doctors, help patients, and in many cases try to grow and lead a family of their own at home. Nurses can make a hefty sum, average shows $67,930 to be exact. What is not so well known is that the Nurses of today are more and more responsible for the caring and testing of patients. While pay may reflect the addition of responsibility, it is pale in comparison to the salaries of Doctors and Surgeons who would make on average around $200,000. [1]
 Not only is the pay much higher, but the security of their position is much higher, where as Nurses can be laid off, employment frozen, or replaced for mistakes very easily because of how many replacements there are available. For the day in and day out operations of a hospital, is it absolutely vital to employ one surgeon over 3 additional nurses?
Would it benefit nurses to have easier shifts or shifts that they could work with, or does it benefit the hospital, and in turn the patients, to be the supreme commander of its employees? Do these work conditions sound conducive to a health environment where attention to detail, a sharp mind, and the ability to assist others in their time of need? I believe we can improve our health system; we can empower Nurses and pay them for greater responsibility.
Take the extra couple of years to go back to school, and get accredited, or get a Masters, be creative and make new positions in the hospital that allow for swinging shifts and positions, where Nurses aren’t constantly in fear of making a mistake and being let go, but growing the person, taking time to nurture them and mentor them to become great Doctors, or other leaders in the hospital.
The longer we put such high restrictions on our Doctors, and red tape in our hospitals, the longer we will be stuck in a Pharmaceutical world. Nurses tend to be women, and women tend to be very compassionate, educated about the world, and able to see things that a male-dominated sector would never be able to see. By finding creative new ways to educate, and prepare key individuals that fit the paradigm of what a Doctor, Surgeon, or hospital leader should be, we are able to open up and explore new ways of treating our citizens.
As the noose on our public institutions tighten, it is important to recognize the overall effect and design of these tactics. As the government takes over more and more state institutions, such as Education funding and public schooling, and infrastructure for growth and the security of the state’s citizens, they gain more authority on what funding can and will go to. One such example happened in Rockville, MD, at Montgomery County Community College.
The government told the college that if they did not enforce a strict Smoke-Free Zone that the college would no longer receive state funding, and they would need another means of gathering funds. Although a ban on smoking cigarettes in public areas can be very healthy for its citizens and inhabitants, the fact that a government can strong-arm any institution to bend to its will, or face huge repercussions (in this case a loss of almost all of their funding) should get many people up and active in bringing an end to these types of practices.
Another form of control the government can impose on its citizens is in the form of “wage control.” As state funding runs out, they file bankruptcy and default to the Federal Government, who then forces that state to give away the keys to the city. The federal government comes in, audits the city, decides what wages are for all state-paid employees, and exempts themselves from all rules and regulations it holds against its citizens.
As the wages of the poor against the rich grow ever-larger, it becomes increasingly clear that it is the Federal Government’s intent to keep the wages of every vital government position as low as is possible, and doesn’t try to hide it.
One reason the government keeps teacher and police salary so low, even though the safety, security, and education of our children should be the most vital resource and career anyone could have, is because it promotes the occupation of very average people to fill the role of something that only the most creative and bright of our citizens should be occupying. The average policeman is an average student.

They did not excel in their studies, nor did they fail, they stayed right in the middle, and they made ends meet. Real police officers deal with real situations, and are living in a state of perpetual paranoia and speculation. When you wear a badge you feel like a certain target, and in that constant state of fear a different type of person can emerge, one that shuns any compassion or appreciation for humanity.
In truth, policemen in America are trained to be this way. They start there pay like any other medium salaried employee, ranging from 28-40k, but they are asked to be on high alert on an almost minute-by-minute basis. This – coupled with the fact that most of these men and women doubt there is any post-trauma or mental fatigue going on, and you have an explosive environment.
Real police officers need real training, they need real pay, and they need real guidance and mentorship. What we get instead is a 70% acceptance rate, a large amount of drop outs (mainly the people that would rather think for themselves then be told what to think), and at the end of the day a whole bunch of people that aren’t qualified or groomed for the position they take.
This has been ingrained as a part of the American dream. The reality is that the government wants to brainwash and control this institution, and the only way it can do that is by paying the people that would fit the role of easy to mold, desperate enough for cash, and a willingness to exude dominance on others. A stereotype too often found in today’s society.
The same can be said for our education, and our teachers in public schooling. Some teachers we had in elementary school, middle school, we loved them so much because they were unique, they were creative, and they got us thinking! But how few and far between are those teachers these days? If a student has one in every level of a school building they would be considered lucky. The wages of education are some of the least competitive wages in America, yet education should be our number 1 investment and resource for our future.
Why such a discrepancy in importance, versus pay? Does a computer programmer who is making video games have more importance as a programmer? Even though he needed to go through school and be taught basic principles of writing, reading, thinking, communicating with others and be taught by a teacher? The public education career tree seems to be one of the most undervalued assets in America, and so our education lacks because of it. Is this the way it is supposed to be in the 21st century?
Government is notorious for discriminating, and anti-discriminating in a constant swing to bring equal opportunity, but inevitably it leads to an endless amount of discrimination. Discrimination can come in the form of seeking under-skilled, average IQ, group-think mentality individuals who fit in well to a system that directs and commands, in the form of staying away from intelligent and creative people who could create real positive change. [2]
It can come in the form of forcing educators to go through 8 years of college, claiming anywhere from $125-250k in college fees (for those that have no scholarships or financial assistance.) Forcing people to dedicate so many years and this much time to a career that starts teachers at an average of $37,000 discriminates against any individual that earned that Masters who will be paying off school fees, paying for food and shelter, and trying to eventually start up a family.
It would make no sense for anyone going through 8 years of college to go for a job paying so dismal with minimal benefits, so for Education to have such a low standard of pay, yet have such a high standard of acquiring certification, it only seems plausible that it is being shaped this way on purpose. Arguments against it claim that it allows the weeding out of predators, or it keeps the chance of children being at risk at a lower level because these are educated and disciplined people.
The fact is, as educators it is their responsibility to always be mindful of these things in the first place, because when we let down our guard and believe that risk is no longer there, that is when the smartest of the abusive individuals will take advantage of it.
With a more competitive market in place, better standards and on-site training, mentoring of new educators, and the supervisor/mentor to making the educator is able to connect on the right level with the children or young adults they will be teaching, we clear all the air.
This eliminates any potential skeletons in the closet by shedding light on everyone and keeping things as transparent as possible. This will bring bright, young, energetic, and creative people to these fields, and give them a base to grow their lives and families, and will naturally out any individuals that do not get along with the children.
They can receive ample pay, benefits, the time off in the summer, but also be able to advance in the field and be able to reach more and more people. The goal of an educator is to learn and grow with the people they are educating, and with this approach they will finally be able to do that.

Sources:
[1] National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates United States - BLS.Gov
[2] Are Police Departments Aiming Low? -  Exposing the Truth
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30 Statistics About Americans Under The Age Of 30 That Will Blow Your Mind

Young Adults - Photo by Linda Goldstein, reporter for IIT Tech NewsWhy are young people in America so frustrated these days?  You are about to find out.  Most young adults started out having faith in the system.  They worked hard, they got good grades, they stayed out of trouble and many of them went on to college.  But when their educations where over, they discovered that the good jobs that they had been promised were not waiting for them at the end of the rainbow.  Even in the midst of this so-called "economic recovery", the full-time employment rate for Americans under the age of 30 continues to fall.  And incomes for that age group continue to fall as well.  At the same time, young adults are dealing with record levels of student loan debt.  As a result, more young Americans than ever are putting off getting married and having families, and more of them than ever are moving back in with their parents.
It can be absolutely soul crushing when you discover that the "bright future" that the system had been promising you for so many years turns out to be a lie.  A lot of young people ultimately give up on the system and many of them end up just kind of drifting aimlessly through life.  The following is an example from a recent Wall Street Journal article...
James Roy, 26, has spent the past six years paying off $14,000 in student loans for two years of college by skating from job to job. Now working as a supervisor for a coffee shop in the Chicago suburb of St. Charles, Ill., Mr. Roy describes his outlook as "kind of grim."
"It seems to me that if you went to college and took on student debt, there used to be greater assurance that you could pay it off with a good job," said the Colorado native, who majored in English before dropping out. "But now, for people living in this economy and in our age group, it's a rough deal."
Young adults as a group have been experiencing a tremendous amount of economic pain in recent years.  The following are 30 statistics about Americans under the age of 30 that will blow your mind...
#1 The labor force participation rate for men in the 18 to 24 year old age bracket is at an all-time low.
#2 The ratio of what men in the 18 to 29 year old age bracket are earning compared to the general population is at an all-time low.
#3 Only about a third of all adults in their early 20s are working a full-time job.
#4 For the entire 18 to 29 year old age bracket, the full-time employment rate continues to fall.  In June 2012, 47 percent of that entire age group had a full-time job.  One year later, in June 2013, only 43.6 percent of that entire age group had a full-time job.
#5 Back in the year 2000, 80 percent of men in their late 20s had a full-time job.  Today, only 65 percent do.
#6 In 2007, the unemployment rate for the 20 to 29 year old age bracket was about 6.5 percent.  Today, the unemployment rate for that same age group is about 13 percent.
#7 American families that have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.
#8 During 2012, young adults under the age of 30 accounted for 23 percent of the workforce, but they accounted for a whopping 36 percent of the unemployed.
#9 During 2011, 53 percent of all Americans with a bachelor’s degree under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed.
#10 At this point about half of all recent college graduates are working jobs that do not even require a college degree.
#11 The number of Americans in the 16 to 29 year old age bracket with a job declined by 18 percent between 2000 and 2010.
#12 According to one survey, 82 percent of all Americans believe that it is harder for young adults to find jobs today than it was for their parents to find jobs.
#13 Incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation since the year 2000.
#14 In 1984, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older was 10 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger.  Today, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older is 47 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger.
#15 In 2011, SAT scores for young men were the worst that they had been in 40 years.
#16 Incredibly, approximately two-thirds of all college students graduate with student loans.
#17 According to the Federal Reserve, the total amount of student loan debt has risen by 275 percent since 2003.
#18 In America today, 40 percent of all households that are led by someone under the age of 35 are paying off student loan debt.  Back in 1989, that figure was below 20 percent.
#19 The total amount of student loan debt in the United States now exceeds the total amount of credit card debt in the United States.
#20 According to the U.S. Department of Education, 11 percent of all student loans are at least 90 days delinquent.
#21 The student loan default rate in the United States has nearly doubled since 2005.
#22 One survey found that 70% of all college graduates wish that they had spent more time preparing for the "real world" while they were still in college.
#23 In the United States today, there are more than 100,000 janitors that have college degrees.
#24 In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.
#25 Today, an all-time low 44.2 percent of all Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 are married.
#26 According to the Pew Research Center, 57 percent of all Americans in the 18 to 24 year old age bracket lived with their parents during 2012.
#27 One poll discovered that 29 percent of all Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are still living with their parents.
#28 Young men are nearly twice as likely to live with their parents as young women the same age are.
#29 Overall, approximately 25 million American adults are living with their parents according to Time Magazine.
#30 Young Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated that previous generations have saddled them with a nearly 17 trillion dollar national debt that they are expected to make payments on for the rest of their lives.
And this trend is not just limited to the United States.  As I have written about frequently, unemployment rates for young adults throughout Europe have been soaring to unprecedented heights.  For example, the unemployment rate for those under the age of 25 in Italy has now reached 40.1 percent.
Simon Black of the Sovereign Man blog discussed this global trend in a recent article on his website...
Youth unemployment rates in these countries are upwards of 40% to nearly 70%. The most recent figures published by the Italian government show yet another record high in youth unemployment.
An entire generation is now coming of age without being able to leave the nest or have any prospect of earning a decent wage in their home country.
This underscores an important point that I’ve been writing about for a long time: young people in particular get the sharp end of the stick.
They’re the last to be hired, the first to be fired, the first to be sent off to fight and die in foreign lands, and the first to have their benefits cut.
And if they’re ever lucky enough to find meaningful employment, they can count on working their entire lives to pay down the debts of previous generations through higher and higher taxes.
But when it comes time to collect… finally… those benefits won’t be there for them.
Meanwhile, the overall economy continues to get even weaker.
In the United States, Gallup's daily economic confidence index is now the lowest that it has been in more than a year.
For young people that are in high school or college right now, the future does not look bright.  In fact, this is probably as good as the U.S. economy is going to get.  It is probably only going to be downhill from here.
The system is failing, and young people are going to become even angrier and even more frustrated.
So what will that mean for our future?
Please feel free to share what you think by posting a comment below...

Jail For File-Sharers Does Nothing to Increase Music Sales

One year ago Japan introduced a tough new law that was warmly welcomed by the music industry. From October 1 2012, those downloading copyrighted material without permission faced a potential two year jail sentence. But while users of Japan’s favorite P2P networks plummeted, sales have not been positively affected. Total music sales this year so far are down 7% on the same period last year, but digital sales are even worse – down 24% since the law was introduced.
There can be little doubt that given the chance the entertainment industries would like to see super-tough copyright legislation introduced worldwide. The idea is that with harsh legislation comes fear of serious repercussions, prompting a decision by the music consumer to purchase rather than pirate.
On October 1 2012, Japan introduced brand new legislation targeting users that not only upload (distribute) music without permission, but also those who merely download. There were no half measures on punishments either, with infringers facing up to two years in jail.
With those using P2P software to obtain music naturally being the most vulnerable to monitoring, the effects on those networks were both immediate and dramatic. According to data gathered by the General Association of Copyright for Computer Software, populations of three key file-sharing networks plummeted as the law was introduced and have since failed to recover.
P2PDownJP
So what effect did this exodus have on the market for recorded music?
According to figures published by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), after the new law was passed physical sales increased, with CDs enjoying a boost of 5% between October 2012 and June 2013 when compared to the period October 2011 to June 2012.
However, when comparing sales during the first eight months of 2012 before the law was introduced with the first eight months of 2013 with the law in effect, a different picture emerges. Total CD music sales this year are down a full 7% on the same period in 2012.
Given the legal threats against file-sharers in place since October 2012, the overall digital market isn’t looking great either, despite subscription services enjoying a sales boost in excess of 500%.
Japan’s NHK News reports that digital sales between October 2012 and June 2013 are down 24% on the same period in the previous year. Furthermore, figures published by the RIAJ show that despite digital album sales being up 52% over the same period in 2012, overall digital sales for the first two quarters of 2013 are fairing even worse, down 26% on the same period last year.
RIAJ Jan to June 2013
Another shift in the market has been witnessed in the CD album rental market, a popular method of listening to music in Japan. According to the RIAJ, since the introduction of the new legislation rentals have increased by 50%. However, no such boost has been seen in those making purchases.
“The new law has been effective in increasing the amount of CD rentals, but seems unconnected to the number of people who are actually buying music,” RIAJ chief Kenji Takasugi told NHK.
Was that a confession that harsh legislation online doesn’t affect the numbers of people actually buying music? Could be, and consider this. While album rentals go through the roof another interesting thing took place in the first half of 2013 – sales of digital singles dropped 34%. Perhaps those rented albums aren’t simply being listened to and returned?
Nevertheless, Japan is doing rather well overall and is set to become the world’s largest music market, bucking the trend by embracing physical formats while lagging behind on digital. What seems fairly certain for now is that threatening to send people to jail for downloading hasn’t helped much at all.

Dark Web Rising: McAfee Founder To Launch New “NSA Killer” Privacy Device

Mac Slavo
October 3rd, 2013
SHTFplan.com


darkweb1
Their tentacles are everywhere.
If it’s plugged into the internet there is a near 100% chance that the National Security Agency is monitoring it.
So how does the average American get off the control grid?
According to well known anti-virus software founder John McAfee the answer is simple.
Decentralization.
Rather than connecting to the telecom sponsored (and government integrated) internet, we bypass it completely and connect directly to each other’s devices in a peer-to-peer environment using what is essentially a distributed network architecture.
He’s been working on the new device, dubbed D-Central, for several years but has recently sped up its development in light of revelations that the NSA is tapping the digital interactions and personal correspondence of virtually every American citizen.
The new “NSA Killer” will, according to McAfee, make it difficult if not impossible for the NSA to tap into personal communications like they do today because the device would operate in what is known as a “dark web” and allow an individual to completely obscure their identity.
McAfee says with D-Central there will be no way for the government to tell, “who you are or where you are.”
The gadget, which McAfee wants to sell for less than $100, would communicate with smartphones, tablets and notebooks to create a decentralized network that couldn’t be accessed by government agencies. Specifically, it would create a small private network that would act as a “dark web” where users could communicate and share files privately.
The device would have a wireless range of about three blocks and those in range would be able to communicate with each other. McAfee has reportedly been working on the gadget for a few years but has accelerated development in recent months given the NSA leaks.
At present, he said the design is in place and they are looking for partners to help with hardware. A public prototype is expected to be ready within six months with the current device said to take a round shape with no display. This of course is assuming the project isn’t shot down by regulators before it’s ever released.
Source: Tech Spot via The Daily Crux
If true, the promise of a $100 NSA-Killer device that crushes the trillion dollar surveillance state is quite appealing and one that Americans will likely respond to with open arms should it become available on the free market. We say “should,” because there’s already talk that the D-Central privacy device may be banned in the United States because it could potentially be used for nefarious purposes.
Of course with that logic we should also ban telephones, computers, credit cards, and pretty much everything else, because criminal elements will always adopt emerging technologies for their enterprises.
The obvious, but unspoken, reason for such a ban would, of course, be that the government would lose the ability to monitor, and thus control, the American public.
According to the Future Tense Central web site McAfee’s new device will be available March 22, 2014.
Decentralize. It’s the only way to go.

China drops anchor in Tanzania

The Chinese presence in the Tanzanian economy is growing rapidly as the eastern giant intensifies its quest for natural resources and a gateway to other African states.
During a state visit to Tanzania in March this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Jakaya Kikwete signed at least 19 agreements reportedly worth more than $6-billion.
According to the website Open Data for International Development (AidData), China has become Tanzania’s largest single trading partner — last year it accounted for 15% of Tanzania’s trade, valued at $2.47-billion — and its second-largest source of investment.
AidData reports that, between 2001 and 2011, mineral-rich Tanzania received $4.6-billion in Chinese funding, which has the added attraction that it does not come with the conditions about human rights and transparency demanded by some Western funders.
But many Tanzanians are concerned that their country will not be the main beneficiary of the big government-to-government deals and worry about the secrecy surrounding them.
Details are hard to uncover as the infrastructure contracts are not awarded by competitive tender and government ministries are extremely reluctant to provide information.
Parliament kept in the dark
Tanzanian MP John Mnyika complained that not even Parliament is informed.
He wrote twice to the infrastructure ministry for information, without result.
A government foreign service officer, Adam Issara, refused to answer questions.
“I don’t know the details of the contracts; they’re between the two countries. And, anyway, why do you want to know?” Issara demanded.
An official at the Chinese embassy in Dar es Salaam, who would not give his full name, asked amaBhungane to email questions to him. This was done twice but he did not respond.
An amaBhungane investigation found that Chinese business activities in Tanzania are focused particularly on raw materials such as iron ore, coal, the gemstone tanzanite, gold, diamonds and uranium — and on the infrastructure needed to transport these.
China’s interest
“China is mainly interested in sectors such as roads and railways that will help it easily feed its industries,” a University of Nairobi academic, Samuel Nyadema, is quoted as saying in Kenya’s East African newspaper.
He said that the Chinese use project financing “as bait to secure routes to scarce natural resources”.
Central to the Chinese companies, mainly state-owned, is the China Merchants Group, which is building a new port, highways and a railway line.
Chinese firms have also shown an interest in Tanzania’s oil, gas, wildlife and agricultural products.
The major component of the deal clinched in March this year is for the construction of a port at Bagamoyo, northwest of Dar es Salaam, for $10-billion.
Funded by the state-owned Import-Export Bank of China, the facility is planned to be Africa’s largest.
Framework agreement
It is scheduled for completion by 2017 and will be able to handle 20 times more cargo than Dar es Salaam.
The framework agreement between the Tanzanian government and China Merchants Holdings (International) also includes the building of a 34km road between Baga­moyo and Mlandizi, which will connect the port to Tanzania’s internal rail network and the Tanzania-Zam­bia railway.
Tanzanian researchers believe that the port is intended partly as a gateway for Chinese operations in nearby African countries rich in minerals, water or land, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Malawi, Zambia and Kenya.
However, a senior University of Dar es Salaam economics lecturer, Haji Semboja, said the principal reason for building in Bagamoyo is political.
“They are looking to win favour. They know exactly that the president comes from Bagamoyo.”
Semboja said there is no compelling reason to build another port.
Questions over infrastructure programme
Some analysts also question why the infrastructure programme announced in March this year includes donations to the Wanawake na Maendeleo (women and development) foundation headed by the first lady, Mama Salma Kikwete, seeing it as an attempt to curry favour.
Kitila Mkumbo, an economist at the University of Dar es Salaam, said that, although the Chinese claim to have a long friendship with Tanzania, they are eyeing its resources.
“There’s a huge competition in the world now. China wants to be the superpower and it’s hungry for raw materials, particularly rare-earth elements found here,” Mkumbo said.
Some analysts also say that a large component of China’s efforts to establish ports and bases in the Indian Ocean is the need to formalise logistical support agreements for Chinese naval forces conducting anti-piracy operations off the Horn of Africa.
Semboja said that the Chinese are engaged in a long-range economic war.
“They are very strategic. Whatever they are doing now is intended to have benefits for the future. Increasingly, they are creating industries in Tanzania instead of sending raw materials home.”
Gas reserves discovered
Last year gas reserves potentially totalling two trillion cubic feet were discovered in southern Tanzania.
The Chinese immediately offered to build a pipeline for the government, and a $1.2-billion loan agreement for a 523km line linking Dar es Salaam and the Mtwara gas field was signed in September 5 last year between Tanzanian Finance Minister William Mgimwa and the deputy president of Exim Bank, Li Jun. The loan has a 33-year maturity and a low 2% interest rate.
The amaBhungane investigation also highlighted the Chinese use of funding to gain access to resources.
Following the conclusion of the Dar-Mtwara pipeline deal, for example, China’s state-owned Sichuan Hongda Group signed a joint venture agreement with Tanzania’s National Development Corporation to exploit a major iron-coal complex with a 100-year lifespan in southern Tanzania and a total value of $54.8-billion.
The fact that the Chinese have an 80% stake in Liganga Iron Ore and 70% in Mchuchuma Coal has raised eyebrows.
Matambalya complained that the Mchuchuma-Liganga venture appeared to be a payback for the pipeline deal.
Queensway operations
This form of trade-off was pioneered several years ago by an opaque Hong Kong-based company, the 88 Queensway Group, under its director, Sam Pa.
Queensway, which is officially private but said to have strong links with China’s ministries of state, foreign affairs and public security, operates through two investment vehicles, China Sonangol and China International Fund.
In 2007, Queensway offered to expand Dar es Salaam’s Mwalimu Nyerere International Airport and finance the crisis-ridden national airline, ATC.
In return, the Chinese were given the right to explore two oilfields in the Lake Rukwa basin.
The role of Chinese enterprise, both private and state-owned, is not confined to dealings between the two governments or their representatives.
It is also increasingly dominant in the general economy.
Another source of unhapiness
Two kinds of Chinese organisation typically operate in Tanzania and elsewhere in Africa: one that transforms African resources for European, Japanese and African markets using Chinese bosses, managers and technicians and African workers, and another that sells Chinese goods into African markets, using Chinese bosses, managers and distributors and supplying African customers.
It is notable that Chinese companies occupy nearly 90% of Tanzania’s engineering contracting market.
Also a source of unhappiness is the fact that Chinese companies provide employment mainly for Chinese expatriates and they have expanded into many other areas where Tanzanians could be in business or finding employment.
Matambalya complained about the balance of trade between the two countries: “The Chinese use our resources to produce products, and they import much more from China than what we export to them.”
However, Semboja defended the Chinese role in the retail economy, arguing that their products were affordable for poor people.
Mnyika expressed concern about both the growing economic dominance of the Chinese and the secrecy surrounding many big deals.
He said the government needs to remove the confidentiality clause in the Constitution that hinders access to investment agreements.

Every port in the storm
China’s massive commitment to the development of Tanzania’s infrastructure, announced in March this year, reportedly totalled about $6-billion in grants and soft loans, but funding and other details of the individual projects are vague.
In addition to the construction of the Bagamoyo port, the website Open Data for International Development (AidData) reports that the following could be on the cards:
• A special economic zone as part of the port development plan. The zone, intended to foster economic development by promoting exports, attracting foreign direct investment and creating employment, may contain several industrial and economic parks;
• The expansion of the Dar es Salaam port. The Tanzania Port Authority started planning an expansion late last year using its own funds but the Chinese assistance could supplement this work or, retrospectively, cover the upgrades;
• The modernisation of the Mtwara port in southern Tanzania, and the installation of new power transmission infrastructure. The project will involve Chinese support but also assistance from public-private partnerships;
• The possible modernisation of the Tanga port near Zanzibar.
• A television broadcasting truck donated to the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation by the Chinese government;
• The provision of shipping container inspection equipment;
• The development of Tanzania’s tobacco farming industry; and
• The construction of the Abdallah Mzee drug rehabilitation centre, near the Abdallah Mzee Hospital in Zanzibar.

Luddites Are Almost Always Wrong: Technology Rarely Destroys Jobs

from the it-might-change-markets dept

Two years ago, I wrote a long post about the "paradox of job creation" about politicians trying to take credit for creating jobs. As I noted, there's something of a paradox, because job creation often involves what looks like job destruction in the first place -- before people realize that those jobs can be shifted in a different direction. Case in point: in the 1940s, AT&T employed approximately 350,000 people as phone operators. AT&T had rapidly begun moving to automatic switched telephony systems a bit earlier, but it took until the late 1940s, until those really became common enough to move away from people having to pick up the phone and ask a human operator to connect them.

In the short-term tech-kills-jobs view, you could easily see this new "technology" as killing jobs. Indeed, it's reported that there are somewhere around 18,000 telephone operators in the US today. But... there are also about 100,000 call center operators and 290,000 telemarketers (and of course, in a globalized world, many of those jobs have moved overseas). But, more importantly, moving from having a human operator connect you to an automatic switched network was just an early step in leading to tremendous follow-on innovations that created all kinds of new jobs and economic growth. Automatic switched phone networks created all kinds of new business opportunities and convenience, but also eventually enabled easy access to the internet. And the internet has since created millions of new jobs (including mine!).

Two years ago, we wrote about how even President Obama had falsely argued that ATMs had diminished teller jobs and that automated check-ins at airports had hurt airline employees. The data said otherwise:
At the dawn of the self-service banking age in 1985, for example, the United States had 60,000 automated teller machines and 485,000 bank tellers. In 2002, the United States had 352,000 ATMs--and 527,000 bank tellers. ATMs notwithstanding, banks do a lot more than they used to and have a lot more branches than they used to.
Professor James Bessen has now written a similar piece for Slate, pointing out how the history of predicting job destruction from technology has almost always been totally incorrect:
At least since Karl Marx, people have been predicting that technology would create mass unemployment. However, these predictions were consistently wrong because they ignored the offsetting benefits of automation. For example, during the 19th century, machines took over tasks performed by weavers, eliminating 98 percent of the labor needed to weave a yard of cloth. But this mechanization also brought a benefit: It sharply reduced the price of cloth, so people consumed much more. Greater demand for cloth meant that the number of textile jobs quadrupled despite the automation.

Something similar is happening in quite a few occupations today. Because ATMs perform many teller transactions, fewer tellers are needed to operate a bank branch. But because it costs less to operate a branch office, banks dramatically increased the number of branches in order to reach a bigger market. More bank branches means more tellers, despite fewer tellers per branch.
Bessen does note that the type of work and skills may change -- tellers are more focused on more complex transactions rather than simple ones, just like call center employees have to help customers with problems, rather than just connect person A to person B. But is that such a bad thing?

Of course, for all this to work right, as Bessen notes, the technology has to generate much greater value to the economy. It's that value that gets disbursed more widely, creating new opportunities for jobs and economic growth. I'm almost surprised that Bessen -- who has done some of the most important research on the negative impact of patent trolling -- doesn't take the next step and point out that one way to make sure that the benefits of innovation do not get spread out over the economy is to lock them up, so that only one party receives all the benefits -- which is what something like a patent will do. We get economic growth because you can't contain the offshoot benefits of innovation. These are sometimes called externalities or spillover effects, but they're really the very fuel that improves the economy and overall opportunity -- and attempts to lock them up can often lead to those benefits not being able to spread as widely, limiting the opportunity and the potential for job growth.