Forum Post: OWS Possible Direction - Auditing
Posted 11 years ago on March 9, 2013, 8:41 p.m. EST by Middleaged
(5140)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Doesn't Matter if you want Syndicated Anarchy, Socialism, Capitalism, or what have you... We all need to push forward and learn to Audit our Government ... in a perfect world we would push for Auditing of The Biggest Corporations and work down.
Transparency. You guys all know about this stuff.
1) Ratiings Agencies can't be paid by the organizations that they Rate
2) Independent Audit Agencies always get Caught in Fraud, you have to Rotate the Individuals that supervise and sign the Audits at least Every Year, then Rotate the Auditing Company at least every 2 Years for the Largest Corporations (make 'em work at bribing people if that is how this works)
All governments are Auditied. This provides the FOCUS for OWS and Citizens to push for Transparency. All Audits are Flawed. There is always Leverage when you look at Audits to push for a better Government.
We all have to LEARN how to Read Budgets and Read Audits.
We all have to fight for Less Conflict Of Interest in all Branches of Government. Usually this is Financial, but in Politics it can be plane rides, dinners, hotels, conventions, cars, boats, low interest mortgages, Tvs, Fur Coats, .... whatever.
Revolving Door to Industry and from Industry to Government Jobs.
Regulation Capture, less regulation for big corporations which become oligopolies, plutocracies, monopolies, or TBTF on Wall Street ... oh yeah and Big banks that don't lend to small businesses on the low interest money they get from the FED .... because they want to make high risk bets for high risk payoffs.
Governments have IGs, Inspector Generals. This is where compaints go to look for mis-management and Fraud. Many Agencies have IG Offices.
Follow the Money. Look at the Congressional Record Often to see what Congress has signed.
Late ADD:
About GAO Website... Government Accounting Office. This is the Government Auditing for all Federal Agencies. They publish new Reports all year on the Web.
1) See Government Contractors that don't pay Taxes.
2) See Federal Employees that don't pay Taxes.
3) See Government Programs or Agency Spending that are short sighted, don't allow Financial Audit Trails, Don't cover Risk, Have Risk of Failure, Have overspent budget & Risk additional Wasteful Spending.
4) Contractors Abuse Law, get around Payroll Deductions for Unemployment Insurance creating Risk that Americans will have no safety net when Jobs End.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Accountability_Office
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/gao-audit-federal-government-defense_n_2507097.html
http://www.gao.gov/assets/120/116257.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0495.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/htext/d10327.html
U.S. Export-Import Bank
Audit: Actions Needed to Promote Competitiveness and International Cooperation, GAO-12-294, Feb 7, 2012,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-294
Troubled Asset Relief Program
Audit: Status of GAO Recommendations to Treasury GAO-13-324R, Mar 8, 2013,
Audit; Housing, Overview of GAO's Past Work on FHA's Single-Family Mortgage Insurance Programs, GAO-13-400R, Mar 7, 2013,
Audit: Private Pensions, Multiemployer Plans and PBGC Face Urgent Challenges, GAO-13-428T, Mar 5, 2013,
Audit: Overlap and Duplication, Federal Inspections of Entities Registered with the Select Agent Program, GAO-13-154, Jan 31, 2013,
http://www.gao.gov/browse/topic Homeland Security Audits Total = 1,319 Justice and Law Enforcement Total Audits = 7,725 Budget and Spending Total Audits = 4,836
Audit: Economic Development, Efficiency and Effectiveness of Fragmented Programs Are Unclear, GAO-12-553T, Mar 21, 2012,
Audit: Green Building, Federal Initiatives for the Nonfederal Sector Could Benefit from More Interagency Collaboration, GAO-12-79, Nov 2, 2011
Gold Audit of a kind by Paul Craig Roberts seems in line with Max Keiser.... Explains what I keep trying to confirm about gold futures prices and Gold Market puchase prices ... and partly how the US keeps gold marginalized and keeps Interest Rates low. Also he states the Shadowstats.com Inflation Rate is over 9% for the USA.
Staring Armageddon In The Face But Hiding It With Official Lies
Paul Craig Roberts, March 11, 2013
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US economy created 236,000 new jobs in February. If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I’ll let you have at a good price.
Where are these alleged jobs? The BLS says 48,000 were created in construction. That is possible, considering that revenue-starved real estate developers are misreading the housing situation. http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/08/us-housing-is-the-recovery-real/print
Then there are 23,700 new jobs in retail trade, which is hard to believe considering the absence of consumer income growth and the empty parking lots at shopping malls.
The real puzzle is 20,800 jobs in motion picture and sound recording industries. This is the first time in the years that I have been following the jobs reports that there has been enough employment for me to even notice this category.
The BLS lists 10,900 jobs in accounting and bookkeeping, which, as it is approaching income tax time, is probably correct; 21,000 jobs in temporary help and business support services; 39,000 jobs in health care and social assistance; and 18,800 jobs in the old standby–waitresses and bartenders.
That leaves about 50,000 jobs sprinkled around the various categories, but not in numbers large enough to notice.
The presstitute media attributed the drop in the headline unemployment rate (U3) to 7.7% from 7.9% to the happy jobs report. But Rex Nutting at Market Watch says that the unemployment rate fell because 130,000 unemployed people who have been unable to find a job and became discouraged were dropped out of the U3 measure of unemployment. The official U6 measure which counts some discouraged workers shows an unemployment rate of 14.3%. Statistician John Williams’ measure, which counts all discourage workers (people who have ceased looking for a job), is 23%.
In other words, the real rate of unemployment is 2 to 3 times the reported rate.
Nutting believes that the U3 unemployment rate has become too politicized to have any meaning. He suggests using instead the work force participation rate. This rate is falling substantially, reflecting the discouragement that occurs from inability to find jobs.
John Williams (shadowstats.com) says that distortions in seasonal factor adjustments overstate monthly payroll employment by about 100,000 jobs. The jobs data that is not seasonally adjusted shows about 1.5 million fewer jobs in the economy.
In a recent communication, statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) reports that the rigged official annual rate of consumer inflation (CPI) of 1.6% is in fact, as measured by the official US government methodology of 1990, 9.2%. In other words, the rate of inflation is 5.75 times greater than the reported rate. If Williams is correct, the interest rate on bonds is extremely negative.
Over the years the official measure of inflation has been altered in two ways. One is the introduction of substitution for what formerly was a constant weighted basket of goods. In the former measure, if a price of an item in the basket (index) rose, the CPI rose by the weight of that item in the basket.
In the substitution-based measure, if a price of an item in the basket goes up, the item is removed from the basket, and a cheaper item is put in its place. For example, if the price of New York strip steak rises, the new CPI will substitute the price of a cheaper cut.
In this new measure, inflation is held down by measuring not a fixed standard of living but a declining standard of living.
The other adjustment used to restrain the measure of inflation is to re-classify many price rises as “quality improvements.” Price rises declared to be quality improvements do not translate into a higher measure of inflation. In other words, if a product rises in price, the price increase or some portion of it can be assigned to improved quality, not to a rise in component or energy costs. As the incentive is to hold down the inflation measure in order to save money for the government on Social Security cost-of-living-adjustments, quality improvements are over-estimated.
Consumers have to pay the higher prices, and as incomes, except for the 1 percent, are not growing, higher product prices, regardless of whether they are or are not quality improvements, mean a lower standard of living for the 99 percent.
The understated new measure of inflation allows the government to show real GDP growth and thus the end of the December 2007 recession, and it allows the government to show in the latest report real retail sales again matching the pre-recession level. However, when measured correctly, as by statistician John Williams, the true picture of retail sales shows a steep decline from 2007 through 2009 and bottom bouncing since.
The reason real retail sales cannot recover is that real average weekly earnings continues its downward path. Earlier in this new century, the lack of income growth for the bulk of the US population was masked by a rise in consumer debt. Americans borrowed to spend, and this kept the economy going until the point was reached that consumers had more debt than they could service.
John Williams report of real average weekly earnings shows that Americans are taking home less purchasing power than they did in the 1960s and 1970s.
Reflecting the dollar’s loss of purchasing power, the price of gold and silver in dollars has risen dramatically during the Bush and Obama regimes.
For the last year or two the Federal Reserve and its dependent banks have operated to cap the price of gold at around $1,750. They do this by selling naked shorts in the paper speculative gold market.
There are two gold markets. One is a market for physical possession by individuals and central banks. The rising demand in the physical bullion market points to a rising price for gold.
The other market is the speculative paper market in which financial institutions bet on the future gold price. By placing large amounts of shorts, this market can be used to suppress price rises in the physical market. The Federal Reserve, which can print money without limit, can cover any losses on its agents’ paper contracts.
It is important to the Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policy to suppress the bullion price. If the prices of gold and silver continue to rise relative to the US dollar, the Fed cannot keep the prices of bonds high and interest rates low. If the dollar is widely perceived to be declining in value in relation to gold, the price of dollar-denominated assets will also decline, including bonds. If the dollar loses value, the Fed loses control over interest rates, and the US financial bubble pops, with hell to pay.
To forestall armageddon, the Fed and its dependent banks cap the price of gold.
The Fed’s fix is temporary, and as the Fed continues to create ever more dollars, the price of gold will eventually escape the Fed’s control as will interest rates and inflation.
The Fed has produced a perfect storm that could consume the US and perhaps the entire Western world.
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts is the father of Reaganomics and the former head of policy at the Department of Treasury. He is a columnist and was previously the editor of the Wall Street Journal. His latest book, “How the Economy Was Lost: The War of the Worlds,” details why America is disintegrating.
Thanks for the post. I've followed ShadowStats for years. John's pretty sharp.
"In this new measure, inflation is held down by measuring not a fixed standard of living but a declining standard of living.
"Reflecting the dollar’s loss of purchasing power, the price of gold and silver in dollars has risen dramatically during the Bush and Obama regimes.
"It is important to the Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policy to suppress the bullion price. ... If the dollar loses value, the Fed loses control over interest rates, and the US financial bubble pops, with hell to pay.
"The Fed has produced a perfect storm that could consume the US and perhaps the entire Western world."
China is buying gold feverishly. This is why...
Good Quotes. And I can conclude that US National Security is based on use of a Fiat Currency which doesn't depend on Gold Reserves or Silver Reserves. Therefore, the US Government will hold on to our Fiat Currency System for as Long as Possible no matter whatever else is happening.
You see DHS, US Security Systems, our Military and our Weapons Purchases all depend on Fiat Currency and Expansion of the Money Supply. If we went to Gold or Silver the whole System would have to be Rebooted from a collasped base.
What would happen if China placed its currency on a gold standard?
China is Buying Gold. This seems a Conservative Policy and it seems to decrease Risk. Buying gold in a "Hot Economy" only seems conservative to me. There is no down side for China, India, Brazil, Mexico, or any other country that buys gold. Pretty sure if the USA started buying gold, it would not tell us common people.
Today, as you might know, there is a Petro Dollar. They say that if your country refuses a Central Bank and/or Refuses to price Petroleum in the US Dollar ... then you will get the same thing that Iraq, Libya, and Syria got.
Seems like Venezuala, Ecuador, Argentina, China, Russia, and others are trying to create a fair Market for Petroleum with Precious Metals or a Basket of Goods.
TPTB in the USA will probably go to War to prevent countries from having the Liberty to choose a Basket of Goods for commodity transactions ... or from having the Liberty to choose how they buy or sell Petroleum. There seems to be little Sovriegnty in the world today when it comes to these things. This is the mark of a Control Freak.
We are already at war for that very purpose -- protecting the petrodollar. It's why we're rattling the sabre at Iran. But things might be about to change, and get interesting.
Yes, seems like everyone expects something to happen now. Brooklyn Riots is no it. Politicians are getting away with treason, so they either hit us again or something push them back.
So what do we plan to do about it?
The interest rate bubble-ZIRP- and the amount of outstanding debt, along with the deriviative scheme that it would effect, makes it almost technically impossible to grow out of this mess.
Only if they can restore and enforce the petrodollar... Which they're trying to do now. Friends and family in harm's way. We're fucked is the technical term I believe.
haha agreed
I'm closer than you think... We ought to talk some time.
[Deleted]
Thanks. Yes, the system is fixed. The fix is in. The Mafia have taken over Government. And all the Economic Numbers are total BS. The total unemployment is not revealed by looking at applications for Benefits. That is not even Logical.
We know 100 Million US People Don't work. We need like 30 Million Great Jobs with Strong benefits to keep the Economy going.
As it is the Big banks are not Investing in the US Economy. Small Business Growth is what is needed. We need like 30 Million Small Business Jobs with Benefits for the Common Man. Small Business is the Heart of America (USA).
[Deleted]
I'm sure you mean strange not funny. I understand that. I actually went to business school.
But I meant expansion of small business production or expansion of small business brick and mortar facilities ... or small business services.
I don't fully appreciate the service sector except that Hotels and Restaruants expand to meet the needs of business or tourist consumers. I think we have a GDP Drag from Financial managers, Tax Accountants, Tax lawyers, Most Lawyers in General, all Lobbyist, and probably landlords. In Economics they call it Rent Seeking when middlemen are not really offering any value added to the economy but are taking a cut of the business. Like charging Interest and fees for doing nothing.
Rent Seeking in the US Economy is worth Auditing.
So, if we had a true GDP Figure ... we would cut out a lot of the Financial Transactions in the USA which are a just paper transactions and don't really add to "Value in the US Economy"
1) US Inflation Numbers are Bogus
2) US Employment Numbers are Bogus
3) US GDP numbers are Bogus
4) And we don't prosecute FInancial Crimes by Banks.
5) And we don't take action to Stimulate the US Economy through Loans to Small Businesses eventhough they are the heart of the US Economy
6) And we don't admit that US Wages & Benefits are in a Decline
7) And we don't admit that US Pensions and Retirements are in a Decline and are in fact at risk since they are under funded and no longer making gains since the Interest Rates are low.
8) And we don't admit that the US Tax Code is totally Corrupted and Complicated in a way that benefits the Wealthy, Corporations, and Financial Managers.
Late Add: All Politicians are a Drag on the Economy as far as GDP goes.
My small business was nothing more than a corporate outlet, (Shell convenience store with deli and car wash), I have invoices that show prices over the last five years and my inflation rate was much higher than people are told. The large corps selling brand name products that I must sell kept prices down somewhat by fixng prices and forcing me to accept less margin every year. There is no negotiating with Shell Oil, Coca Cola, Big Tobacco, Pepsi, Verizon, etc. I still find it incredible that I had sales from just one store of over 5 million per year, and lost money. The business is closed.
Interesting. I met a guy on vacation last summer with a similar story... What was your calculated inflation rate? Looks like they've run out of margin... Sorry for your loss.
I'll be ok. My former employees and so many of my customers need help now. I didn't understand how bad it really is for the poor.
10% per year for the last five years.
It's bad and getting worse quickly. Perhaps we'll all be in their boat soon. Hemingway made some interesting observations about "the inflation" in Germany not long after the first world war. Found it in "Eyewitness to History". I suspect we'll find out first hand, before long.
I've come to the same conclusion as you have. You stated in another post that just enough people are still comfortable to keep things from collapsing. How long do you think we have before some, "disaster," happens, sending the country into depression?
John Williams thinks fall. October. The traditional time of year. The robber barons are moving...
Do you expect a Police State? Do you think they have a plan?
Damn.
The squeeze is on, and it was accelerating. The same tactics are being used almost everywhere. Small business is toast.
One nation, under walmart.
..........indivisible under the twilight zone......................
I was expecting competition from walmart and others. I had a great location and the convenience store stop is quick, saving people time. It was more of the price fixing from the large corps supplying me and obviously targeting my profits, which they got.
Looks like the twinkle-team is hot on your trail...
Why would someone down vote my post?
Sorry, my mistake. Thought I posted a reply to OTP.
Good question though...
Its been a brutal week haha :(
I got yer back, hc. I usually upvote all your comments to help offset the downvotes from the forum mascot.
Now, if I just had a few more usernames . . . .
hahah man this place kills me :)
Ah, the place ain't so bad.
Some of the clientele, tho . . .
Kind of Audit of USAID, Agency for International Development: Conclusion is to Abolish the Agency, $4.9 Billion Budget 2012. $3.7 Billion in 1998 = something like $75 Billion over 20 years. (End the Sequester??? - Look some of the work is good, but can be managed better in other agencies - the Focus on US Budget should start with admission that there is much Waste of funds going on whether for Conferences, Travel, overhead for management, high grade jobs in management, too much management, too many managers and executives, and costs for managing their Legal, Personnel Management, accounting, all kinds of functions can performed by other agencies and in less modern office buildings) Heard that USAID is a CIA Front.... ?
http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/reports/aid01.html
AID01: Redefine and Focus AID's Mission and Priorities
Background
Few would argue that public organizations work best when they have one clear mission. Clarity of mission may be a government organization's single most important asset.(1) The Agency for International Development (AID) has been cited as a prime example of a failed exercise in mission-driven government, burdened as the agency has been by several different and sometimes conflicting missions.(2)
Reviewers inside and outside AID have documented serious problems in major agency programs and operations for more than a decade.(3) In 1992, a presidential commission recommended that the agency be merged into the State Department; a recent congressional task force and others have called for the agency to be abolished and to be replaced by other public or quasi-public entities.(4) While others have stopped short of recommending the agency's outright abolishment, the consensus of reviewers and informed commentators is that AID cannot continue to function as it has in the past.
Reinvention is not simply an option or a challenge for AID; it is an imperative. For reasons discussed in this and other sections of this report, the agency cannot succeed in reinvention without help from Congress and other agencies.(5)
See article for full text.
Here is another one that explains all the Major Programs:
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/124970.pdf
There are five major categories of foreign assistance: bilateral development aid, economic assistance supporting U.S. political and security goals, humanitarian aid, multilateral economic contributions, and military aid. Due largely to the implementation of two new foreign aid initiatives—the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the HIV/AIDS Initiative—bilateral development assistance has become the largest category of U.S. aid.
In FY2008, the United States provided some form of foreign assistance to about 154 countries. Israel and Egypt placed among the top recipients in FY2008, as they have since the late 1970s, although on-going reconstruction activities in Iraq and Afghanistan now place those nations near the top as well. The impact of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and the subsequent use of foreign aid to support the war on terrorism are clearly seen in the estimated country-aid levels for FY2008. Pakistan and Jordan are key partners in the war on terrorism and major beneficiaries of U.S. assistance. Also among the leading recipients are some African countries that are the focus of the multi-billion dollar HIV/AIDS initiative.
By nearly all measures, the amount of foreign aid provided by the United States declined for several decades but has grown in the past few years. After hitting an all-time low in the mid- 1990s, foreign assistance levels since FY2004, in real terms, have been higher than any period since the early 1950s, largely due to Iraq and Afghanistan reconstruction and HIV/AIDS funding.
The 0.19% of U.S. gross national product represented by foreign aid obligations for FY2008 is consistent with recent years, but quite low compared to the early decades of the foreign assistance program. The United States is the largest international economic aid donor in absolute dollar terms but is the smallest contributor among percent of gross national income.
Click for full text of article
Of course if we didn't go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan for over 10 years .... we wouldn't have to Rebuild War Torn Iraq & Afghanistan.
International Assistance Programs Federal Budget for 2011:
Includes USAID & Foreign Military sales
Agency for International Development Operating Expenses: $1.2 Billion (But for what?)
Military Sales Programs: Foreign Military Sales Trust Fund $23 Billion Dollars
International Security Assistance: Foreign Military Financing Program $5.3 Billion Dollars
Peace Corps Total only $396 Million Dollars
https://fms.treas.gov/mts/mts0911.pdf (Scroll down almost half way in PDF)
Total—International Development Assistance 1998 = $4.1 Billion Outlays
Total—International Development Assistance 2012 = $48.4 Billion Outlays (Unadjusted)
Total—Agency for International Development 1998 = $3.7 Billion
Total—Agency for International Development 2012 = $4.9 Billion
USAID - Operating Expenses 1998 = $.5 Billion
USAID - Operating Expenses 2012 = $1.3 Billion
IAA - Peace Corps 1998 = $.217 Billion
IAA- Peace Corps 2012 = $.368 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 1998 = $14 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2012 = $25.9 Billion
ISA - Foreign military financing program 1998 = $3.1 Billion
ISA - Foreign military financing program 2012 = $5.1 Billion
ISA - Economic Support Fund 1998 = $2.5 Billion
ISA - Economic Support Fund 2012 = $5.2 Billion
Honestly, Do you think the International Security Agency Economic Support Fund is not a Military Program???? Looks like Military Assistance to me.
Just huge Federal Programs Dollars going to IAP, Foreign Military Sales, ....
Total—Total—International Assistance Program 1998 = $26.1 Billion Outlays
Total—Total—International Assistance Program 1999 = $24.2 Billion Outlays
Total—Total—International Assistance Program 2000 = $25.7 Billion Outlays
Total—Total—International Assistance Program 2006 = $30.1 Billion Outlays
Total—Total—International Assistance Program 2007 = $30.2 Billion Outlays
Total—Total—International Assistance Program 2008 = $35.3 Billion Outlays
Total—Total—International Assistance Program 2009 = $41.1 Billion Outlays
Total—Total—International Assistance Program 2010 = $45.3 Billion Outlays
Total—Total—International Assistance Program 2011 = $46 Billion Outlays
Total—Total—International Assistance Program 2012 = $48.4 Billion Outlays (Unadjusted)
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 1998 = $14 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 1999 = $12.2 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2000 = $11.1 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2001 = $10.1 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2002 = $11.1 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2003 = $10.1 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2004 = $10.5 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2005 = $11.5 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2006 = $13 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2007 = $14.2 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2008 = $17.2 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2009 = $21.9 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2010 = $23.6 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2011 = $23 Billion
MSP - Foreign military sales trust fund 2012 = $25.9 Billion
Corporate Give-aways, War Profits, Spreading of Weapons around the world, Proof that the USA is Hawkish & Right Wing, Proof that USA Supports Corporations and selling arms. USA is Pro-Violence, Pro-War, Pro-Corporation, and is teaching military arts to our generations.
Auditing War, here is what Gen. John Abizaid, former commander of CENTCOM with responsibility for Iraq, had to say about that war:
"Of course it's about oil, it's very much about oil, and we can't really deny that. From the standpoint of a solider who's now fought in the middle east for six years – my son-in-law's fought there for four years, my daughter's been over there, my son has served the nation – my family has been fighting for a long time."
And here is what the current US Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, said about the Iraq war back in 2007 (via Dick Distardli):
"People say we're not fighting for oil. Of course we are. They talk about America's national interest. What the hell do you think they're talking about? We're not there for figs."
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan added in his 2007 book: "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." What other evidence do deniers need before accepting this obvious reality?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/18/david-frum-iraq-war-oil,
Posted by: Glenn Greenwald, guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 March 2013.
Click for whole Article above.
Audit of US Police, Stephen Slevin Accepts $15.5 Million Settlement For 2 Years In Solitary Confinement In New Mexico Jail, Posted: 03/07/2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/07/stephen-slevin-solitary-settlement-new-mexico_n_2828137.html
A former inmate who suffered nearly two years in solitary confinement without a trial reached a settlement that makes him a multi-millionaire.
Stephen Slevin, 59, accepted a $15 million settlement on Tuesday -- one of the largest civil rights prisoner payouts in American history -- for the nightmarish 22 months he spent mostly alone in a Doña Ana County, N.M., jail.
The conditions that Slevin endured ruined him, physically and mentally. He fell into a state of delirium, developed bedsores and fungus, and lost a significant amount of weight, according to his lawsuit. His toenails "grew so long they curled under his toes," the Albuquerque Journal reported. Once, in need of dental care, he pulled out his own tooth.
The final sum is "significantly less" than the $22 million awarded to Slevin by a federal court jury last year, according to the Atlantic Wire. Despite a federal judge upholding the original amount when Doña Ana County officials called it excessive, Slevin elected to accept $15.5 million and end the legal battles.
Audit of Government Bolshoi Ballet Theater? Forced Brothel, Expected Sex, Sexual Harassment.....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21856516
Bolshoi ballet was 'giant brothel' claims former dancer 20 March 2013 The Bolshoi Ballet has been mired in further controversy after a former soloist claimed female dancers were forced to sleep with wealthy patrons.
When will Government & Voters Admit that Human Behavior ...covers a broad spectrum of behavior. you can't stop humans from negative or criminal behavior .... You have to Demand Transparency in Office, Transparency in Legislation, Transparency in Writing Legislation, ... Enforcement practices ... Staffing of Enforcement offices and agents ....
Everything has to be out in the Open - Or you end up with a Rich Vatican that doesn't spend enough to help the Poor or protect the Children - Or you end up with Elites in Congress that pass laws about which they know nothing against the US Constitution that they have Sworn An Oath to Defend
1) There will be Rich people - But will there be Transparency over their Activities.
2) There will be War - But will there be Transparency over the War, the Costs of War, the Fraud of War, the people that make money off of War, those that gain power from War being made.
3) There will be Secrets, like Defense Weapons - But will there be Transparency over the cost benefit of these weapons, Transparency over who asks for Weapons & Defense Contracts, and will we know what our Foreign Policy is and How it Relates to Our US Constitution, the Idea of Sovereignty, the Idea of Self Determination, and Freedom for those that live in other countries.
4) 90% of our US Secrets should be made Public Knowledge and Freely Available, so that Voters can understand their Government, Their Politicians, Their Foreign Policy, Their Corporate Policy, Their Energy Policy, Their Water & Environmental Policy, ... and know their Court Systems ... and know their Regulatory Systems and how they are increased, decreased, Enforced, and Lobbyed Against ... Including Tax Lobbies.
Transparency is Life, Democractic Invetigations = Transparency = Better Democracy.
5) Banking Regulations Prevent Fraud, Reinstate Glass - Steagal Act, and Enact the Volker Rule, Stop Subsidies & Low Interest Loans to Investment Banks, Break Up TBTF Wall Street banks with Anti-Trust Law, Stop Corporate Lobbying. Stop Naked Short Selling. Stop Algo-Computer-High Spead Trading, Start Regulating the Banks, Get Rid of FINRA and Fire people that made their Career at FINRA the Self Regulation Arm of banking that is Really a banking Think Tank.
GAO Audit of Federal Employees that dont pay taxes - increases the possibilies of Whistleblowers. Tension in workers in big Corporations, Financial Institutions, & Government by Visibility:
http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/20/federal-employees-who-dont-pay-taxes-would-be-fired-under-bill-that-passed-committee/
http://www.gao.gov/assets/120/116257.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0495.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/htext/d10327.html
Kind of Audit of TBTF Banks, in the form of Political Speach at CPAC, by Dallas FED President, Fisher, ... but get this he is an insider who works at the Federal Reserve in Dallas, TX. He is asking to stop Subsidies to TBTF banks who don't loan money, but are just investment banks.... He says they have an unfair advantage. He says TBTF need to be broken up. 2 surprises: First that something good came out of Texas regarding crony capitalism, and second that something good was said at the CPAC. wow.
Anyway, the FED Dallas is supposed to be a Regulator and Auditor.
Richard Fisher Says Too-Big-To-Fail Banks Need To Be Broken Up By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa Reuters | Posted: 03/16/2013
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., March 16 (Reuters) - The largest U.S. banks are "practitioners of crony capitalism," need to be broken up to ensure they are no longer considered too big to fail, and continue to threaten financial stability, a top Federal Reserve official said on Saturday.
Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Fed, has been a critic of Wall Street's disproportionate influence since the financial crisis. But he was now taking his message to an unusual audience for a central banker: a high-profile Republican political action committee.
Fisher said the existence of banks that are seen as likely to receive government bailouts if they fail gives them an unfair advantage, hurting economic competitiveness.
"These institutions operate under a privileged status that exacts an unfair tax upon the American people," he said on the last day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
"They represent not only a threat to financial stability but to fair and open competition (and) are the practitioners of crony capitalism and not the agents of democratic capitalism that makes our country great," said Fisher, who has also been a vocal opponent of the Fed's unconventional monetary stimulus policies.
Fisher's vision pits him directly against Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who recently argued during congressional testimony that regulators had made significant progress in addressing the problem of too big to fail. Bernanke asserted that market expectations that large financial institutions would be rescued is wrong.
But Fisher said mega banks still have a significant funding advantage over its competitors, as well as other advantages. To address this problem, he called for a rolling back of deposit insurance so that it would extend only to deposits of commercial banks, not the investment arms of bank holding companies.
"At the Dallas Fed, we believe that whatever the precise subsidy number is, it exists, it is significant, and it allows the biggest banking organizations, along with their many nonbank subsidiaries - investment firms, securities lenders, finance companies - to grow larger and riskier," he said.
Fisher argued Dodd-Frank financial reforms were overly complex and therefore counterproductive.
"Regulators cannot enforce rules that are not easily understood," he said. (Reporting by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa; editing by Gunna Dickson)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/16/fisher-too-big-to-fail_n_2891452.html?ref=topbar
Anthropology might be a Kind of Cultural Audit. Have you seen James Loewen's book, Lies My Teacher taught Me?
http://www.bookrags.com/Lies_My_Teacher_Told_Me/ (Cliff Notes on links listed left side in body of webpage)
James Loewen makes a case that the US Education System is Suffering because of the Text Books that are Biased, half true, and censure our US History. But he also makes the case that Cultural Anthropology should be taught in K-12 to fix the current Education System. I think Loewen is making the Case that the Education System covers up the Warts of the USA. Text books are boring because they don't reflect the role of Capitalism, Lobbying, the Military Industrial Complex, CIA Covert Actions around the world, and ... the Rich History of Activism that gave us Civil RIghts, Ended War in the 1970s, Provided Safety Standards for the Work Place (OHSA), brought Labor Laws for limited working hours and overtime pay, prohibited Child Labor, and created the right to unionize and Strike.
How you Treat Activists and Protestors - Says a lot about a Country and the degree to which it has become Fascist.
1) Watered Down Lies are taught to our Children in the USA.
2) Activisim and Protests Played Huge Parts in US Law, US History, and in Ending the Vietnam War.
3) Anti-war Activisim and Civil RIghts Activisim ... IMHO may have transformed into Anti US Training of Dictators, Anti CIA Sentiment, Anti US Hegemony, Anti WTO (GATT), Anti G8/G20, and Anti IMF & WB.
4) Seems like bankers and corproations follow their mission statements in securing Natural Resources and labor around the World ... through WB, IMF, and Treaties. But the truth seems to be that most people remain poor, the land and water get polluted, Trees and Farm land are destroyed, the Wage Gap remains bad, the rich get richer, and the Profits go to the USA, Europe, and other world players ... but really who is getting rich are executives.
5) What are US Domestic Policies? We don't really have Jobs policies, Merchant Policies. We don't have a good education system, so we don't have an Education Policy really except that we have Social Education for grades 1-12.
6) We see Deregulation for big banks which make it hard for smaller banks to compete. We see actions to support Fracking and big Petroleum, drilling continues and more public land is freed up for drilling by private corporations. Yes, we do have Corporate Policy at the Federal Level... corproations go to the states or territories which make it easiest to incorporate with lowest taxes. So we have had corporate Deregulation. In fact there are so many loop holes in the Federal income tax code that taxes have been deregulated.
7) War Policy, Right to First Strike, Right to covert means of Regime changes of other Sovereign governments, Right to Leverage US Wealth for Treaties, Agreements, Intelligence Gathering, Evesdroping world wide, State of the Art Weapons, use of Mercentaries, control over information released in war for causualties, civilians wounded, allies wounded and killed, media control to minimize the reporting of Fraud, Waste, Abuse, Disease, Refugees, loss of economic means in Iraq, control over the total reporting of cost of war and rebuilding after war including damaged war equipment, foreign aid, training for foreign troops, construction for foreign police, military, or state buildings, and warping the local economy with US Dollars to powerful men who become war lords or cartel leaders instead of businessmen or humanitarians.
8) Banking Policy in the USA. Yes. TBTF means many programs to assist banks with loose policies, loose capitalization requirements, loose rehypothication rules, loose rules for moving funds to the UK for rehypothication and casio type investments, low interest rates, No oversight on LIBOR Rate, No oversight on Subprime Loan Investment and Profiteering, No oversight of Private banking, No oversight on CDOs & CDS, No Oversight on Ratings Agencies desipite the fact that Rating Agencies take money from the orgaizations they Rate, no Oversight on Independant Accounting Firms despite the historic Fraud (Accounting Control Fraud) listed in Wikipedia, and matter of fact we let Banks Manage their own bailout, and paid them fees to do it.
9) We had plenty of expiericne with Bank Fraud through the Saving and Loan Scandal in the 1990s. A mechanism was set up to take over banks and put assets in RTC, Resolution trust Corporation.
10) Of Course we have a Washington Lobby Policy. Our Lobby has more than Doubled in terms of Money and total number of Lobbyist. Treason? Now we have Foreign Lobbyist who provide gifts to our Congress. Heard about Soft Money? PACs? Well more money than ever is pouring into Washington DC to create teh biggest, most corrupt system since Rome. BTW, Congress can take all kind of Gift that other Federal Workers can not... Plane tickets, dinner, lunch, Plane Rides, Vactions, Trips, Conventions, you name it. It is called Financial Conflict of Interest. Congress polices themselves through an ethics committee. you check with the committee, but most everything is okay... just don't spend campaign dollars on personal items.
11) What do you call a government with social programs, corrupt capital markets, limited republic, that spouts half truths and lies about being a democracy ... but which is 100% for the largest corporations and can no longer remember what Anti-Trust Laws are???
A Kind of Audit of Federal Law: There is a 200 Page court Decision on NDAA Lawsuit. A big piece is Specificity. The Law Passed under the National Defense Authorization Act Passed in 2011 (in the Dark of Night) by President Obama, supported by the Left & the Right in Washington, had no Definitions. The Law which describes how American Terrorists can be Treated, Stripped of Rights, Denied Due Process, Held without hearing, Denied the Right to Jury of Peers, Held Off Shore, .... and which would destroy Free Press and Free Speach, .... Has no Defintions.
The Law might as well have been Written by a Grade Schooler.
IF all of these boys up in Washington with there Fancy Education Pass an Unconstitutional Law like this it is Flagrant Oppression.
And Truthfully, NDAA shreds the Constitution and American Rights. It is so wrong in so many ways it is clear the Intent IS to Destroy Rights and Destroy the Constitution.
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2013/02/ndaa-lawsuit-update-press-conference-held-after-appeals-court-hearing-2560484.html
https://www.stopndaa.org/aboutlawsuit/
https://www.stopndaa.org/documents/ruling-of-permanent-injunction/ (200 Page decision by the Judge)
The Fact that John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Kelly Ayotte filed Amici Curiae to support NDAA puts them in flagrante delicto ( caught in the act with their Pants Down).
https://www.stopndaa.org/documents/mccain-graham-ayotte-amicus-brief/
There is no War on Terror, only a Transfer of Money to Corporations, and a Stripping of Rights of the US Citizen. Something like 1900 Companies focus only on US Security work. Something like 1 Million Sq Feet are dedicated to US Security like DHS in the USA which is more than the size of the Pentagon. DHS is not Auditable and has not put in the Infrastracture for Financial Audit Trails on what they do and how they spend money. DHS has Carte blanche - a Blank Check basically if no on can audit them and follow the money. How many Intelligence Agencies do we Need - what is it 14 US Intelligence Agencies we know about including the Army, Navy, & Air Force.
DOD Budget is over $600 Billion a year, but that doesn't include foreign programs for Aid, Grants, State Department, CIA, ... and the picture is murky there are other costs out there associated with rebuilding Iraq, Afghanistan, Humanitarian Aid, Demining, ... and there are costs which come in later years when repair Army, Marine Corp Equipment used in War.
So now we spend about $50 Billion a year on DHS, but wonder if all of the costs are being included as they have built huge buildings and facilities... to go with their armored vehicles.
Rent Seeking in the US Economy is worth Auditing.
I think we have a GDP Drag from Politicians, Financial managers, Tax Accountants, Tax lawyers, Most Lawyers in General, all Lobbyist, and probably landlords. In Economics they call it Rent Seeking when middlemen are not really offering any value added to the economy but are taking a cut of the business. Like charging Interest and fees for doing nothing.
Rent Seeking in the US Economy is worth Auditing.
So, if we had a true GDP Figure ... we would cut out a lot of the Financial Transactions in the USA which are a just paper transactions and don't really add to "Value in the US Economy".
1) US Inflation Numbers are Bogus.
2) US Employment Numbers are Bogus.
3) US GDP numbers are Bogus.
4) And we don't prosecute FInancial Crimes by Banks.
5) And we don't take action to Stimulate the US Economy through Loans to Small Businesses eventhough they are the heart of the US Economy.
6) And we don't admit that US Wages & Benefits are in a Decline.
7) And we don't admit that US Pensions and Retirements are in a Decline and are in fact at risk since they are under funded and no longer making gains since the Interest Rates are low.
8) And we don't admit that the US Tax Code is totally Corrupted and Complicated in a way that benefits the Wealthy, Corporations, and Financial Managers.
Here is a kind of Audit of the Employment:
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-chart-that-proves-that-the-mainstream-media-is-lying-to-you-about-unemployment
Ratio of Population to employment shows weakening Trend and no "Recovery".
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Thanks. More people should read that and see the charts.
There is no excuse for smaller businesses and farms being sold off and closed down ... while banks get bigger, corporations get bigger than governments, .... and the wealthy and big corporations pay little toward social programs and Federal Taxes ... a whole Industry forms Off Shore to address the needs of Transnatonal Corporations and Wealthy Executives.
Could call it the Privateer Industry Offshore - those that profit off of Taxes, Avoiding Taxes, Deregulation, Government Contracts, War, and the Health Industry.
The Incompetent SEC Audit of Illinois Pension Fund Reveals Fraud. Bit surprise. Let's look around a little more boys ... Most State Pension Funds are underfunded or invested in Zombie Hedge Fund which it should never have gotten involved in. All Pension Funds need Revue, after that consider Wall Street banks and the 2008 Financial Crisis and Sub-Prime Mortages....
http://blogs.suntimes.com/politics/2013/03/sec_hits_illinois_with_securities_fraud_charges.html
For example, as of 2008 U.S. states had underfunded their pension programs by an estimated $1 trillion.[2] The present value of unfunded obligations under Social Security as of August 2010 was approximately $5.4 trillion. In other words, this amount would have to be set aside today such that the principal and interest would cover the program's shortfall between tax revenues and payouts over the next 75 years.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pensions_crisis
Found Audit from GAO that seems to suggest that DOD Contractors have been increasing compensation packages for employees which get put on DOD Contract Cost ...i.e the Tax Payer picks up the Tab for DOD Contractors wanting to get paid like Corporate Executives.
PENSION COSTS ON DOD CONTRACTS - Additional Guidance Needed to Ensure Costs Are Consistent and Reasonable, GAO-13-158,
http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/651387.pdf
Why GAO Did This Study DOD contractors are among the largest sponsors of defined benefit pension plans in the United States and factor pension costs into the price of DOD contracts. Since the 2008 market downturn, these pension costs have grown—thereby increasing DOD contract costs—and recent changes in rules for calculating pension costs have raised the prospect of further cost increases.
I'm still digging into the Extremely High Cash Withdrawls for Education Programs that Show on Treasury Daily Reports for $226 Billion Dollars. This is a worth while question to research. In 2009 these Cash Withdrawls Skyrocketed in the Recession following the 2008 Financial Crisis. Therefore, this may be a kind of bank Bailout or Stimulus Program. I'm not aware of a huge Education Program across the Federal Government or Military beyond free Tuition & Buildings & Schools overseas & College overseas for Military.
We can afford our safety nets. These federal programs are self funded and have Robust Revenue Streams. The numbers are big to look at. But you have to take a long view of things. The business cycles go up and down. There are boom times and recessions. we have lost wages and jobs, but that is what Social Safety Nets are for. And as I say these are Trust Funds which get revenue from tax deductions from payroll or income. SS would be great if we just made the Wealthy pay their share without a minumum or Ceiling maximum - Flat Rate on SS, FICA, Medicaid, everything just the way it was meant to be.
Now we should end the wars, force our soldiers and airmen to station in the USA, close down bases in South Korea, Japan, Spain, Italy, Germany, Etc. What we are in 170 countries or something. And we spend more on weapons ... it is all just a scheme, a financial scheme that MIC Lobby sets up wars and contracts with DOD & Congress. But look we have great funding for our people, so take a look at the numbers.
Defense Vendor Payments 1998 = $95.6 Billion
Defense Vendor Payments 2011 = $394 Billion
DOD Federal Outlays 1998 = $256 Billion
DOD Federal Outlays 2011 = $680 Billion
Department of Education outlays 1998 = $43.7 Billion
Department of Education outlays 2011 = $245.6 Billion (500% increase)
Federal Highway Administration 1998 = $19 Billion
Federal Highway Administration 2011 = $44.8 Billion
Health and Human Services Grants (misc) 1998 = $37.7 Billion
Health and Human Services Grants (misc) 2011 = $101.9 Billion
Food and Nutrition Service (misc) 1998 = $ 13.7 Billion
Food and Nutrition Service (misc) 2011 = $ 95.7 Billion
Supple. Nutrition Assist. Program (SNAP) 1998 = $20 Billion
Supple. Nutrition Assist. Program (SNAP) 2011 = $77.6 Billion
Total Food and Nutrician Services 1998 = $33 Billion
Total Food and Nutrician Services 2011 = $102 Billion
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families 1998 = $13 Billion
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families 2011 = $18.9 Billion
Total Administration for Children and Families (HHS) 1998 = $32.5 Billion
Total Administration for Children and Families (HHS) 2011 = $54 Billion
Unemployment Insurance Benefits 1998 = $23.4 Billion
Unemployment Insurance Benefits 2011 = $117 Billion
Medicare 1998 = $210 Billion
Medicare 2011 = $552 Billion (not enough controls)
Medicaid 1998 = $ 100 Billion
Medicaid 2011 = $ 269 Billion
Total Centers Medicare & Medicaid Services 1998 = $380 Billion
Total Centers Medicare & Medicaid Services 2011 = $1.095 Trillion
Federal Salaries (EFT) 1998 = $87.5 Billion
Federal Salaries (EFT) 2011 = $178.4 Billion
https://www.fms.treas.gov/index.html (US Treasury data on Outlays)
Personally Clintons defense budget was like $300 Billion and today we are like $650 Billion. We should cut back to like $400 Billion for DOD, but let them spend $50 Billion to build barracks in the USA for service members stationed overseas that have to come back to the USA. Then maybe $50 Billon for repairing war equipment over the next 5 years.
Not sure how much you know about budgeting.
But if we cut Defense that money can prevent austerity and help with the social safety net. We probably can't cut Defense and not spend the money on Infrastructure. The Economy needs money to circulate to households or we get Recession. So Cut DOD, but spend on Infrastructure to stimulate the Economy as well as fix Social Safety Net. Banks are not spending money or making loans to Small Businesses. This is part of the problem.
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Inflation is a relative thing. John Williams website of shadow stats does a correction for you. But since I don't have to buy a house, or pay tuition, my main concern is Medical Care inflation. Or maybe Lawsuit Inflation like lawyers fees.
The government Budget Process is a normal fuction of government. No one not even corporations can control a budget without being rigid. Look at population increases decreases on programs, look at automation and moderization requirements, look at the effect of being at war, then restrict most budget increases to either 3% or 6%. You only use 6% if there is something peculiar about the program.
Look at the Bill Clinton years the Budget numbers look like they are under control. DOD had some neutral years where the budget didn't get increased much at all ... then toward the end of Clintons term they increase DOD spending a bit. They probably knew a new president would want to go to war as usual....
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Most people either blog or become a watchdog website from my view. So if you publish you will try to network with other writers ... ask them for favors to post their peice on your site ... ask them to publish your piece on their site. That is as far as I have gotten. I'm still trying to figure out how commited I am.
Everyone has to find their place or figure out what they like.
You have to break things down to small peices. David Cay Johnston reads the Congressional Record to see what congress is spending on.
1) Do you like Taxes?
2) Do you like Tax Loop holes for Wealthy?
3) DO you hate government spending/ over spending?
4) Do you hate Military Spending or US War?
5) Do you have government Subsidies ... like the Federal Domestic Aid Catalog?
6) Do you hate subsidies for Walmart?
7) Do you hate the special Treatment for Wall Street Banks?
8) Do you hate what is happening to our kids?
Once you know where you passion is, then target really small pieces or articles or try to figure why government or corporations do what they do. Or why Regulators do what they do or don't do.
You don't have to publish or Write ... what ever you do you will be a better person for having learned more
You know I used to think our government was a good thing. I voted and leaned toward one side ideologically but now I see the depth of the corruption and depravity and utter lack of conscious or shame and I feel like Ive been duped into believing in this GREAT Country and its principals. Im so disheartened by the enormity of it all that I really don't know what I would do to intervene, even in a small way. My hope is that folks will take heed to the words I write concerning what I know to be truths from my experiences. I once believed that you are a better person for having learned more but now I believe that true only if you can do something with what you have learned. Its all about what you do. Each one of us.
Yes, there has to be a decision to chose good over corruption or passive enabling of the corrupt systems. I think I know what you mean. Most people are not stopping the corruption ... and I'm not sure that most people see the corruption. Sort of assume that people are busy and distracted so they don't get into politics. After all we don't really have control over politicians and there is little choice for federal elections.
But it does seem like a moral crisis. Ignorance is not bliss. Seems we need action to get rid of the corrupt corporate cronys in Washington DC.
I think that is what everyone here wants, ACTION! We would all like to make something happen that makes an impact on these SOBs. Makes them set up and pay attention to what they are doing to others. Its not just the government, they are in collusion with the corporations. Get your calculator out and figure this out. I buy mixed nuts, planters, from Sams. I just emptied a jar and noticed the jar looked kind of squatty. I keep these containers for other purposes so I went to the garage and got a bag of them down and went through them. I found one with a net weight of 2lb8oz, another 2lb6 oz, and the current on was 2lb 2oz. Now during that time the price went from 10, to12, and now14 dollars. If you do the math you will find a price increase of well over 50% in less than 2 years. This only one example of how corporate America is screwing the 99% there are many more not the least of which is insurance. My homeowners went from 1300 a year to 1800 in one year!!
What was the last cost of living? Oh that doesn't include food or fuel or insurance . . . . Its all a big conspiracy to get more bucks out of my and your wallet without our permission. Don't they call that theft?
I'm looking at a box of Crackers. They used to be just over a dollar if you got a good price. I think I paid $2.59 for 16.5 oz, but the wrap is folded different since there are less crackers.
Napoleon Said the winners write history. This explains the Bush Administration and what we see in Washington DC today. They are in power so they can say what they want to the Turth to be.
The Corporations and the Vatican know the lessons of power. The government knows the lessons of power. I think they look at China and get inspiration.
David Cay Johnston wrote a new book last year called "Fine Print". One chapter is about how telecom companies broke out the phone bill to itemize the list so you pay more money. Mediacom does this. SO you end up with over 4 different lines on your bill. The industry saw back in the 1980s or 90s that the Internet was going to bring the price of service down. Maybe cell phones were also a threat to profit in this way. Anyway this is the strategy they came up with to itemize your bill. They also get people to pay an FCC tax which they keep. They don't send any tax money to the FCC... it is some kind of scam.
If your area is a big city then you probably know about the huge Cable Bills ... you get an intro rate, then after 2 years you are paying over $200s without even getting a premium channel. Normally you can chose foreign language channels or Skynews or BBC news, all for the same cost really. But you have some cable managers that will deny you the choices or even charge you for these generic channels.
One guy worked in a telecom and was telling me that the Internet is all one speed regardless of what the company charges you. It is just a switch that they set to govern your internet speed, but guess what - you might have 3 itemized lines on your bill just for the internet when it is only a switch.
Well we pay for convenience. We have forgotten how to get things for ourselves in some cases. But you might need to live in a smaller town to negotiate providing your own parts to a repair job or get the price trimmed down. Anyway I'm thinking about this.
Big Pharma makes big money selling us drugs, but seems like they influence the doctors and loosen up the threshold for prescribing drugs like anti-depressants and Ritalin, Adderall. And seems like infants and pregnant women should not take vacines, but vacines have been pushed throughout our country to profit the Big Drug companies.
I'm not sure if lead pollution makes kids aggressive or if SSRI drugs make people go on shooting sprees. But seems likely that some form of corruption has taken place in health care and too many people are taking too many drugs to profit the corporations and banks. And why would anyone put mercury in vacines or floride in our water. i see on wikipedia 3 countries stopped putting flouride in water when the Berlin wall came down. And many other European countries have stopped adding Flourine to water.
Fluoride is very bad on the thyroid gland among other organs. That's what runs your bodies metabolism. Do you want to drink it? We don't even brush with it.
Fluoride was a manufacturing waste product of the aluminum and or steel industry/factories. In order for them to reduce or eliminate the costs associated with hazardous toxic waste disposal ( and lawsuits) they had to declare fluoride as safe and THEN strike a nifty deal with the municipalities to fluoridate tap water. That's right! The industry that poisons us is now getting PAID by the municipalities to use THEIR toxic waste to 'benefit' us. Brilliant business plan! With the addition of Prozac to the water we end up with super toxic levels. http://www.fluoridealert.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnFeHM5DtJI
Both of my nieces have damaged teeth/bones from fluoride exposure and they are not even 15 years old yet. Imagine their bones when they are 30. Hope they have tons of health insurance to cover all those bone fractures they will most likely suffer as adults
You nailed that brother. We just voted down the addition of fluoride to our water. Thank God and all the voters for that. But just the fact that it got added to the ballott is very scarry. It means the bast rds are still trying to influence our election outcomes for their profits.
I'm surprised that it even passed. I really didn't expect so many people to even care about fluoride in their water. If I were you, I would have your water tested to make sure that they are not continuing to add it. I don't trust them ;(
We have never had it here. This was a first try for them, and they failed. Not from a lack of trying. They ran commercials trying to sell the virtues of the sh-t. Soon after they started that folks from the other side started their commercials. Thank God for resistance!!!
This happened recently that they were trying to sell the benefits of fluoride? Insane.
Here is a spot on Monsanto http://rt.com/shows/keiser-report/episode-415-899/ It follows the things that corporations do to us.
Monsanto the corporate terrorists!! They have already messed up all the corn with their GMO crap. I guess all they have to do all day is find more and better ways to screw up our food, and control the farmers. Dont get me started on those Bast rds.
But it is these sickos that think they can make decisions about our lives and have us buy stuff from them anyway. Good video. He talks about Copy rights and later brings in a guest to talk about music copy rights. But he really nails Monsanto about how they don't care if they kill people by raising the price of food as they push their evil design to monopolize food, seeds, DNA, fertilizer, Life, God, .... Max Keiser nails it. And it applies to Llyde Blankfien and the TBTF Bankers. And probably applied to Washington DC, the Vatican, and China. Oh, and the Guest talks about RIA Recording Industry Artist association that is suing kids for downloading music. And the Walt Disney Copy RIght of 75 Years for it's movies.
All these guys want a monopoly, property rights and copy rights ... they don't care who it hurts and will go after the little guy and shaft the Artist or the Creator or the Farmer or the Wage Earner.
With a bit of luck, they'll be bankrupt soon. Read on.
http://www.politicolnews.com/brazil-sues-monsanto-for-6-2-billion-in-royalties/
Brazil, and the corporation known as USA Monsanto are in a court ordered dispute over royalties worth 6.2 billion euros. Monsanto has been sued all over the world for such actions as:
Bio-Piracy in India stealing indigenous eggplants and destroying the countries cotton crops.
France has disallowed further planting of GMO corn.
USA- 300,000 Farmers Sued Monsanto over GMO false patents on seeds. The world is truly battling a misguided corporation using left over chemicals such as Agent Orange from the Vietnam war to poison foods globally.
I seen a special about this must have been 10 years ago. A professor from India, a lady, came to the states and made a lecture for our channel 13 which is a pubic information channel. She told the story then and called Monsanto corporate terrorist that were taking all the poor farmers had so they were committing suicide! They got them sucked in with the promise of larger yields. Seeds are only good for 2 maybe 3 years so they made sure the farmers used their products for at least that long then they could not go back and replant with their own seeds. SOBs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, heard this story again last month. I think the suicides are continuing.... Monsanto might be facing injunctions or public outrage in India ... but india is so big not sure how much impact.
Hope the USA doesn't decide to Invade Brazil. Seems like with the Economy, Currency Wars, Loss of US Jobs, Under Funded US Pensions, Loss of US Savings, and Loss of Interest on Savings and Bonds .... The US might be looking for a new war. The taxpayer is the one that pays the bill for war, so they don't care.
Couple all that with global warming and natural disasters every where you look, its beginning to look like the hard times talked about in the bible.
I always fail to see how the US could possibly benefit from more wars.
Sure, private companies like Halliburton, KBR and Xee(Blackwater mercenary) suck megabucks from the treasury, but the public just continually get screwed with a future debt.
I recall hearing that the real reason for invading Iraq was to open the purse strings of the treasury.
Sort of afraid that Funds for education paid by the federal government are getting funneled off to a corporation ..... or to indoctrinate our kids. I'm looking at 2 Treasury Statements a Daily (see 1st page) and a Monthly Treasury Statement (see page 9)
https://fms.treas.gov/fmsweb/viewDTSFiles?dir=a&fname=12092800.pdf
https://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts0912.pdf
Hey maybe you could check with your congressman's staff for explaination of the Difference Between Withdrawls on the Daily Treasury Statement for Education Department Programs $226 Billion for the Year 2012... and the Monthly Treasury Statement for 2012 which shows Total Education department Outlays of $57 Billion on page 9.
https://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts0912.pdf
The Question is about if trust Funds, Personnel benefits, or tuition Loan programs are rolling up to the Daily Withdrawls... but are not considered part of Department of Education in the Treasury Monthly Statement. Like outside programs confuse the issue...
The thing is the federal Department of Education should not really have a lot of employees. The Department of Defense & State Department would have some Teachers, administrators, and payroll deductions, health benefit deductions, pension deductions, ... The only other thing that is as expensive as employees ... is Tuition.
But if we have Increased Federal Budget Lines in the Department of defense because we have family dependents overseas, and Increased Teacher Payrolls, increased teacher benefit deductions ... this is kind of a hidden cost of Defense in some ways.
Perhaps as an outside chance, DOD Tuition Programs could apply to Veterans & Soliders within DOD Budget Lines for the Monthly treasury Report ... while showing up as Education Department Program Daily Withdrawls.
I hate to think that there is a Financial Scheme for Paying educators to teach school in the USA when we all think they are State Funded - State Controlled Teachers.... I hate to think this is a Money Transfer to Corporations, Colleges, universities, or a pure advantage people only get if they work for the Federal Government ... or if they go to war or serve in the military. I don't mind giving benefits to the Veterans and people that serve in the military, but in my day they didn't get free stuff. Not everyone in the Military goes to war. Maybe that is my Pet Peave. Yes, lets provide Medical Benefits, and Retraining Benefits to Veterans ... including good Montgomery Bill Veteran Educational Assistance. But the Federal Government is Paying Millions and it looks like it is Billions for Federal Employees to go to Training, to get useless Training in Ethics & Financial Responsibilities & Potential Terrorist Threats ... and even college tuition assistance ... maybe on the premise that we will improve the work force or the soldier.
But maybe if we Audit this ... we will find that there is contempt for the education received ... maybe it is just an transfer of money to a corporation. This is worth Auditing. This is a potential Money Waste. Fraud, Waste, and Abuse ... is what it is called. Any IG office or Auditor should Explore this Spending of Taxpayer Money.
I found part of the reason for the US Treasury Data on Daily Statements cumulative program adding up to $226 Billion... Free Stuff for the Military that Common Man or the Working man Just can't Get:
1) Free Tuition for Military:
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2013/03/air-force-tuition-assistance-030813w/
http://www.stripes.com/news/army-suspends-tuition-assistance-program-for-troops-1.210999
2) Probably Military Academys, DOD Universities & Colleges
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_schools_and_academies (holy crap check these lists)
The Military has many on site univesities or Colleges for Military & MIlitary Families, Civilians or whatever.
3) US Government Agencies have their own Univesities
a) USDA has Universities
b) DOD has Acquisition Universities
4) Tuition Assistance in the Military for Veterans
Veterans of War can transfer education benefits to children or use the free benefits themselves
5) Military & State department Schools for Dependents pays salaries and Benefits, Builds & Maintains School buildings, and if college is involved the Federal Government probably pays a subsidy for college Salaries and provides Class Rooms overseas in a US Federal Building .....
So Looks like Federal Employees & Veterans & Military People have more Educational Benefits than all of the Federal Money Budgeted for the Department of Education by far. $226 Billion is like 4 times the amount accepted as our Education Budget.
I ran the numbers for Ratios between Dollars going to Education on the Monthly Trasury Report with the Dollars going out on the Daily Treasury Withdrawls. 1999 was 64% going to the Dept of Ed about $33 Billion Dollars. The Ratio went up a bit under Bush and during the Wars. Then in 2009 the Dollars Raced upward and the Ratio Shrank. This was after the Financial Crisis and then into the Recession. The Ratio of Dollars going to the Dept of Education went to 28% in 2009. Today it is 25%.
Now, it looks like a Spending Program in Response to the Financial Crisis ... and Really Could be some kind of Secret gift to the banks or corporations.
http://govwhistleblower.wordpress.com/ Banking Insider Audit.
This guy is some kind of Insider who lost his job criticizing the Banking System ... from what I can see. He wants to attract big journalists to Tell his story,... the whole story.
War Pay- The Nearly $1 Trillion National Security Budget
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31403.htm (Click here for full article from Last Year)
Chris Hellman and Mattea Kramer are research analysts at the National Priorities Project. They wrote the soon-to-be-published book A People’s Guide to the Federal Budget, and host weekly two-minute Budget Brief videos on YouTube.
[Note: This is the latest National Priorities Project piece on TomDispatch about the true cost of national security. In a piece last year by Chris Hellman, the total cost of national security was calculated in a slightly different manner; it included interest payments on the borrowing that funded past military operations. In the national security numbers described above, such interest payments have been omitted. http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175231/jo_comerford_your_taxes_and_war
For further reading on national security spending see “U.S. Security Spending Since 9/11,” an examination of the nearly $8 trillion the United States has spent on defense since the September 11th attacks. Also see “Debt, Deficits, and Defense: A Way Forward” by the Sustainable Defense Task Force.]
This article was first published at TomDispatch
Copyright 2012 Chris Hellman and Mattea Kramer
Export Industry 2010 (Billions of Dollars) TOTAL US MANUFACTURING = $1,100.4 (this is the bulk of US Exports, slight agriculture, slight minerals exported as well)
336‐‐TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT $190.9
334‐‐COMPUTER AND ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS $190.4
325‐‐CHEMICALS $179.6
333‐‐MACHINERY; EXCEPT ELECTRICAL $137.
324‐‐PETROLEUM & COAL PRODUCTS $61.4
339‐‐MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURED COMMODITIES $61.
The above categories would be the "Real Juice of the USA", what we really make. But we bailed out the Car industry in 2009 because it lost money and went in to bankruptcy (Transportation, cars, trucks)
331‐‐Primary Metal MFG $53.5
311‐‐Food MFG $51.9
335‐‐Electrical Equipment; Appliances & Components $37.5
332‐‐Fabricated Metal Products; NESOI $35.7
All Other Manufacturing Sectors $100.
Kind of Audit of Total US Debt Obligations looks like between $80.9 Trillion - $222 Trillion Dollars. These are calculations which incorporate Future Obligations of Social Security, Medicare, and perhaps Fannymay & FreddieMac. Typically principal payments on Debt, Interest on Debt, and future obligations for SS & Medicare are "Off the Books".
1st Source is Video from NIA - Inflation.us National Inflation Association who believes we will get hyperinflation in the coming years, that our "Real debt to GDP ratio is 560%, our Budget Deficit is $4.3 Trillion Dollars, and Unemployment Rate is 22% (Economiccollaspe.com) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qv7qIDWDKY (Economycommoditynews scroll to 10:47 Minutes into it)
2nd Source is US Economist Laurence Kotlinkoff, Professor Boston University, Video Interview on RT, he states the US Total Debt Obligations total $222 Trillion Dollars part of which are unfunded Social Security, SS & Medicare are Off the books in all government numbers given by politicians, Kotlinkoff states we need 12% in either tax revenue or tax cuts of our GDP to make up the deficit spending (Greece only needs 10%) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Fmt2FBctQ (Right at the beginning of the video)
Audit of US Debt, Worlds Highest Debt in History by Jim Rogers. He states even the US Pentagon admits the US Total Debt is National Security Risk for America. Empires always over extend, take on too much Debt, and the Empires Fall. This is now happening to America according to Jim Rogers, Leading US Investor and now citizen of Singapore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoi3884Afug&feature=player_embedded (Short Video)
Audit of Rising US Costs of Living, Wasted War & DOD Spending, Waste in Government, Rising Health Costs and Rising Cost of US Financial Contracts.
1) it has been since 1945 that US has definitively won a War and had a kind of success that could match up to Our War Costs (US War Hawks have Cost us Trillions)
2) Home Prices Increases cost the common home owner in terms of Inflation unless he stays in the same house for 50 years. We just had home prices Crash in 2009, but the Inflation has been a normal cost since at least 1960s.
3) Everyone Agrees that health Care Costs, Prescription Drugs in the USA, Major Medical Treatment, Hospital Cost, Co-pays, and Insurance Premiums were and are a problem. The $100 Dollar Hospital Aspirin demonstrates the problem going back to 1970s. Hospitals have large payrolls with high salaries, they buy modern equipment every year to compete, keep a reputation, and attract good staff, and Hospitals expand and remodel regularly. But Insurance companies have to get their cut and banks get their cut through the many financial instruments, bonds, stock shares, and ownership.
4) All of the above is sort of Old News. In 2001 all of this changed with huge Federal Spending sparked by GOP Wars and perhaps Democrat Demands for equal spending in other Budget lines. The results seems to be annual budget Increases almost across the board ...And by 2008 the US Congress gave up its Budgetary Responsibilities ... and no longer even passed annual federal Budgets.
Federal Salaries (EFT) 1998 = $87.5 Billion
Federal Salaries (EFT) 2011 = $178.4 Billion
Defense Vendor Payments 1998 = $95.6 Billion
Defense Vendor Payments 2011 = $394 Billion
DOD Federal Outlays 1998 = $256 Billion
DOD Federal Outlays 2011 = $680 Billion
1988 Total Reagan Budget outlays = $1,446,500,000,000
2000 Total Clinton Budget outlays = $1,789,200,000,000
Federal Budgets don't naturally shrink, so when Reagan Increased the Budget, Clinton took over at the same Spending Levels
2007 Total Bush Budget Outlays = $2,263,100,000,000
2012 total Obama budget Outlays = $3,538,400,000,000
The pattern Repeats today under Barak Obama, budget Outlays go up and up, but never go down
5) Federal Salaries/Wages have been Higher since the Wars started and you also see increased number of Employees in DOD, DHS (newly Created), ... and of course higher numbers of government contractors, contract employees, and Public Function- Public Tasks have been farmed out to Private sector contractors.
6) The Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Unemployment Trust Funds generate a lot of Revenue from Direct Payroll Deductions ... as well as pay out a lot of benefits. These US Trust Funds are Huge targets for Bank Takeovers because of all the money that flows through provides opportunity for many Schemes and ways to siphon off Taxpayers Dollars. The Group Third Way is now setting up the propaganda to take these funds.
7) Retirement Funds & Pension Funds are vulnerable from weak earning and under funding by employers. These US Funds are Huge targets for Bank Takeovers
8) US Market Exchanges show plenty of evidence not only of normal expected levels of manipulation, but of System Corruption that is never addressed, .... and in fact there is evidence of Fraud in Subprime mortgages, LIBOR Rate Fixing, AAA Ratings on Derivatives and other Instruments, and .... Oil Price manipulation that now has the US Paying $4 dollars a gallon for gas in a time of low demand, .... and huge risk of Food Price Manipulation that may have triggered the Arab Spring and Starved hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Not only that but the average American knows that the Stock markets are corrupted with Naked Short Selling and high speed Computer Trading which ... means the US Markets are no longer Free or Regulated to Protect our US Citizens.
If I was the FTC or SEC or the Federal Reserve, I would see bank Oligopolies. If I was the Government Accounting Office (GAO), I would see rampant US Risk, faulty regulation, poor regulation enforcement, Weak regulations and Examining Standards, Willful neglect on the part of DOJ, Treasury, OCC, SEC, CFTC, FDIC, NCUA, FINRA, Congressional Ethic Committee, Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) ... and most of all the US Congress and the President.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Financial_Institutions_Examination_Council
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Stability_Oversight_Council
Jack Lew Director US Treasury
Mary Jo White, nominee SEC
Gary Gensler, Director CFTC
Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman,
Thomas J. Curry, Director OCC
Richard Cordray, Director CFPB
Martin Gruenberg, Director FDIC
Edward DeMarco, Director FHFA
Debbie Matz, Director NCUA
S. Roy Woodall, Jr., Independent Insurance Rep on FSOC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAO
The GAO is headed by the Comptroller General of the United States, a professional and non-partisan position in the U.S. government. The Comptroller General is appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a 15-year, non-renewable term.
This explains a lot! THE GAO is headed by Financial Player, A Banker, the Director of the OCC, Holy Crap, there is a Link to Pete Peterson
The current Comptroller General is Eugene Louis Dodaro (15 Year APPOINTMENT!!!!), who became Comptroller General on December 22, 2010. He was preceded by David M. Walker.[6] On February 15, 2008, David Walker, then Comptroller General announced that he was resigning from GAO to head The Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
The Comptroller General has the responsibility to audit the financial statements that the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget present to the Congress and the President.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Congressional_Ethics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Ethics
The current membership[16] of the OCE Board of Directors includes:
David Skaggs, Co-Chair
Porter Goss, Co-Chair (Former CIA Director, Holy Crap)
Yvonne Burke
Jay Eagen
Karan English
William Frenzel (GATT, (WTO), NAFTA, SS Privatization)
Allison Hayward
Abner Mikva
112th Congress House Committee on Ethics
Jo Bonner, Alabama, Chairman
Michael McCaul, Texas
Mike Conaway, Texas
Charlie Dent, Pennsylvania
Gregg Harper, Mississippi
Linda Sanchez, California, Ranking Member
John Yarmuth, Kentucky
Donna Edwards, Maryland
Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico
Joe Courtney, Connecticut
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_peterson_foundation
With an endowment of $1 billion, it focuses on raising public awareness about the need for fiscal sustainability related to federal deficits, entitlement programs, health care and tax policy and supporting the development of policy solutions to these challenges.
Kind of Audit of US Wage Gap, GINI index, and Discussion about Oiligarchs and US Elites and how we refuse to call them Oligarchs and Recognize Our Situation.
Why Does No One Speak of America’s Oligarchs? By Yves Smith
March 25, 2013 "Information Clearing House" -"Naked Capitalism"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34410.htm (Click link for the whole article)
But the fact that some people have advantages and are able to make the most of them, isn’t the reason to pin the “o” word on America’s top wealthy. It’s that, like Simon’s prototypical emerging market magnates, they increasingly dominate our society and are running it strictly for own self interest and devil take the rest of us. And the results on important metrics are worse than in Russia. The Gini coefficient is a widely-used measure of income inequality. The Gini coefficient is worse (higher) for the US than for Russia. Even though its rich have gotten richer and have pulled away from their lessers, the rest of the population has also done better:
In dollar terms, Russia’s GDP increased 7.5-fold over the last decade from around $200bn to $1.5 trillion; at the same time, nominal average wages increased 14-fold over the same period from $50 to around $700 a month.
And the latest statistics on the Gini coefficients (at least readily findable on the Web) are a few years stale. As we’ve written, the income gains in the US from 2009 to 2011 went entirely to the top 1%, which saw a 121% increase; the rest of the population suffered a small decline. That would increase the US Gini coefficient even further.
And on top of that, the cash hoarding habits of both poor and rich Russians, and the comparative difficulty that low and moderate Americans have in escaping the strong grip of the IRS may mean the Russian wealth inequality is lower than official figures indicate. The Telegraph again:
“The proportion of mattress-stuffed money among Russia’s poor is much higher than among America’s poor, as the US tax net is so much tighter,” says Liam Halligan, chief economist at Prosperity Capital Management. “That suggests US inequality is even worse relative to Russia than the numbers suggest.”
Now many readers may still recoil at the oligarch label being applied to America’s top wealthy, or Russians being much better at trickle-down economics that the plutocrats here who keep selling it despite overwhelming evidence that it isn’t operative here. But what about the celebrated John Paulson, who became a billionaire by not simply betting agains the housing market, but as we described in ECONNED, using CDOs that had the effect of pumping the bubble up bigger? Or the principals of Magnetar, whose CDO strategy played an even more direct role in extending the toxic phase of subprime lending beyond its sell by date? How about the Walton family, whose company is a welfare queen, with employees who depend on Medicare and emergency rooms for health care?
Some of the oligarch image is blunted here by the fact that the most visible members of the 1% and 0.1% are CEOs, who are increasingly chosen for their credibility with media. Their polished veneer and (in almost all cases) conventional credentials would seem to set them apart from the prototypical bad American plutocrat, the robber baron. After all, these are Peter Druckerized pinnacles of the managerial class, there by virtue of merit.
Audit of a kind Oil Price manipulation by Traders - CFTC calls it a "Non-Bona fide Trade" instead of Price Manipulation or Fraud.
Leah McGrath Goodman, author of The Asylum: Inside the Rise and Ruin of the Global Oil Market, about the definitive proof that oil markets were manipulated to $100 in 2008 by ConAgra traders and what the US government response was to the information.
http://rt.com/shows/keiser-report/episode-423-max-keiser-778/ (Move to 18 minutes into the episode to catch the Dialog)
I'm not certain that my path is better, but it is simpler, shorter, much easier to explain and its primary end point is not audit info that has to be judged & evaluated - is is jail time.
It also ALREADY has 80% support iv various polls & numerous bills in Washington already proposed.
HR29 to reverse corporate personhood & overturn citizens united
This will enable us to legally end any corporate political spending and limit citizen spending., etc
It requires MORE pro-99% supporters in congress - yes that means more D
WE MUST SEVER DEMOCRACY FROM CRAPITALISM
Bill HR 29 Constitutional Amendment XXVIII Introduced in Congress
by Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN) & Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI)
Section 1.
Artificial Entities Such as Corporations Do Not Have Constitutional Rights
The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only. Artificial entities established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law. The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable.
Section 2.
Money is Not Free Speech
Federal, State, and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate's own contributions and expenditures, to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their economic status, have access to the political process, and that no person gains, as a result of their money, substantially more access or ability to influence in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure. Federal, State, and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed. The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.
Consider your key project – jobs, military, elections, education, tax reform –
ANYTHING
Now imagine that the 1% opposition cannot spend to get their way against you
* .
This responds to hundreds of local & state resolutions and Move To Amend for a “We the People” Amendment - The movement for constitutional reforms that would end “corporate rule”. The Amendment clearly and unequivocally states that: Rights recognized under the Constitution belong to human beings only, and not to government-created artificial legal entities – including corporations, unions, and parties. and that Political campaign spending is not a form of speech protected under the First Amendment. Government belongs to the people & must not be for sale to the corporations and the wealthy and the 1% special interests. The Move To Amend coalition of nearly 260,000 people and hundreds of organizations has helped to pass nearly 500 resolutions in municipalities and local governments across the country calling on the state and federal governments to adopt this amendment. This bill is specifically different from the other proposals that have come forward in response to Citizens United because it also specifically addresses corporate personhhod. In every single community where Americans have had the opportunity to call for a Constitutional amendment to outlaw corporate personhood, they have voted to end “CP”. The Citizens United decision is not the cause, it is a symptom. We must remove big money and special interests from the legal and political process entirely with this amendment.
If you want to understand
Citizens United &
Corporate Personhood &
the Amendment Process
Please visit our OWS CU / CP / Amendment site:
http://corporationsarenotpeople.webuda.com
►►Support this bill HR29◄◄
Write & email your congresspeople house:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
senate:
http://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/How_to_contact_senators.htm
call Rep Rick Nolan to show support 202 225 6211
Right, Hit them from Education, Audits, and HR29 to end the Power of Big Corproations and rich People. Probably have to end Soft Money too ... I think they are 501(c) organizations.
Then ... Overhall the Corporate and Individual Tax Systems.
Focus the Fight is a good Idea. You are right there. But Education Continues.... There must Be Transparency. We want transparency. We want Justice for Corporations. End Citizens united. We want Democracy. We want Transparency. End the Wars Now. Stop the Bombing Now. End the Drone Strikes Now. Care for our Veterans Now. Fire Eric Holder. Fire Mary Shipiro. Fire Tim Geithner. Fire Ben Bernanke.
Audit Food Stamps in USA, 47.7 Million - could this mean we need 23 Million Good Paying Jobs with Benefits? total US households on foodstamps just hit an all time record of 23,017,768 as per Zerohedge article below. 23 Million / 129 Million = 18% Underemployed or unemployed.
This would mean 18% Underemployment Rate based on 219 Million adults, with 129 Million participating in Workforce but not counting Foreign Born workers. THIS SHOWS THE JOBS PROBLEM
Official US Unemployment = below 8% today, Feb 2013.
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000 (Bureau Labor Statistic Chart)
Historial Data, table A-11, Unemployed, unadjusted Data on BLS webpage shows ... 9.8 Million out of work in December 2009 as the high mark for the Recession.
http://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet LNU03023621 Historical 'A' Tables (Household data, use table A-11 ): Previous years and months, Not Seasonally Adjusted , Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs
Same Historical Data shows 7.1 Million people Unemployed Total, unadjusted for Seasonal Data.
So why are there 47.7 Million People getting Food Stamps and or Other Benefits in the USA today??? - Could be we need 50 Million Good Jobs and the US Wages have been Decreasing since the 1980s or even since the 1970s.....
http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsatabs.htm, Table A-11. Unemployed persons by reason for unemployment
Strangely, Feb 2013, shows a 62.6% participation Rate of the Civilian Population based on totals that seem to reflect a deductive total of 10 Million unemployed, based on A-7 Tables, Total Civilian Workforce is 129 Million, Total Employed is 119 Million.
http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab16.htm (Table A-16) LNU05000000
BLS shows in Table A-16 total US People not in the Labor Force = 90.1 Million.
Add to all of this the Foreign born Labor in Table A-7 = 25.2 Million in February 2013 in the USA.
25.2 Million Foreign born
90.1 Million Not Participating in Workforce
129 Million in US Work Force
= Equals
244 Million people in the US over 16 years of Age (BLS Data)
47.7 Million Food stamps / 244 Million = 20% of working Adults on Food Stamps.
47.7 Million Food Stamps / 219 Million US Born = 22% of working US people on Food Stamps. (kids & adults/working adults)
http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html (US Census says we have 315 Million People)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-11/chart-day-households-foodstamps-rise-new-record (47.7 Million people)
Still auditing Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey on BLS website.... wanted to see changed to type Labor over the years. This chart shows changes to population, percent working in the Labor Force, shows employment & unemployment totals, and shows agriculture labor force shrinking... all the way back to 1942.
http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat01.htm
Here is one that looks more at type labor
http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea21.htm (just one year)
Here is BLS Labor Data from 1994 that looks like 2013 BLS employment Data:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/history/empsit_020494.txt (Scroll Down to household Data for 1994 far right, similar in Labor Force Size, Total Employed, Total Unemployed) Below in 1994 Data from BLS, normally the population increases, total labor force increases:
Civilian labor force = 130,667
Employment = 121,971
Unemployment = 8,696
Not in labor force = 65,286
Feb 2013, shows a 62.6% participation Rate of the Civilian Population based on totals that seem to reflect a deductive total of 10 Million unemployed, based on A-7 Tables, Total Civilian Workforce is 129 Million, Total Employed is 119 Million.
Historical Data, table A-11, Unemployed, unadjusted Data on BLS webpage shows ... 9.8 Million out of work in December 2009 as the high mark for the Recession.
NPR Radio News has ongoing story about the Rise in Disability in the USA... Steep rise, Untalked about story, invisible people no longer working. Looks like 10.8 Million people are on SS Disability Benefits.....
Between 1990 and 2000, the number of Americans with disabilities increased 25 percent, outpacing any other subgroup of the U.S. population.
http://www.disabilityfunders.org/disability-stats-and-facts
-Of the 69.6 million families in the United States, more than 20 million have at least one family member with a disability.
-Over 65 percent of working-age adults with disabilities are unemployed. Of these working adults, nearly one third earn an income below the poverty level.
http://news.investors.com/business/042012-608418-ssdi-disability-rolls-skyrocket-under-obama.htm?p=full
-Apr 20, 2012 ... As a result, by April there were a total of 10.8 million people on disability, according to Social Security Administration data released this week.
http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/statistics/census-figures.php
BLS Labor Data, Archive, ESTABLISHMENT DATA, Table B-1, data in thousands.
1993 BLS Labor data on manufacturing:
Nonfarm employment.......| 110,382|
Goods-producing 1/.....| 22,912|
Construction.........| 4,593|
Manufacturing........| 17,725|
Service-producing 1/...| 87,469|
Retail trade.........| 19,807|
Services.............| 30,378|
Government...........| 18,863|
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/history/empsit_020494.txt
2012, January, BLS Labor data on manufacturing:
Nonfarm employment.......| 130,263|
Goods-producing 1/.....| 17,726|
Construction.........| 5,160|
Manufacturing........| 11,754|
Service-producing 1/...| 90,677|
Retail trade.........| 14,634|
Services.............| 30,897| (had to pull this from A-13 vice B-1 for 2012)
Government...........| 21,860|
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_02032012.htm (One page with many A Tables) Tables B-1, Summary B, A-14, or A-13 looks like what I want about Occupations they call it Establishment Data not Household Data.
Looks like Retail Jobs Shrank from 1993 as well as Manufacturing... Total Service Producing Jobs is strong though...
Also found a Disability Unemployment Total on an A-6 Table - 2012 looks like 21.9 Million Disabled, Unemployed and not in the Work Force.
2007, January, A Table BLS Labor data on manufacturing:
Nonfarm employment.......| 137,258|
Goods-producing 1/.....| 22,529|
Construction.........| 7,715|
Manufacturing........| 14,109|
Service-producing 1/...| 114,729|
Retail trade.........| 15,318|
Services.............| 23,051| (A-10 Table for 2007)
Government...........| 22,121|
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/history/empsit_02022007.txt
Data from 2007 shows a big hit to Jobs and Service Jobs, and Construction jobs in the Financial Crisis... Anyway it is worth adding above.
BLS Labor Data, Archive, ESTABLISHMENT DATA, Table B-1, data in thousands of Jobs. This is 1993, January Data, showing Nondurable Goods Jobs have Decreased in many categories:
Nondurable goods...........................| 7,707|
Food and kindred products.................|1,610.7|
Textile mill products.....................| 666.1|
Apparel and other textile products........| 982.7|
Paper and allied products.................| 681.0|
Printing and publishing...................|1,499.5|
Chemicals and allied products.............|1,074.5|
Petroleum and coal products...............| 152.5|
Rubber and misc. plastics products........| 873.2|
Leather and leather products..............| 115.1|
Now here is 2012, January Data
Nondurable goods...........................| 4,399|
Food and kindred products.................|1,418.2|
Textile mill products.....................| 232.1|
Apparel and other textile products........| 146.5|
Paper and allied products.................| 391.3|
Printing and publishing...................|457.4|
Chemicals and allied products.............|793.2|
Petroleum and coal products...............| 109.8|
Rubber and misc. plastics products........| 632.9|
Leather and leather products..............| 30.6|
So,... Don't you think we should see Congressmen Trying to Help our Non-Durable Goods Sector? Looks like 3 Million Jobs were lost after all the years of Trade Protections for Textiles in the 1970s and loss of Jobs in the 1980s....
Good post and thread & also fyi :
e tenebris, lux ...
http://corporationsarenotpeople.webuda.com/1_6_DOCUMENTS.html . our document #22
and many others on the amendment
A group of citizens can go in and see every level of all Government Dept or Agencies everything. Also all minutes of every meeting and board etc. held anywhere. All financials of Peoples Government can be seen too. That is truly transparent and will be the policy of our new "WE PARTY" Introduced on this forum and on fast track as front runner because it already is across time and space as ALL ONE for Worldwide FREEDOM in Solidarity! I AM We...
People power. Community power. Sounds good. Most offices are little empires and they will keep some secrets of how they do things. Sometimes there are internal only documents or procedures. External documents are written to avoid too much info or avoid too many questions.
Normally i would think many policies could be viewed by the public ... while offices will hold back their procedures. There is Industrial secrets and there are secret Bids or secret proposals in government offices. I guess these would be contracting secrets.
The bids and contracts should not be as such to need kept secret. The public is in charge of those offices and all who work at Government jobs will be wise to keep this on front of mind because anything else is unacceptable for "their" procedures are ours and nothing is going to make it otherwise.
You might be right. The government hides a lot of info by making it official or proprietary. Government contractors want their bids to be confidential to protect their methods, calcualtions, overhead, and of course their technology and the things that give them a competitive edge.
In my case ... like a lot of people I am used to believing the things I have been told. I would rather like to hear you show that you understand the points that i am making are the real arguments, but that is okay. Transparency is huge problem in the USA. It is as large as the Corruption and False Wars and Defacto Support for Corporations.
I will say I would go crazy if someone was watching me all day long and arguing about procedures and my rules of thumb. It brings production to a halt. Sure, sometime the policies have to be completely turned over, thrown out, and recreated. But then after that ... if things are going to get done for huge populations of people depending on food stamps, housing assistance, unemployment checks ... you need to let things roll without constant scrutiny and debate. ... Well there is a news story about France and auto Tire Production where someone is making the point that the French hold discussions everyday, but are still very productive. So ... maybe there is more to learn here. Is this called Production Management or Quality Management ... is that what we need to research and Learn?
Quality Programs, Quality Circles, Team Building are sort of a perpetual "Audit and Correction Process" ... looked at in a certian point of view. I think you are sort of looking at this and supporting this Idea.
Well and If I had outside people in my work area that were voters or citizens that didn't know about the industry ... Maybe I wouldn't mind being a kind of teacher ... maybe I wouldn't mind teaching and explaining as long as I wasn't harrassed for not getting work done.
I think US Work places can be Abusive or Harrassing or Oppressive. Maybe if I was in a job of helping the public understand and work through system changes or helping the public put through system changes ... maybe I would have liked my job.
There is something about the Corporate, Industrial, Military style Management in US Organizations that "kills the soul" for production and higher effiency and higher Profits.
Audit: Economic Development, Efficiency and Effectiveness of Fragmented Programs Are Unclear, GAO-12-553T, Mar 21, 2012,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-553T
What GAO Found
In summary, based on our work to date, we have found that
•Programs that support entrepreneurs overlap based not only on their shared purpose of serving entrepreneurs but also on the type of assistance they offer. Much of the overlap and fragmentation among these 53 programs is concentrated among programs that support economically distressed and disadvantaged areas and programs that assist disadvantaged and small businesses. In addition, many of these economic development programs also operate in both urban and rural areas.
•While most (45) of the 53 economic development programs that support entrepreneurs have reasonable performance measures and tend to meet their annual performance goals, few evaluation studies have been completed and little evaluative information exists that assesses the programs’ effectiveness.
As we continue our ongoing work, we are conducting additional analyses of these 53 programs to determine, among other things, (1) what support do federal economic development programs provide to entrepreneurs and to what extent the programs are duplicative, overlapping, or fragmented; (2) the effects on entrepreneurs and the steps agencies have taken to address any duplication, overlap, or fragmentation; and (3) the extent to which these programs have established and met performance goals and been evaluated for effectiveness.
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I will add to the Post about GAO Website. This is the Government Auditing for all Federal Agencies. They publish all year new stuff.
1) See Government Contractors that don't pay Taxes.
2) See Federal Employees that don't pay Taxes.
3) See Government Programs or Agency Spending that are short sighted, don't allow Financial Audit Trails, Don't cover Risk, Have Risk of Failure, Have overspent budget & Risk additional Wasteful Spending.
4) Contractors Abuse Law, get around Payroll Deductions for Unemployment Insurance creating Risk that Americans will have no safety net when Jobs End.
http://www.gao.gov/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Accountability_Office
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/gao-audit-federal-government-defense_n_2507097.html
http://www.gao.gov/assets/120/116257.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0495.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/htext/d10327.html
http://www.taxpayer.net/library/article/gao-defense-contract-audit-agency-bends-to-contractor-pressure
http://www.governmentcontractslawblog.com/2009/11/articles/audits/gao-allowed-to-interview-current-contractor-employees-during-the-audit-of-the-contractors-records/
Thanks for the Question. I just woke up and realized I need to explain the GAO Office.
I ran the numbers for Ratios between Dollars going to Education on the Monthly Trasury Report with the Dollars going out on the Daily Treasury Withdrawls. 1999 was 64% going to the Dept of Ed about $33 Billion Dollars. The Ratio went up a bit under Bush and during the Wars. Then in 2009 the Dollars Raced upward and the Ratio Shrank. This was after the Financial Crisis and then into the Recession. The Ratio of Dollars going to the Dept of Education went to 28% in 2009. Today it is 25%.
Now, it looks like a Spending Program in Response to the Financial Crisis ... and Really Could be some kind of Secret gift to the banks or corporations.
Audit: Factory Data Shows US Manufacturing Dead In The Water As Headlines Mislead, April 2, 2013, by Lee Adler
http://wallstreetexaminer.com/2013/04/02/factory-data-shows-us-manufacturing-dead-in-the-water-as-headlines-mislead/
Click on Link for Full Article ... Here is an Excerpt:
The headlines today blared of a 3% increase in factory orders in February, completely obscuring the truth of just how bad the US manufacturing trend is. The real story lies in the fact that factory orders have been flat for two years and have trended lower for the last four months.
That four month period coincides with the Fed’s QE3 cash injections into the financial system. As the Fed blows bubbles and helps bankers accrue massive illusionary profits and pad their bonuses, US manufacturing lays dead. The evidence shows that the Fed’s inflationary tactics are impacting the stock market but leaving the real, productive part of the US economy untouched. In spite of 6% population growth since 2007, the nation’s volume of factory orders is the same as it was 6 years ago. The recession bungee rebound of 2009-2010 has long since stalled.Primary Dealer Cash Meanwhile the Fed pumps $100 billion or more a month into the trading accounts of the Primary Dealers.
New factory orders (actual, adjusted for inflation and not seasonally adjusted), a broader measure than durable goods orders because it includes non-durables, dropped 1.9% year to year in February. It was the 4th straight year to year decline.
We need Competency Testing for all Washington DC Politicians ... and Public Bankers (Public Executives like Director Level) who work in the Federal Reserve, FINRA, FDIC, NCUA, OCC, GAO, SEC, Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), and Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC).
We all know our Politicians act like they don't know our History, Principals of Financial Management, Economics, Ethics, Financial ethics, Good Business Practices, and ... the reasons that having a Social Safety Net is beneficial to our Society. Frankly since 2001 and the War on Terror, they act like they don't know the Constitution. Frankly since bank Deregulation, they act like they don't have an interest in pursuing justice or preventing Fraud.
Jim Rogers is a Self-Made Millionare who's job was to analyze and audit organizations and bet against the ones that were going to lose money and have to close. He says Washington DC is full of politicians that don't know US History or World Philosophy. He say the USA is in deep trouble due to all the fraud, all the lying, all the financial risk, and all the future obligations. But it is across all industries and organizations. US Financial Management is a sham since there are incentives to lie and incentives to commit fraud.
I Imagine Jim Rogers and William K. Black would agree the US has Perverse Incentives in our Financial Markets.
Reform Politicians with "Entrance Exams", higher Financial Ethics, stop all gift giving, etc. Then force politicians to write out their views on Point Papers that let voters know what they stand for, Quarterly Reports to the Voters. Then Limit Terms. Then Limit Secrets. Then Strengthen FOIA Authorities with penalties for not answering citizen requests.
Audit of Job Training Budget reveals Federal Disinterest in the US Workforce. Looks like investment was higher in 1998, ... today the funding has broken down and a Job Corp budget line was created. Of course there is ample proof of declining wages, a GINI Coefficient Problem, and loss of many more Jobs Sectors in manufacturing and even services that has our Economy Sputtering. Looks like as all other Federal Budget lines have Increased, Congress has "Lost Faith" in US Workers ... perhaps preferring to import workers from Asia. In fact the Trigger event for reducing Jobs Training Budget Programs may have been the 2008 Financial Crisis caused by the Banks.... 2008 & 2009 are Pivotal Years for the Federal Budget in many ways.
Of Course starting in 2008 we see the increases in paying unemployment Benefits, but this comes from a Trust Fund and Revenue from Payroll Tax Deductions ... the result of the Financial Crisis.
2012 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $3,739
2012 Dept of Labor, Office of Job Corps = $1,774
2011 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $4,482
2011 Dept of Labor, Office of Job Corps = $1,659
2010 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $5,110
2010 Dept of Labor, Office of Job Corps = $1,855
2009 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $4,447
2008 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $4,307
2007 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $5,158
2006 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $5,255
2005 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $5,324
2004 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $5,606
2003 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $5,972
2002 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $5,859
2001 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $4,525
2000 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $4,282
1999 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $4,675 1998 Dept of Labor, Job Training and Employment Svcs = $4,644
https://fms.treas.gov/mts/index.html
https://fms.treas.gov/mts/backissues.html
https://fms.treas.gov/mts/mts0998.pdf
https://fms.treas.gov/mts/mts0912.pdf
Another thought provoking well articulated thread.Thanks MA!
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