Herr Trump and the Last Hurrah of White America

The United States of America is leaning dangerously towards the right wing as Donald Trump leads the Republican nomination for the presidency on a platform of ultra-right racism, fiscal irresponsibility and vague promises to "make America great again" - which is reusing Ronald Reagan's campaign slogan of "make America great".

Americans should be advised of the following things:

Donald Trump bankrupted multiple businesses, including a casino. How fiscally bad do you have to be to bankrupt a casino?

Donald Trump was born into wealth. He didn't become wealthy using business acumen, he is the result of his family's previous wealth and his own skill at swindling people out of their money - hence numerous lawsuits and allegations of fraud.

Donald Trump has been accused of defrauding Americans many times, but never convicted. That means he isn't just good at defrauding people, he is very good at getting away with it.

Donald Trump will say anything to win - including bashing Mexicans and Muslims in an effort to prop himself up with racist voters. Hey, it worked for Hitler, why not for Trump?

History shows us that Trump is a devout capitalist, interested only in himself and making himself richer. He has zero interest in helping the American people. Much more likely he will bankrupt the USA and sell much of it to China. Or Saudi Arabia.

Many of Trump's biggest financial supporters are from Saudi Arabia - just like the Bush family and Ronald Reagan. This sets an almost foregone conclusion that Trump actually has a chance to win the presidency. If the same people who backed the Bush family and Ronald Reagan into the White House could get those idiots into power, they could certainly get Trump into power too.

Which is bizarre when you consider the people who are supporting Trump in the USA - people who evidently don't know Trump is both proposing banning Muslims but is also receiving huge campaign donations from Muslims - are mostly white and mostly male, and uneducated.

So uneducated it even spawned a fake internet quote.

Fake or not, it doesn't matter. It raises a very valid point about the average intelligence of Republican voters in the USA. They're not just uneducated and stupid, they're downright ridiculously stupid.

And Donald Trump, a self professed genius, is playing right to the heart of Republican voters. He isn't talking about economics (or when he does, he basically just brags about the fact he is a billionaire) or the US national debt, slumping quality of education, household debt, poverty in America, the quality of health care in America or anything worth actually talking about, and instead he refocuses attention on how much he would bomb Muslims, how he would ban Muslims from the USA, promote hatred of Mexicans, force Mexico to build a wall across the border (there is already a fence, what more does he want?), and basically make meaningless platitudes and BS his way through debates.

And Republicans, those who can't even platitudes or know what the word means, eat it up like it is sugar-covered-sh*t and then think it is chocolate.

If elected - and it is looking more and more possible - Donald Trump will be the biggest loser in American politics. The most laughed at. The most powerless. The lamest of lamest ducks.

Why?

Because even Republicans, dumb as they are, will eventually realized when they have been swindled.

For fun have a look at George W. Bush's approval rating during his time in office. He left office with an approval rating of 33%, the lowest approval rating of any president in the history of the USA. Donald Trump can do one better. He can get an approval rating in the 20s or lower.

Now in the title you may have noticed we added the bit "the Last Hurrah of White America".

We chose this title because racism is fighting a losing battle in the USA. It is a matter of demographics and population growth. White people are currently in the majority in the USA, but during the next 45 years white people will lose that position of dominance and start the process of becoming a minority.

There are two main racial groups in the USA that are growing rapidly: Hispanics (not just from Mexico, but also Central and South America) and people who are mixed race - which is one of the reasons why the percentage of African Americans is not expected to increase, due to mixed race marriages/children - a phenomenon that is rapidly growing in the USA.

At present the best estimate is that white Americans will officially become a minority by 2044.

And let us be honest about this. The idea that white people (some of which are descended from former slave owners) might become a minority in a country that was once dominated by a hundred million Cherokee, Sioux and other "Amerindians" before white people showed up and started a mass genocide that wiped much of their culture away... Well that just freaks the hell out of white Republicans.

To them they think that they might see a return of slavery, but it would be white people who are the slaves. Or that the other races will band together to kill all the white people, just like white people did to Indigenous Americans (aka "Amerindians"). Utter nonsense, but that is what some white people think will happen.

So Donald Trump represents to white Republicans a sense of "hope" for the future, to help white people stave off the hordes of scary Mexicans and Muslims and other "brown people" that white Americans find so scary.

Ultimately the USA was a country born amidst racist genocide, endured over a century of racist slavery, struggled for over a century with racial divides of wealth, income, social status - and continues to struggle even now, despite electing a black president.

Racism is alive and well in the USA, and it is showing its ugly head in the form of Donald Trump.

DONALD TRUMP

MAKE AMERICA WHITE AGAIN

Stephen Harper has the worst economic record in 70 years

Although Canada's Conservative Party likes to brag about how Stephen Harper is a "steady hand on the wheel" of the economy, that lie is increasingly hard to square with reality.

A recent poll shows that Harper's reputation as a competent manager of the economy has plummeted, combined with analysis that shows Stephen Harper has the worst economic record of any Canadian Prime Minister since the end of the Second World War.

The report crunches the numbers on Canada's nine Prime Ministers between 1946 and 2015 on issues relating to work, production, distribution and debt, and ranks each according to 16 economic indicators.

On 13 of the 16 indicators, Harper ranks dead last or second last. In fact, Harper does not rank higher than sixth on any single indicator. The end result? Stephen Harper is the worst prime minister with respect to the economy in 70 years.

Here are six examples of what these data show:

1. Stephen Harper has steered Canada's economy to its lowest levels of growth in 69 years

With an average annual real GDP growth rate of 1.6%, under Stephen Harper's tenure the Canadian economy grew by nearly half the rate it did for his predecessors in the decade before he took office. It was nearly three times worse than Canada's growth rate during the 1950s and 1960s.
Under Harper, real GDP grew "barely enough to keep up with population growth," says Stanford. "And by early 2015, real GDP actually began shrinking."

2. Harper has the worst job creation record of any Prime Minister since 1946

Harper's 1% annual average growth in employment is "significantly slower than the rate of population growth," Stanford says, adding it is "the slowest job creation of any Prime Ministers since World War II."

3. Harper is the first Prime Minister since the 1950s to oversee a decline in the employment rate

Remember Louis St. Laurent?

As job creation failed to keep pace with population growth, for the very first time since St. Laurent left office in 1957, Canada saw the employment rate decline under Harper.

4. Stephen Harper is kind of a lousy salesman

Since being elected in 2006, Canada's exports have grown by a measly 0.3%, "by far the worst in post-war history."

No wonder Canada keeps experiencing huge trade deficits.

5. It has been good times for Canada's richest 1% under Stephen Harper

Not as good as the days under Paul Martin when the share of total income for the top 1% of earners was 12.9%, but Harper places just behind his predecessor at a 12.7% share.

6. Meanwhile, the standard of living of everyone else has never risen so slowly

As Stanford explains, assuming wealth is distributed fairly, when GDP grows faster than population growth, then GDP per capita increases and, in theory, that increases everyone's living standards.
Not so much under Harper. On 14 separate occasions since the end of the Second World War, real GDP per capita grew more in one single year than it has during Harper's entire time as Prime Minister.

According to Stanford, Lester B. Pearson's economic performance (1963-68) ranks highest while Canada's three Conservative Prime Ministers in the postwar era (Harper, Mulroney and Diefenbaker) ranked among the four lowest.

Stephen Harper

The Worst Economic Leader in 70 Years

Rob Ford's proposed budget cuts unrealistic and voted down

For the last month Rob Ford has been boasting that he had found at least $50 million in waste in the city budget, but in the end they were deemed too ridiculous and unrealistic. Instead only $726,000 worth of cuts went through council yesterday.

Ford's 18 motions for Toronto's 2014 Budget included:

- eliminating $7 million to plant 97,000 trees - trees that clean up Toronto's air quality, reduce smog, beautify the city, and indirectly boost tourism to Toronto. (Because nobody wants to visit a smoggy city.)

 - $2.5 million in savings by charging $14 for to register for the Welcome Policy, which subsidizes recreation programs for low income families. (Apparently Rob Ford doesn't understand the concept of "low income" families.)

- reversing $600,000 in increases to the student nutrition program. (Something parents of school age children campaigned for in the first place.)

- eliminating security guards at libraries to save $1.6 million. (Because book theft costs the Toronto Library even more to replace stolen books, to say nothing of keeping crime out of the city's libraries.)

- reversing a $390,000 increase to community grant. (Grants that help a variety of special needs.)

- axing council's $3.1-million general expense fund and its $60,000 travel budget, and cutting each councillor's staff salary budget by about 10 per cent. (Ha, like they would ever do that. Why doesn't the mayor axe his own salary first if he wants to halt the gravy train?)

The only two motions that had any impact on the 2014 budget: eliminating the city's employment engagement survey for savings of $250,000, and scrapping two city newsletters worth $476,000.

Total savings = $726,000.

This is Rob Ford's problem when it comes to budget cuts - he doesn't seem to understand that city services are designed to HELP people. Where he sees "gravy" everyone else sees things that are beneficial and needed. eg. If Rob Ford was in charge of an apartment building he would cut off the heat and the hot water, cutback on maintenance to a bare minimum, and fire all the security guards / cleaning / gardening staff, because he would see those things as unnecessary. This is not the kind of guy you want running a city.

Ford's two other successful motions were to request reports on finding $19.1 million in corporate sponsorships for the Pan Am Games and accelerating an effort to streamline city services (which Ford thinks will save $15 million, but might only save $1 or $2 million - or nothing).

Neither of the two reports guarantees any additional money for the city.

The end result was a $9.6-billion budget which passed by a count of 35 to 9, with the mayor and his brother Councillor Doug Ford voting against. After the vote, Rob Ford called it "the worst budget that has ever been presented."

Well who's fault is that? We have a mayor who doesn't seem to comprehend the concept that city services are often necessary - including the ones that protect people, increase tourism and help Toronto's less fortunate.

In the past Rob Ford has made wild claims that his budgets have saved the city "a billion dollars" but there is no actual proof of that when you look at his budgets.

Not even close.

In the past Toronto mayors have always campaigned and wooed councillors to get through the budget cuts or increases a mayor is hoping to get approved. Rob Ford's response has been to try and bully city councillors, calling them childish names, heckling them, acting like a buffoon, etc - as if bullying people would get them to do what he wants.

Rob Ford is not a bridge builder.

Rob Ford is a wrecking ball.

Barack Obama's State of the Union 2014

The big emphasis this year in Barack Obama's State of the Union address was economics and raising the minimum wage of Americans - effectively giving every American a raise.

10 Tips for Starting Your Own Business

If you hate your job and want to switch careers one excellent but daunting option is to start your own business. You might be crafting and selling a product. You might be offering a valuable service. You might simply be making food / catering.

Regardless of what you do you want to be professional about it and if you quit your old job because you hated it then there are definitely some tips when it comes to building your own business...

1) Do what you love!

You aren't going to enjoy this new role of being self-employed unless you really love what you are doing. After all, you hated your old job - why would you switch to something new that you will hate anyway? You're going to devote a lot of time and energy to starting a business and building it into a successful enterprise, so it's really important that you truly deeply enjoy what you do.

2) Start your business while you're still employed

How long can most people live without money? Not long - unless the business you are making involves growing/hunting/fishing for food. And it may be a long time before your new business actually makes any profits. Being employed while you're starting a business means money in your pocket while you're going through the early stages.

3) Don't do it alone - Get a business partner if possible!

If you can't find a business partner at very least you need a support system while you're starting a business. A family member or friend that you can bounce ideas off and who will listen sympathetically to the latest business start up crisis is invaluable. Even better, find a mentor or, if you qualify, apply for a business start up program. When you're starting a business experienced guidance is the best support system of all.

4) Get clients or customers first

Don't wait until you've officially started your business to line these up, because your business can't survive without them. Do the networking. Make the contacts. Sell or even give away your products or services to gain reviews. Start marketing immediately and always be ready to impress a potential client.

5) Write a business plan

The main reason for doing a business plan first when you're thinking of starting a business is that it can help you avoid sinking your time and money into starting a business that will not succeed. Have other people look over your business plan and look for gaps / ways to make it more profitable.

6) Do the research

You'll do a lot of research writing a business plan, but that's just a start. When you're starting a business, you need to become an expert on your industry, products and services, if you're not already an expert. Learn what your competition is doing. Joining related industry or professional associations before you start your business is a great idea to learn whatever everyone else in the industry is doing right - and what they are doing wrong.

7) Get professional help

You don't have to be an expert on everything. If you're not an accountant or bookkeeper, hire one (or both). If you need to write up a contract, and you're not a lawyer, hire one. You will waste more time and possibly money in the long run trying to do things yourself that you are not qualified to do.

eg. Get a professionally designed website by a local Toronto website designer. And get local SEO so you can advertise your business online locally. (I can recommend a company if you want.)

8) Get the money lined up

Save up if you have to. Approach potential investors and lenders - including friends and family. Figure our your financial fall-back plan. Don't expect to start a business and then walk into a bank and get money. Traditional lenders don't like new ideas and don't like businesses without proven track records.

9) Be professional office supplies / printing

Everything about you and the way you do business needs to let people know that you are a professional running a serious business. That means getting all the accoutrements such as professional business cards, a business phone and a business email address, and treating people in a professional, courteous manner.

One of the companies I recommend for this is VistaPrint, which sells business cards, brochures and a variety of other printing products like online photo albums. When I asked around VistaPrint was a company many people recommended, and I now recommend it to others too.

10) Legal and tax issues

Is what you are doing actually legal? Does your business need to be registered? Will you have to charge taxes / HST? Will you have to have Workers' Compensation Insurance or deal with payroll taxes? How will the form of business you choose affect your income tax situation? Learn what your legal and tax responsibilities are before you start your business and operate accordingly.

Farmers still getting the short end of the stick

Between droughts and governmental lack of concern over agriculture, farmers are still getting the short end of the stick.

Consider this: As of 2011 over 81% of the American population is urban (meaning they live in cities or towns). Less than 19% of Americans still live on farms or in rural regions. In Canada it is also 81%.

So from a political standpoint who are you going to show favouritism to more? City-Slickers or Farmers? The answer is obviously cities.

Farming is one of the most difficult, and yet most important, careers available, but it is horribly underpaid and there is very little government support for it. Many farmers now work second jobs just to make ends meet because farming by itself doesn't bring in the necessary money to raise a family.

Often just to try and get ahead in life farmers borrow large sums for machinery and equipment, which means they are either borrowing from the government or banks, and if there is a drought or bad weather for several years in a row its pretty much guaranteed the farmers will lose their farms and their homes because of inability to pay back loans.

Let us take for example one piece of machinery commonly used by cattle farmers: Livestock scales are used to weight cattle before or during auction. It is an approx. $1,000 investment to get scales, but the idea is so you can fatten up your cattle to the right size, then send to auction to fetch a good price. Its basically a necessity if you're a cattle or pig farmer.

Now you might think, oh, but how could a drought effect cattle or pig farmers? Well, two ways:

1. Cattle can die from something called "Heat Stress". It is basically heat exhaustion. For pigs they also get Heat Stroke (and sunburns). Preventing Heat Stress means providing shade, improved ventilation and a sufficient quantity of water... which adds up to extra costs and equipment.

2. More droughts = Less food to feed the cattle. If the farm in question grows their own food for the cattle and they aren't growing enough due to a drought, they have to buy extra food for the cattle from other farmers. If there is a huge shortage due to the drought the food has to be shipped even further and will cost a lot more. The prices can end up bankrupting the farmers.

Next lets look at the case of Utah... which as of September 2012 has had all 29 counties declared "drought disaster areas". River beds and groundwater ditches have all dried up.

It is all one big dusty mess.

Since October 2011, only 17.2 inches of rain has fallen on northern Sanpete County in Utah, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That is just over half of the previous year's rainfall of 32.5 inches (which was also a poor year for rainfall in Utah).

While many farmers throughout Utah have fallen back on water storage and reservoirs, the farmers in the Sanpete Valley have little to no water storage available. They simply don't have facilities available to store water and then use it for their crops and livestock. The natural springs and runoff from the mountains in Utah that usually supply the region's rivers fell short this year after last winter's meagre snows and early spring snow melt.

Some farmers have multiple basins which they used to use to store water, basically ponds where their livestock could drink. But the ground of those ponds are now cracked and chalky, completely dried up.

It hurts all the farmers too. Utah's wheat production has dropped to 30% of what a normal season would yield. Hay is also down 50%. Many families will be short 50% to 70% of their yearly income because of the drought.

Cattle in the region sell for considerably less since they weigh between 100 and 150 pounds less on the livestock scales than they would have if the family could wait a month to sell them. But they can't wait. They need money for food, to pay the bills, to keep the banks off their backs. They could be making more off the sale if they just had the extra time, but times are tough and when the bank freezes your credit cards you have to sell what you can at dirt cheap prices just to get the banks to unfreeze your credit cards.

The end result is that farmers need machinery like tractors, combines and even livestock scales in order to make a living. And they can't get those things without getting a loan. Every penny counts.

And with global warming and more drought on the horizon farmers aren't getting any help from government buck-passers who blame other levels of government and refuse to help farmers when they're in bed with the banks.

Extreme Weather = Economic Catastrophes

Have you noticed the increasing rate of Extreme Weather in the USA and across the globe?

Probably. Especially if you know anything about climate change and global warming.

However lets consider the economic results of these increasing intense and frequent storms.

During the past decade the economic costs of extreme weather has more than tripled. Global weather disasters in 2011 cost the global economy $150 billion USD, which was a 25% increase over 2010 ($120 billion).

In 2011 the USA recorded 14 events that caused over a billion dollars of damage each. Compare that to the previous record year, 2008, when there was just 9 such disasters.

Economic costs, loss of life, destruction of property. These things are only going to get worse.

Especially while right-wing politicians and the oil/coal industries are still tooting the old horn of "economics is more important than environment", not realizing that they are shooting economics in the proverbial foot by ignoring the environment.

Facebook's share prices crashing

Facebook Incorporated director Peter Thiel has sold most of his stake in Facebook (the world’s largest social-networking website in case you didn't know that already). Facebook had banned insider sales, but the time restriction for that has ended and Peter decided to sell his $395.8 million in stocks and run with the cash. Overall he has made over $1 billion selling off his shares since Facebook's IPO.

Why? Because Peter Thiel was one of Facebook’s earliest investors and knows when the golden goose is about to die. So why not collect his cash and leave before it becomes "officially dead". Thiel sold about 20.1 million shares in the company on August 16th and August 17th.

He started with an original investment of $500,000 in 2004, so in reality Thiel has made a bundle off being a long time investor in the company. In 8 years he turned that $500,000 into over $1,000,000,000. Not bad for being patient and knowing when to sell at the right time.

Meanwhile other investors in Facebook are now losing their shirts. The stock has lost almost half its value since the IPO amid signs are growing that Facebook’s growth is slowing, leveling out and "profit expectations" are much lower than pundits were claiming. In short the company's value was largely on paper and many insiders are now dumping their stakes.

Facebook last week unlocked 271.1 million shares, the first of five insider-sale restrictions scheduled during the company’s first year as a public company. Another 1.44 billion shares will be freed up through November, but by then prices could be a fraction of what the IPO was.

Right now (as I finish this post) the price is down to $19.48 and dropped 10 cents in the last minute.

Facebook stocks only worth $18.75, possibly less

Facebook's vastly anticipated IPO (Initial Public Offering) on the stock market caused a lot of buzz amongst people who normally don't purchase stocks. Fans of Facebook were lining up at virtual stock trading companies to plunk down their $38 (or some multiplier thereof) to get themselves a share of Facebook's stock offering.

On the first day of trading the price quickly went up to $42 but by the end of first day was back down to $38.23 and would have fallen farther except the powers-that-be froze the stock price.

However since then it has been revealed the owners of Facebook may have committed fraud by lying about their profits, increasing the number of stocks by 25% and inflating the price of $25 by 52% to $38.

In reality the increased number of stocks also decreases their real value. Thus Facebook stocks are really only worth about $18.75... or less.

Why less? Several reasons. #1. Facebook has been lying about its profits. #2. Facebook doesn't have a strong history of profits. Yes, Facebook does sell advertising (and game credits) for a profit, but its overhead is still significant.

Today Facebook's stock price fell to $32, down $6 from its IPO price. The price is expected to continue to fall.

Facebook is now facing a class action lawsuit by stockholders who want their money back and say they were defrauded by false claims of profitability.

Canadian banks ripping off Canadians says 12-year-old girl

Twelve-year-old Victoria Grant from Cambridge Ontario has been giving a rehearsed speech to audiences at conferences about how “the banks and the government have colluded to financially enslave the people of Canada.”

The video has become an overnight Internet sensation after a video of her giving a scathing criticism of Canada’s banking industry went viral.



So basically the Emperor has No Clothes and as usual its a kid who is the first to point it out.

Greece's economic bailout a failure

POLITICS - We predicted it a long time ago. The bailout of Greece's economy would only fail because they're not fixing the real problem: Lack of manufacturing.

We're not alone in our predictions.

Many European countries have strong doubts over whether a second massive bailout can actually save Greece. A second bailout which even now politicians in Athens are rushing to meet tough conditions to qualify for the €130 billion ($170 billion) 2nd bailout.

But that 2nd bailout money isn't going to save Greece and we're going to explain why.

Greece's problem isn't an issue of money. Its a problem of work. Not enough Greeks have work and unemployment in the country is sky high.

Even if Greece gets the 2nd batch of bailout money, how is that extra money supposed to help the average Greek? The bailout money will go towards paying for government employees already on the payroll. It isn't going to help the unemployed whatsoever.

For the last 2 years politicians have been wrangling and borrowing money to help Greece save their government from bankruptcy and defaulting on their loans.

Greece got the Eurozone to agree on the first €110 billion rescue for Greece in May 2010. But what did they do with that money? Spent it all on government workers already employed by the government. Teachers, police officers, the military, etc.

Several politicians in Germany, the Netherlands and Finland have grown tired of Greece repeatedly missing budget targets and failing to implement promised cuts, reforms and sales of state assets. Which frankly who can blame them? State assets help the government and selling off state assets to foreign investors is only going to reduce the government's control over their own economy and put that control in the hands of greedy overseas investors.

Such measures would only serve to harm Greece's economy over the longer term for a short term payoff.

Other countries have been forced in the past to do the same thing and their countries are now economic wreaks because of it. Any smart politician who truly loves his country sees what has happened in other countries which have sold off state assets and now know the true price of such backwards thinking.

Meanwhile Greece is in a steep recession, with its economy shrinking 7% in the final quarter of 2011 from a year earlier. Some economists believe it may even be a depression, the problem is that there is no technical definition for a depression and how to define one. The closest approximation is when the situation is so bad that people start selling everything they can at cut rate prices (deflation of commodities).

Other politicians are saying that the Eurozone should just let Greece default on their loans and that the Eurozone is strong enough to take the hit. But that isn't going to solve Greece's problems either. It will just reduce the pressure on paying the interest for its loans.

Since Greece is responsible for only 2% of Europe's economic output its believed the effects of a default would be minor. Some naysayers think it could effect global financial markets and might encourage other countries to also default on their loans.

The problem is how Europe / Greece is trying to solve their problems. Throwing money at the problem isn't going to make it go away.

#1. Greece needs to lower income taxes on manufacturing jobs. Make it more appealing for manufacturers to build things in Greece.

#2. Greece needs to lower corporate taxes on manufacturers and raise taxes on services.

#3. Greece needs to lower taxes (or completely remove taxes) on farmers. Basically anyone who is producing an actual "product" instead of a service needs a break.

#4. Greece needs to cut executive payouts by half until the economy recovers. Politicians and executives working for government owned institutions need to take a huge temporary pay cut. If they don't like it they can quit.

#5. Greece needs to increase income taxes on the rich and decrease the amount the wealthy get back for deductions.

Too much taxes on the poor and manufacturing hampers an economy. Using the above model and other measures to increase manufacturing jobs in Greece the problem of Greece's economy can be solved. The increases on taxes for the wealthy will counterbalance the budget changes.

Once the economy is back on the right footing then incremental changes can be made in an effort to pay off Greece's debts.

The problem therefore in the meantime is Greece's creditors, who want their money back and are insisting on changes that would ultimately bankrupt Greece down the road. Greece's leaders are wise to resist such calls to sell of government assets.

Given time Greece's economic reform will lead to recovery (especially if more drastic steps are taken to encourage manufacturing jobs), but creditors need to be patient.

Does wealth trickle down?

POLITICS - The concept that wealth trickles down is a complete sham.

Yes, technically, money flows in all directions of commerce. But tax cuts for the rich doesn't = the middle class and the poor making more money from "money trickling down" from the wealthy.

In fact its quite the opposite. The rich just get richer.

And the poor get poorer and the middle class becomes poorer too.

The best way to boost the economy is to have low (or almost no) taxes on the poor, have moderate taxes on the middle class and high taxes on the rich. This creates a balanced economy and ensures economic prosperity.

Any politician who tells you "Wealth trickles down." is lying through their teeth and lining the pockets of their rich friends (who no doubt paid for the politicians election campaign).

120 Sears and Kmart stores to close

UNITED STATES - Sears has announced it will close 120 Sears and Kmart stores, the largest closing of its properties after disastrous holiday sales. The closings will effect 1000s of jobs.

The retailer will be closing 120 of its worst performing ("marginal") stores and will focus its resources on its top performing stores.

“Given our performance and the difficult economic environment, especially for big-ticket items, we intend to implement a series of actions to reduce ongoing expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of our business model,” says CEO Louis D’Ambrosio. “These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers.”

Sears Holdings Corp., based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, hopes to generate $170 million in cash from inventory sales and additional proceeds from the sale or sublease of real estate.

Sears, which operates Kmart stores, Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Land’s End, has seen rival department stores like Macy’s Inc., discounters like Target and electronics stores like Best Buy and Future Shop steal loyal customers away, mostly people in the middle-income bracket.

Sears announced smaller closings earlier this year and had pinned their hopes on upbeat holiday sales. Sears Holdings has more than 4,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

Five Economics Predictions for 2012

POLITICS - What are economists saying about 2012? Lets find out.

IHS Global Insight expects global GDP to rise 2.7% in 2012, but they have other predictions as well. In 2010 eight out of 10 of IHS’s predictions proved to be correct.

1) United States recession?

Most economists think the USA will avoid a recession in 2012 and IHS agrees. They're predicting the first half of 2012 to be slow, but to pick up steam half-way through the year. They're expecting the USA's GDP to rise 2.5% by the end of 2012.

2) Europe

Fiscal confidence is plummeting in Europe, suggesting a mild recession in 2012. If Europe's debt problems are not solved however it could be much worse. The IHS is expecting Greece's GDP to drop 6% and Portugal's to drop 3%.

The IHS is predicting Greece might drop the Euro as its currency.

3) Asia

Asia will continue to have the strongest economic growth in the world (around 5.5%). Expect a rebound in post-earthquake Japan that will drive exports. Growth in China is expected to be about 8% or better.

4) Commodity Prices

Prices should stabilize and gold prices may drop. Expect oil prices to drop 30 to 40%. Prices should drop in North America/Europe due to weaker demand, but expect growing demand in China and India.

Geopolitical tensions and oil shortages may cause oil prices to go back up during the Summer of 2012, but not to any record levels unless there is a large war in a country such as Iran.

5) Inflation

Inflation will fall, particularly in North America and Europe. Central banks are unlikely to raise interest rates. In Europe deflation in poorer regions will become a growing concern.

Eurozone Credit Crunch

POLITICS - The European Union is facing a huge credit crunch and there really is only one solution...

Raise corporate taxes and income tax on the rich.

Instead the 17 finance ministers of the countries that use the Euro met at the EU headquarters today in a desperate bid to protect the value of the Euro and prevent a debt-induced financial tsunami that could sweep Europe.

The problem is that a number of European countries are spending beyond their means and their taxes are too low to support such spending. If they cut jobs it will cause a recession.

And you can't keep raising taxes on the poor and middle class, because that will also spark a recession.

The ONLY solution is to raise corporate taxes and income tax on the rich. Because the rich can afford it.

The problem is that the rich also make political donations and don't like extra corporate taxes. Which puts politicians in a hard place. Do they let their economy crumble (in which case the rich keep getting richer anyway) or do they become fiscally responsible?

The 17 ministers are discussing ideas that would have countries ceding fiscal sovereignty to a central authority; some kind of elite group of Euro nations that would guarantee one another’s loans — but require strong fiscal discipline from anyone wanting membership.

The question then becomes, what counts as fiscal discipline? Because cutting jobs or raising taxes on the poor would count as belt tightening, even if they're mistakes.

The fear is that the crisis — which has already forced bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal — could engulf bigger economies such as Italy, the eurozone’s third-largest. If Italy were to default on its debt of €1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion), the financial fallout could send shock waves throughout the global economy and spark another global recession.

Italy’s borrowing rates shot up today to above 7%t, an unsustainable level on a par with rates that forced the others to seek bailouts. And those bailouts just mean more debt. Its just paying debt with more debt.

Its like defaulting on your mortgage, selling the house, buying a BIGGER house and getting a bigger mortgage with a worse interest rate.

Worse these 17 finance ministers need to push their reforms through quickly... unlike previous reforms which took years to implement due to referendums.

The 17 ministers are also to discuss jointly issuing so-called Eurobonds — an all-for-one, one-for-all way of having the different countries guarantee one another’s debts. Right now each nation issues its own bonds, meaning that while Italy pays above 7 per cent, Germany pays about 2 per cent.

Having stronger countries like Germany stand behind the general European debt would lower Italy’s borrowing rates — and prevent a debt spiral that leads to a national bankruptcy. But it would raise Germany’s cost of borrowing, hence why Germany has been fiercely opposed to the Eurobond proposal.

If the European Union fails to fix its debt woes, bank lending would freeze, Europe's stock markets would likely crash, and Europe’s economies would crater. Economists believe such a collapse could see Europe’s economic output fall temporarily by as much as 50%, according to UBS forecasters.

Such debt problems would hinder the USA and Asian economies, the same way the US Recession sparked a global recession.

What the heck is a Reverse Mortgage Loan???

POLITICS - You would think the USA would be wary of mortgages and loans, but the truth is mortgages are a necessary evil in today's economics.

A "Reverse Mortgage" (I had to look this up on Wikipedia), one of the few times I actually find use for that website, is a release of equity...

Think of it a bit like selling your house, but slowly...! Its usually only done by seniors who are in retirement and want to slowly sell off their home (and not leave it for their kids).

However there are two types of Reverse Mortgages... large lump sum payments or multiple payments (which can set up monthly, thus giving the senior more money for their monthly budget). Its really for seniors who find themselves stretched for cash as they get older and find gasoline/food/electricity/health care costs are higher than they predicted.

The Reverse Mortgages adds a lien to the property so when the property is eventually sold (ie. the old couple dies or moves somewhere else) then the bank / lender gets their share of the equity from the sale of the property.

It may feel weird getting a Reverse Mortgage (it even sounds weird), but since a lot of Americans lost their jobs during the 2007 - 2009 recession and/or were forced into early retirement it is becoming a reality for many Americans.

There is also the matter of how much you can actually get. It really depends on the interest rates different banks and lenders are offering, where you live (real estate prices and interest rates vary by state and city), thus making it tricky to get an estimate on a reverse mortgage loan. Not an actual loan, just an estimate in an effort to calculate both the value of your home and the amount you can actually get either all at once or on a monthly basis.

If you later find / save / inherit money then you can also pay off the loan immediately. There is no required duration.

The good thing is that if your property keeps going up in value (American real estate prices have hit rock bottom and are now rising again) you won't have lost anything but a bit of equity.

Check out more real estate news at My Search for a Home.

America's Debt is a Ticking Time Bomb

POLITICS - The United States economy is sitting on a ticking time bomb which could strike at any time... its called a $14.35 trillion National Debt.

Earlier this week S&P downgraded the USA from its AAA rating to AA due to Republican unwillingness to cooperate with debt payments. It is the first time in world history that the USA has been considered a risky investment. The lowered rating means investors will be less likely to loan the USA money in the future, putting the USA one step closer to bankruptcy and financial collapse.

Only 16 of the 126 nations whose debt is rated by S&P earn its coveted triple-A rating, Canada among them. Republican unwillingness to pay off the US debt by raising taxes has led to a level of brinkmanship that is bordering on financial collapse just so they can blame Barack Obama if the economy turns sour.

But its not Barack Obama's fault this is happening. Its the fault of Republicans in Congress being wishy-washy on the best way to solve America's debt problems.

The USA can't cut social programs because that will hurt government jobs. One Republican proposal calls for the cutting of approx. 2 million American government jobs for the next 8 years. Cutting 2 million jobs would devastate the US economy.

The ONLY solution is to start raising taxes on the rich. The poor cannot take the pinch right now because the economy is too fragile, but the rich could certainly tighten their belts.

Meanwhile China’s central banker, Zhou Xiaochuan, is depicting the American debt as a threat to the world economy. “Big fluctuations and uncertainty in the U.S. Treasury market will influence the stability of international monetary and financial systems, thus hurting the global economic recovery,” the chief of the People’s Bank of China said last week. China is the world’s largest creditor nation and America's biggest lender.

Zhou says: “We hope that the U.S. government and the Congress will take concrete and responsible policy measures . . . to properly deal with its debt issues, so as to ensure smooth operation of the Treasury market and investor safety.”

In other words Congress needs to stop playing with matches.

The Xinhua News Agency meanwhile is calling Republican unwillingness to tax and pay off debt a “madcap farce” and called the American National debt a “ticking bomb”.

Especially since the USA will now have to pay higher interest rates on its riskier debt.

We should note however that America can recover.

S&P downgraded Canada in 1992, when Canada was too nonchalant about a record $43 billion deficit and didn't seem to have any goal to pay it off. S&P did not restore Canada's triple-A status until 2002, after 11 years of consecutive budget surpluses and clear efforts by the government of Jean Chretien to pay off a large chunk of the Canadian National Debt.

Thus we know from experience that it can be done.

The difference however is that Canada is a resource (mining, lumber, oil) driven economy... whereas the USA is manufacturing based... something the USA has been losing in recent years as more factory jobs go over to China and India.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION???

The USA needs to cut taxes on manufacturing and raise taxes on the fat cats in Wall Street.

The only problem is that its Wall Street which is running the show in Congress. The White House and the American people are helpless to stop the corruption that is going on.

Americans need to be making products again. This era of stock brokers moving money around and not actually building anything while taking a percentage is hurting the US economy and its not sustainable.

Republican rebels hurting US economic prospects

POLITICS - The United States has never before defaulted on their debts.

If they do it will signal a huge change in US economic policy and make it increasingly difficult for the USA to get future loans.

Thanks to the Bush era overspending on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, plus the huge bailout of the US banking industry (which has since been proven to be fraudulent) and the Obama era stimulus package the United States is at a record level of debt: $14.35 trillion USD.

But Republicans in Congress are blocking any attempts to raise taxes on the rich to pay off the debts incurred by the banking industry induced recession of 2007-2009.

These hardline Republicans are deliberately trying to prevent any passage of bills or compromises which would create a budget deficit reduction plan. (Its almost like they WANT the USA to go into a recession.)

Emergency meetings this morning and Republican infighting further delays any compromise.

On Tuesday the US government will run out of money to pay all its bills.

The wise thing to do then is to tell Congress that they're not getting paid until they start raising taxes / making compromises towards solving the USA's budget woes.

On the top of the list of things to be done is to raise the USA's borrowing limit by August 2nd or risk a devastating default and downgrade of the USA's stellar credit rating that helps make US debt a pillar of the global financial system.

Republicans however are insisting on government cuts to spending (which would result in huge job losses). John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, wants to cut $900 billion USD over 10 years, but even that isn't enough for some hardline Republicans.

John Boehner's proposal would mean cutting approximately 1.8 million jobs. It would be a devastating blow to the US economy and.

THE USA DOESN'T HAVE A CHOICE. They need to raise corporate taxes and taxes on the rich. Killing the economy by firing almost 2 million people is the opposite of what needs to be done.

America wallows in debt while Canada soars

POLITICS - The Canadian dollar closed higher today as Republicans and Democrats bickered over what to do about America's huge debt and bankrupted finances. So far American lawmakers have failed to raise the country's debt limit and this delay is hurting the US economy.

In Canada the Canadian Loonie went up to 106.07 cents US after earlier running as high as 106.3 cents US today, its highest level since early November 2007.

The United States has a week to reach a deal to increase its $14.3-trillion USD debt limit or will not being able to pay its bills. That has led to fears the world's largest economy could default on its debts and send shockwaves throughout world markets.

The weak U.S. dollar also pushed oil prices higher with the September contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange up 39 cents to US$99.59 a barrel. A weaker greenback usually helps raise oil prices, which are denominated in dollars, as it makes oil less expensive for holders of other currencies.

Gold prices are up from Monday's latest record close, up $4.60 to $1,616.80 USD per ounce.

Police shut down girls' lemonade stand

POLITICS - Don't drink the water in Georgia because apparently all the cops there are braindead.

Police in Georgia have shut down a lemonade stand run by three little girls trying to save up money for a trip to a water park. Police say they didn’t have a business license or the required permits. (Like WTF, seriously???)

Midway Police Chief Kelly Morningstar says police also didn’t know how the lemonade was made (like who doesn't know how to make lemonade?), who made it (the three little girls evidently) or what was in it (lemons, duh!).

The girls had been operating for one day when Chief Morningstar (isn't Morningstar another name for Lucifer?) and another police officer cruised by and decided to be a pair of idiotic bullies.

The girls needed a business license, peddler’s permit and food permit to operate, even on residential property. The permits cost $50 a day or $180 per year.

One girl, 14-year-old Casity Dixon, says the three had to listen to police and shut down.

Seriously. If you ever need proof the United States has become a police state, there it is. Shows that education is completely underfunded when they have morons like that.

DEFINITION OF A POLICE STATE: ANY COUNTRY WHERE POLICE ARE PAID MORE THAN TEACHERS.