The Dipstick Economy

Honestly, I'd rather say the other word, but I have promised not to. We are a nation held hostage by the 95% of the population that are either illiterate, gullible, naive, or clueless or a combination thereof. The sad part is that these people are so lost in their Pop Culture that they haven't a clue that they are being programmed to perform their own demise. What is even worse, is that the dumb masses will turn into an uncontrolled mob when it hits the fan.

We see a government that revised down GDP from 3.2% to 2.8% (4Q GDP Revised Downward * February 25, 2011). The dopes that were polled expected a revision upward. What world are they living in? These GDP numbers have a torchlight of several trillions of dollars that are supposed to energize the economy. The Hubris of the National Government creates conditions whereby when cooking the economic books that the cheating numbers are supposed to represent reality, when anyone with a few brain cells knows that they do not. Our lying eyes cannot hide what the soul fully understands. The Recession/Depression has never ended and the Presstitutes, as Gerald Celente has coined the media, always tries so hard to convince us of the Economic Recovery. They have been selling this shtick for 2+ years now and they have convinced no one but fools.

The media and the government keeps trying to sell this notion of 9% unemployment. Our local government in Hickory has already sent the message out that we have lost 47,000 jobs in our area. The actual number is (183,726 in July 2000 - 141,850 in November 2010 =) 41,876 jobs lost since the peak. This was a message that I first brought home before we went into the full blown economic collapse, nearly 27 months ago on December 8, 2008, in the article 24,493 Jobs Lost in the Unifour since June 2000 and again on July 6, 2009 in the article The Relevant Issue: 34,294 JOBS lost since July 2000 in the Unifour. We have lost nearly 7,600 more jobs since I presented the totals in July 2009.

The July 2009 unemployment rate was reported at 15.1%. The November 2010 unemployment rate was reported at 12.6%, yet we have lost at least around 7,600 more jobs. Does that make sense? Do you see what I am getting at? Should we not have gained jobs to improve the unemployment rate?

So they are cooking these numbers and they are cooking the inflation numbers. According to the sources I follow like John Williams of Shadowstats.com. Utilizing an old school statistical foundation, comparing apples to apples, he is showing a real unemployment rate of 22%+ and CPI-inflation of around 7 to 8%.

What we are seeing is that real unemployment is not including people that are not signing up and have left the workforce; not because they don't want a job, but because they can't find one. This is very important, because people on fixed incomes rely on Cost of Living adjustments to keep pace with real inflation as stated in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). I guess inflation is actually down because what a Ribeye cost a few years ago will purchase a can of ALPO in a couple years and we should be grateful for that.

What we see through this is a head forming. If older citizens can't make ends meet, then they must continue to work to supplement their pensions. We already see the government trying to play with pension capitalization, because these pension accounts have been underfunded for so long that the capital input sources can't possibly ever catch back up.

This increases the pressure on Work Force Job capacity, because there are not enough jobs being created already. If older workers don't retire, then younger workers won't be able to be initially placed. At some point in time people are going to come to a realization that there are a lot of people out here who currently are not or soon will not be able to make ends meet. This will cause a further degradation of the economy and no nipping and tucking at government budgets will have any effect on any of the shortfalls.

We cannot cut costs to create prosperity. We have to grow the economy. The only way to do that is by creating value through real ingenuity and innovation. We also have to protect American National Interests by protecting our job base. We cannot allow multi-national corporations to not take our nation's interest into account in their decision making. If they do not take the American national interest into account, then they should not be doing business here in America. Do you think China allows these corporations to do business there without China's approval and without negotiated agreements? Who do our Government Representatives represent? Do they choose to commit Soft Kill Treason? Because that is exactly what they have done!

Many people wonder why I don't just concentrate on Hickory stories. Well, if you put the pieces of the puzzle together, then you will see that each of these stories have an impact on how we live our lives locally and how we must play this game within the contexts and rules set forth by current Economic, Social, and Political Realities. The other thing you must realize is that we have laid out a path for this area to follow, but our local leaders have chosen to focus on putting out embers and cinders instead of attacking the blaze. This Economic Implosion Inferno is only going to continue to intensify until we start focusing on the real issues we face.

I will leave you with a Video from Charlie McGrath of Wide Awake News who gets right to the heart of the matter in addressing much of what I have espoused in this article and in the past. I have also left you with a hint of what is behind the real issues we face as a community, as a nation, and as a World headed towards chaos, turmoil, and destruction if the Light of the Force is not resurrected and allowed to shine.





My Goldman-Sachs question at the Town Hall meeting this morning
Free Enterprise versus the boys of Goldman Sachs

Wake Up to two of my favorites - Max Keiser interviews Gerald Celente

(Prologue) - Do you really want to know what is happening with our economy? Here is the interview that pretty much sums it up. These two gentleman along with Bob Chapman and Catherine Austin Fitts are the people that I pay attention to the most when it comes to the current economic realities facing our nation and the rest of the World. Watch this interview. This is the real news. If you don't believe it, then by all means take notes and go check it out. You will see that the Kumbaya garbage we hear on the Boob Tube is just propaganda. Are you making preparations to face the new economic realities? I hope you are.




Join the JOURNALISM 2.0 alliance!!! - The Old media is Dying - They call them TV programs because they are programming YOU!!!

Where Do we go from here? - Citizens for Equity in Government

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE

As we pause in our day-to-day organizing work, we would like to pay homage to the passing of fellow organizer and community worker Joseph Hill who passed away on February 4, 2011. We will miss his timely comments concerning our struggle for democracy at the local level (even from his death bed). Condolences go out to the Hill family.

Over the past year, we have been uncompromising when it concerns justice, human rights, our values, our children, our families and the development of our community.

We will continue to make a positive difference on behalf of our poor and minority citizens in Hickory, NC as we aspire to achieve democracy at the local level. Local government is the tier of public authority that citizens first look to solve their immediate social problems. It is also the level of democracy in which the citizen has the most effective opportunity to actively and directly participate in decisions made for all of society.

Poor and minority citizens have lost their community swimming pool due to the arrogance of city council and a lack of democracy at the local level. It is public knowledge that they made the decision and will build a new pool in a distant “central location”.

Professional citizens with expertise offered other alternatives but were denied. The city of Hickory spent over $26,000 of taxpayer’s dollars to hold surveys and hearings of what citizens wanted. Citizens asked for and voted on four (4) district pools, much to no avail. Still no democracy at the local level… Legal strategy is being explored. Leaders have been jailed while trying to prevent the demolition of the pools.

We must now appeal to the progressive elements of the Hickory community if we are deliberately being denied access in the decision making process. Because of these “invincible fences”, we need help in relieving our powerlessness.

Historically, we lost our democracy in Hickory in 1970 when the voting process was changed from the pure ward system of electing officials to the modified ward system of electing officials. This was to ensure that only the right kind could be elected. We lost again in 2000 when our majority minority ward was redistricted out. We are now in a process of redistricting from the 2010 census. Democratically, we are still at the mercy of the few. If one person is about democracy, everyone is about democracy!

If you are interested in helping to end this destruction of poor and minority representation in Hickory, join our coalition and meet with us Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 6:00 pm in the Ridgeview Branch Library, 706 1st Street SW in Hickory or call 828-308-4669.

Date:February 24, 2011
Contact: Billy Sudderth (828) 308-4669

February Rant - Critical Thinking

This is what the Hickory Hound tries to be centered around. One of the original stated ideas and goals of the Future Economy Council was to move towards an organization of people who would come together from various positions of the political and cultural spectrum and work together to discuss, initiate, implement, and produce common objectives that will benefit the community. That is the importance of Master Capacity Building. We are connectors, who utilize our individual characteristics, personalities, and personal skills to bring people together to make those common objectives realities.

That is what I have tried to do by bringing you these predictive capacities about weak signals in and of the future. That is what I have tried to do by talking about people like Gerald Celente, who always states that "Current Events form Future Trends." In this age of constant change and uncertainty, it is very important to be able to walk through this minefield with skills and knowledge that can help you cope with constant chaos. That is what will keep you mentally steady and helps one be adaptive and nimble and thus resilient in this current age of uncertainty and constant evolution of changing realities.

We are currently going through a great period of Transformation at every level of Society. Most people are reluctant to deal with the seismic shifts in evolutionary realities that we are constantly witnessing over a daily basis. It is hard to get people to deal with and open up to the fact that the World's realities are no longer stable. Problems must constantly be dealt with to keep issues from becoming overwhelming. Look at the Dictators in the Middle East. Do you think that they thought that they would be overwhelmed by revolutionary movements in a matter of weeks, when they have controlled their nations for decades?

Rick Smyre of Communities of the Future states that there are 4 stages of true transformation: 1) resistance - where people will not accept new ideas being introduced, because of defense mechanisms related to anxiety associated with risk aversion, 2) hmmm? - the stage where people willing to accept progress and evolutionary changes start to look at a subject from different viewpoints and how ideas can work, 3) aha! - when the people willing to accept transformation begin to comprehend new realities and how those realities can be brought to tangibility , and 4) of course - the point at which acceptance of the new reality is achieved... there is no way to shortcut this process.



The reality is that our species is evolving. No one can tell you exactly what will happen, but we have seen an advance in computerization and technology, we have seen an evolution towards dependence on convenience and material desires, we have seen a 6 fold increase in worldwide population in one century, we have seen a battle between forces who desire individual liberty versus those who desire social control...

There are other forces at play in this tug of war, but there will always be a struggle between what most of us desire as "Good" versus the differences that we all interpret differently as evil. I do foresee a melding of the human into what will be part machine. The technology will evolve and eventually be biological instead of mechanical. In my opinion this will be good to the extent that it enhances us as individuals and the quality of our lives, but it will be bad if it is utilized to control us as animals and/or property of the elite.

The one thing that I do know is that we are headed towards some really tough times. There are some of us that want to bring the whole World up to the scale of quality of life that many Americans enjoyed in the past, but there are others that view these people from the Third World as subhuman and view the poor in our nation as subhuman. They feel that we are pawns to fulfill their purposes and they do not want to share the technological goodies with Average Ordinary People.

There is more than enough room on this planet and it is time to stop thinking that Ordinary people don't have value. We all have value. Think about the people you love, don't they have value to you? Haven't they played a role in your life? Everyone you see wherever you go has value to someone. Do you think that an elitist who doesn't even know you or your loved ones should be treating you or your loved ones like a disposable pawn?

This is the Force of Good versus Evil that I have alluded to. We are all going to have people that we don't want to work with; people that we can't stand. That is human nature. But, when we work towards bettering society and not playing the "Us versus Them" game, then we enhance our Ecosystem and thus we make the World a better place for ourselves and everyone in the system. It generates positive momentum. It is going to take this sort of mentality, of working together, to get out of this Depression and start growing economically, culturally, and as a society once again. I hope that you will keep this in mind the next time that you have a chance to help someone out. I know that the people who read this blog are, for the most part, critical thinkers. It is time to get the people we care about to start thinking this way too.

Who's in Charge around here?

Fed dictator Bernanke needs to be toppled - Paul B. Farrell - Feb. 15, 2011, 12:01 a.m. EST -

Fed boss Ben Bernanke is the most dangerous human on earth, far more dangerous than Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s 30-year dictator, ever was. Bernanke rules a monetary dictatorship that will trigger the coming third meltdown of the 21st century.

Ben Bernanke: The U.S. Leninist? - Paul Amery - Seeking Alpha - February 22, 2011 -

Should Ben Bernanke dust down a copy of the collective works of Lenin?

According to the instigator of Russia’s 1917 October revolution, “the surest way to destroy a nation is to debauch its currency”.

(In fact, this widely-cited quote was a 1930s paraphrase by Keynes – Lenin’s actual words, in an interview from 1919, were: “the simplest way to exterminate the very spirit of capitalism is … to flood the country with notes of a high face-value without financial guarantees of any sort”)

The astonishing leap in commodities prices that started in September last year coincided with the announcement of a second quantitative easing programme by the US Federal Reserve.

A chart of cotton futures shows that the price of the raw material began to take off almost to the day that the Fed’s chairman stated in Jackson Hole that his institution was ready to take “unconventional measures” to stimulate the economy.

Hidden Inflation In Supermarket Prices - Mark Ames - Higher Price, Less Product




18 Sobering Facts Which Prove That The Middle Class Is Not Being Included In This “Economic Recovery” - The Economic Collapse Blog - February 21, 2011

Have you heard the news? The stock market is absolutely soaring and according to the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve we are in the beginning stages of a robust economic recovery. Yippee! The S&P 500 is up 6.8 percent so far in 2011, and the stock market recently hit a two and a half year high. So shouldn't we all be celebrating? Well, if stock market performance was an accurate measure of economic health, then Zimbabwe would have had one of the healthiest economies on the entire globe during the last decade. But just like Zimbabwe's stock market was artificially pumped up with "funny money" that was rapidly being devalued, so is ours. All of the "quantitative easing" that the Federal Reserve has been doing is pumping plenty of money into the financial markets and is helping to inflate a false stock market bubble, but it is doing very little to alleviate the suffering of the U.S. middle class. In fact, when you take a closer look at the numbers you quickly find out that the suffering of the middle class is getting even worse.

According to Gallup, the unemployment rate is now over 10%. The number of Americans that have given up looking for work recently set a new all-time record. The number of mortgages in foreclosure tied a record high during the fourth quarter of 2010. Gas and food prices are rising rapidly. The number of Americans on food stamps continues to increase every single month.

Yes, right now the economic situation is not in free fall like it was a couple years ago. We should be thankful for that. Periods of relative stability such as we are enjoying now will be few and far between in the years ahead. This "bubble" of economic calm is a great opportunity that we should all be taking advantage of.

However, those that are hoping that this is an economic "turning point" and that things will soon be back to "normal" are going to be greatly disappointed. This is about as "normal" as things are going to be ever again.

Even during this time of relative economic stability, the U.S. middle class is still being ripped to shreds. If there are those among your family and friends that are somehow convinced that the U.S. economy is recovering nicely, you might want want to show them the following 18 very sobering facts....

#1 According to Gallup, the U.S. unemployment rate is currently 10.3 percent. When you add in part-time American workers that want full-time employment, that number rises to 20.2 percent.

#2 According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of job openings in the United States declined for a second straight month during December.

#3 There are currently more than 4 million Americans that have been unemployed for more than a year.

#4 The number of Americans that have become so discouraged that they have given up searching for work completely now stands at an all-time high.

#5 Gasoline prices in the United States recently hit a 28-month high.

#6 During the 4th quarter of 2010, 4.63 percent of all U.S. home loans were in foreclosure. That matched the all-time high, and it was up significantly from 4.39 percent in the 3rd quarter.

#7 It is estimated that there are about 5 million homeowners in the United States that are at least two months behind on their mortgages, and it is being projected that over a million American families will be booted out of their homes this year alone.

#8 Almost 14 percent of all credit card accounts in the United States are currently 90 days or more delinquent.

#9 The average credit card rate in the United States had increased to a whopping 13.44 percent at the end of 2010.

#10 Americans now owe more than $890 billion on student loans, which is even more than they owe on credit cards.

#11 Average household debt in the United States has now reached a level of 136% of average household income. In China, average household debt is only 17% of average household income.

#12 U.S. life expectancy at birth is now three years less than Canada and four years less than Japan.

#13 New home sales in the state of California were at the lowest level ever recorded in the month of January.

#14 43 percent of all mortgages in south Florida are currently underwater.

#15 Prior to the most recent economic downturn, there were usually somewhere around four to five million job openings in America. Today there are about 3 million.

#16 When you adjust wages for inflation, middle class workers in the United States make less money today than they did back in 1971.

#17 One out of every seven Americans is now on food stamps.

#18 One out of every six elderly Americans now lives below the federal poverty line.

You know things are bad when articles start popping up in the mainstream news instructing us how to interact socially with the hordes of unemployed Americans that are out there today. A recent USA Today article entitled "What not to say to someone who is unemployed" listed some of the things that you should not say to someone that does not have a job. The following are some of their suggestions on what NOT to say....

"Hey, have you found anything yet?"

"How's the search going?"

"You just have to pound the pavement."

"Something will turn up."

"It's tough out there."

"Other people are going through the same thing."

"Maybe you're asking for too much money."

"Maybe you should go back to school."

"There are plenty of jobs out there."

I am sure most of us have heard things like this at one time or another. It can be a soul-crushing thing to have others like at you in pity because you don't have a job and you can't pay the mortgage and feed your family.

Most unemployed Americans are not lazy. The vast majority of them desperately want jobs. But the U.S. economy is not producing nearly enough jobs today. As noted above, the U.S. economy currently has about 3 million job openings, but approximately 20 percent of the workforce wants to find a full-time job. The demand for jobs is far, far, far greater than the supply.

Unfortunately, this is the legacy of decades of bad economic decision-making. The U.S. economy should be able to provide work for every single person that wants it, but because of the choices that have been made that will never be the case again.

The middle class in America is being ripped to shreds right in front of our eyes and very little is being done to stop it. Desperation is rising across the nation. More Americans slip into poverty every single day. It is almost as if a cloud of gloom and despair has descended upon the U.S. economy and every single month the situation only seems to get darker.