Newsletter about the City Council meeting of May 17, 2011

This newsletter is about the Hickory City Council meeting that I attended this past week. City council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each Month in the Council Chambers of the Julian Whitener building.

At right of this page under Main Information links is an Hickory's City Website link. If you click on that link, it takes you to our city’s website, at the left of the page you will see the Agenda's and Minutes link you need to click. This will give you a choice of PDF files to upcoming and previous meetings.

You will find historic Agenda and Minutes links. Agendas show what is on the docket for the meeting of that date. The Minutes is an actual summary of the proceedings of the meeting of that date.

Here is a summary of the agenda of the 5/17/2011 meeting. There were a couple of important items that were discussed at this meeting and the details are listed further below:

Please remember that pressing Ctrl and + will magnify the text and page and pressing Ctrl and - will make the text and page smaller. This will help the readability for those with smaller screens and/or eye difficulties.

Invocation by Dr. Charles Kyker, Pastor of Christ Church

Special Presentations:

A. The First and Second Grade Students from Hickory Day School to Perform Songs They Wrote About the City of Hickory and the State of North Carolina




B. Proclamation Presentation to Ned and Dale Jarrett Declaring May 23, 2011 as “Ned and Dale Jarrett Day” in the City of Hickory




C. Presentation to Chief of Police, Tom Adkins a Proclamation Declaring the Week of May 15 -21, 2011 as National Police Week in the City of Hickory - The Mayor pointed out that there are approximately 900,000 Law Enforcement Officers serving in the U.S. In Hickory we have 118. Approximately 60,000 assaults on officers are reported each year, resulting in 16,000 injuries. Since 1791, more than 19,000 officers have been killed in the line of duty. 317 names will be added to the national Police Officer memorial this year, including 153 officers killed in 2010 and 164 from previous years.



Chief Adkins accepted the award and mentioned Gerald Wayne Maynard who passed away in 1977. He spoke about the Ride Along program in which citizens ride with on duty officers while they are on duty. He addressed statistics relating to Officer fatalities while on duty, which are up this year. Fire arm fatalities are up 24% this year.

Consent Agenda:
A. Call for Public Hearing on the City Manager’s FY2011-2012 Recommended Budget. The 2011-2012 Recommended Budget has been presented to City Council as required by law and is available for review in the Office of the City Clerk, Patrick Beaver Memorial Library and Ridgeview Library.

B. Establishment of New Council Priorities and Action Plan for FY 2011-12. Every year the Hickory City Council adopts additional priorities and associated action plans that are derived from the annual Council-Staff Planning Retreat, the City’s master plans, formal action taken by City Council throughout the year, and the City Manager’s assessment of initiatives that need to be considered by City Council. These priorities and action plans are used during the fiscal year as a guide to ensure that City departments
advocate the philosophy and goals defined by City Council for the City of Hickory.

C. Approve Future Annexation Agreement From Stephen and Pamela Joy for Property Located at 1507 6th Street, SE - Stephen and Pamela Joy have requested to be connected to the City of Hickory’s water and sewer system without being annexed into the City limits and agree to be annexed in the future when the City finds it economically feasible. The Joy property is located at 1507 6th Street, SE. The property is approximately 250 linear feet from the current City boundary where service delivery is not currently provided and individually unpractical from an economic standpoint. The current owners and successors agree to be annexed into theCity limits at a time of the City’s choosing.

D. Citizens’ Advisory Committee Recommendations for Assistance Through the City of Hickory’s Housing Programs - The following applicants are being recommended for approval for assistance under the
City’s Housing Rehabilitation Program:
Geneva Collins - Amount not to exceed $10,000 - 39 44th Avenue Place, NE
Pressly Development - Amount not to exceed $20,000 - 84-unit Senior Apartment Community
Carrie James - Current loan balance of $18,485.28 - 221 3rd Avenue Court, SW - Refinance the loan for 12 years @ 3% interest - Refinancing will reduce monthly payment from $233.33 to $153.05

The following applicants are being recommend for approval for assistance under the City’s 2010 Urgent Repair Program for amounts not to exceed $5,000
@ Barbara Byrd 117 8th Avenue Drive, SE
@ Camilla Isenhour 913 21st Avenue, NE
@ Gladys Smith 328 19th Avenue, NE

E. Proclamation Declaring May 17, 2011 as “Hickory Kiwanis Club Day” in the City of Hickory

F. Proclamation Recognizing May 17, 2011 as “Hickory Rotary Club Day” in the City of Hickory

G. Proclamation Declaring May 12, 2011 as “Salvation Army Day” in the City of Hickory

H. Approve Modification to Farmer’s Market Special Event Permit for Use of Union Square
on Saturday, June 4, 2011 - The Farmer’s Market Board is requesting a modification to the schedule previously approved by City Council to allow the market to set up at 8:30 a.m. and open at 9:30 a.m.
on Saturday, June 4, 2011. This is to accommodate the previously approved Union Square Application by the Charity Chase event of the same morning. There are several annual events that occur on Union Square on Saturdays and these will take precedence over the market on those dates. The Farmer’s Market will need to make other arrangements for operation pursuant to the conditions of their application.


I. Approval to Accept Donated Fitness Equipment From Palliative Care Center of Catawba Valley for Use by the Hickory Fire Department - On May 3, 2011 City Council tabled this item until it was determined if the Palliative Care Center of Catawba Valley had ownership of the fitness equipment. Doug Kenworthy, the original owner of the equipment has donated the equipment to Hospice. Therefore, the Palliative Care Center of Catawba Valley desires to donate the several pieces of fitness equipment to the Hickory Fire Department with no in-kind or monetary reciprocity. The equipment is currently located at 1915 Fairgrove Church Road, SE and will need to be removed by City of Hickory personnel.

Budget Ordinances
1. Budget $116 of Local Government Revenue in the Police Department Overtime and Holiday line item. This revenue is payment from Catawba County Mental Health for a portion of an officer’s time spent when accompanying involuntary commitment patients.
2. To decrease the Parks and Recreations Miscellaneous Donations and Departmental Supplies line items by $1,782. Duplicate receipts for three 2011 Senior Games donations totaling $1,782 were inadvertently submitted and budgeted. Therefore a budget amendment is necessary to decrease the
increase to donations and departmental supplies.
3. Budget a total of $1,150 of donations in the International Council line item. Donations will be used to conduct the 2011 International Springfest event.
4. Re-appropriate $625 of General Fund Balance and budget in the International Council line item. There is a $625 balance of unspent Springfest funds that rolled into General Fund Balance at year end. Therefore, this amendment will reappropriate the $625 from General Fund Balance and budget in the FY10-11 International Council line item for the 2011 Springfest.
5. Increase the Hotel/Motel Occupancy Tax revenues and expenditures by $300,000 for the amounts expected to be received for the remainder of FY2011. The occupancy taxes are remitted to the Tourism Development Authority under General Statutes.
6. Appropriate $37,500 of Rural Fire District Designated funds and budget in the Rural Fire District Maintenance and Repair of Buildings line item. This amendment is needed to provide funds to pay for replacement of the original 60ft. by 78ft. metal roof that was installed in 1987.
7. Transfer $40,058 of Water and Sewer Contingency Fund to the Debt Service Loan line item to pay for the debt service payment for the Cripple Creek project.
8. Transfer $618 from the Police Department Training Uniforms line item to the Bureau of Justice Assistance Grant (BJA) project Uniforms line item. Vests purchased for the Police Department exceeded the approved grant allowance; therefore a transfer of $618 is needed to cover the grant shortfall.
9. Transfer $1,850 from the Police Department Seminar Registration line item to the Inter-Agency Gang Grant project Contracted Services line item. The Grant did not cover the costs of printed materials and food for the call in practice session; therefore a transfer of $1,850 representing the City of Hickory’s
contribution is needed.

Informational Items:
A. Attendance by City Manager Berry to the NCLM Regional Legislative Meeting Held in Newton, NC on April 13, 2011; registration - $20

New Business - Public Hearings:
1. Resolution Directing Street Improvement Project be Undertaken Along a Portion of 5th Street, SE- No. 01-11 - The City Clerk has received a petition from the owners of property along a portion of 5th Street, SE to install curb and gutter per Section 29-2 of the Hickory City Code. The signatures on the petition represent 100% of the property owners affected. The City Clerk has certified that the Preliminary Resolution adopted by the City Council on April 19, 2011 was mailed by first class mail on April 28, 2011
Chuck Hanson made the brief presentation and the council unanimously approved.
2. Presentation by Attorney Deborah Stagner of the Raleigh Law Firm Tharrington Smith on the Proposed Ward Boundary Map Based on the 2010 Federal Census Results and Approval of Resolution - At its April 5, 2011 meeting, City Council received an initial (Alternative 1) map showing ward boundary changes which would balance each ward’s population based on the 2010 census. City Council designated a subcommittee (Wright,Fox, Meisner) to analyze ward boundaries and recommend changes to City Council. Feed back from the Council meeting was used to develop alternative 2 and the subcommittee met in open session on April 26th. Alternative 2 wasfurther refined to keep Planning Commission members in their wards and take into consideration City Council member comments. Alternative 3 was developed and the subcommittee met in open session on May 6th. The subcommittee recommends alternative 3 for City Council to receive public input at the public hearing and consider adoption of the requisite resolution.

Mrs. Stagner's comments were only a reiteration of what has been mentioned in the pat on this blog and which I delved into yeaterday in the article - Ward Specific Elections and Representation in Hickory, North Carolina - The more interesting comments came from Attorney Allison Riggs, a staff attorney with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice in Durham, who speaks against the proposed ward redistricting proposed by a subcommittee of Hickory's City Council and submits a new proposal, while asking the council to consider a pure ward election in the future. She believes that this would be fairer towards minority interests. She is also interested in seeing a true Minority-Majority district. She speaks of the current system as a phantom Minority-Majority district. She cites statistics and submits a map of the proposed redrawn lines that would achieve these goals. In light of Mr. Riggs presentation the Council postponed making a desion and tabled this item until the next City Council meeting to be held on June 6, 2011.

Proposed New Ward Map - May 6, 2011 

The Hounds Comments are still valid and I would like to add that I was impressed with the preparation that the Citizens for Equity in Government brought forth with this attorney. This went right to the heart of the matter. It is ashamed that lawyers seem to be the only thing that brings attention to this council. Listen to the presentation below. It is a little over seven minutes long, but it explains the position of the minority community and reiterates why we really need Pure Ward voting in Hickory, if we want to see all areas of the city prosper in the future.

Ward Specific Elections and Representation in Hickory, North Carolina

Tomorrow night at the Hickory City Council meeting the issue of Ward Realignment will be addressed. The issue was first discussed at the City Council Meeting of April 5, 2011 by Deborah Stagner of the Law Firm Tharrington Smith.

Summarizing:  There is a constitutional requirement for one person one vote. Each electoral district (ward) must be substantially equal in population, so that each person's vote counts the same and therefore every 10 years after the official Federal census, governments are required to look at their districts and determine whether or not the lines need to be adjusted. 

The City Council must look at whether the process can be completed before the third business day before the filing deadline for the upcoming election. She is looking to adopt a resolution sometime in June. The filing opens on July 25 this year in the City of Hickory, and the wards must be drawn up three business days before that filing date begins. That means that this plan has to be in place by July 19, 2011. 

Each district does not have to be identical in size. Courts allow a reasonable variation amongst jurisdictions. The overall deviation between the smallest and largest districts should not be more than 10%. When looking at the current districts, the ideal number can be found by dividing the population of the city into the total number of districts. The population of the city of Hickory after the last census is 40,010 divided by six districts, which means that the ideal population for each district would be 6,668. In looking at the largest and the smallest districts in the city of Hickory, you see that there is more than 10% difference between the largest and smallest district. There's been a significant amount of growth in Ward 2 and a significant decrease in Ward 5. Ward 2 is 21% over the average and Ward 5 is 14% below the average. And adding this together, you see that there is a 35% deviation, which is far above 10% desired deviation.

Equity in Government: During the last City Council Meeting of May 3, 2011,  the Catawba County Democratic Party's spoke about their vison and in those statements they stated that they want to work together to build a community which respects diversity and they look to "hold government 1eaders accountable for their political actions and policies by insisting upon openness" in government.They believe that the poor and minority community in Hickory has no effective voice in city government due to a lack of representation on the City Council. They have respectfully requested the Hickory City Council to seek and implement ways to show greater sensitivity for the legitimate concerns of under-represented minorities in this community.

In their goal to Support the creation of a Minority-Majority Ward, the Democrat Party mentions that until 1970, city elections were ward based. In that year, Hickory instituted the modified at-large system for electing City Council members. They believe that this change has created an electoral system which eventually led to the under-representation of poor and minority citizens in elected positions and the modified at-large electoral system now in place essentially denies that possibility and thus insures that representative democracy is diminished in our community;

THE HOUND: I cannot disagree with the summarization of the Democrat party on this issue. Under the guidelines expected to be passed tomorrow night, the public is supposed to have a voice in this decision making process, but if one looks back to what happened last year with the City's swimming pools in Ridgeview and West Hickory, they will remember that citizens were supposed to have a voice in that decision also; but in the end they had no voice, because city officials highjacked the process and swerved it towards their own personally desired conclusion.

In my opinion, under this current situation, the right question is not being addressed. Remember from Mrs. Stagner's own address of Council, she stated that the goal of the legislation is to have one person - one vote. To me, that opens up another question. By the term vote are we suggesting that we are trying to create equal populations in wards as a way to meet a State governmental statute or are we trying to truly empower representation of individuals in each of the six wards of Hickory?

I Honestly believe that the minimum will be done to meet the threshold of criteria set forth by North Carolina General Statutes. And the goal of creating a Minority-Majority ward would not address the issues either. I sat in a room two years ago at the Candidates Forum at the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce in which a gentleman insisted that Hickory needs to go back to Ward specific voting. At that time, I disagreed with him and for the most part it was for selfish reasons. I had a personal interest in seeing Harry Hipps win Ward 6 and I knew that he could not defeat the incumbent if it came to a pure ward vote. I counted on the other wards' votes and for the most part those other wards did not show up. In the end my personal selfish interests showed the true dilemma that Hickory faces. In the end I was wrong.

What Hickory needs to see is Ward specific elections. Ward 6 should not be determining the person or interests that represent Ward 1 through 5 and Ward 1 should not be determining who represents Ward 2 through 6. The only general election should be for the Mayorship. Why? Because we have seen races in the past 40 years where the Ward has a primary in which one candidate wins the primary and then when they go to the general election they get blown out because of the heavy weighted turnout from another ward. That means that the specific ward isn't being represented by the person of their choice. They are being represented by the choice of another Ward. This has happened multiple times to Larry Pope in Ward 4 and it happened to Gary Ewing in Ward 2. 

We don't need to see multiple elections. We have a hard enough time getting turnout for one election. In the Ward 4 race two years ago, you had over 300 people show up for the primary and 77 people show up for the general election. If you have 1, 2, 3, or 4 candidates it should not matter. You can say that the person has to win by 50%-plus or a plurality plus 10% and that would make for a fair election (or then there is a runoff of the top 2). What we see dilutes the effectiveness of Ward Representatives. The Ward Representative would do best by winning over the people within their own ward. As it stands now, you can theoretically not talk to a single person in your ward or represent a single issue of your ward; but you can still win by going and talking up the issues that face other wards even when those issues don't represent (work against) the interests of your own ward. Does that make sense?

What my opinion is is that what entails our current local municipal election process (and subsequently governance) is not working. I do believe that much of our populace is not being fairly represented. It isn't about being a sore loser. It is about fairness. This isn't a Race issue to me, because if one looks at Ridgeview much of the African-American population has been dispersed throughout the city. Ridgeview and its immediate area is becoming more racially diverse. What I see is more of a socio-economic issue where the poor people in the community are not being represented. Look at the make-up of Council. I believe the people on Council do not have a clue how the poor to middle class citizens lives in this community. 

The people in Viewmont wouldn't want the people of the South Side of the tracks imposing their will or desires upon them and we know that the same can be said if the roles are reversed. This issue will not be settled by redrawing lines and adding a few residences here or there. In the last election only 2,300 people showed up to vote out of 27,000 registered. Would you consider that a success?

A healthy community wants people to vote. In the 2009 election, I believe that more than half of the voters came from 3 voting precincts in the City of Hickory. Those precincts represent the people who have most of their issues addressed by the Council. It is good that these people vote and they should not be ashamed or penalized for voicing their privilege and desires. But, what The City of Hickory needs to see is more people buy into the process of governance. Everyone in the city should be working together and looking out for each others interests. That cannot happen if we try and impose our will upon one another. That can only happen if the community meets at the table on an equal footing. Ward specific voting will not be perfect, but it will insure that the voices that represent the local neighborhoods (and their opinions) are listened to and understood and that is all that anyone should rightfully ask for.

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- May 15, 2011

4closurefraud Website - A website dedicated to the fraudclosure MERS issue


FDIC’s Bair: Millions of Foreclosures Could Be ‘Infected’ - Wall Street Journal - Alan Zibel - May 12, 2011 - The head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is warning that flaws may have “infected millions of foreclosures” and questioned whether other regulators’ inquiries into problems at the nation’s mortgage-servicing companies have been thorough enough... “We do not yet really know the full extent of the problem,” FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said Thursday in written remarks submitted to a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee. “Flawed mortgage-banking processes have potentially infected millions of foreclosures, and the damages to be assessed against these operations could be significant and take years to materialize.”


U.S. ‘Underwater’ Homeowners Increase to 28 Percent - Bloomberg - John Gittelsohn - May 10, 2011 - More than 28 percent of U.S. homeowners with mortgages owed more than their properties were worth in the first quarter as values fell the most since 2008, Zillow Inc. said today... Homeowners with negative equity increased from 22 percent a year earlier as home prices slumped 8.2 percent over the past 12 months, the Seattle-based company said. About 27 percent of homes with mortgages were “underwater” in the fourth quarter, according to Zillow, which runs a website with property-value estimates and real-estate listings...Home prices fell 3 percent in the first quarter and will drop as much as 9 percent this year as foreclosures spread and unemployment remains high, Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries said. Prices won’t find a floor until 2012, he said...“We get tired of telling such a grim story, but unfortunately this is the story that needs to be told,” Humphries said in a telephone interview. “Demand is still quite anemic due to unemployment and the fact that home values are still falling. And that tends to make people more cautious about buying.”


Foreclosure Filings Fall 34% as Banks Struggle With ‘Saturation’ - Bloomberg - Dan Levy - May 11, 2011 - Foreclosure filings in the U.S. fell 34 percent last month from a year earlier as lenders already swamped with seized homes delayed action on thousands of additional delinquent mortgages, RealtyTrac Inc. said... A total of 219,258 properties received default, auction or repossession notices in April, the fewest in 40 months, the Irvine, California-based data seller said today in a statement. It was the seventh straight month that filings dropped from a year earlier. They were down 9 percent from March. One in 593 U.S. households got a notice.


The covert bailing out of the commercial real estate industry by the Federal Reserve. How the Fed bails out ritzy hotels and empty shopping malls on the back of taxpayer dollars.- MyBudget360.com -  Part of the success that the Federal Reserve has achieved with boosting up large banks stems from its secretive ability to forge shadow bailouts of residential and commercial real estate loans.  The more secretive of the previous two comes from the commercial real estate (CRE) industry.  During the height of the housing mania in the United States CRE values were estimated to be worth $6.5 trillion.  A hefty sum no doubt and with $3.5 trillion in loans securing these properties, a significant cushion of equity was in place.  Yet with the crash in all real estate values, banks were left holding a smoldering portfolio of empty shopping malls, luxury hotels, and in some cases fast food outlets.  Today CRE values are estimated to be at $3 to $3.5 trillion putting many loans in a negative equity position reminiscent of many individual homeowners.  This issue of bailing out CRE was never discussed openly with the American people because it would have never carried any political muster.  So what the Federal Reserve accomplished was to create a system where banks were able to exchange toxic loans in place of U.S. Treasuries without taking up an open dialogue with the public.  In other words a clandestine bailout.



The People vs. Goldman Sachs - By Matt Taibbi - Rolling Stone Magazine - May 11, 2011 - A Senate committee has laid out the evidence. Now the Justice Department should bring criminal charges - They weren't murderers or anything; they had merely stolen more money than most people can rationally conceive of, from their own customers, in a few blinks of an eye. But then they went one step further. They came to Washington, took an oath before Congress, and lied about it... Thanks to an extraordinary investigative effort by a Senate subcommittee that unilaterally decided to take up the burden the criminal justice system has repeatedly refused to shoulder, we now know exactly what Goldman Sachs executives like Lloyd Blankfein and Daniel Sparks lied about. We know exactly how they and other top Goldman executives, including David Viniar and Thomas Montag, defrauded their clients. America has been waiting for a case to bring against Wall Street. Here it is, and the evidence has been gift-wrapped and left at the doorstep of federal prosecutors, evidence that doesn't leave much doubt: Goldman Sachs should stand trial. Video - Is Goldman Sachs above the law? - from Elliott Spitzer's TV Program - May 11, 2011


Countdown to Default - Is This the End of the Road? - Before It Was News - By Mike Whitney ~ Counterpunch.com - May 10, 2011 - Sometime in mid-May, the United States will hit the debt ceiling ($14.3 trillion) which is the legal limit that the country can borrow without congressional approval. If the ceiling isn't raised, the US will default on its debt and the government will begin to shut down. But that appears to be less likely now than it was a week ago because Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has implemented a plan that will pay off bondholders and keep the government operating until early August. Geithner's accounting maneuvers are designed to give the Obama administration and congress a little more time to hammer out the details on a final budget deal. But that's not going to be easy, because Democrats and Republicans are still far apart on the issue of spending cuts, and neither party is willing to give ground. And that's why Wall Street is so worried, because if a settlement isn't reached soon, the uncertainty is liable to roil markets and send stocks plunging.


Dollar in graver danger than the Euro- Axel Merk - The Financial Times - May 11, 2011 - In the US, the day investors come to accept the reality that inflation, rather than fiscal discipline, is the path of least political resistance may be the day the bond market won’t be as forgiving. Unlike the eurozone, where consumers stopped spending and started saving a decade ago, the highly indebted US consumer may not be able to stomach higher interest rates. The large US current account deficit also makes the dollar more vulnerable to a misbehaving bond market than the eurozone.


AMERICA IS BROKE AND BORROWING LIKE CRAZY - Frosty Wooldridge - NewsWithViews.com - May 5, 2011 - Back in 1965, the United States of America enjoyed the status of being the largest lender nation in the world. Today, America suffers the enigma of being the largest debtor nation on the planet... The U.S. government borrows in excess of $2 billion a day to float its false economy where manufacturing has been shipped off to China and every other country in the world...  Today, our $800 billion a year military budget wastes untold amounts of money that does nothing to keep Americans safe or secure.



Medicare, Social Security Funds Expiring Sooner, U.S. Says - National Journal - By Tim Fernholz - May 13, 2011 - The trust funds of Treasury bonds that provide back-stop funding for the programs will be exhausted sooner than anticipated: the Medicare hospital insurance fund will exhaust in 2024, five years sooner than expected, and the Social Security trust fund will expire in 2036, a year earlier than last projected. Social Security expenditures exceeded its tax receipts for the first time in nearly three decades last year with a deficit of $49 billion. The trustees project a similar deficit of $46 billion in 2011, largely the consequence of a weaker economy...    Economic conditions drove an even deeper near-term deterioration in the fiscal condition of Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which is now facing insolvency five years earlier than expected due to lower inflation-adjusted Medicare receipts as a consequence of sluggish economic growth.


The Fed and the Debt By Ron Paul - Lew Rockwell.com - May 12, 2011 -  I believe Congress should refuse to raise the debt ceiling. It would be one of the best things that could happen to this country. Congress finally would be forced to address the spending issue once and for all. Outlays would have to be covered by receipts, and Congress would have to get serious about eliminating unconstitutional government departments and programs. It is my hope that this hearing will help to examine the symbiotic relationship between the Federal Reserve's monetary policy and the Treasury's debt issuance, and I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses.


Treasury Auctions To Take US Over Debt Ceiling On Monday - Dow Jones Newswire - By Jeffrey Sparshott and Jeff Bater - May 13, 2011 - The Obama administration has asked Congress to raise the limit, warning that failure to act could lead the government to default by Aug. 2 and could spook investors even before then...  House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said Monday that any increase in the government's debt limit should be accompanied by trillions of dollars in spending cuts.


America Is Rapidly Bleeding Wealth And Jobs: 28 Statistics About The Gutting Of The U.S. Economy That Will Blow Your Mind  - endoftheamericandream.com - Red alert! Over 40 billion dollars of America's national wealth is being shipped out of the country every single month.  Our economy is being gutted and we are bleeding wealth and we are bleeding jobs.  This is a distress call.  Is anyone listening?  Thousands of our factories and millions of our jobs are being shipped overseas.  Over the past decade over 6 trillion dollars have been transferred into the hands of foreigners.  Our national government is so broke that they constantly have to go and beg those foreigners to lend us back some of that money in order to finance our exploding debt. The number of good jobs continues to decline and there are millions upon millions of my countrymen that are unemployed.  Can anybody help us? Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!


Barack Obama Is Wrong: 18 Facts Which Prove That Illegal Immigration Is An Absolute Nightmare For The U.S. Economy  - The Economic Collapse.Com - Barack Obama has declared that "immigration reform is an economic imperative", and is promising to do his best to get an immigration bill pushed through Congress this year.  But will "legalizing" all of the illegal immigration that has taken place over the last several decades improve the struggling U.S. economy or will it actually make our economic problems worse?  One of the favorite tricks of top politicians is to promise that the economy is going to improve if we just support what it is that they are currently pushing.  Hopefully the Americans people will not buy the nonsense that Obama is spewing.  The truth is that Barack Obama is wrong about the economic impact of illegal immigration.  Illegal immigrants don't do jobs that Americans "don't want" to do.  A million Americans recently showed up to apply for a job at McDonald's.  That is how desperate Americans are for work these days.  Please don't try to tell me that there aren't millions of Americans out there that would not pick fruit for minimum wage.  The millions upon millions of illegal immigrants in this country are stealing jobs, they are depressing wages in a whole host of industries and they are a huge factor in the erosion of the middle class.  Millions of middle class American families can't afford to provide for their families anymore and are losing their homes, drowning in debt or going bankrupt.  Rather than what Barack Obama is proposing (which is to essentially "legalize" illegal immigration), we need an immigration policy that makes sense and that protects American jobs.


SEC staff’s ‘revolving door’ prompts concerns about agency’s independence -  Washington Post - David S. Hilzenrath - May 13, 2011 - Until two weeks ago, Kayla Gillan was deputy chief of staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission, an agency whose duties include policing and regulating the accounting firms that audit public companies. Last week, PricewaterhouseCoopers announced that Gillan was taking a leadership role at the big accounting firm to work on regulatory issues... From Capitol Hill to academia and the SEC inspector general’s office, observers of the agency have voiced concern that the revolving door can make the SEC a more docile protector of the public interest.


Fraudonomics, What Will They Do To Defend It? - VisionVictory

Will 2011 be the last Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn?

The Greater Hickory Classic has been played at Rock Barn Golf and Spa since 2003. I think this tournament has been great for our area since its inception, but I don’t know that it has been given the support that it has truly needed and deserved to insure that it will continue on for the foreseeable future. There is a feeling amongst many people I have spoken with that this tournament has run its course. I certainly hope not, but what I am hearing, and what we are seeing, makes one pause to think that 2011 will be the last year for the tournament to be held here.

Now I know that it might not be popular to bring this subject up and I will probably catch some flack for running out ahead of the curve on this subject with this story, but I believe this article and this story needs to be told. The area’s Ostrich complex, in my opinion has done more damage than necessary, because it has allowed the public to be blindsided on many counts where it wasn’t necessary. Our local paper is only going to print what the Marketers of the Classic and the Powers That Be hand over to them. They certainly can’t ever be accused of doing any critical thinking. I am typing this because I want the public to know that it is important that we lose egos and work together to support important events that attract people to our area or we will lose those events.

I worked at Rock Barn, both full time and part time, as a Chef’s Assistant from June 2001 until August 2006. During this time period was when the Robert Trent Jones Jr. Golf Course was built, opened, and became the venue for the Senior PGA tour event. Rock Barn was a special place during that time. Youssef Amrani was the General Manager under the direction of Don Beaver (Rock Barn’s primary investor). Special things were being done to entice the public to visit and join the club and there was an excitement surrounding the operations.

Youssef wanted us to take pride in the club and he took care of those who worked under him in turn. At that time, public officials and business people felt like we had hit a bump in the road with the economy, but no one felt like we were headed towards the period of malaise that we slid into that has lasted for nearly a decade. Rock Barn hummed along during the early part of the last decade. We usually fed a hundred people in Alexander’s Grill at night and double that on the weekends. There were always multiple events taking place in the clubhouse every day and Sunday brunch was always a packed house. I don’t know if the club was making money during this period, but we certainly had a lot of people hanging around the place. During this time the spa was also built and received a lot of public attention.

Mr. Beaver took on the mission of supporting and growing the Rock Barn community and I am sure that he understood that challenges would lie ahead; but I know that he, nor anyone else, understood the burden that would beset the area and make it hard for entertainment and social operations to be viable due to the effects of the struggling economy and its correlation with the income of people in the local area. Clubs and many of the area’s finer restaurants have struggled over the past decade, because people have had to cut back. During the early part of the last decade, wealthy people could afford to be a member of all three local “County Clubs” (Lake Hickory Country Club, Catawba Country Club, and Rock Barn). With the slowdown in the economy, people have had to (or decided to) cut back. And they are going to remain at the club where their family has established roots. Most of these families have been members at Catawba or Lake Hickory for generations. The loss of memberships has hurt Rock Barn’s progress and caused the club to suffer due to inactivity.

I remember meeting Robert Trent Jones Jr. and speaking with him briefly about his course at a party that was held in his honor in 2002. This course is truly one of the best golf courses in America and has been nationally recognized as such. The other course, the Jackson Course, is also one of the nicest courses in the area and when I was a teenager I would play that course on a regular basis, but it is not considered to be a PGA level course. The Jones course is a signature golf course designed by one of the preeminent golf course designers in the world and as such I am sure that Mr. Beaver looked at its development as one of the defining achievements of his business career.

I remember the first tournament and how packed the tournament was and the energy that it created in the area. It received big time coverage by the major news outlets in Charlotte and the surrounding area. The event is a Champions Tour (Senior PGA) event and that is a second tier event in comparison to the PGA (regular) tour, but the Classic was lauded as one of the most prestigious venues on the tour at that time and it received positive reviews from many of the experts.

I have attended several professional golf events (multiple times) in the area including the Greater Greensboro Open, the senior event that was held during the 1990’s at the TPC Course at Piper Glen, and I have attended the Wachovia/Wells Fargo Event held at Quail Hollow. The Rock Barn event was every bit as nice as attending those tournaments. I know that when I worked there that we worked our tails off to put our best foot forward.

There have been rumors floating around over the last several years that the tournament has been winding down and would soon no longer take place. Mr. Beaver has sunk a lot of money into the tournament and I believe he wants to see it stand on its own two feet. He has been responsible for the appearance money to bring big time names and prize money to be paid out to the participants. That is just the reality of how one of these big events work, but every businessman wants to turn a profit, if not at least break even.

This event has been giving some much needed charity money to the area. It is a shell game to say that there were profits that could go to these charities. Let’s be honest, Mr. Beaver might as well have been cutting the checks and paying these monies to these charities himself. People need to realize that this golf tournament is an expensive proposition, but it has served a prominent position in the region over the last eight years and it would be ashamed to allow it to flame out. It should never have been taken for granted by our local community.

I don’t think it has been good for the event that it has bounced around the calendar over the last 8 years. It began by being played during the last week in September 2003 under perfect weather conditions. Then in 2004, it was played during the third week in August which made it a much hotter, more humid, venue. In 2005 and 2006, it was moved to the first week of October, then it was moved back to September in 2007, 2008, and 2009 and last year it was moved back to the first week in October. This year it will be played during the second week of June (June 6-12); because I believe that the event wasn’t secured until late, because of the loss of the one year Ensure (Nutritional Drink) sponsorship, and the later calendar date slots were already filled and this date was made available by the Champions Tour (Senior PGA) as a courtesy.

I have been told by several people that no communities other than the City of Hickory would give money for marketing the tournament, because the name Hickory is attached to the tournament. This event is directly beneficial to the local communities of Conover and Claremont, because that is where it is played. And people need to realize that this event has a direct economic impact on the entire region. I just cannot understand why communities in the region would want to cut their nose off in spite of their face, because of a word. I understand animosities associated with Hickory, related to past issues, but I can’t understand why these communities are unwilling to participate in an event that brings traffic, attention, and notoriety to our region. That is some self-defeating sabotage that relates to unchecked egos if I have ever seen it.

Our local economy is not good. I know that I am labeled a doom and gloomer for stating the obvious in the face of some of the Kumbaya, sunshine salesmen; but we need to honestly assess reality. We are always talking about this area being great because it is located so close to Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Asheville, and the High Country. This is an event that can (and does) bring people from those other areas to our community and that should be our goal. That creates value and makes this event a valuable commodity. It brings outside dollars into our community and that is something that we need to do more of, not less of, in this community.

I hope that we don’t lose this tournament. This is a unique event that brings notable people to our area and by God we need the attention. I certainly think that our community should make sure that we put our best foot forward and do whatever we can to support and maintain the event. I just hope that it’s not too late. If you ever planned to attend, but never found the time, I suggest that you find the time this year, because that time may never come again. We have lost a lot over the last decade in this community and I hope that this tournament is not lost, because of the status of our local economy. I certainly hope that I am wrong … that I either am wrong in my assessment of where this tournament stands or that the local communities will wake up to what this tournament means to our area and save it. All of the communities in the area should wake up and understand what we have in this commodity. If we do lose this tournament, then it is unlikely that we will see this level of a sporting event ever return again.

P.S. I hope that you will let me know what you think.

The Obsolete Man

In a totalitarian society, Romney Wordsworth is condemned to death for the crime of being a librarian, and he is subjected to the harangues of the state's Chancellor and his lectures about Wordsworth's obsolescence. Wordsworth, however, makes one final request - that he be allowed to choose his method of execution and that it be televised live to the society. The Chancellor agrees and later visits Wordsworth at his house, where he learns that Wordsworth has had tons of explosives rigged under the house to go off at midnight in full view of national television cameras. But as The Chancellor begins to leave, he finds he has been double-crossed by Wordsworth, and suddenly he must face Romney Wordsworth's terrifying vigil as the clock ticks down to the fateful period of midnight. Written by Michael Daly

The Hound - This episode of the Twilight Zone shows how we are all placed in the same fate in the end. Mr. Wordsworth is resigned to and accepts his fate and his acceptance brings him calmness, while the Bullying Chancellor thinks and holds himself in high esteem until his own life is brought into question.

Mr. Wordsworth feels like he has everything to gain by sticking to his core beliefs, because he has faith in his belief as an individual, while the Chancellor's values all rest upon an intangible "the State." "The State" does not give our lives value. We have to give our own lives value. The Chancellor finds this out the hard way in the end.

This story rings true in the World that this has become. This Empire of Darkness that is casting a shadow over all of us does not give our lives value. The Dark Forces of this World do not value life. This Force has the power to choose who lives and who dies. The humans involved in this force look upon themselves as leaders who are above the rabble. What if the shoe is on the other foot. What if decisions are made that affect them personally. That is the reason why we should not have endless wars and this security apparatus that is trapping and imprisoning our once free society should be rethought.

In the end the State does not empower us. We have to empower ourselves and if we are allowed to do so, then we can truly empower our society. I think that people have lost sight of the reason why the United States wanted to spread our national Value System. We wanted the people of this world to be free like we were, but now we have gone around the world as a truly Imperial Force and we aren't spreading freedom and love. We are aiming to hold onto "The United States of America" as a corporate interest by holding other nations captive and spreading fear. What if the shoe were on the other foot? I understand the problems we face with Religious Fundamentalism and Economic and Social Ideology, but can you not see that our aggression and occupation of foreign nations is not the same as the original intent to win people over and spread the values of freedom and liberty.

I pray that we get back to where we were as the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, but that anthem has just become a ritual to so many; just a song of symbolic words with no personal meaning for our present citizenry. Like the Pledge of Allegiance, do people ever look at the meaning of that pledge, which concludes with egalitarian principles rooted in freedom... with liberty and justice for all. That should be our goal not only for everyone in the United States. That should be the goal for the world.

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- May 8, 2011

Dollar Weaknesses Expected To Continue - The International Forecaster - May, 4, 2011 - Dollar weakness that has continued will continue. That is to make US goods cheaper and more saleable as exports, but the flip side is that imported goods are more expensive and that creates inflation. Such a policy is foolhardy versus foreign nations that have export advantages. Besides the US does not have the predominance of mass to compete on this level. If tariffs on goods and services were implemented that would be another story. That accompanied by a change in tax laws for transnational corporations, that would force them to return the $2 trillion they have offshore and pay normal taxation which would be very beneficial to solve tax, production and employment problems. Remember, we have lost about 9 million jobs over the past 11 years, as well as 440,000 businesses due to free trade, globalization, offshoring and outsourcing. Tariffs would level the playing field and leave no advantage to cheapening one’s currency, because it would be accounted for in their tariff structure. Having lost our export markets we have a jobless recovery that can never improve, nor can our balance of payments deficit and our increasing debt cause not only falling revenues, but falling job creation. This is just another artifice to try to stave off the inevitable. Lowering the dollar is not the answer. Having a level playing field is the answer.

Price fixing is an exercise in futility and so is a course of mandatory wage increases pursued to play catch up with runaway inflation. Even though higher numbers show sales growth they are misleading and only a reflection of higher pressing inflation. This is not economic growth; it is price inflation. Such an exercise is geared to keep people and business solvent, but in the long term it accelerates inflation and leads to worse problems down the road. The economy is exhibiting deterioration at the edges and that is to be expected for an economy that has been so badly misused. What is left of manufacturing is in decline and until the system is purged such deterioration will continue. It is not only the US, but also the UK and Europe that have followed the Keynesian course and then display suppression when inflationism overrides their systems. These governments are shortsighted and do not posses the strength to cut expenses and raise taxes. They will come slowly when it is to late. They do not seem to understand balance and sacrifice. Price regulation and wage controls are artificial answers and only expose economic decay and in time fail to work. This value distortion leads eventually to a barter type system, which is inefficient. Then again this would not be necessary if the currency system had not been abused as it had been. This is what happens to nations that wallow in debt in excess of 100% of GDP. The excuses are multifold but the results are always the same, and that is default. Those who created the system in which we are now enmeshed know exactly what they are doing. This game of controls and more money and credit only buys time to pick the right spot to pull the plug and begin another war. We can never understand how bankers can believe the system will collapse, but they remain immune. These same bankers have been in part responsible for current and future inflation and the proliferation of derivatives, which create a faux system within a system. Once these derivatives unravel they will create an explosion at the heart of the banking system. That will take out the top five banks in the US.

John Williams: Hyperinflation and Double-Dip Recession Ahead - Seeking Alpha - May 3, 2011 - Economic recovery? What economic recovery? Contrary to popular media reports, government economic reporting specialist and ShadowStats Editor John Williams reads between the government-economic-data lines. "The U.S. is really in the worst condition of any major economy or country in the world," he says. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, John concludes the nation is in the midst of a multiple-dip recession and headed for hyperinflation...

John Williams: S&P is noting the U.S. government's long-range fiscal problems. Generally, you'll find that the accounting for unfunded liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and other programs on a net-present-value basis indicates total federal debt and obligations of about $75 trillion. That's 15 times the gross domestic product (GDP). The debt and obligations are increasing at a pace of about $5 trillion a year, which is neither sustainable nor containable. If the U.S. was a corporation on a parallel basis, it would be headed into bankruptcy rather quickly...

(About the Media reporting a recovery) - JW: You're not getting a fair analysis. There's nothing new about that. No one in the popular media predicted the recession that was clearly coming upon us, and the downturn wasn't even recognized until well after the average guy on Main Street knew things were getting bad. We have some particularly poor-quality economic reporting right now. The economy has not been as strong as it advertised. Yes, there has been some upside bouncing in certain areas, but it's largely tied to short-lived stimulus factors... Let's look at payroll numbers and the way those are estimated. In normal economic times, seasonal factors and seasonal adjustments are stable and meaningful. What's happened is that the downturn has been so severe and protracted it has completely skewed the seasonal-adjustment process. It's no longer meaningful, nor are estimates of monthly changes in many series. The markets are flying blind — it's unprecedented, in terms of modern reporting... Are we really seeing a surge in retail sales? If so, you should be seeing growth in consumer income or consumer borrowing — but we're not seeing that. The consumer is strapped. An average consumer's income cannot keep up with inflation. The recent credit crisis also constrained consumer credit. Without significant growth in credit or a big pick-up in consumer income, there's no way the consumer can sustain positive economic growth or personal consumption, which is more than 70% of the GDP. So, you haven't started to see a shift in the underlying fundamentals that would support stronger economic activity. That's why you're not going to have a recovery; in fact, it's beginning to turn down again as shown in the housing sales volume numbers, which are down 75% from where it was in normal times

JW: The popular media have stated that the only time you have to worry about inflation is when you have a strong economy, and that a strong economy drives inflation. There's such a thing as healthy inflation when it comes from a strong economy. I would much rather be in an economy that's overheating with too much demand and prices that rise. That's a relatively healthy inflation. Today, the weak dollar has spiked oil prices. Higher oil prices are driving gasoline prices higher — the average person is paying a lot more per gallon of gas. For those who can't make ends meet, they cut back in other areas. The inflation of Q410, which is now running at an annualized pace of 6%, was mostly tied to the prices of gasoline and food... You also have higher food prices. It's not due to stronger food or gasoline demand — it's due to monetary distortions. Unemployment is still high, even if you believe the numbers. I'll contend the economy really isn't recovering. At the same time, you're seeing a big increase in inflation that's killing the average guy.



Number of the Week: Millions Set to Lose Unemployment Benefits - Wall Street Journal - April 30, 2011 - In the coming months, hundreds of thousands more will drop off the unemployment rolls. The number of people using up their regular 26 weeks of unemployment payments peaked in August 2009 at nearly 800,000 a month. That means a lot of people should be hitting their 99-week limit right about now. And unless Congress does something unexpected, more people with shorter bouts of unemployment will start joining them as the government phases out extended benefits next year.



U.S. Adds 244,000 Jobs in April, but Unemployment Rises - Clifford Marks - National Journal - May 6, 2011 - Although Friday's numbers certainly mark an improvement over previous reports, it will take another two and a half years before the economy reaches prerecession employment levels. How long after that it will need to add enough jobs to compensate for population growth will depend on how many people rejoin the labor force. Without question, it would be many more months... There are some other reasons for caution, says Heather Boushey, a senior economist at the left-leaning Center for American Progress. Average hours of work didn't increase, and wages, while up nominally, didn't really rise once adjusted for inflation. "This does give me pause," she said, adding that "we really need to be seeing job growth above 300,000 to be getting the unemployment rate down."

About 1 in 7 in U.S. Receive Food Stamps - Wall Street Journal - - May 3, 2011 - The number of food stamp recipients was essentially flat in February, the most recent month available, with 44.2 million Americans receiving benefits, according a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (See a sortable breakdown of the data here.)

Fannie Mae seeks $8.5 billion more in federal aid - After losing $8.7 first quarter of 2011 -   Associated Press - Daniel Wagner - May 6, 2011 - Combined with the bailout of sibling company Freddie Mac, the government expects their rescue to cost taxpayers about $259 billion. That money will cover the mortgage giants' losses on soured loans made in the midst of the housing bubble...  Fannie Mae, based in Washington, and Freddie Mac, based in McLean, Va., own or guarantee about half of all mortgages in the U.S., or nearly 31 million home loans worth more than $5 trillion. Along with other federal agencies, they backed nearly 90 percent of new mortgages over the past year... The Obama administration unveiled in February a plan to slowly dissolve the mortgage companies. The aim is to reduce the government's role in the mortgage market. Exactly how that would happen was left for Congress to decide... Whatever the outcome, it would reverse decades of federal policy aimed at encouraging Americans to purchase homes. Mortgages almost certainly would become more expensive.

Your monthly gasoline bill: $368.. - CNN Money - By Ben Rooney, staff reporter May 6, 2011

The study, which compared average gas prices with median incomes nationwide, also showed that U.S. households spent nearly 9% of their total income on gas last month... That's more than double what the average American family spent just two years ago, when gas prices were hovering around $2.05 a gallon.

My Own Time

My younger years were filled with turmoil, a lot of unrealized expectations, and lost opportunities. I am not ashamed of those years. Those years forged me in steel and gave me great resolve. I would not be who I am without living the life of turmoil I did in my youth, most of which wasn't attributable to me. It was all about the circumstances of life.

I hated school, but for a long time I tried to play by the rules and fit in, but I just didn't. I've always spent a lot of time in solitude, because I was the only son with very few immediate relatives and only a handful of friends. I have never been that gregarious individual who jumped in and took over a party and I never really cared to be that type of person. Those people always seemed to be so contrived.

When I was 15 and 16 years old, I went through some of the hardest personal times of my life, because my immediate family situation blew up. I came back to live in Hickory with my grandmother after living in Conover for 4 years. I was in No Mans Land, because of the circumstances. I didn't live where I went to High School and I really didn't associate with many people from High School until a group of us ended up taking a two year experiment at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk. That's a story in and of itself. During all of this time, I didn't focus on studies. I just did whatever I felt like doing, but none of it could be labeled as the deeds of a miscreant. More like the deeds of a loner.

Those years are etched on my mind this evening. I'm sitting here listening to Asia. Their initial self titled album is what they were remembered for. Four members of various progressive mega-bands brought together to form one band. At the time they were known to be the pioneer SuperGroup of that era.

I have listened to Asia ever since they were initially formed through their various lineups and phases. Every album they put out stands out. Most people only remember the initial group and younger generations don't even remember Wetton, Downes, Howe, and Palmer. To me this is some of the greatest Progressive Rock Pop ever. I love Pink Floyd and the stories they tell and their later albums always hold a special place with me, but Asia's stories and sound are very emotional and tell a great story that everyone can relate to.

In the time that I experienced the latter part of my tumultuous youth, the album Alpha was released in 1983 and hit close to home and was my favorite album. It is based upon the paradoxes of love, hope, faith, honesty, dishonesty, abandonment, jealousy, perseverance, betrayal, honor, loyalty, and being the underdog. You might not believe me, but maybe you should give the album a listen and then you will understand.

From that Album, the song titled "My Own Time" is my personal anthem. When I get low, I can always go back and give this a listen and center myself around its message. There are times when you are going to be all you've got and as long as you believe in yourself, then things will be fine. Most of the time things aren't going to work out or go the way that you want them to. We live in a world full of insanity and you cannot center yourself within the craziness. You have to think that jerks and sellouts can all go to hell. You don't have to conform to anyone's rules as long as you are centered within truth, honor, honesty, and loyalty.

It is a lot easier being honest. It is a lot easier keeping up with the truth. Liars always are figured out in the end. Liars can't keep up with their lies and given enough time the truth will always shine through. And then justice will be served, but that justice will not always provide solace, because life doesn't last forever and time is fleeting. But, if you can find peace within yourself and have faith, then time is truly on your side, because the insanity does not control you. Remember, you can always control the insanity by not participating in it.

And without further ado, I present My Anthem, My Own Time: