Newsletter about the City Council meeting of June 3, 2014

I began video recording the City Council in 2012, because of my desire that the City do it on their own as any modern 21st century community began doing long ago. I had people tell me that they couldn't make it to the meetings, but they would like to see what is going on. I was also told by some council members that my summaries did not truly reflect the record, so having a video/audio recording cannot be misinterpreted.

So below is the City Council meeting. With each agenda item, you can click on the links and it will take you to that specific point in the meeting. You can always drag the marker on the video display to the point in the broadcast that you are interested in seeing.

Agenda about the City Council meeting of June 3, 2014

Thoughts about the Hickory City Council meeting - June 3, 2014




Invocation by Rev. Antonio Logan, Pastor Friendship Baptist Church

Persons Requesting to be Heard

Mr. Cliff Moone, appeared before Council in an official role as the Chairman of the Democratic Party. On the April 27th meeting of the Executive Committee of the Democratic Party, a motion was made after some very edifying discussion about Inspiring Spaces initiative, and passed unanimously, to state that the citizens of Hickory should be allowed to vote on a bond referendum before or against the Inspiring Spaces concept. He stated that he was required to bring that before Council.

Mr. James Thomas Shell, addressed Council.  
                                       -  In the Chamber - JT Shell speaks to council


Consent Agenda: Passed unanimously with the exception of Item G, which was postponed to a later date.


New Business - Public Hearings
1. Voluntary Satellite Annexation of 1218 Bugle Lane. - Mr. Jeremiah Turbeville, and wife Tanya Turbeville have submitted a petition for the voluntary satellite annexation of .479 acres of property

2. City Manager’s FY2014-2015 Recommended Annual Budget. - Pursuant to NC General Statutes §159-12(b), a public hearing shall be held before adopting the budget ordinance. This public hearing was advertised in a newspaper having general circulation in the Hickory area on May 24, 2014.

*** Link to the Video of City Manager Budget Presentation
*** Link to the Council Discussion of the proposed Tax Increase (rejected)    

          *** City Manager's Proposed Budget presentation from May 20, 2014


New Business - Departmental Reports:
1. Mack McLeod, Presentation of Zahra’s Tree House. - As part of the City’s fully-accessible Zahra Baker All Children’s Playground, a tree house was conceived to add tremendous value to the facility at Kiwanis Park.  Steve Aaron Fundraising Chairman

2. Vacant Building Revitalization and Demolition Grant for Holbrook Landscaping for Property Located at 2146 Highland Avenue. - Holbrook Landscaping, LLC has applied for a Vacant Building Revitalization Grant in the amount of $30,000 to assist in the renovation of a former mill building

3. Citizen Briefing - The City Manager and Assistant City Manager Andrea Surratt are briefing
citizens as neighborhoods, businesses, civic and general public meetings.

Citizen Review - Power Point Presentation 
Ridgeview Citizen Review - Thoughts about the Ridgeview Citizen Review meeting
Citizens Briefing Presentation - 04/29/2014
20140603 - Hal Row 's First Talk - Budget, Inspiring Spaces, & Bond Referendum



General Comments
Alderman Meisner commented that he and Alderman Lail; that Council had appointed through the MPO, had their meeting last week, and three good projects vaulted to the top of the list. Lenoir-Rhyne Boulevard is going to get a new northwest quadrant turn. The area where everybody has to turn left, west, now they will be moving around. Also, the 321 bridge, 171 million dollars.  
Mayor Wright commented that needs to be the priority.
Mayor Wright announced Tastin’, Tunes & Tomatoes, every Thursday from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm, Farmers Market. It will include Yoga on the Square, Painting on the Square, Wildskeins Yarn and
Soaps. He stated that former City Councilwoman Sally Fox had requested this public announcement.
Mayor Wright commented that we had the honor of being named one of the top ten cities in North
Carolina to live. It was by an organization called Credit Donkey. We were listed 9th for all of the
reasons that we know, many of the reasons we know this is a great place to live. Short commutes, low random crime. Number 9, we are in company with places like Asheville and many others that are enviable. He was in Raleigh on Sunday and read the Raleigh paper. There was an interested article on Rocky Mount. He encouraged everyone to google it and to read the article, and it would give you a flavor for another city that is going through many of the things that we have only, believe it or not, the outcomes for them has been worse than we have had. Alderman Seaver commented that in his observance of the Zahra Baker playground, nobody worked any harder than Mayor Wright of getting that to happen.
Mayor Wright commented that he is so proud. When we think of Zahra Baker, and that tragedy, we now think of something very pleasant, and not a roadside monument.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hound Note: Nothing to add. There has been plenty of info provided in association with this meeting and the various subjects over the last several days. Click on the links. Do your research. There is plenty to see here. This was a very complex meeting on a lot of levels. Plenty of layers to the onion to discover here.

20140603 - Hal Row 's First Talk - Budget, Inspiring Spaces, & Bond Referendum

The following are two interviews of Hickory City Officials on 1290 WHKYam Radio's First talk program with Hal Row. The  first part is a segment called "Get Hip to Hickory" and it occurs every Wednesday morning. Hal speaks to Dana Kaminske, who is Hickory Inc.'s Assistant Communications Director, about what occurred at the previous night's City Council meeting.

Ms. Kaminske talks about the 2014-15 budget and the rejected 2¢ property tax increase. She talks about the upcoming Bond Referendum and the Inspiring Spaces initiative.


The second part is from the second hour Of Hal's June 3rd program in which he speaks with City Manager Mick Berry and Assistant City Manager Andrea Surratt about the Inspiring Spaces initiative and the proposed upcoming Bond Referendum, which will take place in November.

WHKY does not archive these programs and make them available to the public, so I am putting this important public interview up under Fair Use guidelines.


Dana Kaminske




Mick Berry and Andrea Surratt




Previous Discussions involving Inspiring Spaces and the Bond Referendum
Citizen Review - Power Point Presentation 

Ridgeview Citizen Review - Thoughts about the Ridgeview Citizen Review meeting

Citizens Briefing Presentation - 04/29/2014

20131217 - Overview of Concept Plan: Main Av Presented by Assistant City Manager Andrea Surratt

Thoughts about the Hickory City Council meeting - June 3, 2014

1) My (JT Shell) Persons requesting to be Heard speech before the City Council

*** Link to the Video

Hound Notes: Why did I write this? Because of some of the things I have witnessed in participating in the Body Politic of our area. Anyone who does not toe the Hickory Inc. company line eventually finds themselves being demonized by the true extremists. We can't have a vigorous debate about the community without some people hitting below the belt and going after others personal lives... 

And I think that it is ridiculous to have members of Hickory Inc. push forward a notion that the newbies to the area know better than the people who have been here. I'm not saying that people have to be born and bred here to know what is going on. What I am saying is that the people who were here before the year 2000 know how successful this community was economically. This area was pushed forward in publications as a beacon and then all of that fell apart. We, who have been here, know that the loss of our industrial base (furniture, textiles, and fibre-optics) is what has decimated this community's economic structure. The people who have moved in here haven't a clue about that.

Many of the new folks think that this is supposed to be a retirement community, because that was what the local Powers That Be pushed forward with the Foresight Commission back in the early to mid 2000s . The efforts made in relation to that report coordinated efforts to market the area heavily to retirees and made no efforts to market, or even maintain, towards the younger demographics. The efforts in relation to bringing the older demographics here did not take into account the necessary balance of demographics necessary to maintain the local economic ecosystem. 

The population was already aging here in the Hickory Metro. We replaced population lost from the losses of industry, but we traded an economically dynamic younger demographic population with an older demographic population; which tends to be winding down as consumers with limited upside economically, because they are on fixed incomes and their wealth has shrunk further due to the economic downturn that began in 2008. Most of the new folks to the area are those retirees that were basically recruited to come here. They think this area was built for them, because that is what they were sold on. Even many of the younger people, as few as there are, who have been recruited here, were recruited under this retiree model and think that is what this area is all about. We have seen the tangible negative consequences of that economic structure. This is not the fault of the new people that have moved to the area. They do however need to understand the mistakes that have been made and why it is in their interest to change our economic model towards something with sustainable growth.


2) No Tax increase in Hickory this year

*** Link to the Video of City Manager Budget Presentation
*** Link to the Council Discussion of the proposed Tax Increase (rejected)

Hound Notes: I am/ We are constantly addressed about how things don't happen behind closed doors and behind the scenes with this Council. Well, here is the link to Hal Row's show from Monday Morning where the Mayor spills the beans about what is going to happen on this night. In witnessing what happened the other night, it defies logic to believe that there was no communication about this subject before the meeting. It is also 100% related to the referendum, moving the Hickory Inc. agenda forward, and the future electability of the council members. It isn't about looking out for the wallets of the public.

*** Hal Row show, Mayor says he does not support a tax increase this year.         

***  20140601 - Monday Morning Meeting with the Mayor

Hound Notes:  Scott Bryan of the Hickory Daily Record was doing a play-by-play on Twitter the other night and he came to much of the same conclusions that I was coming to -- the paving money is necessary and it makes no sense to lump it in with the bond referendum. One of Scott Bryan's Twitter followers said, "@HDR_Scott They hem-&-haw over tax hike for real needs, but when the baseball team wanted ballpark upgrade $, they were all for it." I appreciated what @HDR_Scott said here, "If this building was on fire and a tax increase would put it out, I don't think Hickory City Council would approve it."

If they have a shortfall, then they are now going to have to use money from the unfunded balance (ie the Rainy Day Fund/Savings). Lumping the paving money into the Bond Referendum sure seems like an attempt to cajole the public into voting for the whole Enchilada that is the Bond Referendum for their Inspiring Spaces fund... and they speak volumes about the political dynamics involving the situation. Everyone basically agreed that they cannot raise the tax rate 2¢ now going into the vote on the referendum and then turn around and raise the tax rate again next year and in the future to get to the 10¢ that they need. Also, the values of property have fallen in the area. Assessments in Catawba County are going to be lower for the upcoming year. Tax rates are going to have to rise in order to get back to revenue neutrality. Hmm... where have you read this before?

Thoughts about last night's Hickory City Council meeting - May 6, 2014 - Check out item 3

Hickory Inc. had to take a different tact and not raise taxes before the referendum, but it is already seen that by one way or another that they are definitely (99%) raising taxes next year and going forward to pay for these projects. The only tax they are apparently looking at is the property tax, when every one of the communities they have been to, that they want to take parts from in transforming Hickory, have Business Improvement District taxes. The proposed Downtown Sidewalk should be paid for by Downtown Interests, because the benefit to the businesses there far exceeds the benefit to the general public.

I am not against all of these efforts. I am concerned about the administration of these efforts and the coordination, prioritizing, and accountability going forward in relation to the Inspiring Spaces initiative.


3) Zahra's Playground at Kiwanis Park Treehouse presented by Parks and Rec Director Mack McLeod

*** Link to the Video

4) City Manager Mick Berry presents a Citizen Review to the Council

*** Link to the Video

Citizen Review - Power Point Presentation 
Ridgeview Citizen Review - Thoughts about the Ridgeview Citizen Review meeting
Citizens Briefing Presentation - 04/29/2014

No Tax increase in Hickory this year

The Mayor and the Council voted unanimously to not raise taxes this year. The consensus is that they didn't want to go into the Bond Referendum with a tax increase and then have to ask for another tax increase. Road paving will move forward with the monies coming from the unfunded balance (the rainy day fund). They will take their chances on the operational costs shortfalls (revenue uncertainty) and any shortfall will also come from the unfunded balance built into the General Fund.

In the Chamber - JT Shell speaks to council

My Persons requesting to be heard speech before the City Council:

Thank You Council,

I hope you will be patient with me. I will be as brief and courteous as possible. I am not up here tonight to tell you what to do. That would be a silly, futile endeavor. I am only here to express my opinion.

I am not a Friend of Hickory. I am part of the blood and the fabric of Hickory. I was born two blocks from here at Hickory Memorial. My Mammaw Shell was one of the lead nurses there. Ben Goodman Sr. was my Doctor from the time I was born until he retired and his family was good friends of both sides of my family.

One of my most vivid memories as a child was being in the Medical Arts Clinic, because I had been infected with poison ivy. I told Mammaw that I wasn't going to get a shot and she said I wouldn't have to. Well Doctor Abernathy was there, not Dr. Goodman, and he wanted to give me a shot. Well, his nurse pulls out a needle about this long and I took off running. By the time my grandmother caught me I was six blocks away over on the other side of Lenoir-Rhyne. I know how small Old Hickory was, and living in the St. Stephens area most of my life, I know how big it could be. I know the potential there. Potential that has never really been tapped into. Why? Because the focus has always gone back to the wealthiest areas of this community.

I have been accused of being an enemy of Union Square when I knew that place intimately growing up. I understand it's easier to label others than to try to understand where they are coming from. We all do that to a certain extent. My Pappaw Shell was the switch operator at the depot, before he became a clerk at Hickory Chair, and he took me to see the last passenger train stop at the depot back in the mid 70s. My mother was a personnel recruiter and she worked in the building above McGuire's pub for several years. My family bought our clothes at Spainhour's and Zerden's. My grandfather Padgett bought me food and magazines at the original Post Office BBQ. My other grandmother Mattie Padgett, who is nearly 92 years old, and not in good health these days, was a radio personality for years at WIRC. For years I wondered why people would call her Lillianne and then she did the swap shop until she retired at the age of 75. I can go on and on. but no one can honestly say that I don't know or understand Hickory?

That coffee table at the Snack Bar that you chat at Mr. Mayor, I used to sit there occasionally with my Grandfather Vic Padgett and others. I am not foreign to the good ole boy shootin' the bull that takes place in Hickory.

Unfortunately, I take umbrage at something that Alderman Lail said at the last city council meeting. To paraphrase, he said that the people, the transplants, who have moved here have a better idea of what Hickory is all about than the long time residents.

Now, I've known Brad since we were 14 years old. He might not know that his uncle and my uncle were roommates at Chapel Hill for a time. His grandparent's store was two blocks from my grandparent's house over off Sandy Ridge road. Our families have connections like many of the long time residents of the area. Some of us have been financially more fortunate than others -- congratulations -- and some of us have the perspective of the struggle that are these times -- no congratulations are necessary.

These people that have moved here are more socially and politically malleable than the long time residents who remember what an economically dynamic, hustling-bustling Hickory was like to live in -- it wasn't Quaint. You mistake these people's conformity with what y'all are pushing as some kind of higher calling from those who must know better.

Folks, they are going along to get along with a desire to fit in and tap into the power structure. A gentleman a couple years ago talked about showing the council an "attitude of gratitude" to get them to be more receptive to your interests. Folks, it doesn't matter how congenial you are. If your interests don't fall in line with many of these council people, then you will be pushed to the side. That can be done with a smile, if you just accept the way things are, or you can be painted as a heretic and called evil as some of us have been. If you push back and try to achieve an economic, social, ultimately political transformation, it can yield negative consequences to your personal wellbeing.

This brings me to one final thought, the "Friends of Hickory", which seems to have been formed of, by, and for the Hickory Inc. Power Structure in response to another group that has attempted to be agents to move this community forward towards a tangible 21st century conventional reality. If you believe that the Citizens for Equity in Government movement is the Enemy of Hickory, then you are very much misguided.

I have to admit I am a bit envious of the Friends of Hickory Incorporated, when I see how charmingly they have been treated; especially in comparison to how I have seen others treated. In the end, I say welcome to the arena, because any community organizing endeavor will help move this community forward. We should all work together when possible, but that doesn't mean that we should not have a vigorous debate regarding how this community moves forward.

I am sorry if I have offended anyone with what I have said here; not really. I am an American. I have a responsibility and a legacy to carry on to be free and brave and express myself.

20140601 - Monday Morning Meeting with the Mayor

The following is the interview of Mayor Rudy Wright on 1290 WHKYam Radio's First talk program with Hal Row.

WHKY does not archive these programs and make them available to the public, so I am putting this important public interview up under Fair Use guidelines.

The Mayor talks about the proposed budget for 2014-15 and the upcoming referendum. He talks about the proposed 2¢ tax rate increase and possibly making the 1¢ tax rate increase designated for road paving a part of the upcoming bond referendum. He says we should take our chances on the 1¢ tax rate increase associated with operational costs (he says revenue uncertainties). In summary, he says he does not support a tax increase this year.

He says to leave it all up to the voters in the Bond Referendum and next year "we" will decide whether we need the money for paving and revenue uncertainty. The Mayor says that they have $25 million of the bond devoted to transportation and $15 million devoted to the Business Park and other tangible economic development.  He says that the there are people in favor of doing this now (as I told you). The Mayor associates the tax rates of 1¢ for paving and 1¢ revenue uncertainties and 4¢ for general improvements (Manager Berry's numbers from last year). The Mayor says that this would aggravate the voters. The Council IS going to make this happen "as much as possible" to the greatest extent possible either through the bond referendum or other revenue sources...  most of the council is in favor of doing this up front.

Then in the next segment the Mayor starts talking about 8¢ associated with the $40 million Bond Referendum (that goes right to the heart of the numbers I discussed with you two weeks ago = 8¢ for Inspiring Spaces + 1¢ for paving + 1¢ for operational costs = 10¢). 

Listen and fill free to comment.

Hound Notes: The Mayor is obviously a government guy. I've read and heard these people talking about buckets. Let's talk about double dipping or double counting. There is one freaking bucket and that is all of the revenue taken in by Hickory Inc. It doesn't matter how you divide it up or dole it out, at the end of the day it is the total amount of revenue under Hickory Inc.'s control. You take out a $40 million loan, then you have $40 million to spend as you see fit today, but that $40 million comes out of the capacity of future budgets. Hickory can't run at a deficit like the Federal Government. At the end of each year Hickory Inc. has to reconcile its books.

They can talk all day long about the Bond money. It cannot be separated out. At the end of the day you are borrowing that money against future revenues. So when it's time to pay off those bonds, you will have to either cut expenses from the budget or you will have to raise revenues through some sort of taxing mechanism in order to pay back the borrowed money. It isn't "raise property taxes" OR sell bonds. It is raise property taxes TO pay back the bond money. The Bond money isn't some kind of magic source of money.

It is ridiculous to talk about the paving money being part of the bond referendum. That additional money is needed from here on out. The projects as defined by and associated with this referendum are finite and will eventually end. We will always have to have roads paved and maintained in this community. Also, the Mayor can talk about our roads not being worse than other communities, that isn't why people are upset. People are looking at the roads now compared to what they were here 10 or 20+ years ago and saying they are awful. The cost of materials (petroleum) has risen and it is obvious that Hickory Inc. has been forced to cut corners here.

So, what it all comes down to is 1) is investing millions in these projects worth it,  2) what are the tangible benefits, 3) do we have the right people making the decisions about the priorities, and/or 4) are there mechanisms in place to assure accountability in association with this spending to ensure that this doesn't turn into a debacle like we saw with "the Sails" project.

Each of these projects need to be cut up into small definable, self contained segments. That way if the Council, now or later, finds the community in a bind due to these economically uncertain times that we live in, then they can pull back without these projects becoming an eyesore of unfinished business. Interest rates may be historically low today, but nothing says that they will be five or seven years from now. The reason I bring this up is because the $40 million will not be procured all at once, as City Manager Berry has stated in other venues, it will be procured in multiple tranches through the issuance of the authorized bonds over the next 5 to 7 years.

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- June 1, 2014

U.S. Gasoline Consumption Plummets By Nearly 75% - Bullion Bulls Canada - Jeff Nielson - May 25, 2014 - Regular readers are familiar with my narratives on the U.S. Greater Depression, and (in particular) some of the government’s own charts which depict this economic meltdown most vividly. The collapse in the “civilian participation rate” (the number of people working in the economy) and the “velocity of money” (the heartbeat of the economy) indicate an economy which is not merely in decline, but rather is being sucked downward in a terminal (and accelerating) death-spiral.                        However, even that previously published data, and the grim analyses which accompanied it could not prepare me for the horror story contained in data passed along by an alert reader. U.S. “gasoline consumption” – as measured by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) itself – has plummeted by nearly 75%, from its all-time peak in July of 1998. A near-75% collapse in U.S. gasoline consumption has occurred in little more than 15 years.                      Before getting into an analysis of the repercussions of this data, however, it’s necessary to properly qualify the data. Obviously, even in the most-nightmarish economic Armageddon, a (relatively short-term) 75% collapse in gasoline consumption is simply not possible. Unless we were dealing with a nation whose economy had been suddenly ripped apart by civil war, or some small nation devastated by a massive earthquake or tsunami; it’s simply not possible for any economy to just disintegrate that rapidly, without there being some ultra-powerful exogenous force also at work.                         So how can this raw data, produced by the government itself, be explained? To begin with; the government chooses to measure U.S. gasoline consumption in a very odd manner: by measuring the amount of gasoline entering the domestic supply-chain rather than by measuring actual consumption at the other end of the supply-chain – i.e. “at the pump”...

Hound's Note : Check out the chart below from the article above, which goes to the point of what Mr. Nielson is trying to convey. It relates to the Velocity of Money Circulation in the United States and shows that we are in a full on Depression. Followers of this site will know that is what I have been calling it for years. We had a first leg down in 2008. The economy peaked in the middle of 2006 and began to turn down in 2007 until it fell off the cliff in 2008. Stimulus was put into the economy with the arrival of the Obama administration. You can see a slight uptick in the economy in the second quarter of 2009 that lasted until the fourth quarter of 2010. Since 2011 we have been down every quarter (to historic lows) in the measure of the velocity of money, which is the circulation of U.S. dollars... 

(Wikipedia) is the frequency at which one unit of currency is used to purchase domestically-produced goods and services within a given time period.^[3] In other words, it is the number of times one dollar is spent to buy goods and services per unit of time.^[3] If the velocity of money is increasing, then more transactions are occurring between individuals in an economy.^[3] Although once thought to be constant,^{[citation needed]} it is now understood that the velocity of money changes over time and is influenced by a variety of factors.^[4]                        When the period is understood, the velocity may be presented as a pure number; otherwise it should be given as a pure number divided by time.^{[citation needed]}




Analysts predict most employer-provided insurance will disappear as ObamaCare takes hold - Fox News - Jim Angle - May 31, 2014 - Across the political spectrum, analysts now say that 80 to 90 percent of employer-provided insurance, the mainstay of American health coverage for decades, will disappear as ObamaCare takes hold.                 The research firm S&P IQ predicts less than 10 percent of those who get insurance at work will still get it there ten years from now....                  
Former Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Holtz-Eakin said,"you could give them more, so after taxes they end up with the same and the math says you still come out ahead. And so employers have been doing this math ever since the law passed. I expect for them to get to the exits pretty quickly."                         Employers would also get rid of the headache and uncertainty of providing insurance, he noted. "Most people are not in the health insurance business they are manufacturers, exporters, they are service providers. And they would rather stick to that than worry about health insurance."                         So employers can offer more pay to workers, pay the fine and still come out ahead, while workers would still get health care.                  The only losers in all this would be the federal deficit and taxpayers, since many workers going into ObamaCare would qualify for subsidies, driving up the cost.


The Middle Class Will Die Within 30 Years Leaving "A Wealthy Elite & Sprawling Proletariat" - Zero Hedge - Tyler Durden - May 28, 2014 - If we continue down this path of ignorance, we will be left with a "tiny elite and a huge sprawling proletariat" who have no chance of "clawing their way out of a hand-to-mouth existence," is the loud and clear message from UK government advisor David Boyle. As The Telegraph reports, Boyle cautions, "we won't own our own homes, we won't be able to afford it," adding that "we cheerled the rise of property prices not realising that it would destroy, if not our own lives, but the lives of our children." His conclusion, "the middle classes have to wake up to prevent it happening and to create a political movement that will do it."

Authored by Sarah Knapton via The Telegraph,
The middle classes will die out within 30 years because of rising property prices, which will rob today's children of their dreams, an economist has warned.                  David Boyle, a government advisor and fellow of the New Economics Foundation think-tank, said that youngsters can no longer expect the same level of affluence as their parents.                      Speaking at the Hay Festival he warned that Britain will be left with a ‘tiny elite and a huge sprawling proletariat’ who have no chance of ‘clawing their way out of a hand-to-mouth existence.’                    He predicted that the average house price will reach £1.2 million by 2045, putting a home beyond the range of most people as wages fail to keep up with huge increases.                     Boyle said that the traditional middle classes will need three or four jobs just to be able to pay soaring rents. People will no longer have the space or time to pursue cultural interested.                      And he blamed bankers bonuses for artificially inflating the property market.

Few workers confident of easy retirement - USA Today - Nanci Hellmich - May 30, 2014 - ... Only 28% of U.S. workers are "very" or "extremely" confident that they'll one day fully retire with a comfortable lifestyle; a third are "somewhat" confident.             And 19% of workers globally have high confidence levels that they'll have a comfy retirement, with the greatest percentage of people feeling that way in China (41%) and the lowest rates in France (6%) and Poland (4%), according to the survey of 16,000 workers and retirees in 15 countries in Europe, North America, South America and Asia. The survey was commissioned by the non-profit Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies and the Dutch insurance company Aegon.                 "Retirement systems vary by country, yet we all have in common an aging population and a need for people to take on more personal responsibility for long-term financial security," says Transamerica Center President Catherine Collinson. "Workers around the world face the increasing need to save, plan and self-fund a greater portion of their own retirement."...
  

GDP Report Is Far Worse Than It Looks | John Rubino

John Rubino says that no US GDP report is complete without an explanation from the Consumer Metrics Institute of how Washington is fooling us. The latest one is even scarier than usual:
There are a number of disturbing items in this report:

-- Even at first glance this is not a good report. Although the headline number itself says "stagnation," in the context of earlier reports it shows an economy in dynamic transition from lackluster growth towards outright contraction. The overall headline number is down 2.5% from the prior quarter and down 4% from the next earlier quarter. These are significant changes, with the prior quarter's trend extended and the downward slope intensifying.

-- Private commercial investment dropped substantially, led by reduced outlays for residential construction, transportation equipment and IT infrastructure.

-- The year-long 2013 cycle of inventory building has come to an end. Over an extended time period inventories are mostly a cyclical zero-sum game, with excessive growth or contraction over any period being corrected (i.e., reversed) during a subsequent period. Moving forward we should expect that inventories will continue their cyclical contraction, with negative consequences to the headline number.

This video was originally published on May 5, 2014 and re-posted with permission from http://FinancialSurvivalNetwork.com