Tag Archives: Welfare-Warfare State

Truth From The Treasury Secretary: Social Security at Risk

Posted on by

EPJ13

“He is only talking here about the problems that political gamesmanship between Democrats and Republicans might temporarily cause in the Treasury selling debt. But the danger is the same, if not greater, when markets won’t allow the Treasury to raise funds at cheap rates. It will mean cutbacks in Social Security and other entitlement programs or it will mean the Federal Reserve stepping in and printing more money to buy the Treasury securities that no one else will want. Either way, it won’t turn out well for the retirees who depend on Social Security, either there will be immediate cutbacks or price inflation will cut into the purchasing power of the payments.”

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2013/08/truth-from-treasury-secretary-social.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Treasury chief says U.S. again perilously close to breaching the debt ceiling

Posted on by

“Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew urged Congress on Thursday to raise the US borrowing ceiling, warning that not doing so could jeopardize Washington’s creditworthiness and raise fears of a default. With the US closing on the point where spending will surpass available funds, Lew said it was crucial for Congress to raise the debt cap as soon as it comes back into session at the beginning of September. Failure to raise the ceiling would force cuts to many parts of the government, including the military and social security benefit payouts, and ‘have disastrous effects for our nation,’ Lew told an audience in Mountain View, California.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/22/treasury-chief-says-u-s-again-perilously-close-to-breaching-the-debt-ceiling/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Bond Funds Lose $30.3 Billion in August in Big ‘Shift’

Posted on by

“The withdrawals for the month through Aug. 19 are already the third-highest on record, following $69.1 billion of withdrawals in June and $42 billion in October 2008, according to a report dated yesterday by TrimTabs Investment Research in Sausalito, California. Bond funds have suffered $4 billion in redemptions this year, on pace for the biggest withdrawals since investors pulled $7 billion in 2004.  The prospect of losses in the fixed-income market and rising rates have spurred investors to retreat after pouring $1.2 trillion into bond mutual funds and ETFs from 2009 through 2012.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-21/bond-funds-see-30-3-billion-of-august-withdrawals-as-rates-rise.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

The Grand Experiment Part 2: Unlimited State Creation of Credit and Cash

Posted on by

“Creating money and credit simply creates more claims on existing real-world resources–it doesn’t create new wealth or resources. When those claims vastly exceed the underlying wealth/resources, the system of credit and currency claims will implode.  Borrowing and printing $10 trillion hasn’t fixed anything; it has only raised the reservoir of risk to the top of the dam. Cracks are opening as the pressure builds, and we should not be surprised when risk and consequence reconnect and the dam gives way.”

http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-grand-experiment-part-2-unlimited.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

The Grand Experiment: Offloading Risk onto the State

Posted on by

CHS9a1

“We presume the state is so large and powerful that a virtually limitless amount of risk can be piled onto the state with no consequences.  Offloading risk onto the state does not make the risk vanish; it simply concentrates the risk of collapse into the state itself. From the historical perspective, concentrating virtually all systemic risk into the state is a Grand Experiment. Cheap, abundant oil, expanding working-age populations and rapidly increasing productivity conjured the illusion that the state was large enough and powerful enough to absorb infinite risk with no real consequence.”

http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-grand-experiment-offloading-risk.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Welfare Recipients Can Now Earn More Than Teachers

Posted on by

“A mother with two children in New York, for instance, is able to collect $38,004 per year in welfare handouts. This is greater than the starting salary of a teacher in the state.  In 33 states, welfare recipients make more than they would at an $8 per hour job. In fact, in 12 of those states, welfare recipients make more than they would at a $12 per hour job.  Where is the incentive to work?  Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at CATO, said, ‘There is no evidence that people on welfare are lazy. But they’re also not stupid. If you pay them more not to work than they can earn by working, many will choose not to work.'”

http://benswann.com/welfare-recipients-in-new-york-can-now-earn-more-than-teachers/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Bill Bonner: The world’s fattest army

Posted on by

Bill-Bonner2

“Yes, dear reader, times have changed. But humans have not. Give them the opportunity, and they will turn into zombies. The late Colonel John Boyd of the US Air Force, observed that, ‘It is not true the Pentagon has no strategy. It has a strategy, and once you understand what that strategy is, everything the Pentagon does makes sense. The strategy is, don’t interrupt the money flow, add to it.’  Boyd was a strategist. He observed that wars were won by lean and agile fighters, who were able to improvise and innovate quickly as needs and opportunities arose. Bureaucracy does not support such warriors; it tries to get rid of them.”

http://moneyweek.com/bill-bonner-the-worlds-fattest-army/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Texas begins replacing paved roads with gravel due to lack of funding

Posted on by

“The Texas Department of Transportation began converting more than 80 miles of paved roads to gravel on Monday, according to the Texas Tribune. The speed limit on the new gravel roads will be reduced to 30 mph. Texas lawmakers approved $225 million for the repair of roadways and bridges within the state highway system this year. Texas lawmakers also approved a ballot measure that would provide $1.2 billion a year for state transportation projects. But the Texas Department of Transportation said $400 million was needed to repair immediate damage caused by energy sector traffic across the state.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/19/texas-begins-replacing-paved-roads-with-gravel-due-to-lack-of-funding/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Charting Insolvency: Social Security and Wages

Posted on by

“The rapid decline in the ratio of workers to beneficiaries in the 1970s reflected both a stagflationary economy that was not conducive to job creation and an increase in SSA beneficiaries of nearly 10 million in the decade. The freefall in the ratio since 2000 reflects an extraordinary number of new beneficiaries and a structural decline in full-time employment. These trends are not temporary; as the Baby Boom ages, the number of beneficiaries is set to rise from 57 million to 90 million. Fantasy and denial aside, there is no evidence that the forces eroding full-time employment will magically vanish in the coming decades.”

http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2013/08/charting-insolvency-social-security-and.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, Which States Provide the Most Handouts of All?

Posted on by

“You probably won’t be surprised to learn that it’s better to live off the government in most states.  What shocked me the most were a couple of tables showing how living off the taxpayers is a pretty good deal. The first table shows how much a household would have to earn – before tax – to have the same lifestyle that is available from the welfare system. The study also looks at median salary in each state and shows that eight states actually provide handouts that are greater than that amount!”

http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/mirror-mirror-on-the-wall-which-states-provide-the-most-handouts-of-all/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet