theeconomiccollapseblog.com
If our Founding Fathers were alive today, what would they think of America? Surely they would be very proud that the United States stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific and has built some of the most amazing cities that the world has ever seen. They would probably be surprised that the country they founded went on to become the greatest economic machine in the history of the world, and they would be absolutely astounded by things like our interstate highway system and the Internet. However, there are quite a number of things that they would be horrified about as well. The fact that over 40 million Americans are dependent on the federal government for their daily food would be deeply disturbing to our founders. Also, the fact that the U.S. government has accumulated the greatest mountain of debt in human history would be incredibly distressing to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the founders. But perhaps most of all, our founders would be absolutely disgusted that the land where Americans could once be free to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness has become so tightly regulated and controlled that Americans dare not even squeak without the permission of the federal government.
Needless to say, our founders would certainly not understand many of our institutions or many of the advanced technologies that we have today. But without a doubt they would be able to grasp how far we have fallen as a nation and how far we have strayed from the fundamental principles that they enshrined in our founding documents. The United States is a much different place today than it was in 1776, and unfortunately many of the changes have been for the worse.
The following are 50 mind blowing facts about modern America that our Founding Fathers never would have believed....
#1 In 2010, not only does the United States have a central bank, but it also runs our economy and issues all of our currency. The Federal Reserve has devalued the U.S. dollar by over 95 percent since 1913 and it has been used to create the biggest mountain of government debt in the history of the world.
#2 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that U.S. government agents can legally sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, place a secret GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of you everywhere that you go.
#3 The 50 wealthiest members of Congress saw their collective fortunes increase by 85.1 million dollars to $1.4 billion in 2009.
#4 The U.S. government has accumulated a national debt that is rapidly approaching the 14 trillion dollar mark.
#5 All over the United States, asphalt roads are being ground up and are being replaced with gravel because it is cheaper to maintain. The state of South Dakota has transformed over 100 miles of asphalt road into gravel over the past year, and 38 out of the 83 counties in the state of Michigan have now turned some of their asphalt roads into gravel roads.
#6 Americans now owe more than $849 billion on student loans, which is more than the total amount that Americans owe on their credit cards.
#7 In 2010, Americans waste an astounding amount of food. According to a study by the California Integrated Waste Management board, 63 percent of the average supermarket's waste stream is food. When you break that down, it means that each supermarket wastes approximately 3,000 pounds of food each year.
#8 The city of Cleveland plans to sort through curbside trash to ensure that people are actually recycling properly. If it is discovered that some citizens are not recycling they will be hit with very large fines.
#9 Once upon a time, U.S. industry was the envy of the world. But since 1979, manufacturing employment in the United States has fallen by 40 percent.
#10 Even though the U.S. population has exploded in size, the number of Americans with manufacturing jobs today is smaller than the number of Americans who were employed in manufacturing in 1950.
#11 Having one out of every eight Americans enrolled in the food stamp program is now considered "the new normal" and Americans continue to drop into poverty in astounding numbers.
#12 One out of every six Americans is now being served by at least one government anti-poverty program.
#13 A family of four actually has difficulty surviving on an income of $50,000 a year in America in 2010.
#14 Barack Obama is backing a proposal to create a national database that will store the DNA of all individuals who have been arrested, even if they end up not being convicted of a crime.
#15 In 2010, it takes the average unemployed American worker over 8 months to find a job.
#16 The U.S. government has made some parts of Arizona off limits to U.S. citizens because of the threat of violence from Mexican drug smugglers. The federal government has actually posted signs more than 100 miles north of the Mexican border warning travelers that certain areas are unsafe because of drug and alien smugglers.
#17 One recent survey of last year's college graduates discovered that 80 percent moved right back home with their parents after graduation.
#18 In one of the very first military commissions held under the Obama administration, a U.S. military judge ruled that confessions obtained by threatening the subject with rape are admissible in court.
#19 The average American worker now pays literally dozens of different kinds of taxes each year.
#20 In recent years the U.S. government has spent $2.6 million tax dollars to study the drinking habits of Chinese prostitutes and $400,000 tax dollars to pay researchers to cruise six bars in Buenos Aires, Argentina to find out why gay men engage in risky sexual behavior when drunk.
#21 Christians are being arrested and thrown in jail in some areas of the United States for quietly passing out Christian literature on public sidewalks.
#22 The Florida State Department of Juvenile Justice has announced that it will begin using cutting edge analysis software to predict crime by young delinquents and will place "potential offenders" in prevention and education programs.
#23 Organic milk is now considered such a national crisis that the FDA has been conducting military style raids on Amish farmers in the state of Pennsylvania.
#24 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced that they are considering a crackdown on farm dust.
#25 According to a new CDC report, nearly half of all Americans now use prescription drugs on a regular basis.
#26 Oakland, California Police Chief Anthony Batts says that due to severe budget cuts there are a number of crimes that his department will simply not be able to respond to any longer. The crimes that the Oakland police will no longer be responding to include grand theft, burglary, car wrecks, identity theft and vandalism.
#27 Today, Americans are losing their homes in staggering numbers. One out of every seven mortgages was delinquent or in foreclosure during the first quarter of 2010.
#28 Many of our leading scientists are now calling themselves "transhumanists" and are openly proclaiming that a future where men have fully merged with machines is inevitable.
#29 Americans who spend large amounts of cash are viewed as "potential criminals" by the U.S. government in 2010.
#30 New full body security scanners going into airports all across the United States can actually see through our clothing and produce very clear and very detailed images of our exposed bodies as we walk through them.
#31 The U.S. financial system has become a massive gambling parlor in 2010. As a result, a horrific derivatives bubble has developed that threatens to destroy our entire economy at any moment. Nobody knows exactly how big the derivatives bubble is, but low estimates place it at around 600 trillion dollars and high estimates put it at around 1.5 quadrillion dollars. Once that bubble pops there simply will not be enough money in the entire world to fix it.
#32 The U.S. government is spending an amount of money equivalent to approximately 25.4 percent of GDP this year.
#33 Today, 10,000 people make 30% of the total income in the United States.
#34 A 2006 Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation discovered that 250 employees of the Defense Department used credit cards or PayPal to purchase images of children in sexual situations. However, the investigation also found that the Pentagon investigated only a handful of those cases.
#35 According to a recent poll of Americans between the ages of 44 and 75, 61% said that running out money was their biggest fear. The remaining 39% thought death was scarier.
#36 Approximately 57 percent of Barack Obama's 3.8 trillion dollar budget for 2011 consists of direct payments to individual Americans or is money that is spent on their behalf.
#37 A recent Department of Justice guide for investigators of criminal and extremist groups lists "constitutionalists" and "survivalists" alongside organizations like Al-Qaeda and the Aryan Brotherhood.
#38 The U.S. trade deficit has exploded to nightmarish proportions over the past two decades. Every single month tens of billions more dollars goes out of the United States than comes into it. Essentially, the United States is becoming far poorer as a nation each and every month.
#39 Factories are closing in droves across the United States because the American people would rather buy things made in China.
#40 Millions upon millions of good paying middle class jobs are being shipped off to China and they are never coming back. Meanwhile, U.S. politicians stand by idly and do nothing.
#41 Some analysts now believe that China could become the largest economy in the world by the year 2020.
#42 If the U.S. government was forced to use GAAP accounting principles (like all publicly-traded corporations must), the annual U.S. government budget deficit would be somewhere in the neighborhood of four to five trillion dollars.
#43 According to one recent survey, 28% of all U.S. households have at least one person that is currently searching for a full-time job.
#44 The U.S. dollar continues to rapidly decline in value. An item that cost $20.00 in 1970 will cost you $112.35 today. An item that cost $20.00 in 1913 will cost you $440.33 today.
#45 Major international organizations are actually proposing that the United States start considering the adoption of a truly global currency.
#46 Students at a high school in Missouri have built a car that they claim can get up to 450 miles per gallon. On another note, some of the top energy experts in the world believe that thorium could solve our energy problems and supply very cheap energy for society for hundreds of thousands of years. But in today's world technologies such as these are endlessly suppressed by the rich and powerful.
#47 One Colorado high school student is seeking an explanation from officials at his school after he was ordered by security guards to remove American flags from his truck because they might make other students at the high school "uncomfortable".
#48 Three California high school students were recently forced to remove their American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo.
#49 Memorial crosses erected along Utah public roads to honor fallen state troopers have been found unconstitutional by a federal appeals court and now must be removed permanently.
#50 One group of high school students made national headlines recently when they revealed that a security guard ordered them to stop singing the national anthem during a visit to the Lincoln Memorial.
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Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Long Island Man Arrested For Defending Home With AK-47
Says Many Gang Members Were Coming After His Family
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (CBS 2) — He was arrested for protecting his property and family.
But it’s how the Long Island man did it that police say crossed the line.
He got an AK-47 assault rifle, pulled the trigger and he ended up in jail, reports CBS 2’s Pablo Guzman.
George Grier said he had to use his rifle on Sunday night to stop what he thought was going to be an invasion of his Uniondale home by a gang he thought might have been the vicious “MS-13.” He said the whole deal happened as he was about to drive his cousin home.
“I went around and went into the house, ran upstairs and told my wife to call the police. I get the gun and I go outside and I come into the doorway and now, by this time, they are in the driveway, back here near the house. I tell them, you know, ‘Can you please leave?’ Grier said.
Grier said the five men dared him to use the gun; and that their shouts brought another larger group of gang members in front of his house.
“He starts threatening my family, my life. ‘Oh you’re dead. I’m gonna kill your family and your babies. You’re dead.’ So when he says that, 20 others guys come rushing around the corner. And so I fired four warning shots into the grass,” Grier said.
Grier was later arrested. John Lewis is Grier’s attorney.
“What he’s initially charged with – A D felony reckless endangerment — requires a depraved indifference to human life, creating a risk that someone’s going to die. Shooting into a lawn doesn’t create a risk of anybody dying,” Lewis said.
Grier said he knew Nassau County Police employ the hi-tech “ShotSpotter” technology in his area and that the shooting would bring police in minutes. Cops told Guzman he was very cooperative.
Grier also said he was afraid the gang outside his house was the dreaded MS-13. And Nassau County Police Lt. Andrew Mulraine, head of the gang unit, said MS-13 has 2,000 members in the county.
“They’re probably the most organized. They almost have a military hierarchy within the gang, so they are the most organized gang we encounter on a daily basis,” Mulraine said.
You may think a person has the right to defend their home. But the law says you can only use physical force to deter physical force. Grier said he never saw anyone pull out a gun, so a court would have to decide on firing the gun.
Police determined Grier had the gun legally. He has no criminal record. And so he was not charged for the weapon.
That ShotSpotter technology pinpoints where a gun has been fired within 35 feet. Police said it also detected two other shootings in nearby Roosevelt that night.
View Original Article
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (CBS 2) — He was arrested for protecting his property and family.
But it’s how the Long Island man did it that police say crossed the line.
He got an AK-47 assault rifle, pulled the trigger and he ended up in jail, reports CBS 2’s Pablo Guzman.
George Grier said he had to use his rifle on Sunday night to stop what he thought was going to be an invasion of his Uniondale home by a gang he thought might have been the vicious “MS-13.” He said the whole deal happened as he was about to drive his cousin home.
“I went around and went into the house, ran upstairs and told my wife to call the police. I get the gun and I go outside and I come into the doorway and now, by this time, they are in the driveway, back here near the house. I tell them, you know, ‘Can you please leave?’ Grier said.
Grier said the five men dared him to use the gun; and that their shouts brought another larger group of gang members in front of his house.
“He starts threatening my family, my life. ‘Oh you’re dead. I’m gonna kill your family and your babies. You’re dead.’ So when he says that, 20 others guys come rushing around the corner. And so I fired four warning shots into the grass,” Grier said.
Grier was later arrested. John Lewis is Grier’s attorney.
“What he’s initially charged with – A D felony reckless endangerment — requires a depraved indifference to human life, creating a risk that someone’s going to die. Shooting into a lawn doesn’t create a risk of anybody dying,” Lewis said.
Grier said he knew Nassau County Police employ the hi-tech “ShotSpotter” technology in his area and that the shooting would bring police in minutes. Cops told Guzman he was very cooperative.
Grier also said he was afraid the gang outside his house was the dreaded MS-13. And Nassau County Police Lt. Andrew Mulraine, head of the gang unit, said MS-13 has 2,000 members in the county.
“They’re probably the most organized. They almost have a military hierarchy within the gang, so they are the most organized gang we encounter on a daily basis,” Mulraine said.
You may think a person has the right to defend their home. But the law says you can only use physical force to deter physical force. Grier said he never saw anyone pull out a gun, so a court would have to decide on firing the gun.
Police determined Grier had the gun legally. He has no criminal record. And so he was not charged for the weapon.
That ShotSpotter technology pinpoints where a gun has been fired within 35 feet. Police said it also detected two other shootings in nearby Roosevelt that night.
View Original Article
"Liveable Communities" Is a Socialist Trap
From Tom DeWeese, President
American Policy Center
Senator Christopher Dodd has introduced a bill to enforce UN Agenda 21 policy on your community. It’s called the “Livable Communities Act” (S.1619). It will destroy your community. Here’s why: S. 1619 “Livable Communities” act is on a fast track to passage!
S.1619 is a blueprint for the transformation of our society into total federal control.
S.1619 will enforce federal Sustainable Development zoning and control of local communities.
S.1619 will create a massive new “development” bureaucracy –
(development Czar?)
S.1619 will drive up the cost of energy to heat and cool your home.
S.1619 will drive up the cost of gasoline as a way to get you out of your car.
S.1619 will force you to spend thousands on your home in order to comply.
S.1619 is NOT Voluntary – it will set up $4 billion in grants (TAX MONEY WE DON’T HAVE) that will force your community to comply.
Here are the facts:
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) has authored a bill S.1619 titled the “Livable Communities Act.” It is one of the most dangerous bills to ever threaten our liberty. Worse even than the Obamacare scheme.
S.1619 creates a new permanent federal office: The Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities” for the enforcement of this bill the “Development Czar” if you will.
Sen. Dodd is lying when he says S.1619 is purely voluntary. The $4 billion in grants will be used by radical green groups (who helped write it) to force your city council to comply. If our city says no to the pressure to take the grant money – the radical greens will tell your citizens that their city officials are losing them millions of dollars that is owed to the community. Then, when the council caves into the pressure and takes the money, it will force compliance. THAT IS NOT VOLUNTARY – IT IS BLACKMAIL.
Senator Dodd will tell you that the bill is simply about uniformity to control development to save energy and to preserve rural areas. That is not true. After 15 years of fighting Sustainable policy I can assure you it is about control. Sustainablist policy focuses on three things: land use, redistribution of wealth, and population control.
S.1619 sets up a system for federally mandated housing uniformity, forcing homeowners to put on new roofs and windows, new “energy efficient’ appliances, etc. (Which could cost each homeowner upwards of $35,000.00)
- S.1619 will establish top down control that turns our communities into little soviets, driven by non-elected boards, councils and regional governments.
- As it reduces the amount of land available for homes (smart growth) S.1619 will have to lead to the establishment of federally mandated family planning for population control.
- And of course: it will raise taxes.
The nation is on the verge of bankruptcy from massive federal spending. This is certainly not the time to create new bureaucracies and spending boondoggles – even if Sustainable Development was an honest concern over environmental protection – WHICH IT IS NOT!. Sustainable Development is a blue print for top-down control of our communities, using enforcement by non-elected boards, councils and regional government to transform our local control into a little soviet run by untouchable bureaucrats.
S.1619 is the first federal Sustainable Development law to enforce the UN’s Agenda 21. It must be stopped now – or every single community in America will be forced to comply with UN policy.
S.1619 has already been passed out of the Senate Banking Committee and is headed for a floor vote.
Urgent you take action now to stop it!!!
Action to Take:
It will do no good to try to put pressure on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to stop this bill. I’m not even going to try. He is a major supporter of this forced socialism and will not listen to our demands.
1. Call Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and demand that he lead Senate Republicans in opposition to S.1619. Tell him this bill will destroy local community decisions and enforce massive federal control over our communities.
It is vital that Senate Republicans stand firm against S.1619. They must feel your heat! Call Senator McConnell – early and often. His office # is: 202-224-3135. His fax # is: 202-224-2574.
Or write to him to demand that he take action to stop S.1619. McConnell’s address is:
S-230 Capitol Building, Washington. DC 20510-7010.
2. Call Senator John Thune, chairman of the Republican Senate Policy Committee.
Thune’s committee sets Republican policy for all senators. He must feel our heat in opposition to S.1619!!!
Senator Thune’s Republican Policy Committee # is 202-224-2946. Fax # 202-224-1235. Email: mailbox@rpc.senate.gov.
Address: Senate Republican Policy Committee
SR-347 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510-7064.
3. Call your state’s two U.S. Senators and demand they vote against S.1619. Give them all the reasons stated above. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121. Ask for your Senators by name. It is vital to the liberty of America that S.1619 be stopped. It is the first bill to enforce Sustainable Development through federal legislation.
We can stop it – if we call now and put pressure on Republicans to stand firmly against it.
We must flood Capitol Hill with calls and letters NOW. A vote can come up any time, and without our strong opposition S.1619 will breeze to passage.
Take the above action NOW!
Please pass this message on to your friends and neighbors and ask them to call too.
For more information on Sustainable Development and Agenda 21 go to the American Policy Center website: www.americanpolicy.org. APC has been a leader in the fight to expose and stop Agenda 21 and its policy called Sustainable Development.
View Article With Links
Read Related Article, Chris Dodd's Last Act: Control The People
American Policy Center
Senator Christopher Dodd has introduced a bill to enforce UN Agenda 21 policy on your community. It’s called the “Livable Communities Act” (S.1619). It will destroy your community. Here’s why: S. 1619 “Livable Communities” act is on a fast track to passage!
S.1619 is a blueprint for the transformation of our society into total federal control.
S.1619 will enforce federal Sustainable Development zoning and control of local communities.
S.1619 will create a massive new “development” bureaucracy –
(development Czar?)
S.1619 will drive up the cost of energy to heat and cool your home.
S.1619 will drive up the cost of gasoline as a way to get you out of your car.
S.1619 will force you to spend thousands on your home in order to comply.
S.1619 is NOT Voluntary – it will set up $4 billion in grants (TAX MONEY WE DON’T HAVE) that will force your community to comply.
Here are the facts:
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) has authored a bill S.1619 titled the “Livable Communities Act.” It is one of the most dangerous bills to ever threaten our liberty. Worse even than the Obamacare scheme.
S.1619 creates a new permanent federal office: The Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities” for the enforcement of this bill the “Development Czar” if you will.
Sen. Dodd is lying when he says S.1619 is purely voluntary. The $4 billion in grants will be used by radical green groups (who helped write it) to force your city council to comply. If our city says no to the pressure to take the grant money – the radical greens will tell your citizens that their city officials are losing them millions of dollars that is owed to the community. Then, when the council caves into the pressure and takes the money, it will force compliance. THAT IS NOT VOLUNTARY – IT IS BLACKMAIL.
Senator Dodd will tell you that the bill is simply about uniformity to control development to save energy and to preserve rural areas. That is not true. After 15 years of fighting Sustainable policy I can assure you it is about control. Sustainablist policy focuses on three things: land use, redistribution of wealth, and population control.
S.1619 sets up a system for federally mandated housing uniformity, forcing homeowners to put on new roofs and windows, new “energy efficient’ appliances, etc. (Which could cost each homeowner upwards of $35,000.00)
- S.1619 will establish top down control that turns our communities into little soviets, driven by non-elected boards, councils and regional governments.
- As it reduces the amount of land available for homes (smart growth) S.1619 will have to lead to the establishment of federally mandated family planning for population control.
- And of course: it will raise taxes.
The nation is on the verge of bankruptcy from massive federal spending. This is certainly not the time to create new bureaucracies and spending boondoggles – even if Sustainable Development was an honest concern over environmental protection – WHICH IT IS NOT!. Sustainable Development is a blue print for top-down control of our communities, using enforcement by non-elected boards, councils and regional government to transform our local control into a little soviet run by untouchable bureaucrats.
S.1619 is the first federal Sustainable Development law to enforce the UN’s Agenda 21. It must be stopped now – or every single community in America will be forced to comply with UN policy.
S.1619 has already been passed out of the Senate Banking Committee and is headed for a floor vote.
Urgent you take action now to stop it!!!
Action to Take:
It will do no good to try to put pressure on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to stop this bill. I’m not even going to try. He is a major supporter of this forced socialism and will not listen to our demands.
1. Call Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and demand that he lead Senate Republicans in opposition to S.1619. Tell him this bill will destroy local community decisions and enforce massive federal control over our communities.
It is vital that Senate Republicans stand firm against S.1619. They must feel your heat! Call Senator McConnell – early and often. His office # is: 202-224-3135. His fax # is: 202-224-2574.
Or write to him to demand that he take action to stop S.1619. McConnell’s address is:
S-230 Capitol Building, Washington. DC 20510-7010.
2. Call Senator John Thune, chairman of the Republican Senate Policy Committee.
Thune’s committee sets Republican policy for all senators. He must feel our heat in opposition to S.1619!!!
Senator Thune’s Republican Policy Committee # is 202-224-2946. Fax # 202-224-1235. Email: mailbox@rpc.senate.gov.
Address: Senate Republican Policy Committee
SR-347 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510-7064.
3. Call your state’s two U.S. Senators and demand they vote against S.1619. Give them all the reasons stated above. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121. Ask for your Senators by name. It is vital to the liberty of America that S.1619 be stopped. It is the first bill to enforce Sustainable Development through federal legislation.
We can stop it – if we call now and put pressure on Republicans to stand firmly against it.
We must flood Capitol Hill with calls and letters NOW. A vote can come up any time, and without our strong opposition S.1619 will breeze to passage.
Take the above action NOW!
Please pass this message on to your friends and neighbors and ask them to call too.
For more information on Sustainable Development and Agenda 21 go to the American Policy Center website: www.americanpolicy.org. APC has been a leader in the fight to expose and stop Agenda 21 and its policy called Sustainable Development.
View Article With Links
Read Related Article, Chris Dodd's Last Act: Control The People
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