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5 Ways to Keep a Tax Farm (Citizens) Producing

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Via The Daily Bell

The government depends on the citizens to produce, to create value from which the ruling classes can leech. They need to keep us working and spending in ways that they prescribe in order to insert themselves into transactions which would otherwise have nothing to do with them. Here are five ways that they keep the tax farm going.

-1. Credit Cards and Debt-

Credit cards, student loan debt, home loans, and car loans all represent an obligation to work full time. Once you have been saddled with debt, you cannot make the choice to take time off to pursue a business endeavor you are passionate about. You are on the hampster wheel.

The more debt you have, the more you have to earn, and the more taxes you will pay on those earnings. The less freedom you have to be productive in an alternative way.

The housing bubble was no accident; the government doesn’t care if you can afford it, they want you to “own” a home–or rather own a mortgage.

Of course, debt has it’s place, for instance taking on a home loan in order to have lower monthly payments than rent, and put that money into an asset.

But the problem comes when people take on an expensive home loan because they currently have a great job, ignoring the possibility that the job may not always be there. There are people who take out loans for a car–a clever trick GM started back in the day–in order to keep up with their neighbors or squeeze some momentary satisfaction out of the purchase.

And of course, credit cards give us a dangerous “solution” to depression: shop therapy! Just like a drug, it can give a momentary high, replaced by an anxious desperation when the bill comes. And all the while you are paying sales tax on almost every purchase.

That is why we must avoid debt at all costs. Spend within your means. Delay gratification by saving before purchasing rather than paying interest after a purchase. And really consider whether a purchase is going to make your life easier, or make you happier, or if you are using it like a drug for a momentary high.

When it comes to college debt, the thing to do is spread awareness of alternatives to college if you think someone you know may be making a big mistake.

JP has the answers:

 

-2. Full-Time Corporate Employment-

Corporate employment is a cycle in itself; it keeps you going for the next raise, for the next promotion, and for all the benefits. Corporations are a creation of government, and would otherwise not exist in their current structure.

Health insurance through work was once an extra incentive to make a job attractive; now it is necessary to avoid a government fine. Better work more than 29 hours to make sure your employer has to cover it!

And when you are self-employed, the government punishes you by making you pay twice the Social Security contribution, since technically you employ yourself.

A corporate job alone is not always a bad thing, it works for some people. But there are plenty of people who push themselves into a job which cannot allow them to reach their full potential. People get a job in order to pay off student loan debt, or in order to get a nice car or to spend more on clothes, alcohol, and novelties.

The government likes this because the entire tax extraction process is designed around this system. Even bonus pay is taxed at a higher rate, like lottery winnings.

But there is a way to use a corporate job as an out. If you can manage to get a nice paying job, not rack up debt or long term obligations, and save, then you have the freedom to turn that saved capital into freedom.

This doesn’t work if you save up just to travel or buy a house on the beach to pursue the #SurfLife. It works if your capital is used to create value.

Here’s an example from my own life. My sister worked a corporate job in Massachusetts and took out a home loan to buy an undervalued house. By improving the property, selling it, and moving to an area with a much lower cost of land, she was able to buy a nice chunk of property without needing a loan.

That piece of property is now being used as a mini-farm with various avenues for making money. She is now her own boss and can pursue more personally fulfilling ways of earning a living, which does not always involve fiat currency.

-3. Regulations and Laws-

Okay, so let’s say you have managed to avoid debt, and have saved up enough from your corporate employment to start your own enterprise. The government creates barriers to competing against their corporate lovers.

I’ll continue with the example of my sister’s mini-farm. An easy way to start earning money would have been to sell the delicious hard cider she and her husband were already producing as a hobby. But the law said that they could not produce it on their own property, they could not distribute it without paying about $10,000 for entry into the market, and a host of other tight regulations.

Okay, they also wanted to run a hot dog cart. They already owned the cart from toying with the idea in Massachusetts. Well, you can’t do a cart, come to find out. In that area, all food trucks must be enclosed. They already had a cart, they did not have a food truck.

They are powering through and creating a great business based around the farm, but her husband had to continue to work instead of being able to immediately pursue the business dreams.

There are a million other examples of government throwing roadblocks in the way of unique self-employment or starting a small business.

Let me know in the comments if you have run into these issues in your own business endeavors.

-4. A Fiat Currency-

Here is an easy way to extract money from the population: continue to print money. The Fed says openly they aim for an inflation rate of 2%. What does that really mean? It means they aim to steal 2% of the value from all cash and saved dollars every year.

The Fed prints the money, and therefore it is they who gets to spend the value they rob from our savings. It is just another back door tax, a harvest, to reap the products of our labor.

On the flip side inflation is a little gift to those citizens who are behaving properly, according to the government, and taking on debt. They get to pay back their debt in inflated dollars.

But the best part for the government is they don’t have to deal with any resistance to raising tax rates. Most people don’t even understand what inflation is, they simply think stuff just gets a little more expensive each year.

Having a currency with no true value means whoever controls it has the ultimate power.

The old standby strategy to mitigate inflation is to hold reserves in tangible assets such as silver or land.

But cryptocurrencies are another promising innovation. They aren’t where they need to be yet, but there is reason to be hopeful for their development in divorcing us from the Federal Reserve system.

You’ll want to subscribe (and get our free metals report) to hear more about the difference between investment, speculation, and currency when it comes to crypto-coins–our discussion on the topic is about to heat up.

-5. Advertising to Promote Consumerism-

Just like GM encouraged car owners early on to trade in their vehicle each year for the newest model, citizens are now conditioned to trade in their expensive iPhone for the newest model.

TV programming has long highlighted the lifestyle of the rich and famous, encouraging ridiculous spending on wedding dresses and birthday parties, and glorifying rich spoiled brats.

This article does a nice job summing up the disease of consumerism:



Under our current working conditions, people are forced to build a life in the evenings and their days-off. We find ourselves more inclined to spend heavily on entertainment and conveniences because we rarely have any free time. When we do have time to ourselves, it’s usually fleeting, and we eventually find ourselves neglecting those activities which are free—walking, exercising, reading, meditating, sports, hobbies, etc.—because they take too much time.

While having extra money comes at the sacrifice of personal time for some, for others they not only are robbed of their personal freedom, but they struggle to make ends meet on top of it. The “perfect” consumer works full-time, earns a fair amount of money, indulges during their free time, and somehow just makes it by each month. However, even those who don’t earn fair wages sometimes find themselves wasting small increments of money on unnecessary items for the wrong reasons—a cup of Starbucks here, a McDonald’s cheeseburger there, and those really cool fuzzy dice hanging from the rear-view of your 1993 Honda Civic.

Any way you look at it, we have become an unhappy, mindless, over-worked society. We buy silly items for a few moments of happiness before getting bored and moving on. We feel a need to keep up with fads, or to fulfill our childhood vision of what adulthood would be like. We hide our insecurities, avoid issues, and replace psychological needs with material items. By keeping society’s free time scarce, people will pay more for convenience, gratification, and any other relief they can buy.



But at the end of the day, the choice is still our own. With a little mental toughness, we can train ourselves to psychologically exit the system, which is the first step to bringing it down. Reported by Zero Hedge 11 hours ago.

Moderate Republican senator raises serious doubts over passing of healthcare bill to replace Obamacare

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Eight to 10 Republican U.S. senators have serious concerns about Republican healthcare legislation to dismantle and replace Obamacare, moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins, who opposes the bill, said on Sunday.

The Senate, which is delaying its consideration of the bill while Arizona Republican Senator John McCain recuperates from surgery to remove a blood clot, will take it up as soon as all senators are available, Senator John Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican senator, said. McCain's absence cast doubt on whether the Senate would be able to pass legislation to dismantle and replace the Affordable Care Act, Democratic former President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement, commonly known as Obamacare.

Collins is one of two Republican senators who have already said that they would not even vote to open debate on the latest version of the bill released on Thursday, meaning one more defection from the Republican ranks could kill it.. Republicans control the Senate by a 52-48 margin. With the Democrats solidly opposed to the legislation, the Republicans can only pass the bill if all their other members back it and if Republican Vice President casts his tie-breaking vote in favor.

While Collins said that she did not know if the legislation would ultimately pass, she said as many as 10 Republicans have doubts about it. "There are about eight to 10 Republican senators who have serious concerns about this bill," Collins told CNN's "State of the Union" program, faulting the bill for its major cuts to the Medicaid government health insurance program for the poor. "I don't know whether it will pass, but I do know this, we should not be making fundamental changes in a vital safety net program that's been on the books for 50 years - the Medicaid program - without having a single hearing to evaluate what the consequences are going to be," she added.

The bill unwinds Obamacare's Medicaid expansion over three years, from 2021 to 2024. But it goes beyond repealing Obamacare by imposing drastic cuts to Medicaid that deepen in 2025. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would cut Medicaid by nearly $800 billion by 2026, and would cut Medicaid 35 percent come 2036.

McCain, who plans to stay in Arizona this week after a procedure to remove a 2-inch (5-cm) blood clot from above his left eye, has expressed concern about the healthcare bill but has not said how he would vote. "We need Senator McCain in more ways than one. As soon as we have a full contingent of senators we will have that vote," Cornyn, of Texas, told NBC's "Meet the Press" program.

 

 

 

ReportWorldReuters

· John McCain
· Susan Collins
· John Cornyn
· senate
· Barack Obama
· CNN
· Congressional Budget Office
· NBC
· Texas
· Vice President
· Arizona Republican
· Obamacare
· Affordable Care Act
· Obamacare Medicaid
· Senator McCain
· U. S.

Sun, 16 Jul 2017-11:25pm
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Sunday, 16 July 2017 - 11:25pm
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From Print Edition:  Reported by DNA 7 hours ago.

DonaldTrumpHSA.com is Launched to Prosper with Obamacare Repeal

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TAMPA BAY, Fla., July 14, 2017 : Insurance Processing Corporation (IPC) announces the National Grand Opening of DonaldTrumpHSA.com their platform for enrollments of financial service products including low-cost health insurance, life insurance and tax-free Health Savings Accounts (HSA). Reported by newKerala.com 9 hours ago.

Are You Self Employed? Then Insurance for Self Employed Will Suit You

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Before you begin shopping for ideally suited health insurance for self employed plan, it could be advisable to improve your knowledge on the subject so as to know how things actually work. The first thing which a self employed person should do is to understand what coverage he is actually going to need. A completely comprehensive coverage may be expensive for him. At the same time, it is important... Reported by WorldNews 20 hours ago.

Thousands of Australians hit by private health insurance data breach

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Private health insurer Bupa has been hit by a data breach, with almost 20,000 Australian policy holders affected. Reported by SBS 19 hours ago.

Health plan hinges on the young, but they’re a tough sell

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Julian Senn-Raemont isn’t convinced he needs to buy health insurance when he loses coverage under his dad’s plan in a couple of years — no matter what happens in the policy debate in Washington, or how cheap the plans are. The 24-year-old musician hasn’t known a world without a health care safety […] Reported by Seattle Times 18 hours ago.

NHIA capitation grant to be cancelled in Ashanti Region

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The government has hinted that it will soon cancel the national health insurance capitation programme being piloted in the Ashanti Region. Reported by Myjoyonline 17 hours ago.

What is private health insurance? An overview

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There are approximately 3.26 million people currently with their own private health insurance cover in the UK but with free NHS cover available to all, there are plenty of factors to consider before you decide to purchase. Reported by Independent 17 hours ago.

Fin24.com | Private sector involvement vital for NHI - expert

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South Africa should rely on the strengths of its private healthcare system for a successful rollout of the planned national health insurance scheme, says an international expert. Reported by News24 14 hours ago.

Survey: Many Americans with Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance, Especially Millennials, Struggling with Rising Out-of-Pocket Costs

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Survey: Many Americans with Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance, Especially Millennials, Struggling with Rising Out-of-Pocket Costs ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With deductibles continuing to climb, many Americans who have health insurance through their employers, particularly younger workers, are struggling when it comes to out-of-pocket medical expenses. According to a new survey from Securian Financial Group, a provider of supplemental group insurance products, nearly four in 10 workers on employer-sponsored health plans are personally experiencing or know someone who is having financial difficulty due to medical bi Reported by Business Wire 11 hours ago.

The Republican healthcare bill is on the edge of failure and its future is up in the air

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The Republican healthcare bill is on the edge of failure and its future is up in the air A planned vote on the Senate healthcare bill has been delayed at least a week by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after Sen. John McCain underwent surgery Saturday and told leaders he would remain in Arizona for the week to recuperate.

Two GOP lawmakers — Sens. Rand Paul and Susan Collins — have already publicly said they would not support the bill, named the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA).

Paul and Collins' opposition combined with McCain's absence leaves McConnell short of the 50 votes needed to pass the bill.

With experts saying McCain's recovery time could stretch longer than one week, it's unclear when the BCRA will make it to the Senate floor — if at all.

Whether or not the delay will be a good or bad thing for the bill is debatable.

On the one hand, it gives opponents of the BCRA more time to pressure moderate senators over the bill's Medicaid cuts and projected coverage losses. Given the razor's edge the bill sits on, if a flood of negative polls or analysis over the next week sways even a single undecided senator, the bill could be derailed.

Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate, told ABC's This Week on Sunday that there are "eight to 10" Republican members with "deep concerns." 

No one wants to be the deciding vote to kill a bill, but if one member does publicly become the deciding vote, others may follow.

Also complicating factors is Sen. Ron Johnson. Johnson originally came out against the BCRA for not being conservative enough, but said after the release of the updated bill that he was on board. Over the weekend, however, Johnson told the Green Bay Press-Gazette in his home state of Wisconsin that he was back to undecided on the bill due to reports that McConnell told moderate members that the deep cuts to Medicaid that are in the bill would never go into effect.

Another big issue for lawmakers on the fence is the release of the Congressional Budget Office's score for the updated BCRA. The original score, which showed that 22 million more Americans would be without health insurance in 2026 under the BCRA compared to the current system, was a key point of contention for centrist Republicans who opposed the first iteration of the healthcare bill.

The new score was originally set to be released on Monday, but, given the delay for the vote, it will also be pushed back. It's unclear when it will be released now, but reports suggest it could be as late as next week.

On the other hand, no senator has come out as the key third "no" vote that would doom the bill and, according to Axios' Jonathan Swan, The White House and McConnell view each day without another public defector as a "victory."

It also gives more time for McConnell, who is known as an adept dealmaker, to work with individual senators to address their issues or create amendments to placate their particular concerns. Already, the bill includes multiple carve outs for certain states or issues particular senators care about.

*SEE ALSO: Mitch McConnell is stuck between a rock and a hard place on his healthcare bill — but don't count him out*

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Trump's history with WWE explains a lot about his persona Reported by Business Insider 9 hours ago.

Health plan hinges on the young, but they're a tough sell

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Julian Senn-Raemont isn't convinced he needs to buy health insurance when he loses coverage under his dad's plan in a couple of years — no matter what happens in the policy debate in Washington, or how cheap the plans are.

The 24-year-old musician hasn't known a world without a health care safety... Reported by ChicagoTribune 5 hours ago.

Ohio Father, Baby with Brain Cancer at Same Time Could Lose Health Insurance

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COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 17, 2017 : A young Ohio father and his baby boy who battled brain cancer at the same time are among the 22 million Americans at risk of losing health insurance if a bill being considered by the United States Senate becomes law. Reported by newKerala.com 7 hours ago.

Police found a note on a key GOP senator’s door reportedly threatening to kill him if he votes for the Republican healthcare bill

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Police found a note on a key GOP senator’s door reportedly threatening to kill him if he votes for the Republican healthcare bill A note left on the door of Republican senator Dean Heller's office in Nevada reportedly threatened the life of the lawmaker unless he votes against the GOP healthcare bill in the Senate, law enforcement sources told Jon Ralston of news site The Nevada Independent on Monday.

Police were called to Heller's office, where they found the note, after a burglary alarm was triggered. 

A Las Vegas police source told Ralston that the letter was written by someone claiming they would lose their healthcare and die if the bill, named the Better Care Reconciliation Act, passed and he "would take Heller with him" if the senator voted for it.

Las Vegas Police Department officials have confirmed that they are investigating "a threatening note addressed to Senator Heller," but have declined to release the contents of the note due to the ongoing investigation.

Heller is seen as a key player in the debate over the healthcare bill and forcefully opposed the original version of the BCRA. He has said he is undecided on the new version of the bill released Thursday.

Heller's position is especially precarious given the fact he is up for re-election in 2018 in a state that Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election. Additionally, Nevada's popular governor Republican Brian Sandoval has come out repeatedly against the BCRA.

As of Monday, Republican senators Susan Collins and Rand Paul have said they will vote "no" on a key procedural vote that would allow the BCRA to be brought to the floor. Heller's support is key because if a third GOP lawmaker defects on the bill, it will fail.

Opponents of the bill have raised concerns that the projected increase in the number of people without health insurance due to the rollback of Medicaid funding will lead to deaths. The claim is based on a study that showed Medicaid decreased mortality in enrollees.

The vote will not take place until at least next week as John McCain will remain in Arizona to recover from eye surgery over the weekend.

*Here's the full police statement via the Nevada Independent:*

"The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a call from an alarm company representative reporting a burglary alarm at the main entrance of an office building where Senator Dean Heller’s office is located. The preliminary investigation by patrol officers determined that a burglary did not occur to the main building or to Senator Heller’s office. However, a threatening note addressed to Senator Heller was discovered near the door to his office.  Officers took a report for *Threatening or Obscene Letters or Writing* (NRS 207.180). The LVMPD has an on-going investigation into this incident."

*SEE ALSO: The Republican healthcare bill is on the edge of failure, and its future is up in the air*

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 5 of the best memes from Trump's trip to the G20 Summit Reported by Business Insider 5 hours ago.

Health care vote delay gives foes, supporters more time

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[...] the conservative Americans for Prosperity was urging members to pressure GOP senators to strengthen a bill that the group's president, Tim Phillips, says doesn't go "anywhere near far enough" to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law. Underscoring that, the AARP ads targeted five moderate Republicans from states that would be hit hard by the GOP bill's cuts in Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor, disabled and nursing home patients. Administration officials including Vice President Mike Pence have pressed Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, both Republican critics of the GOP's Medicaid cuts, in hopes of gaining an edge with Portman and Heller. Because we miss him. Two of the 52 GOP senators — Maine's Susan Collins and Kentucky's Rand Paul — have said they'll vote against even beginning debate on the legislation. Since Democrats uniformly oppose the bill, it will lose if any remaining Republicans vote against it. Besides the Medicaid cuts, moderate Republicans were unhappy with language letting insurers sell inexpensive policies with scant coverage, now generally forbidden under Obama's 2010 law. Reported by SeattlePI.com 4 hours ago.

Navigating Through The Storms: "I'm Losing My Sense Of Outrage"

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Navigating Through The Storms: I'm Losing My Sense Of Outrage Authoed by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,



*Several weeks ago I had to drive west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to pick up my son after his sophomore year at Penn State.* I’ve made this trip a dozen times over the last few years, since this is my second son attending Penn State, with a third starting in the Fall. It’s a tedious, boring, protracted, four hour trek through the rural countryside of the Keystone State. During these trips my mind wanders, making connections between the landscape and the pressing issues facing the world. I can’t help but get lost in my thoughts as the miles accumulate like dollars on the national debt clock.

 

*More often than not I end up making the trip in the midst of bad weather. And this time was no different. *The Pennsylvania Turnpike is a meandering, decades old, dangerous, mostly two lane highway for most of its 360 mile span. Large swaths of the decaying interstate are under construction, as the narrative about lack of infrastructure spending is proven false by visual proof along the highways and byways of America.

 

The real infrastructure crisis is below ground in urban shitholes where 100 year old water and sewer pipes fail on a regular basis, but bankrupt Democrat politicians divert their steadily declining tax revenues to bloated pensions of government lackeys. Infrastructure spending is only interesting to politicians if they can name it after themselves and have a ribbon cutting ceremony. Replacing water and sewer pipes before they explode isn’t sexy, so it won’t be done.

 

*A winding two lane highway, with a speed limits of 70 mph, and jam-packed with 18 wheelers driven by sometimes sleepy and often aggressive truckers already leads to a pressure packed few hours. Add rain to the mixture and you ratchet up the blood pressure.*

 

 

*Ramp that up to torrential downpours and heavy fog and you’ve got white knuckles, strained neck muscles and an occasional prayer regarding that big rig crawling up your ass. *

 

 

 

*I was lucky enough to be faced with torrential rains and fog for the first two hours of the trip. I was tense, cautious, concerned and careful.*



*The way I felt during that treacherous drive is how I feel about the course our country and world is facing as the precarious and perilous portion of this methodical, but ultimately bloody Fourth Turning, reaches its climax. *Since the election of Donald Trump in November, it feels like dark storm clouds have been gathering just over the horizon. I supported Trump for president and was among the few who believed the silent majority (aka deplorables) in flyover country were not being taken into account by the corrupt liberal mainstream media rigged polls.

*I was elated that Hillary Clinton was not going to be my president. *Trump’s rhetoric regarding illegal immigration, repealing and replacing Obamacare, cutting taxes, reducing spending, reversing our interventionist military adventures, cutting government red tape, and keeping the Supreme Court from going further left, was music to my ears. I found his relentless assault upon the fake news media and left wingers to be extremely entertaining during the campaign and have continued to be amused by his pugnaciousness and daily tweet storm launched against CNN and the rest of the fake news media.

The focus of my writings and blog over the last nine years has been on the economic issues which imperil the future for my children and the children of millions of other hard working Americans. Trump’s accomplishments thus far include filling the vacant Supreme Court slot with a conservative judge, backing out of TPP, backing out of the Paris Accord, reducing illegal immigration through enforcement of existing laws, and reversing numerous Obama executive orders.

As someone who concentrates on fiscal issues, I’ve been disappointed with many of Trump’s cabinet selections, failure to lead on the Obamacare repeal and replace efforts, lack of progress on tax cuts, unwillingness to address the $200 trillion of unfunded welfare liabilities, inability to make progress with his wall, and his seeming capture by the military industrial complex.

*Trump’s victory has prompted an all-out assault from the violent left wingers funded by George Soros and spurred on by the unrelenting fake news media outlets. *They will stop at nothing to discredit and destroy Trump’s presidency. Violence on left wing campuses across the country, where they have safe spaces to burn and destroy, has begun to be met by Trump supporters willing to fight back when confronted.

The relentless fake news propaganda spewed by MSNBC, CNN, NYT, Washington Post and the rest of the left wing media incited a radical lefty to try and slaughter dozens of Republican congressmen. *The false narrative of right wing violence has been obliterated, as left wing domestic terrorists are intent on creating a civil war in order to violently overturn the legal outcome of a fair election.*

Trump’s non-interventionist bombast during the campaign has proven to be empty promises as *Deep State neo-con operatives, on the behest of the military industrial complex, have gained control of Trump’s foreign policy agenda*. Missiles have been launched into Syria based upon a false flag gas attack blamed on Assad’s forces. Trump continues to arm supposedly moderate rebels (aka Al Qaeda) attempting to overthrow the Assad regime.

More American troops continue to be sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. Is this 2003 or 2017? I’m sure we’re on the verge of winning this time. Provoking Russia through NATO aggression, war games, and missile placements is being ramped up. Aggravating relations with China by contesting their claims to the South China Sea islands and openly supporting Taiwan has the potential to create dire unintended consequences. Or maybe they are intended consequences. Coming conflict with North Korea and their fourth largest military in the world appears imminent.

*Neo-cons are thrilled with their success thus far.* Whenever Trump shows even the hint of compromise with Putin or lack of interest in starting World War III, the doddering old fool McCain and his lapdog Graham are rolled out to *condemn Trump’s cowardice.* According to the neo-cons Putin is a diabolically evil enemy intent on ruling the world. In reality, he is just as evil as every other world leader. The slimy liberal politicians continue to use the false Russia narrative as a cudgel to beat Trump into submission. *The Deep State game plan is to block Trump’s domestic agenda of replacing Obamacare, cutting taxes, and building the wall.*

The true controllers of our world know when presidents are under assault by their opponents and can’t achieve domestic success, *they turn to military interventionism as a way to rally the masses utilizing false patriotism*. With the corporate media flogging the Deep State approved war propaganda, they are attempting to force the president into military conflict, benefiting their military industrial complex partners. *The non-critical thinking, easily manipulated populace, is putty in the hands of the propaganda machine and is soon foaming at the mouth for blood.* Half the country actually believes Vladimir Putin interfered in our election to benefit Trump. Not a shred of proof has been presented and never will.

*I’ve spent the last nine years operating an anti-establishment website, with the purpose of trying to pull back the curtain on the Deep State operatives in the government, military, Wall Street, mainstream media and central banking.* I’ve written so many articles revealing the falsity of government generated unemployment, inflation, and GDP propaganda, the criminal activities of Wall Street bankers, the treasonous actions of the Federal Reserve, the seditious activities of corrupt spineless politicians, the false flags provoked by the military industrial complex, and the contemptible propaganda peddled by the corporate media, that I’ve reached the burnout phase. I’ve grown tired of writing the same article every month discrediting government falsehoods.

*When I watch supposed financial “journalists” mouth the Federal Reserve and BLS false narrative of inflation running “dangerously” below 2%,* when I know for a fact prices over the last year are higher by 9% for gasoline, 8% for natural gas, 8% for heating oil, 20% for copper, 16% for wheat, 5% for corn, 16% for pork, 11% for beef, at least 10% for health insurance, 4% for college tuition, 3% for autos, 4% for apartment rents (to all-time highs), and 14% for home prices,* I am no longer outraged.*

*If the citizens of this country can’t figure out they are being screwed and lied to by the government, another article from me isn’t going to help.* The real cost of living for the average American is rising 5% to 10%. *The one cost the Deep State has thoroughly under control is the wages of average working Americans. *They’ve successfully kept real wage increases in negative territory for two decades.

I hear talking heads on the boob tube every day blathering about the “strong” jobs market and either truly believing the bullshit shoveled by the BLS every month or just mouthing the words written by their corporate media bosses. *Only an utter moron would believe you really have a 4.4% unemployment rate when 102 million out of 255 million working age Americans aren’t working.* For the math challenged, that’s 40% not working, hovering near all-time highs. That number was 35% at the beginning of this century. And it’s not due to Boomers retiring, as the percentage of men 25 to 54 years old not working is at record highs and the percentage of Americans over 55 working has soared. The percentage of teenagers not working is also at record highs.

*In addition, 26 million of the 153 million employed Americans are working part time for low wages and minimal benefits. *Almost 10 million Americans declare themselves self-employed (aka selling crap on Ebay, blogging, writing the next great novel). Another 8 million Americans hold multiple jobs. Then we get to the fact 21 million non-producing people are working for the government, getting paid from the tax dollars generated by those working for companies producing something. When it is all said and done, there are approximately 94 million full-time workers in private industry paying taxes to support 102 million non-workers and 21 million government workers. In what world does this represent a strong job market?

*What passes for a financial journalist today can’t seem to utilize critical thinking skills to connect the dots of a failing economic system, dependent upon an ever accelerating level of debt. *The miniscule downturn in consumer debt in 2009, barely perceptible on the chart below, almost collapsed the worldwide financial system. As you can see, the pitiful economic growth achieved since 2009 has been artificially produced through the issuance of $1.2 trillion of debt in eight years – most of it in the form of subprime student loans and subprime auto loans. For some perspective, it took from 1950 until 1995 (45 years) to generate the first $1.2 trillion of consumer debt, and then from 1995 until 2007 (12 years) to generate the next $1.2 trillion.

*It is duplicitous for supposedly highly educated central bankers, financial “experts”, and journalists to pretend inflation is under control and jobs are plentiful when the evidence of economic contraction is everywhere. *GDP, even using a fake inflation adjuster is still in the toilet, running below 2% when everyone knows 68% of it is generated by consumer spending. A record number of retail store closings and retail bankruptcies is baked in the cake for 2017, worse than the recession of 2009.

Restaurant sales have been falling for sixteen straight months. Auto companies have leased or loaned a car to every person in America that can fog a mirror and scratch an X on a lease or loan document. *Auto sales are starting a multi-year decline as loans go bad in record numbers. *Should that be shocking when the average financed amount has risen to $29,000 and the average loan term now exceeds 67 months – both record highs.

At least 25% of all student loans are in default. The taxpayer is going to be on the hook for hundreds of billions in loan losses. The heavily indebted millennials with lousy jobs are not boosting the economy by spending money they don’t have. They can’t buy houses and are stuck living in their parent’s basements. Broke Boomers are being forced to work in retirement and restrict their spending since they saved virtually nothing for their retirement years. Gen Xers are caught in the middle, supporting their kids and their aging parents. It’s the perfect storm.

So even though I and numerous other thoughtful, honest bloggers (Zero Hedge, Jesse, Hussman, Martenson, Stockman, Charles Hugh Smith, Denninger, and dozens of others) have documented the dire circumstances facing the nation, *central bankers at the behest of their Deep State masters, have engineered the stock markets and high end real estate markets to all-time highs, as their looting and pillaging scheme accelerates.*

My *frustration and disillusionment with a world gone mad *has begun to affect my mental state. *I’m losing my sense of outrage* which has driven me to write for the last nine years. It isn’t worth the expended energy when it will change nothing.* I’m resigned to the inevitability of economic collapse.* It’s just a matter of when. Bloggers and writers who make a living at it, must write daily articles of doom to generate page views. Since no one can reliably predict the timing of the collapse, I’ve grown tired of reading and writing the same old shit.

The analogy between driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike during bad weather and my mental state is useful in understanding where I see things headed.* There is danger lurking around every bend in the road.* Construction zones suddenly appear forcing you to change course in an instant. Aggressive drivers tailgating and weaving in and out of traffic create havoc. Sleep deprived truckers let their big rigs drift into your lane, with no room for you to maneuver away.

When you enter the three separate tunnels through Blue Mountain and its brethren, you feel claustrophobic as if the walls are closing in and there is no way to escape. During torrential downpours I’ve navigated during multiple journeys to and from Penn State, the pure terror of not being able to see 50 feet ahead while hydroplaning on a flooded roadway with an 18 wheeler in the lane next to you is hard to describe.

*The road directly ahead is blanketed in the fog of uncertainty. Anyone declaring they know what will happen in the near future with any level of certainty should be regarded with suspicion. *But if you have studied history, you realize people never learn the lessons of history, so they will always create and encounter the same problems and make the same mistakes. Human nature has not changed down through the annals of antiquity.

The desire for wealth and power by sociopaths, delusions of grandeur among the rich, tendency of human beings to act in a herd like manner leading to bubbles and busts, and an overall ignorance of the masses, are constants across the millennia. *Those at the top of the chain utilize mass media propaganda tools to control the minds of the many, but their hubris eventually leads to their downfall.*

“Anyone who studies present and ancient affairs will easily see how in all cities and all peoples there still exist, and have always existed, the same desires and passions. Thus, it is an easy matter for him who carefully examines past events to foresee future events in a republic and to apply the remedies employed by the ancients, or, if old remedies cannot be found, to devise new ones based upon the similarity of the events. But since these matters are neglected or not understood by those who read, or, if understood, remain unknown to those who govern, the result is that the same problems always exist in every era.” – *Machiavelli*

My apathy in trying to predict when the next financial catastrophe or world war will happen is driven by my belief we are in the midst of a two decade long *Fourth Turning* period of crisis which began with the financial storms hitting in September 2008. What I’ve come to realize is how slowly *Fourth Turnings* progress. They proceed at their own pace.

*There is an initial death defying event, followed by what appears to be actions taken to alleviate the crisis, lulling the masses into thinking all is well. It’s a false sense of comfort. *GDP has grown by a pitiful 30% since 2009, while it grew by 60% from the bottom during the Great Depression. Do you hear highly paid mainstream media shills providing that interesting data point?

The deaths of 65 million people followed the initial lull during the last *Fourth Turning*. We are currently in another lull (or eye of the hurricane), with an intensification of storms over the horizon. No “solutions” introduced since 2008 have solved anything. They have just exacerbated the debt problems, guarantying the next financial crisis will be devastating and global in nature.

*Every Fourth Turning has involved earth shattering levels of violence and war.* It is highly doubtful we will avoid a similar or worse fate. *Fourth Turnings* are resolved in blood, tears, atrocities, courage and the actions of heroes.* The narrative of rainbows leading to a pot of gold for the American empire will soon be confronted with lightning bolts of reality.*

Just as you can be experiencing a relaxing drive along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in bright sunshine, you can turn on the weather report and find out blizzard warnings have been issued for the road ahead. Many of the drivers are oblivious to the warnings as they never listen to weather reports. Many hear the warnings but ignore them, preferring to live in denial. Others recklessly speed up and try to outrun the storms. Very few heed the warnings and get off the road for the safety of shelter. The weather can change in an instant. Sunshine dissipates rapidly as a winter blizzard engulfs the countryside, paralyzing the economy, overwhelming modern technology, exposing weaknesses, and creating havoc on the roadways as the unprepared pile up in a devastating crash.

“Reflect on what happens when a terrible winter blizzard strikes. You hear the weather warning but probably fail to act on it. The sky darkens. Then the storm hits with full fury, and the air is a howling whiteness. One by one, your links to the machine age break down. Electricity flickers out, cutting off the TV. Batteries fade, cutting off the radio. Phones go dead. Roads become impossible, and cars get stuck. Food supplies dwindle. Day to day vestiges of modern civilization – bank machines, mutual funds, mass retailers, computers, satellites, airplanes, governments – all recede into irrelevance.

Picture yourself and your loved ones in the midst of a howling blizzard that lasts several years. Think about what you would need, who could help you, and why your fate might matter to anybody other than yourself. That is how to plan for a saecular winter. Don’t think you can escape the Fourth Turning. History warns that a Crisis will reshape the basic social and economic environment that you now take for granted.” – *Strauss & Howe* *– **The Fourth Turning*

*This Fourth Turning has over a decade of continuous storms to come. *We will not recognize this country when the climax is reached. It could be far worse country or a revitalized nation. The outcome will depend upon the actions we take as individuals and as a country. Cheering for your side in today’s political side shows, meant to distract you from focusing on the true enemies of freedom, is a worthless exercise. Turn off the TV and think for yourself. The generational dynamics and darkening mood will drive the reaction to events as they unfold over the next decade. *Batten down the hatches and prepare to navigate through the deadly storms bearing down upon the nation.* Reported by Zero Hedge 4 hours ago.

Business Highlights

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Retailers like H&M, Target and J.C. Penney are coming out with more clothes that use waste from all sorts of sources, like recycled denim or leather, nylon waste, remnants of old garments, or even plastic bottles. NEW YORK (AP) — Last winter, the U.S. tourism industry fretted that Trump administration policies might lead to a "Trump slump" in travel. There might even be a "Trump bump," says Roger Dow, CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, a nonprofit representing the travel industry. The sandwich chain says the redesign — which includes a brighter atmosphere, displays of vegetables behind the counter and ordering tablets — is the first major revamp since the early 2000s. The makeover comes as Subway's sales have fallen for four straight years amid competition from places including Jimmy John's and Firehouse Subs. Since 2012, Subway's average annual sales per store are down 13 percent at $420,000, according to industry tracker Technomic. WASHINGTON (AP) — Julian Senn-Raemont isn't convinced he needs to buy health insurance when he loses coverage under his dad's plan in a couple of years — no matter what happens in the policy debate in Washington, or how cheap the plans are. BEIJING (AP) — China's economic growth held steady in the latest quarter, boosted by unexpectedly strong trade and consumer spending, despite fears tighter lending controls aimed at cooling a surge in debt are weighing on commercial activity. Progress on citizens' rights is one of the three main issues that have to be resolved before the two sides can start talking about a wide-ranging free trade deal, the others being the bill Britain has to pay to meet existing commitments and the border issue in Ireland. NEW YORK (AP) — Activist investor Nelson Peltz is attempting to secure a seat on the board at Procter & Gamble, seeking faster changes at the consumer products company. Reported by SeattlePI.com 4 hours ago.

Top Hospitals Got Richer Under Obamacare, But Didn't Pass It On

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Top Hospitals Got Richer Under Obamacare, But Didn't Pass It On Watch VideoMore Americans having health insurance over the last few years has meant hospitals are giving away less so-called "direct charity care." And that's meant higher profits for hospitals nationwide.

An investigation by Politico found that in 2015, the nation's top seven hospitals spent 35 percent less on charity care, which is free treatment for low-income patients, while their total operating revenues equaled $33.9 billion, which is a 15 percent jump since 2013.

The biggest change between those years? The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, didn't fully take effect until 2014.  

That doesn't necessarily mean low-income Americans received less care. Actually, the hospitals defend their lack of spending on charity care by pointing to the drastic drop in uninsured people thanks to Obamacare. They also point out their "community benefit spending," which includes things like free screenings, lectures and sponsored races where hospital staff hand out water bottles.

But hospitals bristle at the idea that Obamacare is the main reason their profits are up. The Mayo Clinic told Politico, "It's a result of a fiscal discipline, focus on creating efficiencies, generous philanthropic donations, as well as research funding from NIH and revenue created through our commercialization efforts."

They also say they are putting a lot of that money back in the community via jobs. Hospitals are, after all, the largest employers in many urban areas.

*SEE MORE: Here's What Trump Can Do To Obamacare Even Without Congress*

But critics say that's just not enough. A lot of the most profitable hospitals in the country are in struggling neighborhoods. Those community benefits don't always have a direct impact on the communities themselves. And as those profits roll in, critics say most of that money goes to raises for top executives or huge renovations for the hospitals. 

One health care economist put it this way: "The hospitals ... aren't contributing to the financial reserves of that community. They are obviously employing people, but they are earning substantial profits and not paying any of those profits to the communities."

Critics would rather see some of those profits go toward improving the "population health"— they say pumping money into fixing the social needs of those communities might mean the residents won't have to go to the hospital in the first place. But currently, no one is forcing them. Reported by Newsy 37 minutes ago.

How "Nothing To Hide" Leads To "Nowhere To Hide"– Why Privacy Matters In An Age Of Tech Totalitarianism

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How Nothing To Hide Leads To Nowhere To Hide – Why Privacy Matters In An Age Of Tech Totalitarianism Via The Daily Bell,

*Would you allow a government official into your bedroom on your honeymoon? Or let your mother-in-law hear and record every conversation that takes place in your home or car – especially disagreements with your husband or wife? Would you let a stranger sit in on your children’s playdates so that he could better understand how to entice them with candy or a doll?*

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Guess what?* If you bring your phone with you everywhere, or engage with a whole-house **robo helper such as Alexa or Echo or Siri or Google, you’re opening up every aspect of your life to government officials, snooping (possibly criminal) hackers, and advertisers targeting you, your spouse and your children. *

The following is not a screed against technology. But it is *a plea to consider what we’re giving up when we hand over privacy, wholesale, to people w**hom we can neither see nor hear*... people whose motives we cannot fathom.

The widened lanes of communication, and the conveniences that Smart Phones, wireless communities, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have fomented are indeed helpful to some extent. They allow, for example, for remote working, which allows people to spend more time with their families and less time commuting. In areas such as the energy business, the field of predictive analytics, born of Big Data and the Industrial Internet, helps mitigate the danger of sending humans to oil rigs at sea. 

And on a personal level, of course, *the conveniences are innumerable:* Grandparents living far away can “see” their grandchildren more often than they could in years past, thanks to technology such as FaceTime and Skype.

*People save money: *As you walk by a restaurant, a lunch coupon suddenly appears on your phone.

*And they can save time: *Someday soon, the Internet of Things might tell your coffee maker and alarm clock to go off before its normal time, because bad weather is coming and your son’s school bus will arrive 15 minutes early to avoid the fog.

*But there’s a corollary we must think about. *(Two corollaries, actually, one being the long-term effects of Electromagnetic Fields on our health, and especially on our brains. But so far, few studies have been funded to examine this.)

We must acknowledge that *we’**re gaining all this convenience at the expense of our privacy.*

*When you ask Siri or Echo or Alexa or Google (and others of their ilk) something, it’s great to get an immediate answer… but the corollary is that Siri and Echo and Alexa and Google are listening to every conversation you’re having with your spouse, every fight you’re having with your kids, and every bit of heavy breathing that might be taking place in the dark.*

That response inherently grants legitimacy to the search in the first place. The implication is that if you have nothing to “hide,” then the tech companies, the advertisers, the government, etc. should indeed have full access to every aspect of your life. 

Note that the word in the phrase is “hide” and not “protect”, thereby implying that all that is not shared with any intrusive party must be something nefarious, something you’re trying to keep from those who have a right to it.

And if you think about it, “nothing” is the wrong word, too: Forgive the vulgarity here, but would you use the toilet in front of your mother-in-law? Would you allow an IRS official into your bedroom at night? Or to move into your home and record every conversation that takes place? Would you open your private diary to your spouse’s ex or to your children? Clearly, there are some things we do indeed wish to keep private.

In other words, if it’s OK to want to protect the privacy of one’s genitals or one’s private thoughts, why is it wrong to want to protect one’s conversations or whereabouts?

-*Totalitarianism and Tech – Caveat Emptor*-

*Privacy is the first thing that a totalitarian state attempts to destroy. *

Ask anyone who lived behind the Berlin Wall or in Stalinist Russia. If you know what parents are teaching their children, you can intervene and destroy the family, a primary goal of totalitarianism. If you know someone’s secrets or vulnerabilities, you can manipulate him. Knowledge truly is power, especially if you are a big state wanting to control people.

As a child, I was a huge fan of figure skating, and in particular of the great, then-East German champion Katarina Witt. In an interview a few years ago, she revealed her shock that the Stasi collected thousands of records of all her comings and goings and private conversations. The spies even noted when she had been intimate with her boyfriend. When the government knows all, no one is immune, and everyone can be controlled.

And just think, they were documenting Miss Witt’s activities and conversations by hand, back in the 1970s and ‘80s. Now, nearly every single aspect of our lives is being recorded in real time. Every email, every text, every phone conversation. Every time you allow your phone to know where you are, your whereabouts are noted. *Soon, that Internet of Things — **IoT — which already connects 50 billion “things” through an internet of its own, will be coming to your refrigerator, your dishwasher, your coffeemaker. Happy Alexa and GE “smart fridge” commercials are airing as we speak.*

And not only are we letting all of this happen, we’re welcoming it. Twenty years ago, it was Miss Witt’s friends who recorded her personal conversations, and strangers who spied on her. But as she has noted, these days, we give a lot of our privacy away of our own free will. If someone were parked outside your house, surveilling you day and night, it would be unnerving, no? But we’re fine keeping our phones on us 24/7, and telling Facebook personal details about ourselves.

We do this because of the convenience, which will be increasing in scope as quickly as do the various surveillance mechanisms. Will it be convenient when your fridge tells your phone that you’re running low on orange juice (as the bottle will have a sensor, too)? Perhaps.

*But will it be convenient when that same fridge tells your health insurance company that you’ve got ice cream in the freezer? And when your rates go up because of it?*

Worse – will it be convenient when that fridge listens to your kitchen conversations and tells the government that you’ll be organizing a political discussion group on Tuesday? Or when it tells that bizarre man you went on one date with, who hacked your system, that your daughter has a recital this Friday night?

*This is not a conspiracy theory. **This is an extrapolation of what happens when people who crave power gain access to vast amounts of personal information. *

The more you tell Facebook, or Siri, or Google, or FourSquare, or your phone, or your washing machine, then the more of your own personal power and privacy you’re giving up. (And the more photos you post of your young children, the more of their power you’re relinquishing. So, parents — stop. Now.) 

*Bottom line: **Once the state (or a company) knows your weaknesses, they can exploit them. They can go after you in myriad ways. And I don’t just mean to “punish” you… I mean to manipulate you.*

If a politician has access to your personal proclivities, then he can easily craft, via Artificial Intelligence, a targeted campaign that caters to exactly what the data tell him you want to hear. In the future, he could even warp news stories, video and even audio in real time to appeal to you for gain.

If a potential employer is considering you for a job, then she can (already) access every YouTube video you’ve ever watched, every public post you’ve ever made, and, soon, everything else you’ve put online. In the future, she might be able to access everything you’ve ever said in your home or in your car, or every video of you taken by your television when you think it’s off. 

Those conversations and images will be sold as commodities. “Data” = “money” and “power.” Companies will soon specialize in mining all that personal data; they’ll be paid to flag “inappropriate” conversations, texts or images. Think about it.

A private banker I spoke to in Asia is proud of the fact that his bank is working in concert with FinTech to develop Know Your Customer technology on steroids: It will find every single email, text message, photo, post, and even online search that you’ve ever done so that it can (and this sounds so innocuous) “paint a holistic and predictive picture of client needs.”

*That predictive part is critical. *Not only do data tell those who hold them where you’ve been, but AI and Big Data analysis can predict where you’re going (both physically and psychologically)… and here’s the really scary part… before you know it.

That gives the data holders real powers of manipulation. The winners of a battle are nearly always the ones with the advanced information, the ones who can launch the surprise attack.

*Technology can lead to convenience, but it can also lead to abuses of power. In its extreme, that is called totalitarianism.*

In the end, we must take precautions if we’re to have anything close to liberty. Some of you have, no doubt, read Jonah Goldberg’s excellent book from 2007, Liberal Fascism, the hardcover of which features a smiley face graphic with a Hitler mustache. In the introduction, Mr. Goldberg quotes a segment from a Bill Maher show in which George Carlin says, in essence, (and I’m paraphrasing) that “when fascism comes to America it will be wearing a smiley face.”

*I’d go a step further — it will be cloaked in an emoji… seemingly innocuous, friendly, and ubiquitous.*

*We must stop giving away our privacy.* We must start thinking about personal “data” as the commodity that it already is, and even as a weapon that can be used against us.

*If we don’t stop and reconsider what we’re giving away, not only will there be nothing to hide, but nowhere to hide.*

  Reported by Zero Hedge 22 hours ago.

Nigeria: Health Minister Suspends Eight Top Staff

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[Premium Times] The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, has suspended eight top management staff of the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, days after suspending the executive secretary of the agency over corruption allegations. Reported by allAfrica.com 20 hours ago.
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