Tent Cities: The Secret That Won’t Go Away

Since the economic crisis began in late 2007, many Americans have suffered foreclosure. By October 2011 the foreclosure rate had climbed to 33%; greater than the 31% reported during the Great Depression.

For many, homelessness was brought on by job loss, but there are an ever-growing number of renters who have found themselves out on the street when the landlord lost the home to foreclosure. Others struggling to get by have found themselves the victims of escalating rent prices and for others; homelessness arrived when the social services they received was cut off as cities themselves experienced economic insolvency.

For every foreclosure, there is a heartfelt story to be told.

Not in My Back Yard!

Tent cities are a reflection of America’s insolvency and may be an indicator of what we can expect should we join the ranks of the unemployed. The US Department of Housing and Development reports that on any given night, 650,000 people experience homelessness.

Cities across America have chosen hard-line abandonment over compassion for the homeless. The plight of the homeless is difficult to unearth, as it is not being reported on to the extent it deserves. Yet, even though mainstream media seems to have swept their struggles into a dark corner of obscurity, there remains a voice being broadcasted daily through You Tube by ordinary citizens who care enough to report on their areas   homeless.

Marginalizing the homeless has lead to draconian measures. In Phoenix, Cross Roads United Methodist Church received a verdict of guilty by a judge who ruled the pancake breakfasts they were serving to the homeless was illegal; http://www.azfamily.com/news/Judge-says-Phoenix-church-cannot-feed-homeless-69650502.html

Churches are not the only ones being punished for their good deeds. A couple in Houston, Texas who for over one year had been feeding the homeless each and every night was ordered to stop. The reason? They did not have a “permit” to do so; http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7898553

Where Have All The Homeless Gone?

The plight of the homeless in Lakewood, New Jersey was documented in this You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsYDvvgMevI where Pastor Steve Brigham discusses the tent city (in this case huts) he set up for the homeless that was ordered torn down. Pastor Brigham points to a woman who was employed in the garment district in New York City earning over $100,000 a year. She lost her job in the garment industry when operations were outsourced to China. Pastor Brigham states the 60 people about to be displaced were not likely to find warm shelter and hot meals to sustain life over the long winter.

A follow-up on the plight of the homeless in Lakewood New Jersey was reported on by  Fox News on August 11, 2011: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/11/economic-woes-lead-to-proliferation-tent-cities-nationwide/

In Huntington, Virginia a tent city that was erected on vacant land was bulldozed after the homeless were warned to vacate or face arrest. On film, police officers patrol the ground in search of the homeless who will then be arrested for vagrancy should they be caught. Mayor David Felinton was paraphrased as having said, “The city has done what it could.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdZHraXFgKY

Tent Cities Are Disappearing all Across America

Although tent cities are disappearing, homelessness is growing as more and more lose their jobs or fall victim to eroding social services they had been receiving. Cities in financial trouble themselves are unable to answer the increased need to help the homeless with food and shelter, but neither are they willing to allow people to help themselves by allowing them to pitch tents, nor do they appear to welcome humanitarian efforts.

A report on one of the largest tent cities located in Sacramento, California reflects 1,500 homeless were living there with a reported 50 new arrivals each day who wished to  avoid living on the streets. Like so many sites set up for the homeless, Sacramento bulldozed it in 2009.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGxKdDinkKk&NR=1

Even a tropical paradise is not immune. In Hawaii, the ranks of the homeless tops the national average as the problem continues to increase, but like city’s elsewhere, the displaced are told that it is illegal to sleep in parks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGZE9PWPKts


In 2007, after a tent city located underneath pedestrian bridges by Cleveland Browns Stadium had been in existence for 15 months, Cleveland officials answered the need of the homeless by ordering them to vacate or face arrest. Officials had no advice for alternative housing. http://www.wkyc.com/print.aspx?storyid=69752

Who to Contact

To view a report with up to date information on 75 tent cities, visit the National Coalition for the Homeless http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/crimreport/allcities.html

***** 

The preceding was a guest post for The Final Hour by author Barbara Fix.

Visit Survival Diva Blog http://www.survivaldiva.com/ for more information on rural living, gardening, home canning, food storage, and tips on combating skyrocketing food prices.

Survival Diva, Barbara’s preparedness book is available at http://www.survivaldiva.com/ Download for just $7.75

War Zone: The City Of Detroit Is Dying

The city of Detroit has become the poster child for everything that is wrong with the U.S. economy - and for good reason.  It literally looks like it is in the middle of a war zone or like a hurricane has hit it.  The truth is that the city of Detroit is dying and it is simply not going to recover.

It wasn't always this way for Detroit.  Decades ago, it was a shining example of America's incredible manufacturing prowess.  It was the center of the automobile revolution.  At the time, nobody could have ever dreamed that one day Detroit would be the biggest economic disaster in the United States. 

But that is what has happened.

Just consider the following facts....

*During the boom days of the 1950s, Detroit was a teeming metropolis of approximately 2 million people, but today the current population is less than a million and people are leaving in waves.

*The mayor of Detroit has admitted that while the "official" unemployment rate in Detroit is 27 percent, the "real" unemployment rate in his city is somewhere around 50 percent.

*House prices of under $1000 are quite common in Detroit now, and there are some houses in the city that you can actually buy for just one dollar.

*Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb has announced a plan to close 44 Detroit schools.

*According to one estimate, the city of Detroit has 33,500 empty houses and 91,000 vacant residential lots.

*So how do you possibly save a city that is dying right in front of you? Well, the mayor of Detroit has unveiled his radical solution - you bulldoze one-fourth of the city.

But sometimes it is not enough just to read facts and figures.  Sometimes you just have to see what is going on with your own eyes before it will start to sink in.  The short video news report posted below shows just how bad things have gotten in Detroit.  Would you like to live in a city that looks like this?....



But before you jump on Detroit too much, the reality is that this is going to happen to a lot more American cities before all of this is over.  It is not just the economy of Detroit that is dying.  It is the entire U.S. economy this is dying.

The United States has piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world, and now the day of reckoning is here.  Millions of Americans have already lost their homes and their jobs, but this is only the beginning.  Incredibly hard economic times are on the way, and unfortunately America is going to pay the price for going into so much debt.  Please make sure to prepare yourself and your family for the times that are ahead because they are not going to be easy.

12 Signs The United States Is Headed For Financial Collapse

Is the United States headed for total financial collapse?  Most Americans seem to think that we are now recovering from the recent economic crisis and that we will be back to "normal" very soon.  But what do the numbers say?  Do the economic signs point toward a recovery or a major financial disaster?  The truth is that if you take a close look at the numbers, they are very troubling.  Just consider the following signs.... 

#1) The FDIC plans to open a huge satellite office near Chicago that will house up to 500 temporary staffers and contractors to manage receiverships and liquidate assets from what they are expecting will be a gigantic wave of failed Midwest banks.

#2) So is there are reason for the FDIC to expect so many banks to fail?  Well, the FDIC recently announced that the number of banks on its "problem" list climbed to 702 at the end of 2009. This is compared to only 552 banks that were on the problem list at the end of September and only 252 banks that were on the problem list at the end of 2008.

#3) The U.S. Treasury Department has announced that foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities fell by 53 billion dollars in December, which was the biggest one month decline in history. China alone reduced its holdings of U.S. Treasuries by 34.2 billion dollars.  If other nations quit buying up U.S. government debt, what happens then?

#4) A massive "second wave" of adjustable rate mortgages is scheduled to reset beginning in 2010. The first wave of adjustable rate mortgage resets absolutely devastated the U.S. housing market in 2007 and 2008. So what is this second wave of mortgage resets going to do to the U.S. economy?

#5) In fact, one shocking new study predicts that 5 million houses and condos will go through foreclosure over the next couple of years.  If that actually happens, the impact on the U.S. economy would be enormous.

#6) A number of financial analysts are forecasting that the next "shoe to fall" in the ongoing financial crisis will be commercial real estate. U.S. commercial property values are down about 40 percent since 2007 and currently 18 percent of all office space in the United States is now sitting vacant.

#7) The number of Americans who are declaring personal bankruptcy continues to shoot into the stratosphere. 1.41 million Americans filed for bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.

#8) But how can average Americans possibly pay their bills without jobs? In some areas of the United States, unemployment is now at depression-era levels.  For example, the mayor of Detroit estimates that the real unemployment rate in his city is now somewhere around 45 to 50 percent.

#9) Meanwhile, soaring unemployment insurance taxes are actually discouraging small and mid-size companies from hiring more workers. According to the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, companies in at least 35 states will have to fork over even more in unemployment insurance taxes in 2010.

#10) In addition, the U.S. is facing a pension crisis of unprecedented magnitude. The reality is that the vast majority of all pension funds in the United States, both public and private, are massively underfunded. With millions of Baby Boomers now at or nearing retirement age, there is simply no way that all of these unfunded pension obligations are going to be met. Robert Novy-Marx of the University of Chicago and Joshua D. Rauh of Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management recently calculated the collective unfunded pension liability for all 50 U.S. states for Forbes magazine. So what was the total that they came up with? 3.2 trillion dollars.

#11) Not only that, but Social Security and Medicare also threaten to decimate U.S. government finances. In fact, some economic analysts are now predicting that the coming wave of retiring Baby Boomers is going to bankrupt the entire Social Security system.

#12) All of these financial problems come at a time when the U.S. national debt is experiencing exponential growth. The U.S. national debt is now over 12 trillion dollars and it is rising at a rate of about 3.8 billion dollars per day. So just how much is one trillion dollars? Well, if you spent one dollar every single second of every single day, it would take you over 31,000 years just to spend one trillion dollars.

So is the U.S. headed for a massive financial collapse? 

Unfortunately, the answer appears to be yes.

Very hard economic times are coming.

Now is the time to make sure that you and your family are prepared for what is ahead.

The Cap And Trade Climate Change Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives is on the verge of voting on the cap and trade climate change bill which if passed would fundamentally change the American economy forever. The Democrats added a 300 page amendment at 3 a.m. last night, and Republicans say that the Democrats are ramrodding this bill through the House without enough time for any of the members to possibly read the bill.

Most Republicans are firmly opposed to this bill and are calling the measure a "job killer" that would push energy bills through the roof and would drive jobs and businesses overseas.

But this cap and trade climate change bill is a top priority for the White House, and Barack Obama spent much of the day making phone calls trying to drum up support for the bill.

"Now is the time for us to lead," Obama told reporters in the White House Rose Garden. "We cannot be afraid of the future. We cannot be prisoners to the past."

This legislation is also very important to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and she has pledged to get it passed before Congress leaves for their July 4th vacation.

Representative Mike Pence from Indiana said that this bill "amounts to the largest tax increase in American history under the guise of climate change."

Fortunately, House Minority Leader John Boehner is delaying the attempt by the Democrats to ramrod this bill through by filibustering. He is actually reading page-by-page through the 300-page Democratic amendment to the bill.

Earlier, Boehner had some very harsh words for the bill. In fact, he said that he had "never seen anything this ridiculous".

Check out this video clip of Boehner.....



During his filibuster Boehner made these very wise remarks: "...the gentleman’s had his 30 years to put this bill together. And the House is going to spend a whopping five hours debating the most profound piece of legislation to come to this floor in 100 years. And the chairman has the audacity to drop a 300-plus page amendment in the hopper at 3:09 a.m. this morning. And so I would ask my colleagues, don’t you think the American people expect us to understand what’s in this bill before we vote on it?"

The truth is that the whole notion that "global warming" is caused by carbon dioxide is complete nonsense.

Dr. Tim Ball, a renowned environmental consultant and former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg, makes it abundantly clear that carbon dioxide cannot possibly cause "global warming":

"CO2 is about 1.5 the density of air. One of the great fallacies promoted by [the proponents of the global warming theory] is that CO2 is well and quickly mixed through the atmosphere. It isn't. They also argue that the CO2 is most effective in trapping heat from the Earth (infrared) at the top of the atmosphere. This is why the computer models predicted greatest warming at the top of the atmosphere over the tropics. The problem is the actual measurements show that is not happening."

In addition, the "global warming" that the world experienced during the 90s and into this decade was experienced by every planet in the solar system. It was caused by the sun. Now that the sun has recently gone into a time of low sun spots, the truth is that the world is now experiencing a time of global cooling.

But the facts never seemed to matter much to American politicians before. Why should they let the truth bother them now?

But even if global warming was caused by carbon dioxide (which it is not), this bill will not cut emissions. It will just drive jobs and businesses overseas to places like China where they have no limits on carbon emissions at all.

Can the fragile American economy endure the higher gasoline costs and the massive loss of jobs and businesses that this bill would cause?

Can the fragile American economy endure the largest tax increase in the history of the United States?

Contact your representatives in Congress and tell them to vote NO on this bill. The future of the U.S. economy is at stake.

The World Currency

For the first time ever, world leaders and big media are openly talking about the creation of a one world currency. While some people thought we would never see a world currency, the truth is that the recent G20 summit was another huge step towards making it a reality.

Point 19 of the communique issued by the G20 leaders is the biggest official step towards a global currency that we have ever seen:

"We have agreed to support a general SDR allocation which will inject $250bn (£170bn) into the world economy and increase global liquidity."

So what are SDRs?

SDRs are "Special Drawing Rights", which is a synthetic paper currency issued by the International Monetary Fund. This concept has basically been dormant for half a century, but now the G20 has fully revived it.

Basically what the G20 leaders have done is that they have activated the IMF's power to create money. They call it "quantitative easing".

By giving the IMF the power to create money, the world leaders at the G20 summit have officially launched a world currency that is outside the control of any national government.

Now mainstream media outlets are even openly discussing the possibility of a one world currency. Just yesterday, MSNBC ran this shocking headline: What if the world all used the same currency?

Even George Soros is now openly discussing the prospect of a one world currency: "In the long run, having an international accounting unit rather than the dollar may, in fact, be to our advantage."

It was the Russians and the Chinese who were the most vocal supporters of the creation of a world currency at the G20 summit. They want to see an end to the domination of the dollar in international commerce.

But Russia is not alone. Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev is also openly calling for a one world currency.

Nazarbayev says that "we must create a single world currency under the aegis of the United Nations."

Nazarbayev's view is echoed by Canadian economist and Nobel prize winning professor Robert Mundell. Mundell, who was a key intellectual force behind the creation of the Euro, is also actively promoting the idea of one world currency.

WorldNetDaily reports that Mundell told the Australian News this: "I must say that I agree with President Nazarbayev on his statement and many of the things he said in his plan, the project he made for the world currency, and I believe I'm right on track with what he is saying."

The truth is that a one world currency has been the goal of globalist organization such as the Council on Foreign Relations for a long time. In a 2007 issue of their Foreign Affairs magazine, the published an article entitled, "The end of national currency" in which they recommended that "countries should abandon monetary nationalism."

So how would a one world currency work?

Basically a one world central bank owned and run by the international banking elite would print, issue and control the single currency of the entire world. In many ways this represents one of the ultimate goals of the international bankers.

Imagine what you could do if you had total control over the currency of the whole world.

In fact, the IMF is totally controlled by the international bankers, and now that the IMF is creating money, is there any realistic chance that a full-fledged global currency can be stopped?

Let's hope so.

The Federal Reserve Completely Dominates And Controls American Politics

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who just came over to the Treasury Department from the New York Federal Reserve, will soon propose a massive overhaul of the regulatory system that will give the Federal Reserve sweeping new powers over the financial system of the United States.

This piece of news would draw yawns from most Americans, but that is only because they don't understand what is really going on in America.

What we have is the ex-head of the New York Federal Reserve coming in to the Treasury Department and immediately trying to transfer massive power to his real bosses at the Federal Reserve.

You see, the Federal Reserve is about as "federal" as Federal Express.

The Federal Reserve is a privately owned central bank that is owned and run for profit by elite international bankers primarily based in Europe.

These international bankers dominate the political scene through shadowy roundtable groups such as the Bilderberg group, the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

The truth is that every presidential administration since FDR's has been completely dominated by members of the CFR. Just look it up.

In his recent article for WorldNetDaily, Henry Lamb wrote the following about the influence of the CFR in American politics:

During Bill Clinton's administration, Washington Post writer Richard Harwood reported that the Council on Foreign Relations is "… the closest thing we have to a ruling Establishment in the United States," and went on to identify dozens of CFR members in the White House.

George W. Bush's administration was also loaded with members of the CFR: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, etc. etc.

So what about Barack Obama?

Has he brought change?

No, in fact his administration is packed so full of members of the Bilderberg group, the CFR and the Trilateral Commission that it might be the most Federal Reserve dominated administration ever - and that is saying a lot. In fact, Politico has just come out with a major 3 page feature story on this.

Have you ever wondered why things seem to stay the same no matter who gets elected?

Now you know.

The problem is that both the Democrats and the Republicans work for the Federal Reserve.

The Insanity Of A $3.55 Trillion Budget With A $1.75 Trillion Deficit

Barack Obama has released his first federal budget proposal as president, and it is a monster. Obama's budget proposal is a whopping 3.55 trillion dollars, and it contains an astonishing $1.75 trillion projected federal deficit that would be nearly four times the highest in history.

The era of big government was definitely back under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Now we are entering the era of REALLY REALLY big government.

The following are some highlights from Obama's budget proposal.....

*A tax increase on Americans making more than $250,000 a year, but tax cuts for those making less than that.

*A 634 billion dollar first step toward a universal health care system.

*Despite America's deep economic crisis, Obama is seeking to double U.S. foreign aid to other countries.

*Obama's new budget also includes a new "global warming" tax. It would be the biggest tax increase in American history, and it would hit consumers with considerably higher utility bills.

*The Pentagon budget would get a 4 percent boost - to $534 billion next year.

Will all of this massive government spending fix the economy?

Well, it will help in the short term - just like going out and spending a thousand dollars on your credit cards will help you feel better in the short term too.

But what would happen to you personally if you went out and ran all your credit cards up to their maximum?

Financial disaster is what would happen.

And that is exactly what is happening to the United States government now.

The federal government of the United States is now over 10 TRILLION dollars in debt.

10,000,000,000,000 dollars in debt!

Will the current generation of Americans repay that?

No, the current generation seems determined to go even deeper in debt.

So, that means that Americans are dumping this debt on to their children and their grandchildren and to generations beyond that.

What America has done is they have sold their children and grandchildren into economic slavery forever. How would you feel if you were a little child and you discovered that your parents had left you with a debt that you could never, ever repay and that you would be making interest payments on for the rest of your life?

America's children and grandchildren will ALL be working all of their lives to pay interest on this ridiculous debt. Their labor will go into serving the owners of this debt, and there is no escape.

The goal should be to pass on a better world to America's children. How immoral is it to pass on such a debt to future generations?

Imagine if your parents came up to you and handed you a million dollar credit card bill that they had racked up and that was now in your name and you had to make payments on for the rest of your life?

America has had the greatest party of all time and has fueled the party on massive amounts of debt, but there is bad news.....

The party is almost over.

The reserves of America's local banks are gone. The financial institutions have borrowed an insane amount of money from the Federal Reserve this year just to stay afloat. America's financial system has never experienced a crisis of this magnitude in modern times.

The biggest debt bubble in the history of the world is starting to burst.

For decades Americans have lived like kings and queens.....enjoying the biggest party the world has ever known.....but financed with ever increasing amounts of debt.

Once upon a time, the United States was the biggest creditor in the world. But those days are long gone. Now America is the biggest debtor nation to ever exist on the earth.

America was the richest nation in the world, but that was never enough. Americans always had to have a bigger car, a bigger house and an endless supply of "stuff". So the American government piled up debt, American companies gorged on debt, and Americans made using credit cards into a national pastime.

If you include the future liabilities that America's government has already committed to such as future Social Security and Medicare payments, then the total debt of the federal government is over 65 TRILLION dollars.

65 TRILLION dollars!

Now that many of America's jobs have gone overseas, the price of gasoline is shooting through the roof, and tons of people are losing their homes, do we find that Americans are learning their lesson?

No.

Instead Americans are squeezing everything they can out of their credit cards. Total credit card debt in America is now over 790 billion dollars, and it is increasing at a rate which is four times faster than earlier this decade.

Instead of showing restraint, Americans have jammed the accelerator to the floor.

And did you know that Americans actually have a NEGATIVE savings rate?

Do you know the last time when that happened?

The Great Depression.

Prices are increasing dramatically while wages are not. Jobs are being outsourced and factories are being closed. America's largest banks and financial institutions are teetering on the brink of failure. Homes are being foreclosed at record rates. Personal bankruptcies recently hit an all-time high. And what is the answer that the politicians give America? Wasting even more money and getting us into even more debt.

America is truly reaping what they have sowed.

The Scriptures talk about those who would hoard wealth in the last days. Instead of feeding the poor and taking care of those who couldn't take care of themselves, Americans spent their money on mini-mansions, luxury SUVs and as much entertainment as they could pack into our lives. Now Americans will suffer the consequences just as the Scriptures say in James 5:1-5.....

"Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter."




-----

Is America The Richest Nation If Hillary Has To Beg China For Money?

Most Americans still do not get it. Almost a year into the financial collapse, most people still seem to think that this is just a "temporary downturn" and that good times and prosperity will be here again as soon as soon as the politicians and the bankers "fix" things.

But this is not just a temporary economic downturn.

This is the collapse of the pyramid of debt that the United States has been building for decades.

The truth is that the very foundational structures of the world financial system are crumbling, and once they fall they will not be able to be put back together again the same way.

But most Americans still believe the myth that America is the "richest, most powerful" nation on earth.

If that was true, would Hillary Clinton need to plead with China to continue buying U.S. Treasury bonds? The reality is that China and other nations have been lending us obscene amounts of money, and they are getting tired of funding our outrageous national debt.

There are some media outlets that are starting to wake up a bit. The San Francisco Chronicle is now saying that this economic crisis "is as bad as they come". But most in the media are still content to call this crisis a "recession" or to talk about how "temporary" these problems are.

Meanwhile, the Feds have come up with yet another new plan to save the banks. You mean the trillions of dollars they have already committed haven't fixed the problem?

Some banks that have been bailed out already now need another bailout. For example, the U.S. government could soon own as much as 40% of Citigroup's common stock as part of a plan to bailout that troubled bank.

But what about all the small banks that are in trouble?

Well, they aren't important enough - the Feds just let them die or get gobbled up.

That is exactly what happened to an Oregon bank that just became the 14th banking chain to fail in 2009.

The reality is that we have a gigantic mess on our hands, and people are hurting because of it.

Some areas have been hurt more than others. For instance, Las Vegas has edged Detroit for the title of America's most abandoned city.

Some housing markets have seen almost a free fall in prices. The median price of a house in Southern California is now back to $250,000, which is a 50 percent decline from the peak in 2007.

And every day while this goes on the citizens are getting angrier and less content.

In fact, things have gotten so bad economically in the U.K. that police fear mass protests and a "summer of rage" as citizens get even angrier about the current economic crisis.

Hopefully things can get stabilized and that we won't see that type of thing happen either in the U.S. or the U.K.

The truth is that the massive "bailouts" we are seeing in the U.S. and the U.K. will stabilize things for the short term, but they are all being funded by borrowed money, so they will make our long term problems even worse.

65 Trillion - U.S. Financial Obligations Exceed The Entire World's GDP

The total liabilities of the United States government, including future social security and medicare payments that the U.S. government is already committed to pay out, now exceed 65 TRILLION dollars, which is more than the entire GDP of the whole world.

According to the 2008 Financial Report of the United States Government, which is an official United States government report, the U.S. actually had a budget deficit of 5.1 trillion dollars in 2008.

So why did the Congressional Budget Office report that the federal budget deficit was only 455 billion dollars (which is certainly a total disaster) in 2008?

The difference lies in accounting. The CBO's figures are based on cash accounting, while the 2008 Financial Report of the United States Government is based on GAAP accounting. GAAP accounting is what is used by all the major firms on Wall Street and it is regarded as a much more accurate reflection of financial reality.

So why is there such a big difference?

Well, what the Congressional Budget Office does is some really bad accounting. When you pay social security taxes, the federal government takes that money and instead of putting it away to pay your social security benefits in the future, it takes that money and spends it however it wants.

So what about the future social security and medicare benefits that the government owes you?

There is no money there for those payments.

The government is using that money right now to make the budget look better.

That's right, you have been conned.

And as bad as the numbers from 2008 look, they do not reflect any significant money from the monstrous financial bailouts that Congress has passed.

So 2009 is going to look MUCH worse.

Pretty picture, eh?

The reality is the the United States of America is a total financial disaster.

Already, 13 banks have already failed in 2009. All of the bailouts certainly don't seem to be helping much yet.

But that doesn't mean that the federal government is going to give up trying to help. It seems a new "bailout" or a new "stimulus" is being passed almost weekly now.

Instead of accepting the fact that we must adopt a lower standard of living and deal with the reality of our massive debt, the politicians are trying to crank up the debt spiral one more time.

The truth is that all of this government spending will help the economy in the short term, but it will make the long term problems of the U.S. government far worse.

So who is going to buy all of this new government debt? China has serious doubts about who is going to buy all of America's new debt. The reality is that the only way that the government can "bailout" anyone or pay for any "stimulus" bill is to borrow.

So America borrows and borrows and borrows and borrows.

If your own personal finances were like that, how do you think it would end?

Ah, you are starting to get the picture.....

The "American Dream" is quickly becoming the "American Nightmare" and most of the politicians don't have a clue.

What are you going to do when the economy collapses and everything you ever worked for starts coming apart?

It is time for all of us to start thinking about what is truly important.....

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0072/0072_01.asp

Newsweek Says That We Are All Socialists Now - And They Are Right

Newsweek has a shocking new article out entitled "We Are All Socialists Now". While the magazine probably just intended for this headline to stir debate and get attention, the reality is that Newsweek is right.

We have become socialists and many of us don't even know it.

The truth is that United States government is almost 40 percent of GDP.

The truth is that when you add up all of the taxes that the average American pays out in one form or another, they total over 50 percent of what the average American makes.

So more than half of your money goes to the government.

How does that make you feel?

Consider the following list of the different kinds of taxes that Americans pay each year.....

Accounts Receivable Tax

Building Permit Tax

Capital Gains Tax

CDL license Tax

Cigarette Tax

Corporate Income Tax

Court Fines (indirect taxes)

Dog License Tax

Federal Income Tax

Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)

Fishing License Tax

Food License Tax

Fuel permit tax

Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon)

Hunting License Tax

Inheritance Tax Interest expense (tax on the money)

Inventory tax IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)

IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)

Liquor Tax

Local Income Tax

Luxury Taxes

Marriage License Tax

Medicare Tax

Property Tax

Real Estate Tax

Septic Permit Tax

Service Charge Taxes

Social Security Tax

Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)

Sales Taxes

Recreational Vehicle Tax

Road Toll Booth Taxes

School Tax

State Income Tax

State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)

Telephone federal excise tax

Telephone federal universal service fee tax

Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes

Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax

Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax

Telephone state and local tax

Telephone usage charge tax

Toll Bridge Taxes

Toll Tunnel Taxes

Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)

Trailer registration tax

Utility Taxes

Vehicle License Registration Tax

Vehicle Sales Tax

Watercraft registration Tax

Well Permit Tax

Workers Compensation Tax

Pretty frightening, eh?

But the reality is that America is becoming more socialist by the day.

After all, who is the biggest "business owner" in the United States?

The government.

Who is the biggest "spender" in the United States?

The government.

Who does everyone expect to "fix" and "run" the economy?

The government.

During this latest economic crisis, the federal government of the United States has "bailed out", nationalized or taken ownership interests in a vast array of banks, financial institutions, insurance companies and large corporations.

That doesn't sound anything like "capitalism" to me.

The reality is that a new generation of Americans has arisen that expects the government to take care of them from the cradle to the grave. They expect the government to fix all their problems and to provide them with a great life.

Haven't we learned anything from the dramatic failure of other socialist regimes throughout history?

Apparently not.

It is not just in the United States either - all around the world people are clamoring for socialism.

And the truly frightening thing is that wherever there is a move towards socialism or communism there is almost always a corresponding move towards atheism.

And wherever atheism rises, persecution of Christians soon follows.

But we should not expect the world to love us.

In John 15:19, Jesus said this.....

If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

The truth is that in these last days, no matter what form governments around the world take the reality is that they are going to ultimately turn against Christianity. The Scriptures tell us that there will be brutal persecution of Christians in the end times, and that is a reality that we are going to have to be ready for.

Nobody Is Better At Flushing Money Down The Toilet Than America

When it comes to wasting money, the United States has become the champion. There simply is nobody better at it. Whether it is the billions wasted in the Wall Street bailout, the billions wasted in the reconstruction of Iraq or the billions wasted in frivolous government spending, there is no match anywhere in the world for the incredible skill that the U.S. government has for flushing money down the toilet.

First, let's talk about the Wall Street bailout.

The U.S. government gave the banks 350 billion dollars, but nobody seems to know where it went or what is being done with it.

When JPMorgan Chase was asked what they did with 25 billion dollars that they were given, they had the following to say about it:

"We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to."

What?

25 billion taxpayer dollars go to them and they tell us to stick it?

The Associated Press actually contacted 21 banks that received at least 1 billion dollars from the U.S. government and asked them the following questions.....

How much has been spent?

What was it spent on?

How much is being held in savings?

What's the plan for the rest?

So how many of those banks provided specific answers to the Associated Press?

None.

So do we have any clues where the bailout money went?

Well, according to one study, banks that got taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits in 2008.

Hmm.....my bonus was a 50 dollar gift card.

Somehow I feel ripped off.

Are we supposed to feel good that all those fat cat executives got their bonuses on time?

The reality is that U.S. politicians have given a massive 700 billion gift to the major Wall Street banks.

Americans were told that they "had" to pass the bailout bill "or else" they would face serious consequences.

And so how is all of this money being spent?

Much of it is going to executive bonuses and "picking off" smaller banks.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the major Wall Street banks owe their executives more than $40 billion in pay and pensions that these firms fully intend to deliver to them.

Here are just a few examples of what these firms owe to their executives.....

Goldman Sachs: $11.8 billion

J.P. Morgan Chase: $8.5 billion

Morgan Stanley: approximately $10 billion to $12 billion

The American people should have stood up and DEMANDED that NO taxpayer money go to these executives. Instead, Barack Obama and John McCain pushed through a bill loaded with pork that will end up benefiting Wall Street executives more than it will benefit the average guy on main street.

The bailout bill contains "some" restrictions on future bonuses, but according to the Wall Street Journal, "the rules won't affect what the banks already owe their executives."

Wall Street executives also are admitting that this bailout money is not going to go for loans, but rather to pick off smaller banks.

Just listen to what one JP Morgan executive said about the bailout money during a recent conference call that New York Times reporter Joe Nocera was listening in on:

“What we do think it will help us do is perhaps be a little bit more active on the acquisition side or opportunistic side for some banks who are still struggling. And I would not assume that we are done on the acquisition side just because of the Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns mergers. I think there are going to be some great opportunities for us to grow in this environment, and I think we have an opportunity to use that $25 billion in that way and obviously depending on whether recession turns into depression or what happens in the future, you know, we have that as a backstop.”

Did you get that?

JP Morgan is talking about using 25 billion in bailout money to acquire more banks.

It is supposed to be used to loan money to regular Americans!

But this is what the same executive said about that later on in that conference call:

“We would think that loan volume will continue to go down as we continue to tighten credit to fully reflect the high cost of pricing on the loan side.”

Do you get that?

JP Morgan has NO INTENTION of increasing loans!

Do you understand?

"Continue to tighten credit" means that they intend to loan LESS money.

So why in the world is the U.S. government giving them bailout money?

Meanwhile, recently bailed out Bank of America just blew 10 million bucks down at the Super Bowl.

I guess that it what they mean by stimulating the economy.

On another front, it is now being revealed that billions upon billions of dollars have been totally wasted in the reconstruction of Iraq.

It's bad enough that we had to pay to blow Iraq up and pay to put it back together, but now they are telling us that billions and billions was simply "wasted"?

Ouch.

But the federal government wastes money every single day in a thousand different ways.

Just check out some of the ways that the U.S. government spent money in 2008.....

$1,529,220 for an Appalachian Fruit Lab.

$742,764 for olive fruit fly research. $211,509 of this amount was to be spent in Paris, France.

$172,782 for the National Wild Turkey Federation in Edgefield, S.C.

$1,128,000 for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Alaska Eagle River for an at-risk youth mentoring program. That is one expensive Big Brother program! There must be a lot of at-risk youth in Alaska.

$50,000,000 for REAL ID grants. Got to be sure to track and trace those unruly American citizens!

$123,050 for a Mother's Day Shrine in Grafton, West Virginia (population 5,489, with a land area of 3.8 square miles).

Those are just a few examples. The list could literally go on for pages and pages.

The point is that the United States is squandering the future by wasting money like it never has before.

But this is what happens to a society in decline.

America is falling apart and most people are just sitting there and doing nothing about it.

Barack Obama: "We've Got Trillion-Dollar Deficits For Years To Come"

At least you have to give Barack Obama credit for being honest about it. The president-elect is admitting that the budget deficit of the federal government of the United States is going to be well over a trillion dollars this upcoming year, and it is very likely to be over a trillion dollars for the foreseeable future.

CNN is reporting that Barack Obama had the following to say about the financial mess that the U.S. government is in this week: "At the current course and speed, a trillion-dollar deficit will be here before we even start the next budget."

CNN also reported that Obama also admitted this: "And potentially we've got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on at this point."

Wow - what a mess.

As if the national debt of the U.S. wasn't bad enough.

Just look at the chart below. It shows the growth of the national debt from 1940 to the present.

It is not a pretty picture, is it?

And the sad truth is that it isn't even up to date. The national debt of the U.S. is now over TEN trillion dollars, and Barack Obama is admitting that it will go up at least a trillion more dollars each and every year for the foreseeable future.

Are we all starting to get the hint yet?

The party is almost over.

The total collapse of our financial system has begun.

The reality is that the reserves of our local banks are gone. The financial institutions around the United States have borrowed an insane amount of money from the Federal Reserve just to stay afloat.

The financial system of America has not experienced a financial crisis of this magnitude since at least the Great Depression.

The biggest debt bubble in the history of the world is starting to burst.

For decades Americans have lived like kings and queens.....enjoying the biggest party the world has ever known.....but financed with ever increasing amounts of debt.

Now it looks like the party is almost over.

Once upon a time, the United States was the biggest creditor in the history of the world. But those days are long gone. Now America is the biggest debtor nation to ever exist on the earth.

The United States was the richest nation in the world, but that was never enough. Americans always had to have a bigger car, a bigger house and an endless supply of imported "stuff". So the U.S. government piled up debt, U.S. companies gorged on debt, and Americans made using credit cards into a national pastime.

Spending our own money wasn't even enough. We spent the money of our children, and of our grandchildren, and of their children, and now the national debt is more than 10 TRILLION dollars.....an amount that Americans will never be able to repay. And if you include the future liabilities that our government has committed us to such as future Social Security and Medicare payments, then the total is over 59 TRILLION dollars.

Now that many of our jobs have gone overseas, retail stores and major corporations are going out of business, and people are losing their homes, do we find that Americans are learning their lesson?

No.

Instead they are squeezing everything that they can out of their plastic. Total credit card debt in America is now over 790 billion dollars, and it is increasing at a rate which is four times faster than earlier this decade.

Instead of showing restraint, Americans have jammed the accelerator to the floor.

And did you know that Americans actually have a NEGATIVE savings rate?

Do you know when the last time that happened was?

The Great Depression.

Prices are increasing dramatically while wages are not. Jobs are being outsourced and factories are being closed. America's largest banks and financial institutions are teetering on the brink of failure. Homes are being foreclosed at record rates. Personal bankruptcies recently hit an all-time high.

So what is the answer that the politicians give us?

Wasting even more money and getting the U.S. into even more debt.

The truth is that we are all reaping what we have sowed.

The Scriptures talk about those who would hoard wealth in the last days. Instead of feeding the poor and taking care of those who couldn't take care of themselves, we spent our money on mini-mansions, luxury SUVs and as much entertainment as we could possibly pack into our lives. Now we will pay the price just as the Scriptures say:

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

-James 5:1-5