UNEXPECTEDLY: Medicare and Social Security Circling the Drain

The entitlement crisis, which will impact America's most vulnerable before all others, is headed straight for us like the asteroid from Armageddon. Seven years, at most, is all we have.

Remember the last time Republicans tried to address the looming entitlement crisis? Do you recall how the Democrats responded? Did they propose common-sense reforms? Raising the eligibility ages of recipients? Something, anything to attack the imminent crisis?

THE NATIONAL DEBT IN 2 CHARTS: The Coming Meltdown

By Romina Boccia

The fact that the national debt jumped by $1.4 trillion in one short year should spur Congress to put an end to this excess.

The debt hit a record-breaking high of $19.6 trillion at the close of the federal government’s 2016 fiscal year on Sept. 30. It had totaled $18.1 trillion at the end of the previous fiscal year.

The gross national debt includes intragovernmental debt, or debt the federal government owes to itself—for example, to the Social Security trust fund—in addition to debt held by the public.

Will Donald Trump Usher in a Post-Progressive Era in American Politics?

By Lee Cary

Win or lose, the candidacy of Donald Trump is a victory for the Tea Party.

And should he win, he can be a transitional president for the nation.

Trump may be the last chance, for many decades, for America to achieve escape velocity from the advancing gravitational grip of the socialist progressive agenda that began in the 1880’s.

Since then, it’s been a succession of two steps forward and one step backward on the progressive movement’s relentless march toward an ever larger and more intrusive central government.

EVEN NEWSPAPERS AGREE: Democrat Platform Officially Lurches All the Way to Full Radical Left Nutjob

By ARsquared

A week after the Democratic platform committee approved what Bernie Sanders has touted as “the most progressive platform in history,” a number of editorials from over the weekend highlighted the ramifications of the Democrats dart to the left and echoed claims made by AR2 following the release of “The Sanders Manifesto” last week.

The New York Post noted the makeup of the party platform, claiming that Bernie Sanders and his supporters “won the war for the party’s soul,” and that while Hillary Clinton’s name is on the ticket, “the Sandersnistas are pulling the strings.” The Post also highlighted why this is a major problem for Hillary Clinton:

The New York Times Fails Logic Class, Chapter 46,080

By Karl Denninger

There's an old saying that goes something like this:

"One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results."

That would fit the NY Times editorial board.

President Obama's Magical Misery Tour

By Roger Aronoff

As President Obama’s second term nears its end he has begun a media tour emphasizing what he claims are the positive aspects of his policies. The complicit media, of course, have long worked to inflate positive impressions of Obama’s legacy, and this latest set of interviews is no different.

“In two recent interviews, with The New York Times Magazine on his economic legacy and with The Atlantic on his foreign policy legacy, Mr. Obama expressed a common sentiment: He had achieved big things and avoided even bigger mistakes, and yet most people just shrug,” wrote Mark Landler for The New York Times on April 28.

IF YOU LIKE YOUR 401(k), YOU CAN KEEP YOUR 401(k): Obama Labor Dept. Sets Stage for Nationalizing Retirement Accounts

By David Mills

BUMPED: Not only did the GOPe/Democrat budget bill fund every one of Barack Obama's lawless actions, it also supported the Department of Labor's illegal, Soviet-style takeover of the retirement industry. The 401(k) takeover scheme is opposed by majorities of representatives on both sides of the aisle; and the failure of Paul Ryan to even defund this lawless land-grab speaks volumes about the sellout of America by the Uniparty. Cruz-Trump 2016.

In 2013, in a little-heralded case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected the Obama Labor Department's attempt to punish voluntary retirement plan service providers. The DOL, under the direction of the controversial, radical leftist Tom Perez, had tried to force providers of 401(k), 403(b), IRA, and related services to adopt a massive new set of regulations known as "fiduciary" responsibilities.

The Seventh Circuit slammed the door shut on Labor and the Supreme Court thereafter declined to hear the appeal, which meant that the Obama administration had lost in the highest court in the land.

Of course for the "most transparent administration ever", that step simply meant that the court's opinion was to be rejected and that Obama would use his infamous pen to rule by executive fiat. After all, the ends justify the means, correct?

CRIMINAL INTENT: Déjà vu all over again

By Jim Quinn

Janet Yellen increased interest rates for the first time in nine years this week. She isn’t raising them because the economy is strengthening. The economy just happens to be weakening rapidly, as global recession takes hold. The stock market is 3% lower than it was in December 2014, and has basically done nothing since the end of QE3. Wall Street is throwing a hissy fit to try and stop Janet from boosting rates by an inconsequential .25%. Janet would prefer not to raise rates, but the credibility and reputation of her bubble blowing machine is at stake. The Fed has enriched their Wall Street benefactors over the last six years, while destroying the real economy and the middle class.

The quarter point increase will be reversed in short order as soon as we experience market collapse part two. It will be followed with negative interest rates and QE4, as these academics have only one play in their playbook – print money. They created the last financial crisis and have set the stage for the next – even bigger collapse. John Hussman explains how their zero interest rate policy has driven speculators into junk bonds as the only place to get any yield.

The Idiocy of Central Planning in One Simple Chart

Hubris is one of the most risible characteristics of the Leftists who seek to orchestrate and manage society.

They believe that they can set a single minimum wage that, on the one hand, provides a "living wage" for entry-level workers, yet somehow suits vastly different economic environments ranging from San Francisco, California to Bangor, Maine.

They insist that government-run health care -- despite the horrific track records of the Veterans Administration and the Indian Health Care System -- can somehow work even as Medicare and Medicaid sink into quagmires of fraud, inaccessible care and bankrupt states.

They claim that their Great Society programs, which sentenced the urban poor to Section 8 ghettos and destroyed the two-parent African-American family, just need more money and time -- as if $22 trillion and 50 years weren't enough.

Only the Free Market, not Forced Wealth Redistribution, Eradicates Poverty and Builds Wealth

By Richard Larsen

America was was intended to be a “shining city on a hill” of freedom, individual liberty, and unlimited opportunity. She was never intended to be a socialist state. Socialistic egalitarianism is strikingly antithetical to the American paradigm.

Founded in individual liberty, America has always been the one nation under heaven where equality of opportunity has taken precedence over equality of outcome. The whole concept of the “American Dream” is based on the individual freedom to become, to achieve, to build, sell, and succeed. This requires individual freedom (which is diminished proportionate to expanded governmental power), and a free market economy (not centralized planning, or government control over the means of production). Consequently, socialism in any of its iterations (communism, national socialism, fascism, and democratic-socialism) is philosophically, morally, and pragmatically, contrary to the principles upon which the republic was founded. Consequently, it is deductively anti-American.

"US Debt Is Three Times More Than You Think" Warns Former Chief U.S. Accountant

By Tyler Durden

In a shocking admission for most of mainstream America, the former U.S. comptroller general says the real U.S. debt is closer to about $65 trillion than the oft-cited figure of $18 trillion, thanks to unfunded liabilities which simply cannot be ignored. As The Hill reports, unless economic growth accelerates, he warns, "you’re not going to be able to provide the kind of social safety net that we need in this country," adding unequivocially that Americans have "lost touch with reality" when it comes to spending. As The Hill reports:

The Most Devious Liars in History

By Jim Quinn

There were a few different stories coming out over the last few days that reveal the true nature of government and the apparatchiks who use disinformation, devious machinations, fraudulent accounting, and taxpayer money to cover up their criminality, lies, and the true state of the American economy. The use of government accounting tricks to obscure the truth about our dire financial straits is designed to keep the masses sedated and confused.

A few weeks ago, to great fanfare from the fawning faux journalists who never question any Washington D.C. propaganda, they announced the lowest annual deficit of Obama’s reign of error.

Good Riddance To Johnny Lawnchair: The Fastest Fold On The Potomac

By David Stockman

There are few political hacks in Washington more deserving of everlasting ignominy than retiring speaker John Boehner. So here’s a vehement good riddance to the man who has single-handedly destroyed whatever pathetic semblance of fiscal responsibility that remained in Washington.

The so-called bipartisan budget deal he confected as a parting gesture doesn’t even deserve to be called a farce. It’s actually just an extension of Washington’s pathological lying to the American public about the monumental fiscal calamity now brewing.

The chart below shows the patented formula—– employed for the second time since the sequester mechanism was put in place during the debt ceiling crisis of 2011.

It will increase spending by $85 billion in the here and now by busting the FY 2016 and 2017 caps. This new red ink will then, purportedly, be off-set way down the road with gimmicks, imaginary IRS audit revenues and hazy disability benefit reforms which will never materialize. Never.

Indeed, these people are beyond shame.

PRIORITIES: Democrats Attack FanDuel and DraftKings, Yet Ignore a Nuclear Iran and a bankrupt Social Security

It's pretty cool how a Congressional Representative from Atlantic City has nothing better to focus on than fantasy sports.

If you were watching NFL games this weekend, there was something that everyone saw that was hard to miss. Commercials for daily fantasy sports (dubbed “DFS”) websites like DraftKings and FanDuel played regularly, and their ads were plastered everywhere at stadiums...

As opposed to normal fantasy leagues, where players (or ‘managers’ as they are called) draft a team for an entire season, DFS is, just like the name implies, daily. Managers draft players for a single day based on player values using a website imposed salary cap. With DFS, the player values combined with the salary cap creates ‘odds’ in gambling parlance for the probability of a certain outcome; basically the higher the player value, or cost, the more likely the player will have a better game compared to similar players.

...With rising popularity, exposure and money coming to sites like DraftKings and FanDuel, comes new scrutiny. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), ranking member the Energy and Commerce Committee, has requested an inquiry into the relationship between gambling and playing DFS. Said Rep. Pallone in a statement on DFS sites: “These sites are enormously popular, arguably central to the fans’ experience, and professional leagues are seeing the enormous profits as a result. Despite how mainstream these sites have become, though, the legal landscape governing these activities remains murky and should be reviewed.”

If You Think THAT Was a Crash...

By Jim Quinn

Last week’s volatility to the downside was entirely predictable, as the first leg down during this ongoing market crash reached the correction stage of 11%. The technical bounce was a given, as the 30 year old HFT MBAs on Wall Street have been trained like rats to BTFD. In their lemming like minds, it has worked for the last six years of this Federal Reserve created “bull market”, so why wouldn’t it work now. Last week was their first lesson in why it doesn’t work during bear markets, and we’ve entered a bear market. John Hussman seems amused at the shallowness of the arguments by Wall Street shills and CNBC cheerleaders about the future of the stock market in his weekly letter. After this modest pullback from all-time highs, the S&P 500 is still overvalued by 92%:

The Government is Lying About U.S. Unemployment

By Michael Snyder

The Obama administration is telling us that the unemployment rate in the United States has fallen to 5.1 percent, but does that number actually bear any resemblance to reality? On Friday, news outlets all over America celebrated the fact that the U.S. economy added 173,000 jobs in August. We were told that the unemployment rate has fallen to a seven year low and that wages are going up. So everything must be getting better for the middle class, right? After all, isn’t that what the official numbers are telling us?

The financial markets are buzzing over this news because the unemployment rate has fallen into a range that the Federal Reserve has typically considered to be “full employment”, so there is an expectation that the Fed may raise interest rates shortly. The following comes from Business Insider…

The unemployment rate fell to 5.1% in August, the lowest since April 2008. This was lower than forecast, and put the measure in the middle of the 5.2% – 5.0% range the Federal Reserve considers to be “full employment.” The economy added 173,000 jobs, below the expectation for 217,000, although August payrolls are usually revised higher. We also saw some wage growth, with average hourly earnings rising 0.3% month-on-month, and 2.5% year-over-year. The payrolls gain for July was revised up to 245,000 from 215,000.

But do we actually have anything close to “full employment” in this country?

Of course not.

The truth is that the only way they have been able to get the official “unemployment rate” to steadily go down over the past few years is to eliminate hundreds of thousands of Americans that are chronically unemployed from the official labor force numbers every month. Jim Quinn elaborated on this very eloquently in one of his recent articles…

THE PIE CHART FROM HELL: Your Future, Illustrated

Spotted at WRSA comes this ominous chart:

Read more at Jim Sinclair's shop.
 
 

AMERICA: Founded in Liberty, Descended into Tyranny

By Richard Larsen

“The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period…The United States came into existence as a Nation, and if their Citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own.” So declared George Washington at the time of our founding as a nation.

It is unique and exceptional that this nation was established according natural law, and declared inalienable individual rights of life, liberty, and property, or the pursuit of happiness. In an era when monarchs, rulers, oligarchs, autocrats and aristocrats governed according to their whims and disposition, having derived their right to rule based on caste or bloodline, a motley collection of men steeped in classical-liberal principles led a revolution and established a nation dedicated to individual freedom.

Those precepts were the foundation to the Declaration of Independence, which states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” There is nothing more exceptional in human history than those two sentences and the nation that resulted from their utterance: a nation that derived its “just” powers from the “consent of the governed.”

A decade later, the structural document creating the governmental framework based on the tenets articulated in the Declaration of Independence was ratified by the colonies. That document, our Constitution, stated specifically as enumerated powers, what our national government could do, and whatever powers were not specified or enumerated, were “reserved to the states respectively or to the people.”

But even at the nascent stages of the American experiment, the author of liberty, Thomas Jefferson, saw how our system would metamorphose into something entirely different. “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”

You won’t believe the letter this fifth-grader just wrote to the government

It's stuff like this that makes me hopeful for the next generation. Brian writes, "A friend from work's daughter penned this, and she just had to show me. Thought you might enjoy."

We have a budding little capitalist and liberty-loving young lady, I think.


Related: Plunder and Deceit, by Mark Levin.
 

A Glimpse into America’s Future

Lee relays this tragic -- and all too predictable -- tale.

Clashes break out as Greek lawmakers debate austerity bill

Jul 15, 3:24 PM (ET)

By ELENA BECATOROS and DEREK GATOPOULOS

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Rioters hurled petrol bombs at police who responded with tear gas as an anti-austerity demonstration outside parliament turned violent Wednesday, while Greek lawmakers began debating contentious measures needed to start negotiations on a new bailout and avoid financial collapse.

Groups of youths among the more than 12,000 protesters smashed storefronts and set at least one vehicle alight. The clashes were the first significant protest violence since the left-wing Syriza government came to power in January promising to repeal bailout austerity. Police said at least 50 people were detained.

The clashes were the first significant protest violence since the left-wing Syriza government came to power in January promising to repeal bailout austerity. Police said at least 50 people were detained.

Unlike the American citizenry, the Greeks are unarmed. Imagine them well-armed.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.