Housing Crisis Getting Uglier in 2010

Farewell - American Democracy
It's Official. Corporations Rule.
The American Justice System has decided

Ask your two year old on a seesaw about balance, weight and power
when 2% golden greedy guts owns 98% of the worlds’
Wealth and Resources









true to scale model would render top image invisible



total world population Feb 2010:......... 6,801,000,000
2% Golden Greedy Guts population:........ 136,020,000
98% rest of us population:................... 6,664,980,000

“Fascism is about the state running things on behalf of corporations. Adrian Lyttelton in his book on Mussolini wrote that ‘Fascism can be viewed as a product of the transition from the market capitalism of the independent producer to the organized capitalism of the oligopoly.’ It was a point that Orwell noted when he described fascism as being but an extension of capitalism. Lyttelton quoted Italian Nationalist theorist Affredo Rocco: ‘The Fascist economy is. . . an organized economy. It is organized by the producers themselves, under the supreme direction and control of the State.’ ”

Could Terrorists do more to destroy America: Millions of Americans losing their life savings, losing their homes, losing their jobs, going hungry, without health insurance, with surging productivity among those still working accompanied by steady decline in wages and benefits, local and state governments running out of money, interest rates on savings at negative 0 (Zero), and everyone stuck in nightmare traffic…………………. A declining economy on a planet whose population is exploding - an incredible impossibility

………... Review the election procedure last post
http://freedomtimes.blogspot.com/2010/02/its-official-corporations-rule.html

Advances in the science of energy would have eliminated all the above, providing prosperity and understanding for all people.

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 2, 2010
Housing Crisis Getting Uglier in 2010
Nearly 6 Million Foreclosures in Past 3 years - 3 Million More Expected in 2010
CBS) In its "Where America Stands" series, CBS News is looking at a broad spectrum of issues facing this country in the new decade. CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy report the American Dream is now a nightmare for many of the 75 million Americans who own a home. The housing report card is ugly. In the past two years, the housing market has lost an estimated $4.9 trillion dollars, as 59 million homes have declined in value. Nearly 1 in 4 homeowners -- 10.7 million households nationwide -- are underwater on their mortgages. They owe more than their home is now worth. The housing market is so bad in California, that a bank demolished 16 nearly completed homes - because it was cheaper to knock them down, than to finish them. Home building across the country is almost non-existent. In 2005, 2 million housing units were built in this country. Last year, that number dropped to nearly a quarter of that. That's left former boom towns like Las Vegas with a lot of roads to nowhere, as builders ran out of money and buyers for the homes they once planned to build here. Then, there's foreclosure. Nationwide, nearly 6 million households have been taken back by the bank in just the past three years - pushing down home values, and leaving some neighborhoods looking like warzones. The Problem People are still losing their homes, preventing a housing market recovery. "Disaster is not too strong a word and crisis is not too strong a word," said Michelle Johnson of Consumer Credit Counseling Services.

Rolling in Dough, Still Kicking Out Families
http://freedomtimes.blogspot.com/2009/12/capitalism-evolutionary-choices-fascism.html
A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston showed banks have little incentive to modify loans to help homeowners avoid foreclosure because of one simple reason that at this time of year perhaps only Ebenezer Scrooge could appreciate: Loan modification is not profitable for lenders.
No Interest in Avoiding Foreclosure
Because mortgages are typically sold off to third party investors, the entities that service the loans, such as Litton, do not have a vested interest in avoiding foreclosure, according to Julia Gordon, senior policy counsel at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Responsible Lending.
"Loan servicers make their money on late fees, so there is a perverse incentive for them not to work out solutions," Gordon said. "Meanwhile, there is zero incentive for them to help a family stay in their home. This is really a deep, serious problem and it has been for a long time."

"Today, the number one cause of foreclosure is unemployment," said Pete Flint of Trulia.com. Fifteen million Americans are now out of work. Twenty-seven-year old C.J. Mueller bought a house in Phoenix for $210,000. But then he lost his job. He tried to get his bank to modify his loan. Instead, he just got his foreclosure notice. "It came to a point where I didn't really care," he said. President Obama's mortgage modification program is supposed to permanently modify 3-4 million loans by 2012. So far, they've fixed 66,000. They want banks to speed up the process. "Unfortunately it's been lip service and little action," Flint said. "Until the administration gets tough on lenders, we're still going to see huge amounts of foreclosures." Banks say they are simply overwhelmed and some people are beyond help. "I gave up. I don't care anymore," Mueller said. "Take the house."

Surge in Productivity Accompanied With Labor’s Wage Squeeze

Farewell - American Democracy
It's Official. Corporations Rule.
The American Justice System has decided

Ask your two year old on a seesaw about balance, weight and power
when 2% golden greedy guts owns 98% of the worlds’
Wealth and Resources









true to scale model would render top image invisible



total world population Feb 2010:......... 6,801,000,000
2% Golden Greedy Guts population:........ 136,020,000
98% rest of us population:................... 6,664,980,000

“Fascism is about the state running things on behalf of corporations. Adrian Lyttelton in his book on Mussolini wrote that ‘Fascism can be viewed as a product of the transition from the market capitalism of the independent producer to the organized capitalism of the oligopoly.’ It was a point that Orwell noted when he described fascism as being but an extension of capitalism. Lyttelton quoted Italian Nationalist theorist Affredo Rocco: ‘The Fascist economy is. . . an organized economy. It is organized by the producers themselves, under the supreme direction and control of the State.’ ”

Could Terrorists do more to destroy America: Millions of Americans losing their life savings, losing their homes, losing their jobs, going hungry, without health insurance, with surging productivity among those still working accompanied by steady decline in wages and benefits, local and state governments running out of money, interest rates on savings at negative 0 (Zero), and everyone stuck in nightmare traffic…………………. A declining economy on a planet whose population is exploding - an incredible impossibility

………... Review the election procedure last post
http://freedomtimes.blogspot.com/2010/02/its-official-corporations-rule.html

Advances in the science of energy would have eliminated all the above, providing prosperity and understanding for all people.

The Slavery Equation: Slaves had free food and shelter
More and More American Working Families going hungry, downsizing shelter or losing homes

Economic Perspective: The Surge in Productivity Accompanied With Labor’s Wage Squeeze

“those remaining employees work more, work more and work harder”

Labor's pain: Wages don't reflect rise in productivity, economist says Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09050/950145-28.stm#ixzz0emGqsjE6

In the latest numbers from the government, we had an unprecedented rise in worker productivity. Many economists think this cannot be sustained.

Released December 10, 2009
RALEIGH, N.C. – The government recently reported we had a large increase in worker productivity during the summer. Translated, this means workers are able to produce more in a given time period. Is this a good or bad indicator for the economy?
Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:
"You can look at this in the long run and the short run. In the long run, it's very good, because improved worker productivity is how we achieve higher standards of living. But in recessions, it can take on other meanings.
Typically during recessions, you do see productivity rise as businesses are trying to become more efficient. They're cutting back on what they view as waste. They're cutting down on the number of employees. And, quite frankly, they're making those remaining employees work more, work more and work harder. So that is why you see productivity go up.
In the latest numbers from the government, we had an unprecedented rise in worker productivity. Many economists think this cannot be sustained. And what many economists are thinking is that this is actually a good sign as a forerunner to a turnaround in the job market in that businesses are not going to be able to sustain this high productivity. So if they want to continue to produce more, they're ultimately going to have to hire more workers.
So again, this is another piece of the puzzle that suggests we may be getting to the end of the decline in employment, and we may in maybe four or five or six months start to see jobs come back."
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/calscommblogs/news/archives/2009/12/economic_perspe_509.html
3Q Productivity Rate Surges, Labor Costs Fall By Martin Crutsinger and Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics WriterManufacturing.Net - November 05, 2009
http://www.manufacturing.net/News-3Q-Productivity-Rate-Surges-Labor-Costs-Fall-110509.aspx WASHINGTON (AP) -- Companies across the economy are finding ways to do more with fewer workers, dimming hopes that hiring will take off anytime soon.
Employers became leaner and more efficient in the third quarter. Wages, meantime, remain flat or falling. The result is that productivity -- output per hour of work -- jumped at the fastest pace in six years.
The good news for companies, though, may be bad news for the jobless. As long as companies can get their workers to produce more, they have little reason to hire -- at least until consumer spending picks up. And the squeeze on incomes could depress consumer spending, putting the economic recovery at risk

SCOTUS Ruling on Campaign Spending 'Devastating'

Farewell - American Democracy
It's Official. Corporations Rule.
The American Justice System has decided

Ask your two year old on a seesaw about balance, weight and power
when 2% golden greedy guts owns 98% of the worlds’
Wealth and Resources









true to scale model would render top image invisible



total world population Feb 2010:......... 6,801,000,000
2% Golden Greedy Guts population:........ 136,020,000
98% rest of us population:................... 6,664,980,000

“Fascism is about the state running things on behalf of corporations. Adrian Lyttelton in his book on Mussolini wrote that ‘Fascism can be viewed as a product of the transition from the market capitalism of the independent producer to the organized capitalism of the oligopoly.’ It was a point that Orwell noted when he described fascism as being but an extension of capitalism. Lyttelton quoted Italian Nationalist theorist Affredo Rocco: ‘The Fascist economy is. . . an organized economy. It is organized by the producers themselves, under the supreme direction and control of the State.’ ”

Could Terrorists do more to destroy America: Millions of Americans losing their life savings, losing their homes, losing their jobs, going hungry, without health insurance, with surging productivity among those still working accompanied by steady decline in wages and benefits, local and state governments running out of money, interest rates on savings at negative 0 (Zero), and everyone stuck in nightmare traffic…………………. A declining economy on a planet whose population is exploding - an incredible impossibility

………... Review the election procedure last post
http://freedomtimes.blogspot.com/2010/02/its-official-corporations-rule.html

Advances in the science of energy would have eliminated all the above, providing prosperity and understanding for all people.

'Devastating' to Democracy: Obama Rips Court

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/01/obama-calls-scotus-ruling-on-campaign-spending-devastating.html

Obama Calls SCOTUS Ruling on Campaign Spending 'Devastating'
January 23, 2010 6:00 AM
ABC News' Sunlen Miller reports:
President Obama used his weekly address to rail against Thursday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on corporate spending in political campaigns -- calling it a “devastating” and “powerful blow” striking at democracy that he intends to fight against.
“The United States Supreme Court handed a huge victory to the special interests and their lobbyists – and a powerful blow to our efforts to rein in corporate influence,” Obama said. “This ruling strikes at our democracy itself.”
In a 5-4 decision on Thursday, the Supreme Court invalidated decades-old federal legislation restricting corporate spending in political campaigns.
The president said ruling essentially “opens the floodgates” for unlimited amounts of special interest money and gives those special interest lobbyists “new leverage.”
“That means that any public servant who has the courage to stand up to the special interests and stand up for the American people can find himself or herself under assault come election time," President Obama said. "Even foreign corporations may now get into the act.”
When the ruling came down, President Obama said, he instructed his administration to get to work immediately with members of Congress to developed a “forceful, bipartisan” response to the decision.
“We have begun that work, and it will be a priority for us until we repair the damage that has been done,” he said. “I can’t think of anything more devastating to the public interest. The last thing we need to do is hand more influence to the lobbyists in Washington, or more power to the special interests to tip the outcome of elections.”
The president said that the ruling will make it more difficult to pass his key agenda items – like health care and energy legislation, because foreign entities would be allowed to affect elections and the insurance industry would have ever more power.
“Teddy Roosevelt fought to limit special interest spending and influence over American political campaigns and warned of the impact of unbridled, corporate spending," Obama said, pledging to fight. "His message rings as true as ever today, in this age of mass communications, when the decks are too often stacked against ordinary Americans.”
-Sunlen Miller
/span>

Consumers Squeezed as Wages Sagged in 2009

Farewell - American Democracy
It's Official. Corporations Rule.
The American Justice System has decided

Ask your two year old on a seesaw about balance, weight and power
when 2% golden greedy guts owns 98% of the worlds’
Wealth and Resources









true to scale model would render top image invisible



total world population Feb 2010:......... 6,801,000,000
2% Golden Greedy Guts population:........ 136,020,000
98% rest of us population:................... 6,664,980,000

“Fascism is about the state running things on behalf of corporations. Adrian Lyttelton in his book on Mussolini wrote that ‘Fascism can be viewed as a product of the transition from the market capitalism of the independent producer to the organized capitalism of the oligopoly.’ It was a point that Orwell noted when he described fascism as being but an extension of capitalism. Lyttelton quoted Italian Nationalist theorist Affredo Rocco: ‘The Fascist economy is. . . an organized economy. It is organized by the producers themselves, under the supreme direction and control of the State.’ ”

Could Terrorists do more to destroy America: Millions of Americans losing their life savings, losing their homes, losing their jobs, going hungry, without health insurance, with surging productivity among those still working accompanied by steady decline in wages and benefits, local and state governments running out of money, interest rates on savings at negative 0 (Zero), and everyone stuck in nightmare traffic…………………. A declining economy on a planet whose population is exploding - an incredible impossibility

………... Review the election procedure last post
http://freedomtimes.blogspot.com/2010/02/its-official-corporations-rule.html

Advances in the science of energy would have eliminated all the above, providing prosperity and understanding for all people.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/15/business/main6101477.shtml?tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.11

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 2010
Consumers Squeezed as Wages Sagged in 2009
Biggest Drop since 1990 in Inflation-adjusted Wages Last YearAP) The notion that consumers will help lead the economic rebound received a stark rebuttal Friday: American families are being squeezed. Workers saw their inflation-adjusted weekly wages fall 1.6 percent last year - the sharpest drop since 1990 - even as consumer prices rose only modestly. Families' spending power sank as a result. Slack pay and scarce job growth are slowing consumer spending, along with tight credit and a rising savings rate. That's hindering the economy's ability to mount a strong recovery. For some families, the overall inflation rate last year - 2.7 percent - understates their burden. Many are struggling with surging costs for health care and college tuition, both of which have been galloping far above the overall inflation rate. Energy led consumer prices higher last year, offsetting the biggest drop in food costs in nearly a half century, the Labor Department said Friday. Core inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy sectors, rose 1.8 percent. That's the second-smallest rise in four decades. But to middle-class people like Angie and Larry Kimbrel of Birmingham, Ala., inflation feels anything but moderate. With three sons, the Kimbrels say they're just scraping by. Angie Kimbrel, who works for an insurance underwriter, has gone without raises and bonuses and faces higher health insurance premiums. Work is slow for her husband, a painter, because of the sagging construction and housing markets. "I haven't seen anything getting cheaper," said Kimbrel, 43. She's facing rising costs for health insurance and gas, in particular. Economists expect core inflation to remain tame in 2010, giving the Federal Reserve leeway to keep interest rates at record lows to try to invigorate the economy. Inflation and wages remain low because employers can't or won't raise pay in an economy that's shed 7.2 million jobs since the recession began two years ago. The unemployment rate is 10 percent, and the number of jobless has hit 15.3 million, up from 7.7 million when the recession started in at the end of 2007. The 1.6 percent drop in average weekly earnings for nonsupervisory workers was the worst yearly performance since a 2.5 percent fall in 1990. Inflation-adjusted pay has sunk in five of the past seven years, underscoring the pressures households felt even before the recession. Over the past 10 years, for example, inflation-adjusted wages grew only about 13 percent - the slowest pace in five decades, according to calculations made by Scott Hoyt of Moody's Economy.com. And that trend is expected to persist as long as the recovery remains weak and the job market tight. "When people are unemployed and wages are weak, household spending is depressed and businesses don't have any pricing power," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "That is the reason that inflation is not a problem." Even though the Consumer Price Index rose 2.7 percent from December to December, more than 50 million Social Security recipients got no cost-of-living benefit increase this year. That's because overall prices fell from July to September 2009 - the period the government uses to determine Social Security adjustments. Even as wages, on average, have stagnated, Wall Street is one industry that's still handing out lavish pay raises. At JPMorgan Chase, for example, the average compensation per employee rose to $121,124 in 2009 from $101,110 a year earlier, the bank said Friday. The average compensation in the investment banking division was about $380,000. The 1.6 percent drop in inflation-adjusted weekly earnings for the 12 months ending in December compared with a 3.1 percent rise in inflation-adjusted wages in 2008. While the 1.8 percent rise in core inflation was within the Fed's comfort zone, it masked the pain consumers felt in their pocketbooks because of the big jump in energy prices and other key items. Energy prices for the 12 months ending in December 2009 shot up 18.2 percent. That was the biggest jump since 1979. Energy prices had dropped by 21.3 percent during the same period in 2008. The energy surge was led by higher gasoline costs, which rose 53.5 percent after falling 43.1 percent in 2008. Food prices swung in the opposite direction. They fell 0.5 percent for the 12 months ending in December, the biggest drop since 1961. Another factor that's limiting core inflation is housing costs. They dropped 0.3 percent for the 12 months ending in December. It was the biggest annual decline on records dating to 1968. A glut of single-family homes on the market and record apartment vacancy rates have put pressure on housing prices. Medical costs rose by 3.4 percent in 2009, the biggest advance since a 5.2 percent in 2007. That continued a trend in which the costs of hospital visits, doctors and drugs outpacing overall inflation. College tuition costs jumped by 6 percent in 2009 following a 5.8 percent rise in 2008. Over the past decade, college tuition and fees have soared 92 percent. Theresa Bryan was in line Friday morning at Dunkin' Donuts in Haddon Township, N.J., for a cup of coffee. It's about the only indulgence she's allowing herself. She says she's been unable to shop for clothes, shoes or anything for her home for a couple years. With two kids - one in high school, one in college - and a salary as a mortgage processor stalled for the past few years, she's felt no benefit from low inflation. "I don't notice anything because I'm so broke," said Bryan, 50. The CPI is calculated monthly with Labor Department workers checking prices of hundreds of items at stores. The index reflects a market basket of goods such as food, autos and gasoline, which make up about 40 percent of the index, and services, such as hospital visits or haircuts, which make up the other 60 percent. Economists caution that the economy can't sustain a strong recovery until wages and job creation strengthens. Business investment and exports driven by a low dollar will help, though. David Wyss, an economist at Standard & Poor's in New York, said he expected inflation pressures to remain low through the middle of the decade given the likelihood a modest recovery with unemployment falling only slowly. "You have to get back to full employment before inflation becomes a major problem," Wyss said.

Lobbyists Get Potent Weapon in Campaign Finance Ruling

Farewell - American Democracy
It's Official. Corporations Rule.
The American Justice System has decided

Ask your two year old on a seesaw about balance, weight and power
when 2% golden greedy guts owns 98% of the worlds’
Wealth and Resources









true to scale model would render top image invisible



total world population Feb 2010:......... 6,801,000,000
2% Golden Greedy Guts population:........ 136,020,000
98% rest of us population:................... 6,664,980,000

“Fascism is about the state running things on behalf of corporations. Adrian Lyttelton in his book on Mussolini wrote that ‘Fascism can be viewed as a product of the transition from the market capitalism of the independent producer to the organized capitalism of the oligopoly.’ It was a point that Orwell noted when he described fascism as being but an extension of capitalism. Lyttelton quoted Italian Nationalist theorist Affredo Rocco: ‘The Fascist economy is. . . an organized economy. It is organized by the producers themselves, under the supreme direction and control of the State.’ ”

Could Terrorists do more to destroy America: Millions of Americans losing their life savings, losing their homes, losing their jobs, going hungry, without health insurance, with surging productivity among those still working accompanied by steady decline in wages and benefits, local and state governments running out of money, interest rates on savings at negative 0 (Zero), and everyone stuck in nightmare traffic………………….

………... Review the election procedure last post
http://freedomtimes.blogspot.com/2010/02/its-official-corporations-rule.html

Advances in the science of energy would have eliminated all the above, providing prosperity and understanding for all people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22donate.html?hp

January 22, 2010
Lobbyists Get Potent Weapon in Campaign Finance Ruling
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has handed a new weapon to lobbyists. If you vote wrong, a lobbyist can now tell any elected official that my company, labor union or interest group will spend unlimited sums explicitly advertising against your re-election.
“We have got a million we can spend advertising for you or against you — whichever one you want,’ ” a lobbyist can tell lawmakers, said Lawrence M. Noble, a lawyer at Skadden Arps in Washington and former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission.
The decision seeks to let voters choose for themselves among a multitude of voices and ideas when they go to the polls, but it will also increase the power of organized interest groups at the expense of candidates and political parties.
It is expected to unleash a torrent of attack advertisements from outside groups aiming to sway voters, without any candidate having to take the criticism for dirty campaigning. The biggest beneficiaries might be well-placed incumbents whose favor companies and interests groups are eager to court. It could also have a big impact on state and local governments, where a few million dollars can have more influence on elections.
The ruling comes at a time when influence-seekers of all kinds have special incentives to open their wallets. Amid the economic crisis, the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats are trying to rewrite the rules for broad swaths of the economy, from Detroit to Wall Street. Republicans, meanwhile, see a chance for major gains in November.
Democrats predicted that Republicans would benefit most from the decision, because they are the traditional allies of big corporations, who have more money to spend than unions.
In a statement shortly after the decision, President Obama called it “a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics.”
As Democrats vowed to push legislation to install new spending limits in time for the fall campaign, Republicans disputed the partisan impact of the decision. They argued that Democrats had proven effective at cultivating their own business allies — drug companies are spending millions of dollars to promote the administration’s health care proposals, for example — while friendly interest groups tap sympathetic billionaires and Hollywood money.
After new restrictions on party fund-raising took effect in 2003, many predicted that the Democrats would suffer. But they took Congress in 2006 and the White House two years later.
While Democrats pledged new limits, some Republicans argued for bolstering parties and candidates by getting rid of the limits on their fund-raising as well. Several cases before lower courts, including a suit filed by the Republican National Committee against the Federal Election Commission, seek to challenge those limits.
Thursday’s decision, in Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, “is going to flip the existing campaign order on its head,” said Benjamin L. Ginsberg, a Republican campaign lawyer at the law-and-lobbying firm Patton Boggs who has represented both candidates and outside groups, including Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group formed to oppose Senator John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.
“It will put on steroids the trend that outside groups are increasingly dominating campaigns,” Mr. Ginsberg said. “Candidates lose control of their message. Some of these guys lose control of their whole personalities.” ....................
“Parties will sort of shrink in the relative importance of things,” he added, “and outside groups will take over more of the functions — advertising support, get out the vote — that parties do now.”
In practice, major publicly held corporations like Microsoft or General Electric are unlikely to spend large sums money on campaign commercials, for fear of alienating investors, customers and other public officials.
Instead, wealthy individuals and companies might contribute to trade associations, groups like the Chamber of Commerce or the National Riffle Association, or other third parties that could run commercials.
Previously, Mr. Noble of Skadden Arps said, his firm had advised companies to be wary about giving money to groups that might run so-called advocacy commercials, because such activity could trigger disclosure requirements that would identify the corporate financers.
“It could be traced back to you,” he said. “That is no longer a concern.”
Some disclosure rules remain intact. An outside group paying for a campaign commercial would still have to include a statement and file forms taking responsibility. If an organization solicits money specifically to pay for such political activities, it could fall under regulations that require disclosure of its donors.
And the disclosure requirements would moderate the harshness of the third-party advertisements, because established trade associations or other groups are too concerned with their reputations to wage the contentious campaigns that ad hoc groups like MoveOn.org or Swift Boat Veterans for Truth might do.
Two leading Democrats, Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York and Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, said that they had been working for months to draft legislation in response to the anticipated decision.
One possibility would be to ban political advertising by corporations that hire lobbyists, receive government money, or collect most of their revenue abroad.
Another would be to tighten rules against coordination between campaigns and outside groups so that, for example, they could not hire the same advertising firms or consultants.
A third would be to require shareholder approval of political expenditures, or even to force chief executives to appear as sponsors of commercials their companies pay for.
The two sponsors of the 2002 law tightening the party-fundraising rules each criticized the ruling.
Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, called it “a terrible mistake.” Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008, said in a television interview on CNN that he was “disappointed.”
Fred Wertheimer, a longtime advocate of campaign finance laws, said the decision “wipes out a hundred years of history” during which American laws have sought to tamp down corporate power to influence elections.
But David Bossie, the conservative activist who brought the case to defend his campaign-season promotion of the documentary “Hillary: The Movie,” said he was looking forward to rolling out his next film in time for the midterm elections.
Titled “Generation Zero,” the movie features the television host Lou Dobbs and lays much of the blame for the recent financial collapse on the Democrats.
“Now we have a free hand to let people know it exists,” Mr. Bossie said.

It's Official. Corporations Rule

Farewell - American Democracy
It's Official. Corporations Rule.
The American Justice System has decided

Ask your two year old on a seesaw about balance, weight and power
when 2% golden greedy guts owns 98% of the worlds’
Wealth and Resources









true to scale model would render top image invisible



total world population Feb 2010:......... 6,801,000,000
2% Golden Greedy Guts population:........ 136,020,000
98% rest of us population:................... 6,664,980,000

“Fascism is about the state running things on behalf of corporations. Adrian Lyttelton in his book on Mussolini wrote that ‘Fascism can be viewed as a product of the transition from the market capitalism of the independent producer to the organized capitalism of the oligopoly.’ It was a point that Orwell noted when he described fascism as being but an extension of capitalism. Lyttelton quoted Italian Nationalist theorist Affredo Rocco: ‘The Fascist economy is. . . an organized economy. It is organized by the producers themselves, under the supreme direction and control of the State.’ ”

Could Terrorists do more to destroy America: Millions of Americans losing their life savings, losing their homes, losing their jobs, going hungry, without health insurance, with surging productivity among those still working accompanied by steady decline in wages and benefits, local and state governments running out of money, interest rates on savings at negative 0 (Zero), and everyone stuck in nightmare traffic………………….

Farewell - American Democracy
It's Official. Corporations Rule. By Eric Lotke January 21, 2010 -

People have been wondering for years who runs our country. People or wealthy corporations?
Today the Supreme Court settled the debate.Today's decision, Citizens United v. FEC, comes down decisively on the corporate side. It gives advertisers more power than voters, and tilts the balance of power even farther towards wealthy and corporate interests. The newly composed conservative court upset decades of precedent and settled expectations. As Justice Stevens says in dissent:Congress has placed special limitations on campaign spending by corporations ever since the passage of the Tillman Act in 1907. We have unanimously concluded that this "reflects a permissible assessment of the dangers posed by those entities to the electoral process," FEC v. NRWC (1982), and have accepted the "legislative judgment that the special characteristics of the corporate structure require particularly careful regulation." (Citations compressed).

Today's decision turns paper corporations into actual people, and gives advertisers more constitutional protection than voters.Progressives can't give up in the face of this setback. Bill Scher and Ralph Nader have called for a constitutional amendment. I'm all for it … though I think we can find easier solutions. We can start by publicly financing campaigns, and add public matches to any private funding raised. Adding speech rather than subtracting it avoids constitutional hurdles.Money has always had power, and always will. The theory of our capitalist democracy is that people voting provides a counterbalance. If money controls business and it controls the ballot box, we're all in trouble.All of this reminds me of a scene in my novel, 2044.Our hero finds herself in a political fundraiser, where her boss is raising money for a campaign. "Why bother voting?" she asks."Because it's a democracy. The process is crucial. If we didn't have elections people would lose faith in the government, and that wouldn't suit anybody. Besides, it's great fun. Get yourself a drink."

………... In every election, blasted on new candidate’s advertisements we hear the same rhetoric “how corrupt the current incumbents are and how they do not care about people’s rights, only corporate rights…but me, I will really, really, really help the people this time…..over and over and over again.

Every election we learn the truth about those who we voted for previously, and we do it all over again, incapable of comprehending a lie, wannabes, wanting to believe so desperately in a democracy that no longer exists. Used to be a lie told three times and you are out….. yet for at least 50 years, we continue to vote for the corporate selected candidates, funded by corporate money, who tell us exactly what we want to hear , and then vote for them. Each time they, our corporate selected (or swayed, influenced) candidates, proceed to do our corporate masters bidding. over and over and over again.

It takes a lot of corporate money to research the psychological and sociological core of people’s desperate desires and cries, then stage the dramatic Hollywood campaign theater between their selected candidates in the restricted two party system. How free we are never to question why a third party cannot get in the door of our dollar dominated system.

Now, (synonym) “Corporate Al Capone” demands no rules or regulations whatsoever, threatening us with economic doom (note the recent 500 point fall on wall street when faced with regulation) as he continues to steal, cheat, and lie for Profit, make us bail him out, continually consolidating power (M & I mergers) and using government resources and smart bombs to spread his deeds. All who oppose are terrorists, a guaranteed forever war, as the oppressed try to find food and shelter.

Advances in the science of energy would have eliminated all the above, providing prosperity and understanding for all people.

Review previous posts; while bad beliefs, and desires for abuse provide explanations for the destruction of the United States and our constitution, ignorance has never been an excuse for breaking or changing the constitutional law; or supporting corporate and economic systems destroying our country; nor will it be a defense for the natural lethal penalties forthcoming, the cyclic rise and fall being created, in unheard of proportions, both natural and manmade.

Why We've Stopped Fighting Back Against the Forces of Oppression
Is Human Consciousness 'Stuck On Stupid'?
The Hope of Monetary Reform - Pipe Dreams for a Fragmented & Divided Culture
Why Bad Beliefs Don't Die

2010 Let There Be Light - Clarification, the science of light, that is

Let there be light (as in the science of light, the Radius of Curvature of all Natural Law) for the New Year and New Decade clearly foretells the promise of new energy systems: bringing freedom, liberty, prosperity for all to unimaginable heights.

Freedom, Light (Science of) and Understanding walk hand in hand towards the world we envision. The well put phrase "let there be light" aptly pinpoints the 'darkness of current trends, with light as the solution, both figuratively and scientifically.

The light of Understanding AND the Science of Light seamlessly merge the Roots of Religion and Science ushering in a New Age of Wonder. Everyone knows Life is not a broken record, endlessly repeating the primitive stages that have consistently caused the "rise and fall" of civilizations. Let There be Light is reprinted with permission from http://evolution-intelligentdesign-survival.blogspot.com/2010/01/2010-let-there-be-light-clarification.html














...........................................................................................
2010 Let There Be Light (pun intended)
Clarification, the science of light, that is

With a new year and new decade upon us, just saying Happy New Year while Americans lose their homes and go hungry is an extremely deficit, & defunct statement. However, Let's Make This a Happy and Wonderful New Year truly sounds like something attainable as we acknowledge our expanding Window to Reality.

A brief review and summary of my background and the role science, specifically the science of Light and Energy, play in humanities' evolutionary survival and self-actualization stages with their possibilities follow.

The promise, of a future foretold a half century ago for today: Appleby's world, "a world where he never had to pay a power bill, where heating and cooling were free of energy costs, where his water was pure and veggies local and fresh, and where a four hour work day allowed him ample spare time to indulge in his writing fantasies. Outside, the air was fresh and the streets clean. Everyone had a job, and in this world-the real world-there were no clandestine powers holding back progress. All received a fair share for their efforts" An Impossible World? Excerpt from The Energy Solution Revolution by Brian O'Leary http://freedomtimes.blogspot.com/2009/04/impossible-world.html

"Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by power obtainable at any point in the universe. It is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature." ---Nikola Tesla

The World We Envision - Clean, safe, abundant, inexpensive energy for all… stabilized climate… clean and healthy water, food, and air for all… beautiful blue skies over our cities… low-impact, sustainable forestry and agriculture… beautiful landscapes unspoiled by wires and smokestacks… recycling of virtually all wastes… rivers running free and natural… thriving sustainable local economies… living standards and education rates increasing… birth rates declining… a global culture of sharing… unleashed human creativity… a new and lasting era of world peace… With a revolution in energy as the foundation of renewed and loving stewardship of our planet, we can transform our world into a beautiful and healthy home full of promise, opportunity, abundance, and peace for all of humanity. New Energy Movement
http://www.newenergymovement.org/

Someone recently inquired if I had read "The Disappearance of the Universe". http://www.garyrenard.com/Preview.htm . I had not. However, it is always good to expand, refresh, refine and experience Awareness and actualization potentials.

"The Disappearance of the Universe" (linked to A Course in Miracles) approaches the expanding and scientifically connected foundations developed by Judge Thomas Troward and Ernest Holmes (Science of Mind), Walter Russell (The Secret of Light), Barbara Dewey (Laminated Space Time, The Creating Cosmos), Amit Goswami, Ph.D (The Self-Aware Universe), Ken Wilber (Spectrum of Consciousness) to name just a few, all referencing light, it’s electrical nature, with it’s ever creating, pulsating, moving instant Now, with Cause/Consciousness at the zero point, i.e. no space no time. (Additional resources http://www.relaxspa.net/e_books.htm)

My own six month heightened awareness (in the old days termed ‘cosmic consciousness’ state) at FIT, removed any shred of doubt of the illusory and magical nature of our universe, with Reality totally connected to the roots of religions, metaphysics, and the sciences. (some of the heightened awareness symptoms were: fully rested with only 1-2 hours sleep every night; answering students questions prior to being asked; effortless sense of movement be it stairs, running, walking; memory capacity to quote any specific paragraphs and pages of recently read books; with synchronicity, right time right place constantly at command)

At that time, I also perceived an inadequately acknowledged aspect of reality continued to this day, a focus quite necessary for human evolution to proceed (Barbara Marx Hubbard, Foundation for Conscious Evolution partially acknowledges Visions of a Universal Humanity http://www.barbaramarxhubbard.com/con/ ). This inadequate comprehension, at its core is:

• The One And the Many


• The Father and I are One


• The Old Testament defines “Community”, the New Testament defines “I”, One Book.
  

Neither community without the I, nor I without community, will further evolution or achieve true enlightenment – regardless of the oversimplified and skewed teachings of the self improvement gurus fixated only upon the ME stage of human child development. There is no dissecting the One with ".... I gots mine too bad you did not get yours", while the ‘I’ continues to support the systems that keep the majority in uneducated and science deprived poverty.

Self Interest does NOT automatically become community interest as Kuhn claimed, which the ‘rise and fall’ of civilizations testify.

I also excitedly deny the claim that there is no intelligent life on earth, that we are here to forever keep repeating a broken record, never moving forward to the infinite trillions of new challenges and learning adventures awaiting us, once we pass by this crude and elementary stage of greed, suppression and power we keep repeating.

While ‘forgiveness’ is a necessary, but insufficient condition to evolutionary survival & enlightenment, humanity will reconsider more balanced options that rites of passage used to teach.

And in this magical Universe of God/Mind, the only training arena is in the physical manifestation (this disappearing, reappearing constant Now Universe) within which we participate in co-creating. (of course, as in fractals, there is a larger cyclic evolution/involution of the manifest universe after eons of time referenced by Eastern Teachings and the Bhagavad Gita).

“What will it take to stimulate more people to come together to examine, better understand, and work towards change for the better?”

Even doctors are getting into the game of freedom.
Is America Driving You Crazy? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5oJPRuFDIk

“What will it take to stimulate more people to come together to examine, better understand, and work towards change for the better?”

Not until we see the Light (pun intended), the science of light, that is (i.e., Walter Russell’s more clarified definition of light) combined with StarSteps’ 4th grade, quantified concept of light as the radius of curvature of all natural law. Science and religion merge here, naturally replacing politics and man’s opinionated, skewed with self-interest ($ controlled), shortsighted laws. http://freedomtimes.blogspot.com/

A majority of wisdom books, metaphysics, religions all make references to Light, in the manner of “Let There be Light” referring to creation.

It turns out that the energy differential of light, the constant C, light’s velocity, does indeed become the radius of curvature of All Natural Law – By Default, The New fundamental principle in Physics. StarSteps http://fuel2000.net/starsteps.htm

LIGHT is The missing and illusive Radius of Curvature described in StarSteps, which completes the expanded view of E=MC2, combining the two seemingly opposed pillars of modern science, general relativity and quantum theory. The magic occurs when we also find this energy differential of light is also equivalent to the total energy contained within each and every single atom.

Can less be more? ...............Einstein says YES, in a tiny, tiny atom, the nuclear bomb is only a very small fraction of the energy inherent in a single atom.

This electrical, magnetic, gravitational energy combo becomes available through appropriate flow/frequency harmonic applications necessary for evolutionary survival and mandates a free science that promotes Understanding

A majority of the posts here provide scientific references approaching comprehension of the sine wave nature of this radius of curvature equated to the constant C (velocity of light) and symbolized by the Yin and Yang icon also referencing duality.

A few of the more prominent, common sense items found in StarSteps follow:

The suppressed Unifying Principle supporting the majority of contemporary new energy claims evolved from the late 40's advanced energy/fuel/propulsion concepts after WWII. These same concepts also brought subsequent advanced understanding of human nature, validating ageless Spiritual and Metaphysical Wisdom within the energy/frequency domains.

This Unifying Principle, the radius of curvature of all natural law quantified the radius to the energy differential of the speed of light, shedding insight to many of the mis-interpretations of the Theory of Relativity, i.e. as in:

• nothing goes faster than the speed of light




• when an object travels faster and faster, its mass increases




• time slows, stops, goes backwards – correspondingly when approaching, at, exceeding VC




• As an object approaches the speed of light its mass becomes infinite

The obvious subsequent realization of such short sighted, mis-interpreted errors swiftly correct to - the 'increasing mass' of the target is only the measure of the kinetic energy differential which exists between them http://fuel2000.net/ . This Unifying Principle completely overhauls the stubbornly persistent delusions, primitive definitions and stranglehold restrictions of E=MC2, permitting advances toward FTL (faster than light transportation), field dependent propulsion, polarization of gravity (anti-gravity), action at a distance, as well as "movement"/"transference", the appearance of motion, from one point to another without going through all points in between.

About the year 1905, Einstein brought to our attention that the factors of Gravity, Space,Time, and Energy were not the absolute and independent entities that we had always considered them to be, but that they were variable factors, each having a value which depended upon the value of the others.

In short, the quantity C is the measure of the radius of curvature of natural law. It is the factor which will enable us to determine precisely the degree of change in the curvature of one law which will be brought about by a specified change in the application of the others. It is the factor which will eventually tell us how to place our transport vehicles in either the positive or negative portion of the gravitational curve with respect to the earth or any other planet which we may choose to visit.

When we state that the quantity C is the radius of the curvature of natural law, we mean simply that if a differential of energy equal to this quantity exists between the observer and the point which he is observing, the natural laws will be suspended. If the energy differential is in excess of the quantity C, the laws will appear to operate in reverse at that point.

As it is impossible to disconnect this scientific unifying principle for advanced fuel and propulsion systems from Human energy systems (same atoms/molecules/universe/ comprised of energy) we find this scientific Unifying Principle begins to validate the roots of ageless Spiritual and Metaphysical Principles.

This poses a threat to the current Power Structure. However, suppression and denial of these fourth grade concepts overthrowing relativity delusions, found in StarSteps, poses a threat to all life in evolving, energy intensive and complex civilizations. StarSteps http://fuel2000.net/starsteps.htm

We may forgive and light candles for Peace, but fortunately, That which gave us Life, Light and Creation, also gave us a greater capacity to participate in the evolutionary creative process of Life, Love, Light, Power, Peace, Beauty and Joy.

Statistically, this period of evolution is now almost entirely under the control of conscious human intent and will, and far less influenced by unconscious instinct, genetic mutation and natural selection. Conscious intelligence through human intent usurped unconscious instinct, genetic mutation and natural selection as the evolutionary driver somewhere back in caveman days. Science and Technology, Humanity's extended senses, are at the Steering Wheel today. Blind Science and Technology with Corporate secrecy, power, greed and lies, and Humanity can kiss it's x#s goodbye. (see Freedom Times for the deliberate man made obstacles)

Capitalism: Evolutionary Choices - Fascism or Natural Capitalism

Capitalism: Evolutionary Choices - Fascism or Natural Capitalism

Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center http://ucimc.org/content/brief-guide-avoiding-socialism
“Last May, the Republican National Committee condemned Obama and the Democratic Congress for leading America towards socialism.
That's not the only mistake made by those complaining about the threat of socialism.
If Obama is leading America anywhere, it is - like his immediate predecessors - towards fascism.
“Socialism is about the state running things on behalf of the public;”
“Fascism is about the state running things on behalf of corporations.
Adrian Lyttelton in his book on Mussolini wrote that ‘Fascism can be viewed as a product of the transition from the market capitalism of the independent producer to the organized capitalism of the oligopoly.’ It was a point that Orwell noted when he described fascism as being but an extension of capitalism. Lyttelton quoted Italian Nationalist theorist Affredo Rocco: ‘The Fascist economy is. . . an organized economy. It is organized by the producers themselves, under the supreme direction and control of the State.’ ”

Natural Capitalism

Book Excerpts and Downloadable Chapters For decades, environmentalists have been warning that human economic activity is exceeding the planet's limits. Of course we keep pushing those limits back with clever new technologies; yet living systems are undeniably in decline.

These trends need not be in conflict-in fact, there are fortunes to be made in reconciling them.

Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins, is the first book to explore the lucrative opportunities for businesses in an era of approaching environmental limits. In this groundbreaking blueprint for a new economy, three leading business visionaries explain how the world is on the verge of a new industrial revolution-one that promises to transform our fundamental notions about commerce and its role in shaping our future. Natural Capitalism describes a future in which business and environmental interests increasingly overlap, and in which businesses can better satisfy their customers' needs, increase profits, and help solve environmental problems all at the same time.

Natural capital refers to the natural resources and ecosystem services that make possible all economic activity, indeed all life. These services are of immense economic value; some are literally priceless, since they have no known substitutes. Yet current business practices typically fail to take into account the value of these assets-which is rising with their scarcity. As a result, natural capital is being degraded and liquidated by the wasteful use of such resources as energy, materials, water, fiber, and topsoil.

The first of natural capitalism's four interlinked principles, therefore, is radically increased resource productivity. Implementing just this first principle can significantly improve a firm's bottom line, and can also help finance the other three. They are: redesigning industry on biological models with closed loops and zero waste; shifting from the sale of goods (for example, light bulbs) to the provision of services (illumination); and reinvesting in the natural capital that is the basis of future prosperity. Citing hundreds of compelling stories from a wide array of sectors, Natural Capitalism shows how these four changes will enable businesses to act as if natural capital were being properly valued, without waiting for consensus on what that value should be. Even today, when natural capital is hardly accounted for on corporate balance sheets, these four principles are so profitable that firms adopting them can gain striking competitive advantage-as early adopters are already doing. These innovators are also discovering that by downsizing their unproductive tons, gallons, and kilowatt-hours they can keep more people, who will foster the innovation that drives future improvement.

Natural Capitalism's preface states: "Although [this] is a book abounding in solutions, it is not about 'fixes.' Nor is it a how-to manual. It is a portrayal of opportunities that if captured will lead to no less than a transformation of commerce and of all societal institutions. Natural capitalism maps the general direction of a journey that requires overturning long-held assumptions, even questioning what we value and how we are to live. Yet the early stages in the decades-long odyssey are turning out to release extraordinary benefits. Among these are what business innovator Peter Senge calls 'hidden reserves within the enterprise'--lost energy,' trapped in stale employee and customer relationships, that can be channeled into success for both today's shareholders and future generations. All three of us have witnessed this excitement and enhanced total factor productivity in many of the businesses we have counseled. It is real; it is replicable…" The next Industrial Revolution has already started. Natural Capitalism will prepare you to be a part of it.

The Alternative: The deadly consequences of an economic/corporate system who’s ONLY goal is to maximize profits, regardless of human life, is being verified, disconnectedly, by news reports daily.

NOT TO KNOW CRITICAL SURVIVAL CRITERIA NECESSARY FOR EVOLVING CIVILIZATIONS TO SURVIVE, in the 21st century, especially in the dangerously stagnant energy sector, is beyond bafflement.



Multiple Criteria Fermenting Societies' Decay Stemming from Energy Suppression and Restricted Education

Education
The suppressed Unifying Principle supporting the majority of contemporary new energy claims evolved from the late 40's advanced energy/fuel/propulsion concepts after WWII. These same concepts also brought subsequent advanced understanding of human nature, validating ageless Spiritual and Metaphysical Wisdom within the energy/frequency domains. This Unifying Principle, the radius of curvature of all natural law quantified the radius to the energy differential of the speed of light, shedding insight to many of the MIS- INTERPRETATIONS of the Theory of Relativity, i.e. as in, "nothing goes faster than the speed of light; when an object travels faster and faster, its mass increases (time slows, stops, goes backwards – approaching, at, exceeding VC);" or "As an object approaches the speed of light its mass becomes infinite."

The obvious subsequent realization of such short sighted, mis-interpreted errors swiftly correct to - the 'increasing mass' of the target is only the measure of the kinetic energy differential which exists between them http://fuel2000.net/ . This Unifying Principle completely overhauls the stubbornly persistent delusions, primitive definitions and stranglehold restrictions of E=MC2, permitting advances toward FTL (faster than light transportation), field dependent propulsion, polarization of gravity (anti-gravity), action at a distance, as well as "movement"/"transference", the appearance of motion, from one point to another without going through all points in between.

• About the year 1905, Einstein brought to our attention that the factors of Gravity, Space,Time, and Energy were not the absolute and independent entities that we had always considered them to be, but that they were variable factors, each having a value which depended upon the value of the others.
  
• In short, the quantity C is the measure of the radius of curvature of natural law. It is the factor which will enable us to determine precisely the degree of change in the curvature of one law which will be brought about by a specified change in the application of the others. It is the factor which will eventually tell us how to place our transport vehicles in either the positive or negative portion of the gravitational curve with respect to the earth or any other planet which we may choose to visit.
  
• When we state that the quantity C is the radius of the curvature of natural law, we mean simply that if a differential of energy equal to this quantity exists between the observer and the point which he is observing, the natural laws will be suspended. If the energy differential is in excess of the quantity C, the laws will appear to operate in reverse at that point.
  
• As it is impossible to disconnect this scientific unifying principle for advanced fuel and propulsion systems from Human energy systems (same atoms/molecules/ comprised of energy) we find this scientific Unifying Principle begins to validate the roots of ageless Spiritual and Metaphysical Principles. This poses a threat to the current Power Structure. However, suppression and denial of these fourth grade concepts overthrowing relativity delusions, found in StarSteps, does threaten all life in evolving, energy intensive and complex civilizations. StarSteps http://fuel2000.net/starsteps.htm

--------------------------------------------------
***As millions of American sit back and ignore the political system which affects everyone's lives, the monied interests take advantage of the absence of citizen oversight and involvement..........And then the corporate-owned media tells the public "It's the Governments Fault". Then regulatory agencies are further gutted making it easier for the monied interests to write new government policies which further marginalize the middle-class. Again prompting the corporate media to 'blame the government' for "too much regulation." An amazingly effective con-game........(i.e., "Fascism can be viewed as a product of the transition from the market capitalism of the independent producer to the organized capitalism of the oligopoly.")
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Corporate America's huge piles of cash http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/corporate-americas-huge-piles-of-cash.aspx
After throttling down for a depression that didn't happen, companies are sitting on billions in excess money. While many Americans are living on tight budgets because of lost jobs or fear of losing a job, companies face a very different dilemma: They're sitting on growing piles of cash.
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November 16, 2009 USDA: Number of Americans Going Hungry Increases By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/11/16/us/politics/AP-US-Hunger-Report.html?scp=7&sq=one%20in%20four%20american%20children%20hungry&st=cse Filed at 9:48 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than one in seven American households struggled to put enough food on the table in 2008, the highest rate since the Agriculture Department began tracking food security levels in 1995.
That's about 49 million people, or 14.6 percent of U.S. households. The numbers are a significant increase from 2007, when 11.1 percent of U.S. households suffered from what USDA classifies as ''food insecurity'' -- not having enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle.
Researchers blamed the increase in hunger on a lack of money and other resources.
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November 16, 2009 - Money Trickles North as Mexicans Help Relatives in USA By MARC LACEY
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/world/americas/16mexico.html?scp=6&sq=mexicans%20send%20food%20and%20money%20to%20USA&st=cse
MIAHUATLÁN, Mexico — During the best of the times, Miguel Salcedo’s son, an illegal immigrant in San Diego, would be sending home hundreds of dollars a month to support his struggling family in Mexico. But at times like these, with the American economy out of whack and his son out of work, Mr. Salcedo finds himself doing what he never imagined he would have to do: wiring pesos north. Unemployment has hit migrant communities in the United States so hard that a startling new phenomenon has been detected: instead of receiving remittances from relatives in the richest country on earth, some down-and-out Mexican families are scraping together what they can to support their unemployed loved ones in the United States.
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November 29, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/us/29foodstamps.html?hp
The Safety Net Across U.S., Food Stamp Use Soars and Stigma Fades
By JASON DePARLE and ROBERT GEBELOFF
MARTINSVILLE, Ohio — With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children. It has grown so rapidly in places so diverse that it is becoming nearly as ordinary as the groceries it buys. More than 36 million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples like milk, bread and cheese, swiping them at counters in blighted cities and in suburbs pocked with foreclosure signs. Virtually all have incomes near or below the federal poverty line, but their eclectic ranks testify to the range of people struggling with basic needs. They include single mothers and married couples, the newly jobless and the chronically poor, longtime recipients of welfare checks and workers whose reduced hours or slender wages leave pantries bare.
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Rolling in Dough, Still Kicking Out Families
Goldman Sachs Subsidiary Among 'Loan Servicers' Collecting Criticism
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/goldman-sachs-leaves-family-cold/story?id=9403097
By RICH BLAKE Dec. 23, 2009—
There's no place like home for the holidays. But this year, Phil and Barb Kubes and their three children will have to settle for memories of Christmas past. Last month, the Omaha, Neb., family was forced out of their home of 12 years after falling drastically behind on mortgage payments. Having failed to reach a workable solution with Litton Loan Servicing, the Houston-based company that collects their mortgage debt, the Kubes were foreclosed upon and told to vacate.
Litton is by no stretch the largest loan servicing company -- essentially the mortgage industry's version of a collection agency -- but it is among the ones coming under the most heavy fire in the wake of a housing crisis that continues to roil the country. Litton, unfairly or not, has drawn the wrath of legions of homeowners, homeowner advocacy groups, lawmakers, labor unions and class action attorneys alike. One glaring reason Litton has attracted so much of the scorn directed at loan servicing in general: It is owned by Goldman Sachs, proverbial poster child for Wall Street's excess and its percieved indifference to the plight of average Americans. Critics of Goldman's compensation practices say the firm has no business handing out billions to bankers and traders after having been the beneficiary of numerous forms of federal assistance, including TARP money as well as billions in FDIC-guaranteed loans and another $13 billion in taxpayer money given to AIG that was ultimately paid to Goldman.
Though it will derive only a tiny fraction of the billions it expects to earn this year from revenues produced by Litton, Goldman nevertheless finds itself, albeit indirectly, connected to a highly controversial issue at the crux of the housing crisis: Widespread failure by banks to allow homeowners to modify their loans. A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston showed banks have little incentive to modify loans to help homeowners avoid foreclosure because of one simple reason that at this time of year perhaps only Ebenezer Scrooge could appreciate: Loan modification is not profitable for lenders.
No Interest in Avoiding Foreclosure Because mortgages are typically sold off to third party investors, the entities that service the loans, such as Litton, do not have a vested interest in avoiding foreclosure, according to Julia Gordon, senior policy counsel at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Responsible Lending. "Loan servicers make their money on late fees, so there is a perverse incentive for them not to work out solutions," Gordon said. "Meanwhile, there is zero incentive for them to help a family stay in their home. This is really a deep, serious problem and it has been for a long time."
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http://abcnews.go.com/Business/us-workers-rights-report/story?id=9131397
U.S. Far Behind On Workers' Rights: Report
U.S. Lags Other Countries on Sick Leave, Parental Leave; Women May Suffer the Most
By Jenna Goudreau, Forbes.com Nov. 22, 2009 —
A new study released Tuesday, Raising the Global Floor, examines workers' rights across 190 nations worldwide and finds that the U.S. lags behind nearly all other countries. The U.S. does not guarantee paid sick leave or annual leave, paid parental leave, paid time off to care for sick children or even one day of rest per week. And female workers may be suffering the most.
Authors Jody Heymann, founding director of the Institute for Health and Social Policy at McGill University, and Alison Earle, a research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, joined a team of international researchers to examine 190 national policies and look in-depth at the working conditions faced by 55,000 households, creating the most extensive research yet on workers' rights.
The findings do not look good for the U.S. While 177 nations guarantee paid leave for new mothers and another 163 nations mandate paid sick leave, the U.S. requires neither.
The U.S. also falls behind 164 countries that guarantee paid annual vacation, 157 countries that guarantee workers one day of rest each week, 74 countries that offer paid leave to new fathers and 48 countries that allow paid time off to care for sick children. ….

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NYT November 15, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/business/media/15bloom.html?scp=1&sq=At%20Bloomberg,%20Modest%20Strategy%20to%20Rule%20the%20World%20&st=cse
At Bloomberg, Modest Strategy to Rule the World
By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD and JULIE CRESWELL
PLOPPED in a white leather chair in a small office in Bloomberg L.P.’s Manhattan headquarters, Andrew Lack knows exactly how to articulate the aspirations of this 28-year-old media and technology company.
“We want to be the world’s most influential news organization,” says Mr. Lack, who oversees Bloomberg’s television, radio and dot-com endeavors.
Very clear. The most influential. On the planet.
It’s a goal several other Bloomberg executives have already mentioned to a pair of visitors. And when Mr. Lack, 62, a former head of NBC News, hears his guests wonder if something funny is in his company’s coffee — a special sauce that keeps all Bloombergians marching so efficiently and effectively to the same tune — he looks a tad chagrined.
“Oh, my! I don’t want to sound as if I’m on message,” he says, laughing apprehensively while also sending a “help me” look to a Bloomberg spokeswoman nearby.
These days, truth be told, the entire company is on message. That’s because the data behemoth that Michael R. Bloomberg created and named after himself in 1981, long before he became mayor of New York, finally has the reach, resources and appetites to try snaring the mantle of Most Influential
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NYT December 26, 2009 At Tiny Rates, Saving Money Costs Investors
By STEPHANIE STROM http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/26/your-money/26rates.html?_r=1&hp
Millions of Americans are paying a high price for a safe place to put their money: extremely low interest rates on savings accounts and certificates of deposit. The elderly and others on fixed incomes have been especially hard hit. Many have seen returns on savings, C.D.’s and government bonds drop to niggling amounts recently, often costing them money once inflation, fees and taxes are considered. “Open a Savings Plus Account today and get a great rate,” read an advertisement in the Dec. 16 Newsday for Citibank, which was then offering 1.2 percent for an account. (As low as it was, the offer was good only for accounts of $25,000 and up.) “They’re advertising it in the papers as if they’re actually proud of that,” said Steven Weisman, a title insurance consultant in New York. “It’s a joke.. “The unemployment situation and the general downturn in the economy had an impact, but what’s going to happen now as C.D.’s mature is that retirees and the elderly are going to take anywhere from a half to three-quarters of a percent cut in their incomes,” said Joe Parks, a retired accountant in Houston on the advisory board of Better Investing, an organization that works to help people become savvier investors. “It’s a real problem.” Experts say risk-averse investors are effectively financing a second bailout of financial institutions, many of which have also raised fees and interest rates on credit cards. “What the average citizen doesn’t explicitly understand is that a significant part of the government’s plan to repair the financial system and the economy is to pay savers nothing and allow damaged financial institutions to earn a nice, guaranteed spread,” said William H. Gross, co-chief investment officer of the Pacific Investment Management Company, or Pimco. “It’s capitalism, I guess, but it’s not to be applauded.”
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Who put deadly Science blinders to whole populations, offering civilizations such incredible, dim-witted options for survival and what comes after oil – ignoring definitions of light and energy as described above in “Energy Suppression and Restricted Education”?
Energy 2.0: What Comes From After Oil - The Green Eye - CBS News http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/12/22/green_eye/entry6010277.shtml?tag=cbsnews... 12/23/2009
Posted by Michael Kanellos
What happens after the world hits peak oil and prices skyrocket? Or when coal pushes
the carbon count in the atmosphere into the danger zone? Soylent Green might turn out to be
more prophetic than you thought. But, luckily, entrepreneurs are devising new ways to produce
energy even beyond solar and wind. Here are some of the more intriguing and far out ones.
1.Nuclear Goes Mod(ular):
NuScale Power, Sandia National Labs, TerraPower and Babcock & Wilcox all want to build
and/or license small reactors that could produce 45 to 125 megawatts of power.
2. Fusion:
"Not in our lifetime," Moniz said, after eyeballing me. (I'm a young 48.) Others disagree.
Livermore National Labs showed off a system in which 192 high powered lasers focused on tiny
capsule of hydrogen could generate fusion power.
3. Osmotic Pressure Gradients:
You know how you get really thirsty after eating salty food? The same principle serves as the
foundation of osmotic pressure gradients or OPGs.
4. Instant Oil:
Think microwave petroleum: no more slaving over the Permian basin for millions of years
waiting for those hydrocarbons to be done.
5. Gravity Power:
Like the brakes on a Prius, but supersized. Vycon Energy's flywheel captures energy released
when large cargo cranes drop those 30 ton storage containers in the holds of ships.
6. Hot Air.
Thermoelectric devices are semiconductors that convert heat into electricity and vice versa.
While advanced thermoelectric are still in the experimental stage, other companies are looking at
ways to capture heat and reuse it without converting it to electricity.
7. (Freedom Times Editor added) Sun and Wind - Unnecessary Space and Cost Requirements for a Solar Hydrogen Economy - High Tech, Low Inventiveness and Creativity - by Design or Default?. .........Using high tech to make bigger and bigger clubs does not speak much for the advancement of science. Likened to the 5000 year old Chinese rocket concept, where the principle remains the same (i.e., analogous to throwing rocks from a rowboat to propel the rowboat forward), only the technology, the outer coating, gets slicker…….Increasingly today, solar arrays and windfarms are beginning to dot the globe. While it is exciting to see the trend toward natural forces being converted into a clean energy base, I find it difficult to comprehend how science and creativity remain so petrified, oblivious, stagnant in fundamental operating principles. The concept of 'gestalt', the forest and the trees, local global, should be common knowledge so as to avoid the quagmire of losing sight of the forest as we explore the beauty of the trees. Does no one ask why we need so many windmills or solar arrays for a given energy output - beyond the standard, authorized given. Could a single, small solar array or windmill on a rooftop or garage conceivably produce more than enough energy to run a household and small business? Did we miss some fundamentals, (macros - integration) borrowing from other disciplines? ...................... Can less be more? ...............Einstein says YES, in a tiny, tiny atom, the nuclear bomb is only a very small fraction of the energy inherent in the atom.

Judge Thomas Troward, Walter Russell, Barbara Dewey, The Self-Aware Universe - Amit Goswami, Ph.D, refer to light and it’s electrical nature. A majority of wisdom books, metaphysics, religions all make references to Light, in the manner of “Let There be Light” referring to creation.

It turns out that the energy differential of light, the constant C, light’s velocity, does indeed become the radius of curvature of All Natural Law – By Default, The New fundamental principle in Physics. StarSteps http://fuel2000.net/starsteps.htm

LIGHT is The missing and illusive Radius of Curvature described in StarSteps, which completes the expanded view of E=MC2, combining the two seemingly opposed pillars of modern science, general relativity and quantum theory. The magic occurs when we also find this energy differential of light is also equivalent to the total energy contained within each and every atom