War Zones: As The Economy Dies, Murders, Shootings, Robberies And Looting Erupt All Over America

End of The American Dream

As the U.S. economy falls apart and millions of Americans descend into despair we are seeing some really shocking things start to happen all over America.  The mainstream media keeps telling us that crime is under control, but they are also the ones that keep telling us that we are in the midst of an "economic recovery".

Unfortunately, the truth is that the economy is slowly dying.  Today, an all-time record 44 million Americans are on food stamps.  That number is 18 million higher than it was just four years ago.

When people can't get jobs and when people feel deprived they get desperate.  The incidents that you are about to see and read about below are very disturbing.  Many American communities are rapidly turning into war zones.  Sadly, it is mostly young people that are involved in the crimes and the violence that are now sweeping America.

Yesterday, I wrote an article entitled "18 Signs That Life In U.S. Public Schools Is Now Essentially Equivalent To Life In U.S. Prisons", and there were some readers that objected to the article because they said that the youth of today are so wild that if you don't use extreme measures they will just be completely out of control.

Sadly, it is true that many of our young people are extremely wild.  But a lot of that is our own fault.  We did not believe in teaching our kids about "morality", and so now they do not have any.  We did not believe in having the Ten Commandments around, and so now many of our young people feel free to steal and murder.  We allowed television and movies to raise our kids, and now they are acting out what they have been watching all of their lives.

If your community is not a war zone yet, you should consider yourself to be very fortunate.  There are many communities across the United States where people simply do not go out at night anymore.

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We the People Must Protect Our Liberty, No Matter the Cost

S. Paul Forrest
Activist Post

America today is no longer a Land of Opportunity but one of basic survival for the middle to lower class tax brackets. The hope we once knew and looked toward in our daily struggles as a beacon of light at the end of the labor tunnel is quickly being extinguished by corporatism and entitlements for the rich while we at the bottom slave to minimally support our families. 



Our governmental representatives sit in Washington, D.C. deliberating our collective future, while We the People can only hope they are doing so in our best interests. To date though, this has not happened. To date, they have done nothing but add to our national deficit with corporate bailouts and tax havens for their contributors while our national education system has come under attack, our teachers lose their jobs, citizens lose their homes and our elders face the loss of Medicare and the elimination of social security, a fund into which they have paid their whole, working lives. To date, they have only appeased us with pointless debates while the same corporations that feed from the public trough fill these politician’s pockets with “campaign contributions”.



Death of the American Dream

S. Paul Forrest

Activist Post

It is astounding to me the level of xenophobic propelled action taking place in reaction to the development of an Islamic Community Center near Ground Zero.  I have seen numerous postings on Facebook and Self-declared Righteous Politicians touting the immorality of it by using images of the 9-11 attacks as bait for the hate hungry.  When will we start acting like America again?

I remember growing up in a small community where the Pledge of Allegiance was said each morning without fail, and we were vehemently taught that America was the land of opportunity where even the poorest of men (or women) could become whatever they wanted.  As I grew up, I had visions in my head of the Statue of Liberty and that wonderful quote:

                 “”Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
                   With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
                   Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
                   The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
                   Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
                   I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
To me, this quote was more than just an etching on a plaque in a place I would probably never go; it was a message, a beacon that meant all were welcome in this country no matter how poor or downtrodden. This held great significance for me. You see, I was born and raised in a hippie culture to parents who were immigrants.

Some of you probably are envisioning turban-wrapped Arabs or poor Slovenians, Cubans, Haitians paddling or smuggling themselves into this country type of immigrants.  No, they came over from England on the Queen Mary (Third Class, of course)  and established a life in America with great hope and anticipation that, someday, they would enjoy the famous American Dream.

I have watched the news, read the blogs, and participated in Facebook debates on this subject.  I have weighed the positives and negatives on all sides of the issue and still I cannot find rational thought.

Maybe I am an eternal pessimist, but I cannot seem to find where America is in these discussions.

On the Right we have the "Keep America Whole” statements where the argument turns to the Bush Era political paranoia based on the ideal that America is an Elitist State that should benefit only those who are worthy.  Then there is the Liberal side where the poor should get everything and the rich should carry the burden (both views are seriously misguided).  I hear the Christian argument where the Muslim invasion is a sin and we should arm ourselves to the hilt to prevent Jihad.  I also hear the Muslim side which is rarely reported by mainstream media.

Many may not be aware, and FoxNews does not help in this matter by spreading falsities about it, but the average Muslim-American does not support what Al-Qaeda is doing.  They did not support the 9-11 attacks and they do not think America is evil.  If they did, why would they fly flags at their businesses and homes?  Why would they come to this country?  If you answered because they are trying to infiltrate the US, you have much to learn and even more to remember about this Country.

These people are here for the same reasons my parents came here, to live and prosper under the cloak of the greatest country on Earth.  They are entitled to the same benefits we all are.  It is written in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 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, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

This is a moving and inspirational piece of writing.  It is the backbone of this, our country, the United States of America.  Who are we today to take that away?  Who are we to stand in protest of a religious institution sacred to an immigrant people at the base of the Statue of Liberty (and not a stone's throw from Philadelphia where the Declaration was written), stripping those people of that American Dream?

Which of you will stand in front of a classroom filled with starry-eyed children who believe that this country stands for all, and opportunity is there for them, one and all, no matter their race, creed or religion, and tell them the American Dream is dead?  Which of you will stand and be so anti-human as to tell these children and those abroad suffering untold tragedy that this country is no longer the beacon of the world?  Which of you wants to do that?

When you stand against a people wanting to take advantage of all this country stands for, you do just that.  You are killing everything that this, My United States of America, is about.  We did not come this far through the struggles of war, slavery, womens' rights, and equal rights just to have a group of xenophobic zealots take it all away.  I believe in this country and it truly breaks my heart to see so many joining the slow march toward the Death of the American Dream.


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How the Oligarchs Took America

Creating a Country of the Rich, by the Rich, and for the Rich

Anthony Freda Illustration

Andy Kroll
Toms Dispatch

There is a war underway. I'm not talking about Washington’s bloody misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq, but a war within our own borders. It’s a war fought on the airwaves, on television and radio and over the Internet, a war of words and images, of half-truth, innuendo, and raging lies. I'm talking about a political war, pitting liberals against conservatives, Democrats against Republicans. I'm talking about a spending war, fueled by stealthy front groups and deep-pocketed anonymous donors. It’s a war that's poised to topple what's left of American democracy.

The right wing won the opening battle. In the 2010 midterm elections, shadowy outside organizations (who didn’t have to disclose their donors until well after Election Day, if at all) backing Republican candidatesdoled out $190 million, outspending their adversaries by a more than two-to-one margin, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. American Action Network, operated by Republican consultant Fred Malek and former Republican Senator Norm Coleman, spent $26 million; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce plunked down $33 million; and Karl Rove's American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS shelled out a combined $38.6 million. Their investments in conservative candidates across the country paid off: the 62 House seats and six Senate seats claimed by Republicans were the most in the postwar era -- literally, a historic victory.

Knocked out of their complacency, no longer basking in the glow of Barack Obama's 2008 victory, wealthy Democrats are now plotting their response. Left-wing media mogul David Brock plans to create an outside group dubbed American Bridge in response to Rove's Crossroads outfits that will fight in the trenches of 2012 campaign spending. Many more outfits like Brock's will surely follow, as liberal and centrist Democrats brace for a promised $500 million onslaught by the Chamber of Commerce and others of its ilk.

Even the Obama administration, which shunned outside groups in 2008, has opened the door to a covert spending war. The Democrats will now fight fire with fire.  "Is small money better? You bet. But we're in a fucking fight," Democratic strategist and fundraiser Harold Ickes told me recently. "And if you're in a fistfight, then you're in a fistfight, and you use all legal means available."

The endgame here, of course, is non-stop war. No longer will outside groups come and go every two years.  Now, such groups will be running attack ads, sending out mailers, and deploying robo-calls year-round in what is going to become a perpetual campaign to sway voters and elect friendly lawmakers. "We're definitely building a foundation," was how American Crossroads president Steven Law put it.

This is what nowadays passes for the heart and soul of American democracy. It used to be that citizens in large numbers, mobilized by labor unions or political parties or a single uniting cause, determined the course of American politics. After World War II, a swelling middle class was the most powerful voting bloc, while, in those same decades, the working and middle classes enjoyed comparatively greater economic prosperity than their wealthy counterparts. Kiss all that goodbye. We're now a country run by rich people.

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Americans Have Worst Standard of Living in the Developed World

Lance Freeman
The Grim Truth

Americans, I have some bad news for you:

You have the worst quality of life in the developed world – by a wide margin.

If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia, you’d be rioting in the streets calling for a better life. In fact, the average Australian or Singaporean taxi driver has a much better standard of living than the typical American white-collar worker.

I know this because I am an American, and I escaped from the prison you call home.

I have lived all around the world, in wealthy countries and poor ones, and there is only one country I would never consider living in again: The United States of America. The mere thought of it fills me with dread.

Consider this: you are the only people in the developed world without a single-payer health system. Everyone in Western Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand has a single-payer system. If they get sick, they can devote all their energies to getting well. If you get sick, you have to battle two things at once: your illness and the fear of financial ruin. Millions of Americans go bankrupt every year due to medical bills, and tens of thousands die each year because they have no insurance or insufficient insurance. And don’t believe for a second that rot about America having the world’s best medical care or the shortest waiting lists: I’ve been to hospitals in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Singapore, and Thailand, and every one was better than the “good” hospital I used to go to back home. The waits were shorter, the facilities more comfortable, and the doctors just as good.

This is ironic, because you need a good health system more than anyone else in the world. Why? Because your lifestyle is almost designed to make you sick.

Let’s start with your diet: Much of the beef you eat has been exposed to fecal matter in processing. Your chicken is contaminated with salmonella. Your stock animals and poultry are pumped full of growth hormones and antibiotics. In most other countries, the government would act to protect consumers from this sort of thing; in the United States, the government is bought off by industry to prevent any effective regulations or inspections. In a few years, the majority of all the produce for sale in the United States will be from genetically modified crops, thanks to the cozy relationship between Monsanto Corporation and the United States government. Worse still, due to the vast quantities of high-fructose corn syrup Americans consume, fully one-third of children born in the United States today will be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at some point in their lives.

Of course, it’s not just the food that’s killing you, it’s the drugs. If you show any sign of life when you’re young, they’ll put you on Ritalin. Then, when you get old enough to take a good look around, you’ll get depressed, so they’ll give you Prozac. If you’re a man, this will render you chemically impotent, so you’ll need Viagra to get it up. Meanwhile, your steady diet of trans-fat-laden food is guaranteed to give you high cholesterol, so you’ll get a prescription for Lipitor. Finally, at the end of the day, you’ll lay awake at night worrying about losing your health plan, so you’ll need Lunesta to go to sleep.

With a diet guaranteed to make you sick and a health system designed to make sure you stay that way, what you really need is a long vacation somewhere. Unfortunately, you probably can’t take one. I’ll let you in on little secret: if you go to the beaches of Thailand, the mountains of Nepal, or the coral reefs of Australia, you’ll probably be the only American in sight. And you’ll be surrounded crowds of happy Germans, French, Italians, Israelis, Scandinavians and wealthy Asians. Why? Because they’re paid well enough to afford to visit these places AND they can take vacations long enough to do so. Even if you could scrape together enough money to go to one of these incredible places, by the time you recovered from your jetlag, it would time to get on a plane and rush back to your job.

If you think I’m making this up, check the stats on average annual vacation days by country:

Finland: 44
Italy: 42
France: 39
Germany: 35
UK: 25
Japan: 18
USA: 12

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Escaping Reality: Sweet Hallucinations Of A Lost American Dream

Michael Vail
Blacklisted News

Americans today are behaving like resigned and subdued rape victims. The American dream has long since been dead but we still reminisce and wish to return to the days of old. This country is being run like a corporation and we have been severely downsized. The writing was on the wall but no one dared to look. If they did look, none dared to speak it aloud. This is what has led us to the world we live in today and still none dare call it treason!

There was a time when our country succeeded because of the hard work of every man and woman. We made products and had valuable goods and services to offer the world. Yet there was a change that took place by our trusted government officials and they began to move our nation towards debt and exploitation. Every weaker nation on earth was our prey and the military and supporting corporations leaned on them and forced them to do their bidding.

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Poverty In Suburbs Increasing Rapidly During Economic Downturn

Suburban Slums - GETTY image

Hope Yen
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The American suburb is no longer a refuge from poverty in cities.

A pair of analyses by the nonprofit Brookings Institution paints a bleak economic picture for the 100 largest metropolitan areas over the past decade and in coming years, and finds that suburbs now are home to one-third of the nation's poor, and rising.

The study of census data finds that since 2000, the number of poor people in the suburbs jumped by 37.4 percent to 13.7 million. The growth rate of suburban poverty is more than double that of cities and higher than the national rate of 26.5 percent.


At the same time, social service providers are spread thin in many suburban areas, according to a detailed Brookings survey of groups in representative metropolitan areas of Chicago, Los Angeles and the District of Columbia. That has forced providers to turn away many poor people due to scarce aid that typically goes to cities first.

"Millions of Americans at all income levels moved to the suburbs looking for better schools, better jobs, affordable housing, and a sense of security, but in recent years, as incomes have fallen, people had a harder and harder time making ends meet," said Scott Allard, a University of Chicago professor who co-wrote one of the reports.

"As a result, Americans who never imagined becoming poor are now asking for assistance, and many are not getting the help they need."

After the recession began in 2007, the suburbs continued to post larger increases in the number of poor – adding 1.8 million, compared with 1.4 million in the cities.

The findings come weeks before the Nov. 2 congressional elections in which voters anxious over the economy will decide whether to keep Democrats in power. Made up of both cities and surrounding suburbs, the large metro areas represent two-thirds of the U.S. population and are home to battlegrounds that helped lift Democrat Barack Obama to victory in 2008.

Cities still have higher poverty rates – about 19.5 percent, compared with 10.4 percent in the suburbs. But the gap has been steadily narrowing. In a reversal from 2000, the number of poor people living in the suburbs now exceeds those in cities by roughly 1.6 million.

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Gerald Celente: 'The sell-off of America'

YouTube - RT America
Financial institutions on Wall Street are preparing to pay a shocking record $144 billion dollars in compensation & benefits. This amid spiraling foreclosures and an economic crisis that has devastated Americans, leaving many out in the street. Gerald Celente of the Trends Research Institute says that the gap between rich and poor in the US will continue to get larger because of the bank bailout that Washington shelled out in 2008.



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Americans See Children's Future Dim in Poll as 50% Pessimistic

Rich Miller
Bloomberg

Americans say they have weathered the worst of the longest recession in seven decades, even as they are pessimistic about prospects for their retirement years, according to a Bloomberg National Poll.

Three in five respondents to the Oct. 7-10 poll say their economic condition has improved recently or they are confident it will get better. One in three say things have gotten worse or aren’t likely to improve anytime soon.

“I see some hope, but not a lot,” says poll respondent Brian Ridlon, 34, an out-of-work resident of Green Mountain, Arkansas, who wants to learn how to become a barber. “There are some avenues to improve yourself, but we need more.”

What optimism there is about the immediate future doesn’t carry over to the longer term. Pluralities of those polled say they’re not hopeful they will have enough money in retirement and expect they will have to keep working to make up the difference. More than 50 percent aren’t confident or are just somewhat confident their children will have better lives than they have.

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The Killing and Reviving the American Dream

Llewellyn H. Rockwell
Lew Rockwell

USA Today loves to run lifestyle features that purport to show how we are living, what we are doing, what we like and what we don't like – premised on a collectivist assumption that all our preferences can be tracked and characterized with these aggregate claims.

Most of the time, these features are silly. It's not really true that we are all listening to Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, or tweeting what we had for breakfast.

However, the other day, the paper offered a roundup of how the great recession has affected American life. The business cycle is one of those forces that does indeed affect everyone, so perhaps it makes sense to examine what the paper had to say.

The trends are gleaned from US Census data, which provide a look at how economic downturns can devastate a society, and offer a glimpse into a theme that the Austrian tradition has long emphasized. Economics isn't just about trade statistics, retail sales or GDP. It is the very pith of life.

What the Census data indicate is that our mobility has been drastically curtailed from what it was a few years ago. The number of people who have not moved from one home to another, from one community to another, has risen substantially.

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