Showing posts with label Third World America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Third World America. Show all posts
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Tax Appeals Swamp U.S. Cities, Towns as Property Prices Plunge
Bloomberg
The backlog of cases from taxpayers seeking to lower property-tax bills of more than $100,000 shot up to 14,236this year from an annual average of about 6,000 during the past decade. The backlog of smaller claims was at28,558 at the end of September, eight times higher than a decade ago, according to records at the tribunal, a Lansing-based administrative court.
From Los Angeles to Atlantic City, the New Jersey gambling resort whose credit rating Moody’s Investors Service cut by three levels last month, property owners are demanding lower taxes after real-estate values plunged. The disputes over billions in dollars come as municipalities are already slashing services such as police and fire protection and may depress revenue further as communities try to recover from the longest recession since the 1930s. InMichigan, Governor-elect Rick Snyder has warned that hundreds of towns face financial crises.
“We’re just getting swamped,” said Halm, 54, who was appointed in 2003. “We’re constantly buying new file cabinets to hold all the cases. We even have six surplus file cabinets in the courtroom.”
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10 Signs the US is Becoming a Third World Country
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Thursday, December 2, 2010
Heating Bill Assistance Funds Quickly Depleted
MARIETTA, Ga. -- A Marietta nonprofit group that helps people pay energy bills was forced to turn away dozens of people after it ran out of funding.
The Tallatoona Action Partnership opened its doors Wednesday to find hundreds of people -- some who had spent the night in the parking lot -- waiting in line for assistance.The partnership disperses federal funding to people in need, said Sarita Johnson, the group's Cobb energy coordinator. She said 570 people were granted appointments. The others, including people who showed up at the Mansour Center Thursday, were put on a waiting list, she said.“It breaks my heart to have to stand out here and tell people that unfortunately, I cannot see them and that funds are exhausted,” Johnson said.“It’s kind of cold. It’s getting around Christmas, and I was in need of help with my energy assistance,” said Niko Northington, after she was turned away.
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Camden City Council Approves Massive Police And Fire Layoffs (Second Most Dangerous City in The Nation)
CAMDEN, NJ (CBS) – Camden City Council, as expected, voted Thursday to lay off almost 400 workers, half of them police officers and firefighters, to bridge a $26.5 million deficit.
That’s about a quarter of the city’s entire work force.
Five members of City Council voted unanimously to approve the layoff plan — two other members were absent. The cuts take effect in mid-January.
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6 Countries With Freedom and Opportunity
Sovereign Man
Freedom, independence, and awareness are undoubtedly in decline in the western world, particularly the US. In the last 10-days, Homeland Security has started seizing Internet domains from 'rogue' webmasters, and TSA has begun labeling dissenters of its new security procedures as domestic extremists.
It's as if the government's actions are being ripped from Atlas Shrugged and 1984... and yet the trend, at least for now, is still more government control, fake security, and reduced freedom.
Earlier this week I published a controversial article about the nature of patriotism. In the article, I suggested that when you find yourself increasingly isolated from your country's declining values, it's probably time to pack up and head somewhere else.
Many people found this idea to be cowardly and weak. Obviously I believe the opposite to be true. One of the most difficult things you could ever do is pack up your life, leave everything familiar, and head to a new world full of uncertainty.
Just about everyone reading this had ancestors who did just that. These were not cowards, they were pioneers; they were trading tyranny for opportunity, heading to a land full of bright prospects where they could carve out a life accountable for their own successes and failures.
Granted, we have it easier today than our pioneering ancestors... but leaving behind the familiarity of home is still a difficult concept for most people to commit.
It's like staying in a bad marriage or dead-end job... people do it because their paralyzing fear of the unknown is often greater than the routine misery to which they've already grown accustomed.
Taking action requires a catalyst, and that's what we're experiencing today-- perhaps a mother who watches a government agent fondle her child, or an entrepreneur whose assets are wrongfully frozen, or a student who realizes that social security will no longer exist when she hits retirement age, etc.
One by one, people will wake up and consider their options. "Stay and fight" is just a bombastic rallying cry of the institutionalized, not a real option. The fact is, there is no enemy, there is no fight... there is only gradual erosion of freedom and opportunity.
Unable to change what we cannot control, productive people will eventually reach a breaking point and leave. The "stay and fight" crowd who remain will congratulate themselves on their patriotism, chastise the "cowards" who have left, and resolve to go down with the mob-mentality, mafia-controlled sinking ship.
This is neither honorable nor courageous, and unless you see Davy Crockett staring back at you in the mirror, the "stay and fight" crowd should question their own actions first-- what are you doing to change things? Who exactly are you fighting?
Here's the bottom line: your country is controlled by a very small group of people, and you're not one of them. You cannot control the machine, you can only control where and how to invest your time. Fortunately, there are a lot of options around the world for the open-minded.
One commenter this week lamented, "Leave to where? Guatemala? Panama? What other hellhole can you name, and what do you do when you get there? Raise chickens?" as if every other country on earth is a 'hellhole' with no economic prospects for talented, creative people.
Stop listening to what Sean Hannity tells you and see for yourself, the world is full of opportunity. I've traveled to around 100 countries and done business in dozens-- some of my favorites:
Chile: the new America. Strong, independent, civilized economy, you'll think you're in Europe given how modern it is.
Singapore: Too much to say here... you need a job? They're hiring. You need capital? They're investing. You hate taxes? So do they. Singapore is ideal for families, and obtaining residency (and citizenship) is simple.
Colombia: Forget everything you've ever heard and go see for yourself. With similar geology to Venezuela and peace at hand, the country is poised for a bonanza.
Sri Lanka: Ditto, except that the Sri Lankan government is bending over backwards to provide some of the strongest investor incentives I've ever seen. Oh yeah, it's one of the cheapest (and most beautiful) countries in the world.
Malaysia: Peaceful, beautiful, cheap, and thriving, Malaysia will constantly surprise you and exceed your expectations for its modernness and opportunities.
Estonia: With its flat tax structure, streamlined government, and brilliant work force, Estonia provides ample opportunity for entrepreneurs, particularly those looking for entry into Europe's harmonized customs union.
I could go on-- Brazil, Indonesia, Uruguay, Tanzania, China, etc., but you get the idea. Sure, you could pick apart any country for its faults. I call these the 'yeah, buts' as in "Estonia? Yeah, but it's cold." It's not going to look like Black Friday shopping in Topeka, but the idea is freedom and opportunity, and once on the ground, you'll feel it.
In case you're geographically constrained, you can still take steps to increase your freedom. Start by moving some money to an overseas bank account, and store gold in an offshore vault-- this safeguards your wealth from government bureaucrats who could otherwise freeze or confiscate your accounts on a whim.
Also consider buying some land overseas, even if it's just a small piece. This is a great way to move money, and it gives you a starting point if you ever need a place to go.
Remember, these options are not exclusive to the wealthy-- anyone who is willing to reject institutional programming can find opportunity overseas or start protecting what they have at home; it takes an open mind, creativity, readiness to learn new skills, and the will to act.
RELATED ARTICLES:
10 Signs America is Becoming a Third World Country
5 Best Countries To Escape America's Decline
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Sunday, November 7, 2010
Our Banana Republic
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| Anthony Freda Illustration |
NY Times
In my reporting, I regularly travel to banana republics notorious for their inequality. In some of these plutocracies, the richest 1 percent of the population gobbles up 20 percent of the national pie.
But guess what? You no longer need to travel to distant and dangerous countries to observe such rapacious inequality. We now have it right here at home — and in the aftermath of Tuesday’s election, it may get worse.
The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. As Timothy Noah of Slate noted in an excellent series on inequality, the United States now arguably has a more unequal distribution of wealth than traditional banana republics like Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guyana.
C.E.O.’s of the largest American companies earned an average of 42 times as much as the average worker in 1980, but 531 times as much in 2001. Perhaps the most astounding statistic is this: From 1980 to 2005, more than four-fifths of the total increase in American incomes went to the richest 1 percent.
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10 Signs the U.S. is Becoming a Third World Country
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Sunday, October 17, 2010
Poverty In Suburbs Increasing Rapidly During Economic Downturn
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| Suburban Slums - GETTY image |
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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10 Signs the U.S. is Becoming a Third World Country
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Sunday, October 10, 2010
10 Signs The U.S. is Becoming a Third World Country
The United States by every measure is hanging on by a thread to its First World status. Saddled by debt, engaged in wars on multiple fronts with a rising police state at home, declining economic productivity, and wild currency fluctuations all threaten America's future.
The general designations of the ranking system for world status date back to the 1950s, and have included countries at various stages of economic development. Since the Cold War, the definition has come to be synonymous with repressive countries where a wealthy class of ruling elites segment society into the haves and have-nots, many times capitalizing on the conditions that follow an economic crisis or war.
While much of the world is still mired in poverty, the reduced cost of innovative tools such ascomputing and connectivity ironically puts traditional Third World countries at the forefront of a new lean-and-mean economy that is based on ideas of empowerment for the disenfranchised. For better or worse, the world is leveling due to Globalism. However, America and other over-leveraged countries face this re-balancing of the globe at a time when they have dwindling resources. We can speculate about who and what is to blame for America's fantastic fall, but for the purposes of this article we shall focus on the obvious signs that the United States is beginning to resemble a Third World country.
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| 30,000 Section 8 wait for 455 vouchers |
2. Economic dependence: The United States finished 2009 with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 85%, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The current trend projects the United States to finish 2010 at 94% and 2011 at 98%. The 90% level has become the IMF's make-or-break point for countries hoping to grow their way out of debt. If the government debt load climbs above 90% of GDP, economic growth slows so much that growth is no longer a viable solution for reducing that debt, and the IMF insists on austerity measures. Surpassing this debt threshold has also caused China's lead credit rating agency to cut America's credit rating.
3. Declining civil rights: Everyday freedoms are often a casualty of a society in collapse. As the anger of the populace mounts in response to declining economic conditions and political corruption, the government counters by increasing draconian measures that restrict the political rights and civil liberties of its citizens.
America is becoming a country like China, which has one of the lowest scores according to Freedom House. In America, private discussions and movements are monitored, free speech is corralled, the freedom to assemble for protest is by government decree, and independent thought that questions the political system is increasingly looked upon with suspicion. A final indicator is when the government insists upon secrecy for its own actions, while new laws and systems are created to put the individual under nearly constant surveillance.
4. Increasing political corruption: When political corruption becomes the accepted norm, as opposed to the exception, then there's a good bet your country resembles the Third World. Congress and all major institutions face a growing crisis in confidence, where a record-low 11% of the population believe Congress is doing a good job. It now seems obvious to all observers that big corporations directly control the agenda in Washington -- much like typically corrupt Third World countries.
6. Failing infrastructure: As 46 of 50 states are on the verge of bankruptcy, cities are going dark, asphalt roads are returning to the stone age, and nationwide budget cuts are leaving students without teachers, supplies, or a full-time education. These are common features one will see as they travel through the poorest of Third World countries.
7. Disappearing middle class: During the last presidential debate season, they argued that a family income of $250K was solidly middle-class. Well, Census data shows less than 15% of families make over $100K, and only 1.5% of families make over $250K. The income gap between the rich and poor has increased at a staggering pace, while many more middle-class folks join the ranks of the poor every day. Cavernous income gaps may be what Third-World nations are best known for.
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| U.S. Dollar Monetary Base |
9. Controlling the media: A government-influenced media that censors information is a key component of Third World countries. In some countries it is openly owned by the State. In America, privately-owned major media is not as balanced or as diverse as it seems; the concentration of ownership has led to censorship when national and corporate interests have sometimes overlapped. The persecution of high-profile investigative journalists such as WikiLeaks is set amid a backdrop of the proposed Internet censorship of bloggers who wish to remain anonymous. The end of net neutrality creates a pay-to-play system that can lead to further corporate and government control of information and opinion. Cybersecurity initiatives are the final nail in the coffin, as the entire free flow of information can be vetted in a China-style system of "identity management." On the street, the police state and media control have converged in the recent rise of arrests for those who videotape the police. This is a huge blow to First Amendment rights and the role of photojournalists who wish to document public police behavior.
10. Capital Controls: Many nations have enforced capital controls as their economies collapse. It most recently happened in Argentina and Venezuela as they sought to keep the remaining wealth within their borders. The SEC already has adopted policies to allow money market funds to suspend withdrawals during a financial crisis, while the recent HIRE bill (HR 2487) puts restrictions on Americans moving capital to foreign countries. Some economists suggest that the national debt has gotten so high that the government must now force investment of private capital into U.S. Treasury debt.
Key economic indicators point to a situation potentially worse than the Great Depression. The land of opportunity for so many is devolving into a system of government corruption, corporate looting, and military rule that threatens to sink the American Dream. The capital flight from America has left a dwindling middle class holding an empty bag. This style of underinvestment in the foundation of society is similar to what already has led to the exodus from the rural Midwest. Now, there are ominous signs of a silent exodus of young, intelligent professionals seeking opportunities to realize their dreams outside of America; they are becoming known as Generation Xpat. Lastly, many skilled immigrants have returned to their home countries to seek a better quality of life, which might be the scariest indicator of all.
Related Activist Post Articles:
Dare to Prepare: Collapse of Civilization Now Guaranteed
Capital Controls: The Final Phase in the Great Looting of America
The Ultimate Betrayal: Police and Military Working Together to Oppress Americans
10 Ways We're Being Tracked, Traced, and Databased
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