America's Financial Crisis

[Azad]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

"GM May Dump Pontiac, Saab, Saturn"

Nice going ... if anyone was going to buy any of these brands ... they now are definitely going to be dumped. Imagine all the Saturn, Saab, Pontiac dealers closed in every city x by 100 employees.

[Azad]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

[Azad]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

Interesting dates and durations to analyze ...

List of recessions in the United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions

[Armenian]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

A police state? I think this news coming out of Washington may be related to government fears over potential social unrest as a result of the economic meltdown.

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Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security

20,000 more troops in US by 2011?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdES2umAf7g

The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials. The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said. There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement. But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade, saying the greatest domestic threat is terrorists exploiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dedicating 20,000 troops to domestic response -- a nearly sevenfold increase in five years -- "would have been extraordinary to the point of unbelievable," Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said in remarks last month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But the realization that civilian authorities may be overwhelmed in a catastrophe prompted "a fundamental change in military culture," he said. The Pentagon's plan calls for three rapid-reaction forces to be ready for emergency response by September 2011. The first 4,700-person unit, built around an active-duty combat brigade based at Fort Stewart, Ga., was available as of Oct. 1, said Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., commander of the U.S. Northern Command. If funding continues, two additional teams will join nearly 80 smaller National Guard and reserve units made up of about 6,000 troops in supporting local and state officials nationwide. All would be trained to respond to a domestic chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosive attack, or CBRNE event, as the military calls it. Military preparations for a domestic weapon-of-mass-destruction attack have been underway since at least 1996, when the Marine Corps activated a 350-member chemical and biological incident response force and later based it in Indian Head, Md., a Washington suburb. Such efforts accelerated after the Sept. 11 attacks, and at the time Iraq was invaded in 2003, a Pentagon joint task force drew on 3,000 civil support personnel across the United States.

In 2005, a new Pentagon homeland defense strategy emphasized "preparing for multiple, simultaneous mass casualty incidents." National security threats were not limited to adversaries who seek to grind down U.S. combat forces abroad, McHale said, but also include those who "want to inflict such brutality on our society that we give up the fight," such as by detonating a nuclear bomb in a U.S. city. In late 2007, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England signed a directive approving more than $556 million over five years to set up the three response teams, known as CBRNE Consequence Management Response Forces. Planners assume an incident could lead to thousands of casualties, more than 1 million evacuees and contamination of as many as 3,000 square miles, about the scope of damage Hurricane Katrina caused in 2005. Last month, McHale said, authorities agreed to begin a $1.8 million pilot project funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through which civilian authorities in five states could tap military planners to develop disaster response plans. Hawaii, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Washington and West Virginia will each focus on a particular threat -- pandemic flu, a terrorist attack, hurricane, earthquake and catastrophic chemical release, respectively -- speeding up federal and state emergency planning begun in 2003.

Last Monday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ordered defense officials to review whether the military, Guard and reserves can respond adequately to domestic disasters. Gates gave commanders 25 days to propose changes and cost estimates. He cited the work of a congressionally chartered commission, which concluded in January that the Guard and reserve forces are not ready and that they lack equipment and training. Bert B. Tussing, director of homeland defense and security issues at the U.S. Army War College's Center for Strategic Leadership, said the new Pentagon approach "breaks the mold" by assigning an active-duty combat brigade to the Northern Command for the first time. Until now, the military required the command to rely on troops requested from other sources. "This is a genuine recognition that this [job] isn't something that you want to have a pickup team responsible for," said Tussing, who has assessed the military's homeland security strategies. The American Civil Liberties Union and the libertarian Cato Institute are troubled by what they consider an expansion of executive authority. Domestic emergency deployment may be "just the first example of a series of expansions in presidential and military authority," or even an increase in domestic surveillance, said Anna Christensen of the ACLU's National Security Project. And Cato Vice President Gene Healy warned of "a creeping militarization" of homeland security.

"There's a notion that whenever there's an important problem, that the thing to do is to call in the boys in green," Healy said, "and that's at odds with our long-standing tradition of being wary of the use of standing armies to keep the peace."

McHale stressed that the response units will be subject to the act, that only 8 percent of their personnel will be responsible for security and that their duties will be to protect the force, not other law enforcement. For decades, the military has assigned larger units to respond to civil disturbances, such as during the Los Angeles riot in 1992. U.S. forces are already under heavy strain, however. The first reaction force is built around the Army's 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, which returned in April after 15 months in Iraq. The team includes operations, aviation and medical task forces that are to be ready to deploy at home or overseas within 48 hours, with units specializing in chemical decontamination, bomb disposal, emergency care and logistics. The one-year domestic mission, however, does not replace the brigade's next scheduled combat deployment in 2010. The brigade may get additional time in the United States to rest and regroup, compared with other combat units, but it may also face more training and operational requirements depending on its homeland security assignments.

Renuart said the Pentagon is accounting for the strain of fighting two wars, and the need for troops to spend time with their families. "We want to make sure the parameters are right for Iraq and Afghanistan," he said. The 1st Brigade's soldiers "will have some very aggressive training, but will also be home for much of that." Although some Pentagon leaders initially expected to build the next two response units around combat teams, they are likely to be drawn mainly from reserves and the National Guard, such as the 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade from South Carolina, which returned in May after more than a year in Afghanistan. Now that Pentagon strategy gives new priority to homeland security and calls for heavier reliance on the Guard and reserves, McHale said, Washington has to figure out how to pay for it. "It's one thing to decide upon a course of action, and it's something else to make it happen," he said. "It's time to put our money where our mouth is."

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...002217_pf.html

[Chillaxin]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

Blackwater, Martial Law, internment camps...

...Yup! Things are lookin' up!

[Armenian]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

It seems as if Alex Jones and Ron Paul are becoming quite popular with Russia Today... Needless to say, I see why. Alex Jones and Ron Paul are two of the increasingly rare (and endangered) voices of sanity, decency and true patriotism in America today. Listen closely to the message of these men and then pay attention to the conveyor belt bullshit that is spewed upon us all by mainstream political pundits and elected politicians... A world of difference. I wish more Americans had the decency, the common sense and the concern for this nation to listen to men like this talk about the serious ills plaguing America.

Armenian

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Alex Jones on Russia Today

Our leaders have hijacked our nations: Alex Jones - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbT_3cI_pwk

Alex Jones - "What Have We Become"

Part-1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhapA...eature=related

Part-2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOH6Z...eature=related

Part-3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7dpu...eature=related

Part-4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ULFr...eature=related

Part-5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSIW7...eature=related

Part-6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgJi0...eature=related

Part-7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b54YH...eature=related

Part-8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CupZn...eature=related

Alex Jones' website Infowars.com: http://www.infowars.com/

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Ron Paul on Russia Today

World Central Bank is on its way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnsfZwwswZE

[Azad]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

Great Depression Unemployment Didn't Hit 25 Percent Overnight

A few months ago, when you dared raise the specter of a second Great Depression, most people responded that the current mess is completely different from the Depression because in those days we had 25% unemployment. Here are the problems with that argument.

First, unemployment stats are calculated differently now. If we calculated unemployment the same way we did in the Depression, our unemployment rate would be much higher.

Second, unemployment during the Depression didn't get to 25% overnight. It got there over three years, during which most people never dreamed it would get anywhere near that high. When unemployment started its run to 25% then, it was lower than it was last year.

In 1929, unemployment was below 5%. By the end of 1930, as the New York Times reveals, it had risen to just below 10%. The following year it hit 16%. In 1932, it was 24%. And in 1933, it peaked at 25%. It then took 19 years to get back to the pre-crash low.

As today's depressing jobs report showed, unemployment is now rising rapidly. Not as rapidly as in 1930, but rapidly. With luck (and good policy), this time it will peak below 10%, hopefully well below. But it's too early to be certain.

If you're looking for reasons why the current crisis won't end up being anything like the Great Depression, however, today's 6.7% unemployment rate shouldn't come as much comfort.

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/140365/Great-Depression-Unemployment-Didn't-Hit-25-Percent-Overnight?tickers=%5Edji,%5Eixic,%5Egspc,spy,dia,qqqq,tlt

[Azad]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

Looks like corporate America's golfing leisure is coming to an end.
The trickle down economics didn't even start yet.

"Dow Chemical Co., based in Midland, Mich., said it will slash 5,000 jobs and shutter 20 plants to rein in costs, Maplewood, Minn.-based 3M Co. is cutting 1,800 jobs in the fourth quarter and ordering some workers to take vacation or unpaid time off for the last two weeks of the year, while Anheuser-Busch InBev said it would cut about 1,400 U.S. jobs to help save the world's largest brewer at least $1.5 billion a year.

InBev SA, a Belgian-Brazilian hybrid, wrapped up its takeover of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. last month and said three-quarters of the jobs will disappear from Anheuser's North American headquarters in St. Louis.

Also Monday, Tribune Co. filed for bankruptcy as expected. The privately held owner of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, other newspapers and the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, is struggling with $13 billion in debt."

[Azad]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

The only sector that I can think of that is not effected yet is the health care industry. Won't be long now.

[Armanen]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

The only sector that I can think of that is not effected yet is the health care industry. Won't be long now.

And government. In fact I expect that to continue to grow, even more so now.