It has been a nonstop parade of stupid lately. The Supreme Court today just eliminated the Fourth and Sixth amendment, making it easier for cops to search anything they want without a warrant and to seize your assets now for even petty theft. Funny how that didn't make the news. Germany is reporting another two deaths from pot use, even though, of the two people they site, one had a undiagnosed heart issue that would have killed him regardless and the other was an alcoholic with high traces of meth and coke in his system, which as we all know is far less lethal than weed. How dumb do you think most of us are?
In January, the government released figures that showed over a 3% rise in GDP, which was done by adding very questionable stats that no other country does. They did this mask the horrific retail stats from a lousy Christmas. The biggest loser was of course Target who lost a whopping 50% of their business from last year almost solely because they decided to play fast and loose with what should have been encrypted data and, as a result, led to the largest identity theft in human history. They may not recover from this giving WalMart a hard on for sure. Others did just as poorly, especially Sears and JC Penny, whose CEO's have driven them into the ground. For the first time since 2009, half of all retail chains nation wide saw a huge drop in profits. Not surprisingly, the stores that did the best, like Nordstrom's, all cater to high end consumers. The middle class and poor all stayed home as their paychecks are getting smaller and smaller and as inflation rises much higher than what Obama and the news are telling us. The biggest losers where teen retail sites, like Hot Topic, which plunged in earnings as teens have little purchasing power when jobs for them are no longer available.
The news isn't much better elsewhere. Ukraine is still worried about bank runs now that a civil war is becoming more and more likely there. Putin is putting troops on alert and if for some insane reason he decides to invade, expect WW3 soon after. I still think that is long shot at best but in today's world of abject stupidity, nothing is off the table. There is also significant reason to worry as a financial storm seems to be brewing.
Rome, Italy may go bankrupt in days Detroit style as they are running out of money. They are having the same problem the rest of the world is. Rich people and corporations are paying no taxes as the poor and middle class struggle with disappearing jobs, and thus lessening of tax dollars coming in. Instead of actually taxing people who can pay for it, countries throughout the EU decided austerity was called for, which has been an abject disaster since implemented and is still what the US republicans are clamoring for. Nothing like asking for something we can see didn't work.
While this is happening, China's shadow banking structure appears to have sprung a leak, emerging markets are starting to collapse as cheap money is no longer rolling in, and the above paragraph issues with austerity measures which are killing the EU. These are all forming to a "perfect storm" in which the world financials might go belly up, destroying the world economy. We, and others world wide, gave trillions to the banks which has done zero to prop up any economy as NO jobs have been created beyond ones that pay slave wages. Yes, trillions disappeared into shadow banks worldwide, which did absolutely nothing to fix the problem and, in fact, may have made things worse. Rich people are NOT job creators no matter how many times the GOP says it. The middle class are the real job creators and we have been decimated. Until the middle class has real purchasing power, the recovery will never happen. It already may be too late.
China is suffering through the own housing bubble, something I have been writing about for the past few years. How could anyone have seen that building whole cities that no one was going to be able to afford to live in would cause a problem? Oh that's right, everyone. Recently, China had to bail out their largest bank because of questionable loans. Sound familiar because it should? It's exactly what happened in 2008 in the US. And just like here, speculators are driving up the prices on housing and energy by as much as twenty percent. As China's middle class grows, so does wages, which is causing many manufactures to seek other places like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Thailand. This is furthering their slowdown.
Because if this, along with slowing housing, declining wages and other factors, the middle class may be seeing the end soon if a new Depression starts. George Soros bet $1.3 billion the stock market will collapse in the next 45 days. Warren Buffet has also issued the same warning to his investors that a 50% correction is highly likely and soon. This will lead to the next Great Depression for which we are all sadly unprepared for. Our economic situation is grim and no one seems to care. You will when all social services stop and the economy goes into a freefall that makes 2009 look like a dance party. Be ready because the end of the world may be closer than you think and we all allowed it to happen. Swell.
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