Discovery Channel – An Inside Look at Gold

Rahm Emmanuel Breaks Down into Profanity-Laced Tantrum in front of President of Teacher's Union

Chicago Sun Times

CTU President Karen Lewis made the allegations in a Friday morning press release detailing a complaint filed by the union to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board over the ongoing battle between the union and City Hall.

 “A couple of weeks ago I sat down with the mayor in his office to talk about how to roll out a longer school year and what components would go into making it a better school year for our students but he did not want to have that conversation,” said Lewis. “When I explained to him that a longer school day should not be used for warehousing or babysitting our youth he exploded, used profanity, pointed his finger in my face and yelled. At that point the conversation was over — soon thereafter we found ourselves subject to a full-scale propaganda war over a moot point.”

3rd World America in Prices

MIT Billion Prices Project Puts US Annual Inflation @ 4%

bpp.mit.edu

indexes are designed to provide real-time information on major inflation trends, not to forecast official inflation announcements. We are constantly adding new categories of goods, but we do not cover 100% of CPI goods and services. The price of services, in particular, are not easy to find online and therefore are not included in our statistics.

National European American Leadership Seminar on September 17, 2011

David Duke, PhD

On September 17 there will be a full day and evening European American Leadership seminar focusing on the Tactics of White Awakening and mobilization. It will not a be a hand-wringing session bemoaning the sad condition of our people and nations, but a practical seminar concentrating solely on what we can do about it. Specifically, it concerns itself with the high mountain highway of White preservation, renewal and empowerment. It will deal primarily with the ideological and verbal war against our heritage and how to counter anti-White racist ideology and psychology pervading the media and academia. It will focus on methods for our activists and leaders to abandon the defensive positions of traditional conservatism and go on the ideological and psychological offense. Also, it will teach how people how to avoid the traps of the anti-White ideologues and show how the anti-White minions are the true racists and hypocrites on these critical matters. The Seminar will be interesting, entertaining, exciting and inspiring! There will also be music and great fellowship for like-minded people from all over the United States and from many parts of the Western World.

Ron Paul: "FEMA Creates Many Of Our Problems"

Warren Buffett Attempts to Stick-Save Bank of America, Stock Gets Hammered

LA Times Reports

Bank of America, under fire from shareholders and analysts, is getting a $5-billion investment from Warren Buffett's investment company. The banking giant's stock soared this morning on the news.
The investment by Berkshire Hathaway is reminiscent of a $5-billion investment Buffett made in Goldman Sachs in September 2008 in the depths of the financial crisis. That injection of capital helped restore confidence in Goldman and helped the Wall Street firm attract other investments.
As with the Goldman infusion, Buffett negotiated extremely favorable terms from Bank of America. He is set to receive BofA preferred shares that will pay Berkshire a 6% dividend each year. If the bank wants to redeem the shares it has to pay Buffett a 5% premium.

Market-Ticker.org

Marc Faber Bloomberg 08/24/11

Trends Journal Alert: China Offshoring The Collapse of the Western World

Paul Craig Roberts opines

How big is planet earth? Large if compared to the moon, small if compared to the solar system, and infinitesimal if compared to the universe. The point is that the size of something depends on that to which it is being compared. 

The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank www.frbsf.org and offshoring’s shills forgot this simple point. On August 8 the SF Fed put out an Economic Letter in which US imports of goods made in China (both by Chinese and US firms) were explained away as a mere 2.7 percent of US personal consumption expenditures. 

I am confident that the staff of the SF Fed were competent to get the percentage correct. But does it mean anything? No.

For most Americans, their income is used up on housing, energy, car payments, food, and medical care. Very little income is left, especially these days, for durable (for example, furniture and household equipment) and nondurable (for example, clothing and shoes) manufactured goods. 

Ron Paul Classic: Predicts Housing Bubble in Monetary Hearing with Alan Greenspan 2004

Russia PM Putin Proposes Reemergence of 'Soviet Era' Economic Union

 Twenty years after the Soviet Union collapsed, Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, may not, as is sometimes alleged, be trying to recreate it. But he is pursuing a different project – to build a “quasi-European Union” out of former Soviet states.

A customs union he launched a year ago between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan has already removed tariffs and customs controls along the three states’ internal borders.

Come January this is due to expand into a “common economic space”, ensuring free movement of goods, services and capital across a single market of 165m people – 60 per cent of the former Soviet population.

At a Moscow summit this month, prime ministers of the three states set an even more ambitious target – turning the grouping into a “Eurasian economic union” by 2013. There is even talk, down the line, of a common currency. - FT

Bill Black Calls S&P Downgrade Mega Publicity Stunt

John Stewart Asks, "Why is the media ignoring Ron Paul?"

Dylan Ratigan Goes off on Epic Rant

Cliffs: Slams both Democrats & Republicans over fiscal insanity dealing with '70 trillion dollar debt. Massive amounts of debt extraction (theft) ongoing with no end in sight. Political parties can kicking in attempt to get re-elected. etc.

(Video) Rick Santelli Mega Rant: Defends the Tea Party

Google Trends Signaling Sheeple are Awakening

In the face of a historic credit downgrading of the world's largest economy for the first time in history and an 10%+ correction in the equity markets, it would appear the sheeple have been paying attention (Despite: NFL strike closing out and Jersey Shore Season 4 Italy Premiering)

Bank of America: We're All Set to Fail

h/t Zerohedge

It smelling a lot like 2008 all over again. Recent weeks with a major sell-off in the markets, financials getting (BofA, Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citi, etc) whacked by 5% or more, treasuries selling hard... the only difference would be gold is now a flight to safety. Will Bank of America, now being recognized as the insolvent zombie that it is, set off Great Depression 2.0?

Via Forbes

Bank of America, the nation’s biggest bank, can’t seem to shake off the legacy of its mortgage-related sins, namely the purchase of Countrywide Financial, the poster-boy of reckless subprime lending.

Investors pushed down Bank of America’s stock by more than 13% on Monday morning, marking the third straight trading day that the bank has suffered a major share drop. The stock has now tumbled by 47% in 2011.

Alan Greenspan on US Downgrade: No Problem, "We can always print money"

via CNBC

"The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default" said Greenspan on NBC's Meet the Press

"What I think the S&P thing did was to hit a nerve that there's something basically bad going on, and it's hit the self-esteem of the United States, the psyche" said Greenspan 

Libyan War About Oil and Controlling China

As the 'Arab Spring' continues unabated, the Libyan War, in which Obama promised would be "Days, not weeks", seems to be about more than just keeping the peace.

According to Dr. Paul Craig Roberts via PressTv

The crisis in Libya is mostly a “CIA operation and the US government is trying to get China out of Libya because China has extensive energy investments in Libya,” former Assistant Secretary to US Treasury Dr. Paul Craig Roberts told Press TV.

 “The US is very disturbed by the recent reports from the International Monetary Fund that China will surpass the US as the number one economic power within 5 years,” Roberts added. 

Indeed.  Just as of last year China surpassed the United States in energy consumption

Geo-politically speaking, Libya is rather a small exporter of oil to the US. But as we examine Libyan exports the picture becomes increasingly clear.

 

 

Putin Slams US As "Parasite" on Global Economy

Via AP

"They are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy," Putin told the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi while touring its lakeside summer camp some five hours drive north of Moscow. 

"They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar," Putin said at the open-air meeting with admiring young Russians in what looked like early campaigning before parliamentary and presidential polls. 

US President Barack Obama earlier announced a last-ditch deal to cut about $2.4 trillion from the U.S. deficit over a decade, avoid a crushing debt default and stave off the risk that the nation's AAA credit rating would be downgraded. 

The deal initially soothed anxieties and led Russian stocks to jump to three-month highs, but jitters remained over the possibility of a credit downgrade.
"Thank god," Putin said, "that they had enough common sense and responsibility to make a balanced decision." 

But Putin, who has often criticized the United States' foreign exchange policy, noted that Russia holds a large amount of U.S. bonds and treasuries. 

"If over there (in America) there is a systemic malfunction,
this will affect everyone," Putin told the young Russians.

White House: Bipartisan Debt Deal Fact Sheet

Via Zerohedge

Bipartisan Debt Deal: A Win for the Economy and Budget Discipline

• Removes the cloud of uncertainty over our economy at this critical time, by ensuring that no one will be able to use the threat of the nation’s first default now, or in only a few months, for political gain;
•  Locks in a down payment on significant deficit reduction, with savings from both domestic and Pentagon spending, and is designed to protect crucial investments like aid for college students;
• Establishes a bipartisan process to seek a balanced approach to larger deficit reduction through entitlement and tax reform;
• Deploys an enforcement mechanism that gives all sides an incentive to reach bipartisan compromise on historic deficit reduction, while protecting Social Security, Medicare beneficiaries and low-income programs;
• Stays true to the President’s commitment to shared sacrifice by preventing the middle class, seniors and those who are most vulnerable from shouldering the burden of deficit reduction. The President did not agree to any entitlement reforms outside of the context of a bipartisan committee process where tax reform will be on the table and the President will insist on shared sacrifice from the most well-off and those with the most indefensible tax breaks.
  

Mechanics of the Debt Deal

• Immediately enacted 10-year discretionary spending caps generating nearly $1 trillion in deficit reduction; balanced between defense and non-defense spending.
• President authorized to increase the debt limit by at least $2.1 trillion, eliminating the need for further increases until 2013.   
• Bipartisan committee process tasked with identifying an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction, including from entitlement and tax reform. Committee is required to report legislation by November 23, 2011, which receives fast-track protections. Congress is required to vote on Committee recommendations by December 23, 2011.
• Enforcement mechanism established to force all parties – Republican and Democrat – to agree to balanced deficit reduction. If Committee fails, enforcement mechanism will trigger spending reductions beginning in 2013 – split 50/50 between domestic and defense spending. Enforcement protects Social Security, Medicare beneficiaries, and low-income programs from any cuts.    

Business Insider Presents: The College Bubble Visualization

The theory behind the higher education bubble says that while the cost of an education increases, the ability to pay back student loans decreases.

The theory has its roots in the late 1980s when Secretary of Education William Bennett, Jr. suggested student loans could be leading to drastic tuition increases and a coming education bubble.

The following chart offers some perspective on the rate of tuition increases compared to the consumer price index and home prices.

Original Article 

A Historical Perspective of Usury

"For the love of money is the root of all evil" -- II Timothy 6:10

Money

"The most sinister and anti-social feature about bank-deposit money is that it has no existence. The banks owe the public for a total amount of money which does not exist. In buying and selling, implemented by cheque transactions, there is a mere change in the party to the whom the money is owed by the banks. As the one depositor's account is debited, the other is credited and the banks can go on owing for it all the time.

"The whole profit of the issuance of money has provided the capital of the great banking business as it exists today. Starting with nothing whatever of their own, they have got the whole world into their debt irredeemably, by a trick.

"This money comes into existence every time the banks 'lend' and disappears every time the debt is repaid to them. So that if industry tries to repay, the money of the nation disappears. This is what makes prosperity so 'dangerous' as it destroys money just when it is most needed and precipitates a slump.

"There is nothing left now for us but to get ever deeper and deeper into debt to the banking system in order to provide the increasing amounts of money the nation requires for its expansion and growth. An honest money system is the only alternative." -- Frederick Soddy, M.A., F.R.S., Nobel Prize Winner, 1921

As the above makes clear, banks are able to manipulate "money" using various methods like the debiting of one account and the crediting of another, and so on, thus "balancing" the accounts. Banks also "create" money in more ways than one, through a trick that will be looked at later on.

Economists use the term "create" when observing the process by which money comes into being. Thus, creation means making something that did not exist before.

A sawmill makes boards, workers build houses from timber, a glass-blower makes fancy glass ornaments. In these examples, they did not "create", but converted already existing materials into a more usable, and thus more valuable form.

However, money "creation" is somewhat different. Here, and here alone, man "creates" something out of nothing. Pieces of worthless paper are printed, given various denominational values, which can be used to purchase, for example, a glass ornament. Its value (of the money, or piece of paper) has been "created" literally out of thin air.

As we can see from the above, manufacturing money is dirt cheap, and whoever does the "creating" and issuing stands to make impressive profits  (Click below for full article)

The Enemy is Washington

Paul Craig Roberts [email him] was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term.  He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal.  He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He was awarded the Legion of Honor by French President Francois Mitterrand.


The Enemy is Washington

Recently, the bond rating agencies that gave junk derivatives triple-A ratings threatened to downgrade US Treasury bonds if the White House and Congress did not reach a deficit reduction deal and debt ceiling increase.  The downgrade threat is not credible, and neither is the default threat.  Both are make-believe crises that are being hyped in order to force cutbacks in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

If the rating agencies downgraded Treasuries, the company executives would be arrested for the fraudulent ratings that they gave to the junk that Wall Street peddled to the rest of the world. The companies would be destroyed and their ratings discredited. The US government will never default on its bonds, because the bonds, unlike those of Greece, Spain, and Ireland, are payable in its own currency. Regardless of whether the debt ceiling is raised, the Federal Reserve will continue to purchase the Treasury’s debt.  If Goldman Sachs is too big to fail, then so is the US government.

A Few Charts Depicting US Economic Woes

marketoracle.co.uk

Marketoracle.co.uk

marketoracle.co.uk

Presenting Things You Buy That Used to Be Free

MSN- Liz Weston

Accessing Your Own Money
You may not believe it, my dears, but banks once actually paid you for the privilege of storing your money. No, I'm not talking about the toasters that banks would give you for opening an account. I'm talking about interest, and receiving it was a wonderful thing: Your balance could grow with no effort on your part.

Banks still purportedly pay interest, but you'll need a magnifying glass to spot the difference in your account balance. Meanwhile, most financial institutions are intent on whittling away at your balance in every way they can think of -- through monthly account fees, ATM fees, fees for having a statement printed or the image of an old check retrieved, even fees for talking to a teller.

You don't have to let them rob you blind, of course. You can still get free checking at most big banks by maintaining a certain balance or agreeing to an all-electronic account (no paper statements, no talking to tellers). Or you can expand your search to community banks and credit unions, which often still offer free checking. Avoiding ATM fees can be as simple as drawing money from your own bank's machines or asking for cash back when using your debit card.

Is Google the Right Hand Man of the NSA?

World Net Daily reports

A federal judge has ordered that whether Google is spying for National Security Agency or not, you have no right to know.

The court opinion came as a result of a situation in which a Chinese hacking incident in January 2010 raised questions.

The group had wanted information about "arrangements with Google on cybersecurity, as well as records regarding the agency's role in setting security standards for Gmail and other web-based applications."

Real Cost of War- $4 Trillion

Business Insider provides description of recent study

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost the US $3.7 trillion according to research from the Watson Institute at Brown University.

This is astoundingly more than the $1 trillion figure named in 2010 by the CBO, which ignored significant portions of current and future military spending.

The academic report looked at interest, Pentagon war appropriations, additions to the Pentagon and Homeland Security budgets, veterans' medical and disability, social costs to veterans and military families. It also evaluated the human, social and political costs of the war.

Ron Paul Will Not Seek Re-Election in House of Representatives

Presented without commentary

Syrian Protesters Burn USD Fiat as They Attack US Em

Yahoo! News Canada

Syrian government supporters smashed windows at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus on Monday, raised a Syrian flag and scrawled graffiti calling the American ambassador a "dog" in anger over the envoy's visit last week to an opposition stronghold, witnesses said.

Whom ever said that confidence in a currency had nothing to with overseas aggression and interventionism. should rethink their thesis.

Guest Post: Corbett Report's Last Word on Idependence

The Corbett Report is an independent, listener-supported alternative news source. It operates on the principle of open source intelligence and provides podcasts, interviews, articles and videos about breaking news and important issues from 9/11 Truth and false flag terror to the Big Brother police state, eugenics, geopolitics, the central banking fraud and more.

Lindsay Lohan Complains about Run-Away Inflation, Blames the FED

Guest Post: Why Is Government-Mandated Racism Against Whites Still Allowed?

by James Buchanan

The mainstream media continues to pummel Americans with claims that White people are “racist”. Blacks make up 12.6 percent of the US population. According to the likes of Jesse Jackson and a great many liberals, when the Blacks fail to make up 12.6 percent of the student population of M.I.T. or 12.6 percent of brain surgeons or 12.6 percent of rocket scientists, it isn’t some failing on the part of the Black population; it’s the fault of “White racism”.

Most corporations in the US are scared to death of being accused of “racism”. Often they go out of their way to hire Blacks and Latinos, no matter how unfit they are for the jobs. If anything has been going on in the US since the 1970s, it has been terrified managers bending over backwards to appease racial quotas imposed by the federal government. The net result has been that millions of better qualified Whites have lost jobs, promotions and college entry slots to less qualified Blacks and Latinos.

David Stockman: Ben Bernanke is Finished!

David Stockman is a former U.S. politician and businessman, serving as a Republican U.S. Representative from the state of Michigan (1977–1981) and as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1981–1985).

Money Masters Documentary

THE MONEY MASTERS is a NON-FICTION, historical documentary that traces the origins of the political power structure. The modern political power structure has its roots in the hidden manipulation and accumulation of gold and other forms of money. The development of fractional reserve banking practices in the 17th century brought to a cunning sophistication the secret techniques initially used by goldsmiths fraudulently to accumulate wealth. With the formation of the privately-owned Bank of England in 1694, the yoke of economic slavery to a privately-owned "central" bank was first forced upon the backs of an entire nation, not removed but only made heavier with the passing of the three centuries to our day. Nation after nation has fallen prey to this cabal of international central bankers.

Man Ejected From Park for Sporting Ron Paul Bumper Sticker

Turns out Ron Paul supporters are indeed deemed 'Enemies of the State'


BLACKSBURG, S.C

The Rutherford Institute has come to the defense of a 73-year-old Virginia resident who was allegedly ordered by a park ranger to remove his car from a national military park in South Carolina because of political messages attached to his vehicle. Jack Faw, whose ancestors fought in the historic battle memorialized at Kings Mountain National Military Park, contacted The Rutherford Institute after being told by a park ranger that the decal promoting a political organization associated with Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), which was displayed on the back window of Faw's car, was not allowed in the park.

We must assume, therefore, any bumper sticker depicting Obama and any associated 'political organization' such as Organizing for America would also constitute grounds for dismissal from a nation park. This despite the fact he is the current sitting president.

8 Years Later: Dave Chappelle Proven Correct about Obama

Library of Congress Releases Color Photos from Great Depression

New Documentary on Israeli Abuses in Occupied Territory

A new documentary by Break the Silence campaign is set for imminent release featuring Israeli soldiers speaking out, many for the first time, on atrocities committed by the US sponsored Israeli Defense Force against Palestinians in occupied territory.

Will DSK Arrest Become the Catalyst for the Imprisonment/Execution of other Genocidal Bankers?

While we are not getting are hopes up, the news can sometime lead one to remain optimistic

CBS New York

A 32-year-old hotel worker told police she went in to clean what she thought was an empty, $3,000-a-night luxury suite. Police say the woman claims Strauss-Kahn came out of the bathroom naked. Police say the woman told them he chased her down a hallway before dragging her into a bedroom. The woman told police he sexually assaulted her there, but she managed to fight him off.

However, the woman claims he then dragged her into the bathroom and forced her to perform oral sex on him. He tried, according to the woman, to remove her underwear. She managed to break free, and reported the incident to hotel staff. 

These Financial Terrorist really do believe they run the world via their fraudulent fractional-reserve fiat monetary system. Perhaps the iron-clad arm restrictors will serve as reminder to thieving central planners like Strauss-Kahn what exactly happens when the peasants lose their appetite for the proverbial cake...

Visual: National Debt Stacked in Billion Dollar Notes

notice the 6foot man on the bottom left. 

SLV ETF Adds Physical Bullion Holdings After Recent Margin Hikes

Save Face: McCain Follows Obama's Lead, Releases Birth Certificate

Sticker Shock: Libyan Intervention 600 million

ABC- Politics

 One week after an international military coalition intervened in Libya, the cost to U.S. taxpayers has reached at least $600 million, according figures provided by the Pentagon. 

• U.S. ships and submarines have launched at least 191Tomahawk cruise missiles from their arsenals, costing $268.8 million.
•  U.S. warplanes have dropped 455 precision guided bombs, costing tens of thousands of dollars each.  

•  A downed Air Force F-15E fighter jet will cost more than $60 million to replace.  

Editorial: China's New Labor Revolution: Impact on China's Broad Economy

The Asian Times is out with an op-ed piece describing the evolution of the Chinese labor force over the better part of the last two decades. Truth is Liberty, below, has provided a breakdown on key elements contributing to China's steam engine rapid growth in the face of no social safety nets, high domestic inflation and few labor protection laws. 

• China has the largest labor force in the world
  
• Unlike Western economies where wages have remained stubbornly flat, migrant worker wages have gradually risen over the past decade (roughly 14.1% increase)
  
• China's working age population (aged from 15 to 64) has experienced steady growth over the past few decades- totaling 71% of China's population.
  
• The working-age population will stop increasing in 2017, when it reaches a peak of about 999.6 million, and will reduce gradually from then on.
  
• The demand for labor resulting from rapid economic growth was filled by the steady mobility of a rural surplus labor force. It is estimated that more than 200 million farmers have left the agriculture industry since the mid-1990s.
  
• the abundant absorption by cities and non-agricultural industries, the number of rural surplus labor has been greatly decreased
  
• the supply of young labor force under 30 years old is gradually tightening. The second national agricultural census data showed that nearly one quarter of the rural labor force went out for employment in 2006, of which 52.6% were young workers under 30 years of age.
  
• China is still at the stage with the most abundant labor resources and the lowest dependency ratio. China has not yet entered the era of labor shortage.
  
• With economic development, living standards of Chinese urban and rural residents have shown a substantial improvement and the cost of living a corresponding increase. Therefore, reservation wages of migrant workers have started to rise.

Conservative Jewish Columnist Admits Christians Treated Worse in Soviet Gulags

Dennis Prager- Townhall

Over time, the plight of the Soviet Jews awakened me to the plight of all Soviet dissidents, whether secular ones -- such as that great man, the physicist Andrei Sakharov -- or Christian.
The latter were particularly persecuted. Though my work was with Soviet Jewry, I had no trouble acknowledging that Soviet Christians often had it worse. Few Soviet Jews were killed or locked away in dungeon-like conditions by the Soviet authorities, but Soviet Christians were. 

Marc Faber CNBC 04/18/11: Full Interview

Marc Faber is an international investor known for his uncanny predictions of the stock market and futures markets around the world.

S&P Fires Warning Shot on US Fiscal Health

Marketwatch

Standard & Poor’s cut its ratings outlook on the U.S. to negative from stable on Monday, lighting a fire under Washington’s deficit-reduction debate and sending stock markets sharply lower. The rating agency effectively gave Washington a two-year deadline to enact meaningful change, just days after House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan and President Barack Obama each outlined their plans for slashing debt.

Finally some news to send a JOLT to the markets (As if World War, Japanese Environmental Holocaust, European debt default, US budget insanity wasn't bearish enough) , this morning the reaction in the markets took the form of giant dumping.

As the Economy Dies, Suicides Rise

 Bloomberg

Suicide rates in the U.S. tend to rise during recessions and fall amid economic booms, according to study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Suicides reached a record high of 22 people per 100,000 in 1932 during the Great Depression, CDC officials said in a report published online today in the American Journal of Public Health. That was double the rates seen in 2000, when 10 people per 100,000 took their lives as the economy prospered, the study found.

The study is the first to link business cycles and suicide rates among specific age groups, according to the Atlanta-based CDC. People in their “prime working ages” of 25 to 64 years old are the most likely to commit suicide during recessions, the study found. 

Real Green Jobs Even Obama Can Believe In

Jesse Ventura Demands Handcuffs for Wallstreet Criminals

25 Facts that Prove US Health System = A Scam!

End of the American Dream- Blog

• The chairman of Aetna, the third largest health insurance company in the United States, brought in a staggering $68.7 million during 2010. Ron Williams exercised stock options that were worth approximately $50.3 million and he raked in an additional $18.4 million in wages and other forms of compensation.  The funny thing is that he left the company and didn't even work the whole year.
• The top executives at the five largest for-profit health insurance companies in the United States combined to receive nearly $200 million in total compensation in 2009.
• One study found that approximately 41 percent of working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.
• Over the last decade, the number of Americans without health insurance has risen from about 38 million to about 52 million.
• According to one survey, approximately 1 out of every 4 Californians under the age of 65 has absolutely no health insurance
• According to a report published in The American Journal of Medicine, medical bills are a major factor in more than 60 percent of the personal bankruptcies in the United States.  Of those bankruptcies that were caused by medical bills, approximately 75 percent of them involved individuals that actually did have health insurance.
• Profits at U.S. health insurance companies increased by 56 percent during 2009.
• According to a report by Health Care for America Now, America's five biggest for-profit health insurance companies ended 2009 with a combined profit of $12.2 billion.
• Health insurance rate increases are getting out of control.  According to the Los Angeles Times, Blue Shield of California plans to raise rates an average of 30% to 35%, and some individual policy holders could see their health insurance premiums rise by a whopping 59 percent this year alone.
• According to an article on the Mother Jones website, health insurance premiums for small employers in the U.S. increased 180% between 1999 and 2009.

Picture of the Day Featuring: Jesus Christ

Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi on the FED's Free Handout to Billionaire Banker's wives

Matt Taibbi- Rolling Stone

America has two national budgets, one official, one unofficial. The official budget is public record and hotly debated: Money comes in as taxes and goes out as jet fighters, DEA agents, wheat subsidies and Medicare, plus pensions and bennies for that great untamed socialist menace called a unionized public-sector workforce that Republicans are always complaining about. According to popular legend, we're broke and in so much debt that 40 years from now our granddaughters will still be hooking on weekends to pay the medical bills of this year's retirees from the IRS, the SEC and the Department of Energy.

Most Americans know about that budget. What they don't know is that there is another budget of roughly equal heft, traditionally maintained in complete secrecy. After the financial crash of 2008, it grew to monstrous dimensions, as the government attempted to unfreeze the credit markets by handing out trillions to banks and hedge funds. And thanks to a whole galaxy of obscure, acronym-laden bailout programs, it eventually rivaled the "official" budget in size — a huge roaring river of cash flowing out of the Federal Reserve to destinations neither chosen by the president nor reviewed by Congress, but instead handed out by fiat by unelected Fed officials using a seemingly nonsensical and apparently unknowable methodology.

Andrew Jackson's Defeat of the Second Bank of the United States- Spark Notes Version

Spark Notes- The Bank

As his term continued, Jackson truly grew a desire to crush the Second Bank of the United States. Over time he had decided that it could not continue as it was, and that it did not warrant reform. It must be destroyed. Jackson's reason for this conclusion was an amalgamation of his past financial problems, his views on states' rights, and his Tennessee roots. The Second Bank centralized financial might, jeopardizing economic stability; it served as a monopoly on fiscal policy, but it did not answer to anyone within the government. Above any principled concerns, however, the Bank became a political battle.