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While Davos Elites Address Populism, Just "Eight Men Own Same Wealth As Half The World"
via by Tyler Durden on Mon, 16 Jan 2017 17:50:36 GMT
Submitted by Joseph Jankowski of PlanetFreeWill.com
As political and business elite gather at the Swiss ski resort of Davos, a new report is shining light on the shocking reality of the wealth gap between the very rich and poor that is “pull our societies apart.”
A report by Oxfam released ahead the World Economic Forum in Davos shows the gap between the ultra-wealthy and the poorest half of the global population is starker than previously thought, with just eight men owning as much wealth as 3.6 billion people. And since 2015, the richest 1 per cent has owned more wealth than the rest of the planet.
The report urges the elite to address the problem, warning that public anger against this kind of inequality will continue to grow and cause more political firestorms such as the election of populist Donald Trump as U.S. president or Brexit.
“From Brexit to the success of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, a worrying rise in racism and the widespread disillusionment with mainstream politics, there are increasing signs that more and more people in rich countries are no longer willing to tolerate the status quo,” Oxfam said in its new report.
“It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few when 1 in 10 people survive on less than $2 a day,” said Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, who is attending the exclusive meeting in Davos. “Inequality is trapping hundreds of millions in poverty; it is fracturing our societies and undermining democracy.”
The same Oxfam report last year showed that it was 62 people holding as much wealth as the bottom half of the population.
This year’s report was revised using the Forbes’ billionaires list published in March 2016 which shows that Microsoft founder Gates is the richest individual with a net worth of $75 billion.
Here are the top 8 individuals on the list:
1. Bill Gates
Net Worth: $75 B
Source of wealth: Microsoft
2. Amancio Ortega
Net Worth: $67 B
Source of wealth: Zara
3. Warren Buffett
Net Worth: $60.8 B
Source of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway
4. Carlos Slim Helu
Net Worth: $50 B
Source of wealth: telecom
5. Jeff Bezos
Net Worth: $45.2 B
Source of wealth: Amazon.com
6. Mark Zuckerberg
Net Worth: $44.6 B
Source of wealth: Facebook
7. Larry Ellison
Net Worth: $43.6 B
Source of wealth: Oracle
8. Michael Bloomberg
Net Worth: $40 B
Source of wealth: Bloomberg LP
The Oxfam report also slammed corporate lobbying and crony capitalism.
“Crony capitalism benefits the rich, the people who own and run these corporations, at the expense of the common good and of poverty reduction. It means that smaller businesses struggle to compete and ordinary people end up paying more for goods and services,” states the report.
In Davos, the elite of the political and business world will discuss how to respond to the rising rejection of such inequality and the populist wave it has formed.
“Regardless of how you view Trump and his positions, his election has led to a deep, deep sense of uncertainty and that will cast a long shadow over Davos,” said Jean-Marie Guehenno, CEO of International Crisis Group, a conflict resolution think-tank.
Among the titles of the discussion panels at the Davos are “Squeezed and Angry: How to Fix the Middle Class Crisis”, “Politics of Fear or Rebellion of the Forgotten?”, “Tolerance at the Tipping Point?” and “The Post-EU Era.”
Surprisingly, some Davos attendees have admitted to not knowing what is causing the populist turmoil or how to deal with it.
“There is a consensus that something huge is going on, global and in many respects unprecedented. But we don’t know what the causes are, nor how to deal with it,” Moises Naim of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace explained.
Klaus Schwab, founder of the annual Davos meeting, said “it’s important to listen to the populists,” which is why he intends to reach out to populist politicians who are riding the wave of discontent.
From ABC News:
Critics often accuse the yearly World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps of being a snow-covered playground for well-heeled business and political elites. But founder Klaus Schwab said this year’s event, which opens Monday before a public start Tuesday, is reaching out to populist politicians who have ridden a wave of discontent among the masses.
“It’s important to listen to the populists, and actually we have several sessions where we deal with these issues, and we have representatives of populist parties here with us,” Schwab said Sunday. “We have to take it [populism] seriously.”
For a forum that strives to take the pulse of the world each year and produce “a real hub of a global discussion,” Schwab said “it would be soundly unrealistic and far from realities if we did not integrate the concerns of populists very much into our own deliberation.”
45 Years of Davos and the Elite Still Running Away with the Worlds Wealth
The meeting in Davos will not find solutions to narrow the wealth gap which is now astronomically leaning towards the tip-top of the upper rungs of the population.
This year’s meeting marks the 45th time the elite have gathered at in the Swiss alps, and never has the wealth gap been so glaring.
The meeting is all about managing the lack of wealth of the population and the political turmoil which is bound to accelerate because of it.
Among the discussion at Davos will be the “fourth industrial revolution.” The elite will be discussing how millions of jobs held by the average person are going to be eliminated by artificial intelligence and how this revolution might play out on the political scale.
Last year, Klaus Schwab and managing board member of Davos Richard Samans, wrote a report titled “The Future of Jobs” that estimated 7 million jobs will be lost with just 2 million gained as a result of technological change in 15 major developed and emerging economies.
Reports released this year by the World Economic forum repeat this forecast.
From Computer Weekly:
The WEF’s Global Risks 2017 report warns that, as a result of AI and other disruptive technologies, long-term jobs are giving way to self-employment in the “gig” economy, leaving individuals to shoulder more responsibility for the costs of unemployment, sickness and old age.
Technology disruption, more than globalisation, deteriorating job prospects and industrial decline, has been the catalyst for anti-establishment voting, which led to Brexit in the UK, the election of Donald Trump in the US, and Italy’s rejection of its former prime minister’s constitutional reforms, the report claims.
Unless there is a concerted effort from governments and the private sector, the trend will put pressure on economies and may lead to social unrest, said Cecilia Reyes, chief risk officer of Zurich Insurance Group.
“Without proper governance and reskilling of workers, technology will eliminate jobs faster than it creates them,” she said. “Governments can no longer provide historic levels of social protection, and an ant-establishment narrative has gained traction, with new political leaders blaming globalisation for society’s challenges.”
As the populist wave gets larger, the Davos meeting will only shine more light on the fact that those at the upper rung of the economic ladder are at the steering wheel of economic future. The discussions of humanities future taking place in the Alps will only trickle down in sound bites and excerpts for the average person to only ignore as they work 9-5 at a job that may not be there long term in order to pay the rent.
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via Motley Fool Headlines by on Mon, 16 Jan 2017 17:48:00 GMT
US Marines Land In Norway For The First Time Since World War II, Angering Russia
via by Tyler Durden on Mon, 16 Jan 2017 17:28:16 GMT
Just one week after thousands of US troops arrived in Poland to "support NATO's Anti-Russian buildup" across Eastern Europe, 300 U.S. Marines from Camp Lejeune landed in Norway on Monday for a six-month deployment, marking the first time since World War II that foreign troops have been allowed to be stationed there, in a deployment breaking with decades of tradition by Norway not to host foreign forces, and angering Norway's Arctic neighbor Russia, according to Reuters.
A 747 carrying 300 Marines arrived on Monday. Photo: Ned Alley / NTB scanpix
After leaving North Carolina aboard a chartered 747 on Sunday evening, the troops landed at 10am CET on Monday with their luggage and weapons at the Vaernes airport near Trondheim, Norway's third-largest city, television footage showed. The Marines will be hosted at the Vaernes base of the Norwegian Home Guards near Trondheim, Norway's third-largest city.
The US soldiers, which will stay in Norway for a year with the current batch of Marines being replaced after their six-month tour is complete. Until now, the US has had large quantities of military materiel pre-positioned in tunnels dug into Norway's mountains, but no troops.
A spokesman for the Norwegian Home Guards, who will host the Marines at the Vaernes military base, about 1,500 km (900 miles) from the Russian border, said the U.S. troops will learn about winter warfare. "For the first four weeks they will have basic winter training, learn how to cope with skis and to survive in the Arctic environment," said Rune Haarstad, a Home Guard spokesman. In March, the Marines will take part in the Joint Viking exercises, which will also include British troops, he added.
As the deployment coincides with the U.S. sending several thousand troops to Poland to beef up its Eastern European allies worried about Moscow's assertiveness, Russia has been understandably concerned. However, both Norway and the US deny the notion that the deployment is meant to "irk" Russia as part of NATO’s wider campaign to oppose what it calls “Russian aggression” in Europe, by sending additional troops and weapons closer to the Russian border. A spokeswoman for Norwegian Ministry of Defence also said the arrival of U.S. Marines had nothing to do with concerns about Russia.
"It has nothing to do with Russia or the current situation" Haarstad doubled down.
Moscow disagrees. While the Russian Embassy in Oslo did not immediately reply to a request for comment by Reuters on Monday, it previously questioned the need for such a move and when the rotational deployment of US Marines in Norway was confirmed last year, Russia said it was puzzled by it.
"Taking into account multiple statements of Norwegian officials about the absence of threat from Russia to Norway we would like to understand for what purposes is Norway so ... willing to increase its military potential, in particular through stationing of American forces in Vaernes?" it told Reuters at the time.
This "for sure won't make better (the) security situation in Northern Europe," a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Oslo, Maxim Gurov, told AFP in an October email.
Norway, which is a founding member of NATO, has pledged not to host foreign forces to allay Moscow’s concerns that it could serve as a platform for a surprise attack. According to RT, for decades the Scandinavian country stashed massive stockpiles of weapons in preparation for a possible conflict, but only allowed in other allies’ troops for training purposes. Oslo dismisses the notion that the deployment goes against the old commitment, saying that American troops would be rotated rather than stationed permanently. NATO routinely applies the same reasoning to all its deployments in Eastern Europe as a way to circumvent the alliance’s agreement with Russia, which bans permanent deployments of “significant” forces near Russia.
Meanwhile, the US Marine Corps touted the practical benefits of a full-time deployment as the reason for the move. “We've been going to Norway for 25 years. So I don't really know what the hype is about,” Maj. Gen. Niel Nelson, commander of Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa, told Military.com ahead of the deployment. “We're just doing our job, from a more economical standpoint. I don't put a lot of stock in people pointing back and forth.”
“By putting Marines in Norway and above the Arctic Circle for 30-60 days at a time, that's a whole different environment,” Nelson added. “You not only learn to survive, you are surviving. It's a harsh environment; it takes a lot of tough lessons and we reinforce that by the length of time.”
Norway and Russia share a small land border far in the north. The Vaernes base is located 1,500km from any part of Russia, but the Arctic training program involves traveling closer to it. We anticipate that the inevitable retaliatory Russian deployment of troops in proximity to the Norwegian border, will be promptly dubbed by NATO, and western media, as a provocative act.
America - Under New Management
via by Tyler Durden on Mon, 16 Jan 2017 17:00:00 GMT
Submitted by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,
In 2008, the majority of Americans voted for “change,” and in some ways, they got it. They received a heavier dose of collectivism in the form of Obamacare, but in addition, they received an even heavier dose of “more of the same.”
Mister Obama did not put an end to Guantanamo as he promised. And, although he did remove troops from Iraq (only to send them back a few years later), he expanded America’s military adventures overall, invading numerous sovereign nations.
As for his promise to come down hard on the sworn enemies of democrats—the evil usurpers on Wall Street—he instead dug in deeper. His Treasury secretaries were banking insiders, not the “reformers” that had been anticipated.
Many who had voted for Mister Obama were deeply disappointed. Under him, government had grown, warfare had expanded, the economy worsened and Wall Street became even fatter than before.
In 2016, Americans, in large part, sought the selfsame changes—less central government control, less overseas aggression and a reigning-in of Wall Street and banks. But to achieve these ends, voters switched sides once again and voted for a Republican, one who boldly committed to “drain the swamp.”
So, what are the odds that they’ll receive those changes? Let’s have a look.
When a new leader is elected, the best first assumption to make is that his campaign promises probably had little or no relationship to his actual intentions. More likely, his intentions will be to continue to pander to the Deep State and those that helped him to get elected.
Therefore, it’s always a good idea, in any country, to pay attention to the new leader’s choice as his posse. The US president-elect has been active in choosing the gunslingers who will ride with him into Washington and the choices may provide an early warning as to who the new president really intends to be.
So, first off would be his closest advisors—his chief of staff and his chief strategist. Mister Trump’s choices, respectively, are Reince Priebus and Stephen Bannon. Mister Bannon is a Goldman alumnus. In addition, Gary Cohn, Goldman’s president, has been chosen as director of the National Economic Council. By any measure, the cabinet will be somewhat of an extension of Goldman.
Mister Trump railed against Wall Street during his campaign and vilified his opponent on Twitter, stating, “Hillary will never reform Wall Street. She is owned by Wall Street!” His supporters had every reason to expect that he would prove to be the reformer they hoped for, yet his choices above suggest that that’s not the plan.
This likelihood is further enforced by his choice of Steven Mnuchin, who spent 17 years at Goldman, as Treasury secretary. His choice for commerce secretary is Wilbur Ross, a billionaire investor who is also unlikely to emerge as an advocate for reform.
As to whether warfare will be diminished in the coming administration, Mister Trump has stated clearly, in reference to ISIS, that he intends to “bomb the shit out of ’em.” (No uncertainty there.) His choice for national security advisor is Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, whose primary focus is in ramping up tensions with Iran. His choice for secretary of defense is Gen. James Mattis, who has declared his desire to invade Iran. In addition, Mike Pompeo, who also favours an invasion of Iran, has been selected as head of the CIA.
These choices are not likely to sit comfortably with Mister Putin, with whom the president-elect suggests he will enjoy a good relationship. Nor will they sit well with the many throughout the world who already feel the US has gone far beyond its limit in seeking to police the world. Rather than back off from the dreaded Wolfowitz Doctrine, the choices of cabinet members, taken collectively, suggest a continuation of the foreign boondoggles that began in 2001.
The one departure may be in the important position of secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, a lifetime employee of Exxon who has developed good relations with Russia and opposes government regulation of business. He may be the one pick that reflects Mister Trump’s campaign claims. Still, Mister Tillerson falls right in line with the ever-expanding corporatist relationship extant in the US government.
Finally, those who hope that Trump will reverse the trend of the Deep State’s near-total control over the US will be disappointed not only by the choice of Mike Pompeo for the CIA, but of Trump campaigner and establishment insider Jeff Sessions as attorney general.
None of the above guarantees that the voters who chose Mister Trump will soon be experiencing buyer’s remorse, but the indicators that Americans may find themselves out of the pan and into the fire are significant.
There’s an old saying that “the more things change, the more they stay the same,” and the lineup of new players above suggests that that may well be the case in the next administration. Meanwhile, not only the US, but the entire world will be holding its collective breath over the coming months. The new president is less likely to spend as much time on the golf course as his predecessor. He’s far more likely to hit the road running. The question will be in what direction he chooses to run. His choices for cabinet suggest that that direction might have less relationship to his campaign rhetoric and more relationship to the ongoing Deep State programme. To be sure, his clear choice of Washington insiders for so many of his primary cabinet positions informs us that the swamp will not, in fact, be drained. Big Business, the military-industrial complex and Big Banks will dominate the Trump cabinet.
Whatever the world will be treated to under the new American presidency, the words of Neil Innes ring true: “No matter who you vote for, the government always gets in.”
* * *
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Warning: Don't Do This When Buying a New Car
via Motley Fool Headlines by on Mon, 16 Jan 2017 17:04:00 GMT
As Lewis Shuns Trump, MLK's Son Meets With President-Elect
via by Tyler Durden on Mon, 16 Jan 2017 16:36:17 GMT
As Congressman John Lewis - a prominent civil rights era figure - continues to shun the president-elect (for his illegitimacy), it appears none other than Martin Luther King Jr.'s son is willing to give him a chance. Trump's incoming press secretary, Sean Spicer, announced via Twitter that the two will meet and discuss the civil rights leader's legacy.
John Lewis remains indignant to facts and the US constitution...
But Martin Luther King Jr.'s son appears willing to cross the chasm of propaganda and discuss his father's civil rights' legacy...
Today we observe the birthday of #MartinLutherKing - @realDonaldTrump will meet with Martin Luther King III to discuss his legacy #MLKDAY
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) January 16, 2017
As ABC reports, senior transition sources initially said Trump would visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., today. But ABC later learned that the the visit was removed from his calendar due to scheduling issues and was not fully planned out. Spicer said today that the president-elect was never planning to go to the museum today.
He was never going to Washington," Spicer asserted on Fox News. "I think what he was trying to do was find an appropriate way to celebrate and observe Martin Luther King's birthday. He is going to meet with a group of individuals today, including Martin Luther King III to talk about that legacy and celebrate the birthday of Dr. King."
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Five Dead, At Least 15 Wounded After Gunman Opens Fire At Mexican Nightclub Following "Drug Cartel Disagreement"
via by Tyler Durden on Mon, 16 Jan 2017 16:27:00 GMT
A lone shooter fired on a crowd at a nightclub in Playa del Carmen, site of the BPM electronic music festival in Mexico early Monday, leaving at least five people dead and at least a dozen more injured, according to a statement released by festival organizers. Local news reports suggest that the shooting came after a 'disagreement' and is connected to ongoing drug cartel wars in the area.
The rampage occurred inside the Blue Parrot nighclub in Playa del Carmen at about 2:30 a.m. local time, according to a statement by the attorney general of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
Playa del Carmen is a popular tourist destination not far from Cancun. Among the dead are four men and a woman. Two of those who died were part of a security team, the statement said. According to preliminary reports, three of the dead are foreigners.
A Forensic Medical Service van is parked outside the Blue Parrot nightclub
Police guard the entrance of the nightclub later Monday morning
According to the Mail, London-based promoter Elrow was hosting a closing 'This Is The End' party at the Blue Parrot when the shooting occurred, and it is believed that many attendees at the event were British and American tourists. Tourists at the scene have revealed the chaos that ensued during the shooting, and how many initially believed that they heard fireworks or music - not gunshots.
The government of the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo, where Playa del Carmen is located, said four men were shot to death and one woman died in a fall during the confusion and stampede that ensued. An additional 15 people were wounded, and one of them was in very serious condition.
People wait outside the club where a shooting took place in Playa del Carmen
"It is with great sadness to share that police have confirmed reports of a lone shooter outside the Blue Parrot nightclub in Playa Del Carmen earlier today, which resulted in four fatalities and twelve injured. The violence began on 12th street in front of the club and three members of the BPM security team were among those whose lives were lost while trying to protect patrons inside the venue." a statement early Monday by the BPM festival said.
The BPM Festival is an annual 10-day electronic music festival started in 2008. This year, it was scheduled to last from Jan. 6 to Jan. 15. The shooting occurred on the last night of festivities.
The Blue Parrot is one of the venues at the 10-day festival in Playa del Carmen, a tourist destination that has largely been spared the violence that has hit other parts of Mexico. Several festivalgoers took to Twitter to post videos and document the attack as it unfolded.
BREAKING NEWS: Mass shooting reporting in the popular Mexican resort town of #PlayaDelCarmen. pic.twitter.com/semRlEdCxW
— kendis gibson (@kendisgibson) January 16, 2017
"The #blueparrot security at #bpmfestival stood up for us when there was gunfire they are the real heroes," wrote user @DonsLens.
Dubfire wrote that they were in the DJ booth at the time and that it was "total chaos" but that they are "ok." Adding, "Hope everyone else is..."
DJ Mauro MC posted a video from outside the club after the shooting and said "most of us made it out ok, hurts my heart knowing people didn't make it safe."
#BPMFestival #BlueParrot so sad :( most of us made it out ok, hurts my heart knowing people didn't make it safe. pic.twitter.com/t8hpT5DnVt
— MauroMC (@DJMauroMC) January 16, 2017
He added that the shooting occurred inside and not from the beach, which is where the nightclub opens up to.
Rodolfo Del Angel, director of police in the state of Quintana Roo, told the Milenio TV station that he shooting was the result of 'a disagreement between people inside' the nightclub and said security guards had come under fire when they tried to contain the dispute.
'For the moment we have indications that one person opened fire,' Mayor Torres added. She said the shooting appeared to have taken place inside the club, causing people to flee in panic. Other witnesses said it happened outside the club.
Hector Escardo Steck, from Los Angeles, California, told MailOnline that the club was full when the gunman attacked. He said: 'It was awful, the club was completely full and at around 2am we heard ten successive gunshots and people immediately hit the floor. Just after that the music stopped and everyone started running in a panic.
'There is a tall fence between the club and the beach and everyone started trying to climb over that. A lot of people got hurt in the attempt top club over, because people were panicking and trying to get away. It was terrifying.
'I was at the back of the club, so I didn't see anyone get shot, but 20 minutes later in the streets I saw a lot of dead bodies being guarded by police officers. People were running everywhere, jumping, punching, running. 'The party had been going since noon, and everyone in the club was either drunk or on drugs, and there was a lot of confusion. 'In Playa del Carmen you see drugs in quantities that you have never seen before, and everyone is drugged up so it was a very confusing experience that no one was expecting. People were very angry and confused, but mainly angry.'
Local news reports suggest that the incident is connected to ongoing drug cartel wars in the area, and the gunman is believed to still be at large.
Partier George de Menezes told The Independent that he and his friends were just two meters from the gunman when the shooting occurred. He said: 'No one took it seriously, but I knew straight away that it was a gun and dropped to the floor, then everyone dropped with me. 'The music stopped and so did the shots, so we got up and one man was down on the floor and looked dead, and another man had been shot but was trying to stay on his feet.' De Menezes said that people in the club tried to escape by running to the beach, but shots kept being fired
'Finally got out from there and got up to the Main Street and there was another man dead on the street, so everyone started running for their lives,' he said. The reveler said that he and friends heard more shots when they finally got back to their hotel.
Los Angeles resident Jake Lubelski wrote on Facebook that he was 20 feet away from the gunman when the shooting took place. 'I was standing outside of a club on an insanely crowded street when it happened; I was maybe 20 feet away from the shooter,' he wrote. 'As soon as I heard gun shots, everyone started bolting and we nearly got trampled by the frantic herds of people.
'As soon as I turned around the corner and got a look at the scene, I saw a man lying on the floor in his own blood. it could have been me.'
Scottish DJ Jackmaster issued a warning on Twitter saying, 'Stay in your f*****g hotels' following the shooting. The DJ, whose real name is Jack Revill, tweeted about the incident just after 3am local time.
'Someone has come into the club in Playa Del Carmen and opened fire. 4-5 dead and many wounded. Stay in ur f****n hotel if you're here at BPM,' he wrote. 'Apparently now more shots fired at another club in the area.'
A worker at CostaMed hospital in Playa del Carmen told NBC News that a man and a woman were admitted to the hospital at 3.39am local time.
A second shooting was reported at the club The Jungle, where another BPM closing party featuring John Acquaviva, Stacey Pullen and David Berrie was taking place. Videos on Instagram show people running through the streets of Playa Del Carmen following the shooting.
Images shared on social media showed people cowering or running down the street.
Mexican police have confirmed the mass shooting but have not given motive for the gunfire. They have not reported any arrests.
'We are seeking information from emergency services in Mexico, following reports of a shooting in Playa del Carmen,' a Foreign Office spokesman said. Neither US nor Canadian officials could immediately confirm if any of their citizens were among the victims in the shooting.
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Food-Stamp Recipients Can Now Order From Amazon, Other Online Retailers
via by Tyler Durden on Mon, 16 Jan 2017 16:01:46 GMT
Food-stamp recipients can use their taxpayer-funded benefit to order online from retailers like Amazon under a new Obama administration initiative that aims to facilitate the shopping experience for rural and urban residents. It marks the latest of many costly experiments by the administration to expand the fraud-infested program, which has seen a record-high number of beneficiaries under President Obama. To eliminate the welfare stigma, the administration renamed food stamps Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the rolls swelled to an astounding 46.5 million in 2016. This cost American taxpayers and eye-popping $70 billion, according to government figures.
It’s all part of the president’s longtime goal to eradicate what he and the First Lady call an epidemic of “food insecurity” among the nation’s low-income residents. Part of the problem is that this demographic has limited access to healthy food choices, the administration says, and the government must provide them with nutritional options. This is why taxpayers have been forced to dole out tens of millions of dollars to bring fruits and vegetables to the nation’s inner cities, coined “food deserts” by the administration because they lack healthy fare. The new online ordering program will help address this, according to the federal agency that runs the bloated food-stamp program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (USDA).
“Online purchasing is a potential lifeline for SNAP participants living in urban neighborhoods and rural communities where access to healthy food choices can be limited,” USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement announcing the new program this week.
“We’re looking forward to being able to bring the benefits of the online market to low-income Americans participating in SNAP.” Besides Amazon, a few other online businesses have been approved by the feds to accept food stamps online, including Hy-Vee, Hart’s Local Grocers, Safeway and ShopRite. The USDA acknowledges however, that “online payment presents technical and security challenges that will need to be examined and fully addressed…”
It’s the last thing that an out-of-control government program, long plagued with fraud corruption, needs. Under the Obama expansion SNAP has suffered a multitude of serious problems. Back in 2012 a federal investigation uncovered evidence that food-stamp recipients were using the benefit to buy drugs, weapons and other contraband from unscrupulous vendors. A year later Judicial Watch broke a story, based on testimony and other evidence provided by a whistleblower, about the U.S. government knowingly giving illegal immigrants food stamps for decades. That was followed by another disturbing scheme in which SNAP benefits were being sold online using social media such as Facebook, Twitter and ecommerce websites like Craigslist and eBay.
Earlier this year federal authorities in south Florida busted the largest food-stamp fraud operation in U.S. history. Twenty-two defendants in the largely black and Hispanic areas of Miami-Dade County known as Opa-Locka and Hialeah swindled the government out of $13 million by fraudulently trading food stamps for cash. The crooked vendors operated food and produce stands at a local flea market as part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s initiative to eradicate “food deserts,” common in poor, minority communities where fresh, healthy food is tough to find or often unavailable. The feds say the business owners and their employees let food-stamp recipients use their welfare benefit to get cash in exchange for a cut of the money. They swiped the recipient’s SNAP card for an inflated amount, doled out cash and kept a percentage. In most instances the recipient didn’t actually get food, according to federal authorities.
Turkey Faces Double-Digit Inflation Due To Crashing Lira, As Budget Deficit Hits Record
via by Tyler Durden on Mon, 16 Jan 2017 15:41:55 GMT
Turkey's biggest headache, its crashing currency which the central banks appears unable to contain due to an Erdogan order not to hike rates, could soon translate into another major problem. According to two senior economy officials, Turkish inflation could reach double digits in the first quarter for the first time in almost five years as a result of the lira's falls, putting more pressure on the central bank to hike interest rates.
The lira has dropped as much as 10 percent since the start of 2017, battered by concern over Turkey's political and economic outlook and doubts about whether the authorities will take decisive steps to arrest the slide. Earlier in the day, Turkey's deputy prime minister, Numan Kurtulmus in an interview with AHaber TV, reiterated the party line that the lira weakening is the result of political manipulation. He also said that “an intelligence organization” might be behind the new year’s eve attack in a nightclub in Istanbul, the latest terrorist attack on Turkish soil, which has added to concerns about local geopolitical instability, further destabilizing the tourism-heavy economy.
According to Reuters, President Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal opponent of higher interest rates, will meet with economy officials including the central bank governor later on Monday to discuss developments including the lira, government sources said. Earlier on Monday, the central bank effectively shut off two of its lira funding taps, bankers said, in an attempt to push lenders to borrow at a higher rate and defend the currency without an outright rate hike. The lira was trading at 3.80 to the dollar, at the day's lows, off a recent record low of 3.9417 hit last Wednesday.
On Monday, the bank opted not to hold a repo auction for the third straight day. The daily auctions, at 8 percent, are an important source of funding for banks. Price quotations for the Borsa Istanbul repo market were also withdrawn after some funding was provided at 8.5 percent, bankers said. By closing off these two taps the central bank would effectively force banks to borrow using its "late liquidity window" at around 10%.
"The central bank withdrew the 8.5 percent quotation," the manager of a liquidity desk at one bank said. "There is always the possibility it could offer a quotation again during the day. But if it does not give a quotation, banks will have to fund around 15 billion lira ($4 billion) above 8.5 percent - at 10 percent or at a rate near that."
The central bank next meets to set interest rates on Jan. 24, with financial analysts eager to see a sharp rise although they may be disappointed.
The reason why the Turkish central banks finds itself in a bind is that Erdogan, a populist who favors cheap credit to spur lending and bolster the economy, wants borrowing costs to be low, although he said last Thursday that the bank had the ability to take "all necessary steps" to defend the lira. He and the government are keen to prevent the economy losing too much momentum ahead of an expected referendum in the coming months on constitutional changes that would create a full presidential system and hand him greater powers.
Meanwhile, in another indication that the Turkish economy is deteriorating, overnight Turkey announced that its December budget deficit rose to 27.1 billion liras, according to central government budget data published by Ministry of Finance in Ankara. This was the biggest on record, and confirm recent observations of a substantial slowdown in the economy; it also implies that Turkey will need to borrow in the foreign market to fund its deficits going forward.
In an attempt to debunk "fake news' about the sorry state of the economy, one economy officials told Reuters that growth in 2016 is expected to have been just 2.5%, while inflation is about to soar, unleashing a period of stagflation.
"Inflation will be in double digits in the first quarter," the economy official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity because it is not an official government forecast.
That said, he expected pressure on the lira to ease after the referendum, a major source of uncertainty for investors, and forecast inflation would drop to 8% at most by the end of the year, above the central bank's 6.5% forecast.
Helping in part will be the central bank's recently rolled out measures to reduce liquidity and effectively drive up borrowing costs without hiking interest rates outright, in moves that some economists have referred to as "veiled" monetary tightening. The bank halved borrowing limits on Friday on the interbank money market to 11 billion lira ($2.9 billion) in a further bid to support the currency.
In a cryptic threat, an adviser to Erdogan said on Monday that the central bank has "strong weapons" other than interest rates and will continue to take measures in the face of the weaker lira. It has yet to be revealed what those are, especially since several months ago Erdogan appealed to his countrymen to convert their dollars and gold into lira in a failed attempt to boost the currency.
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Trump Promises "Insurance For Everybody" In Obamacare Repeal
via by Tyler Durden on Mon, 16 Jan 2017 15:21:51 GMT
Just two days after both the House and Senate passed a budget resolution clearing the way to repeal and replace Obamacare, the President-elect has told the Washington Post that his replacement bill is nearly complete and envisions "insurance for everybody." Although no specific timeline was given for the announcement of legislation, the CR passed by Congress last week gives the various committees until January 27th to present a bill. Per Reuters:
"It’s very much formulated down to the final strokes. We haven’t put it in quite yet but we’re going to be doing it soon," Trump told the Post, adding he was waiting for his nominee for health and human services secretary, Tom Price, to be confirmed.
The plan, he said, would include "lower numbers, much lower deductibles," without elaborating.
“We’re going to have insurance for everybody,” Trump said. “There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.”
“It’ll be another plan. But they’ll be beautifully covered. I don’t want single-payer. What I do want is to be able to take care of people,” he added.
Meanwhile, taking a similar approach to his efforts with Boeing and Lockheed Martin to lower costs, Trump vowed to bring down drug prices by forcing big Pharma companies to negotiate directly with the government for Medicare and Medicaid pricing.
Moving ahead, Trump said that lowering drug prices is central to reducing health-care costs nationally — and that he will make it a priority as he uses his bully pulpit to shape policy. When asked how exactly he would force drug manufacturers to comply, Trump said that part of his approach would be public pressure “just like on the airplane,” a nod to his tweets about Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet, which Trump said was too costly.
Trump waved away the suggestion that such activity could lead to market volatility on Wall Street. “Stock drops and America goes up,” he said. “I don’t care. I want to do it right or not at all.” He added that drug companies “should produce” more products in the United States.
The question of whether the government should start negotiating how much it pays drugmakers for older Americans on Medicare has long been a partisan dispute, ever since the 2003 law that created Medicare drug benefits prohibited such negotiations.
"They’re politically protected but not anymore,” he said.
Of course, as we mentioned last week, Kellyanne Conway hinted that the Pharma industry would be in the crosshairs of Trump's new healthcare law, telling Bloomberg that "to repeal and replace Obamacare without having a conversation about drug pricing seems like not a reasonable prospect."
Without giving a timeline, Trump said that he expects Republicans in Congress to work quickly to pass his new healthcare legislation and threatened that any splintering of the Republican party would be met with an aggressive appeal directly to the American people to put pressure on their Congressmen.
Trump said he expects Republicans in Congress to move quickly and in unison in the coming weeks on other priorities as well, including enacting sweeping tax cuts and beginning the building of a wall along the Mexican border.
Trump warned Republicans that if the party splinters or slows his agenda, he is ready to use the power of the presidency — and Twitter — to usher his legislation to passage.
“The Congress can’t get cold feet because the people will not let that happen,” Trump said during the interview with The Post.
Of course, as we've said before, while Democrats and some Republicans will certainly fight it, whatever bill is introduced by the Trump administration will almost certainly be better than the status quo.
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“Hell Week II: The Revenge” Threatens Unrestrained Election Rejection
via by Knave Dave on Mon, 16 Jan 2017 15:07:40 GMT
This article by David Haggith was first published on The Great Recession Blog:
Late in 2016, I predicted the week after the election would be hell week as people revolted against the election results, and it was so. First, the mainstream media stared into living rooms in shock and awe as they reported with tear-brimmed eyes that the nation had not voted for the media’s Anointed One. Then city blocks closed down to allow for proper rioting. By morning, the nation awoke to find that rioters had smashed windows and were lighting fires. Upset liberals announced petitions for their liberal states to secede from the union. Immigration Canada experienced a melt-down of its website due to requests for information on how to become a Canadian citizen. Movie stars dressed in sackcloth with faces smeared in ashes, clawed their skin and declared the end of the nation had come, but they didn’t move out of the country as they had bravely promised us they would. (Sighs.) Liberal school bullies beat up classmates who supported Trump. Colleges closed in mourning and served student activists tea and biscuits and puppies to calm their nerves. The snowflakes melted in the hot glow of Donald Trump’s orange hair, and retired hippies raised their hands to the sun and bowed to mother earth as they declared the end of the world was here.
The queerest thing about all of this to me was that, a week before the election, these people had reviled Donald Trump as being the most unAmerican, unpatriotic human being in the history of United States for refusing to promise he would unequivocally accept the election results no matter how they came about. Now these righteous people all turned and unequivocally rejected the election results:
- They rallied and rioted by the thousands in cities all cross America with signs that said “Not MY president.”
- They challenged the election returns for recounts in every area where they thought they had a chance to overturn the election.
- They complained that the electoral college (which they had no problem with when they were so cocky and certain it would tip Hillary a landslide victory) was unjust to the core, undemocratic and should be abolished.
- They did everything they could to persuade the electoral college members to stage an electoral coup by not to voting in the manner the college always has.
- And they cried a lot.
Thus closed a year that I had deemed one January ago the “Year of the Epocalypse.” While it had not turned out to be the full-on economic catastrophe I predicted for the US, it certainly turned out to be the most bizarre and chaotic political year I’ve ever witnessed. Probably the worst you’ve ever seen, too. It seems almost everyone agrees the surprising political rollover that started showing up in massive changes around the world last year was largely due to deep economic discord finally rising to the surface and finding its voice in people like Trump and Farage who are bellicose enough not to care about PC rules.
(This, in my view, is the Epocalypse Rising, not coming about in the order I anticipated, but I always said the order of collapse was unpredictable, but the collapse was certain.)
So, yeah, hell week hit and didn’t go away, just as I said it would. It metastasized as the initial despair of forlorn liberals and gloomy globalists moved backwards through the first four stages of grief, which are denial, anger, bargaining, depression. First, they melted in tears and cried over their puppies and poured their glasses of celebratory election champagne onto the dust of the earth (depression). Then they bargained with the vote counters and the electoral college to try to overturn the results. Now they are organizing to gather in angry rallies through which they hope to deny the election results by preventing the inauguration from happening. In the very least, they want to make sure Trump’s inauguration is the darkest day in national history, so help them God, in whom they don’t believe.
It all adds up to the most colorful strutting display of hypocrisy I’ve ever witnessed from people who have claimed it is totally unAmerican to not accept election results, and now …
A new hell week begins as election rejection kicks into overdrive
They’re going to dump the Trump with an inauguration events set to beat the boos and jeers given to George Bush when he won the electoral vote even though he lost the popular vote. Here is a list of events already planned for Hell Week II: The Revenge:
DisruptJ20 calls for “NO PEACEFUL TRANSITION.” Their website states, “On Friday, January 20, 2017, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as President of the United States. We call on all people of good conscience to join in disrupting the ceremonies. If Trump is to be inaugurated at all, let it happen behind closed doors, showing the true face of the security state Trump will preside over. It must be made clear to the whole world that the vast majority of people in the United States do not support his presidency or consent to his rule. Trump stands for tyranny, greed, and misogyny. He is the champion of neo-nazis and white Nationalists, of the police who kill the Black, Brown and poor on a daily basis, of racist border agents and sadistic prison guards, of the FBI and NSA who tap your phone and read your email….
“He is the harbinger of even more climate catastrophe, deportation, discrimination, and endless war. He continues to deny the existence of climate change, in spite of all the evidence, putting the future of the whole human race at stake. The KKK, Vladimir Putin, Golden Dawn, and the Islamic State all cheered his victory. If we let his inauguration go unchallenged, we are opening the door to the future they envision. Trump’s success confirms the bankruptcy of representative democracy. Rather than using the democratic process as an alibi for inaction, we must show that no election could legitimize his agenda…. If you can’t make it to Washington, DC on January 20, take to the streets wherever you are. We call on our comrades to organize demonstrations and other actions for the night of January 20.”
Legba Carrefour, an anarchist in charge of the group’s press relations, says, “We are planning to shut down the inauguration, that’s the short of it. We’re pretty literal about that, we are trying to create citywide paralysis on a level that I don’t think has been seen in D.C. before. We’re trying to shut down pretty much every ingress into the city as well as every checkpoint around the actual inauguration parade route.”
Carrefour states there are no overt plans to do things like jumping barricades or throwing projectiles, but autonomous actions of that kind are encouraged. “I can’t comment on specific stuff we’re doing like that, mostly because that would be illegal. But, yeah, it will get pretty crazy, I expect. ‘Have fun!’ I say.”
Here is some leaked audio of a DisruptJ20 organizing meeting that says they actively plan to blockade roads and security checkpoints:
So far fifty-seven anarchist groups around the nation have signed on to support DisruptJ20’s call to action in various parts of the US.
Refuse Fascism says, “In the name of humanity, we refuse to accept a fascist America. Stop the Trump-Pence regime before it begins. Take to the streets every night and every day…. Bring DC to a halt!” They plan events for every day of inauguration week and are surrounding the Trump Hotel in the old Post Office Building. “Among huge numbers of people there is a deep anxiety, alienation, disgust and anger in relation to the recent presidential election and its outcome…. The current angst and outrage could be transformed, in a very short, telescoped period of time, into resistance which reaches such massive proportions, and is characterized by such a depth of determination, that it actually creates a “crisis of rule,” and prevents the Trump/Pence fascist regime from consolidating its hold on the governance of society…. As many have noted, Hitler himself came to power through the process of elections and established legal procedures…. This is not an exaggerated comparison…. The aim must be nothing less than to create such a profound political crisis before the intended inauguration (January 20, 2017) that the fascist regime is actually not able to take the reins of government.” Events are planned for various cities. Their full-page ad in the New York Times warned that Trump “has assembled a cabinet of Christian fundamentalist fanatics, war mongers, racists, science deniers. NO! His regime must not be allowed to consolidate. We REFUSE to accept a Fascist America!”
Anti-Capitalist & Anti-Fascist Bloc writes, “We are calling for a mobile bloc opposing capitalism and fascism at the inauguration…. This January 20th, thousands of people will mobilize to disrupt Trump’s inauguration, rejecting the tyranny, greed, and bigotry he represents. Many different permitted marches, blockades, and other autonomous direct actions are planned. Those who travel to DC hoping to celebrate Trump’s ascendance to power will find the inaugural ceremonies reduced to a total clusterf…. Towards becoming an ungovernable force this winter.”
Occupy Wall Street now partners to create Occupy Inauguration: “The Equality Coalition and Occupy Inauguration are working together to bring you a mass event taking place in Washington D.C. on Inauguration Day, January 20th-21st, 2017. Numerous alternative political parties, communists parties, socialists parties, green movements, Native American groups, and progressive/liberal organizations have endorsed their effort.
The ANSWER Coalition, which stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, says they plan to stage a large demonstration near the White House if they can get permission for a spot that often makes it on national TV. New York organizer Ben Becker says, “We think the most important thing is having the largest possible turnout. We have a peaceful plan, it’s loud and it will be visible…. We think it’s the beginning of a potentially massive new movement in the United States and it’s important that on that first day we send a message about our numbers, a message about our politics, a message about what it is in the Trump agenda that we reject. We’re not encouraging any tactics that are going to detract from that.”
DC Anti-Fascist Coalition claims, “Members of the Alt Reich are having a fancy ball [the DeploraBall], taking a smarmy victory lap through our DC streets to celebrate their sexual assaulter in chief, Donald Trump…. We must stand for a world based on love and justice, not fear…. We must stand against racism, Islamophobia, sexism, and all forms of oppression. We call on people of conscience to protest and help send a message to the Trump Administration and his followers: We are better than this, and we will never accept this hate in our nation’s capital…. We ask that protestors, do not under any circumstances initiate any violence, but protect one another and practice self-defense.”
Qockblockade Brigade is a group of self-described queers that plans to “hold a queer anti-Inauguration party at a security checkpoint! Even though we’re taking over a security checkpoint, we’re there to have a good time – have fun, dance, celebrate our queer identities – no matter how anyone else reacts. This is NOT a space to instigate, and we will not be trying to provoke arrest…. Make sure you can make it out to celebrate the queendom.”
Climate Convergence plans “a number of marches, rallies and actions all weekend.”
The “Women’s March on Washington” is planned for the day after the inauguration and is more of an old-fashion mainstream event, starring Gloria Steinem and Harry Belafonte. Planned Parenthood is one sponsor and says, ” “We will send a strong message to the incoming administration that millions of people across this country are prepared to fight attacks on reproductive health care, abortion services, and access to Planned Parenthood.” Organizers say the event is not planned to target Trump specifically. Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, said the march will be a “stand on social justice and human rights issues ranging from race, ethnicity, gender, religion, immigration, and healthcare.” Nearly 200,000 people have pledged to attend so far, and sister events are scheduled for various cities around the nation on the same day. Their website says, “We are working with local and federal law enforcement and do not intend to engage in any civil disobedience. We expect all marchers to abide by all laws and any instruction of law enforcement…. Finally, we are planning a peaceful demonstration and are training marshals in de-escalation tactics and ask that all marchers remain peaceful.”
Not all events are planned to be violent or crazy, but many are. And, so the anarchy that I said last year would typify the Epocalypse begins.
The year ahead
I suspect the protests are just gearing up this week, and 2017 will look a lot like the sixties where everything the president does results in another march in another city, and where we’ll see increasing violence on the part of self-righteous protestors who feel their own righteousness merits violent action. You can be sure many of these groups have billionaire George Soro’s money backing them.
In my last article, I wrote,
You can be sure that Soros, crying over the disruption of his new world disorder and having lost a billion because of Trump, is going to fight back with more malice than ever, and here he hints at his planned attack: “The US will be preoccupied with internal struggles in the near future, and targeted minorities will suffer.” … He’s making this prediction … because he knows he’s going to be investing his money in making sure those struggles happen. He’s going to stir the pot for all he’s worth and make sure the rage explodes into flames, and he’s got enough money to do a lot of stirring, and rage already wants to happen anyway. (“George Soros: The Man Behind the Mayhem“)
The more Trump does to restore law and order, the more he will be seen as running the police state these groups warn is coming. Their actions will assure the fulfillment of their own prophecies.
All of this means the economy will continue on its inexorable slide to the bottom because a nation in unstoppable chaos is not likely to accomplish anything successful economically.
While 2016 didn’t turn out to be the Year of the Epocalypse in which all these things became visible, it certainly was entirely about the election that has set these things all in play in the US now. So, it was the beginning, but not the manifestation. Trump won because of all the economic corruption that had been left in place through the Obama administration, causing long-silent masses of people to want a change from the establishment.
I did say repeatedly that the economic aspects I predicted for 2016 could likely be delayed because all stops would be pulled out by the Obama administration to keep the economy’s head above water until the election was over or, more likely, until Obama is out of office so that Trump can be the one to take the fall when the Fed’s fake recovery all collapses. We are now almost there, and all this political chaos will give the Federal Reserve even more cover for the failure of its recovery. They can not only blame it on Trump’s policies but on all the political turmoil he has excited.
Ironically, the biggest capitalists, like Despicable Soros will use the little anti-capitalists as their minions to stir up trouble all over the nation in order to make it nearly impossible for Trump to keep the economy running. They will say the chaos is all Trump’s fault because his rhetoric constantly inflames people. While there is some truth to that, they are doing everything they can to enflame people, too, and to use them like mercenaries to make sure the recovery’s failure happens on Trump’s watch. (I’m not saying they planned for Trump to win, but that they will make the most of the opportunity to turn it in their favor.)
So, welcome to the Epocalypse, which I always said would be particularly notable for the spreading of anarchy. It’s all part of the deepening Great Recession because, had the enormous economic flaws that caused the Great Recession been thoroughly and properly corrected over the past eight years, Trump would never have been seen as necessary. There wouldn’t have been a hidden groundswell of voter rage that revolted against all establishment candidates to put Trump into office. But nothing was corrected.
So, now, we have revolution and counter-revolution. We have a nation flying apart because of all the deep-seated corruption, the ever-widening disparity in who shares the rewards of capitalism (which Trump’s tax plan will make worse as all supply-side plans have), the bailing out of banksters, the refusal to bring the corrupt to justice … and we have Trump filling all of his offices with Goldman Sachs executives and other establishment corporate CEOs.
No wonder the anarchists are crawling out of the woodwork to try to defeat the “anti-establishment” president. It’s an absolutely bizarre and chaotic mess in which the anarchists you would normally think are most anti-establishment are being funded by the establishment billionaire George Soros and are supporting the globalist movement that Soros is a part of. That’s how bizarre the world has become.
This is not going to end well.
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