Will the USA become Greece?

Greece’s ailing economy grinds to a halt

By Joshua Chaffin in Athens

©AP

A man walks past graffiti which reads "rob to gain money" on a wall of the central bank of Greece

Last week, Medical Service Limited, a small Athens’ supplier of medical equipment that can no longer afford to pay its employees, received what should have been a blessing: an order from one of the city’s hospitals for a heart monitoring machine.
But after thinking it over, Yannis Stamos, the company’s co-founder, turned the customer away. Filling the order would have meant reaching into Medical Service’s own pockets to cover the €35,000 cost of such a machine, since Greek banks have stopped lending and the company’s German suppliers now demand pre-payment in cash.
Even if it could foot the bill, Medical Service would then have to hand over thousands of euros in sales tax to the Greek government within a month – long before any hospital is likely to pay.
“It’s a terrible situation,” Mr Stamos says. “Everything is frozen. The economy is dead, and no one is paying anyone.”
Medical Service is but a snapshot of what is happening to businesses across Greece as the economy’s gears grind to a halt. After sputtering through four years of recession, most commercial activity has all but ceased over the past six weeks as the country endured two nail-biting elections with its future in the eurozone hanging in the balance.
The political paralysis has both quickened the outflow of deposits from Greece’s teetering banks and put on hold an EU-funded effort to recapitalise them. Business leaders say they can no longer obtain the most basic credit – even when they boast solid order books.
Making matters worse, the government, which controls much of the economy, has stopped paying its bills. As of last month, it owed nearly €7bn to the private sector.
A €174bn EU bailout was supposed to help, but it has had negligible effect on the real economy, since most of the funds leave the country as soon as they arrive to repay foreign creditors. READ MORE



NEED MONEY....Temporary Economic Assistance by Banco Social

Band-Aids for the Health Law

White House Prepares to Move Ahead if Parts Survive; GOP Plans a Repeal Vote

By LAURA MECKLER And LOUISE RADNOFSKY

Reuters

Dr. Vivek Murthy stands among other bystanders outside the Supreme Court during the first day of arguments on the health-care law in March.

White House officials say they are confident the Supreme Court will uphold the health-care law, but they also are preparing for a range of outcomes, including pressing ahead with what remains of the law if the court strikes down only part of it.
Republicans, meanwhile, are preparing a two-step approach if the court doesn't void the entire law: A quick vote in the House to repeal any parts of it that remain, which would be unlikely to get approval in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and then a push for a series of small changes to health-care policy.
The Supreme Court's decision, expected by the end of next week, could reshape the health-care landscape for consumers and companies. If the court keeps it in place, attention would shift to preparing for millions more Americans to get coverage starting in 2014 and for businesses to pay new taxes and penalties. If the court strikes down all of the law, consumer-friendly benefits such as Medicare drug rebates likely would disappear along with the requirement that some people pay a fee for going uninsured.
A core question before the Supreme Court is whether the law's requirement that most Americans must carry insurance or pay a fee, known as the individual mandate, is constitutional. Along with that, the court could also throw out a corollary provision that bans insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing health conditions. If that happens, administration officials believe millions of Americans could still obtain health insurance through the law, and President Barack Obama could claim progress toward his goals, according to Democrats familiar with White House officials' thinking.
White House officials have been fearful that any talk of contingency planning would send a message to the justices that there are alternatives if the court peels back the law. But senior officials have been talking through multiple scenarios in preparation for the court's ruling, Democrats said.
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said Tuesday that after a vote to overturn any parts of the health-care law that remain, the House would "move in a step-by-step approach to common-sense reforms that will lower the cost of health insurance and ensure that the American people can go to the doctor of their choice." But GOP leaders haven't settled on what specific proposals they would put forth. READ MORE

Arawk Bag 

Política migratoria imperial

19 / 06 / 2012 Dr. Matthew Spalding

El viernes, el Departamento de Seguridad Interior de la administración Obama hizo público un memorándum comentando a los responsables de inmigración de Estados Unidos cómo deberían “hacer cumplir las leyes de inmigración de la Nación contra ciertos jóvenes que fueron traídos a este país como niños y que el único hogar que conocen es este país”.
El movimiento de la administración es un intento de implementar los elementos principales de la ley DREAM, un controvertido proyecto de ley que ha sido propuesto ante Congresos controlados tanto por los demócratas como por los republicanos pero al que siempre le han faltado votos para ser aprobado como ley.
Habiendo fracasado en el Poder Legislativo, ¿cómo puede hacer esto el Ejecutivo?
La administración insiste en que tiene una amplia “discreción procesal” en lo que respecta al cumplimiento de la ley de inmigración. Nadie duda de que los jueces, los fiscales y las autoridades policiales deberían tener discreción sobre qué cargos imputar y cómo administrar algunos casos en particular. Aunque siempre hay excepciones a la regla. Pero la orden del viernes, que usa el término discreción unas 10 veces, parece ir más allá de la discreción hasta el punto de crear un esquema normativo contrario a la ley actual. Por tanto, la excepción se ha convertido en la regla.
Imagine a un jefe de policía instruyendo a los miembros de la fuerza policial para que no expidan multas por exceso de velocidad a nadie de menos de 26 años, independientemente de cuán rápido estuviera yendo el conductor. Eso no es discreción, eso es una instrucción normativa que cambia el significado de la ley. El antiguo jurista de la administración Bush John Yoo va más lejos aún:

Imagine el precedente que esta afirmación crearía. El presidente Romney podría bajar los tipos impositivos simplemente diciendo que no usará los recursos de las autoridades policiales para procesar a alguien que rehúse pagar el impuesto a las ganancias del capital. O podría revocar Obamacare simplemente rehusando a multar o procesar a alguien que lo viola.

Como cuestión de normativa, existen formas razonables y adecuadas para abordar el problema de los inmigrantes ilegales menores de edad que defendería los principios de la reforma de la inmigración y no abriría la puerta a una amnistía general. Encontrar una solución real mediante el proceso legislativo daría a la ley legitimidad y una mayor permanencia y podría incluso resultar en un acuerdo entre ambos partidos. Sería parte de una iniciativa más amplia para encontrar soluciones efectivas, razonables y proinmigración para salvaguardar las fronteras de la nación, fomentar el estado de derecho y administrar un sistema de inmigración y naturalización justo y positivo.
El problema fundamental es que la administración está tratando de implementar leyes que el Congreso no ha aprobado. El mismo presidente ha admitido que él no tiene la autoridad constitucional para implementar la ley DREAM: “La idea de hacer las cosas por mi cuenta es muy tentadora, se lo prometo, no sólo respecto a la reforma de la inmigración. Pero así no es como funciona nuestro sistema. Así no funciona nuestra democracia”, comentó el año pasado ante unos activistas hispanos.
De hecho, el orden ejecutivo parece reconocer sus defectos constitucionales: “Este memorándum no confiere un derecho  sustancial, un estatus inmigratorio o un camino hacia la ciudadanía”, admite el documento. “Sólo el Congreso, actuando mediante su autoridad legislativa, puede conceder esos derechos”. Aunque lo que la administración no puede lograr por la vía legal parece estar centrada en conseguirlo por medio de los hechos.
La administración está creando el hábito de sobrepasar sus límites. El pasado otoño otorgaba amplias dispensas para la ley Que Ningún Niño Se Quede Atrás si los estados implementaban estándares educativos nacionales no autorizados por el Congreso. “El Congreso no ha sido capaz de hacerlo, yo sí”, anunció entonces Obama. Luego están los nombramientos en receso por parte del presidente cuando el Senado no está en receso. Y la lista sigue.
En nuestro sistema de gobierno, el Congreso es el poder legislativo y es responsable de elaborar las leyes. Se supone que los presidentes “ejecutan fielmente” las leyes en la medida de sus capacidades, no que las reformen para que se ajusten a sus propios objetivos de aplicación de las normativas.

Bankers Want To Keep Greece Mired In Depression

Astounding quote lifts veil on elite’s arrogance
Paul Joseph Watson - Infowars.com - Tuesday, May 29, 2012

An astounding quote buried at the bottom of a CNBC article lifts the lid on the arrogance of the global banking elite and their desire to see Greece remain mired in depression.

The article, entitled Greece to Leave Euro Zone on June 18: Wealth Manager, focuses on Integral Asset Management’s Nick Dewhirst’s contention that Greece will exit the single currency the day after national elections on June 17 if the populist party is victorious.

However, in the very last paragraph of the story we read;

“Kit Juckes, global head of foreign exchange at Societe Generale, told CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange” (see video above) that the best outcome was “the status quo.” “A Greek economy in depression, austerity that guarantees they’ll stay in depression and living on life support from the rest of Europe is the best,” he said.”

As the representative of Societe Generale, one of Europe’s biggest banks, Juckes is brazenly admitting that the elite would rather see Greece rot and decline into a failed state than allow her to leave the euro and become economically independent once again.

Juckes’ quote also underscores how the austerity measures imposed on Greece by European technocrats are not in the country’s best interests at all and are in fact designed to keep Greece’s economy under the dictatorial control of the banking elite.

As we have previously documented, the biggest fear amongst technocrats is not for the welfare of the Greek people in the event of bank runs and panic engendered by an exit from the euro, but that a post-euro Greek economic recovery would provide a good example for other countries in the eurozone to follow.

In a Financial Times piece written by Arvind Subramanian, a Senior Fellow at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics, which counts amongst its directors numerous influential Bilderberg members, including former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, former United States Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, and Bilderberg kingpin David Rockefeller, the elite’s true concerns over a ‘Grexit’ are perfectly encapsulated. READ MORE

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20 Signs That Society Is Beaking Down And That America Has Been Overrun By Psychos

Michael Snyder - American Dream

In order for a society to function successfully, people need to be able to trust one another.  Unfortunately, we are rapidly getting to the point where it is very difficult to trust anyone and society is breaking down.

Just think about it.  Do you trust most politicians?  Do you trust most lawyers?  Do you trust most bankers?  Do you trust the police?  As you will read about below, even doctors are going absolutely bonkers these days.  So if the “upper crust” of society cannot even be trusted, then what about everyone else?  Sadly, the truth is that America has been overrun by psychos.  Most people look somewhat “normal” when you meet them, but unfortunately very few people have pure motives these days.  You never know when someone is going to stab you in the back (literally or figuratively).  These days, most people simply do whatever is right in their own eyes, and that makes society a very unpredictable place.  As the economy continues to fall apart in future years, people are going to become even more desperate, and that is going to cause all of this craziness to get even worse.
Almost everywhere you look, there are signs of societal decay.  During an interview last year, trends researcher Gerald Celentemade the following statement….

“Society is breaking down on every level: socially, economically, politically and it’s not just the U.S. It’s worldwide.”

Sadly, he hit the nail right on the head.  There is not a single segment of society that the rot of social decay has not touched.  A lot of people want to put all of the blame on “the politicians” or “the bankers”, but the truth is that many of us are just as corrupt as they are.  Instead of pointing fingers, many of us need to look in the mirror.
You might find some of the examples in the list below to be a bit humorous, but a very serious point is being made here.
America is being fundamentally changed, and not for the better.
The following are 20 signs that society is breaking down and that America has been overrun by psychos….
#1 Cannibalism is alive and well in America apparently.  Down in Miami the other day, police shot a man who was literally eating the face off of another man….

“The guy was, like, tearing him to pieces with his mouth, so I told him, ‘Get off!’” Vega said. “The guy just kept eating the other guy away, like, ripping his skin.”
Vega flagged down a Miami police officer, who he said repeatedly ordered the attacker to get off the victim. The attacker just picked his head up and growled at the officer, Vega said.
As the attack continued, Vega said the officer shot the attacker, who continued chewing the victim’s face. The officer fired again, killing the attacker.

It is being reported that the victim in this crime has lost about 75% of his face.
#2 Down in Florida recently, a crazed doctor spit a mouthful of blood on state troopers during a DUI arrest.  It is quite frightening when even doctors are displaying this kind of psychotic behavior…. READ MORE

Tax Cuts Stimulate Sweden

David Weinberger

Since the beginning of the recession, academics, authoritative international institutions, and most government officials pushed for massive stimulus spending. Sweden bucked the trend, focusing instead on slashing marginal tax rates and peeling government back. How did it fare?
The Spectator reports:

While most countries in Europeborrowed massively, Borg did not. Since becoming Sweden’s finance minister, his mission has been to pare back government. His ‘stimulus’ was a permanent tax cut. To critics, this was fiscal lunacy — the so-called ‘punk tax cutting’ agenda. Borg, on the other hand, thought lunacy meant repeating the economics of the 1970s and expecting a different result.
Three years on, it’s pretty clear who was right. ‘Look atSpain,Portugalor theUK, whose governments were arguing for large temporary stimulus,’ he says. ‘Well, we can see that very little of the stimulus went to the economy. But they are stuck with the debt.’ Tax-cuttingSweden, by contrast, had the fastest growth inEuropelast year, when it also celebrated the abolition of its deficit.

Too bad the U.S. decided against Sweden’s advice. Still, missing one opportunity doesn’t mean we have to miss another: Tax reform is calling.   

Los recortes de impuestos estimulan la economía de Suecia

 

Desde el comienzo de la recesión, el mundo académico, prestigiosas instituciones internacionales y la mayoría de los funcionarios públicos presionaron para que se llevara a cabo un masivo gasto en estímulo económico. Suecia rompió la tendencia, centrándose más bien en reducir los tipos impositivos marginales y haciendo retroceder la expansión del gobierno. ¿Y cómo les fue a los suecos?

La revista británica Spectator cuenta lo que hizo el el ministro de finanzas de Suecia, Anders Borg:

Mientras la mayoría de países en Europa se endeudó masivamente, Borg no lo hizo. Desde que se convirtió en ministro de finanzas de Suecia, la misión [de Borg] ha sido meterle la tijera a las finanzas públicas. Su “estímulo” fue una reducción de impuestos permanente. Para los críticos, eso era una locura fiscal – la denominada agenda de “recorte fiscal punk”. Borg, por otro lado, pensó que locura era repetir la política económica de los años 70 y esperar un resultado diferente…
Tres años después, está bien claro quién tenía razón. “Miren a España, Portugal o el Reino Unido, cuyos gobiernos defendieron grandes paquetes temporales de estímulo”, dice Borg. “Bueno, podemos ver que muy poco de ese estímulo llegó a la economía. Pero se quedaron con la deuda”. La Suecia del recorte de impuestos, por el contrario, tuvo el año pasado el crecimiento más rápido de Europa, cuando también celebró el fin de su déficit.

Es una lástima que Estados Unidos decidiese lo contrario desoyendo el consejo de los suecos. No obstante, perder una oportunidad no significa que tengamos que perder la siguiente. Y esa es acometer una buena reforma fiscal.