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The Charts The Government Doesn’t Want You To See
A healthy skepticism of government statistics is one of those self-preservation mechanisms that keeps us from hurting ourselves. Misleading official statistics too often lead people and businesses to act contrary to their own best interests and plan for scenarios that never happen.
We have always questioned what the government gives us; it’s not only a self-preservation mechanism, it’s part of our patriotic duty in the democratic system.
Take these two charts, presented by Robin Harding over at the Financial Times Money Supply blog. One is of the U.S.’s real GDP in dollars, and one is of the percent change of real GDP. The green bars are the government’s GDP estimates in June 2010, the blue are estimates from a year later in June 2011, and the red are the most recent estimates, from July 29, 2011.
What the charts are screaming is that the government has a consistent tendency to overinflate GDP numbers, and that the United States never really emerged from recession.
Take the second quarter of 2009—which has been continuously revised lower to the tune of a quarter trillion dollars. That’s enough to pay the annual median income ($52,000) for 4.8 million U.S. families—no small error. The percentage change chart shows something starker—a consistent fall of GDP since early 2010
Super Congress To Target Second Amendment
The so-called “Super Congress” that is about to be created with the debt ceiling vote will have powers far beyond just controlling the nation’s purse strings – its authority will extend to target the second amendment – eviscerating normal protections that prevent unconstitutional legislation from being fast-tracked into law.As the Huffington Post reported last month, the debt deal that has already been passed by the House and faces the Senate tomorrow will create an unconstitutional “Super Congress” that will be comprised of six Republicans and six Democrats and granted “extraordinary new powers” to quickly force legislation through both chambers.
Legislation decided on by the Super Congress would be immune from amendment and lawmakers would only be able to register an up or down vote, eliminating the ability to filibuster. The Speaker of the House would effectively lose the power to prevent unpopular bills from making it to the House floor.
But far from just being a committee that would make recommendations concerning the debt ceiling, the body is now to be granted Read more…
Drought by area impacted is worst ever – though majority of US still drought free
From the University of Nebraska-Lincoln , a new record in the 12 year old drought monitor.
US sets drought monitor’s ‘exceptional drought’ record in July
Worst classification for drought in nearly 12 percent of contiguous US
The percent of contiguous U.S. land area experiencing exceptional drought in July reached the highest levels in the history of the U.S. Drought Monitor, an official at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln said.
Nearly 12 percent of the contiguous United States fell into the “exceptional” classification during the month, peaking at 11.96 percent on July 12. That level of exceptional drought had never before been seen in the monitor’s 12-year history, said Brian Fuchs, UNL assistant geoscientist and climatologist at the NDMC.
The monitor uses a ranking system that Read more…
US debt crisis: US House passes debt bill
As the House of Representatives passed a last minute bill to raise the US borrowing limit while cutting spending by $2.4 trillion, Left-wingers felt betrayed by the White House, saying the price paid to win Republican support had been much too high.
The legislation is due to be approved by the Senate on Tuesday, just hours before the US was due default on its obligations for the first time in its history.
It was approved by 269 votes to 161 votes as both discontented liberals and Tea Party Republicans who wanted even more spending cuts voted against.
Representative Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat, said: “This deal is a sugar-coated Satan sandwich. If you lift the bun, you will not like what you see.”
Another, Cedric Richmond from New Orleans, said he feared it would have a “devastating impact” on working and middle class families, whom Read more…
The United States Only Has $54 Billion Of Cash Left In The Bank
Um, John, we’re about to go broke. What say we call off the circus act and finally do something about it?
Image: AP Photo/Harry Hamburg
Maybe this news will wake up those irresponsible idiots in Washington.The United States only has $54 billion of cash left in the bank.
That’s down from $100+ billion only eight days ago.
In the middle of last week came the shocking news that Apple, Inc., had more cash than the United States. Now, Apple has a lot more cash than the United States.
By early next week, if Congress can’t get its act together, the United States will have less cash than Google. Then Salesforce.com. Then, eventually, Pets.com.
Maybe, instead of preening in front of TV cameras, Congress folks should just hit the streets of Washington with hats in hand this weekend. If all 535 members spend all weekend out on the Mall, we might scrape together enough cash to last a few more hours. And these efforts will certainly Read more…
North Korea seeks peace treaty with US
NORTH overnight called for a peace treaty with the US to formally close the Korean War.
The call was made as a senior North Korean official arrived in New York for rare discussions with the US on the stalled denuclearisation talks, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
The US still has more than 28,000 troops in South Korea, close to six decades after the 1950-1953 war on the peninsular ended in a cease-fire, the report said. A peace treaty is a long-held goal for Pyongyang.
“Concluding a peace agreement may be the first step for settling the Korean issue, including denuclearisation,” the north’s official Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary.
Agreeing a peace accord “will provide an institutional guarantee for wiping out the bilateral distrust and opening the relations of mutual respect and equality”, the commentary said.
The six-party talks – involving North and South Korea, the US, China, Japan and Russia – stalled for three years after Pyongyang stormed out in protest over sanctions.
But Pyongyang’s envoy held talks with his Seoul counterpart last week raising the prospect that the dialogue could resume.
US Navy orders laser machine guns
US Navy warships will soon be equipped with fearful combination weapons mounts boasting both heavy machine-guns and high powered laser rayguns, it has been announced.
Manufacturer Boeing says it has inked a teaming agreement with the US operations of arms globo-mammoth BAE Systems to build the Mk 38 Mod 2 Tactical Laser System to naval requirements. We learn that the new raygun installation will be based on the existing Mk 38 Machine Gun System, a robotic gun turret whose primary punch is provided by the fearsome M242 Bushmaster Chain Gun, effectively a light auto-cannon.
The new enhanced laser version will also boast a high-energy laser intended for such tasks as raying small flying robots and/or boats:
The addition of the laser weapon module brings high-precision accuracy against surface and air targets such as small boats and unmanned aerial vehicles. The system also provides the ability to Read more…
What happens if the U.S. defaults?
Blank U.S. Treasury cheques are run through a printer at the U.S. Treasury printing facility July 18 in Philadelphia.The first payments that stand to be affected if the U.S. government defaults on Aug. 2 would be some $23 billion US in Social Security benefit cheques. (William Thomas Cain/Getty)How a default would unfold immediately appears relatively straightforward. It’s the reaction that no one can predict, because it’s never happened before.
The first move will be made by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The Fed is the Treasury Department’s bank, handling government cheques and lending to banks which borrow using U.S. Treasury debt as collateral.
One day — the U.S. government has estimated it will be Aug. 2 — the Fed will serve notice on the government that its account at the Fed will be in overdraft by the end of the day, in violation of the Federal Reserve Act.
On Aug. 3, some Read more…
Black Helicopters Seen In Multiple States As Pentagons Deployment Of 20,000 Troops Inside United States Set To Be Ready This Year
I can personally say that I have witnessed this with my own eyes as I reside in Austin, TX. Almost daily I have seen unmarked helicopters in pairs of two or three with one usually being a Chinook hovering at low altitudes as I feel the vibration through the walls of my house. It usually it occurs after 2PM and during the evening hours before sunset. -Crisisboom
Note: Both The Washington Post and Russia Today reported in 2008 that the Pentagon was training 20,000 troops to be deployed inside The United States to serve as a response to a mass terror attack or civil unrest following an economic collapse.
Since our groundbreaking article, Pentagon To Deploy 20,000 Troops In CONUS For Civil Unrest, we have received many different tips and eye witness accounts related to the possible deployment of foreign and/or American military to quell civil unrest inside the United States as well as a reports of a growing number of large, unmarked black helicopters.
Activist Post, a great website that has supported The Intel Hub from the beginning, also received some significant tips from their version of our article that they posted:
There have been massive large black helicopters flying over my city of Boulder, Colorado at sunrise; the helicopters have two large propellers,they appear to be transport helicopters. This hasn’t happened before; they fly in Read more…
Classified report: Russia tied to blast at U.S. embassy
Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the chamber’s Republican whip, said he sent a classified letter in June to the House and Senate intelligence committees asking them to investigate the incident and report back to members. (Associated Press)
U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in a classified report late last year that Russia’s military intelligence was responsible for a bomb blast that occurred at an exterior wall of the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia, in September.
The highly classified report about the Sept. 22 incident was described to The Washington Times by two U.S. officials who have read it. They said the report supports the findings of the Georgian Interior Ministry, which traced the bombing to a Russian military intelligence officer.
The Times reported last week that Shota Utiashvili, director of information and analysis for the Georgian Interior Ministry, said the embassy blast and others in his country were the work of a Russian military intelligence officer named Maj. Yevgeny Borisov.
“It is written without hedges, and it confirms the Read more…
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