economic - Forum/Discussions - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-28T18:31:10Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/feed/tag/economicCurrent Eventshttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/current-events2016-01-21T16:35:11.000Z2016-01-21T16:35:11.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div><p> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828844230,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}3828844230,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="580" class="align-full" alt="3828844230?profile=original" /></a> </p><p></p><p></p><p> <b>From The Ramparts</b></p><p> Junious Ricardo Stanton</p><p><b> Current Events</b></p><p><b> </b></p><p><b> </b></p><p><b> </b> 2016 has gotten off to a rocky start, the global economic system is experiencing tremors and rumblings of a downturn that may lead to significant damage to an already precarious global economic condition. The media and the Obama administration tell the American public the economy is doing well and in a growth mode but nothing could be further from the truth. For example early 2016 reports indicate this will be a bad year for the retail giants which will impact domestic and global employment numbers and people's ability to pay their bills.</p><p> Even the 1% ownership class is alarmed as the stock markets have been down early in January 2016 with gloomy predictions as the Wall Street machinations, casino style manipulations and Ponzi schemes finally catch up to the 1 % crowd. But the bad news is while most of us are not into the stock and commodities markets, the downturn or crash may take us all down with them because many of our pension funds are tied to them.</p><p> "Stock markets in the US and around the world ended the week with massive selloffs, rocked by fears that the slowdown in China and plunging oil and commodity prices will trigger a new financial crisis on the order of the 2007-2008 disaster. Another sharp fall on Chinese markets, with the Shanghai Composite Index dropping 3.55 percent, followed by a 6 percent fall in oil prices to $29 a barrel, set off a wave of panic selling. The mood was summed up by the chief strategist at Federated Investors, who said, 'Investors are scared to death, and the fact that it’s happening at the beginning of the year has some historical significance.'</p><p> A major factor in the Chinese selloff was concern that Beijing will report its weakest full-year growth figure in 25 years on Tuesday. On Friday, Walmart announced that it will close 269 stores, 154 of them in the US, and eliminate 16,000 jobs. The Walmart statement, coming on the heels of multi-store closure announcements by Macy’s and Sears-Kmart, highlighted the worsening slowdown in the real economy globally and in the US that underlies the turbulence on stock and bond markets. It also reflected the reality of falling wages and mounting income insecurity affecting broad layers of the US population." Global Stock Plunge Amid Fears of A New Financial Crisis by Barry Grey 16 January 2016 <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/01/16/econ-j16.html">https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/01/16/econ-j16.html</a></p><p> A recent report showed there are record numbers of retail chain and big box stores shutting stores down and laying off employees: The following is a recent report on this situation. "Macy’s will <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurengensler/2016/01/06/macys-cost-cutting-jobs/">close 36 stores and cut hundreds of jobs</a> after a disappointing sales and earnings performance in 2015. Other big-name chains are also closing up shop at under-performing locations in 2016, including <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/paularosenblum/2015/06/15/gap-continues-downsizing-closing-an-additional-175-stores/">Gap Inc.</a>, which will shutter 175 across North America, and Walgreens, which plans to close 200. These announcements have become fairly predictable. Just today,<a href="http://www.thestreet.com/story/13421387/1/like-macys-jc-penney-to-close-stores-in-2016.html" target="_blank">J.C. Penney told <em>TheStreet.com</em></a> that it would likely shut seven mall stores before 2016 is out. Of these retailers downsizing brick-and-mortar footprints, J.C. Penney is the most at-risk, according to data from Rapid Ratings." <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2016/01/12/retailers-at-risk-these-five-store-chains-face-an-uphill-battle-in-2016/#2715e4857a0b701e225f6a2c">http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2016/01/12/retailers-at-risk-these-five-store-chains-face-an-uphill-battle-in-2016/#2715e4857a0b701e225f6a2c</a>,.</p><p> J.C. Penney is not the only major retailer that plans to close stores in 2016. Other retail giants have also announced plans to close stores and lay off workers. Here is a list of the names of the retailers and the number of stores that have announced will close in 2016. 400 <a href="http://retailindustry.about.com/od/retailbestpractices/ig/Company-Mission-Statements/Office-Depot-Mission-Statement.htm">Office Depot</a> / <a href="http://retailindustry.about.com/od/retailbestpractices/ig/Company-Mission-Statements/OfficeMax-Mission-Statement.htm">Office Max</a> (by 2016), 223 <a href="http://retailindustry.about.com/od/retailbestpractices/ig/Company-Mission-Statements/Barnes-Noble-Mission-Statement.htm">Barnes & Noble</a> (through 2023), 200 Children’s Place (through 2017), 200 <a href="http://retailindustry.about.com/od/retailbestpractices/ig/Company-Mission-Statements/Walgreens-Drug-Store-Mission-Statement.htm">Walgreens</a> (by 2017), 175 Aeropostale (over the next several years) 154 Walmart (US 102 Walmart Express, 12 Walmart Supercenter, 6 Walmart, 23 Walmart Neighborhood Market, 4 Sam's Clubs), 150 <a href="http://retailindustry.about.com/od/retailbestpractices/ig/Company-Mission-Statements/American-Eagle-Mission-Values.htm">American Eagle Outfitters</a> (through 2017) 150 Finish Line ,120 Chico’s (through 2017),1 Persnickety Toys, 100 Pier One (through 2017) 60 Pier One (fiscal 2016, ending February, 2016), 54 Golf Galaxy (by 2016 ,36 Macy's, 35 <a href="http://retailindustry.about.com/od/retailbestpractices/ig/Company-Mission-Statements/The-Gap-Stores-Mission-Statement.htm">Gap</a> / Gap Kids (2016), 30 Hartstrings (Out of Business) , 27 Sears and Kmart, 20 Pick ’n Save (by 2017<b>),</b> <strong>14 Kitson’s</strong> <b>,</b> <strong>10 Barnes & Noble (2016 calendar year), 5 Hallmark,</strong> <b> </b><strong>3 Martin's Food and Drugstore</strong><b>,</b> <strong>2 Elder-Beerman (Bon-Ton),</strong> <b> </b><strong>1 American Greetings</strong><b>,</b> <strong>1 Ann Taylor</strong><b>,</b> <strong>1 Target</strong><b>,</b> <strong>1 Wavedancer (Out of Business) <a href="http://retailindustry.about.com/od/USRetailStoreClosingInfoFAQs/fl/US-2016-Store-Closings-All-Retail-Chain-Store-Locations-To-Be-Closed_2.htm">http://retailindustry.about.com/od/USRetailStoreClosingInfoFAQs/fl/US-2016-Store-Closings-All-Retail-Chain-Store-Locations-To-Be-Closed_2.htm</a></strong></p><p><strong> None of the presidential candidates are talking about this, to hear them tell it everything is honky-dory because for most of them it is, they are rich and they don't have to worry about the things most Americans fret and fume about like job security, having to work two or more jobs, surviving on a pension, how they can pay their bills, piling debt and lowered standards of living.</strong></p><p><strong> The Republican candidates are fixated on war, expanding the police state, and none of them are talking about issues and solutions the resonate with working class or poor people: income inequality, economic apartheid, the outsourcing of US jobs and the bail out of Wall Street. It's as if they have all gone totally insane, they are totally insensitive to the plight of the average citizen. Hillary Clinton is a tool of Wall Street and a warmonger so we cannot expect her to offer any real solutions for us. Senator Sanders talks about economic inequality but does not mention how US imperialism is draining the economy.</strong></p><p><strong> Other critical issues facing us in 2016 are the very real threats to humanity, world peace and ecocide by the psychopathic and megalomaniacal ruling elites. The famed Doomsday Clock a visual reminder of the potential for global annihilation was moved closer to the midnight hour; to 11:57 PM this year. "</strong>The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists doesn't use the clock to make any real <a href="http://www.livescience.com/42107-doomsday-real-ways-earth-could-end.html">doomsday</a> predictions. Rather, the clock is a visual metaphor to warn the public about how close the world is to a potentially civilization-ending catastrophe. Each year, the magazine's board analyzes threats to humanity's survival to decide where the Doomsday Clock's hands should be set. Experts on the board said they felt a sense of urgency this year because of the world's ongoing addiction to fossil fuels, procrastination with enacting laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions and slow efforts to get rid of <a href="http://www.livescience.com/32532-who-has-nuclear-weapons.html">nuclear weapons</a>." <a href="http://www.livescience.com/49527-doomsday-clock-3-minutes-to-midnight.html">http://www.livescience.com/49527-doomsday-clock-3-minutes-to-midnight.html</a>.</p><p> Genetically Modified Organisms, what I call Frankenfoods and Frankenseeds are on the rise and proliferate the globe despite the efforts of activists and scientists to warn us about their dangers. The US government is being bribed and bought off by the giant so called bio-tech industries like Monsanto which are doing booming business both here and around the world! "The <b>"Big 6" pesticide and GMO corporations</b> are <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BASF" title="BASF">BASF</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bayer" title="Bayer">Bayer</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dupont" title="Dupont">Dupont</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dow_Chemical_Company" title="Dow Chemical Company">Dow Chemical Company</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Monsanto" title="Monsanto">Monsanto</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Syngenta" title="Syngenta">Syngenta</a>. They are so called because they dominate the agricultural input market -- that is, they own the world’s seed, pesticide and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Biotechnology" title="Biotechnology">biotechnology</a> industries. According to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/United_Nations" title="United Nations">United Nations</a> Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), corporate concentration of the agricultural input market 'has far-reaching implications for global food security, as the privatization and patenting of agricultural innovation (gene traits, transformation technologies and seed germplasm) has been supplanting traditional agricultural understandings of seed, farmers' rights, and breeders' rights.'" <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/</a>"Big_6"_Pesticide_and_GMO_Corporations</p><p> These are just a few of the issues facing us in 2016 that for the most part the corporate mind control apparatus is not discussing because they are too busy distracting us from what is really going on in the world and brainwashing us to go along with the ruling class' okey-doke and flim flam which could very well bring the world to the brink of economic collapse, world war or both.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> -30-</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><b> </b></p><p><b> </b></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></div>Criminalizing The Poorhttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/criminalizing-the-2015-06-08T18:15:25.000Z2015-06-08T18:15:25.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div><p></p><p><b>From The Ramparts ~</b></p><p> Junious Ricardo Stanton ~</p><p><b> </b><i>“If anything, the criminalization of poverty has accelerated since the recession, with growing numbers of states drug testing applicants for temporary assistance, imposing steep fines for school truancy, and imprisoning people for debt. Such measures constitute a cruel inversion of the Johnson-era principle that it is the responsibility of government to extend a helping hand to the poor. Sadly, this has become the means by which the wealthiest country in the world manages to remain complacent in the face of alarmingly high levels of poverty: by continuing to blame poverty not on the economy or inadequate social supports, but on the poor themselves.”</i> It is Expensive to Be Poor Barbara Ehrenreich <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/it-is-expensive-to-be-poor/282979/">http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/it-is-expensive-to-be-poor/282979/</a></p><p> </p><p>The veneer of the Untied States as the bastion of opportunity and the fanciful Horatio Alger rags to riches narrative is being replaced by an increasingly rigid system based upon wealth and color. The U.S. economy despite what the corporate mind control apparatus says is stagnant at least for working class folks and more and more working class people are falling into poverty and they can’t get up.</p><p>Today in America it is devastating to be poor. Not only are the poor denigrated and stigmatized, they are being criminalized in such a way it will make it even more difficult to get back on their feet and move out of their impoverished circumstances into a better and possibly higher socio-economic state and status. A report by the Institute for Policy Studies called <b>The Poor Get Prison The Alarming Spread of the Criminalization of Poverty</b> by Karen Dolan and Jodi L. Carr <a href="http://www.ips-dc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/IPS-The-Poor-Get-Prison-Final.pdf">http://www.ips-dc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/IPS-The-Poor-Get-Prison-Final.pdf</a> concluded by saying, “We are a nation that has turned its welfare system into a criminal system. We criminalize life-sustaining activities of people too poor to afford shelter. We incarcerate more people than any other nation in the world. And we institute policies that virtually bar them for life from participating in society once they have done their time. We have allowed the resurgence of debtors’ prisons. We’ve created a second tier public education system for poor children and black and Latino children that disproportionally criminalizes their behavior and sets them early onto the path of incarceration and lack of access to assistance and opportunity.”</p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828837867,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}3828837867,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" alt="3828837867?profile=original" /></a>A study by the National Poverty Center called the <b>Colors of Poverty</b>: <b>Why Racial and Ethnic Disparities Persist</b> concluded that poverty was the result of systemic disparities over a period of time and that one metric of poverty often impacted others creating a cyclical effect which made it difficult for a person living in poverty to extricate him or herself from being poor. Some of their findings were: “Racial disparities in poverty result from cumulative disadvantage over the life course, as the effects of hardship in one domain spill over into other domains. In the U.S., one of every three African American children and one of every four Latino children live in poverty— two times higher than the rate for white children. Whites report better overall health than blacks, Latinos, and Asians, even after controlling for poverty, education, and unemployment. The collateral consequences of felony conviction—such as bans on entering many occupations, on voting, jury service, and receiving federal college loans and grants—harm both ex-offenders and their communities. Residents of a predominately black or Hispanic neighborhood have access to roughly half as many social services as those in predominately white neighborhoods.” <a href="http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief16/PolicyBrief16.pdf">http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief16/PolicyBrief16.pdf</a></p><p>The United States’ level of wealth inequality is staggering. Now it is worsening every year. “The overall wealth pie has grown but almost all of the gains have gone to the wealthiest 1 percent of households. <u>The top 1 percent of households currently have more wealth than the bottom 95 percent combined</u>. While real wages have fallen for half of U.S. workers, compensation to top managers and CEOs has skyrocketed. Inequality in wages is at an all time high. During the last twenty-five years, three out of four U.S. wage-earners have lost ground on the job. In real terms this means that people’s wages have not kept up with inflation or that workers have lost some portion of the benefits they previously had. Instead of having a pension or 100 percent health care coverage, many workers now have no retirement security or pay some or all of their health care costs. Many workers are now temporary or part time workers with no benefits. Some have lost their jobs and have not been able to find a comparable paying job or any job at all.” <b><u>Economic Apartheid In America A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity</u></b>. Revised and Updated 2005 By Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel page 6.</p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828837790,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}3828837790,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" alt="3828837790?profile=original" /></a>To make matters worse the U.S. is increasingly making it a crime to be poor. Go Online and find the Institute for Policy Studies report <b>The Poor Get Prison</b> <a href="http://www.ips-dc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/IPS-The-Poor-Get-Prison-Final.pdf">http://www.ips-dc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/IPS-The-Poor-Get-Prison-Final.pdf</a> it documents how local state and federal policies are placing a heavy and unfair burden on poor people. Black and Brown people have always been targeted by law enforcement and the judicial system but now figures reveal that the sordid U.S history of racial animus, bias and this prejudice is embedded into the very fabric of every institution in this nation. Employment discrimination and difficulties for Black and Latino communities to establish their own banking and financial institutions makes in almost impossible to create a viable economic infrastructure so many turn to the street hustle which includes petty crime and the drug trade.</p><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828837912,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}3828837912,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" alt="3828837912?profile=original" /></a> Policy makers decided to wage a war on drugs but it was the small time street level dealers who were profiled and targeted rather than the large scale traffickers probably because the large drug traffickers (like the US CIA and Too Big To Fail Banks like Wacovia) were in cahoots with the law and public policy makers. “Public policies labeled the ‘War on Drugs’ of the 1980s and 1990s largely targeted minorities—a fact recognized by politicians and policymakers, and documented by research. In 1993, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan warned that by choosing policies focused on prohibition of drugs “we are choosing to have an intense crime problem concentrated among minorities”. Researcher Michael Tonry noted that, ‘[a]nyone with knowledge of drug trafficking patterns and of police arrest policies and incentives could have foreseen that the enemy troops in the War on Drugs would consist largely of young, inner-city, minority males. Since the mid- 1980s, the War on Drugs has produced legislative initiatives by politicians attempting to demonstrate that public safety is a priority. However, evidence suggests that by 1989 drug use was in decline, except among poor urban minorities. Apparently, the proponents of using the tough criminal sanctions rather than other strategies (e.g., those linked to public health) to curtail drug use in these communities knew, or chose to ignore, that it would disproportionately affect young blacks and Hispanics and their communities. The federal statutes relating to crack prescribe a five-year mandatory prison term for possession of five grams of crack cocaine; but under the same law, possession of five hundred grams of powder cocaine is required for the same five-year prison term. In 1999, 85 percent of those serving long sentences for crack cocaine under this law were African American. The tougher policy for crack was based on the belief that it was more addictive and a greater threat to public safety. Economic competition in illicit street crack markets produced significant violence in poor communities, but not crack addiction. Powder cocaine markets, however, were concentrated indoors in wealthier communities, thereby avoiding the violence but not the addiction. Policies emphasizing the criminal rather than the public health aspects of the use and trafficking of illegal drugs over the past two decades, coupled with more aggressive policing against street crack markets in poor urban communities contributed to widening racial disparities in the criminal justice system and produced consequences of crisis proportions in the black community, especially for young black males. Increases in drug arrests combined with an increased use of incarceration for punishment for drug offenses during the 1990s had a particularly severe effect on minority youth. Drug arrests for juveniles (10 to 17 age group) in the 1980 to 1993 period fell 28 percent for whites but increased by 231 percent for blacks. In 1980, black and white rates for juvenile drug arrests were similar; by 1993 black rates were more than four times the white rate (Figure 1), and 46 percent of all juvenile drug arrests were black youth” Race Ethnicity and the Criminal Justice System American Sociological Association Department of Research and Development <a href="http://www.asanet.org/images/press/docs/pdf/ASARaceCrime.pdf">http://www.asanet.org/images/press/docs/pdf/ASARaceCrime.pdf</a>.</p><p>It’s not just drug dealers who feel the brunt of “the system” that keeps poor folks in a never ending spiral of lack and disadvantage. The whole system is stacked against the poor to the point if you get down and out and become homeless you are treated like a leper and a criminal. In a tanking economy where only the super rich are doing well, one unanticipated medical episode, a major home repair bill, accident or family crisis can be financially catastrophic. To add insult to injury often it is those kinds of situations that cause people to enter the social welfare or “justice” systems and experience their callousness and antipathy.</p><p> Wall Street fraud and speculation almost took down the US and global economies but not one bankster or hedge fund operator was indicted or went to jail. Yet if you are a working class person and you fall on hard times, collection agency and police harassment, court and jail may be in your future. Once in the system you can be nickel and dimed for fines and fees and if you are unable to pay you can end up in jail. Go to <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/05/19/312455680/state-by-state-court-fees">http://www.npr.org/2014/05/19/312455680/state-by-state-court-fees</a> to see a state by state list of fees and fines many poor people are subjected to once they enter the system for even the most trifling reasons. Poor and homeless people are especially being targeted. “Tonight, thousands of homeless people in the United States will face the possibility of arrest because they do not have a safe place to sleep. Thousands more could be arraigned for sitting or standing in the wrong place. While they must sleep rest their legs, homeless people live in cities where these and other life sustaining activities are against the law, even though shelters face a critical shortage of beds.</p><p>Criminalization laws can take many forms. Most commonly, they outlaw sitting, sleeping in vehicles or outdoors, lying down, ‘hanging out,’ sharing food, and camping. What makes them even more insidious is that they can be difficult to detect. Curfews on public parks are often explained by municipalities as a way to deter drug-related crimes. In reality, they are frequently a way to ensure that homeless people don’t use park benches as beds. By not having enough safe sleeping spaces, cities are forcing their homeless persons to live on the streets with virtually no other options, and then arresting them for doing so. These laws represent a gross violation of human rights, and have received a large amount of criticism from civil rights advocates around the country and the world…There has been a nationwide <a href="http://www.nlchp.org/documents/No_Safe_Place">increase</a> in criminalization laws since 2011, despite mounting evidence that criminalization is the most expensive and least effective way to deal with homelessness. As cities increasingly opt for these bad policies, there will eventually be no safe place left for homeless people. Instead, communities should focus on constructive alternatives to criminalization that actually work; policies like the ‘housing first’ strategy that provides housing and supportive services to homeless people and is also much less costly than the price of jail stays and emergency room visits.” No Safe Place: How Cities Are Making It Illegal to Be Homeless <a href="http://talkpoverty.org/2014/08/11/no-safe-place/">http://talkpoverty.org/2014/08/11/no-safe-place/</a></p><p>Things are getting so bad in the U.S. it won’t be long before we’re living in a hi-tech version of Charles Dickens England where being poor is a crime in and of itself.</p><p> </p><p> -30-</p><p class="attachment"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828837867,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank">Income Inequality Is Getting Worse.jpg</a></p><p class="attachment"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828837912,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank">prison-funding-twice-colleges-539x404.jpg</a></p><p class="attachment"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828837790,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank">US Incarceration Rates by race.jpg</a></p></div>Grass Root Women Economic Empowerment Projects (FAIR-TRADE)https://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/grass-root-women-economic-empowerment-projects-fair-trade2013-05-24T17:34:23.000Z2013-05-24T17:34:23.000ZAlbert KUNIHIRAhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/AlbertKUNIHIRA<div><div><font size="4"><font face="Book Antiqua">Join us to support Grass Root Women Fair-Trade Handicraft Projects in Uganda. We're looking for buyers, retailers, wholesalers of our handicrafts. You can also support our projects by volunteering to train our project beneficiaries in new livelihood skills, for further details about our My Hand My Future projects, kindly follow </font></font><a href="http://is.gd/oFu7lw"><font size="4" face="Book Antiqua">http://is.gd/oFu7lw</font></a><br /><font size="4" face="Book Antiqua">To view various project products, project activities in photos, kindly follow </font><a href="http://is.gd/UAO3kL%C2%A0"><font size="4" face="Book Antiqua">http://is.gd/UAO3kL </font></a></div><div><div><font face="Book Antiqua"><font size="4">To DONATE to this project, follow us at </font></font><a href="http://www.aymu.givengain.org/"><font size="4" face="Book Antiqua">http://www.aymu.givengain.org/</font></a><font face="Book Antiqua"><font size="4"> your financial Donation of US$ 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 or more make a huge difference in fighting poverty in Africa which is a major HIV/AIDS epidemic driver among women and Girls. See attached product files.</font></font></div><div><br /></div><div><font size="4" face="Book Antiqua">Let Us End Poverty Together,</font></div><div><br /></div><div><div align="justify"><font size="4">Albert KUNIHIRA</font></div><div align="justify"><font face="Book Antiqua"><font size="4">CEO/Peace & AIDS Activist<br />Africa Youth Ministries<br />AG. Director Living Hope Health Care<br />P.O. BOX 20029, Kampala-Uganda<br />Plot 002 Jerusalem Avenue, Off Airport Road<br />P: +256-776-200002/753-200002/793-200002</font></font></div><div align="justify"><font face="Book Antiqua"><font size="4">Online Giving: <a href="http://www.aymu.givengain.org">www.aymu.givengain.org</a><br />E: </font></font><font size="4" face="Book Antiqua"><a href="mailto:mhf@aymu.org">mhf@aymu.org</a> </font><font face="Book Antiqua"><font size="4">I: </font><a href="http://www.aymu.org/"><font size="4">www.aymu.org</font></a><font size="4"> <font color="#CC33CC"><b>Skype: stopaidsug</b></font> </font></font></div><div align="justify"><font face="Book Antiqua"><font size="4"><font color="#006600"><b>"Before you can think of printing this mail, think about the environment"</b></font> </font></font></div><div align="justify"><font size="4" face="Book Antiqua">Africa Youth Ministries is a registered Charity in Uganda No 5914/6068 </font></div><p><font size="4" face="Book Antiqua"> </font></p></div></div><p class="attachment"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828815607,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank">CRAFTS4.JPG</a></p><p class="attachment"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828815620,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank">CRAFTS3.JPG</a></p><p class="attachment"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828815577,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank">CRAFTS1.JPG</a></p></div>April 15th Deadline For Matching Grant For Black Wall Street Organizationhttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/april-15th-deadline-for-matching-grant-for-black-wall-street2012-04-09T17:49:32.000Z2012-04-09T17:49:32.000ZMark S. Allenhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/MarkSAllen<div><p><font size="4"><span class="yiv296189785messageBody">GREAT News!! A small grants foundation has agreed to give Black Wall Street Chicago a $500 matching grant for office operations for our Chicago/Midwest Regional Offices if we can raise the first $500 by April 15th !!! WE THE PEOPLE can do this before the 15th and the offices can now afford to get its new official office incubator phones and fax!! PLUS we can start our April promotions for Consumer Education and Black Economic Empowerment Advocacy Workshops !</span></font></p><h6 class="yiv296189785uiStreamMessage"><font size="4"><span class="yiv296189785messageBody">Your contributions this week can be sent to Black Wall Street Chicago at <span class="yiv296189785yshortcuts" id="yiv296189785lw_1333906208_1"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1333992307_1">4655 South King Drive, Suite 203, Chicago, Illinois 60653</span></span> Your help this week can turn $500 to $1,000 for the work to sustain and increase Black owned businesses and jobs!!</span></font></h6><p><font size="4"><span class="yiv296189785messageBody"><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">Mark S. Allen</span><br /><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">Chairman Of The Board</span><br /><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;"><span id="yiv296189785lw_1332607479_0" class="yiv296189785yshortcuts"><span class="yiv296189785yshortcuts" id="yiv296189785lw_1333906208_0"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1333992307_0">Black Wall Street</span></span></span> Chicago Organization</span><br /><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">Chief of Staff To National Chairman Rev. Michael Carter</span><br /><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">National Black Wall Street USA</span><br /><span id="yiv296189785lw_1332607479_1" class="yiv296189785yshortcuts"><span id="yiv296189785lw_1332788265_0" class="yiv296189785yshortcuts"><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">4655 South King Drive, Suite 203</span></span></span><br /><span class="yiv296189785yshortcuts"><span class="yiv296189785yshortcuts"><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">Chicago, Illinois 60653</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;">773-392-0165</span><br /><span style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;color:#222222;font-size:13px;"><span id="yiv296189785lw_1332607479_2" class="yiv296189785yshortcuts"><span id="yiv296189785lw_1332788265_1" class="yiv296189785yshortcuts"><a>markallen@blackwallstreet.org<br /><br />Mark S. Allen recently included in the 2012 Edition of Who's Who In Black Chicago as "one of Chicago's Most Influential Voices In The Black Community</a></span></span></span></span></font></p><p><font size="4"><span class="yiv296189785messageBody"><br /></span></font></p></div>US Pensions Are In Deep Troublehttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/us-pensions-are-in-deep2010-07-09T21:46:01.000Z2010-07-09T21:46:01.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div> <span style="font-weight:bold;">From The Ramparts</span><br /> Junious Ricardo Stanton<br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;"> US Pensions In Danger</span><br /><br /> <span style="font-style:italic;"> “The US economy is facing a pension crisis of unprecedented magnitude. The truth is that the cast majority of all pension funds in the United States both public and private are extremely underfunded. With millions upon millions of baby boomers now at retirement age, there is simply no way that all of these unfunded pension obligations can be met. Robert Novy-Marx of the University of Chicago and Joshua D. Rauh of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management recently calculated the collective unfunded pension liabilities for all 50 US states for Forbes magazine. So what was th total that they came up with? 3.2 trillion dollars.”</span> 10 Huge Flashing Danger Signs That the US Economy Is Headed For Disaster- The Truth 02-17-10<br /><br /> Despite what the lying Obama administration says, the US economy is not getting better. In fact we are in the throes of a full fledged Depression. I was doing research for an article and I typed “US Pensions In Danger” in my browser and one site caught my eye, <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Truth</span> with an article that was posted in February of 2010 entitled <span style="font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;">10 Huge Flashing Danger Signs That The US Economy Is Headed For Disaster</span>. Look it up and see for yourself just how bad things really are throughout the whole economy. I was merely interested in the pension situation because I’m a baby boomer myself and I’m retired. Plus I have seen rumblings in the media that the money changers and the kleptocrats are trying to get their hands on public and private pensions just like George W Bu$h tried to do with Social Security in 2004. Can you imagine how bad off we would be now if he Bu$h had succeeded with his larcenous plans?<br /> <br />But don’t sigh too loudly because the there are more plots being hatched to get our money. Obama is no joke when it comes to placating Wall Street and the international banksters. There is a plan afoot for the ongoing transfer of our wealth (as precarious as it is) to the super rich. Pension funds feature prominently in this transfer. The banksters have already enticed pension fund managers to invest heavily in stocks, bonds and the various Ponzi schemes Wall Street cooked up over the last few years. That would be great except in recent years the Wall Street wiz kids have turned the stock and commodities markets into a giant casino. Just like in most casinos, the game is rigged to favor the house. Unfortunately the losses for investors have been staggering but Wall Street successfully bogarted Congress by frightening them into bailing out the largest investment banks at the expense of the US tax payers and everyone else, including pension funds. “U.S. pension funds contributed to the record $1.2 trillion that private-equity firms raised this decade. Three of the biggest investors, state pensions in California, Oregon and Washington, plunked down at least $53.8 billion. So far, they only have dwindling paper profits and a lot less cash to show the millions of policemen, teachers and other civil servants in their retirement plans.” Pension Plans’ Private-Equity Cash Depleted as Profits Shrink Bloomberg <br /> <br /> If fraudulant insider market manipulation weren’t cause enough for alarm, it’s getting really scary because most pensions both public and private in the US are severely underfunded. This means they don’t have the money on hand or in investments to pay off their liabilities and obligations! With more and more folks reaching retirement age, this is currently and in the future will pose major problems for the companies, unions and governments. “However, with the U.S. housing collapse not yet at the half-way point (see “U.S. mortgage-crisis to get MUCH worse in 2010-11”), and losses from Wall Street's Ponzi-scheme having already siphoned more than $10 TRILLION in hand-outs and pledges to the banksters, a new multi-trillion dollar, pension nightmare has begun. By the end of 2008, losses in U.S. equities had depleted the total assets of U.S. state and local pension plans by roughly $2 trillion. Even when the U.S. economy appeared to be at the peak of its economic health, funding for U.S. pensions (excluding health care) was barely adequate. Thus, there is no ‘cushion’ to absorb these losses.” U.S. Pension Crisis: the $3 TRILLION question <a href="http://www.bullionbullscanada.com">www.bullionbullscanada.com</a> <br /> <br /> US states, counties and municipalities which were already under funding, “borrowing” from or skimming funds from their workers’ pension funds just to make ends meet are now even more cash strapped due to the Wall Street created financial meltdown. Most have no “rainy day” fund or contingency plan to catch up. The pension problem for state and city governments is one of the biggest debt hurdles localities face. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study in November that examined the unfunded pension liabilities for the 50 states and 39 largest local governments. It found that these entities had liabilities exceeding $530 billion, led by California on the state level at $62 billion and New York City on a city basis at $60 billion. Yet the pension burden potentially is even worse. To calculate unfunded pension liabilities, we turned to professors Robert Novy-Marx of the University of Chicago and Joshua D. Rauh of Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. They calculate benefit costs based on states purchasing a portfolio of risk-free Treasury bonds to supply sufficient cash flows to pay current pension obligations. States invariably use a higher discount rate when calculating their unfunded pension obligations. The GAO study found that states' cumulative unfunded liabilities were $405 billion, while Novy-Marx and Rauh figure $3.2 trillion is a more accurate number. Even their estimates of future costs, high as they seem, are far lower than can be expected. Pension benefits are based on an employee's final working years, for example, so as state workforces age the pension obligations rise dramatically. These estimates also don't include any future workers added to the state payroll. Rhode Island has the highest unfunded pension costs per capita, according to Novy-Marx and Rauh, at $20,271, while Nebraska fares the best with a per-capita cost of $4,878.” The United States Of Debt Kurt Badenhausen Forbes.com <br /> <br /> The various governmental options are extremely limited. “With a federal government which must now print money just to pay the interest on existing debt, the obvious question is what will be done with the $3 trillion pension short-fall for state and local governments? Potential “solutions” can be broken down into only three categories. Either state/local governments must boost contributions, reduce benefits, or panhandle money from the bankrupt federal government. Each of these options carries a list of negative consequences.<br />Boosting contributions means state/local governments must raise taxes and/or reduce spending (i.e. slashing jobs). State and local governments have resisted doing either of those things – since they both fuel the current downward spiral of the U.S. economy. Clearly, attempting to make up any more than a tiny percentage of this $3 trillion nightmare through raising contributions would have a devastating impact on the overall economy.<br /> This brings us to slashing benefits. This is not only certain to occur, but will almost certainly account for the majority of the $3 trillion in savings which is required – meaning taking $1 to $2 trillion out of the pockets of new and existing retirees. This comes at a time, when the average retiree has a mere $60,000 in their retirement portfolios, and very little more in other savings.” ibid.<br /> <br /> This is what we are seeing overseas in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal in the call for “austerity measures”; meaning working class folks and the old take a major hit while the lifestyles of the young plummet precipitously. But the bankers and con men who created this mess in the first place will continue to live large off the backs of the working classes. This is why the people are taking to the streets over there. In the US retirees are facing the prospect of cuts in benefits or escalating tax increases just to pay for their own retirement!! For example one cash strapped state, New York is engaging in all types of bookkeeping sleight of hand tricks to create the illusion the state is not facing default. “The N.Y. State pension fund has decided to borrow money -- from itself -- to cover this year’s payments. Having learned truly nothing from the last 10 years, Gov. Patterson and his ilk announced Friday a tentative agreement to fund required state pension payouts with a $6 billion loan taken from the very same pension plan. Seriously. The plot, of course, hinges on a booming U.S. stock market over the next few years. The borrowed funds are due to be paid back to the pension plan, with interest, starting in 2013. If the market doesn’t return at least 5% a year, the scheme will likely cause an even larger loss. It’s hard to imagine this working, even a little bit, with much less than 10% annual stock returns.<br /> But if things don’t go as planned, there’s always the taxpayer. Unlike private 401(k)s, state pension plans have defined payouts that can’t be altered when the market plunges or the economy stinks. Thus, if the money truly runs out, the state will have to choose between higher taxes or default. For reference, check out Vallejo, Calif.” <a href="http://5minforecast.agorafinancial.com">http://5minforecast.agorafinancial.com</a> <br /> <br /> In addition to borrowing from itself to make ends meet, New York has also changed the rules for workers to even qualify for a pension. “New York also declared that new state employees must work at least ten years to qualify for a pension, up from five years. And the state limited the use of overtime pay in calculating individual employees’ pensions — a major money-saving step. The actual savings from New York’s reforms, and similar moves elsewhere, won’t be realized until newly hired employees start hitting retirement age, which will be 20 years or more down the line in most cases. But at least it signals the reversal of decades of mindless, continuing sweetening of public pension benefits. So do the moves afoot in several places to increase public employees’ contributions to their retirement plans, reversing years of making those contributions lower.<br /> The auto industry has set a positive example for state governments by adopting a Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association trust, which allows employers to prefund retirement health care benefits for employees on a tax-deferred basis. In 2007, with their own financial storm brewing, GM, Ford and Chrysler persuaded the UAW to establish a VEBA trust.” Trillion-Dollar Pension Crisis Looms Large Over America <a href="http://www.iimagazine.com/pensions_and_endowments/">www.iimagazine.com/pensions_and_endowments/</a> <br /> <br /> To add insult to injury the kleptocrats in New York, Washington DC and London are plotting to take workers’ pension money to shore up failing banks!? Why, because that’s where the money is. “March 8 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. regulators are encouraging public pension funds that control more than $2 trillion to inject capital directly into the banking system by buying failed lenders, said people briefed on the matter. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is trying to attract pension funds that want to buy stakes or assets of distressed bank-holding companies, according to two of the people. Direct investments may allow public retirement funds to reduce fees for private-equity managers, and the agency to get better prices for distressed assets, the people said. They declined to be identified because talks with regulators are confidential.” FDIC Said to Encourage Pension Funds to Invest in Failed Banks Bloomberg Businessweek<br /> <br /> Don’t get caught up in the media diversions, distractions, disinformation and flim-flam; it’s time we got hip to the real agenda of the thugs in the corporate suites. Their goal is to pilfer and pillage the wealth from working and middle class folks and transfer it to the supper rich, a reverse Robin Hood. And thus far their plan is working to a tee.<br /><br /> -30-<br /><br /> <br /></div>This Is What's In Store For The UShttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/this-is-whats-in-store-for-the2010-06-12T22:16:17.000Z2010-06-12T22:16:17.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div> <span style="font-weight:bold;">From the Ramparts</span><br /> Junious Ricardo Stanton<br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">This Is What’s In Store For the USA</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“ATHENS--The Greek government Wednesday announced long delayed plans to privatize state-owned companies as part of its attempt to fix the country's public finances and chip away at the massive public debt. In a news conference, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou</span><br style="font-style:italic;" /><span style="font-style:italic;">said the government would move to privatize 49% of the operations division of unprofitable state-owned railways company OSE. It will also privatize state holdings in various casinos, sell</span><br style="font-style:italic;" /><span style="font-style:italic;">a 39% stake in the Greek post office, and dispose of stakes in a variety of state-owned services including the waterworks companies of Greece's two major cities. He said the government is also looking at other opportunities to privatize state assets, either through stake sales or through privatized management contracts, including the country's ports, airports suites vast state property holdings.”</span><br /> <a href="http://siliconinvestor.advfn.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=26587168">http://siliconinvestor.advfn.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=26587168</a> <br /> <br /> Most people in the US know more about Beyonce and Jay-Z , Kobe Bryant and their favorite celebrities foibles and scandals than they do about what is really going on in the world today. As a small cabal plots to steal our wealth and reduce us to debt peons, tax serfs and wage slaves; the US mass media has us so distracted, deceived and discombobulated the criminals have a free pass to continue to loot pillage and plunder the world. Take a look around stop falling for the okey-doke, the mind control lies and flim-flam. Things are really getting bad. The same thugs who are ripping us off are getting away Scott free with the help of the US government! The same crooks who caused the global economic meltdown in the first place, are now openly extorting money from the West.<br /> <br /> Look at what is happening in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Iceland not to mention Eastern European nations like Latvia and Hungary. These countries are virtually bankrupt. How, why? Because the bankers, corporations and their government sock puppets have decided they are going to own everything. It’s a vicious scam. The same people who created the problems come in with “solutions” which always benefit them but always puts us deeper in a hole. Their solution to getting out of the very debt they encouraged and engineered for governments and individuals, is to restructure the debt so the payments are spread out over a longer period of time, so they earn even more money in interest and fees, we stay in debt even longer and the countries either agree to or are forced to give up/sell, at pennies on the dollar, their most valuable assets such as utilities, toll roads, railroads, seaports, mines, airports and land. <br /> <br /> Say what? You read this correctly, the same loan shark techniques the IMF, World Bank and US-Aid have been using for decades to keep so called Third World nations in debt bondage and socio-economic chaos are being visited upon the rest of the world. The corruption, fraud and theft have gone both viral and global. Start paying attention to what is going on in Europe. The bankers are squeezing and strangling these countries to the point of death. Keep in mind these bankers are white and the people they are ripping off for the most part are white! The banker’s goal is to own everything. This is not conjecture, it is fact. For example the Daily Mail out of the UK reports, “The battered public finances could be boosted by a radical plan to raise £100billion by privatising Britain's motorway network. Business Secretary Vince Cable has signalled that he is open to the idea, which would dwarf the rail privatisations of the 1990s. Mr Cable said he had <br />'no ideological opposition' to major asset sales, which could also see Channel 4 and the Met Office disposed of to raise cash. Last year, Gordon Brown began the process of a fresh round of <br />privatisations, announcing asset sales of £16billion, including the Tote, the Dartford Crossing and the student loan book.” NM Rothschild Moves To Privatize British Roadways By Daily Mail Reporter 23rd May 2010<br /> <br /> Don’t think this is purely a scheme to bankrupt the Third World and European to steal their assets, it’s going on here as well. Last year former US Senator and New Jersey governor Jon Corzine also a former Goldman Sachs CEO by the way, proposed selling off several NJ toll roads as a means to raise money to cut the burgeoning state debt. Sound familiar? I have news for you, New Jersey was not the only state thinking about selling off state assets in 2009 to raise money to prevent being overwhelmed by a rising tide of red ink. “Some states, struggling to balance their budgets, are selling or leasing public property, including state office buildings, prisons and major toll ways. While a quick way to raise revenue, this strategy is attacked by some as a short-term fix that postpones making more difficult decisions. Arizona and California lawmakers have pursued sale-leasebacks of state buildings, which are sold to private owners; the states then lease the buildings and take back ownership after 20 years.<br /> <br /> Connecticut is also selling assets to help meet its target to add $60 million to the general fund during the next two years, but its sales are permanent and apply only to property the state no longer uses. The state is planning to sell office buildings, vacant land, cars and equipment. The state treasurer and the Office of Policy and Management are scheduled to submit by Feb. 3, 2010, a list of assets the state could sell, said Adam Liegeot, spokesman for the governor’s office. In Arizona, the sale-leasebacks are part of the state’s budget plan to help close a remaining $2 billion deficit in the fiscal 2010 budget. Lawmakers have approved a tentative list of state-owned buildings that could be sold, including the executive office tower, possibly the House and Senate buildings, 10 prison complexes and a state mental health facility.” Kimberly Leonard, Special to Stateline.org<br /> <br /> Do you get the picture now? This is part of a coordinated and planned move to put people and governments in debt, reduce us to abject poverty and force us into a position where we have to sell, default or lose their primary assets. For governments the plan is for the bankers to demand “austerity cutbacks” such as deep cuts in existing social programs, pensions, health and welfare agreements, coupled with massive tax increases. The banks and their sock puppets have set the trap, now individuals, states and whole countries are caught or about to be caught in their web of debt. “Todd Haggerty, a National Conference of State Legislatures policy associate, said: ‘States are having to look at anything and everything to close these (budget) gaps. For the most part, easy decisions have already been made, so states are now looking at more difficult options.’ In July, NCSL estimated 31 states are already facing combined shortfalls of $58.5 billion for the 2011 fiscal year, which may result in others developing similar plans. Minnesota, Illinois, New York and Massachusetts considered proposals to sell toll roads, parks, airports or lotteries, but did not include these proposals in their fiscal 2010 budgets, which began July 1.” ibid<br /> <br /> If you want to see what is store for the USA look at what is going on in Europe in the PIIGS nations (Portugal Ireland Iceland Greece and Spain) or better yet, what’s going on in California. This is the blueprint and template for this country! “As a consequence of their continued looting, austerity measures are about to be implemented. In state after state across the country, and on a federal level, we are facing severe deficits. Mass school closings have already <br />been scheduled for the end of this school year, as thousands of teachers have already been told that they will no longer have a job. Pension funds and medical programs are being slashed. Fire fighters, police and health care workers are being cut back . Six million Americans are on the verge of losing the unemployment benefits that they have been surviving off of and there are now a record six available workers for every one job opening. Unemployment insurance funds have already been depleted in 33 states, with more expected to go into the red within the next few months. Draconian cuts in vital social programs and critical government functions are just beginning to be phased in, while our national wealth is still being transferred to the wealthiest. They are pulling out the social infrastructure from below us and are about to pile higher taxes on top of us.” <a href="http://foroureconomy.org/">http://foroureconomy.org/</a><br /> <br />This is the situation governments find themselves in. Couple the situation our governments are facing with the rising personal default rates, homelessness, unemployment, de-industrialization, off shoring, defaults and tent cities springing up across the country and you’re seeing the future of the US.<br /> <br /> -30-<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </div>Meia Lies and Crimes of Omissionhttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/meia-lies-and-crimes-of2009-10-09T03:44:33.000Z2009-10-09T03:44:33.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div><b>From The Ramparts</b>Junious Ricardo Stanton<b>Media Lies and Crimes of Omission</b><i>“Right now, many media outlets are reinforcing the idea that a recovery is underway pointing to a rise in the stock market and some signs of improvement, even as joblessness continues to climb along with bankruptcies and foreclosures. The dissents of informed analysts like Paul Krugman, Nouriel Roubini and George Soros are heard but marginalized. The signs of another collapse tired to an insolvent banking sector are discussed in the financial blogs but not yet on TV. And the crime angle that I investigate is still seen as minor, except in all the stories about Bernie Madoff or the corporate lawyer Marc Dreier just profiled by 60 Minutes which wanted to get him to be more “emotional” (ie cry for the camera). These ‘poster boys’ for corporate crime get the visibility while reports on pervasive ‘epic’ fraud in our financial institutions are buried in trade outlets like Information Week which notes ‘Seventy percent of financial institutions in the past 12 months have had cases of insider fraud, new survey says.’”</i> A Media Failure Compounds The Financial Failure: The Press Is Still Missing The Story Of Fraud and Economic Decline Ahead by Danny Schechter <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15570">www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15570</a>When you turn on NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC PBS CNN and Fox it is important to keep in mind you are being targeted and subjected to a massive propaganda campaign designed to keep you dis-informed, distracted and grossly ignorant about what is really going on in the world; particularly regarding the US economy and the ongoing wars this government is waging in places like Columbia, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Even the Negro press ignores the illegal occupation of Haiti and rarely reports on the resources wars plaguing the African continent. We have been brainwashed to believe the media is objective, fair and obligated to keep us informed, to ferret out the truth, uncover corruption and malfeasance in the marketplace and government. Not so. In fact the news today is basically barefaced propaganda, regurgitating government spin and lies; like the preposterous tale about 9-11 being engineered and executed from caves in Afghanistan. At no time did the mainstream media question the obvious silliness, improbability or the inconsistencies of the government narrative about 9-11. Nor have they challenged the government’s account of the financial meltdown, why their so called solutions have not benefitted average Americans, or why their actions haven’t really improved Wall Street or Main Street?We were told in grade school “freedom of the press” meant openness and transparency into society’s workings so the people could be well informed about what was going on. Nowadays it seems the only way you can have true freedom of the press is to own your own. But even that is no guarantee since the media model in this country depends upon advertising; and the monied powers that be want to keep the masses ignorant. So they control the ad agencies and programming in the media. Several decades ago the notion of the relentless reporter sifting and digging to get the facts or the crusading editor fighting for a just cause were popular themes in Hollywood motion pictures. Not any more. But even while we were watching those flights of fantasy, we were unaware that following WWII the US CIA began executing Operation Mockingbird which was designed to suborn the media and turn them into propaganda organs for their fascist agenda. The quest for truth wasn’t totally snuffed out, during the Vietnam War a vibrant anti-war movement sprang up featuring alternative newspapers which caused the government warmongers and the military industrial complex major consternation and grief. Then unlike today, there were national politicians like Eugene McCarthy who were vocal in their opposition to the war and men like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr who boldly opposed US imperialism in Southeast Asia. You rarely see or read about people like that today. Why? Because the mainstream media is owned by the warmongering fascists who run this country.This country has devolved into a fascist police state under the pretext and guise of “national security”. Following 9-11 the US launched a series of wars and invasions supposedly to stop the spread of international terrorism but did nothing to protect our borders or sea ports. Doesn’t that seem odd and backwards to you? Last year when Wall Street imploded, the Bu$h and Obama administrations bent over backwards to bail out the same people whose recklessness and hubris caused the problem yet they have done almost nothing for the little people. The media whose job, it seems, is to befuddle and obfuscate the issues paints Obama as a “Socialist” when in fact he like his predecessors is an ardent fascist, meaning he is in cahoots with the corporatocracy and banking elites who have corrupted the government. Most black radio stations no longer offer news or at least not any serious commentary and far too many black newspapers get their news for national feeds which are nothing more than stenographers, shills and PR agents for the government.This is why the corporate media promotes the lie the economy is improving despite the fact almost all indications are we are in the throes of a protracted recession (depression?). Ninety- eight banks have failed thus far in 2009 and predictions are for hundreds more to fail in 2010. Manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas and they are not coming back. Domestically, banks aren’t lending money and as a result, businesses can’t get loans to purchase inventory, expand or hire workers. The corporate media is not focusing on this like they focused on the minutia of Michael Jackson’s death, why not? Nor is it reporting such important stories as: US commercial real estate is collapsing (notice all the empty strip mall stores), skyrocketing unemployment, personal bankruptcies, loan defaults and foreclosures. Why are these stories and the why and how behind them not extensively reported?I did see this on the Internet but it wasn’t reported on PBS, CNN or FOX . This story was in Bloomberg; but Bloomberg is not your every day blue collar working class publication so most of us won’t have seen it or known about it. “Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Vacancies at U.S. shopping centers rose in the third quarter to a 17-year high as unemployment climbed, consumers cut spending and stores closed, real estate research company Reis Inc. said. Vacancies at neighborhood and community shopping centers increased to 10.3 percent, the highest level since 1992, from 8.4 percent a year earlier, New York-based Reis said today. Vacancies at regional and super-regional malls rose to 8.6 percent from 6.6 percent a year earlier, a high for this decade... U.S. payrolls dropped by 263,000 in September and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, the highest since 1983, according to Labor Department data. Retail sales excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants fell 4.3 percent in August from a year earlier, according to the Washington-based National Retail Federation.” <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?">www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?</a>Another extremely under reported story is, state and local governments are facing deep fiscal travail and are forced to put the squeeze on their taxpayers via increased taxes and indirect taxes like when they raise marriage license, hunting and fishing fees. It’s not in the news but we are experiencing it. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons newspaper sales are down and many papers are going out of business, they are no longer relevant. TV news viewing is down too, maybe for the same reason. Serves them right, no one likes a liar.-30-</div>Celebrating labor Day While US Jobs Disappearhttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/celebrating-labor-day-while-us2009-09-07T17:10:05.000Z2009-09-07T17:10:05.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div><b>From The Ramparts</b> Junious Ricardo Stanton<b>Celebrating Labor Day While Jobs Disappear</b><i>“The capitalist cabal that's seized control of the political and economic systems in the United States suffers under the totally insane delusion that it can loot as much money from worker-taxpayers as it wants--and still come out with a viable society. The cabal delusively believes that while millions of workers are being laid off, denied welfare, their tax money stolen by wealthy looters, their homes foreclosed because of criminal subprime mortgages, and their very lives threatened with extinction they will continue to tolerate such abuse indefinitely. American workers will--and must--rise up against their genocidal oppressors, not just to enact minor revisions in their capitalist society but to build a completely new commonwealth culture for the benefit of all citizens.”</i> Capitalist Genocide <a href="">http://www.hermes-</a> press.com/ capitalist_ genocide. htmAs we celebrate Labor Day 2009 it is imperative we realize that a concerted plan and program of economic and social destabilization, wealth transfer and peonage is being executed by the ruling oligarchs against working folks. Just as the international bankers deliberately caused the depressions of 1907 and 1930 to further their nefarious agendas and steal the farms, businesses and savings of the people the same players (now their heirs) are working assiduously to destroy the US industrial base, ship high paying jobs overseas and destroy the current standard of living of the average working person. Like much in US culture today, the Labor Day holiday has devolved into a meaningless charade to cover the looting, pillage and theft that is really going on: “35.9 million Americans now live below the poverty line, including 12.9 million children at least 25% of American workers are unemployed, though the rigged government figures report it to be only 9.4 %., over 2 million Americans have lost their homes to foreclosure since January, 2007; 12,000 homes a day continuing to go into foreclosure, American workers have lost $10 to $15 trillion in the value of their homes, 4 million Americans are now homeless, subsisting on the streets or in tent cities, American retirees have lost $2 trillion in retirement funds (of the total of $9 trillion in late 2007) due to the fall in the stock market and the United States has the third worst level of income inequality and poverty among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 30 member states (only Mexico and Turkey ranked worse in those categories)” Capitalist Genocide <a href="">http://www.hermes-</a> press.com/ capitalist_ genocide. htmWhile Joe and Jane Sixpack and Shananay and Pookie are out bar-b-queing, swilling beer, smoking dope and partying this Labor Day; the ruling elites are plotting to steal what’s left of their wealth, dignity and sanity. Most people know things aren’t getting better and things haven’t really changed, that’s why Obama’s approval ratings are dropping like a dead body weighed down with rocks. Most people know their situation is worse than it was five years ago but they don’t fully grasp the fact the US is devolving into a fascist police state with a clear demarcation between the haves and the have not’s.The ruling elites who control both political parties have bought and paid off candidates and elected officials on the national, state and local levels. On the national level our elected officials do not work for us. Nor do they look out for our best interests because they are bribed daily by “lobbyists” and “special interest” groups who use money, intimidation and any other means to get what they want. “Corporate domination of the democratic process by means of campaign contributions blocks the emergence of independent voices willing to defend the public interest. Lobbyists subvert the integrity of the Congress and of state legislatures throughout the land by buying influences and votes. Big oil, media, pharmaceutical, tobacco, gambling, insurance, and financial companies thus dominate the legislative process. For example, the banks and credit card companies charge usurious rates and use deceptive marketing practices, fleecing millions of unwary consumers and forcing them into bankruptcy, yet effective legislation to protect consumers was blocked in Congress by the banking industry. Surreptitiously, large companies are now reducing retirement benefits with nary any political opposition.” The New American Plutocracy by Paul KurtzHonest work that pays good wages is dissipating like fog on a hot sunny day because of the anti working class policies of our so called elected officials. The Labor Day holiday was originally created to honor organized labor and working class men and women. It’s ironic that as we celebrate Labor Day 2009 organized labor is virtually impotent in the US and working class men and women working jobs that pay a living wage are disappearing faster than cold beer at a hot Summer bar-b-que.-30-</div>Launching a Powerful yet Quiet $$$ Revolutionhttps://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/2055350-Topic-135092008-09-27T19:05:25.000Z2008-09-27T19:05:25.000ZS.U.R.-B.E.T.https://www.theblacklist.net/members/SURBET<div>Em Htp! Greetings!The internet and it's countless offerings of free resources is awesome. Add the ability to create meaningful networking communities and the possibilities for nation building become endless. 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