Government Shutdown 2011? – 16 Things You Need To Know

Is it actually going to happen?  Are we actually going to see "Government Shutdown 2011"?  Will the streets of Washington D.C. soon be eerily quiet as hundreds of thousands of federal workers are temporarily sent home?  Right now Barack Obama, Harry Reid and John Boehner all say that they want to reach a deal and avoid a government shutdown, but the deadline is coming up fast.  The current spending bill that the government is operating under expires at the end of Friday.  If the Republicans and the Democrats do not come to an agreement before then, the U.S. government will "shut down" at 12:01 AM Saturday morning.  The Republicans have proposed a plan to extend government funding for one more week so that negotiations may continue, but the Democrats have rejected it.  Obama has summoned Reid and Boehner to the White House tonight in an attempt to hash out a deal, but most observers are not particularly optimistic.  Sadly, government debt is going to expand at a mind blowing pace this year no matter who wins this battle.
Both sides are attempting to play political hardball.  During the 2010 campaign, the Republicans promised to cut $100 billion from the budget for 2011 and they know that Tea Party activists are going to hold them accountable.  The Democrats control the Senate and the presidency and they probably figure that when push comes to shove that many of the new, inexperienced Republicans in the House can be intimidated into giving in.
But in the end it really doesn't matter that much who wins this battle.  The Republicans are proposing $61 billion in budget cuts which would cut the budget deficit for 2011 by only 3.8 percent.  The Democrats are proposing $33 billion in budget cuts which would cut the budget deficit for 2011 by just 2.1 percent.
Is that extra 1.7 percent really going to make a massive difference over the long run?
Of course not.
But right now Republicans and Democrats are both in the mood for a fight, so we really might actually see a government shutdown.
If the government does shut down, it probably won't be for too long.  The longest government shutdown of all time ended in early January 1996 and it lasted just 21 days.
So exactly what would happen if there is a government shutdown in 2011? If it does actually happen, the following are 16 things you will need to know....
#1 Hundreds of thousands of "non-essential" federal workers will be told to stay home during a government shutdown.
#2 Those in the military will not receive paychecks during a government shutdown but they will be required to keep performing their duties.
#3 The Obama administration is anticipating "significantly lower staffing levels" at the White House if a shutdown happens.
#4 Barack Obama will continue to be paid during a government shutdown.
#5 Congress will also be paid and will continue to operate at close to normal levels during a government shutdown.
#6 The Federal Reserve will continue to operate normally during a government shutdown.  The Federal Reserve is not part of the U.S. government.
#7 In all probability, all government employees will eventually receive any pay that is missed during a government shutdown.  During the 5 day U.S. government shutdown back in 1995, approximately 800,000 "non-essential" government employees were told not to come in to work.  But eventually they all got paid retroactively anyway.
#8 During a government shutdown, the Department of Homeland Security will suspend operation of its e-Verify system.  Employers will be unable to verify the immigration status of job applicants and that could have a substantial negative impact on hiring.
#9 The processing of small business loans and FHA mortgages will be delayed during a government shutdown.
#10 The U.S. Postal Service will not be affected by a government shutdown.  You will continue to get your mail.
#11 According to the Social Security Administration, everyone that is currently receiving Social Security benefits will continue to receive those benefits during a shutdown.  New applications will be delayed however.
#12 Medicare payments will continue during a government shutdown, but there will be a delay in processing new applications.
#13 During a government shutdown, the processing of paper tax returns by the IRS would be delayed.
#14 If there is a government shutdown, the processing of passport and visa applications could be seriously delayed.  This could have a negative impact on the tourism industry.
#15 National parks, museums and tourist attractions will be shut down.  According to the Washington Post, "about 500,000 visitors could be turned away this weekend alone from the National Zoo and the major Smithsonian museums on the Mall".
#16 The annual Cherry Blossom Festival parade in Washington D.C. that is scheduled for this weekend would be cancelled.
So why don't the two sides just compromise on a figure and get it over with?
Well, it is just not that simple.
Barack Obama is pledging that he will not sign any budget bill that cuts funding for Planned Parenthood and the Environmental Protection Agency.
But to Republicans those are very important things.  Many Republicans are sick and tired of large amounts of money going to the Planned Parenthood abortion mills and many Republicans are determined to take away the EPA’s authority to regulate the "greenhouse gases" that many Democrats believe are causing "global warming".
If the Republicans back down they risk alienating their Tea Party supporters.
And we have already seen what happens to Republican politicians that cross the Tea Party.
The truth is that many Tea Party activists are already upset with the compromises that Republican leaders have been making.
Originally, Republicans had pledged to slash $100 billion from the budget for this year.  Then, they said that $61 billion was good enough because a large portion of the fiscal year was already gone.
Now that there are rumors that Boehner may be willing to reduce that figure even further, some Tea Party activists are becoming extremely upset.
Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips posted the following message on his organization's website about a month ago....

"The Tea Party movement should find a candidate to run against John Boehner in 2012 and should set as a goal, to defeat in a primary, the sitting Speaker of the House of Representatives."

The truth is that this entire controversy shows how divided America is right now.
The Democrat base is simply not going to accept cuts to Planned Parenthood or the EPA.
The Tea Party base is simply not going to accept the small budget cuts that the Democrats are offering.
So who is going to give in?
Whichever party does give in is going to have a lot of explaining to do to their base.
But if neither side gives in we could be in for an extended government shutdown.
It is certainly a fascinating game of "chicken" we have got going on.
It is going to be extremely interesting to see who blinks first.
Personally I think it is going to be Boehner that is going to cave.  If he can get the Democrats to agree to a budget cut figure in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 billion dollars I think he is going to grab it and try to "spin" it as a great victory for fiscal conservatives.
Unfortunately, the truth is that no matter who "wins" this current battle government debt is going to continue to soar.  The Obama administration is projecting that the deficit for this year will be 1.6 trillion dollars.
Even if we were to cut $100 billion from that number it would barely make a dent.
The U.S. financial system is dying, and nothing that the Republicans or the Democrats are doing right now is going to change that.
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Things That Make You Go Hmmm - What The Red Pill Tells Us

From the latest Things that Make you Go Hmmm:

"On March 14th Bear Stearns collapsed and the first real domino of the financial crisis (at lest as far as public recognition of the situation was concerned) had toppled. However, it wasn’t until September, as Lehman Brothers tottered on the brink of insolvency, that a group of highly influential bankers and politicians decided to take the red pill. The failure of Lehman Brothers was the catalyst that plunged the world deep into The Matrix - an alternate reality in which, everywhere you looked, things were happening that a mere 24 hours earlier, would have seemed unthinkable. We all know about the TARP, we remember wild swings in markets, plummeting oil and commodity prices, frantic deleveraging and nervous Central Bankers and politicians telling us that everything was going to be OK. But as the days and months have ticked by, the reality inside our own Matrix has become more and more skewed. Markets recovered, an eerie calm was gradually restored and slowly things began to return to a semblance of normal. But what is normal in this new paradigm? Is it normal for the Fed to be buying 70% of all Treasuries? Well it certainly wasn’t until we took the red pill and entered The Matrix...It surely must be clear to anybody that, regardless of the fact that the unemployment situation has stopped deteriorating quite so rapidly and has even begun to show signs of improvement in places (‘green shoots’ anyone?), regardless of the  fact that corporate results have actually been, for the most part, quite good and the S&P is trading on decent multiples and regardless of the fact that ‘core’ inflation apparently isn’t a problem - the real world inside The Matrix, the one many vested interests would rather we NOT focus on, is an altogether different story."

Full report:

Hmmm Apr 01 2011

View the original article here

Things That Make You Go Hmmm - What The Red Pill Tells Us

From the latest Things that Make you Go Hmmm:

"On March 14th Bear Stearns collapsed and the first real domino of the financial crisis (at lest as far as public recognition of the situation was concerned) had toppled. However, it wasn’t until September, as Lehman Brothers tottered on the brink of insolvency, that a group of highly influential bankers and politicians decided to take the red pill. The failure of Lehman Brothers was the catalyst that plunged the world deep into The Matrix - an alternate reality in which, everywhere you looked, things were happening that a mere 24 hours earlier, would have seemed unthinkable. We all know about the TARP, we remember wild swings in markets, plummeting oil and commodity prices, frantic deleveraging and nervous Central Bankers and politicians telling us that everything was going to be OK. But as the days and months have ticked by, the reality inside our own Matrix has become more and more skewed. Markets recovered, an eerie calm was gradually restored and slowly things began to return to a semblance of normal. But what is normal in this new paradigm? Is it normal for the Fed to be buying 70% of all Treasuries? Well it certainly wasn’t until we took the red pill and entered The Matrix...It surely must be clear to anybody that, regardless of the fact that the unemployment situation has stopped deteriorating quite so rapidly and has even begun to show signs of improvement in places (‘green shoots’ anyone?), regardless of the  fact that corporate results have actually been, for the most part, quite good and the S&P is trading on decent multiples and regardless of the fact that ‘core’ inflation apparently isn’t a problem - the real world inside The Matrix, the one many vested interests would rather we NOT focus on, is an altogether different story."

Full report:

Hmmm Apr 01 2011

View the original article here

A List Of 28 Things That Will Make You Think That There Is Something Seriously Wrong With This Country

What in the world is happening to America?  Perhaps you have asked yourself that question from time to time.  Today it seems like everything is falling apart.  Our economy is crumbling, our politicians are incompetent, we have just gotten involved in another war, corruption is everywhere and the Americans people are so addicted to entertainment that hardly anything can wake them from their stupor.  It is enough to make you think that there is just not much hope for America.  But the truth is that we should never give up.  It is when the times are darkest that the greatest heroes arise.  We truly do live in challenging times, but that just means that there are great victories to be won and great stories to be written.  There may be a whole lot of things that are very wrong with America right now, but that doesn't mean that the game is over quite yet.

Unfortunately, right now most Americans are completely asleep.  Just like during the declining years of the Roman Empire, most people that live in the U.S. are spoiled, decadent and completely addicted to entertainment.

The following is how many Americans actually plan their weeks....

Monday: Watch Dancing With The Stars

Tuesday: Watch The Dancing With The Stars Results Show

Wednesday: Watch American Idol

Thursday: Watch The American Idol Results Show

At this point, most people in this country cannot even intelligently discuss the pressing issues of our day.

In fact, 63 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 cannot find Iraq on a map and 90 percent of Americans in that same age group cannot find Afghanistan on a map.

We've got a lot of work to do.

America is in sorry shape and it desperately needs some heroes.

The following is a list of 28 things that will make you really think that there is something seriously wrong with this country....

#1 According to the Economic Policy Institute, almost 25 percent of U.S. households now have zero net worth or negative net worth.  Back in 2007, that number was just 18.6 percent.

#2 According to the Pentagon, the cost of the first week of attacks on Libya was 600 million dollars.

#3 The major food producers are shrinking the sizes of their packages so that they won't have to raise prices.  The New York Times recently did a story about one woman who was absolutely shocked when she started keeping track of shrinking package sizes at her local supermarket....

Ms. Stauber, 33, said she began inspecting her other purchases, aisle by aisle. Many canned vegetables dropped to 13 or 14 ounces from 16; boxes of baby wipes went to 72 from 80; and sugar was stacked in 4-pound, not 5-pound, bags, she said.

#4 It is being projected that for the first time ever, the OPEC nations are going to bring in over a trillion dollars from exporting oil this year.  Their biggest customer is the United States.

#5 According to a recent census report, 13% of all the homes in the United States are sitting empty.

#6 20 percent of all the electricity in the United States is produced by nuclear power plants.  Many of those plants are very similar to the damaged reactors at the Fukushima nuclear complex in Japan.

#7 Barack Obama promised us that radiation from the nuclear disaster in Japan would not be a problem in the United States, but already it has shown up in milk in Spokane, Washington.

#8 Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher recently said the following....

"If we continue down on the path on which the fiscal authorities put us, we will become insolvent, the question is when."

Of course the Federal Reserve system was designed to get the U.S. government trapped in perpetual debt so actually he should be blaming himself and his friends over at the Fed.

#9 China produced 19.8 percent of all the goods consumed in the world last year.  The United States only produced 19.4 percent.

#10 Back in 2005 at the peak of the housing bubble, the median property tax on a home in the United States was $1614.  Today, even though home values have sunk like a rock, that figure has risen to $1917.

#11 In New Jersey, home owners pay an average of $7576 in property taxes every single year.

#12 According to the Federal Reserve, the adjusted monetary base has nearly tripled since mid-2008.

#13 Thanks for all the money printing Bernanke - according to one unofficial estimate, the U.S. in on track to have an 8.3 percent rate of inflation for the year.

#14 According to a recent article posted on the website of the American Institute of Economic Research, the purchasing power of a U.S. dollar declined from $1.00 in 1913 to 4.6 cents in 2009.

#15 The Ogallala Aquifer stretches from South Dakota to Texas, it is the largest underground supply of fresh water in the world, and it is rapidly running dry.  So how is "America's breadbasket" going to continue to produce massive amounts of food for the rest of the world once that happens?

#16 The number of homes that were actually repossessed reached the 1 million mark for the first time ever during 2010.

#17 The U.S. industrial base has disintegrated so badly that we could literally export our entire manufacturing output and still not balance our trade with the rest of the globe.

#18 Goldman Sachs almost always wins.  According to a recent regulatory filing, Goldman Sachs lost money on just 25 days in 2010 and on only 19 days in 2009.

#19 In 1994, the top 1 percent of all income earners paid 25 percent of all state taxes in New York.  Today, the top 1 percent of all income earners pay 41 percent of all state taxes in New York.

#20 The National Institutes of Health has spent approximately $442,340 to study the behavior of male prostitutes in Vietnam.

#21 According to an absolutely stunning recent poll, 40 percent of all U.S. doctors plan to leave the profession at some point during the next three years because of Obamacare.

#22 If the new health care law is so great, then why is the Obama administration allowing so many organizations to opt out of it?  According to the Department of Health and Human Services, more than 1,000 organizations have received Obamacare waivers so far.

#23 Large American cattle farms actually feed chicken manure to cattle because it is so cheap and because we produce way too much of it to properly dispose of as fertilizer.

#24 Every single year, Americans spend approximately 7.6 billion hours preparing their taxes.

#25 The IMF says that in order to fix the U.S. government budget deficit, taxes need to be doubled on every single U.S. citizen.

#26 Mandatory federal spending is going to surpass total federal revenue for the first time ever in this fiscal year.  That was not supposed to happen until 50 years from now.

#27 Today, the U.S. national debt is over 14 times larger than it was back in 1981.

#28 According to the National Inflation Association, when you factor in the unfunded liabilities of the U.S. government, total federal debt obligations now come to a grand total of 76 trillion dollars.




View the original article here

A List Of 28 Things That Will Make You Think That There Is Something Seriously Wrong With This Country

What in the world is happening to America?  Perhaps you have asked yourself that question from time to time.  Today it seems like everything is falling apart.  Our economy is crumbling, our politicians are incompetent, we have just gotten involved in another war, corruption is everywhere and the Americans people are so addicted to entertainment that hardly anything can wake them from their stupor.  It is enough to make you think that there is just not much hope for America.  But the truth is that we should never give up.  It is when the times are darkest that the greatest heroes arise.  We truly do live in challenging times, but that just means that there are great victories to be won and great stories to be written.  There may be a whole lot of things that are very wrong with America right now, but that doesn't mean that the game is over quite yet.

Unfortunately, right now most Americans are completely asleep.  Just like during the declining years of the Roman Empire, most people that live in the U.S. are spoiled, decadent and completely addicted to entertainment.

The following is how many Americans actually plan their weeks....

Monday: Watch Dancing With The Stars

Tuesday: Watch The Dancing With The Stars Results Show

Wednesday: Watch American Idol

Thursday: Watch The American Idol Results Show

At this point, most people in this country cannot even intelligently discuss the pressing issues of our day.

In fact, 63 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 cannot find Iraq on a map and 90 percent of Americans in that same age group cannot find Afghanistan on a map.

We've got a lot of work to do.

America is in sorry shape and it desperately needs some heroes.

The following is a list of 28 things that will make you really think that there is something seriously wrong with this country....

#1 According to the Economic Policy Institute, almost 25 percent of U.S. households now have zero net worth or negative net worth.  Back in 2007, that number was just 18.6 percent.

#2 According to the Pentagon, the cost of the first week of attacks on Libya was 600 million dollars.

#3 The major food producers are shrinking the sizes of their packages so that they won't have to raise prices.  The New York Times recently did a story about one woman who was absolutely shocked when she started keeping track of shrinking package sizes at her local supermarket....

Ms. Stauber, 33, said she began inspecting her other purchases, aisle by aisle. Many canned vegetables dropped to 13 or 14 ounces from 16; boxes of baby wipes went to 72 from 80; and sugar was stacked in 4-pound, not 5-pound, bags, she said.

#4 It is being projected that for the first time ever, the OPEC nations are going to bring in over a trillion dollars from exporting oil this year.  Their biggest customer is the United States.

#5 According to a recent census report, 13% of all the homes in the United States are sitting empty.

#6 20 percent of all the electricity in the United States is produced by nuclear power plants.  Many of those plants are very similar to the damaged reactors at the Fukushima nuclear complex in Japan.

#7 Barack Obama promised us that radiation from the nuclear disaster in Japan would not be a problem in the United States, but already it has shown up in milk in Spokane, Washington.

#8 Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher recently said the following....

"If we continue down on the path on which the fiscal authorities put us, we will become insolvent, the question is when."

Of course the Federal Reserve system was designed to get the U.S. government trapped in perpetual debt so actually he should be blaming himself and his friends over at the Fed.

#9 China produced 19.8 percent of all the goods consumed in the world last year.  The United States only produced 19.4 percent.

#10 Back in 2005 at the peak of the housing bubble, the median property tax on a home in the United States was $1614.  Today, even though home values have sunk like a rock, that figure has risen to $1917.

#11 In New Jersey, home owners pay an average of $7576 in property taxes every single year.

#12 According to the Federal Reserve, the adjusted monetary base has nearly tripled since mid-2008.

#13 Thanks for all the money printing Bernanke - according to one unofficial estimate, the U.S. in on track to have an 8.3 percent rate of inflation for the year.

#14 According to a recent article posted on the website of the American Institute of Economic Research, the purchasing power of a U.S. dollar declined from $1.00 in 1913 to 4.6 cents in 2009.

#15 The Ogallala Aquifer stretches from South Dakota to Texas, it is the largest underground supply of fresh water in the world, and it is rapidly running dry.  So how is "America's breadbasket" going to continue to produce massive amounts of food for the rest of the world once that happens?

#16 The number of homes that were actually repossessed reached the 1 million mark for the first time ever during 2010.

#17 The U.S. industrial base has disintegrated so badly that we could literally export our entire manufacturing output and still not balance our trade with the rest of the globe.

#18 Goldman Sachs almost always wins.  According to a recent regulatory filing, Goldman Sachs lost money on just 25 days in 2010 and on only 19 days in 2009.

#19 In 1994, the top 1 percent of all income earners paid 25 percent of all state taxes in New York.  Today, the top 1 percent of all income earners pay 41 percent of all state taxes in New York.

#20 The National Institutes of Health has spent approximately $442,340 to study the behavior of male prostitutes in Vietnam.

#21 According to an absolutely stunning recent poll, 40 percent of all U.S. doctors plan to leave the profession at some point during the next three years because of Obamacare.

#22 If the new health care law is so great, then why is the Obama administration allowing so many organizations to opt out of it?  According to the Department of Health and Human Services, more than 1,000 organizations have received Obamacare waivers so far.

#23 Large American cattle farms actually feed chicken manure to cattle because it is so cheap and because we produce way too much of it to properly dispose of as fertilizer.

#24 Every single year, Americans spend approximately 7.6 billion hours preparing their taxes.

#25 The IMF says that in order to fix the U.S. government budget deficit, taxes need to be doubled on every single U.S. citizen.

#26 Mandatory federal spending is going to surpass total federal revenue for the first time ever in this fiscal year.  That was not supposed to happen until 50 years from now.

#27 Today, the U.S. national debt is over 14 times larger than it was back in 1981.

#28 According to the National Inflation Association, when you factor in the unfunded liabilities of the U.S. government, total federal debt obligations now come to a grand total of 76 trillion dollars.




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Change - The Shape Of Things To Come - Are You Ready For It? (Pt II)

The Shape of Things To Come...

'For the earth will be filled with darkness and men's heart will fail them because of fear."

When I heard even Donald Trump say on a recent post-election interview with Greta Van Susteren on FoxNews that, TRUMP: "It is scary. It's a very scary time. And people are doing things that they've never done before. They're experimenting. It's all one big experiment that nobody knows how the experiment is going to end."

"The banks were pumped up with money, but they're not loaning the money, because if you have a prime deal, whether it's real estate or any other deal, and you go to a bank, no matter how strong you are, you can't borrow 10 cents, Greta."

"And, I will tell you, this could lead to something very, very bad for the country and for the world."

I knew it was over for Wall Street, Main Street and every other street unless you live on a street named "Hope".

Actually, Christians have known this was coming for at least the last 25 years haven't we? "There is a "shift" coming!" At least if they were listening to the Holy Spirit.

The Federal government doesn't know what it is doing. The financial experts don't know what is going on. And only God knows how it's all going to pan out as it is He Himself who is doing the shaking and will continue to do so until America comes to her senses, her courage, and her integrity for which she has long been known.

And oh yes, until God's people come to their knees in much more than token repentance, we can expect terrorist attacks to continue; the economy to worsen; and more and much gross darkness shall cover the earth.

Yet, there IS both a silver and a gold lining to be found as God has a people that He has prepared and are in place even now. In the darkness, they will shine and bring forth the solutions and answers which this crazed nation and the world will be looking for. (Please keep posted to the "Cyrus Anointing" and "Joseph Anointing" articles soon to follow in our next eLetter.) Yes saint, we are"going to the other side."

Now, let he who has an ear hear what the Spirit of Prophecy is saying: Please...

In the coming 2009 winter months, particularly heading into March, things will be accelerating and reaching a horrible crescendo two years into the Obama presidency.

I do not pretend to know what will happen two years into the Obama administration but get ready for instability and disruptions as we in the United States have never known before. The good old USA will never be the same again. It will be Y2K all over again. Except this time it will be sporadic yet wide spread and not the result of any single event such as a computer glitch.

And then, a Wind will blow and a gradual turn around will begin with the Lord-Admiral of the fleet, Jesus, at the helm!

America is a resilient nation. And she will once again prove her resiliency. But remember, in order to be resilient, the word itself suggests coming back to it's original form - after having been bent. (Let him who has an ear hear what the spirit is saying.) Be of good cheer as we enter 2009! We are going to the other side!

Beverly Anne Sanchez, is online editor/publisher of http://KingdomXchange.com and sister site, http://ChristePublishers.com She is administrator of the Covenant Ministry of the Lion and the Lamb in Miami, Florida and has written for several years for web sites such Suite101.Com, Themes.Com, Epinions.Com, This Christian Life.Com and many other web sites majoring on the topic of Biblical Economics and prospering in the End-times and other related areas.

Summing Things Up

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Four recent reports more-or-less up where things stand with our so-called recovery:

Few businesses are adding staff --

"Mass. Job Fair Canceled Because of Lack of Jobs" (Associated Press)

TAUNTON -- A Massachusetts employment organization has canceled its annual job fair because not enough companies have come forward to offer jobs.

Richard Shafer, chairman of the Taunton Employment Task Force, says 20 to 25 employers are needed for the fair scheduled for April 6, but just 10 tables had been reserved. One table was reserved by a nonprofit that offers human services to job seekers, and three by temporary employment agencies.

Shafer tells the Taunton Daily Gazette the lack of employers means the task force won't have enough money to properly advertise the fair. --

The task force has been organizing the job fair nearly every year since 1984.

Shafer says the cancellation reflects the current economy -- even though things are getting better, companies are still cautious about hiring full-time workers. --

Those that are hiring are relying on temporary help --

"Temp Work Driving Growth" (The News-Messenger)

Short-term jobs let employers try out workers, test the economic waters

Many of the newest jobs these days come with an expiration date.

Facing economic uncertainty, many companies in this economy have turned to temporary staffing agencies to meet work demands without taking on costly health care benefits, state-mandated unemployment and worker's compensation payments.

Temporary help has been "the main driver of job growth" in the professional and business services industry during the past 18 months, according to a February report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. --

or are paying people less than before --

"Underemployed, Downsized and Living on the Edge" (The Fiscal Times)

Ed Muchnick knows his biggest paydays are behind him. The Mount Laurel, N.J., resident had been making more than $60,000 a year as manager of the children’s clothing shop founded by his parents in 1964. When the store closed in early 2007, Muchnick wanted to stay in retail management. He found a job as an assistant manager at a HomeGoods store in suburban Philadelphia in November 2007, with a salary of $48,000. That lasted two years.

Since then, the 57-year-old Muchnick has struggled to find a permanent job. He worked four months for the Census Bureau, at $17 an hour, and spent 10 weeks as a holiday-season hire at Target, earning $8 an hour. “It’s hell out there,” Muchnick says. He’s given up on landing a job that pays $50,000, let alone the $60,000 he was making five years ago. “It’s discouraging. The big companies are making money. I don’t think they’re hiring, and if they’re hiring, they’re hiring at the lower wages.”
 
Companies nationwide actually have started hiring again, but Muchnick is right that, at least so far, a disproportionate number of the jobs being created pay less than the positions that have been lost. Since March 2010, the economy has seen a net gain of 1.26 million jobs — a welcome rebound, but still far shy of the nearly 9 million jobs lost in the recession.

Yet economists say many of the new positions created are in lower paying occupations. Despite the overall job gains posted last year, companies continued to eliminate management positions, with about 550,000 being lost. “The problem is not just the quantity of new jobs being created, but the quality of those jobs as well,” Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Toronto-based Capital Economics, wrote in a recent report. He adds that underemployment creates a hidden drag on the economy by discouraging consumer spending. A Gallup poll last year found the underemployed spend 36 percent less than those who consider themselves fully employed. --

or are sending work out to those who will happily settle for less --

"More Businesses Are Outsourcing—to Rural and Small Town U.S.A." (Employment Trends)

Is your small business dealing with an increased workload and more demand from clients and customers? That’s a good thing. But with the economy still uncertain, many of us are leery about taking on full-time employees to help with the workload—even when we’re overwhelmed.

Well, there is a solution—and it’s closer to home than you might think. I first wrote about the trend of “ruralsourcing” on Small Business Trends in the summer of 2010, when several news outlets reported on the practice. Essentially, ruralsourcing means outsourcing jobs—but instead of outsourcing to India or China, the jobs are being outsourced to small and rural communities in the United States.

But profits are way up, so it's all good. Right?

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Things Are Less Than They Seem

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The bulls say that the U.S. economy is on the mend. Superficially, at least, that seems to be true. The unemployment rate shows signs of having topped out. Household finances appear to be in better shape than they were. Americans are surviving and spending despite everything that has occurred.

However, when you dig down below the surface, you notice things are somewhat less than they seem.

Here's one article, for example, that suggests Americans' personal balance sheets are not necessarily getting better:

"Decrease In Credit Card Debt All Down To Write-Offs, Report Says" (Huffington Post)

Credit card debt fell last year only because of consumer defaults and bank write-offs, a new study argues.

In 2010, U.S. credit card debt dropped to the lowest level in eight years, according to credit reporting agency TransUnion. But there is more evidence http://education.cardhub.com/q4-2010-credit-card-debt-study/ Americans may have taken on more credit card debt than they paid off.

A study by Cardhub.com of Federal Reserve data found that last year, while banks wrote off a total of $75 billion in credit card debt, the level of the debt only declined by around $67 billion. This, according to Cardhub, suggests that the "entire decrease [in overall debt] is the direct result of Americans defaulting on their debt."

And here's a report that calls the official data on unemployment into question:

"Hidden Jobless Live Behind the Numbers" (The Journal Gazette)

Overshadowing the nation’s economic recovery is not only the number of Americans who have lost their jobs, but also those who have stopped looking for new ones.

These workers are not counted in the Labor Department’s monthly unemployment rate, yet they say they are willing to work. Since the recession began, their numbers have grown by 30 percent, to more than 6.4 million, amounting to a hidden labor force that could stymie the turnaround.

Adding these workers to February’s jobless rate pushes it up to 10.5 percent, well above the more commonly cited 8.9 percent rate. An even broader measure of unemployment, which includes people forced to work part time, stands at nearly 16 percent.

Economists say the longer these workers stay out of the job market, the harder it will be for them to find employment, creating a vicious circle that can spiral for months or longer. Meanwhile, their delayed entry into the job market means smaller paychecks in the future. And if these ranks remain high, economists worry that it will signal a much deeper and more troubling problem for the country: Workers’ skills don’t match the jobs available.

“It can be a self-reinforcing problem, where it just gets worse over time,” said Burt Barnow, an economist and professor at George Washington University.

And finally, here's a story that goes some way towards explaining why spending has remained resilient in the face of large job losses and compensation cutbacks:

"Food Stamps and Tax Aid Kept Poverty Rate in Check" (New York Times)

Without a flood of food stamps and tax benefits for low-income families, about 250,000 more New Yorkers would have slipped into poverty at the height of the recession, according to calculations to be released Monday by city officials.

As it was, while the federal poverty rate for the city remained about the same from 2008 to 2009, 17.3 percent, by a measure developed by the city it rose to 19.9 percent. The city takes into account factors the federal standard does not — higher local costs of living and expenses for health care, commuting and day care, or the value of benefits like food stamps, housing allowances and tax credits that can supplement cash income.

“To a large degree, economic stimulus programs and policy initiatives aimed at bolstering family income succeeded in preventing a rise in poverty in New York City,” according to the report by the mayor’s Center for Economic Opportunity.

In other words, perhaps the best explanation for why the economy appears to be recovering is that the so-called experts are suffering from ignorance or delusion, or are guilty of deception.

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Surviving Things To Come

From the John Moore Show 3-9-2011 : Surviving Things To Comeexactly. The solar flare may scorch the earth @8:46 and would probably take? out most transformers. Look into the New Madrid Fault Line, HAARP along with fracking/drilling. Go to dutchsinse's channel and look through his videos that mention fracking to start. Look into the "drill" for the NLE (National Level Exercise) 2011 this May (

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