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Most Americans are flat broke, unprepared for coming economic collapse - 14 signs

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
Mon, 23 Feb 2015 15:23 UTC
Image
© Theeconomiccollapseblog.com
When the coming economic crisis strikes, more than half the country is going to be financially wiped out within weeks. At this point, more than 60 percent of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and a whopping 24 percent of the country has more credit card debt than emergency savings. One of the primary principles that any of these "financial experts" that you see on television will teach you is to have a cushion to fall back on. At the very least, you never know when unexpected expenses like major car repairs or medical bills will come along. And in the event of a major economic collapse, if you do not have any financial cushion at all you will be a sitting duck. Yes, I know that there are millions upon millions of families out there that are just trying to scrape by from month to month at this point. I hear from people that are deeply struggling in this economy all the time. So I don't blame them for not being able to save lots of money. But if you are in a position to build up an emergency fund, you need to do so. We have been experiencing an extended period of relative economic stability, but it will not last. In fact, the time for getting prepared for the next great economic downturn is rapidly running out, and most Americans are not ready for it at all. The following are 14 signs that most Americans are flat broke and totally unprepared for the coming economic crisis...

#1 According to a survey that was just released, 24 percent of all Americans have more credit card debt than emergency savings.

#2 That same survey discovered that an additional 13 percent of all Americans do not have any credit card debt, but they do not have a single penny of emergency savings either.

#3 At this point, approximately 62 percent of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.

#4 Adults under the age of 35 in the United States currently have a savings rate of negative 2 percent.

#5 More than half of all students in U.S. public schools come from families that are poor enough to qualify for school lunch subsidies.

#6 A study that was conducted last year found that more than one out of every three adults in the United States has an unpaid debt that is "in collections".

Comment: See also:

SOTT Talk Radio #66 - Lessons from collapse of USSR for USA: Interview with Dmitry Orlov

Dmitry Orlov interview: Are Americans prepared for a Soviet style collapse?

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Cardboard Box

One in five suicides worldwide linked to unemployment

Barry Mason
World Socialist Web Site
Sat, 21 Feb 2015 14:57 UTC
Image
© Newsfortherevolution.wordpress.com
Previous studies have shown that there is a correlation between unemployment and suicide. However, data on the direct effect of unemployment on suicide was not so readily available. A new study by Dr. Carlos Nordt of Zurich University's Psychiatric Hospital and published on the Lancet Psychiatry web site in February sets out to address this situation.

The study aims to "enhance knowledge of the specific effect of unemployment on suicide by analysing global public data classified according to world regions."

It concludes that around 45,000 people commit suicide each year because they have become unemployed. It shows that for the year 2008, the beginning of the economic crisis, suicides associated with unemployment were nine times greater than previously thought.

The study covers 63 countries in four regions of the world over the years 2000 to 2011. Researchers used this time period to be able to contrast the period of relative economic stability (2000-2007) with that of economic crisis (2008-2011). The regions were the Americas, including the US and Mexico; northern and Western Europe, including France, Germany and the UK; Southern and Eastern Europe, including Greece, Italy and Romania; and non-American and non-European regions, including Australia, Japan and South Africa.

The study uses data on suicide deaths from the World Health Organisation (WHO) mortality database and economic data from the International Monetary Fund's world economic outlook database.

It notes that, as with previous economic crises, "current data from Europe, the USA and Asia suggest an association between the 2008 economic crisis, rising unemployment rates and increased rates of death by suicide."

The study uses different statistical tools in an attempt to isolate the specific effects of unemployment on suicide rates. Among its findings are that the figures of an increasing unemployment rate lag behind figures of an increase in suicide by six months. Such a time lag points to an increase in stress, insecurity and a deterioration of mental health as workers are earmarked for possible redundancy. The threat of unemployment needs to be included in the suicide figures, explain the authors. The study concludes that "suicide due to unemployment might be severely underestimated if studies focus only (on) the time period of the economic crisis."

Comment: It seems as though the only ones who truly benefit from the current economic food chain are those at the very top of it, the elite 1%. Our world has become such a conscienceless web of exploitation and inequality, people are taking their own lives as a means to deal with it.

See also:

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Light Saber

Coalition of police officers heads to D.C. to demand the broken and brutal police system be fixed

Jay Syrmopoulos
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 24 Feb 2015 04:15 UTC
NCLEO
© NCLEO
The National Coalition of Law Enforcement Officers for Justice, Reform and Accountability (NCLEO) is a contingent of current and retired law enforcement officers and whistleblowers. NCLEO will be meeting with a congressional delegation that includes civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to discuss policing reform.

These former officers seek to assist in helping to reform a system that is severely broken and many times entirely devoid of justice. Problems that range from racial profiling and police brutality to the lack transparency in relation to allegations and complaints of misconduct by officers will be addressed.
"Modern policing is in a crisis that could lead to a revolution. We need a paradigm shift to get rid of antiquated policing. The insular culture of law enforcement and mental health issues in cops need to be addressed, as well as ingrained racism," said NCLEO member Alex Salazar, a former LAPD cop turned whistleblower, in an interview with The Free Thought Project.
All too often we see the police, as well as prosecutors, ignore officer misconduct and in effect passively support the status quo of a broken justice system. To the public at large the "us vs. them" mentality held by law enforcement emboldens an anti-police response from the public and only serves to create a greater divide.
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TV

Television news and mind control through cognitive dissonance

Jon Rappoport
Jon Rappoport's Blog
Tue, 24 Feb 2015 23:01 UTC
"When professionals broadcast one absurdity after another, they begin to see the effects are actually strengthening their own position of authority. It's a revelation. It's also a continuation of the tradition of the Trickster archetype. For example, with just a few minor adjustments, Brian Williams can be seen as the sly Reynard the Fox..." (The Underground, Jon Rappoport)
Image
© Ranchodinero.com
From the viewpoint of elite television news, controlling the minds of its audience depends on what's politely called "cognitive dissonance":

As the anchor recites a news story, the viewer sees an obvious hole through which he could drive a truck.

The story makes no sense, yet it's being presented as bland fact. The trusted anchor clearly has no problem with it.

What's the viewer to do? He experiences a contradiction, a "dissonance."

For example, this year's flu vaccine. The US government has admitted the vaccine is geared to a flu virus that isn't circulating in the population. Therefore, even by conventional standards, the vaccine is useless. But the kicker is, the CDC says people should take the vaccine anyway.

The anchor relays all this information—and never seriously questions the situation, never torpedoes the government for recommending the vaccine.

The average viewer feels a tug, a pulse of discomfort, a push-pull. The vaccine story is idiocy (side one), but the trusted anchor accepts it (side two).

Dissonance.

Comment: Cognitive dissonance can be applied to every single action that is taken by so-called powers that be, as well as in our own personal lives. The list of situations are endless. Being aware of what they are can prevent us from falling into the cognitive dissonance trap of believing our own lies.
Whatever the degree of deception, the realization that one has been believing in a lie is a painful experience, not only psychologically but physically as well. Like a punch to the stomach, it can feel like one's breath has been taken away. And because our beliefs about the world are interconnected with other beliefs fixed in our brains, the destruction of one belief can often lead to a cascade of collapse of many others.

When a person is confronted with facts that contradict currently held belief systems, they have one of two choices. The first choice is to go into denial mode by rejecting the facts as being untrue in order to prop up their chosen belief system and continue living as before. The second choice is to accept the new data and try and reconstruct a new internal paradigm or map of reality that accommodates the new information, which may mean putting into question all other beliefs associated with the old model.

The second choice is difficult and takes a great deal of strength in order to let go of one's preconceived ideas and accept the new and factual data. The first choice is easy because it requires no effort, pain, sadness, or reordering of one's life or values. It is also more comfortable, and because humans generally prefer comfort over pain, the first choice is often the default option.

The exact moment when a person becomes aware of facts that go against what is believed to be true, they experience what psychologists call cognitive dissonance; it is that tense, uncomfortable sensation that what one sees is so out of sync with what one already believes to be true, that the mind instantly rejects it, even when the facts are plain and indisputable.

It is in this moment of experiencing cognitive dissonance (you can recognize it by the tension and discomfort that triggers a "knee-jerk" reaction) that the crucial battle for truth over fiction takes place. If a person can muster the awareness and strength of will to not give in and take the comfortable route by immediately dismissing the facts outright, and hold the conflicting information in their minds while consciously experiencing the negative feelings associated with cognitive dissonance, the resulting liberation can be transformational. It has to be experienced to be believed!

The interesting thing about our tendency to stick with old belief systems, even when faced with hard evidence to the contrary, is the neuro-chemical reward factor. Scientific studies have shown that when experiencing cognitive dissonance (the tension and stress produced when presented with facts that undermine one's normal perception of reality), the decision (knee-jerk reaction) to ignore the factual data and sweep any contradictory evidence under the rug causes the brain to release certain chemicals, making us feel happy and safe again.

So, if believing in an illusion makes us feel safe, happy and comfortable, and any contradictory evidence causes us pain, disorientation and sadness, what possible motivation is there to consciously choose to go through the process of disillusionment?

The love and desire for Truth.

The Necessity of Disillusionment


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Megaphone

Chicago activist: Local reporters intentionally didn't cover Homan Square "black site"

Arturo Garcia
Raw Story
Tue, 24 Feb 2015 22:15 UTC
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Chicago reporters failed to cover a police "black site" where suspects were held without access to legal representation because they sided with the authorities, a local activist and criminologist told The Atlantic on Tuesday.

"I think that many crime reporters in Chicago have political views that are right in line with the police," Tracy Siska said. "They tend to agree about the tactics needed by the police. They tend to have by one extent or the other the same racist views of the police — a lot of urban police (not all of them by any stretch, but a lot of them) embody racism."

Siska is the head of the Chicago Justice Project, a non-profit group that works toward improving police transparency in hopes of improving community relations.

As The Guardian reported earlier in the day, local attorneys have called the police warehouse, known as Homan Square, as the equivalent to a CIA-style facility. Siska said that local police accountability activists believe it started operating during former police superintendent Phil Cline's tenure "around 2006 or 2007."

Most of the detainees at the facility, he said, were young men of color who could not afford to hire their own attorneys at the time of their arrest.

Comment: See also: Gulag archipelago: Chicago police are torturing and disappearing Americans at local 'black site' - How many more sites are there across the US?

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Camcorder

Donbass under fire: On the roads of war (VIDEO)

Maxim Fadeyev
Kazzura
Wed, 25 Feb 2015 21:48 UTC
donbass under fire
Maxim Fadeyev's latest documentary in his "Donbass Under Fire" series continues to document the destruction brought to the region by Kiev, the impact on real people - their tears, anger and loss - and their fight to defend their land, culture, and freedom. It is not pretty, but empire never is. This is the logical result of Western 'intervention': chaos and death.


See his previous documentaries (those which have been translated into English) below.
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Black Cat

New Jersey language teacher indicted on 40 counts of sexual assault with six male teenage students

Bill Wichert
NJ.com
Wed, 18 Feb 2015 07:07 UTC
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© Essex County Correctional Facility
Nicole Dufault
A Maplewood teacher has been indicted on charges of sexually assaulting six male students, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced today.

Nicole Dufault, 35, of Caldwell, was indicted on 40 counts of aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, according to a press release from the prosecutor's office.

Dufault was arrested and charged in September with engaging in sex acts with five male students, but by the time the case was presented to the grand jury, a sixth victim had been identified, prosecutors said.

Dufault was released from custody in October after posting $500,000 bail. She is scheduled to appear on March 6 before Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin.

Dufault, a Bloomfield native, has been a language arts teacher at Columbia High School for nine years, prosecutors said. Previously, she taught at several other public schools in Passaic and Bergen counties, prosecutors said.

A single mother of two young sons, Dufault is accused of engaging in sexual activity with the six students on multiple occasions between 2013 and 2014, prosecutors said. Some of the sex acts occurred on school property and in her car, prosecutors said.

The victims were between 14 and 15 years old at the time of the incidents, prosecutors said.

Comment: Sexual predators are everywhere and in every profession. Do read Anna Salter's book, "Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, and Other Sex Offenders, Who They Are, How They Operate, and How We Can Protect Ourselves and Our Children" to protect yourself and children.

See also: Female teachers: The hidden sex offenders that no one suspects

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People

D'uh! Most British Muslims oppose violent reaction to cartoons of Mohammed


RT
Wed, 25 Feb 2015 18:51 UTC
british muslim
© Reuters/Danish Siddiqui
The majority of British Muslims are not in favor of violent retribution for those who publish images of the Prophet Mohammed, nor do they sympathize with fighters traveling abroad to fight with Islamists, a poll reveals.

The ComRes survey, compiled for the BBC, found that two-thirds of respondents felt acts of violence against people who produce images of the Prophet Mohammed could never be justified.

However, 27 percent showed some sympathy for the motives behind the Paris attacks.

In January, extremist Muslim gunmen launched an attack at the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, several years after it published cartoons depicting the prophet.

The survey, which took information from 1,000 British Muslims during the weeks following the Paris attacks, found that 80 percent of respondents were deeply offended by images of the prophet, and 32 percent were not surprised by the attacks.

The results further suggest that half of Muslims living in Britain feel they suffer faith-based discrimination, and believe the country is becoming less tolerant.

Comment: This is basic human psychology. The majority of people simply do not support aggressive violence. That is why governments' PR departments strive so hard to present every major conflict or war in terms of "defense". Unless there is a real or perceived threat, non-psychopaths simply do not support instrumental violence. But of course, there will always be those who do, in ANY group, and that includes the British establishment, Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc.

The official response to attacks like those in Paris and others, and the general tone of commentary in the time following them, have been irresponsible and irrational. And Muslims around the world have every reason to feel prejudiced and afraid. That is the purpose. And unless humanity collectively refuses to buy the BS their governments sell them, it will only get worse.

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Che Guevara

We kill our revolutionaries

Chris Hedges
Truthdig
Sun, 22 Feb 2015 01:46 UTC
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© AP/Mark Duncan
Law officers and National Guard troops assemble outside the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville in 1993 as a revolt by prisoners entered its 10th day.
Siddique Hasan, his legs shackled to a chair, sat in the fourth-floor visiting room of the Ohio State Penitentiary, a supermax prison. The room, surrounded by thick glass windows, had a guard booth in the center and food vending machines flanking a microwave on one wall. There was a line of small booths, entered through a door behind Hasan, where families, including children, were talking to prisoners through plexiglass partitions.
A riot that occurred Friday has made a prison in Texas, the Willacy County Correctional Center, uninhabitable and forced a mass transfer of prisoners. According to a 2014 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, prisoners there complained of "severely crowded and squalid living conditions." Click here or here for more information about what happened there.
Hasan, 5 feet 10 inches tall, 52 years old, bearded and with wire-rim glasses, had a white kufi on his head. He wore a short-sleeve shirt over a long-sleeve shirt, light blue prison pants and white Nikes. His 209-pound frame was taut and compact, the result of an intense exercise regime. He has been on death row since he was convicted for his actions while leading, along with four others, the April 1993 uprising at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville, Ohio. They are known as the Lucasville Five. The uprising saw prisoners take control of the prison for 11 days in protest against numerous grievances, including deaths that occurred allegedly from beatings by guards. It was one of the longest prison uprisings in U.S. history. By the time it was over, 10 people had been killed by prisoners, including a guard.

Comment: It seems whenever a strong leader, whether in prison or outside in society, especially one of color, rises to confront abuse of human rights the PTB go into overdrive to squash the rebel in any way possible including assassination to maintain their illusion of control. For more information on the current state of the US prison industrial complex please read:

Jailing Americans for Profit: The Rise of the Prison Industrial Complex

FBI launches investigation into a private prison so violent it is called "Gladiator School"

California prisons illegally sterilized hundreds of female inmates

Who Profits from Prison?: Louisiana - the World's Prison Capital

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Star of David

Prague: Attacks spur European rabbis to train in self-defense

Karel Janicek
Yahoo News
Wed, 25 Feb 2015 00:00 UTC
rabbis self defense 1
© www.miamiherald.com
Rabbis take part in first aid training and self defense during the Conference of European Rabbis in Prague.
Rabbis from European countries gathered in Prague Tuesday for training in self-defense and first aid in response to a wave of attacks against Jews and a rise of anti-Semitism on the continent.

In a stunning beginning of a training session, knives were distributed to dozens of rabbis, young and old, before receiving instructions and practicing what to do to survive stabbing and how to treat injuries.
rabbis self defense 2
© www.vosizneias.com
Rabbis line up to knife (screwdriver?) wrestle.
Some occasionally burst out with a laugh but overall the rabbis took it seriously as it was prompted by fears after the deadly terror attack against a kosher grocery in Paris in January and the murder of a Jewish security guard outside a synagogue in Copenhagen earlier this month.

"When we see the level of anti-Semitism in Europe, when we see the level of hate in Europe, when we see the lack of leadership of European governments to fight against anti-Semitism and terror, we're not surprised, unfortunately (by the attacks)," said Rabbi Menachem Margolin.

Comment: Maybe all men and women "of the cloth" should join up and take these classes...Rabbis, Ministers, Imams, Priests...because there's lots of "anti" and "phobia" to spare out there! From the candids at the conference, it certainly looks like these guys have "the right stuff!" Self-defense is useful. Arming the clerics...hmmm, a pause for thought! L'chaim y'all.

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