The United States of America was once the wealthiest, most prosperous nation on the entire earth. Americans lived in peace, almost everyone had a job, businesses were booming, the citizens were the healthiest in the world and almost everything America did turned to gold.
Those days are gone.
Instead of taking care of our national wealth, Americans spent it.
That wasn't enough for the new greedy generation of Americans, so they spent their children's money, and then they spent their grandchildren's money and then they spent their great grandchildren's money.
Now the United States is in the middle of a financial horror that is literally unprecedented in the history of the world.
As we posted on another blog the other day, the total liabilities of the United States government, including future social security and medicare payments that the U.S. government is already committed to pay out,
now exceed 65 TRILLION dollars, which is more than the entire GDP of the whole world.
If you don't believe us, just read
the 2008 Financial Report of the United States Government.
It's an official U.S. government report.
And you know what?
That 65 trillion dollars does not even reflect any significant money from the monstrous financial bailouts that Congress has passed.
So things are going to get MUCH worse financially.
How in the world could the richest nation on the earth let this happen?
This is what happens when extreme greed and extreme gluttony overcome a nation.
For decades, we, along with many other financial experts and patriots have been screaming and yelling about all the debt that America was getting into.
But nobody listened.
We sowed into the wind and so now we will reap the whirlwind.
Because of the mountain of debt that the U.S. government, financial institutions and ordinary Americans have piled up, the financial system is beginning to fail.
Already,
13 banks have already failed in 2009. All of the bailouts that Congress have been passing certainly don't seem to be helping much yet.
The truth is that all of this government spending that Congress is doing will help the economy in the short term, but it will make the long term problems of the U.S. government far worse because all of this spending is just increasing the debt.
So who is going to buy all of this new government debt?
China has serious doubts about who is going to buy all of America's new debt. The reality is that the only way that the government can "bailout" anyone or pay for any "stimulus" bill is to borrow.
So America borrows and borrows and borrows and borrows.
If your own personal finances were like that, how do you think it would end?
Times are going to get even harder my friends.
Already there are so many ordinary Americans that are in severe pain.
The U.S. economy
lost 598,000 jobs in January. Just think about that. Over half a million jobs GONE in one short month.
These job losses are hurting real people. Do you know people who have lost jobs? We do. We know parents that are trying desperately to support their children who have now lost their jobs.
When people lose their jobs they don't have money to spend at the stores and they can't pay their mortgages either.
Foreclosures in the United States
increased by 81 percent last year, and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight.
As more people lose their jobs, more people will lose their homes.
The truth is that there are more homes sitting empty in the United States today than there ever had been before.
Just think about that.
In fact, there are some areas of the United States that are in danger of becoming permanent disaster zones.
Did you know that some areas of New Orleans STILL have not been rebuilt after all this time?
In the "greatest country on earth" a situation like New Orleans can persist for YEARS and still the government does not fix the problem.
It is a national disgrace.
But New Orleans is not alone. There are a growing number of areas around the U.S. that have been hit by natural disasters or hard times and have just been left to rot away.
Just ask someone who has been to certain areas of Detroit. There are some places there that look like a war zone. People there are hurting bad.
Does anyone care?
All of this financial turmoil has also cause a sharp increase in the number of homeless.
It's not just people sleeping on street corners either.
Due to the huge number of foreclosures, tent "cities" have been popping up on the outskirts of major cities all over the nation.
The truth is that there are more people in the United States without a decent place to live than ever before.
Even areas that were once the definition of U.S. prosperity are experiencing severe problems.
For example, the "California lifestyle" was once the envy of the rest of the United States.
Not anymore.
Now many Californians can't wait to get out of that state. For the 4th year in a row, more Americans have left California than have moved there from other states.
The truth is that California is quickly becoming a total nightmare, and all of the sunny weather, sandy beaches and Hollywood stars are not enough to keep people there anymore.
The following are ten reasons why California has now become America's national nightmare.....
#1) California's overstretched emergency health care system
is on the verge of absolute collapse. Dozens of hospitals and emergency rooms have shut down in the last decade. Many emergency rooms simply could not afford to stay open as they were swamped with immigrants and poor and homeless who were not able to pay for the services they were getting.
This had led to brutally long waits, diverted ambulances and even patient deaths as emergency rooms are just way, way too crowded.
#2) Tax refunds are now on hold in California for the very first time in the history of that state.
According to ABC News, Hallye Jordan, spokeswoman for California State Controller John Chiang said this about the situation.....
"Unfortunately, we have asked the California Franchise Tax Board not to send over tax refund claims beginning today because we will not be able to process them and have them out the door by Feb. 1 when a 30-day delay in tax refunds goes into effect."
#3) The unemployment rate in California is 8.4 percent and rising.
#4) Due to very high taxes and crippling housing costs, the cost of living in California is outrageous.
#5) Rampant gangs and increasing crime is making California an increasingly dangerous place to live.
#6) The traffic in the major cities is absolutely suffocating.
#7) An all time record of 236,000 foreclosures have been projected in California for 2008, more than the entire prior nine years combined,
according to the research firm MDA DataQuick.
#8) Each year there are the thousands of devastating wildfires in the state.
#9) Each year there are endless earthquakes, and the "big one" could hit at any time.
#10) In addition, California officials say that
the drought in 2009 may be the worst in California history.
With all of this economic turmoil going on, ordinary Americans are getting upset. They don't trust the Republicans OR the Democrats. The people of this country want answers and they want solutions to their problems and they aren't getting any.
In the midst of these bleak times, instead of reaching out with a helping hand, the U.S. government is clenching their fists. It seems as though almost every "answer" the government comes up with these days involves more taxation, more government control or more "big brother" tactics.
In our recent article entitled "
The NSA's Black Widow Is Watching ALL Your Calls & Emails", we discussed how the NSA literally has a supercomputer that scans millions of calls, emails and other electronic communications each day.
But that is yesterday's news.
Now
the NSA is creating an artificial intelligence system called "Aquaint" that will literally pull information from thousands of databases to figure out not only what you are doing, but also what you are
thinking.
Aquaint ("Advanced QUestion Answering for INTelligence") is being designed to pull information from your phone calls, credit card receipts, social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, GPS devices, cell phones, Google searches, Amazon book purchases and even E-Z Pass toll records to give users of the system information on where you are, what you are doing and what you are thinking.
Oh, you didn't think that the government could do that?
Oh, you didn't think that the government was ALLOWED to do that?
Guess again.
Welcome to the 21st century - the century of Big Brother.
Acquaint is so incredibly intrusive
that at least one researcher has left the project because of concerns about what it is becoming.
Imagine what a technology like this could mean if it fell into the wrong hands.
For some time we have been saying that we are nearing the end of the "open society".
Does that thought bother you?
It should.
The reality is that every day the United States becomes more like some of the repressive societies of the past that we were all taught were bad growing up.
In fact, some of the measures being proposed in Congress are absolutely chilling.
On January 22nd, Representative Alcee Hastings [D-FL] introduced a new bill in the U.S. House of Representatives called the National Emergency Centers Act (also known as HR 645).
If Congress passes this bill, the Department of Homeland Security will be REQUIRED to establish national emergency centers (FEMA camps) on closed military bases.
For years, mainstream apologists have tried to deny that the government was putting together a network of FEMA detention camps across the United States. But now the wording of this new law would require that closed military bases be converted into Homeland Security "emergency centers". Just check out this language from the bill: "Wherever possible, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall designate a closed military installation as a site for a national emergency center."
You can see the entire text of this new bill here:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-645Let's take a look at some of the specific language in this bill.....
"In accordance with the requirements of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish not fewer than 6 national emergency centers on military installations."This law would require that AT LEAST 6 FEMA camps be established on military installations around the United States. But it does not set a maximum. So the number of FEMA camps established under this law could be 6 or it could be 60.
"(4) to meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security."This language gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to use these FEMA camps for any purpose that he or she wishes. That is a truly sobering thought.
".....capable of meeting for an extended period of time the housing, health, transportation, education, public works, humanitarian and other transition needs of a large number of individuals affected by an emergency or major disaster"Note that the law would require that these FEMA camps be able to house (or imprison?) large populations for an extended period of time. There camps are not just being set up as command and control centers - they are being designed to hold "a large number of individuals".
".....capable of hosting the infrastructure necessary to rapidly adjust to temporary housing"Once again we see that these FEMA camps specifically have the purpose of "housing" people.
(c) Location of National Emergency Centers- There shall be established not fewer than one national emergency center in each of the following areas:
(1) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Regions I, II, and III.
(2) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Region IV.
(3) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Regions V and VII.
(4) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Region VI.
(5) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Regions VIII and X.
(6) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Region IX.
Please note that the law REQUIRES that at least one of these FEMA camps be established in specific FEMA regions.
Which FEMA region do YOU live in?
If the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense jointly determine that there is not a sufficient number of closed military installations that meet the requirements of subsections (b) and (c), the Secretaries shall jointly designate portions of existing military installations other than closed military installations as national emergency centers.
This part of the bill actually requires the use of an active military base for a FEMA camp if there are not enough closed military bases to do the job.
Where do you think the FEMA camp closest to your house will be established?
Are you ready to go to a "national emergency center" when the government declares martial law?
What will your response be if they come to put you on a train that will take you and your family to one of these camps?
But you know what one of the saddest things is?
The machinery of martial law is being put into place, and the American people are hardly uttering a peep in protest.
Instead of living in one of the happiest, healthiest and wealthiest nations of earth, Americans now find themselves in a nation facing financial disaster that is quickly becoming a frightening "big brother" police state.
The American Dream is gone.
Welcome to the American Nightmare.
-Barack Obama's first budget proposal: 3.55 trillion dollars 
