By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
Looking around the Middle East you can find turmoil and conflict almost everywhere you turn.  Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Syria, Oman and Egypt have all been caught up in a fire storm of anti-government protests.  Some appear to be mostly peaceful, such as the pro-democracy movement in Egypt; and some are descending into bloody civil conflict, such as Libya.  

What is going on in the Middle East is breathtaking and frightening at the same time.  The unrest and outright middle east revolution is not going to be a pathway to peace and prosperity.   Libya is sliding into a bloody civil war.  The military is in control of Egypt.  Riots and protests are intensifying in other countries in the region.  Meanwhile, the price of oil is spiking because of fears of supply disruption.

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 
Monday, we started out the week with a front page story on USA Today that was more like a public relations stunt than real journalism.  The headline read “Dimon sees good times in 2011.”   The story was mostly an interview with JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon by CNBC news reader Maria Bartiromo.  I could not find any objectivity or tough questions put to the Chairman and CEO of one of the nation’s top financial institutions.  Please keep in mind J P Morgan was bailed out by taxpayers …

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By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com (Revised)
Saturday, the House of Representatives passed legislation with more than $60 billion of budget cuts.  It is the proverbial “drop in the bucket” when compared to the $14.1 trillion (and counting) outstanding federal debt.  Soon, this ever increasing national debt will eclipse the Gross Domestic Product (GDP.)   That means America will owe more than all the goods and services it produces in …

Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com  (updated)
The government released a nasty little inflation rate surprise yesterday.  Prices increased .4% in January, which was 33.3% higher than the expected .3% increase.  It should come as no surprise to anyone who fills up at a gas station or shops in a grocery store that prices are on a tear.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report said, “Increases in indexes for energy commodities and for food accounted for over two thirds of the all items increase. The indexes for gasoline and fuel oil both increased in …

This week, protests in the Middle East continued to take hold in countries such as Bahrain, Algeria, Yemen and even Iran.  Call it Middle East unrest, the pro-democracy movement or people just fed up with dictators in power.
I pray for all men to be free and to have democracy, but freedom and democracy cannot produce energy, rainfall or fertile farm ground.  Those things are necessary for life itself.  A reader sent me a disturbing set of facts about Egypt, the most recent country to topple its dictator.

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com   
If you believe government inflation rate numbers, inflation is 1.2%, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI.)  That’s how much prices rose last year.  Last week, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke testified in front of the Republican controlled House of Representatives and inflation was a hot topic.  Even though the government says inflation is low, some lawmakers are not buying it.

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
“Egypt will explode.”  That was the reaction on twitter from Mohamed ElBaradei to Hosni Mubarak’s announcement not to resign the Presidency of Egypt.  ElBaradei is a former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nobel Peace Prize winner.  Now, he has emerged as a leader of the opposition movement. 

You can write volumes on what is actually wrong with the economy.  We have record foreclosures, the FDIC closing banks every weekend, high unemployment, enormous deficits, food banks running out of money, sour mortgage-backed securities and the list goes on and on.  You could tie almost every financial problem together with one little ugly four letter word—DEBT.  Even our money is debt because, for the most part, it is loaned into existence.  

Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com   (updated)
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the latest unemployment figures last Friday.  There was a stunning drop to 9% from 9.4%.  How did that happen?  Is the economy really getting better or is the government up to its old statistical tricks.  According to the mainstream media, the economy is getting better and the so-called recovery is alive and well.

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
The revolution in Egypt has been going on for nearly two weeks.  It is intensifying.  There are reports of gunfire, beatings of foreign journalists and looting.  It is a riveting story because so much is at stake for America.  However, the Egypt saga is sucking up resources and attention away from other stories that are also very important for America. 

I was watching Egyptian news coverage of the protests on NBC last night, and I was amazed by the spin the Peacock Network took.  It was being reported as something positive–as if the mass release of prisoners by angry mobs (a few days ago) was a good thing.
They didn’t bring that up while I was watching the 2011 Egyptian protests, but correspondent Richard Engel did a stand-up in a crowd that felt more like Mardi Gras than revolution.  Here’s more of NBC’s coverage on the web, “In Washington, President Barack …