Weekly News Wrap-Up 3.1.13
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
To say the drama and panic being put out by the mainstream media (MSM) is unfounded hype is a gross understatement. The budget cuts known as “sequestration” will force mandatory cuts to military and social programs. These cuts are really pretty minor when you look at the more than $3.6 trillion in spending for the U.S. Yes, there will be some pain. Budget cuts are supposed to be painful, but to position this as an end of the world scenario is simply spin, poor reporting and fact checking by the MSM. The budget cuts we are getting are a fraction of what the original bi-partisan Simpson-Bowles commission came up with for debt reduction. It was spending cuts and tax increases that totaled $4 trillion over 10 years, and that just slowed the growth of government. The current tax increases and spending cuts are less than half of the bi-partisan $4 trillion deficit reduction proposal.
This sequestration fight has gotten very ugly. There have been hundreds of criminal detainees released by ICE. The White House says it was not involved. The White House was involved in asking for more tax increases so cuts didn’t have to be made. Famed Watergate reporter, Bob Woodward, has been super critical of the President on the sequestration issue. He said the President was guilty of “moving the goal posts” on new taxes. Woodward is now apparently involved in an open feud with the White House. There are reports that the White House told Woodward he would “regret” being critical. That is outrageous, and the MSM should be doing fact checking, not spin control for this or any administration.
Nobody wants their stuff cut, but how can we fix a spending problem with more spending? We have been told for years we are going to grow out of this, and all that is growing is the massive federal debt. And why in the heck is nobody even mentioning the $40 billion a month the Fed is spending to prop up the banks buying all their underwater toxic mortgage debt? That’s nearly $500 billion a year, and that is just the “official” Fed number. Folks are now saying it could be more than double that. This is not a topic of discussion during a budget battle???
As a sign of how the economy is really going, it looks like Detroit is going to be taken over by the state of Michigan. It is bankrupt. You think that they’re not going to experience some real cuts to turn things around? This is what’s coming for the rest of the country if we are not really careful. I remember being up there years ago. The sewage system was in need of major overhaul, and the top priority was getting the Detroit Tigers a new baseball stadium.
Finally, it looks like gold and silver are taking it on the chin. Experts, such as Jim Sinclair, say gold is going much higher because the money printing cannot be stopped. He’s calling on gold to go to $3,500 and much, much higher. He’s made monster calls in the past. For example, in 2002, when gold was trading for around $360 per ounce, Sinclair said gold would be trading at $1,650 by January 2011. It hit $1,650 in June 2011. I would not bet against him. Rich people are buying physical gold and silver hand over fist! After all, it’s on sale.
Join Greg Hunter as he gives his analysis of these stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up.
Please Support Our Direct Sponsors Below
Who Support The Truth Tellers
About the Author
Greg Hunter
Greg is the producer and creator of USAWatchdog.com. The site’s slogan is “analyzing the news to give you a clear picture of what’s really going on.” The site will keep an eye on the government, your financial interests and cut through the media spin. USAWatchdog.com is neither Democrat nor Republican, Liberal or Conservative. Before creating and producing the site, Greg spent nearly 9 years as a network and investigative correspondent. He worked for ABC News and Good Morning America for nearly 6 years. Most recently, Greg worked for CNN for shows such as Paula Zahn Now, American Morning and various CNN business shows.
Greg,
Welcome back! I am sorry to hear what happened to your website. Here is a link to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) with some useful website protection information (https://www.eff.org/keeping-your-site-alive)
The sequestration may be good to the country. Americans need to be hit by the head from time to time. If it doesn’t hurt, some people never learn. Most of us are probably upset with the child’s play in Capitol Hill – the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling, and now the sequestration, yet we keep voting for the same people and put them back in their offices. So whose fault is it? Congress approval rating is holding steady at 15% and disapproval rating is 81% (Gallup Poll, February 19, 2013). Obama’s job approval is rated highest on National Defense (53%) and lowest on the Deficit (31%).
The big banks are on the news again. Big banks like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are helping illegal payday loan lenders to collect payments automatically from their customers’ accounts. (Last week’s New York Times, “Major Banks Aid in Payday Loans Banned by States” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/business/major-banks-aid-in-payday-loans-banned-by-states.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) Mortgage bubble, robot signing scandal, car loan bubble, student loan bubble, illegal payday loan collection, …the bankers’ naughty list is getting longer and longer.
Here are two new Frontline shows that you may be interested:
“Untouchables” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/untouchables/)
“Cliffhanger” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/cliffhanger/)
Have a great weekend.
Ambrose
Ambrose,
Thank you for the info, the comment, and all the links!!
Greg
Greg, Bob Woodward is a cia psy-ops specialist. I like most of your info Greg, but this is overboard.
Woodward plays with our minds.
Thought you would know this already.
Mac,
My point is Woodward was critical of the president and is being taken to task for it. It is almost like a How dare you criticize the president when that’s what the press is supposed to do when he screws up. My point is valid. Please source you CIA claim. Thank you for your comment.
Greg
Wow…not sure what to make of this tripe.
Greg,
Keep up the good work. Just remember: Every day that you post the truth, it is the first time for someone to come across your blog and hear the truth. I believe you are having a very significant impact in the lives of average people who are waking up and becoming better prepared for the calamity that lies ahead. God bless.
Robert,
Thank you for your kind words!!
Greg
Nice read. Great synopsis and reporting.
Thank you Dan R.
Greg
I’ve retired after 44 years working. Throughout the entire period, I lived through no fewer than 10 lay-offs and cut-backs. I have yet to see any appreciable lay-off or cut-back in the federal work force (EVER). I feel it is about time “they” should take a “hit”. How about a 20% cut back on ALL salaries? “They” need to share in the austerity. We all should have the same insurance benefits, too. “Their” retirement program and health insurance is way out of line; cut it back. A 20% cut would be way better than NO PAY at all. 20 % could really help lower the debt. I’m really getting KILLED by this money printing. In the 12 years I’ve been retired, my dollars have lost more than 30 % of their purchasing power. Obama’s crew haven’t a clue. My wife and I have BOTH had to go back to work at 70 years old. Obama is truly a murderer. CO
Great point Chuck O. Thank you for making it here.
Greg
What did you expect,especialy a person of your age! Were at the end of the age that the son of god prophesied. Look at the bright side were not getting any younger. The Bible says after Armaggedon the Earth will have a 1,000 years of peace (the thousand year riegn of Christ). Hitler called it the 1000 year Riech, thankfully he failed, good eventually conquers evil and as you know the nations will turn there swords into plowshares and a little girl will be able to sit with the lion and cobra and best of all an old man’s flesh will be fresher than in youth! Jesus said lift your heads up when you see all these things occure. The longer I live the more I believe its going to happen and I will live to see it. He also said the nations will come to the point they’ll see no way out and unless those days were cut short no flesh would be saved! So all is not lost, hang in there and hang together so we dont hang seperatly! PS. Pray thru the son to the father, prayer changes things! Never give up! Arma gettin outa here, new world or not!
Both parties are not going to balance the budget and they know it, they have almost quit even promising it and or discussing it in their campaign rhetoric and congressional photo ops. Slowing the rate of debt increase is all that will be done it that.
Greg, another downgrade will not happen any time soon, the lawsuit by the Government was a shot over the bow for S & P and was also a warning to the other rating companies not to dare do it. That is why Moody’s went over the pond and downgraded Great Britain and left the U.S. alone; it had to do something or risk becoming irrelevant.
If the truth be known, many cities in the U.S. are on the heals of Detroit, that is why most are raising every parking fee and permits that is humanly possible and ticketing traffic violations like violent felonies; to raise revenue. For example, California is proposing further gas tax increases at the same time building an expensive (billions) bullet train down its central valley which no one will ride. it just never quits with these tax and spend politicians, republicans alike. They just don’t get it, so in the end, the train that goes to nowhere will have to be subsidized in order to operate creating more deficits, all for the sake of those jobs for 5 years that will pay taxes to the state while building the train system.
Art Barnes,
I hope you are right about the downgrade but I am not holding my breath. Thank you for weighing in here!!
Greg
Greg
Have you ever read this Senate report in 1973 about how the United Sates had been under emergency powers for 40 years?
http://www.ncrepublic.org/images/lib/SenateReport93_549.pdf
I think we’ve been under the same thing since 9-11. It gives the President total power over everything and everyone. This is where we’re at today folks, The President can do anything he wants. It’s anybodies guess what that will be.
PS
Is there anyway you could put your interviews on audio only? The videos are great but they use alot of bandwidth and I only get so much. If not it’s okay I’ll live. Thanks for all you do. If I ever get a few bucks ahead your first on support list!
Thank you Mars.
Greg
Thanks Greg
Living in a world full of resources, technology and man/women power and this is where the west has come. Why? Because we don’t have any money. Now we are screaming for the government/corporations to reduce our wages, work us more hours, reduce earned entitlements and reduce many better paying jobs. Why? Because we don’t have any money. Real Alice in wonderland stuff. Will gold and silver change a rigged system where the few play with the lives of the many like pieces on a monopoly board? Doubtful. We would have wound up here anyway because we did. It’s not about the kind of money, it’s about a consciousness that says money (in whatever form) trumps the good of mankind and our home.
I can’t say it enough, Capitalism, Socialism and Communism all have one very important thing in common. The few end up with most of the money, resources and technology. I was very slow to see it where Capitalism is concerned but in the end if not careful it may collapse more of the world than Socialism or Communism has. It’s amazing how much of the west felt a horrible negative effect from the sale of chopped up mortgages sold on the stock market and to other governments. I don’t know the answer but am pretty sure reviving anything already tried will not bring us any closer to spiritual or physical freedom. I am so happy we are sending more of our borrowed money this time to the Syrian Rebels because that has worked so well in Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. I thought we were broke.
Happy Friday!
Greg: regarding gold. What many of your readers may not know is that the supply of future gold to the free market is in rapid decline. Annual global production is falling as miners are facing stiff cost headwinds, grades of mined ore have been declining YOY for the last 2 decades, and marginal projects are being shelved left and right. Further, over 50% of gloabl production never reaches the free market as it retained in country (notably Russia and China. Plus, when the SHTF, how many gold producing countries do you think will still allow gold exports?
Right now, gold (and silver) are on sale, at deeply discounted prices; act accordingly.
Thank you Andy B. Au and AG are the only real money left.
Greg
Greg,
The significance of the sequester that the politicians and MSM have been making such a fuss over can be better understood by removing nine zeros from the government numbers and viewing the federal budget as a family budget…
Annual family Income = $37,099
Annual family spending = $38,000
Annual deficit spending = $901
Credit card balance = $16, 613 (national debt)
Sequester solution: Make cuts to reduce deficit spending by a whopping $85 over the next ten years !!
I love your “family budget” analysis of the government’s spending crisis!
It sure gets the point across clearly.
Here is a story that if you read between the lines backs up my last post. A quote from the story: “Are they crazy? Is everyone crazy? What are we doing now, making up the rules as we go? I did not vote for my Senators and Representatives so that they could trash The Constitution!”
http://www.silverdoctors.com/at-the-brink-of-dictatorship/
I’d like to see at least a 30% cut in the offense budget, as the Pentagon is the most wasteful, bloated, and fraudulent big government program in human history. Rumsfeld admitted to the Pentagon “losing” over 2 TRILLION tax payer dollars just prior to 9-11-01. The money that is now wasted committing acts of mass murder, war crimes, terrorism, and destruction over seas should be used to rebuild our failing infrastructure, creating jobs and boosting the economy. Of course, we also need to fix the tax system so that the wealthiest few pay their fair share. The wealth gap in the U.S. has been growing at an obscene rate, and historically, a massive wealth gap has been a key factor in the downfall of societies.
Greg another great article.
You forgot to mention that the Fed is also buying $45 billion per month in treasuries. Total of $85 billion per month to their balance sheet…
Thank you for adding that. It is shocking and amazing to me the Wall Street and the general public think that printing $1 trillion a year to prop up the economy is a wonderful idea with zero downside.
Greg
Thanks for the delivery of real news and analysis here. You are a financial Patrick Henry and I needed the heads up. It’s amazing how much the ugly truth is constantly glossed over with fake “Oh everything is getting better” attitudes. The MSM should be re-employed as used car salesmen. They should at least wear plaid jackets and white shoes at this point.
Thank you Brian for the Patrick Henry comparison but I am not sure I deserve it. As I said in an earlier interview: “It is shocking and amazing to me the Wall Street and the general public think that printing $1 trillion a year to prop up the economy is a wonderful idea with zero downside.”
Greg
Keep printing. We are done. Just be prepared. That is about it.
PS. I finally sent the check (Idaho). I encourage other readers to do what they can.
Ugly,
You are beautiful to me!!! Thank you for the donation!!
Greg
Half a trillion extra a year – that is more than the entire pseudo 8,000 tons of gold the USA is ‘supposed’ to have.
Keystone pipeline. Greg it seems Lynsey Williams predictions are right on schedule.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-01/heres-how-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-will-help-the-u-dot-s-dot-economy
i love it…slowing the growth of government in the end of the world
These cuts are needed, but the arbitrary way they are being made will hurt the economy and the middle class will feel the pain. My husband was offered a job as a registered nurse at Ft. Lewis , WA. After he gave notice and left his present job, the job was rescinded . We are now scrambling to make do while he looks for another position. Today I cancelled onstar, cable, and sadly, our sponsorship of a child with World Vision. This week I will cancel kids after school activities. I will get a bottle of dye and become a brunette and say goodbye to my hair salon appointments.
These are not great sacrifices in the big picture, but you can see the ripple effect it has on the small businesses in our community.
The problem I have with this article is that you don’t talk about the fact that big businesses, banks, car manufacturer’s and defense continue to be supported and subsidized. Why cut programs and jobs for lower income, middle income, 9 to 5, hard working Americans while big businesses, their greedy owners, and disgustingly overpaid CEO’s are reaping profits.. cut subsidies to big oil, cut defense, quit bailing out the banks and jail the criminal bankers.. then talk about cutting from the other 98%.
Vicki,
I talked about the biggest bailout of all in this post. The banks and their $40 billion a month bailout program of the Fed buying their sour and fraudulent debt. My other point is where do you supposed we will get the money to keep growing this government? We either take it from others borrow it (fat chance) or we print and debase the currency. Killing the currency will will really hurt the poor and middle class. It is that simple. Cuts are supposed to be painful and we are doomed without cuts and we need much much more. The U.S. spends a trillion dollars more each year than we take in. That is fact etched in stone. What we promise is 6 or 7 times greater EACH and EVERY YEAR. I don’t mean to be mean but we simply cannot wave a magic wand and make it all better.
Greg
Greg, When did the us gov change the accounting practices, that keep the debt number down, was it the one in 2011, or before that, or has it happened numerous times? You were awesome on coast to coast. Thanks for your efforts, much appreciated.
Eric S MI thumb
FASB changed “mark to market’ accounting rule in April of 2009. Now, banks and everyone else can value assets on their books at whatever they think they can get for them in the future. People call this “mark to fantasy.”
Greg