Weekly News Wrap-Up 10.14.11
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com The alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador in Washington D.C. has put everyone on edge even though it was foiled. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton says it is a “dangerous escalation.” The U.S. government considers this an act of terrorism and this could spark another war. This could cause $200 barrel oil almost overnight and wreak havoc on the fragile world economy. Speaking of the economy, Europe is a mess and it appears that the EU is going to have to print lots of money and let some banks fail as it braces for a Greek default. The big worry is not just Greece but the rest of the so-called PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland Italy, Greece and Spain.) Of course, the two biggies are Spain and Italy with a combined $3.4 trillion in debt 10 times that of Greece. Banks will fail and money, lots of money will be printed. The big beneficiary will be commodities. Gold will probably jump up as people look for inflation protection. Finally Occupy Wall Street has been going on 26 days or so and New York City officials say it’s time to clean things up. The park the protesters have been camping in has become unsanitary. Will they be allowed to return? Greg Hunter brings you all this and plenty more in this installment of the Weekly News Wrap-Up.
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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.
I saw this today and had to share it. Truly outstanding.
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this…
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7..
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that’s what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball. “Since
you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of
your daily beer by $20.”. Drinks for the ten men would now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So
the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.
But what about the other six men? The paying customers? How could they
divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted
that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end
up being paid to drink his beer.
So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s
bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the
tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he
suggested that each should now pay.
And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% saving).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% saving).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% saving).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% saving).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% saving).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued
to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare
their savings.
“I only got a dollar out of the $20 saving,” declared the sixth man. He
pointed to the tenth man,”but he got $10!” “Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed
the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar too. It’s unfair that he got ten times
more benefit than me!” “That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why
should he get $10 back, when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!”
“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison, “we didn’t get
anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!” The nine men
surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat
down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill,
they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between
all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and government ministers, is how
our tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes will
naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much,
attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore.
In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is
somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics.
norcar survivor
Thank you for the content!!
Greg
well norcar, refreshing to see something from an actual right wing professor. the man must be ivy league and quite gainfully employed in the service of filling young impressionable minds with the happiest of fascistic horseshit.
let us examine the professors premise, kay?
first off, the idea that these men are dumb enough to return time and again to an establishment that is selling beer @ $10.00 a pop is actually quite a telling kernel in the professor’s narrative. but let’s get to the reality of the situation.
first off we must examine the incomes of the ten men in light of the real income gap on the real planet earth.
person #1 income represented by a simple child’s wooden building block measuring 2″x2″x2″. please place the block on the ground while we examine, more closely, person #1: person #1 is basically an outcast of society. person #1 can be seen pushing a shopping cart through the downtown area of a large city or communing with other #1’s and some 2’s under freeway overpasses, encamped in blackberry vine jungles adjacent to railroad yards, etc., etc., etc.. person #1 may or may not, at one time, have had potential to be a #2 or #3 or in some cases even higher. bad choices, unlevel playing fields,some just poor luck and being rolled and bludgeoned time and again by #’s 6-10 on a regular basis have basically taken person #1 completely off the game board.
person #2: please stack two of the blocks next to #1’s block to represent the income of #2. #2 is slightly better off than #1 as he still retains enough faculties to survive in a somewhat higher level of conscious vibration than the brain stem reactionary nature of a #1 and may still own an old rattle trap vehicle that he calls home. is still somewhat mobile, probably takes heavy drugs when he can afford them and is a broken universal joint away from being a #1.
you can see where we are going here, so to save a bit of time, 3 blocks to represent the income of #3, 4 blocks for #4 and 5 blocks for #5. you can fill in your own ideas of the wonderful lives of each on a graduating scale up to #6.
for #6 stack the blocks apprx. 2-4 feet high. number 6 is professor kamerschen himself. or, anyone gainfully employed, but not running the show in the “professions”. #6’s can be middle management in the corporate world, moderately successful entrepeneurs who have not had their wings fully clipped yet, basically, relatively successful and financially “secure” human beings. their share of the beer is $2? pretty slick since they own the bar.
#7’s let’s just call them the exectutive class, stacke their block 7-15 feet high while trying to understand that they had to cough up five bucks for the beer, but own the building that the bar pays rent to and move on to:
#8’s ok. we got some work to do here, blocks gotta go up past the top of the eiffel tower to about the tip of the antenna atop the chrysler buiding or the sears tower. this is bill gates in his financial prime (no he was never a 10, don’t believe everthing the media tells you), t-boon, oprah (maybe), the guys who get together now and then to discuss how the world is gonna work for numbers 1-7 and who a lot of people call the illuminatti. what were these guys paying for their beer again? goodness that musta hurt. especially so considering that they not only own the brewery that makes the beer, but the farms that grow the grains and the hops. 9 bucks for beer eh? ouch!
#9’s ok, so davie rockefeller and and a couple of rothschilds had to pony up 14 bucks. considering that they control the money supply, oh what a burden that 14 bucks muta been. by the way, stack their blocks about five miles high. (just a guess, nobody ever really audits these guys)
#10. satan himself. owns all the blocks. everyone else just gets to play with em. 49 bucks left his right pocket while ten million slid into his left.
we left out why the bar owner decided to lower the price of beer. a really groovy discussion for another time. can’t wait to hear the good professor’s fairy tale on how the reduced customer base is all the fault of #’s 1-5. i’m sure it’ll be great.
What about GE, one of the richest of them all, paid nothing? I think they just came and demanded free drinks with bags of money stuffed in their pockets – and you know what, they were seved!
A brilliant piece. A pity we do not know who the author is. I am just so sick of all these lazy slackers with their hands out taking cash from those who earned it with hard work. BTW, I am one of those who does not show up anymore.
As for the Iranian news this week, there will be no attack or similar response, only more weak rhetorical posturing. What, more sanctions which Europe and most others don’t abide by in any event, probably not even that. The economy is so weak that Iran is betting that the American government has no stomach for any other response. The price of oil would skyrocket destroying whats left of the economy. Unless the american government needs to “wag the dog” they have a sure bet. Just more of the same, a people governed by a crisis government who never looks ahead more than one move on the chess board, bound to get checkmated (again).
Hello Greg.
Pepe Escobar has it right: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27068.
What should concern every thinking person is that both the Socialist and Neocon wings of the estabishment party are united in outrage over this absurd and completely concocted crisis. Anyone who believes that the Iranian government would even think of tasking a failed Iranian/American used car salesman to identify and work with a cooperative member of a Mexican drug cartel to carry out this lame-brain scheme should check themselves in to the nearest outpatient facility.
Frank
Thank you Frank for weighing in.
Greg
Greg,
Best line from your Weekly News Wrap Up, “Too big to fail, too big to prosecute!”
Love it,
🙂 Diane
Diane Carol Mark
Thank you very much for your kind words and for supporting this site!!!
Greg
hi, Greg, nice of you to pass this item on to your readers
i find it interesting that the bigshots like hillary are hysterical because she does not understand foreign affairs, she thinks because her husb bill was pres she automatically knows anything beyond her self
the attempt to kill saudi ambassadoria is not a problem of usa other than if they can prosecute the wrongdoers, it is the problem of saudi arabs who for a change ought solve their own problems instead of having the world poised breathlessly over their every grunt
also, hillary is still operating under the baby-bush-doctrine of suckup to arabs which obama has changed from war stance to profits
via same suckup techniques
hillary thus obama has have other work to do regarding terrorism, such as someone in usgovt ought attend to and should have already resolved, instead of staying stuck on the boo hoo stage….
thanks for sharing this, it is indicative of the fade away of obama
on saudi arabs and all other big buyers and holders of mega tons of gold bullion and gold in all forms as barter goods, you ought send them a note that you will trade their gold on their direction but giving them 10% discount on your end of the deal on gold trades they wish to execute by your superior trade abilities… they, all arabs, are tired of being cheated by goldmanSaxs and peers and would gladly switch to you once their investigations reveal you are the only honest gold trader worldwide who would and could give them said discount::::::::::::::::: you should separately barter a contract with saudi as to they being used as a punching bag and show them the values of being their own self and dealing for self rather than for phoney baloney by goldman,,,,,, this week tv said goldmansaxs funny guy Paulson and his their hedge fund is down 48%, whereas last yr paulson skimmed a billion for his share of the fund, this is another death knoll of GS, too bad, they were and are entertaining….
Martin Armstrong has a good article today & Greg this seems to fit what is going on in all the local news around the west TN area. It seems as if all the crooks are turning on each other as corruption is being expose in local small & mid size towns all the way to the larger cities. The same can be said in the banking sector also. Politicians & bankers are eating their own.
In the local news city workers are being charged for fraud, mayors & councilmen, school workers all are under investigation for all kinds of crimes.
Local sheriff makes largest pot find in West TN that was all under ground with living quarters and the land above look as if it was just plain old forest land with no sign of pot plants above ground. The people are turning in people for making wine from the very popular grape looking berries called Muskeey-Dimes that comes in at this time of year and it makes great jelly & wine. One man was busted for buying to much sugar from a local co-op to use in the new still he bought off the internet. They sell these in many States, ready to be put into operation with a little bit of work after the still is delieverd. Be care full of what you buy from the internet, big brother is watching every dime you spend and where you spend it, the gov does not want to lose a penny in taxes. Have a nice week end. I folks are taking this gift of cheap silver & gold prices because it want last much longer!
M Smith,
Love the Armstrong material!!! Thank you for the tip.
Greg
I try not to nit pick about spelling but “Muskeey-Dimes”!?? Really? The word is “muscadine”.
Cronyism, moral hazard and the current economic condition: too-big-to-fail (known knowns), too-big-to-prosecute (known unknowns), and too-global-to-meltdown (unknown unknowns).
Alarmingly sad.
Thanks Greg.
Thank you Kevin for your support and comment.
Greg
I was having a conversation with my wife and young daughter recently about the benefits of modern technology. My wife compared our iPods to the cassette Walkmans we used to use when we were in high school. Surely technology has advanced a great deal in that area!
I thought about it and my feeling was that the biggest benefit to modern technology was the ability to hear viewpoints (like yours) that in the past would never have found a wide audience. Before the wide use of the internet, we were spoon-fed our information by the few who held the power in our society. Thankfully, we are no longer subject to this, and as a result, people finally have access to the pure, unvarnished truth. Thank you, Greg.
Brad,
You made my day!!!!!
Greg
Our gov’t certainly takes us all for a bunch of fools. First they foisted that whole story about bin Laden onto us, actually believing that WE would believe that garbage, and now this fairy tale surfaces. More unbelievable junk dreamed up by the CIA and the other alphabet, useless branches of our idiotic gov’t.
It’s a diversion, plain and simple, to try to make people forget what’s really happening (or not happening) in the headlines, which are also a bunch of lies because, of course, we the people cannot be trusted with the truth because then we’d know who the marionettes and the puppetmasters are. Lots of behind the scenes maneuvering going on but they think we don’t know.
We (the people) should be concentrating on the food situation because THAT’S where the gov’t is ultimately gonna find our G spot. Take our food rights away, little by little, and we’ve got nuthin’. And I do mean nuthin’. Forget healthcare. Who needs the crappy health care we have right now? I avoid hospitals, clinics and anything else medical like the plague (literally). We’ll all stay much healthier if we can eat proper foods not manufactured boxed processed crap from BigPhfood and avoid doctors who only know drugs and hospitals which are loaded with germs of all kinds to begin with. I’ll die at home before I’ll go to some germ-infested hospital. PERIOD. I don’t want health care, I’d rather do self-care like it was before hospitals killed 200,000 patients per year. Check it out if you think I’m wrong.
The point is, they’re going to get us one way or another, but then who will earn their money and do their bidding? I think the rich folks and the gov’t doods are shooting themselves in the feet and don’t even realize it. It’s the one bright spot in all of this.
Thank you D. for your comments and content!!
Greg
Here’s one example of a person who thinks our food rights are in a state of emergency: http://hartkeisonline.com/food-politics/dial-911-we-are-losing-our-freedom-to-feed-ourselves/?
But here’s another who says it’s not the gov’t, it’s the people who CONTROL the gov’t (read: corporate sugar-daddies): http://nationalfork.com/?p=603
Whaddaya think?
Big Government has published some of the emails of the organizers of the OWS movement. There are groups trying agitate and organize them in the Tea Party of the Democratic Party. There are those in this movement who see what is happening and reconginize both parties are in bed with Wall Street and the big banks. They do not want to be co-opted ala the Tea Party to be stooges for the Democrats. These kids are smarter than most are giving them credit for being.
Hopefully, they will refuse to move and refuse to be moved by those who only want to use them to “get out the vote” for 2012 and refuse to be moved to violence. I hope they know it is not the 99% of revolutionaries that end up living in the big house, driving the Mercedes and eating cavair. All through history, after the revolution the people end up worse off than they were before.
I hope they change their “tax the rich” to arrest and prosecute the crooks and fix the banking system.
Very good Jan!!!
Greg
The mark of the beast, the shine of the screen on all the faces.
I agree. But here we all sit in front of our loaded computers.
Has anyone here read the book by G. Edward Griffin called The Creature from Jekyll Island? I have read parts of it (summaries) from the Activist Post, but finally decided to order it today. It sounds fascinating and I’m surprised it was ever allowed to be published if its message is as right-on as it sounds. Something else to make me say hmmm.