Month: April 2012

Robert Wenzel’s ‘David’ Speech Crushes Federal Reserve’s ‘Goliath’ Dream

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– Robert Wenzel’s ‘David’ Speech Crushes Federal Reserve’s ‘Goliath’ Dream (ZeroHedge, April 27, 2012):

In perhaps the most courageous (and likely must-read for future economists) speech ever given inside the New York Fed’s shallowed hallowed walls, Economic Policy Journal’s Robert Wenzel delivered the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to the monetary priesthood. Gracious from the start, Wenzel takes the Keynesian clap-trappers to task on almost every nonsensical and oblivious decision they have made in recent years.

“My views, I suspect, differ from beginning to end… I stand here confused as to how you see the world so differently than I do. I simply do not understand most of the thinking that goes on here at the Fed and I do not understand how this thinking can go on when in my view it smacks up against reality.”

and further…

“I scratch my head that somehow your conclusions about unemployment are so different than mine and that you call for the printing of money to boost ‘demand’. A call, I add, that since the founding of the Federal Reserve has resulted in an increase of the money supply by 12,230%.”

But his closing was tremendous:

Read moreRobert Wenzel’s ‘David’ Speech Crushes Federal Reserve’s ‘Goliath’ Dream

Eric Sprott: ‘When Fundamentals No Longer Apply, Review the Fundamentals’

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– Eric Sprott: “When Fundamentals No Longer Apply, Review the Fundamentals” (ZeroHedge, April 28, 2012):

When Fundamentals No Longer Apply, Review the Fundamentals

This may not come as a surprise, but we’re still not seeing it. We’re not seeing a US recovery.

Here we are, well into 2012, and the fact remains that the US housing situation is still a bust. There is simply no housing recovery happening in the United States. US New Home Sales fell for the fourth time in a row month-overmonth in March, representing a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 328,000, down from 353,000 in February.1 Do you know what the annual rate of New Home Sales was back in 2006? About 1.21 million.2 No recovery there.

Same goes for US Existing Home Sales, which fell unexpectedly by 2.6% in March to an annual rate of 4.48 million units.3 Again – would you care to know where they were in the same month back in 2006, before the financial system fell apart? Approximately 6.92 million units.4 No recovery there either.

Then there’s unemployment. Judging by all the recent earnings-release cheerleading, March’s jobs numbers seem to have been forgotten, but they were plainly weak. The US Labor Department showed US hiring slowing to a mere 120,000 new jobs in March, below expectations of 200,000+.5 That’s not a recovery. That’s simply weak data.

Same goes for the most recent jobless claims numbers, which have been running above 380,000 for the last two weeks, above the 375,000 threshold that supposedly signals future unemployment increases.6 Again – this is not positive data, this is weak data. How high will it have to go before the economists admit that it’s weak? 400,000? 425,000? We’re asking – we’d like to know.

Then there are US tax receipts, which continue to point in the same direction. If the US is recovering so strongly, then why are employment tax receipts only up 2%? ($484 billion fiscal year-to-date as of March 2012 vs. $475 billion over the same period to March 2011).7 A 2% increase is explainable by inflation alone, which was last reported running at 2.7% according to the Bureau of Labour Stastics.8 Shouldn’t the tax receipts be much higher than that? Wasn’t unemployment down so far this year? As the Associated Press plainly states, “The unemployment rate has fallen to 8.2% in March [2012] from 9.1% in August [2011]. Part of the drop was because people gave up looking for work. People who are out of work but not looking for jobs aren’t counted among the unemployed.”9 Oh! Sorry,… now the numbers make more sense. There hasn’t been any net new employment at all. Question: if everyone “gives up” looking for work next week, will the US unemployment rate go to zero? We’re asking – we’d like to know.

Read moreEric Sprott: ‘When Fundamentals No Longer Apply, Review the Fundamentals’

Jellyfish-Like Organisms Shut Down California Nuclear Power Plant

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– Jellyfish-Like Organisms Shut Down California Power Plant (ABC News, April 27, 2012):

The workers of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant received a very slimy surprise this week when they discovered hoards of jellyfish-like creatures clinging to the structure, leading to the shutdown of the plant.

The organisms, called salp, are small sea creatures with a consistency  similar to jellyfish.

Read moreJellyfish-Like Organisms Shut Down California Nuclear Power Plant

Feds Sending Armed Agents To Chicago Three Weeks Before NATO Summit

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See also:

– Milwaukee Red Cross Told To Prep For Chicago Evacuation During NATO Summit (Video)

– Blackhawk Choppers Buzz Chicago Skyscrapers – OEMC: Military Is Conducting Training Sessions (Video)

– Police vs Protester: Feds sending armed agents to Chicago three weeks before NATO Summit (RT, April 27, 2012):

May’s NATO summit in Chicago is still weeks away, but residents of the Windy City can expect to see armed federal agents patrolling the streets in preparation much sooner than that.

Three weeks before international heads of state will converge in Chicago, Illinois for the annual NATO conference, the US Federal Protective Service will send armed officers into the city’s downtown district to prepare for the swarm of protesters expected to arrive in time for the event, slated for May 20 and 21.

Read moreFeds Sending Armed Agents To Chicago Three Weeks Before NATO Summit

Mad Cow Disease May Infect Through Milk Despite USDA Claims

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– Mad Cow Disease May Infect Through Milk Despite USDA Claims (Natural Society, April 27, 2012):

Following the latest confirmed case of mad cow disease in California, the USDA and the dairy industry alike are struggling to assure consumers that drinking affected milk poses no serious risk to your health. Despite these warnings, some scientists have found research that points to the contrary. In fact, two large studies found that prions — pathogenic agents associated with mad cow disease and other life-threatening conditions — can actually transfer from animal to animal via milk consumption.

One such study, performed by a conglomerate of French, Norwegian, and British researchers, actually observed the presence of prions in sheep milk – the very prions that the USDA says cannot inhabit US dairy. Shockingly, this peer-reviewed study was published back in 2008 in the journal PLoS Pathogens. Why has the USDA not spoken of this study, or even the second study that reached similar conclusions? In case you’re unsure, let’s examine an excerpt from the study authors:

This finding indicates that milk from small ruminants could contribute to the transmission of prion disease between animals. It also raises some concern with regard to the risk to humans associated with milk products from ovine and other dairy species.

Read moreMad Cow Disease May Infect Through Milk Despite USDA Claims

Prof. Takeda Kunihiko From Chubu University: ‘March 31, 2015 Is The Last Day Of Japan’

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– Prof. Takeda “3/31/2015 is the last day of Japan” (Fukushima Diary, April 27 , 2012):

Prof. Takeda Kunihiko from Chubu university roughly estimated anyone can no longer live in Japan after 3/31/2015.

According to his explanation, the yearly dose will reach 5mSv/y (External dose and the slight internal dose) in 3 years and 4 months from January of 2012.

Read moreProf. Takeda Kunihiko From Chubu University: ‘March 31, 2015 Is The Last Day Of Japan’

CISPA Passes House With Amendments Which Make It Even Worse Than It Already Was

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Related info:

– Here Is The List Of Traitors In The House of Representatives Who Voted For CISPA

– CISPA passes the House with amendments which make it even worse than it was (End The Lie, April 27, 2012):

Brent Daggett previously reported on how dangerous CISPA really is for End the Lie and I have pointed out how over 3,000,000 businesses across the United States – including companies like Google who opposed SOPA – expressed their support for the bill, which likely played a large role in its passage.

It passed with a 248-168 vote and quite unfortunately, the amended version which was voted on is even worse than it was originally, if you can believe that.

While I thought such a thing would never be possible, indeed the final version of CISPA is considerably more dangerous than the previous incarnations.

Read moreCISPA Passes House With Amendments Which Make It Even Worse Than It Already Was

Department of Defense Confirms: Russian Troops To Conduct Unprecedented Terror Drills INSIDE THE UNITED STATES!

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– Department of Defense Confirms Russian Troops to Conduct Terror Drills Inside U.S. (Intel Hub, April 27, 2012):

The Department of Defense has confirmed various foreign and alternative media reports that claimed Russia troops will be conducting unprecedented anti terrorism drills inside the United States.

In an email to the New American, Cmdr. Wendy L. Snyder, U.S. Defense Press Officer for policy confirmed the reports:

“The Russian soldiers are here as invited guests of the U.S. government; this is part of a formal bilateral exchange program between the U.S. and Russia that seeks to develop transparency and promote defense reform,” Cmdr. Wendy L. Snyder, U.S. Defense Press Officer for policy, told The New American in an e-mail. “This is the first time that American and Russian special operations troops have participated in a bilateral exercise.”

According to Snyder, the exercises — which she said would last about three weeks in all — will serve to train and improve skills related to terror-war fighting. About 20 Russian soldiers will be participating, with most of the training to take place on the Fort Carson, Colorado, Army base and a mountain training area several hours away.

“Aside from typical military training, the exchange will include discussions on the rule of land warfare, developing appropriate rules of engagement, and employing cultural literacy and competency in the tactical environment,” Snyder explained. “This type of training is routinely conducted by 10th Special Forces Group.”

The drills, which will take place throughout May, mark the first time that Russian and US troops will train along side each other on American soil and correlate with a long line of Foreign military’s training to take on the American people.

Read moreDepartment of Defense Confirms: Russian Troops To Conduct Unprecedented Terror Drills INSIDE THE UNITED STATES!

Japanese Government Officials Take A Look At The Poles That Hold Up Reactor 4 SFP (Video)

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YouTube Added: 26.04.2012

Description:

The video was taken when the deputy minister of the Cabinet Office visited the plant on April 24, 2012. He went inside the reactor building to inspect the support structure for the Spent Fuel Pool, and went up to the operation floor to view the SFP.

The first 2 minutes 40 seconds is his speech, which you can skip.

Reactor 4 covered with white tarp:

YouTube Added: 24.04.2012

Inspector General Blasts EPA For Failure To Monitor Fukushima Radiation

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– Inspector General Faults EPA Radiation Monitoring (Forbes, April 27, 2012):

Twenty percent of the EPA’s stationary radiation monitors were out of service last year at the time of the Fukushima nuclear accident, leading the U.S. Office of the Inspector General to conclude that the EPA’s Radnet system is “vulnerable” and managed with less urgency and priority than it deserves.

Broken monitors, parts shortages, “relaxed quality controls” and a lack of volunteer operators left 25 of the EPA’s 124 stationary monitors out of service for an average of 130 days at the beginning of the Fukushima disaster, according to the OIG. Two monitors—in Harlingen, Texas and Raleigh, North Carolina—were out of service for more than a year.

“EPA’s RadNet program will remain vulnerable until it is managed with the urgency and priority that the Agency reports it to have to its mission,” the Inspector General concludes in an audit released  last week.

“If RadNet is not managed as a high-priority program, EPA may not have the needed data before, during, and after a critical event such as the Japan nuclear incident. Such data are crucial to determine levels of airborne radioactivity that may negatively affect public health and the environment.”

Read moreInspector General Blasts EPA For Failure To Monitor Fukushima Radiation

The Day A Nuclear Bomb Fell On South Carolina: Extraordinary Story Of How U.S. Air Force Accidentally Dropped Weapon Of Mass Destruction

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– The day a nuclear bomb fell on South Carolina: Extraordinary story of how U.S. air force accidentally dropped weapon of mass destruction onto little girl’s playhouse (Daily Mail , April 27, 2012):

Their awesome power had been harnessed by the Americans ten years earlier to help bring about an end to the Second World War.

But a US Air Force crew nearly wrought similar destruction on its own people after accidentally dropping a nuclear bomb on south Carolina at the height of the Cold War.

But thanks to remarkable good fortune no one was killed in the incident on March 11, 1958.


Shocking: In 1958, the U.S Air Force accidentally dropped a nuclear bomb on a little girls’ playhouse in South Carolina. This aerial photograph taken the day after the bomb dropped showed the damage to the Gregg family home and the impact point


Lucky escape: This image shows how close the bomb landed to the house. it completely destroyed a playhouse but incredibly the family all survived

That afternoon sisters Helen and Frances Gregg, aged six and nine, and their nine-year-old cousin Ella Davies were in the playhouse their father had built for them in the woods behind their house in Mars Bluff, South Carolina.

At around four o’clock they decided to move from the playhouse to the side yard 200 yards away. It was a decision that kept them from becoming the first Americans killed by a nuclear weapon released on U.S. territory.

Minutes later the woods behind the playhouse were destroyed by a nuclear bomb.

Read moreThe Day A Nuclear Bomb Fell On South Carolina: Extraordinary Story Of How U.S. Air Force Accidentally Dropped Weapon Of Mass Destruction

Former Governor Jesse Ventura: It Was The Nazis That First Put Fluoride Into Water! Fluoride Is the MAIN INGREDIENT In Prozac! (Video)

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And 70% of the public drinking water in the US is fluoridated. A really big concentration camp.


YouTube Added: 11.04.2012

Fluoride is THE main ingredient in rat poison.

Fluoride is THE main ingredient in Sarin nerve gas.

Fluoride is THE main ingredient in Prozac.

Fluoride destroys the brain (accumulates in the pineal gland and causes it to calcificate), the bones, the organs, rips the DNA apart and causes cancer.

Hitler and Stalin used it in concentration camps and gulags as mass control instrument to make the prisoners docile and infertile.

More on fluoride (and lithium):

– New Hampshire Passes Fluoride Warning Bill: Water Fluoridation Persists Despite Being Unhealthy for Infants

– Interview With Neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock On MSG And Brain-Damaging Excitotoxins (Video)

– The Great Culling – A Hard-Hitting Film About Water, Fluoride, Food, Vaccines And More

– The Bizarre History Of Fluoride (Documentary)

– Mobile Fluoride Vans To Target Communities That Voted To Remove Chemical From Public Water Supply

– The Beautiful Truth (Video – Full Documentary – The Many Reasons For Chronic Diseases And The Cure)

– Ireland: Psychiatrist Dr. Moosajee Bhamjee Calls For Lithium To Be Added To Water

– 11 Shocking Things You Now Realize To Be True (But You Never Would Have Believed Just Three Years Ago)

– Former FBI Chief Ted Gunderson: Chemtrail ‘Death Dumps’ Must Be Stopped! – ‘This Is Genocide … This Is Murder By The United Nations!’

– ALERT: Stunning Undercover Video Footage Of Toxic Fluoride Chemicals Being Pumped In Austin, Texas Water Supply

– New Study: Fluoride Can Damage the Brain – Avoid Use in Children

– And Now: Lithium – The Next Fluoride – To Be Added To Your Drinking Water For Mental Health (Mind-Control)

– Ministers Unveil Plans To Fluoridate All Drinking Water In England And Wales

– The Fluoride Deception (Mini Documentary): Industrial Highly Toxic Waste Chemicals Passed Off As Medicine

– EXPOSED Drinking Water Contains Chinese Industrial Fluoride Which Has Additional UNKNOWN Substance In It

– Food: The Ultimate Secret Exposed

– CDC Reduces Fluoride Poisoning of America’s Water Supply, Admits That 2 in 5 Children Show Signs of Fluoride Poisoning

– Study: Fluoride in Water Linked to Lower IQ in Children

– Jesse Ventura Conspiracy Theory: Worldwide Water Conspiracy

– Fluoride: A Chronological History (Must-read!)

– Scientific Facts on the Biological Effects of Fluoride

– The Drugging Of America with Fluoride

– Fluoride & The Manhattan Project (Declassified Government Documents)

– Fluoride: A Toxic Poison That Accumulates In The Pineal Gland

– Fluoridation: A Horror Story

– Fluoride: The Phosphate Connection

– Fluoride Poisoning Affects Millions in China’s Guizhou Province

– The Age of Treason: 1958 Book Exposes Current Chemical Attack on Humanity

– Guess where your fluoride contaminated with heavy metals comes from? China!

– India: Fluoride Poisons Children in Jharkhand, Causes Acute Dental and Skeletal Disorders

– Chinese Fluoride In Mass. Water Raises Concern

– Govt. Report Says Fluoride Added to Water Supply May Harm Population

– California Begins Poisoning Millions with Toxic Synthetic Fluoride Chemicals

– Health Professionals Call for End to Water Fluoridation:

Over 1,600 Professionals Call for an End to Fluoridation of Drinking Water

– Professional Perspectives: Fluoride in Tap Water

– Fluoride, Aspartame and Agenda 21

– David Icke on Aspartame, Fluoride,…

TEPCO Wants To Raise Utility Rates To Pay For Fukushima

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– TEPCO to Raise Utility Charges for Households to Pay for Decommissioning #Fukushima Reactors (EX-SKF, April 27, 2012):

The company wants to raise the utility charges by 700 yen (US$8.70) per average household whose utility bill is 6,973 yen per month. If the national government approves, the rate hike will be effective in July.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (4/28/2012):

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TEPCO requests support for decommissioning costs, raising the utility charges for households by 700 yen

Read moreTEPCO Wants To Raise Utility Rates To Pay For Fukushima

Radioactive Japan: Plutonium Detected In Black Substance From Minamisoma

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Related info:

– Fukushima: Member Of Minamis?ma City Council: ‘The Wind Of One Thousand Bq’ – ‘All Black Dust Has Been Also Blown Away And Gone’ (Video)

– Plutonium 238 measured in Minamisoma (Fukushima Diary, April 26, 2012):

0.038 Bq/Kg (2.47Bq/m2) of Plutonium 238 was measured in Minamisoma.

They also measured 0.047 Bq/Kg ofPlutonium 239 and 240, and 0.73 Bq/Kg of Plutonium 241.

8.5 Bq/Kg of Strontium 89, and 50 Bq/Kg of Strontium 90 was also measured.

Mr. Oyama, Minamisoma city councilor had city government measure it.  He comments like these below,

  • Sample was taken after decontamination.
  • The sample contains soil, sand, and water other than black substance.(Water ratio is not announced.)
  • Sample to consist of only black substance and water (Moisture content = 71.4%) contains 309,000 Bq/Kg of cesium and it’s 1,080,000 Bq/Kg when it’s dry. It therefore will be more than 3 times higher if it doesn’t content sand, soil or water.
  • Pu238/Pu239+240 used to be 0.027 before 311. This result shows it’s 0.808.
  • The analysis was done by Japan Chemical Analysis Center, which is outsourced by the government.

Source

The Truth About Egan-Jones

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– The Truth About Egan-Jones (ZeroHedge, April 27, 2012):

… but not from us: after all we are known for being biased, which in the mainstream media parlance means calling it like it is. No – instead we leave it to none other than Bloomberg’s Jonathan Weil who does as good a job of being “biased” as we ever could: “Egan-Jones, which has been in business since 1992, could have continued operating as an independent publisher of ratings and analysis, not subject to government oversight or control. Instead it chose to play within the Big Three’s system, exposing itself to regulation and the whims of the SEC in exchange for the government’s imprimatur. Now it’s paying the price.” And not only that: as the most recent example of Spain just shows, where Egan Jones downgraded Spain 9 days ago and was ignored, but well ahead of everyone else, only to be piggybacked by S&P, and the whole world flipping out, it has become clear: calling out reality, and the fools that populate it, is becoming not only a dangerous game, but increasingly more illegal. Then again – this is not the first time we have seen just this happen in broad daylight, with nobody daring to say anything about it. In fact, this phenomenon tends to be a rather traditional side-effect of every declining superpower. Such as the case is right now…

From BBG’s Jon Weil:

The first time I wrote about Sean Egan and his small, independent credit-research firm, Egan-Jones Ratings Co., was in December 2007 for a column about the bond insurer MBIA Inc. (MBI) And man, did he nail it.

The three big credit raters — Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch Ratings — all had AAA ratings on MBIA’s insurance unit, their highest grade. Egan said it deserved much lower. Anyone reading MBIA’s financial reports could see the company was losing money and needed billions of dollars of fresh capital.

By mid-2008, the Big Three had cut their ratings. Once again, Egan, a lonely voice of reason who saw the financial crisis coming, had shown his larger competitors to be incompetent or compromised. It was one of many great calls to come for Egan-Jones. As for MBIA, which had no revenue last quarter, it’s still struggling.

So if you had told me back then that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division more than four years later would be accusing Egan, and his firm, of securities-law violations — but not any of the big rating companies — there’s no way I would have believed you. That’s what happened this week, though.

Read moreThe Truth About Egan-Jones

Here Is The List Of Traitors In The House of Representatives Who Voted For CISPA

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– H.R. 3523: Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (On Passage of the Bill) (GovTrack.us)

And like with the NDAA Ron Paul didn’t vote!

Related info:

– SOPA Mutates Into Much Worse CISPA, The Latest Threat To Internet Free Speech

– CISPA Bill To Obliterate Privacy Laws Under Guise of Cybersecurity, A Blank Check of Privacy Invasion

CISPA Bill To Obliterate Privacy Laws Under Guise of Cybersecurity, A Blank Check of Privacy Invasion

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Related info:

– SOPA Mutates Into Much Worse CISPA, The Latest Threat To Internet Free Speech

– CISPA Bill To Obliterate Privacy Laws Under Guise of Cybersecurity, A Blank Check of Privacy Invasion (Hot Hardware, April 26, 2012):

There’s a bill currently up for debate in the US House of Representatives that would give companies and government agencies the right to share information when issues of cybersecurity were at stake. If the first thing you thought after reading that was “Wait, don’t we already do this,” the answer is “Yes, we do.” The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is drawing fire for certain provisions that drastically expand the definition of what data can be shared and for the way they handle existing data protections.

Read moreCISPA Bill To Obliterate Privacy Laws Under Guise of Cybersecurity, A Blank Check of Privacy Invasion

US Companies Are Furiously Creating Jobs … Abroad

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– US Companies Are Furiously Creating Jobs… Abroad (ZeroHedge, April  27, 2012):

Whatever one thinks of the practical implications of the Kalecki equation (and as we pointed out a month ago, GMO’s James Montier sure doesn’t think much particularly when one accounts for the ever critical issue of asset depreciation), it intuitively has one important implication: every incremental dollar of debt created at the public level during a time of stagnant growth (such as Q1 2012 as already shown earlier) should offset one dollar of deleveraging in the private sector. In turn, this should facilitate the growth of private America so it can eventually take back the reins of debt creation back from the public sector (and ostensibly help it delever, although that would mean running a surplus – something America has done only once in the post-war period). This growth would manifest itself directly by the hiring of Americans by US corporations, small, medium and large, who in turn, courtesy of their newly found job safety, would proceed to spend, and slowly but surely restart the frozen velocity of money which would then spur inflation, growth, public sector deleveraging, and all those other things we learn about in Econ 101. All of the above works… in theory. In practice, not so much. Because as the WSJ demonstrates, in the period 2009-2011, America’s largest multinational companies: those who benefit the most from the public sector increasing its debt/GDP to the most since WWII, or just over 100% and rapidly rising, and thus those who should return the favor by hiring American workers, have instead hired three times as many foreigners as they have hired US workers. Those among us cynically inclined could say, correctly, that the US is incurring record levels of leverage to fund foreign leverage, foreign employment, and, most importantly, foreign leverage.

Wonder why the BLS is forced to use such now pathetic trickery as collapsing the labor pool by double the natural rate of growth of the labor pool to make it seem that US unemployment is declining? Simple. The WSJ explains:

Read moreUS Companies Are Furiously Creating Jobs … Abroad