California as broke as Greece?

The state of California has been in a downward spiral when it comes to it's financial situation. Governor Jerry Brown is now proposing implementing austerity measures to pull the Golden State out of the red. Social programs such as welfare and healthcare for the poor are the first to be slashed and Dr. Caroline Heldman, politics professor at Occidental College, joins us with her take on the situation. Source

Punk Economics 4: Irish Referendum Preview and Germany 4.0

Depleted Uranium, Fukushima and Karma

By Christina Consolo host of Nuked Radio
I read a quote earlier in the week about Fukushima fallout in the US, which said, “Depleted uranium (DU), by the hundreds of tons, has been spread around the world from US military weapons systems. What goes around, comes around.”
That phrase has stuck in my head all week and reminded me of the ancient concept of karma. That’s one of the reasons you should be nice to people, and, well, because it’s just the right thing to do.
As I’m writing this article I am watching events unfold in Chicago on Ustream. So far it isn’t pretty, and daylight brings the big day of the Chicago NATO Summit, the much anticipated May 20th.
There are also Russians doing drills in Denver, a G8 meeting at Camp David, a “Ring of Fire” annular eclipse, and a nasty prediction by Nostradamus of a world-wide earthquake to contend with today. Not to mention some fairly sizable earthquakes happening in Japan again.
But the traitorous Department of Homeland Security has other concerns, which, unsurprisingly, includes spying on the American people.

Last week I talked about citizen scientist, citizen journalists, and Fukushima experts. Normal, everyday people who got interested in something that they see is unbalanced, unjust, and downright scary, after which they stepped in to fill the gap.
Now most of us already know about what some are calling “the red flag words.” But there are many that are just getting wind of this situation. And now they are asking questions, doing research and spreading the word about Fukushima as well. So you should probably be told what “the red flag words” are.

Europe is driving full-tilt, foot on the pedal, into a brick wall

By Boris Johnson: 
I see the G8 has a brilliant solution to the problems of the eurozone. 
President Obama says it’s time for “growth and jobs”. Jolly good. That’s the stuff. Let me show you how to create employment – the Brussels way.

Come with me through the streets of Athens, not far from Syntagma Square, and your mind will reel with the horrified realisation that history is not a one-way ratchet, that human progress is not guaranteed, and that a proud country can be reduced – by years of torture and bullying – to a state verging on total political, economic and moral collapse.

We're in The Greatest Crisis of Our Time! Lyndon LaRouche Warns America

Alex talks with former presidential candidate and political theorist Lyndon LaRouche. Mr. LaRouche and Alex talk about Rep. Walter B. Jones' resolution warning Obama that he faces impeachment for repeatedly violating Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution as he wages illegal wars for the global elite. Source 

Knock, knock, knocking on Timmy’s door - Geithner v National People's Action

Over 1,000 of us made an unannounced visit to Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner's home to demand he support a Robin Hood tax--a tiny tax of less than 0.5% on Wall Street transactions--and a thorough investigation of the bankers who caused this crisis. Source

Recovery Or Collapse? Bet On Collapse - Paul Craig Roberts

The US financial system and, probably, the financial system of Europe, like the police, no longer serves a useful social purpose.

In the US the police have proven themselves to be a greater threat to public safety than private sector criminals. I just googled “police brutality” and up came 183,000,000 results. (Here are two recent brutal assaults, one deadly, by police on hapless individuals: Http://Latimesblogs.latimes.com/Lanow/2012/05/Kelly-Thomas-Video-Dad-They-Are-Killing-Me-.Html and Http://Www.informationclearinghouse.info/Article31364.Htm )

The cost to society of the private financial system is even higher. Writing in CounterPunch (May 18), Rob Urie reports that two years ago Andrew Haldane, executive Director for Financial Stability at the Bank of England (the UK’s version of the Federal Reserve) said that the financial crisis, now four years old, will in the end cost the world economy between $60 trillion and $200 trillion in lost GDP. If Urie’s report is correct, this is an astonishing admission from a member of the ruling elite. Http://Www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/18/The-True-Costs-Of-Bank-Crises/Print

Try to get your mind around these figures. The US GDP, the largest in the world, is about 15 trillion. What Haldane is telling us is that the financial crisis will end up costing the world lost real income between 4 and 13 times the size of the current Gross Domestic Product of the United States. This could turn out to be an optimistic forecast.

In the end, the financial crisis could destroy Western civilization.

Mojtaba in Iran - Nuclear Talks - And Even War Talk Too

A native of Iran explains the Nuclear negotiation developments and de-facto reveals the confident Iranian psyche. Source

Explaining the Iraqi Resistance - Syrian Partisan Girl

From someone who grew up with the Iraqi invasion and followed the resistance through their defiance. Source

Barack Obama: A Foundation Operative! The manufactured war on terror and its Orwellian control grid + The Groomed from Birth Dictator

On the May 20 Sunday edition of the Alex Jones Show, Alex covers the global elite on the run as the establishment media is forced to report on the Bilderbergers and their noxious plan to finally unfold a devastating attack on Iran, undermine the internet with government censorship, and sell the public on more trillions in bankster bailouts and punitive carbon taxes under the discredited cover of saving the earth.

Italy And The Great Tax Revolt

Submitted by James Miller of the Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada

Taxation is theft.

There is no denying this.  If I and a few brutes appeared at the door of an unsuspecting individual and demanded monetary compensation less we drag him off to jail, this would be a clear cut case of robbery.  It is a common tactic used by mobs or street gangs to offer protection with the barrel of a gun.  The only difference between shakedowns by private thugs and those employed by the state is the badge.  The badge legalizes extortion and imprisonment.

With that being said, it has been three years since the financial crisis and governments around the world are still reeling in the lesser Depression.  Tax collections are down while public expenditures have skyrocketed in a vain effort to stabilize the economy.  Much of this mass orgy in spending has been financed by central banks printing money and the suppression of interest rates down to artificially low levels.  This is the Keynesian remedy to recession.  Spend what you don’t have via the printing press.  Have central bankers create paradise on Earth through counterfeiting.

So far it hasn’t worked.