US postal service to cut 35,000 jobs as mail plants close

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/228318.html

The U.S. Postal Service, which predicts an annual loss of $18.2 billion by 2015, plans to eliminate 5.4 percent of its workforce by closing almost half its mail-processing facilities to decrease costs.

The service plans to shut 223 of its 461 mail-processing plants by February 2013, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a telephone interview on Thursday. The closings will cut about 35,000 jobs, said David Partenheimer, a spokesman.

The service is shutting post offices and seeking congressional approval to end Saturday mail delivery as more people use the Internet to correspond and pay bills. Mail volume fell 6 percent in the quarter ended Dec. 31 and may drop 14 percent by 2016, led by declines in first-class mail, the most profitable, the Washington-based service said this month. Bloomberg

HIGHLIGHTS

The labor cuts will occur through attrition, said David Partenheimer, a spokesman. The service will eliminate about 30,000 full-time jobs with benefits. It will cut about 5,000 temporary positions, which include contract and part-time work and don't carry full benefits. sfgate.com

The Postal Service is in debt due to declining first-class mail volumes and a congressional mandate to prefund retirement healthcare benefits. moneycnn.com

Nearly every state is impacted and would lose a mail processing plant, according to the Postal Service list, which includes 14 in California, 12 in New York and 9 in Illinois. moneycnn.com

Mail processing plants closures can yield a particularly devastating toll on communities. A plant in Tulsa, Okla., slated to be consolidated, employs nearly 600 employees. moneycnn.com

The consolidations will affect four processing centers in Maryland: Cumberland, Easton, Gaithersburg and Waldorf. The Virginia sites are Lynchburg, Norfolk and Roanoke. washingtonpost.com

The cutbacks also mean the Postal Service would no longer be able to guarantee overnight delivery of some first-class mail. washingtonpost.com

18 statistics that prove that the economy has not improved since Barack Obama became president

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/227771.html

Has the economy improved since Barack Obama became the president of the United States? Of course not. Despite what you may be hearing in the mainstream media, the truth is that when you compare the U.S. economy on the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated to the U.S. economy today, there is really no comparison. The unemployment crisis is worse than it was then, home values have fallen, the cost of health insurance is up, the cost of gas is way up, the number of Americans living in poverty has soared and the size of our national debt has absolutely exploded. Anyone that believes that things are better than they were when Barack Obama was elected is simply being delusional. Yes, things have stabilized somewhat and our economy is not in free fall mode at this point. But don't be fooled. This bubble of false hope will be short-lived. The problems we are seeing develop in Europe will erupt into another full-fledged global financial crisis and economic conditions in the United States will get even worse. When that happens, what possible "economic solutions" will Barack Obama have for us? We never even came close to recovering from the last great financial crisis, and now something potentially even worse is staring us in the face. This is not a great time to have a total lack of leadership in Washington.

The following are 18 statistics that prove that the economy has not improved since Barack Obama became the president of the United States....

1] Today there are 88 million working age Americans that are not employed and that are not looking for employment. That is an all-time record high.

2] When Barack Obama was elected, the percentage of unemployed Americans that had been out of work for more than 52 weeks was less than 15%. Today, it is above 30%.

3] There are 1.2 million fewer jobs in America today than there were when Barack Obama was inaugurated.

4] When Barack Obama first took office, the number of "long-term unemployed workers" in the United States was approximately 2.6 million. Today, that number is sitting at 5.6 million.

5] The average duration of unemployment in the United States is hovering close to an all-time record high.

6] During the Obama administration, worker health insurance costs have risen by 23 percent.

7] Since Barack Obama has been president, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States has increased by 90 percent.

8] Since Barack Obama has been president, home values in the United States have declined by another 13 percent.

9] Under Barack Obama, new home sales in the U.S. set a brand new all-time record low in 2009, they set a brand new all-time record low again in 2010, and they set a brand new all-time record low once again during 2011.

10] Since Barack Obama took office, the number of Americans living in poverty has risen by more than 6 million.

11] Since Barack Obama entered the White House, the number of Americans on food stamps has increased from 32 million to 46 million.

12] The amount of money that the federal government gives directly to Americans has increased by 32 percent since Barack Obama entered the White House.

13] According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of Americans living in "extreme poverty" is now sitting at an all-time high.

14] When Barack Obama first took office, an ounce of gold was going for about $850. Today an ounce of gold costs more than $1700 an ounce.

15] Since Barack Obama became president, the size of the U.S. national debt has increased by 44 percent.

16] During Barack Obama's first two years in office, the U.S. government added more to the U.S. national debt than the first 100 U.S. Congresses combined.

17] During the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office.

18] The U.S. national debt has been increasing by an average of more than 4 billion dollars per day since the beginning of the Obama administration.

Oh, but Barack Obama is promising that things will be much better very soon. Barack Obama is pledging that 2 million more jobs will be added to the economy in 2012.

Do you believe him?

Congress certainly seems to think that things will be getting better. Congress has reduced the maximum amount of time that the unemployed can receive unemployment benefits to 73 weeks. That change will go into effect later this year.

But there are still millions of very talented Americans that cannot find work after years of looking.

So what are they supposed to do?

A recent Business Insider article featured the story of Helen Hatat, a woman from southern California that has been unemployed since 2009....

She lost her job in public relationships in 2009 after more than 20 years of working in the entertainment industry, the Southern California resident said.

"When you don't have a job, you don't find a job, and when you don't have a job, you don't find a home," she said.

At first she tried moving into a homeless shelter, but left because they treated her "like garbage." Eventually she found a friend she could stay with, but this arrangement won't last forever.

"I've found you lose most of your friends, you know. If you have money people love you. If you don't have any money people hate you. They treat you like you are contagious."

As government finances get tight, things are going to get really tough for women like her.

When evaluating the health of the American economy, the key is not to focus on the short-term economic numbers. Sometimes they go up and sometimes they do down.

Instead, the key is to look at the long-term balance sheet numbers. When you do that, it quickly becomes apparent how appalling our economic decline has been.

The size of federal government debt is exploding, state and local governments all over the country are drowning in debt, our collective national wealth is decreasing and our ability to produce new wealth is also being reduced as our economic infrastructure is systematically gutted.

Of course all of the blame should not go to Obama. The truth is that the Federal Reserve has much more power over the economy than Obama does. But the American people are constantly told that the Federal Reserve is "not political" and that we should not criticize the Fed.

So it is kind of ridiculous that presidents are judged by the performance of the economy. Yes, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama have all greatly contributed to the mess that we are in, but they are not solely responsible for it.

In the end, however, the outcome of the next presidential election will probably be very heavily influenced by how the U.S. economy performs during the rest of 2012.

Sadly, as our economy declines it is bringing out the worst in many Americans. For example, "sugar daddy" websites are absolutely exploding in popularity. Young women that are hungry for cash are selling their "services" to sick older men who are willing to finance the lifestyles of these desperate young women in exchange for "companionship".

The following comes from a recent article in The Independent ....

In America's booming online dating market, few sectors are hotter than so-called "sugar daddy" sites, which help rich men to make "arrangements" with attractive and financially needy younger women. Between them, these specialist sites now account for 10 percent of the entire industry. That's no small beans, given that in the US the online dating business now generates profits estimated at $700m ($442m) per year and, according to the polling firm GlobeSpan, has helped just over one in five Americans to find their life partner.

As the economy gets even worse, millions upon millions of Americans are going to become extremely desperate and will do things for money that they never dreamed that they would do.

That is a very frightening thing.

America is changing, and not for the better.

You better get ready for what is ahead, because Barack Obama is not going to save you.

US in state of self-inflicted decline: Chomsky

legendary American academic Noam Chomsky (file photo).

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/226828.html

Renowned American academic Noam Chomsky condemns the concentration of wealth in the United States in the hands of the 1 percent, which he refers to as the “self-inflicted” American decline.

“The (US) policies are a failure for the large majority, the 99% in the imagery of the Occupy movements - and for the country, which has declined and will continue to do so under these policies,” Chomsky wrote in his article titled 'Losing' the world: American decline in perspective, part 1.”

From the 1970s, there has been a significant change in the US economy, as planners, whether private or state, shifted production off shores, partly due to the “declining rate of profit in domestic manufacturing,” then82-year-old senior academic noted.

He went on to say, “these decisions initiated a vicious cycle in which wealth became highly concentrated (dramatically so in the top 0.1% of the population), yielding concentration of political power, hence legislation to carry the cycle further: taxation and other fiscal policies, deregulation, changes in the rules of corporate governance allowing huge gains for executives, and so on.”

Whereas Chomsky maintained that “for the majority, real wages largely stagnated, and people were able to get by only by sharply increased workloads (far beyond Europe), unsustainable debt… creating paper wealth that inevitably disappeared when they burst (and the perpetrators were bailed out by the taxpayer).”

Meanwhile, the political system in the US has been increasingly torn up, he said, as “both parties are driven deeper into corporate pockets with the escalating cost of elections.”

This is “a serious problem for working people and the middle classes, and a real disaster for the most oppressed, African Americans, who have never escaped the legacy of slavery and its ugly aftermath,” Chomsky concluded.

Chomsky’s comments come against the backdrop of months of Occupy protests in the United States. The Occupy protests owe their inspiration to the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, which began when a group of demonstrators gathered in New York's financial district on September 17, 2011 to protest against the excessive influence of big corporations on the US policies and the high-level corruption in the country.

Barack Obama: Let's steal 150m dollars an hour from our children

Source: Press TV (US Desk)
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/226583.html

Do you think that someone could steal 150 million dollars and get away with it? Well, the truth is that such a theft is taking place every single hour of every single day. The federal government is stealing 150 million dollars an hour from our children and our grandchildren and Barack Obama thinks that is a good thing. The new Obama budget projects a $1.33 trillion federal budget deficit for the 2012 fiscal year. That is significantly higher than the $1.15 trillion that the Congressional Budget Office was projecting because it includes a whole bunch of stimulus spending that the Obama administration plans to do. So let's do a little math.

When you divide $1.33 trillion by 365 days, you get 3.6438356 billion dollars. So on average, the United States will be adding more than 3.6 billion dollars to the national debt every single day during fiscal 2012. And when you divide $3.6438356 billion by 24 hours, you get 151.8 million dollars. So on average, the U.S. national debt will be going up by more than 151 million dollars every single hour during fiscal 2012 if Obama has his way. This is a theft from our children and our grandchildren that is so vast that it is almost unimaginable.

The 2012 budget deficit that the Obama administration is projecting would be equivalent to approximately 8.5 percent of GDP. We simply cannot afford to be running these kinds of outrageous budget deficits year after year.

At the moment, the U.S. national debt is sitting at a grand total of $15,355,838,921,022.16. That is an amount that is so large that it is hard to even put into words.

At this point our national debt is greater than 100% of our national GDP. We are on the road to national financial disaster and yet our politicians keep piling up debt at a rate that is absolutely mind blowing.

The Obama administration is projecting that budget deficits will go down "in the future", but that is what our politicians always do. They always promise that the budget picture will improve "down the road", but that never actually happens.

According to the Bush administration, we were supposed to be swimming in huge budget surpluses by now.

So how did that work out?

Our politicians always promise to cut spending, but it never actually comes to pass. We are always told that cutting spending would be too damaging to the economy "right now" but that they will definitely start cutting things later on.

For example, just check out this recent quote from White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew....

"The time for austerity is not today," Lew told NBC News "Meet the Press." "If we were to put in austerity measures right now, it would take the economy in the wrong way."

They always put budget cuts off for another day. They never want to do anything that could hurt the economy right now and threaten their chances in the next election.

The Republicans were the same way. Vice President Dick Cheney once famously said "deficits don't matter", and the Bush administration ran up horrific budget deficits.

Both political parties have let us down horribly.

Both political parties have voted over and over to steal gigantic mountains of money from our children and our grandchildren.

But our founders never intended for this to be the case. In fact, Thomas Jefferson once stated that if he could add just one more amendment to the U.S. Constitution it would be a complete ban on all borrowing by the federal government...

I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its Constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power of borrowing.

Thomas Jefferson believed that it was fundamentally immoral for one generation to run up debts which must be paid back by future generations. Basically, he believed that such debts represented theft on a grand scale ....

And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

But that is what we are doing today. We are borrowing gigantic mountains of money which we expect our children and our grandchildren to pay back.

We have come to think of this as "normal", but the truth is that this theft is absolutely disgusting and if future generations get the chance they will curse us for what we have done to them.

Somewhere along the way, we seem to have lost all common sense when it comes to government spending.

The truth is that all of this does not have to be complicated. The following is what Clint Eastwood recently said about our budget problems....

"It's such a basic thing," Eastwood said. "Your parents always tell you when you don't have a dollar in your pocket, you don't spend two dollars. And that's kind of a basic philosophy of life."

Doesn't that make sense?

So why are we being so stupid?

When Ronald Reagan was elected, the U.S. national debt was less than 1 trillion dollars.

We are absolutely drowning in debt, and yet the Obama administration wants even more spending.

Some of his plans for "extra spending" during fiscal 2012 were detailed in an article posted on CNBC ....

For more immediate job programs, the White House will urge $350 billion in short-term job spending, as well as a six-year transportation and infrastructure program that would cost $476 billion. He will ask for $60 billion to refurbish at least 35,000 schools and help state and local governments hire and retain teachers, firefighters and police officers.

This is insanity.

Thanks to all of this debt, a national financial nightmare is an inevitability at this point. As I have written about previously, if the U.S. government stops spending so much money we are doomed, and if the U.S. government continues spending so much money we are doomed.

The problem that we are now facing was once beautifully described by Ludwig Von Mises when he made the following statement ....

There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion.

The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.

We are rapidly reaching the "final and total catastrophe" once described by Ludwig Von Mises.

We inherited the greatest economic machine in the history of the world from our forefathers, and we will be known as the generation that totally destroyed it.

Future generations will inherit a collapsed economy and the biggest debt in the history of the world.

But we all prance around like we are the smartest people that have ever existed on the face of the earth.

The rest of the world is laughing at us.

So why don't some honest politicians step forward and tell the American people that we need to stop spending so much money?

Well, first of all there are very few honest politicians on the national level.

Secondly, most of the money that our government spends is money that is taken from the pockets of some Americans and transferred into the pockets of other Americans. Large segments of our population have become absolutely addicted to getting government checks, and it would be political suicide for any politician to propose significant cuts to those checks.

Well over 50 percent of the federal budget is spent on social programs that put dollars directly into the pockets of the American people…

…The American people tend to love politicians that feed their addiction to government money....

If we keep going into so much debt, how long can our system possibly continue functioning?

Well, as we have seen in Greece, a government debt spiral will keep on going until the day that it simply stops working anymore.

A day of reckoning is coming. We don't know if it will be this year or next year or several years from now.

But it is coming.

Our politicians should be doing something about it, but they continue to spend money like tomorrow will never come.

What we are doing to our children and our grandchildren is absolutely immoral.

How in the world can we steal 150 million dollars an hour from them?

We are literally stealing the future from those that will come after us.

Do you think that they will thank us for that?

AIPAC to Obama: Attack Iran or let Israel do it

US President Barack Obama makes his way onto the stage May 22, 2011 to address the AIPAC Policy Conference 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/226156.html

The most powerful Zionist lobbying group in the US, AIPAC, is increasing pressure on the administration of Barack Obama to launch a military strike against Iran, a political writer says.

"It is clear that Israel and its neoconservative camp followers here in the United States are increasing pressure on President Obama to either attack Iran or let Israel do it," M.J. Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg, who was director of policy at Israel Policy Forum, made the suggestion in an article about a military attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The author said the main reason behind his prediction is that "this is an election year and no one will say no to [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu in an election year."

He was referring to the 2012 presidential election in the United States that will be held in November.

Rosenberg also pointed out to an upcoming meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

"War enthusiasm will rise to a fever pitch by March, when AIPAC holds its annual policy conference," he wrote.

AIPAC, which has an influential and undeniable role in US policies, advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States.

The group urges all members of Congress to support Israel through foreign aid.

The US and Israel have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the "option" of a military strike, based on their allegation that Iran's nuclear program may include a covert military aspect, a claim strongly rejected by Tehran

Congress OKs drone flights in US airspace

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/225756.html

US Congress has passed a bill requiring the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to open the country’s airspace to thousands of drone aircraft within four years, Press TV reports.

According to the plan, which is part of a $63 billion funding package for the FAA, the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will fly beyond solely military airspace and begin to flood domestic US airspace by 2015.

The legislation requires the FAA to provide military, commercial and privately-owned drones with expanded access to US airspace by September 30, 2015.

The FAA has predicted that 30,000 drones could be in US skies by 2020. The bill is the result of an enormous lobbying effort from Washington insiders and the defense industry.

Even though the legislation restricts the use of the drones over populated areas, civil liberties groups are concerned the door into a sacred Constitutional tenant will be opened even wider.

“There are serious policy questions on the horizon about privacy and surveillance, by both government agencies and commercial entities,” said Steven Aftergood of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.

However, many members of Congress who signed the bill don’t see expanded drone use as a problem. They believe the growth of the drone industry will create more jobs for their constituents.

US youth jobless rate highest in 6 decades

Job-seekers gather around employers' tents at an outdoor job fair at the Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles, August 31, 2011.

Source: press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/225765.html

A new study by the Pew Research Center shows American young adults are the hardest hit by the US economic recession as unemployment rate among them has reached a record high.

According to the survey, only 54 percent of Americans aged between 18 and 34 currently have jobs, the lowest employment rate since the US government started keeping track of the data in 1948.

"Young workers are on the bottom of the ladder, and during a recession like we've had, it's often hard for them to hold on," said Kim Parker, the associate director of Pew's Social & Demographic Trends project.

Parker noted that American youth “are clearly less satisfied with their current circumstances than they were before the recession."

"This may be where some of the anger and frustration being expressed in the Occupy movement is rooted," she added.

Pew survey also found that US young adults have suffered bigger income losses than other age groups.

The US Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke has expressed concerns over the status of the country’s economy, saying the unusually high levels of long-term unemployment in the US are worrisome.

More than 40 percent of the US jobless have been out of work for at least ten months.

Fed Ben Bernanke says US economy approaching EU crisis levels

US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/224849.html

US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has warned that an EU-type economic crisis is headed for the US economy if it fails to curb its debt issue, Press TV reports.

“Risks remain that developments in Europe or elsewhere may unfold and could worsen economic prospects here at home,” Bernanke said this week, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The Fed chief also suggested that eventually the government's increasing debt would inhibit the growth of the country's economy.

Experts think the US economy will dip into another recession in 2012 as the US Treasury report to congress forecasts the government's debt will rise to 19.6 trillion dollars by 2015.

The Congressional Budget Office reported that the US federal budget deficit will exceed USD 1 trillion at the same time as the US debt which is now more than USD 15 trillion and growing daily. The country's annual economic output now equals about the same as the debt level.

There are fears that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and infected Italy, Spain and France last year, could push not only Europe but also much of the rest of the developed world back into recession.

Meanwhile, the US unemployment rate remains above 9 percent. Many economists, however, believe that the true unemployment rate is around 20 percent.

This has resulted in the Occupy protests that continue to rage across the country against the US's financial inequalities.

The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement first began on September 17 in the financial district of New York City to protest at a number of issues including the US financial crisis, rising poverty, soaring unemployment, and high bonuses for Wall Street executives.

Romney stripped of Iowa win after recount

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/222027.html

The Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney has suffered a setback when the party stripped him of his victory in Iowa after a final tally of votes.

His rival, the socially conservative former senator Rick Santorum, emerged with the most votes, a majority of 34.

The party was scheduled to make an official announcement but the Des Moines Register reported its findings hours earlier.

The Register said the party was declaring the vote "unresolved" because there were "too many holes" in the certified totals to know the victor for certain, with the results from some precincts missing.

Romney said on Thursday the new tally showed it was "a virtual tie" between him and Santorum.

But it means that Romney can no longer claim to be the winner in Iowa. If another of his rivals, Newt Gingrich, wins the South Carolina primary on Saturday, this would mean they have one apiece: Romney the New Hampshire primary, held on 10 January, Gingrich South Carolina, and Santorum Iowa from 3 January. The race for the party nomination to take on Barack Obama in November would then be wide open. Guardian

Occupy AIPAC prepares for DC action

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/221666.html

An alliance of activist groups in the United States has announced that they will occupy the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) headquarters in early March.

Anti-corporate protesters from over 120 groups are devising plans to occupy AIPAC headquarters in Washington, DC from March 2 to 6, the Occupy AIPAC website announced on Monday.

“With the Occupy movement that has swept the country demanding social and economic justice, many have concluded that AIPAC -- the powerful pro-Israeli government lobby that distorts US policy in the Middle East -- is a mandatory 'occupy target',” the Occupy AIPAC statement said.

“Right now AIPAC is trying to drag us into a disastrous war with Iran, just as they pushed the Iraq war. We must show our opposition by exposing AIPAC and standing against a war with Iran,” Occupy AIPAC added.

The Occupy AIPAC action has been scheduled to coincide with the Zionist lobby's policy conference in March 2012 and will include “teach-ins, cultural performances, protests and creative direct actions, and a sneak preview of the forthcoming film Roadmap to Apartheid.”

The endorsers of the Occupy AIPAC action include the Al-Nakba Awareness Project, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) - DC, American Muslims for Palestine, Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights, Artists Against Apartheid, Citizens for Palestinian Self-Determination, Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel, CODEPINK Women For Peace, Cultures of Resistance Network, Free Palestine Movement, If Americans Knew,

International Solidarity Movement, It is Apartheid, Philly BDS, Proposition One Committee, Rachel Corrie Foundation, Radio Against Apartheid, The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East, US Boat to Gaza, US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, and We Are Wide Awake.

US protesters plan to Occupy Courts

A sign found at the Occupy DC encampment in Washington. (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/221776.html

US Occupiers are planning to participate in “Occupy the Courts,” a one day protest at the Supreme Court in Washington, as well as at other federal court houses across the country.

Move to Amend, the group responsible for organizing the Friday event, proposes a Constitutional Amendment that ends the "judicial fiction of corporate Constitutional rights."

The event comes one day before the second anniversary of the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons with 1st Amendment rights.

A news release from Occupy Cincinnati says that neither the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution mentions corporations, which were rare when the US was founded.

Angry protesters say the US courts are places where there is no chance of a fair judgment for the 99 percent of Americans, against the power and influence of the 1 percent.

“Occupy the Courts” is an extension of Occupy Wall Street movement that began on September 17 last year.

The Occupy Wall Street movement first began when a group of demonstrators gathered in New York's financial district to protest against the unjust distribution of wealth in the country and the excessive influence of big corporations on US policies.

Despite police crackdown and mass arrests, the Occupy movement, which grew out of the Occupy Wall Street movement, has now spread to many major US cities as well as to Australia, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, and other countries.

Over 146 millions live in poverty in US

A man looks through the trash in New York City. (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/215860.html

Nearly 1 in 2 Americans have now fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income, a report by the US Census Bureau says.

Based on a new supplemental measure by the Census Bureau more than ninety seven million Americans are considered to have low-income, defined as between 100 and 199 percent of the poverty level.

Another 49.1 million Americans live below the poverty line, meaning 146.4 million Americans, or 48 percent are considered low-income or poor, Associated Press reported on Thursday.

The new measure of poverty takes into account medical, commuting and other living costs. The new method raised the number of people below 200 percent of the poverty level up from 104 million, or 1 in 3 Americans that was officially reported in September.

The new data shows that children were most likely to be poor or low-income - about 57 percent, followed by seniors over 65.

Meanwhile Hispanics topped the list at 73 percent, followed by blacks, Asians and non-Hispanic whites.

Among low-income families, about one-third was considered poor while the remainder - 6.9 million - earned income just above the poverty line.

The US recession began in 2007. More than a year after the recession officially ended in 2009, the US unemployment rate remains above 9 percent, and the poverty rate rose to 15.3 percent in 2010 from 14.3 percent in 2009.

The “incredibly unequal top-down distribution of wealth” in the US has formed an elite group who controls most aspects of the country's affluence, according to analysts.

The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement emerged on September 17 in the financial district of New York City to protest at a number of issues including the wars in the Middle East, US financial crisis, rising poverty, soaring unemployment, and high bonuses for Wall Street executives.

Anti-Wall Street protests intensify

Protesters at the Port of Oakland in California, Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208338.html

Anti-corporatism protests have intensified in the city of Oakland despite increasing crackdowns by police forces who have arrested over 80 demonstrators.

The clashes have left at least six activists injured, when California police used tear gas and flash-bang grenades in order to force protesters out of a vacant building. At least three police officers were among the injured.

The violence comes one day after thousands of protesters occupied downtown Oakland in a general strike against the current economic conditions of the US, as well as police brutality.

Earlier, the Port of Oakland, the fifth busiest of US ports, was officially closed after workers staged a walkout.

Oakland protests are being held in support of the nationwide 'Occupy Wall Street' movement, which evolved in New York on September 17 in protest at 'corporate greed' and high-level corruption.

The rallies gained momentum in Oakland after security forces hit Scott Olsen, a former US Marine and an Iraq war veteran, with a tear gas canister, giving him a fractured skull and causing him to be hospitalized.

The movement has now spread to major US cities in spite of mass arrests by the police as well as other countries, including Australia, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Portugal.

China strikes back at US over tariffs

Source: Russia Today
https://rt.com/usa/news/china-bill-trade-tariffs-707/

A game of cat-and-mouse between Washington and Beijing intensified yesterday after Congress gave the go-ahead on a bill that increases tariffs on Chinese goods. Those overseas have already fired back, however, and the consequences could be chaotic.

Though the US bill that was aimed at hitting so-called “currency manipulators” like China will most likely fail to receive votes in the House, China is taking the game that Washington has waged seriously and last night decided to lower the value of the yuan in retaliation to what DC hoped they wouldn't do.

Domestically, lawmakers had hoped that tariffs imposed on Chinese exports would convince the country to readjust the currency of the yuan, and though US politicians had presupposed that the battle between the two nation’s economies would be a cold one, China has called their bluff and upped the ante.

It has seemed clear that passing of the bill into a law in America would all but happen, with lawmakers hoping the threats of legislation would worry the Chinese into revaluating their currency to a high dollar amount that the US would favor. While America’s threats were largely seen as empty, China’s real response will only worsen matters in the United States, where the country is currently engrossed in a trade deficit. Now with China’s response to America’s attempt at spooking currency bosses overseas, the US’ deficit will surely take a turn for the worse.

Though American leaders had shrugged off warnings of a trade war between nations as impossible, things are quickly heating up. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu has quickly fired back at US leaders by saying that the new bill "gravely violates World Trade Organization rules” and continued support out of the States could be detrimental to not just the relationship between the two massive economies but for the rest of the world.

“China urges the US government, Congress and all quarters to resolutely oppose using domestic legislation to create a fuss about and put pressure on the renminbi exchange rate," Ma writes on the website for the Foreign Ministry. The “renminbi” is a common name applied to the yuan, the official currency of China.

Ma adds that if the legislation passes in the House it will “disrupt the shared efforts of China and the United States, as well as the international community, to promote vigorous recovery and growth in the global economy.”

Last month China expressed anger over American politicians for giving Taiwan nearly $6 billion towards military upgrades which Beijing said could pose a threat to their own country. At the time, Minister Zhang Zhijun said the deal would “inevitably undermine bilateral relations as well as exchanges and cooperation in military and security areas.”

Investigative journalist Wayne Madsen told RT then that “If its weaponry that China doesn’t look at as aggressive towards China, they will probably be okay with . . . But if it’s any sort of advanced weaponry, were going to see some problems between Beijing and Washington.”

Now a debate over an impending trade war escalates aggressions between the countries.

Jin Canrong, a professor at Renmin University in Beijing, tells Reuters, "If this bill is passed, and the United States exacts tariffs as the bill demands, I think China will respond by imposing tariffs on some U.S. products,"

“If it turns into a trade war, it is the most momentous thing of 2011,” economist Jim Rogers told RT last month. “Trade wars always lead to wars. Nobody wins trade wars, except general who end up fighting the physical wars when they happen. This is very dangerous.”

Global Revolution in Progress

globalrevolution on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Global Revolution in process! Financial centers all over the planet will be taken over by the people in protest to the gross criminality of the extremely wealthy who have impoverished the world for their personal greed. There is a media blackout, however, here is a live feed  http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution


Link to live stream from Wall Street.
http://livestre.am/PlNN

US Postal Service nears default

US Postal Service mailboxes are seen awaiting disposal Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011, in San Jose, Calif

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197536.html

The United States Postal Service, which has long lived on the financial edge, is on the brink of a default as it lacks cash to make its payments.

The agency may have to shut down entirely this winter if it’s not able to make a USD 5.5 billion payment, The New York Times reported.

Congress needs to take emergency action to stabilize the service's finances and prevent its collapse.

“Our situation is extremely serious,” the postmaster general, Patrick R. Donahoe, said in an interview. “If Congress doesn't act, we will default.”

This is while, the agency is considering cost-cutting measures including laying off 120,000 workers - nearly one-fifth of the agency's work force - to ease its deficit which will reach USD 9.2 billion this fiscal year.

The service needs congressional approval to overturn job protections and go ahead with its planned layoffs.

Powerful labor unions are angry with the move and have vowed to take action against it.

Israeli cities rocked by mass demos

Israeli protesters demonstrate in Tel Aviv on September 3, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197310.html

Large crowds of Israeli protesters have swarmed into the streets in three large cities for what the organizers have dubbed a million-man march.

Demonstrators gathered on Saturday in 50 towns and cities, including Tel Aviv and al-Quds (Jerusalem) as well as the northern city of Haifa.

A Press TV correspondent in Tel Aviv said at least 200,000 people had gathered in the streets of the city.

The march is believed to be the largest of several demonstrations held over the past few weeks to protest against Israel's handling of the economy and its social policies.

The protesters are angry about the high cost of living, especially the cost of food, gasoline, education, and healthcare. They are also complaining about what they call social injustice and the widening chasm between the rich and the poor.

If successful, Saturday's massive march could mount pressure on Israeli leaders to announce early Knesset (parliament) elections, which could spell heavy losses for hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet.

Netanyahu, who has been facing calls to step down, has formed a committee to address the protesters' demands. But the demonstrators say no single concrete step has been taken so far.

Netanyahu has also ruled out the idea of spending from outside the budget for economic reforms, a response that Israeli protesters say disillusioned them.

Anti-regime protests erupted in Israel in mid-July as activists began setting up tents in Tel Aviv to protest against Netanyahu's economic and social policies.

Thousands of Israelis staged protest marches in the city of East al-Quds (Jerusalem) last Saturday, with similar anti-regime demonstrations held in other cities.

Many of the demonstrators are also opposed to Israel's illegal expansion of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The organizers of the demonstrations have been using social networking websites to rally support for the demos and have vowed that the protests will continue until their demands are met.

US banks face suits on mortgage crisis

The federal housing agency is to sue key US banks including Bank of America over mortgage crisis.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197038.html

The US Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is set to file lawsuits against several large banks over the US mortgage crisis that triggered a global financial meltdown.

The regulatory agency has accused more than ten major banks of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities they sold, and now seeks billions of dollars in compensation.

The lawsuits will be filed before Wednesday in a federal court to meet legal deadlines, The New York Times reported.

The American daily quoted three interviewees as saying that the largest US bank, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Germany's Deutsche Bank are among the accused.

FHFA says that the banks "failed to perform the due diligence required under securities law and missed evidence that borrowers' incomes were inflated or falsified."

The agency's move is seen as a blow to the banks' attempts to recover from the financial downturn.

According to the report, none of the accused banks agreed to comment on the situation, but argued privately that the general economic recession had caused the losses and any deception related to mortgages was irrelevant.

US unemployment crisis deepens

US employers did not add any net workers in August.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197060.html

The US economy takes another turn for the worse as newly released official statistics show that the jobless rate in the country has remained unchanged over the past month.

The US Labor Department said on Friday that employers had added no jobs in August and that the unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent, AFP reported.

The new information shows that August is the first month of zero job growth in the United States since 1945.

The Labor Department data also revealed little change in the private sector, the last hope for jobs growth amid layoffs by revenue-strapped government companies.

Analysts had already lowered their expectations for job growth, estimating a net average of 70,000 in August -- below the 100,000 needed to support a steady unemployment rate, Briefing.com reported.

Ron Paul: US 'out of money' and 'bankrupt'

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/196604.html

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul says the U.S. is "out of money" and the country is "bankrupt". The Texas Congressman made the comment in an interview with Fox News Chris Wallace on Friday.

Paul was talking about the lack of efficiency at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

"We've conditioned our people that FEMA will take care of us and everything will be OK. But you try to make these programs work the best you can. But you can't just keep saying, Oh, they need money. We're out of money. This country is bankrupt," he said.

The congressman urged President Barack Obama to “quit that war in Libya that is undeclared and unconstitutional.”

“Bring those troops home, save two billion dollars. Put a billion against the deficit and tide our people over.”

FACTS & FIGURES

The U.S. Treasury is borrowing $4.22 billion per day, adding to the current debt. Real Clear Politics

A U.S. Treasury Department report to Congress forecasts that the U.S. debt will rise to $19.6 trillion by 2015. Reuters

Together with interest on the national debt, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are on course to consume the entire federal budget as soon as 2025. Orlando Sentinel

The U.S. debt deal would raise the debt ceiling by at least 2.1 trillion dollars and cut spending of roughly 2.4 trillion dollars over the next 10 years. CNN