A Green Road Blog 

PRESS FREEDOM INDEX 2011/2012

http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.html

Please note news story at; http://www.care2.com/news/member/979852695/2858733                                                                                                .............................................................

The GOP Tea Party folks like Michelle Bachmann and Governor/Presidential candidate Polenty believe that shutting down the government is a GOOD thing. Polenty was interviewed on Meet The Press today. He bragged about shutting down his state government, and hinted that shutting down the federal government is also required.

These two presidential candidates both have a goal to SHUT DOWN THE US Government 100% on August 2^nd, 2011. Don't believe it? Republicans just shut down the entire state of Minnesota. They laid off 23,000 government workers. They closed all zoos, parks, shut off funding and checks for all social programs, and more. Prisons could/should be closed and all prisoners should also be let loose, but they do not care.  

The goal of the Tea Party (financially backed by the Koch Brothers) is to strip all unions of bargaining rights, take away all women's right to choose, and shut down stem cell research. Until they get this, they are willing to commit financial Armageddon. Tim Polenty, Michelle Bachmann and other Tea Party folks are applauding government shut down as a logical and sane way to get THEIR extreme way. Watch.. http://t.co/qPNxaTJ

 Some Democrats, mostly Tea Party members, also believe the same thing. It is all part of a belief that shutting down government is a way to achieve a goal of 'smaller government'. So what is 'government'? We are already seeing ‘smaller government’ with police, teachers, and firefighters being laid off in cities all across the nation. Parks are closing, streets are not being repaired, and street lights are being turned off.

As this choking process continues, watch the 'smaller government' process accelerate. It may very well be a 100% shutdown if the US government is deprived of the right to spend money after August 2^nd. Remember that police, firefighters, Military, National Guard and teachers are all government workers. That means we have to do without them, if we want 'smaller government'.

If we hit the debt ceiling with no solution other than a government shutdown, we may also run into a Constitutional crisis, a debt crisis, and/or a global panic. 

Those Republicans, who just shut down the state of Minnesota, relished in the fact that they could easily pull off a full state government shutdown and close the cash spigot to EVERYONE. The Tea Party folks desperately want this financial crisis to last longer, like a couple of months, or maybe longer.  The Tea Party folks think that a US government shut down for an extended period is a GOOD thing, both on a state and country level.

What happens if they get their wish and the government shuts down? One of the repercussions of shutting down the US government is a loss of a credit rating, as well as a loss of faith and trust in the purchase of US Treasury Bonds by people and other nations globally.

IMF statements, US Treasury statements from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner and many other international economic experts all say the same thing.  If people and nations stop buying these US Bonds because we are not paying as agreed (due to government shut down), the credit rating of the US would go down, forcing an IMMEDIATE interest rate rise on all borrowed money, for EVERYONE. This includes car loans, home loans, business loans and more.

Another repercussion is that the US borrows 40 cents out of every $1 dollar it spends. After August 2^nd, the US government can only spend what it takes in. That means an immediate, sudden and catastrophic cut of 40% to all programs. The US government issues 80 million checks per month.

Assume for sake of this example, that all of these checks are $1000 each. The US government would have to cut 40% of all of these checks and make them all $600. Could you live on 40% less each month? I doubt it.. Most people are stretched to the max already. They cannot handle a 10% cut, much less a 40% cut. This kind of cut would trigger an avalanche that would put this country into a Depression the likes of which have not been seen before.

The other way to look at this is that only 48 million people out of 80 million getting checks now would continue to receive checks. The rest (32 Million people) would get ZERO, for as long as the shutdown continues. This includes everyone receiving Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, federal retirement, government contracts and more. How many of those demanding a government shutdown are receiving checks from these source?

With a shut down, the US will have to stop all wars immediately, and bring all of the soldier’s home. Why? All of these wars are being paid for with borrowed money. That sucks for Republicans and many war hawk Democrats. They seem to like borrowing money from nations like Communist China to fight wars all around the world, forever and ever. 

If and when countries say NO to buying more US Treasury Bonds, guess what happens? Oh sorry, there is also no more money to bring the troops home with. Those soldiers overseas will just have to make do with dumpster diving where ever they are now, around the world. Soldiers here at home will no longer get paid, and will have to do without checks as well. How long will that last? 

If you need a passport to get out of the country, forget about it, as Post Offices, Passport offices, and all other federal government offices would be closed. Theoretically, even Congressional Representatives, The President and Senators would not be paid and would no longer be working. So forget about calling them to straighten all this out. All federal phones would be shut off. EPA, FDA, and all other federal agencies would have to shutter their doors and close down.

With gold values soaring, the dollar is already in trouble. People are already thinking that this fiat currency might not last much longer. So it might not take much more for people to lose faith completely, especially if there is a government shutdown, and no one is being paid anymore. Guess what happens then? 

Yup, it may very well happen that everyone panics and no one will take the US Dollar anymore. There is nothing backing up the US Dollar and no bottom to this, once it starts. 

That means the US Dollar can become worthless overnight, causing a Depression the likes of which we have never seen before. We got really close to that already here just recently, but they want to go over the cliff instead of just looking over the edge.

But you will not hear that from these Republicans and Democrats aligned with them, who are willing to gamble everything on one political power play. They seem to like to play chicken by speeding down a dark one lane highway on a tricycle straight at another 18 wheeler going the other way, also with no lights on, on a dark moonless night. 

The minimum net effect is that a US government shutdown will raise interest rates across the board, because that is what happens when there is ANY loss of faith and trust in a currency of any kind. This is what happened in Greece. A shutdown will affect everyone, in business, home loans, car loans, etc. 

Millions of people will also feel a shutdown by being laid off, immediately, just like the state of Minnesota. Parks will close. People, who are disabled, on welfare or need assistance just to make it every month, will no longer get checks. Everyone who is retired will stop receiving their Social Security checks, because they only thing left in that account is US Treasury Bonds. All of the money in Social Security was 'borrowed' to balance the US budget. We will go back to old people roaming the streets, homeless and hungry, as it was in the days of 'small government'. 

With no money for payment, federal prisons will have to release all of their prisoners and guards will no longer go to work. Our communities will fill up with criminals, and no police or federal National Guard will be there to stop them from doing whatever they want, because they will be laid off also as part of this 'smaller government' plan. 

If it goes on long enough, we will very quickly increase the homeless population by millions of people. Federally funded mental health facilities would close, releasing all of their mentally ill to the streets.

States will no longer get checks, as part of the money they receive back from the Federal Government.  They in turn will stop paying everyone they pay via contracts, etc.

Military personnel fighting overseas will not get a check. Corporations with government contracts will no longer be paid, and may have to close their doors or fire millions of employees who are contractors or sub contractors relying on government money.

It is sad, funny and ironic how the Republicans never mention any of this... I will bet that a majority if not all of their die hard 'shut it down' supporters are reliant on checks that will stop when they get their wish of a US government shutdown. 

The Tea Party folks think their version of reality is the ONLY one that counts, and everything else is a fairy tale. They think only good things will happen with a US government shut down, like everyone agrees to give them whatever they want. 

 They think life will go on normally with no money flowing.  Well, reality has a funny way of intruding on denial, potentially making life very uncomfortable for those who think this way. Nature has no mercy. Reality has no mercy. Denial is not a river in Egypt. 

Maybe we can have a discussion and debate about what is REALLY going on. Maybe we can discuss what some real world solutions would be. But good luck getting that with corporate controlled mass media. Good luck getting that with a corporate controlled President, Congress and Senate.

So what is reality, as opposed to corporate spin presented through the Tea Party and most media? Corporations and the mega wealthy are raping America, so no money is left over for teachers, firefighters, police, etc. 

Corporations are sending good paying jobs by the MILLIONS overseas to places like Communist China each year, so they can make RECORD PROFITS off of what amounts to slave labor where people being paid $2.00 a day. The loss of tax revenues from good paying US jobs creates a huge deficit, year after year. This has been building up for many years, but has been covered up and ignored.

 Corporations often do not pay taxes in the US. At the same time, huge global US corporations are making record profits in 2010. But they are perfectly willing to sell US taxpayers their stuff that is made overseas to fund their huge yachts, skyscrapers, private jets and lavish lifestyles of luxury and privilege. They do not share ANY of the pain or sacrifice that average Americans are enduring right now.  

Then these same corporations turn around and say US taxpayers cannot cut their 'welfare' subsidy checks as that would be raising their 'taxes'. Yes, the Republicans are voting right now to protect their corporate masters. Then they want and get TRILLIONS of dollars in bailouts when they gamble with taxpayers money and lose.

Another factor that drives the huge deficit is that corporations are transferring all the PRIVATE risk for their businesses to socialized programs, like the Superfund Toxic Waste Site Cleanup Program (Polluting industries like refineries and chemical producers used to pay for it, but now US taxpayers pay for it). Another example; the nuclear industry has a no limit guarantee to pay for any losses they might suffer from nuclear accidents. The social welfare bailout program for the nuclear industry is called the US taxpayer.

Corporations do not pay a dime for direct healthcare costs that they cause due to pollution or toxic emissions like nuclear radiation. They do not care about non employees or the global pollution they cause. They do not pay for or care about the loss of land, homes, businesses and livelihoods that occurs after every nuclear accident like Chernobyl or Fukushima, just to name two of many accidents, (most of them have been totally covered up).

In other works the nuclear industry as a specific example, risks nothing, pays for nothing, but receives all of the profits from heating water for only 30 years, while leaving US taxpayers to pay for the toxic, dangerous, radioactive nuclear waste for 500,000 years into the future. 

The melted down Chernobyl reactor is being paid for by taxpayers around the world and will be for the next 500,000 years, NOT THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY. They nuclear industry is not paying one thin dime to clean up the melted reactor, and not one penny for the sarcophagus. Why not? 

Because if the nuclear or oil industry did pay for the environmental messes and healthcare costs that they create, they would have to go out of business, because it is TOO EXPENSIVE to clean up their own messes.  

Renewable energy sources would immediately become cheap by comparison. All polluting forms of energy would immediately go up in price by a factor of 10 times the present price, or more, if they had to pay for their own messes and disasters, without bailouts from US taxpayers.

How about nuclear industry waste storage? It is also being paid for by a social program called the US taxpayer. Los Alamos Labs, Yucca Mountain, and all other storage of nuclear waste is paid for by the US taxpayer, not the nuclear industry or utilities. 

Bottom line, large, monopolistic global corporations are raping, and pillaging ‘free’ global resources.  They sell these free resources for a high price, and take all of the profits. Then they transfer all of their risk to a social welfare program called the US taxpayer and local communities.

There is no lack of welfare money for corporations and tax cuts for rich fat cats, but when it comes to programs, jobs, or help for middle income US taxpayers or the poor, sorry, no money is left.  Corporations got it all. This is in part where all of the debt comes from. Solving this problem would solve the debt problem in a large measure. But do not count on corporate controlled media, or Congress to solve this issue. They are blind, deaf and dumb, focusing only on short term profits.

So what is the answer? 

Vote Green Party, locally, in every state, and on a federal level.  At least that offers some hope and sanity. Maybe we have some hope of turning this around, because it seems the duolopoly controlled both ways by corporations is not offering us any hope. 

At least the Green Party has a plan for seven future generations, instead of just short term, selfish, greed based profit motives that ignore or cover up the REAL solutions to our crisis, caused in large part by the people in control now.

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Copy/paste the following as a tweet or copy/paste the following into your Facebook page.

@AGreenRoad ; GOP encouraging US government shutdown? http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/2857922

#Radioactive sludge dumped on US food farms; Part of Anne Coultier's plan? More Radiation is good! http://current.com/items/93153561.htm

Here it is...a news story that should be a headline,
but has been completely shut out by the mass media. 

US State Department made plans to attack France
for daring to reject Monsanto's toxic GMO corn 
seeds. 

The world as it really is. 

Video:

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/1000.html