I’ve been thinking about withholding(s). Actually I’ve been thinking about Illinois, working people, outstanding debt, debts coming due, food fights, Obamacare, “natural disasters,” and the Chinese. There is so much to talk about world wide events that just aren’t being reported to the public here. Is this merely an oversight because there are so many celebrity happenings going on that are sucking up air time? I no longer rely on the main stream media for my NEWs and I am like THE biggest NEWs junkie anywhere. Fortunately I can read in German and French, so the websites for Der Spiegel (The Mirror) and La Monde (The World) are available to me online in the original language. There is also the BBC which is in English (and not American). While being schooled at Exeter College, Oxford, I once made the point that the Americans and the British are two peoples separated by the same language.
You see last week I was under-whelmed by the coverage being devoted to what I felt were real stories. In Illinois, we were distracted by our legislature passing the largest income tax increases in our history. No one stated how the withholding deductions will rise to cover tax rises starting immediately. Nobody pointed out that NO spending cuts of any kind were part of the package. Nobody pointed out how much in past “expenditures” remain unpaid, or to whom they are presently owed. Nobody mentioned that presently 12 months income covers roughly 3 months of bills. Nobody mentioned that Illinois has borrowed $1.46 BILLION to meet unemployment claims from Uncle $ugar, or that Uncle was going to start charging interest on the amounts owed from all states but four come Fall.
Nobody mentioned that Illinois falls in at least the top five for every negative chronicling of items/ descriptions currently being published by the media. That info is seemingly withheld from the public as well. We did see nightly advertisements from neighboring governors calling to Illinois businesses to relocate in their states. I guess all is fair in love, war, and a declining economy.
Public debt should be the main focus of every NEWs cast; it isn’t. Are you aware that our national debt now stands at just OVER $14 TRILLION? Or, that the ceiling on further borrowing needed is to be raised by Congress in the coming weeks? All but four of the fifty states are now running deficits. Only God knows how many cities are looking down the barrel of the debt gun. We are seeing cut backs in “non-essential” services like police and fire departments. HUH??? Will that be enough? (No way.) Just look at the performance of the bond markets, if you don’t believe that governmental entities have lost their AAA ratings! There WILL be bankruptcies on the state, county, and municipal levels in 2011. After the first ones, get out of the way. The floodgates will open. That info is being withheld from the public as well.
We are lucky in the US that the world’s food shortages have not hit us here (yet). We have only seen the increases in prices on the store shelves. What I used to buy per week at $30.00 now costs me $40.00 – a 33% increase. Almost one half of US households qualify for food stamps (I mean LINKs cards). Local, church, or community food pantries are being hit with record levels of these “customers.”
Last week there were food riots in Africa, Asia, and South America. Were you aware of these? The government in Tunisia just packed up and left because the people were in the streets. Governments in two other countries are “iffy” at best. Was this information deliberately withheld from our NEWs. Or, is it that it is not deemed relevant to US/us at this time?
We have heard that the newly elected politicians in DC are going to challenge Obamacare. This is being portrayed as sour grapes on their part. Were you aware that a $2,000 “TAX” for every full-time employee not receiving health insurance will be assessed on every employer by Uncle $ugar? There are numerous other penalty taxes as well, too numerous in fact to mention here. Were you aware of that?
Worldwide there have been “unexplained” deaths of birds and fish in apocalyptic quantities. These are too frequent to be isolated incidents. Floods and mudslides by “random” conditions killed several thousand people last week. Were you aware of this? The explanations have ranged from viable to the ludicrous, if you can even see them. Were you aware earthquake activity is at an all time high? Were you aware that the North Pole has shifted to present day Russia, and that a few airports have had to reorient runways (one was in Florida) to accommodate the shift in what is North? Were you aware that the axis of the earth has shifted, and is continuing to shift at a record rate? Were you aware of any earthly wobble? This has been the speculation of the wacko conspiracy sites for a couple of years, now it is beginning to filter into main stream media from credible specialists. Is this also not relevant to us?
Sovereign debt in the EURO zone has pretty much gotten a pass in the coverage here. Yet, how is the overpowering burden of too much governmental borrowing different in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands? Remember that the US now owes almost as much as the rest of the world COMBINED? Our largest debt holders are the Chinese. We are due for a visit from their Chief of State this coming week. World media have been covering how the Chinese are concerned about the US debt, the weakness of the US dollar, and the US policy (sic) for “fixing it;” our media here has ignored this.
This will be a major point in the conversations, but will we hear or read anything about it? Will this be a further example of withholding?
I’m Fred Cederholm and I’ve been thinking. You should be thinking, too.
Copyright 2011 Questions, Inc. All rights reserved.
