Allen Thompson, deputy president of the National Teachers Union (Natu), was last week reported as saying “there will no Matric exams written this year in South Africa. We have decided to use the Matric exams as a lever if the government does not come forward with a better offer.”

Some schools included propagandistic letters from trade unions in notices sent to parents and guardians on Friday, informing them about the strike and leaving it up to them to decide if they want to send their children to school today. Others schools encouraged pupils to stay at home.

Judged against the background of Thompson’s threat, it strikes as cynical that some of the trade unions in their contribution to these notices claim that they refrained from using the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup as a lever in their negotiations with the government. These claims are also made apparently without any sense of irony that teachers, unlike other workers, could follow the World Cup at their leisure, courtesy of an extended winter school holiday.

Pupils and their parents and guardians were yesterday instructed by the national and provincial Education departments that they should attend school today, even if there was no supervision available. They were expected to keep themselves occupied with all sorts of self-teaching activities, including completing newspaper crossword puzzles.

Safety concerns

In light of regular reports about discipline problems at many schools, the approach by the Education departments has left many parents uneasy and even concerned for the safety and well-being of their children.

There was further cause for concern that things may turn ugly at some schools with the National Professional Teacher’s Organisation of South Africa’s (Naptosa’s) president Ezrah Ramasehla urging his members to consider various options, including sit-ins and pickets at school. Such action ran the risk of confrontation between parents – many of whom are unemployed or find it difficult to make ends meet themselves – and teachers.

In an apparent acknowledgment of the dangers involved, it was reported that among others the police would be on standby.

The strike comes at a most inopportune time – at the end of a long weekend, barely three weeks after the extended World Cup holiday, when schools are not fully back in rhythm and little more than two months before Matrics have to begin their all-important final exam.

Synchronizing negotiations and budget

The present unsavoury situation of the teachers’ strike, being but a part of wider public service labour action, graphically illustrates the problems presented by the fact that the negotiation process and the government’s budgeting processes are completely out of kilter with one another. At least on that front there may be a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Announcing the government’s “final” salary offer on Thursday last week, Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi said it would provide “a bridge” to a more far-reaching negotiation process that would be synchronized with the State’s Budget cycle.

The latest would cost more than the R23 billion that had been budgeted for salary increases for the period, but Baloyi refused to be drawn on the new cost, saying only that the government would need to reprioritise other expenditure.

He said there was a need to bring the present negotiations to an urgent close, as it would be necessary to open the next round before November if there were to be any chance of aligning the bargaining processes with the finalisation of the Budget for 2011/12.

Baloyi committed to a range of historical challenges being addressed during this next round, including:

* A review of government remuneration policy;
* The synchronization of salary negotiations with the Budget cycle;
* A return to April as the implementation month for salary adjustments;
* The building of sustainable negotiation capacity;
* The introduction of a multi-term focus in salary negotiations; and
* Further dialogue on housing support for public servants.

“We are willing to address the outstanding issues, including housing, in the second phase,” he said during a briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

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The first six months of the current year, Arroyo’s administration spent more than what it has collected in terms of revenue resulting to an increased deficit to P196.7B. Of the targeted revenue collection, the shortage was P23.8 B. The expenditure exceeded by P45.1B.

The national budget for 2010 is 1.54 trillion pesos. What remains in the budget appropriated for 2010 is barely 100 billion pesos which is only 6.5% of the total budget. He said that this is the only figure left for the next six months of his administration.

Where did the funds go? He asked. President Noynoy discussed that the previous administration funded P200 M for Calamity Fund. While the fund is too small, and the typoon and flood season have just started, 70% or 1.4 billion pesos has already been spent.

The budget allotment for Pampanga province of P108M, P105 went to only one district. The fund was released during the month of election, seven months after the typhoons Ondoy and Peping hit the country. Whereas the Province of Pangasinan that was directly hit by typhoon Peping only received P5M for the damaged caused not by Peping but by typhoon Cosme which occurred in 2008.

Further, he added that the fund has been exhausted for the damaged caused from last year’s typhoons. “What will happen if typhoons hit the country tomorrow? The future will suffer for the excesses of the past,” he added.

President Noynoy went further, same thing happened to the funds in MWSS, another government agency (Manila Waterworks Sewerage System). Very recently, people were lined just to get water. In spite of this, the “good” leaders of MWSS rewarded themselves when in fact their retired employees have not received their retirement fees yet.

In 2009, the total payroll of MWSS was P51.4M. But this is not the only benefit; there were additional allowances and benefits that reached up to P160.1M. In other words, the leaders received P211.5M last year, out of which only 24% represents the salary, 76% were additional benefits which they only approved.

An ordinary worker receives 13th month pay plus cash gifts only. At MWSS, it reached to an equivalent of more than 30th month pay including all the bonuses and allowances they got.

Worst even is the anomaly on the earnings of the Board of Trustees. He said: “Let us take a look at the allowances they are receiving:

A mere seat in the Board of Trustees at Board Committee meeting, one is entitled to receive P14, 000 already. It could reach P98, 000 monthly aside from the yearly grocery incentive of P80, 000. The benefits do not end there; there is a mid-year bonus, productivity bonus, anniversary bonus, year-end bonus and financial assistance with Christmas bonus and additional Christmas package. Each of these is worth P98, 000.

The sum total will reach P2.5 M annually for every member of the Board aside from free luxury car, technical assistance and loan accommodation. All these they accorded to themselves despite their retirees have not received their pensions yet.

La Mesa Watershed did not escape their greediness, instead of planting trees around the area for steady supply of water; houses were built for the top ranking officials of the said agency.”

President Noynoy said that “they will not eventually be ousted from office because they belong to the Midnight Appointees of former President Gloria Arroyo.” However, he will have to make investigation regarding this issue and “If they still possess even a little of self-worth, they should voluntarily resign from office,” the President added.

Regarding the infrastructure program of the government, DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) pointed out 246 priority safety projects that will be funded by the Motor Vehicle Users charge. It will need a budget appropriation of P425M.

What were funded were 28 projects only. 218 projects were not only considered but were replaced with 70 projects not within the plans. The requested budget of P425M went up to P480M for the projects which benefitted only few beneficiaries. The projects were useless and not well-deliberated upon, they just came out from nowhere.

Five days before the end of Arroyo’s term as President, she ordered the release of P3.5 B for the rehabilitation of those affected by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. The amount was supposed to be for 86 projects. President said that 18 of these projects worth P981M were discovered by his men and barred because it was found that even before the release of the Special Allotment Release Order, contracts have already been executed.

President Noynoy also discussed what had happened in NAPOCOR (National Power Corporation). From 2001 to 2004, the government under Gloria Arroyo forced the said agency to sell power supply at a loss to avoid an alleged high price for consumers but he added that the real reason was to raise funds for the forthcoming election then.

Because of this, in 2004, the debt of NAPOCOR reached its maximum limit that forced the national government to shoulder the P200B debt. The people were made to believe that they were benefited by the move however; it is the consumer that shoulders the burden of paying the said debt. The decision was founded on wrong politics and not in accordance with the people’s needs.

Same thing happened at MRT (Metro Rail Transit), he further discussed. The operator was forced to maintain low transportation fare resulting to losses and eventual purchase of MRT by Land Bank and Development Bank of the Philippines. With the government’s failure to uphold the guarantee given to the operator that they can recover the cost, people money was switched over for a losing business.

Regarding the funds of NFA (National Food Authority), in 2004, 117,000 metric tons was the shortage in rice supply of the Philippines. The NFA bought 900,000 metric tons. However you compute it, still the over importation was seven times more than the shortage. In 2007, 589,000 metric tons was the supply shortage, they bought 1.827 million metric tons. Again, there was excessive importation.

The sad part is that the rice were made to rot in warehouses. This also happened in 2008 when people were lining up for hours under the scorching sun just to buy a kilo or two of NFA rice.

“Is this not a crime to allow the rice to rot despite the reality that 4M Filipinos are deprived of three-square meals a day?” he asked.

The disgusting result is NFA’s debt reached P171.6B this May. The wastage could have funded the following:

1. Judiciary budget of P12.7B for 2010.

2. Conditional Transfers for 2011 of P29.6B

3. Classrooms at P130B

“These kind of governmental processes are exceptionally displeasing,” remarked the President, summing up the anomalies that he and his men brought to light during his first State of the Nation Address.

As he continued his speech, he further reiterated that his leadership marks the end of extravagance and unbeneficial use of government funds. Out of keeping projects will be bumped off and implement a zero-based approach on the budget. By next month they will come up with a budget that acknowledges real problems and focuses on the possible rightful solutions.

“These are but a few of the uncovered problems facing the nation. Here are some of the steps that are being considered”, he further hashed out.

There was a case of an owner of a pawnshop who could purchase a car worth P26M, who can afford to buy a Lamborghini but cannot however pay taxes. The appropriate charges were already filed in court. Every week, cases are being filed against smugglers and tax evaders.

For extralegal killings, 50% are up for resolutions. The other half will be earnestly pursued and that they will not rest until justice has been attained. All perpetrators of injustices have to be punished.

The Truth Commission to be headed by former Chief Justice Hilario Davide who has recently finished his term in the International Court of Justice has been created. This commission will be responsible to uncover the truth of the alleged anomalies that occurred during the past seven years. Within the week, President Noynoy will sign the very first order creating the Truth Commission.

If the answer to injustices is judgment of conviction, the answer to budget deficit is modern and creative ways to resolve the perennial problems. We have great deal of indigences, from education, infrastructure, health, military and police, etc. The budget is not enough to respond to all these demands, he further discussed.

He continued saying, “no matter how great is the burden to respond to these problems, I am inspired because many are showing interest for change and trust in the Philippines.”

The solution will be: Public-Private Partnerships. Even if there is no contract yet being executed, he added, he can say that this is effective and will be fruitful. There are already interested parties to construct an expressway from Manila, that will pass through Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya to the end of Cagayan Valley without the government spending even a peso, he said.

According to him, in the military service, we have 36,000 nautical miles but, we only have 30 ships that were acquired during the time of MacArthur. There was a proposition to rent the headquarters of Navy in Roxas Boulevard and Naval Station in Fort Bonifacio.

The proponent will shoulder the cost of transferring the Navy Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo and immediately give the government USD100M aside from an additional share in the earnings of the businesses that will be integrated at the rented area. In short, the government will earn without spending.

There are other offers from local as well as foreign businesses to help augment the needs of the people.

From these public-private partnerships, the economy will flourish and every Filipino will be benefited and can provide aid to other sectors. To help promote tourism, infrastructure can be constructed. In agriculture, grains terminals, refrigeration facilities will also be constructed with good road networks and post-harvest facilities.

With the help of the private sector, the food supply chain can be in order, so instead of importing, we can dream of supplying food to the international market. If the suggested railway system is realized, prices of goods will go down, much cheaper, speedier, more convenient and more so, travelers can avoid “Kotong” cops and extortion from rebel groups.

Just a reminder, he said:”Foremost in our platform is the creation of more jobs and jobs come from a growing industry. Industry will only flourish if we can only make it clean, speedier and convenient in the processing for those who wanted to put up businesses.

He promised to speed up the process of projects under the Build-Operate-Transfer. With the help of the sectors of government and the citizens, the processing period will be reduced to six months when before, it takes years if not a decade.

He inspired the people that the time has come when we need not choose between security and future of our children. Once the public-private ownership is realized, it can fund social services in accordance with the platform of government, particularly in education from the 10 years to the global standard of 12 years.

Further he said that the future is good. He will push for the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, where a bill will not be passed not until the source of funding is identified. There were bills that have been passed into law but due to insufficiency of budget allotment, they were not implemented.

He further reiterated that we should not allow another NBN-ZTE scandal. He asked help from the legislators to help amend the low on procurement. And the need for an Anti-Trust Law that will provide opportunity to small and medium scale enterprises to participate in the growth of the economy.

Also, he asked for the passage of the Whistleblower’s Bill to prevent fear and silence of material witnesses and strengthened the Witness Protection Program.

Regarding the situation in Mindanao, President Noynoy said his views on the issue remain unchanged, that the mistakes of the past must not be committed again and be aware that the past peace processes is undoubtedly tinted with political color and not solely for public interest and welfare.

About the CPP-NPA-NDF he asked: “Are you ready to lay concrete suggestion instead of criticisms?” “If peace is all you want, are you ready to an extensive cease fire? “Let us talk. It is hard to talk when the air is filled with gun powders. I am calling on you; let us not allow putting to waste this very good opportunity to meet under the same political desire, he added.

In addition, he said, peace and order is the foundation of progress. Continuous fighting is continuously tying us to poverty. Let us realize that this is the time to sacrifice and this sacrifice will serve as our investment for our future. Associated with our rights and freedom is our duty to our people and country.

In closing, he ask the media to watch their own line to upheld the principle of their profession, fair and truthful reporting. He also asked the people to watch at their elected officials and move from criticizing to participating in the affairs of the government and be a part of the solution.

He summated that it is God and the people that brought him to where he now stands. The mandate is cogent evidence that the people are still hoping for a change. “The situation is really different. Now is to dream again. Let us proceed to the realization of our dreams,” he closes.

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It is run under a one-party rule, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). No real challenge to the LDP was able to sustain itself despite the decrease in its popularity since the economic inactivity in l990s and corruption scandals.

For decades, Japan has not experience a change in political administration. Japan is a democracy without a competition. One may wonder how this could be possible when democracy is founded on competition. A Tokyo-based political analyst, Minoru Morita said that for a long period of time, the major media have been serving at the LDP’s discretion. And that is one of the secrets of its long-term rule.

The condition of the Japanese press seems to be, at first sight, analog to that established in the West. There are major daily newspapers with huge bulk of people reading at least one newspaper every day. The degree of reporting is adept. Dissemination of news is vigorous not only through newspapers but also the television and the internet.

There are only five national newspaper which accounts for half of the country’s total circulation, Asahi Shim bun, the Mainichi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Sankei Shimbun and the Yomiuri Shimbun.

A scrutiny of the contents, however, reveals a uniformity of editorial style among these newspapers. It is hard if not impossible to characterize one or another as representing a specific political attitude as one can find in New York Times’ liberal standpoint and in conservative editorial page of Wall Street Journal.

When compared with the press in other leading industrial countries in the world, Japan is so remarkably different in media. This is primarily due to the deluging control of the Liberal Democratic Party over the mainstream media with the Kisha clubs system as its mouthpiece.

The first three decades of the 20th century, the press was controlled through self-censorship. Obnoxious events, no matter how significant received no attention if they could adversely affect the interest of the ruling party. The development of communist party was also a forbidden subject.

Access to information of Japan’s mainstream media is under the monopoly of the ill-refute Kisha (reporters) club systems. These clubs are attached to the government’s major institutions including the police. Foreign press, freelance journalists and magazines find it difficult to get access to important information. However, there were significant scandals uncovered by journalists working outside the system despite difficulties.

There was a sharp contrast between the reports of the outside press and those of the major newspapers. The major newspapers reported differently from those covered and reported by Japanese magazines. The major papers allowed themselves to be manipulated by the ruling LDP.

Japanese press does not lead but follow. This is one of the most serious issues in Japanese journalism – failure to keep those in power accountable. They cover the scandal only after it has already been uncovered.

Japan’s press system lacks independence. Its manipulation of the press does not only weaken democracy but also subverts press freedom globally.

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1) The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) is responsible for overseeing the integrity of the accounting processes and accuracy of public companies’ financials. They were obviously asleep at the wheel when many of Wall Street’s largest financial firms, rapidly and without warning, either went bankrupt or dove into deep financial stress at the onset of the greatest financial collapse in this country since the Great Depression. How did this economic and financial fiasco occur with almost no advance warning by the SEC? A possible answer was published in an April 23, 2010 Associated Press article which reported on the findings of an SEC Inspector General analysis. The analysis found that more than two and half dozen SEC employees were found to have used their government issued computers to search the Internet for pornography during the time they should have been hard at work protecting the interests of Americans who invest in public companies. As examples of their findings, one SEC attorney spent up to eight hours a day downloading pornography, burning his findings to CDs and DVD discs once his hard drive filled up with the pornographic material. An SEC accountant was blocked over 16,000 times in one month (or about 800 times a day, 10 times an hour) from visiting pornographic websites yet he was able to eventually collect a collection of pornographic material on his government computer by using a method to bypass the SEC filters. Seventeen of the pornography seekers at the SEC were considered “senior level” employees, earning salaries up to $222,000 a year. These government employees were obviously too busy to help protect the interests of the American investors, people who lost untold billions of dollars as a result of the financial crisis that the SEC staff never saw coming.

2) In January of this year, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a report that concluded the $150 billion that the Federal government had spent on the Head Start program since 1965 has no long lasting benefits to the children that had been enrolled in the program. Another analysis, this one conducted by the Heritage Foundation found similar results: “Head Start has little to no effect on cognitive, socio-emotional, health, and parenting outcomes of children participating in the program.” Thus, rather than delivering the benefits that Head Start is supposed to deliver, we are left with an annual multi billion set of early education government programs that are little more than a government subsidized baby sitting service.

3) In the April 26, 2010 issue of Newweek magazine, an article by Dan Stockman exposed the fact that the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) is not doing a lot of protecting, at least relative to the Clean Air Act. According to research done by Mr. Stockman, his analysis of the EPA’s public database of enforcement records showed that on a national basis, more than 750 companies have been in continuous violation of clean air laws since 2007. Included in these 750 companies were over two hundred companies defined as high priority because of the severity of their offenses. What good is having a law and identifying offenders if there are no consequences or changes in behavior? Not very helpful.

4) In the April 9, 2010 issue of The Week magazine, there was a short article about how shoddy the work at the Energy Department is relative to classifying products as deserving of a high energy saving appliance rating within the EnergyStar program. A company who gets an EnergyStar rating can market the energy efficiency of their product, as approved by the government, and theoretically sell more products and/or sell them at a higher price. Consumers look for the EnergyStar designation with the assumption being that these are good deals from a cost of energy perspective. One problem though. The article reported on a sting operation by Federal regulators that sent bogus designs to the people running the EnergyStar testing program. These bogus products included a gasoline powered alarm clock (certainly not a very efficient way to tell time) and a feather duster attached to a space heater that had been called an “air filter” by the regulators. Unfortunately, both of these bogus products and most of the others were awarded the EnergyStar status by the Energy Department. Obviously, the Energy Department is not here to help you distinguish energy efficient products from those that are not if these somewhat outrageous fake products can pass the current energy efficiency standards in the inspection process.

5) Most people probably know that Toyota has been having a spate of safety problems with it’s cars over the past few months, with accusations that these safety problems have resulted in traffic fatalities. What most people do not know, as reported in the March 1, 2010 issue of Businessweek, the government had opened, and shortly thereafter closed, eight inquiries into the problem with Toyota products, starting back in 2003. In all eight cases they found no significant problems and closed all probes with no action taken. It was not until the past year or so that the government finally recognized that maybe there is a problem and Toyota was finally forced to take remedial action on its vehicles. The article points out the fact that the two government interface executives at Toyota used to work for the very government agency responsible for automobile safety, implying that the government might have gone easy on their former co-workers. Given that upwards of a hundred Americans may have died as a result of faulty Toyota products, it does not look like the government is helping anyone here either.

6) Several years ago the government belatedly pulled a series of imported toy products from China off of the shelf because the products were made using lead based materials that could seriously hurt a child if the the child put a toy in their mouths and the lead entered their systems. While the good news is the government safety organization finally got the products off of the shelves, it would have been much better if they had never entered the country in the first place, Even worse, according to a May 20, 2010 Associated Press article, the overseas producers simply replaced their lead laced products with cadmium laced products which are just as dangerous. One would have thought the government would have been a little more alert to these types of products since they had just gone through the lead based experience. Alas, they were no better the second time around as the cadmium products came ashore.

7) A May 17, 2010 Associated Press article reported on the many oversights and incompetence of Federal employees of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) Federal agency, the agency responsible for overseeing the safety of oil rigs in the Gulf Of Mexico. According to the article and an internal report, not as many inspections were done as required, many MMS employees received hunting and fishing vacations along with other gifts from the same companies they were supposed to keep in line from a safety perspective, some MMS employees were inspecting oil rigs of companies at the same time they were in negotiations for employment by those companies, and some MMS employees admitted being addicted to illegal drugs while being responsible for safety inspections and compliance. These Federal employees were obviously little help in preventing the devastating Gulf oil spill.

The Department Of Homeland Security has certainly not been helpful. This past December, a would be terrorist traveled from Somalia to the skies over Detroit and would have blown up the airliner he was in if his underwear bomb had not malfunctioned. In the spring, another would be terrorist almost blew up a car bomb on the streets of Time Square which failed to explode only because of a defective bomb. Unknown numbers of illegal aliens and drugs, and who knows what else, continue to flood over our southern border with Mexico. Are we feeling secure yet?

9) In a related non-helpful effort, an article in the June 11, 2010 issue of The Week magazine recalled a resolution from the House of Representatives in 1986. At that time, the House demanded that the Pentagon seal our borders within 45 days against illegal drugs. Looks like they missed that deadline.

10) The No Children Left Behind legislation from the Bush administration has proven to be unsuccessful in raising the lower than expected learning levels of American children relative to the education of children in many other countries. Thus, nothing has changed since the Reagan administration issued its scathing report on American public schools in 1982, “A Nation At Risk.” Thus, the American political class and its government processes have been unhelpful for at least twenty eight years in raising education standards and output of the country.

11) On the foreign affairs front, government and the political class have not been very helpful either. Two renegade countries, North Korea and Iran, with economies and populations that are just a small fraction the size of the United States, will both soon have the ability and intention of creating and stockpiling nuclear weapons. Unstable leadership in these countries is not a long term formula for safety and security.

12) In the face of all of these failures, what have the politicians been working on during the past year that might eventually help all of us live a better life? A California Congresswoman and her staff worked on legislation that would establish Federal regulations for the sound volume of television commercials, another Congressman was working on legislation that would prevent male dysfunction commercials from airing on television, another Congressman and his staff worked on legislation to give pet owners a tax deduction in these hard economic times, and many Washington politicians were involved in the debate on how to get a national college football playoff system in place. How many of these items would fall in the top 20 issues facing most Americans today? Probably not many. Politicians spend time on these small, insignificant issues while the big issues of public education, energy policy, leaky borders, high health care costs, skyrocketing national debt levels, and high unemployment continue to grow unabated.

13) Finally, the biggest and most widespread non-help in the past sixty years was obviously related to the financial crash and economic downturn of the past few years. Numerous government agencies were absolutely no help in foreseeing and managing the housing and banking crisis that caused the so-called “Great Recession.” These Federal government entities include Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, SEC, Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, House of Representatives housing and banking committees, Senate housing and banking committees, the FDIC, the FHA, the Bush administration, the Obama administration, and any number of other unhelpful government organizations. If these agencies and politicians could not see this great, historic economic crisis coming until it was way too late to do anything, what makes us think they have any chance in successfully managing the smaller, more subtle aspects of the economy?

Did we leave anyone out? We need to get over the myth that government is somehow an efficient and effective ally in our lives. The above examples should be proof of that. Many Americans still think that once a law is passed or a program established that the battle is over and everything will be great: government workers and agencies taking care of things in a super efficient manner at a reasonable cost. Given the above list of incompetencies and the record, sky high national debt levels we have, we are getting the worst of all possible combinations – high cost, low quality.

We need to start a long term, systematic downsizing of government in order to reduce our national debt and get government smaller and more focused on just the important, major issues of our times, which does not include the sound volume of television commercials. The logic is if the political class and government agencies have less to worry about, they may actually get good at a few things rather than being incompetent in a wide range of things. It makes no sense to continue to support a government bureaucracy when all we get is the low performance or non-performance described above. Drastically downsize and focus, that is what must be done to get us out of the high cost/low quality zone into the low cost/high quality zone. Then, and only then, might the myth “I’m from the government and I am here to help you” actually become a reality again.

Our new book, “Love My Country, Loathe My Government – Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom and Destroying The American Political Class” is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com and online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Visit our blog at http://www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com for our nealry daily dialog on American freedom.

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It has been now about two months that, to my shocking surprise, we have been bombarded with news about Greece. Every single day, there is one or more stories in the front page of the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers, all analyzing the importance of Greece in the European Union in particular, and the world’s financial health in general. I have spent the last few days in Denmark and Germany and a day does not go by without seeing Greece in the front, middle and back pages of the Financial Times and other newspapers written in languages beyond the four I can personally speak. So the question is, what makes little-tiny Greece, all of a sudden the center of the universe again? Don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled that Greece is in the news daily, but the question is why does Greece matter?

Greece is a minor euro zone economy, perhaps 2-3% of GDP, but what matters is the fact that Greece uses the Euro as its currency and the threat alone that Greece may go under sends shockwaves to the financial community, for the fear of one country going down may take other countries with similar problems with it as well.

The issue became critical when Greece announced that its budget deficit as percent of GDP, was way above what was reported by the previous administration, 12 or 13% to be exact, way above the required by the Union 3%. One only had to look at similar countries like Portugal and Spain to see they too had very high budget deficits. The PIGS, as they call them, i.e., Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain make for a very unstable economic group, which, if can not meet its financial obligations to the community, puts unsustainable pressure on the Euro with the now known consequences. In fact, the Euro has gone on a free fall almost overnight, from being the dominant currency with dollar exchange rates around $1.5, to losing more than 5% of its value against the dollar, to an eight month low of $1.3529 as recently as two months ago and some analysts predict it may go down to $1.3, or even less.

So what can the mighty US learn from tiny Greece? Is it possible that the US, by running, or even threatening to run huge deficits, as the proposed social plans by the Obama administration indicate, would face similar disastrous economic situation that would severely and adversively impact the dollar, vis-à-vis the major currencies? Some people argue that this is not possible because unlike the EU where countries are not really legally bound by a single government, the US can legally mobilize financial resources and assist states that are in dire straits, something that the EU is currently challenged with. However, it is not the state budgets that create global havoc, but rather the budget deficits at the US federal level which are currently huge by historical standards that create serious risks and in turn scare away investors – like China, who are looking to expand their recently acquired wealth into more productive capital markets. One can already see that current US deficits, even before Mr. Obama’s proposals are approved, have scared away investors who are already looking for safer havens. China for one thing is building its gold stockpiles rather than investing in US real estate capital.

A country’s budget deficits, its liabilities to its people and foreign investors, put pressure on its ability to borrow in the open markets and eventually run the risk of seeing its bonds down rated. This is exactly what has happened to Greece and what can happen to America, if it doesn’t get its (White) house in order.
America has recently used extreme financial behavior by spending immense internal capital to bail out the auto industry and Wall Street on the premise they were too big to fail. This was the wrong long term strategy which bound to have two effects: 1) these industries have no incentive to put their house in order and, 2) the US citizens at large will be financing this error for ever.

It is interesting to see that Germany, the country that all other economies are compared to in Europe, decided that under no circumstances will it bail out Greece for the above two reasons. In the long run, Greece will have to find its way out of this financial Greek tragedy and be a better EU partner. There is no such thing as “too big” or “too small” for that matter, to fail!

For the US, tough times are ahead. It would be a shame if Greece, where democracy started, could not teach the world a lesson, and America is where democracy ended. For the shake of our children, I need to be proven wrong.

Did you find this article informative, thought provoking or interesting? If so, you may also enjoy visiting my blog: http://www.askDrNick-anything.blogspot.com

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One idea was to increase the payroll taxes by 2% and over a 75 year period, the deficit problem was expected to be resolved. However, the future deficits are growing so large that this modest tax increase will still leave a large shortfall. Social Security’s impending crisis cannot be resolved with this small tax increase.

Another idea, which is supported by President Obama, is to raise SS taxes on people who earn more than $97,500 per year. Currently, those who earn more than this cap amount of $97,500 do not pay Social Security. The Congressional Research Service says that if all earnings were subject to payroll tax, the Social Security trust fund would remain solvent for the next 75 years. Senator Clinton opposed increasing taxes for people earning more than $97,500 because she stated it hurts the middle class. On the other hand, both Presidential hopefuls were strongly against the privatization of Social Security because it leaves the system at the whim of the market.

Former-President Bush has been in support of a plan that allows Americans to invest a portion of their existing Social Security taxes in a personal account. This is sort of semi-privatization. Polls show that there are large numbers of supporters backing this plan.

Out of all the proposed ideas on how to face the impending crisis deficit, no one plan seems to be favored above all the rest and the deficit continues to grow. Hopefully new ideas keep coming forth in order to solve the deficit problem that Social Security will inevitably face.

So far, the Administration has been using special issue bonds from the trust fund to cover its financial problems. But by 2041, that trust fund will run out. At that time, a 26 % reduction in benefits for retirees has been planned.
So, what does all this add up to? Basically, current retirees are in the clear. Their full promised benefits will be paid to them. The Administration has enough money to cover everyone promised benefits until 2017. This even allows for annual cost of living increases.

However, by 2041 the Administration will be in trouble. The trust fund will have run out and so the situation for younger workers looks dire. Anyone born after 1974 will reach retirement age after the trust fund is totally exhausted. At this time, it is estimated that these younger workers will have paid fully into throughout their careers, but will only get 74% of the benefits that have been promised to them.

There is one solution has little to do with politicians and taxes. It involves starting a personal retirement account. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt originally created the Social Security Administration, it was never intended to be the only source of retirement income for anyone. It was established as a supplemental income system. Therefore, younger workers need to think ahead and began looking for other ways to ensure a safe retirement for themselves.

Shaneela Khan is an expert on Social Security Law and has been working in the Field for the past 15 years. For more information on Social Security Benefits please visit: http://www.socialsecuritylaw.com.

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New Mexico is facing a $600 million shortfall for the current fiscal year. A special session of the state legislature was called to make decisions about the budget. An agreement was hammered out on the last day of the session and forwarded to Governor Richardson for approval.

Governor Richardson delayed signing until the last day, then vetoed some provisions while accepting others. He and his advisors then produced their own program which was published as an executive order, rather than bringing the legislature back to produce acceptable legislation.

The purpose of having an Executive Branch, a Legislative Branch, and a Judicial Branch in our state government is to prevent excessive power being concentrated in one group or person. By issuing his executive order, Bill Richardson has usurped the legislatures authority to make the budget go his own way, thereby in effect negating all the votes of the citizens those legislators represent. They each represent smaller constituencies, and thus their decisions should be more representative of the people’s desires.

Unfortunately, he is not the first politician to use a crisis to set aside legal restraints. George Bush did so several times using the 911 attack as an excuse. The CDC has used numerous health threats to se aside legal protections of businesses and individuals in the guise of resolving a health crisis. The Treasury Department has used the same principle in handing out bailout money without obeying congressional guidelines.

As state shortfalls increase, these types of over stepping authority are likely to become more common. It will be easy for constitutional authority to be usurped, in many cases unintentionally, but also deliberately. If such actions are ignored, we may well find most of our freedoms and protections taken away.

The book, The Tyranny of The Urgent, describes the pressure to take action on seemingly urgent affairs. As a result, people neglect more important issues in an effort to relieve the pressure. Claims of crisis produce a similar sense of urgency, and people become so focused on the crises they ignore other issues. It really doesn’t matter whether the crisis is real, as long as people believe it to be. Con artists find it easier to invent crisis than to find a real one.

Former President Clinton said it would be better to pass even a bad bill than to do nothing in encouraging congress to pass the Healthcare reform bill. He failed to take into account the results of the Creditors Rights bill Congress just passed. Less than a month after passing, many credit card users found their interest tripled or more. Fees on almost all accounts were increased and new fees were imposed. A defective bill made the problem much worse.

The old saying “if you don’t have time to do it right the first time, How will you ever get time to do it again?” is even more important in legislation than in many other areas, because it affects more people. Allowing a sense of urgency to rush into ill-conceived legislation is dangerous.

Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and many others have used Crises to gain power. To avoid losing our freedoms, we need to periodically step back and observe the other things that are happening, things which most people seem not to see because they have become equally focused. People, including reporters and politicians, find it easy to follow the crowd, but sometimes the crowd is wrong.

An example is the focus on Global warming. The media reported that two years ago farms in Sweden were discovered that had been covered with ice since the early 1700’s. The so called “proofs” of Global warming actually showed that during the 1600’s temperatures were warmer than they had been until the present time. The claims of urgency have distracted people from checking out the facts. If it continues, it will result in serious problems due to misguided decisions.

One principle is to follow the money. If Al Gore will make one hundred million Dollars by convincing people that Global warming is real, he has a vested interest in doing so. His claims need to be supported by other research. The same is true with the H1N1 swine flu crisis. The medical establishment makes $25 per shot. That’s a lot of money if they can get half the population to get shots. It could well cause them to overlook evidence which doesn’t support vaccinations. Does this mean that there is no problem? Obviously not, but it does indicate we need to examine the crises more carefully to determine what the real problem is.

When proposed actions ignore the constitution or peoples rights, they need to be especially closely examined as their effects are so serious, and difficult to undo once in place.

For information on what the Bible teaches about various situations by the author go to http://BeingChristianToday.Blogspot.com.

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If all these countries are calling on the United States to quickly put together and maintain a new world order that will be the merging of many countries into a single governed body over which there will be a single leader to call the shots, maybe the people should be told why and to whom they will have to answer to. People of the countries who are a part of this ‘new world order’ seem to be mostly uneducated as to the transparency of this entire plot by these hosting countries. The seemingly opaque walls around the possible emergence of a new world government that will eliminate the sovereignty of the individual countries and form a single governed body, are high and not being given the exposure needed to keep the average citizen informed.

When government acts secretly the people are left to follow the acts of their governments without question and without say. Is this the loss of democracy or the actions of a rouge state that the people are afraid to question? When people are silenced by the actions of their governments, such as the loss of the American right to speak freely and assemble peacefully by the enactment of the permit; requiring all Americans to ask ‘permission’ by obtaining a purchased permit, that is when the people are intimidated into not saying much under the assumption that there is a large watchdog in place.

While these covert government actions are eroding the rights of their citizens in the individual countries the larger picture is coming into focus. The people are being lured into a huge cage where their opinions and their worth have no value. “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” (Edward R Murrow quote). “I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman’s club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.” (H.L. Mencken quote).

People should start to discuss the current events that are unfolding before their eyes. People are in need of a collective untouched media outlet giving only facts and those reporters points of view. A human point of view is a sharply written and well-researched idea where opposing views could only promote discussion and debate on the true issues of the current global crisis all global citizens are faced with. Talk to your friends even if they don’t want to hear it, demand an opinion.

I, Derek Nelson born 1970, have spent the past eight years studying global economics and global politics. I believe that the current global community needs truth and a media outlet that is not built on politics or owned by large corporations. Truth in news can only create a larger and more advanced society built on the reality of what is, rather than built on what corporations what you to buy.

About the Author

Derek Nelson