Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/07/24-9

During the 2008 campaign, presidential candidate Barack Obama made a pledge to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 per hour by 2011. Promises like this one inspired a generation of young voters, excited long-neglected progressive voters and gave hope to millions of his supporters across the country.

Link: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/100-million-poor-people-in-america-and-39-other-facts-about-poverty-that-will-blow-your-mind

Every single day more Americans fall into poverty. This should deeply alarm you no matter what political party you belong to and no matter what your personal economic philosophy is. Right now, approximately 100 million Americans are either "poor" or "near poor". For a lot of people "poverty" can be a nebulous concept, so let's define it. The poverty level as defined by the federal government in 2010 was $11,139 for an individual and $22,314 for a family of four. Could you take care of a family of four on less than $2000 a month? Millions upon millions of families are experiencing a tremendous amount of pain in this economy, and no matter what "solutions" we think are correct, the reality is that we all should have compassion on them. Sadly, things are about to get even worse. The next major economic downturn is rapidly approaching, and when it hits the statistics posted below are going to look even more horrendous.

Link: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/promises-about-another-american-century-are-pretty-lies/260241/

History shows that projecting a nation-state's trajectory nine decades into the future is folly. Our politicians better be preparing for anything as they pander. Circa 1912, it would've been a phenomenal feat to predict the events and outcome of Word War I, and impossible for anyone on earth to anticipate the rise of Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin, the Axis alliance, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the events of World War II, and America's subsequent place in the world. Nor could any person in pre-World War I America imagine the partition of Europe by Soviet communists, the nuclear arms race, the Cold War or its end. Neither could the British nor the French nor the Germans nor the Japanese nor the Russians nor the Poles anticipate the respective courses they would take over the ensuing nine decades.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jul2012/econ-j13.shtml

Foreclosure notifications increased for the second consecutive month in June, as lenders rushed to foreclose homes in the wake of the Obama administration's settlement with the largest banks on mortgage fraud. RealtyTrac, the online foreclosure marketplace, said that 311,010 properties started foreclosure during the second quarter of the year, a 9 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 6 percent increase from the second quarter of 2011. The company said in its 2012 midyear report that this was the first year-over-year increase in quarterly foreclosure starts since the fourth quarter of 2009.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jul2012/citi-j13.shtml

The drastic wage-slashing in Scranton, Pennsylvania and the bankruptcy of San Bernardino, California should be taken as a warning, not only by municipal workers but by the working class as a whole.

Link: http://dailybail.com/home/bankers-behind-bars-petition-to-put-bankers-in-jail-passes-3.html

The online petition was started 2 days ago, already has more than 366,000 signatures, and is growing by 1,000 names every 3 minutes.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/07/13

Every day brings more reminders of the terrible unfairness that besets our country, the tragic reversal of fortune experienced by millions who once had good lives and steady jobs, now gone.

Link: http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/trillion-deficit-Obama-fourth/2012/07/12/id/445188

The U.S. budget deficit grew by nearly $60 billion in June, remaining on track to exceed $1 trillion for the fourth straight year. Through the first nine months of the budget year, the federal deficit totaled $904.2 billion, the Treasury Department reported Thursday. Read more on Newsmax.com: Obama on Track for Fourth Straight Year of Trillion-Dollar Deficit
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now!

Link: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/27-things-that-every-american-should-know-about-the-national-debt

The U.S. government has stolen $15,876,457,645,132.66 from future generations of Americans, and we continue to add well over a hundred million dollars to that total every single day day. The 15 trillion dollar binge that we have been on over the past 30 years has fueled the greatest standard of living the world has ever seen, but this wonderful prosperity that we have been enjoying has been a lie. It isn't real. We have been living way above our means for so long that we do not have any idea of what "normal" actually is anymore.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/11/federal-reserve-economic-crisis_n_1665624.html?ref=topbar

The Federal Reserve is open to taking further action to support the struggling U.S. economy. But minutes of the Fed's June meeting show policymakers at odds over whether the economy needs more help now.

Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/48156196

Merrill Lynch has added its voice to the chorus of gold bulls who have been predicting that bullion will hit $2000 an ounce.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/07/10-5

our world is not broken, it is dead. We are alive, if we chose to be, but the hierarchical systems of exploitation that structure the world in which we live -- patriarchy, capitalism, nationalism, white supremacy, and the industrial model -- all are dead. It’s not just that they cannot be reformed, but that they cannot, and should not, be revived. The death-worship at the heart of those ideologies is exhausting us and the world, and the systems are running down.

Link: http://www.realjewnews.com/?p=736

Brother Nathanael talks about the American economy.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jul2012/pers-j02.shtml

The agreement reached at the European Union summit on Friday averted the immediate prospect of a meltdown of the banking system. However, it set in place measures that will see a further intensification of attacks on the social position of the working class across the continent.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/07/02-7

Walmart's explosive growth has gutted two key pillars of the American middle class: small businesses and well-paid manufacturing jobs

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/30-4

“The problem goes beyond parties and politicians. It’s the system . . . . All our politicians are in the pocket of elites who own, lobby, litigate, bully and bribe their way into every element of our lives. Even single cell organisms unite and fight for survival when their species is threatened.”

Link: http://www.alternet.org/story/156042/corporate_profits_at_all-time_high%3B_wages_at_all-time_low%3A_can_we_call_it_class_war_yet/

The middle class is being hollowed out; increasingly, there are the super-super-rich, and there are the rest of us.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/supr-j29.shtml

In a 5-4 US Supreme Court decision released on Thursday, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined with the nominally liberal wing of the high court to uphold key provisions of the Obama administration-backed health care legislation. The decision maintains the pro-corporate provisions of the bill, including the “individual mandate” to purchase insurance from private insurers. At the same time, the court undermined the key constitutional arguments used to support corporate regulations. It also ruled that the federal government cannot withdraw existing Medicaid funding from states that decide not to participate in an expansion of eligibility for the program.

Link: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.459:

A BILL To require a full audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks by the Comptroller General of the United States before the end of 2012, and for other purposes.

Link: http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/12138-focus-the-american-people-are-angry

he American people are angry. They are angry that they are being forced to live through the worst recession in our lifetimes -- with sky-high unemployment, with millions of people losing their homes and their life savings. They are angry that they will not have a decent retirement, that they can't afford to send their children to college, that they can't afford health insurance and that, in some cases, they can't even buy the food they need to adequately feed their families.

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/markets/mayor-stockton-appears-headed-for-bankruptcy-as-mediation-deadline-passes/2012/06/26/gJQAqAoT5V_story.html?tid=pm_business_pop

STOCKTON, Calif. — In opting to become the nation’s largest city to seek federal bankruptcy protection, this river port of 290,000 took a rare financial step of last resort after struggling with the economic downturn, soaring pension costs and contractual obligations.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/06/25/247950/us-banks-wage-war-against-working-class/

“The reality of the situation is that there is an all-out war on working people being waged by the huge banks and corporations,” Ralph Schoenman said in an interview with Press TV. “We've just seen a scandal in Washington focused around the fact that J P Morgan Chase has been pursuing precisely the policies of speculative paper shuffling through derivatives involving endless billions of dollars, which are acknowledged, in fact dwarfing what was being done in 2008 at the time of the last great crash,” he added.

Link: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/06/25/uk-swiss-boxes-idUKLNE85O02220120625

Investors trying to protect their wealth from global economic uncertainty have been stashing bank notes, gold bars and other valuables in Swiss banks, fuelling demand for safe deposit boxes.

Link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/56c7e518-bc8f-11e1-a111-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1yzlI3mBW

US inequality is at its highest point for nearly a century. Those at the top – no matter how you slice it – are enjoying a larger share of the national pie; the number below the poverty level is growing. The gap between those with the median income and those at the top is growing, too. The US used to think of itself as a middle-class country – but this is no longer true.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/pers-j25.shtml

With the new fiscal year commencing next Sunday for most of the 50 US state governments, the balance sheet of the 2012 fiscal year shows that European-style austerity measures, on the scale of those imposed in Spain, Ireland and approaching those in Greece, are being carried out in one state after another.

Link: http://zeenews.india.com/business/news/international/us-bank-wells-fargo-to-move-jobs-to-india-soon_54347.html

Mumbai: Even though the US is in the election mode and is under the anti-outsourcing Obama administration, the fourth largest lender there by assets, Wells Fargo has decided to move an unspecified number of jobs to India, as part of its plan to trim cost.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/economy/155918/exclusive_interview%3A_joseph_stiglitz_sees_terrifying_future_for_america_if_we_don%27t_reverse_inequality/

What will life look like down the road if we don't reverse economic inequality? We must see through the myths of capitalism and build a mass movement if we are to save ourselves. Doing a precise comparison is difficult because we don't have data sets that go back that far. But we do have data sets that go back more than 30 years and what is clear is that the share of the top 1 percent has almost tripled since 1980. So, this kind of inequality at the top has unambiguously gotten much, much, much worse. We also have data on the extent to which there's been a hollowing out of the middle class.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/22-0

The most politically partisan—and politically activist—Supreme Court in modern American history has already assumed that, when it comes to electioneering, corporations have pretty much the same rights as human beings. Indeed, the High Court’s Citizens United ruling has given corporations unprecedented flexibility to act on their own behalf to influence election campaigns and results.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/pers-j22.shtml

It is now coming on close to four years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the autumn of 2008. The events of the past several months underscore two fundamental features of the crisis that emerged out of the subsequent financial collapse: 1) that it is systemic, not temporary; and 2) that it is global, affecting every country in the world. Globally integrated capitalism has created a globally integrated catastrophe.

Link: http://www.dailypaul.com/241273/massive-corporatist-state-sanctioned-theft-for-billionaires-uncle-sams-real-estate-fire-sale

“The largest transfer of wealth from the public to private sector is about to begin. The federal government will be bulk-selling the massive portfolio of foreclosed homes now owned by HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to private investors – vulture funds.”

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/06/refugees-in-south-sudan-facing-full-blown-humanitarian-crisis/

Dozens of women and children dig into the earth in a dried out watering hole in the Jamam refugee camp in South Sudan in order to extract water from waist-deep pits after water ran out. Within the next nine days, drinking water at refugee camps in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state will run dry, warned the aid agency Doctors Without Borders on Tuesday. Meanwhile, refugees continue to stream into the state, as the few camps set up to house to entrants are stretched even further beyond capacity.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/19-4

With its catchy "We are the 99 Percent" slogan, the Occupy movement focused millions of Americans on our nation's chronic inequality. As that movement regains momentum, it must pay more attention to the whole 99 percent.

Link: http://www.thedailybell.com/4007/Fed-Lies-Unravel-Bank-Board-Gave-US-4-Trillion-in-Loans-to-Its-Own-Institutions

A report just released by the US Government Accountability Office explains how the Federal Reserve divvied up more than $4 trillion in low-interest loans after the fiscal crisis of 2008, and the news shouldn't be all that surprising. When the Federal Reserve looked towards bailing out some of the biggest banks in the country, more than one dozen of the financial institutions that benefited from the Fed's Hail Mary were members of the central bank's own board, reports the GAO.

Link: http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/bre85i1ad-us-jpmorgan-loss/

JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said his bank was upfront with investors about its multibillion-dollar trading loss, even as regulators investigate whether JPMorgan disguised a dramatic rise in risk-taking.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/story/155876/how_top_law_professors_are_working_to_expand_corporations%E2%80%99_constitutional_%27rights%27/

Academia’s best and brightest include conservatives who help corporations hide behind the First Amendment to protect profits. Corporate America is hijacking the First Amendment. In the political world, the Supreme Court continues to expand corporate speech rights, opening one more avenue for big money to flow into elections. And in the business world, federal courts have also cited commercial speech rights to block all kinds of government efforts to add health warnings on products or change the way unhealthy products are advertised.

Link: http://youtu.be/Gaqy7EtiaMA

A rigged Greek election. The banks win.

Link: http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/06/18/501157/experts-stumped-romney-military-spending/?mobile=nc

Mitt Romney’s pledge to massively increase military spending — close to a $2 trillion increase over the next ten years and boosting the Pentagon’s base budget to 4 percent of GDP — combined with his promises to cuts taxes and reduce the national debt is leaving many national security and defense experts scratching their heads, particularly because the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has not said how he’d pay for it.

Link: http://www.businessinsider.com/european-union-scotland-basque-2012-1?op=1#ixzz1yFfsggiA

Scotland's bid for independence looks likely to change the way that the UK works (to some degree at least), but do secessionist movements have a wider impact? We've taken a look at Europe's various secessionist movements to show you exactly why you need to watch the situation in Scotland, and why it may have a big impact on the EU.

Link: http://www.infowars.com/the-impending-economic-collapse-with-survivalist-james-wesley-rawles/

Alex speaks to former U.S. Army intelligence officer, survivalist-author, and proprietor of SurvivalBlog.com James Wesley, Rawles about the upcoming vote in Greece, the groundwork being laid for an intentional banking crisis in Europe, and the necessary awareness of and preparedness for an impending internet attack…but first, is there a blatant total acceleration of open world government being announced?

Link: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article22000

The unprecedented results of the Greek elections in May 2012 that gave SYRIZA the possibility of forming a government led by Alexis Tsipras bring to light once more the debate around the position of revolutionaries regarding the political forces to the “left of the left”. This is even more important taking into account that SYRIZA is softening its discourse.