Debt Servitude
Debt Servitude
Junious Ricardo
Stanton
“Credit cards are a key element in the banking
industry’s profits. At commercial banks, the average interest rate on
credit-card plans is 15.1% and the average assessed interest rate is 16.9%, on
$1 trillion in outstanding credit balances. This amounts to around $150 billion
to $169 billion a year in interest income! These banks rely on consumers to
spend money they don’t have.” The State of American Debt Slaves Q1 2019 Wolf
Richter https://wolfstreet.com/2019/05/08/the-state-of-the-american-debt-slaves-q1-2019/
When
the corporate media tells us the economy is booming and unemployment is at
record lows, don’t believe the hype, it is disinformation! I certainly am not
trying to be a Davy Downer and rain on anyone’s parade but the US
economy ain’t all that, as we used to say. The corporate media rarely mentions
the fact the US
economy is propped up by massive debt: consumer debt, corporate debt,
government debts, trade deficits and plain ol’ corruption.
Most
of the US
gross domestic product is fueled by debt. This means the goods and services
produced in the US are driven by debt: loans to the businesses for operations,
production, equipment, expansion and maintenance, loans to consumers in the
form of car loans, student loans, mortgages, Home Equity Lines of Credit
(HELOC), other purchases and of course government debt.
In
the US,
human beings are called consumers by the powers that be; probably because we overly
consume resources, because our spending consumes us, shrinks our wealth and
savings potential and puts us at the mercy of the lenders and economic
circumstances like interest rates and availability.
“Consumer debt is what you owe, as opposed to what
a business or the government owes. It's also called consumer credit. It
can be borrowed from a
bank, a
credit union, and the federal
government. There are two types of consumer debt: credit cards (revolving)
and fixed-payment loans (non-revolving).
Credit card debt is called revolving
because it's meant to be paid off each month. They incur
variable interest rates that are pegged
to
Libor. Non-revolving debt isn't paid off each
month. Instead, these loans are usually held for the life of the
underlying asset. Borrowers can choose between loans with either
fixed interest rates or variable
rates. Most non-revolving debt is auto loans or school loans. Although
home
mortgages are also an enormous loan, they
aren't a type of consumer debt. Instead, they are personal investments in
residential real estate… In March 2019
U.S. consumer debt rose 3.1% to $4.052
trillion. That surpassed last month's record of $4.042 trillion. Of this,
$2.995 trillion was non-revolving debt, and it rose 5.0%. Most
non-revolving debt is education and auto loans. In March 2019, school debt
totaled $1.598 trillion and auto loans were $1.161
trillion. Credit card debt totaled $1.057 trillion, decreasing 2.5%. It
exceeds the record of $1.02 trillion set in 2008. But credit card debt is
only 26% of total debt. It was 38% of total debt in 2008.”
https://www.thebalance.com/consumer-debt-statistics-causes-and-impact-3305704
US consumer debt is at crisis
levels. “The average
U.S.
household with credit card debt has an estimated $6,929
1 in
revolving balances, or balances carried from one month to the next, the
analysis found. This pernicious type of debt, which often comes with high
interest rates that make it a challenge to pay off, can feel inescapable. About
1 in 11 (9%) Americans who have credit card debt say they don’t think they will
ever be completely free of credit card debt, according to a NerdWallet survey
conducted by The Harris Poll…
In many cases;
credit card balances represent only a fraction of a household’s debt. U.S. households
with any kind of debt held an average of $135,7683 in
outstanding debt, which can include mortgages and both transacting and
revolving credit card balances.” 2018 American Household Credit Card Debt Study
Claire Tsosie and Erin Issa https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/average-credit-card-debt-household/
Many
Americans use their credit cards to maintain their lifestyle going deeper in
debt each month; especially since wages in the US, for the most part, have
remained stagnant (an issue politicians rarely address)! As a result many feel they are trapped in an
endless cycle of debt and if they fall behind they face imminent financial
disaster. US consumer debt is staggering. https://www.debt.org/faqs/americans-in-debt/
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Trump's Boneheaded Policies
Trump’s Boneheaded Policies
Junious Ricardo
Stanton
“ The Trump administration is practicing gunboat
diplomacy, perfectly emulating the philosophy and means of the [defunct]
British Empire, against the entire world, even its allies [many of whom are de
facto US occupied territories, like Western Europe & the Balkans]. For
those upstart enthusiasts who claim NATO is an alliance, and not an occupation,
I ask them – how many European troops and European military bases are on United States
soil? None. I rest my case.” On The
Brink of War Serban V.C. Enache
http://hereticus-economicus.info/on-the-brink-of-war/
Donald Trump, contrary to his
campaign rhetoric about ending ceaseless wars, regime change foreign policies
and wanting a good trade relationship with Russia is doing everything in his
power to bully and intimidate the world into acquiescing to the US Empire.
Trump is currently engaged in a trade war with China
one that fantasizes he is going to win and make America great again.
The problem with Trumps premise is,
his trade wars with China,
the EU, Mexico and Canada
are not going to totally reverse NAFTA, the off shoring of US factories and
jobs to developing countries. The financial power brokers and policy makers who
deindustrialized the US, shipped US jobs and capital overseas are not going to
reverse field and bring factories, jobs or capital back, despite the tax cuts
and deregulation that have benefitted the uber rich.
Even if you discount the
government’s emergency appropriations due to the floods, fires and draught,
Trumps tax cuts have raised the federal deficit even higher than the
Congressional Budget Office predicted due to federal spending on “defense” and
support for US farmers who have been devastated by Trump’s trade war with
China.
Trump’s tax cuts are not paying for
themselves in job growth or increased GDP like the Republicans said they would.
As I predicted in 2016-17 Trump’s tax cuts have driven the federal deficit higher.
“In December 2017, as Republicans sped the tax
cuts through Congress, the Tax Foundation released a projection that the cuts
would add about $450 billion to federal deficits over 10 years, after
accounting for the additional economic growth it would spur. The group has
since redone the analysis, with what Mr. Pomerleau called improvements to its
methodology. It now predicts deficits will increase by $900 billion — double
its original forecast.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/business/trump-tax-cuts-revenue.html
The federal deficit is not the
subject of this article I point it out merely to show how Trump’s domestic
policies are not working as he and his fellow snake oil salesmen said they
would. Coupled with his tax cut issues and the Federal Reserve raising interest
rates, real GDP is actually slowing due to rising costs which is what happens
when you stop giving out below zero interests rates then abruptly raise
interest rates, the system goes into shock.
Trump’s trade war, his tariffs and
renegotiated deals with
Mexico
and
Canada are not going to
return the
US
to industrial prominence and the overall benefits of the renegotiated deals
will be modest. “
President Trump's
update of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would provide a very
modest boost to the economy, according to a
report released
Thursday by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). The
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) would increase economic growth by
0.35 percent, or $68.2 billion, and create 175,700 jobs, the government
agency projected. Wages would rise 0.27 percent, and the largest increases
would be in manufacturing and mining, with the average wage climbing 0.43
percent among lower-educated workers.
U.S.
trade with
Canada and
Mexico would increase and reduce the trade
deficit with
Mexico
by $1.8 billion under the agreement. Exports to
Mexico would get a $14.2 billion
boost, compared with $12.4 billion in new imports. The bilateral trade deficit
with
Canada
would stay the same, with $19.1 billion in new exports countering $19.1 billion
in imports.”
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/trade/439600-government-report-says-new-nafta-would-have-minimal-impact-on-economy. As usual Trump’s rhetoric far exceeds the reality. The tariffs are
negatively impacting US
businesses and consumers as the costs get passed on to regular folks. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/12/goldman-trump-tariff-costs-fall-entirely-on-us-businesses-households.html
On
the international front, Trump is threatening nations with sanctions everywhere
you look. https://iapss.org/2015/05/30/economic-sanctions-a-violation-of-human-rights/
Economic sanctions and embargos are war without bombs and missiles. Just like
in a physical war the main victims and casualties are innocent civilians. Trump
like his predecessors is a war criminal! None of the countries Trump is
sanctioning pose a military threat to the US,
only Russia and China have a
military or armaments capable of challenging the US/NATO axis of insanity.
In the end
Trump’s policies will not have the desired impact. Check out how US farmers are
doing, US wages are still stagnant, organized labor is still under attack,
watch as consumer prices continue to rise due to Trump’s trade wars and Fed
interest rate manipulation; and wait until the people realize they have been
hoodwinked and duped by this con man.
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Much Ado About Nothing, The Mueller Report
Much Ado About Nothing, The
Mueller Report
Junious Ricardo Stanton
“Although the
investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would
benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the
Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and
released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that
members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian
government in its election interference activities.” Report On The
Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election
Volume I of II pages 1 and 2.
For over
two years the corporate media has been obsessed with the notion the Russian
government directly interfered with the 2016 election process ostensibly to ensure
Donald Trump was the victor. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee
and the corporate mind control apparatus made it seem as if the Russians tampered
with voting machines, contributed large amounts of money to the Trump campaign,
brainwashed gullible and naïve Americans and colluded with the Trump campaign to
alter the course of the 2016 election in favor of Donald Trump. None of this is
true.
Trump’s
victory was a surprise and an abomination only to people not in tune with what is
going on in this country. To them Trump’s victory was an anomaly rather than a
clear indication of the major disconnect between the two political parties and
people who were fed up with business as usual who were anxious about their livelihoods,
lifestyles and future.
Clinton couldn't accept the fact she lost,
and refused to believe white women didn't rally to her side, sweep her to
victory and usher in a new era of feminist political power. She couldn't see
the nexus connecting the DNC stealing the nomination from Bernie Sanders, the DNC
leaks, her past statements and policies returning to bite her, her poorly
designed campaign strategies, the significant rise in Obamacare health
insurance premiums just before the election to her election loss. So she whined
and cried wolf about Russia
pilfering the election on behalf of Trump.
Her cries of wolf were picked up and regurgitated endlessly by the corporate media. The Democrats trying to save face
demanded an investigation to prove Russia
meddled in the 2016 US
presidential election. Never mind the fact the US has a sordid history of routinely
interfering with foreign elections, toppling governments (in the case of Syria
and Venezuela attempting to), undermining regimes, bribing and assassinating
leaders all over the world; or the fact the US political system is fraught with
so much corruption that pay to play, influence peddling and bribery are the
norm. https://www.opensecrets.org/influence/
Mueller was hailed by the corporate
media as the man, the one who would prove Russian collusion or at least shovel
enough dirt on Trump to bring him down. After two years of non-stop innuendo,
media speculation at a cost of $32-35 million, Mueller has released his report.
You can see and read volume one of Mueller’s two reports at
https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf.
The thing about this report is,
because it is based upon a false premise it obfuscates the truth about 2016
election interference and influence peddling. The Mueller “investigation”
overshadowed and ignored several cases of actual interference and influence
peddling. Facebook (which is a surveillance
tool anyway) was used by a British company Cambridge
Analytica to harvest data from US Facebook users to use to support Donald Trump!
Their connection to the Trump campaign goes back to Steve Bannon a right wing
power broker who in addition to being a Trump confidant was vice president of
the Cambridge Analytica! https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/23/17151916/facebook-cambridge-analytica-trump-diagram
While the nation was fixated on
Mueller, unnoticed in plain sight was the powerful influence of the Israeli
lobby and Trump’s son-in-law doing the bidding of a foreign government and very
little was said or done about it!
Read the redacted Mueller Report
but don’t fall for the flim-flam. If there was any real collusion between the
Trump campaign and the Russians, the US NSA (which spies on everyone) would
have data to collaborate it!
There are numerous agendas at play
here: reviving and escalating the cold war by creating a “credible enemy”
(Russia) to justify even more outrageous military spending and waste, the
attempt by the Deep State to undermine, box in and control Trump and the side
issues of salvaging Clinton’s wounded ego and to seeing just how gullible the American
public really is. Don’t go for the okey-doke.
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