From the Front Lines of Chicago Posted by:
Tim
Knight from... Post date:
10/24/2013 - Everything you say about the U.S. economy
jibes with my experience as a real estate investor in Chicago. The vast
majority of my tenants are low-income (their rents are mostly subsidized...
Crime Is Getting Worse: Violent
Crime In America Increased By 15 Percent Last Year
By Michael Snyder, on October 24th, 2013
If your neighborhood is not as safe as it used to be, then you
have something in common with the rest of the country. All over America,
crime is on the rise. According to a government survey that was just
released, violent crime in the United States increased by 15 percent last year,
and property crime was up by 12 percent. If violent crime keeps increasing
at this rate, it will approximately double in just six years. But as I
wrote about the other day, when the next major economic downturn
strikes it will probably greatly accelerate the growth of the crime rate in
this country. Desperate people do desperate things, and as you will read
about below, there are people out there that are already stealing entire
truckloads of food. In the future, when people are extremely hungry or
crazy for their next drug hit, they won't think twice about invading your home
or pulling you out of your vehicle. The rise in crime that we are
witnessing right now is just the beginning. It is going to get a lot
worse than this.Whenever
I do this type of an article, inevitably someone leaves a comment insisting
that I am lying because crime rates are going down.Well,
that used to be true.
It is no longer accurate.As
an ABC News article that was just
released explains, the crime victimization survey shows that violent crime in
America has now increased for two years in a row...The violent crime rate went up 15 percent last year, and the
property crime rate rose 12 percent, the government said Thursday, signs that
the nation may be seeing the last of the substantial declines in crime of the
past two decades.Last year marked the second year in a row
for increases in the crime victimization survey, a report that is based on
household interviews.This
is one of the primary reasons why so many people are moving out of the big
cities right now. In the city of Chicago, police are so overwhelmed with
crime that they will no longer respond in person "to
911 calls reporting vehicle theft, garage burglary or simple assault".Things
have gotten so bad in Chicago that a 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted as
she was walking to a bus stop this week and it barely
made a blip on the news.But
we have come to expect this kind of thing in crime-infested cities such as
Chicago. We don't expect it to happen in "quiet communities"
such as Augusta, Georgia..."When we first moved out here three and
a half years ago, my wife and I, it was a quiet community, it was a deal that
we felt we couldn't pass up on," Don McIntee says.McIntee lives in the Butler Creek Mobile
Home Community, but he's trying to change that. He recently put his home up for
sale because he says the crime in his neighborhood is too much to deal with."I want to live in a place that I feel
is secure and safe for my wife because I'm out of town a lot," he says.And
it seems like criminals are becoming more brutal than ever. For example,
one thug actually put his gun into the mouth of a 92-year-old World War II
veteran in Fresno, California and
threatened to kill him during one recent home invasion..."I was sound asleep at about one or two
o'clock in the morning, all the lights were on and a guy shook me with a gun in
my face. (I said) Hey what's going on? (He said) Shut up and he slapped
me," he explained.While the suspect held him at gunpoint,
three others ransacked his house, taking about 200 dollars in cash and jewelry
including his 1941 class ring from Woodlake High School in Tulare County."They were in there for almost a half
hour," said Fresno County Sheriff Department spokesperson Chris Curtice.
"So they had plenty of time to search the house, it was the middle of the
night."At one point, Joseph said one of the
suspects put a gun in his mouth and threatened to kill him. While being ordered
into the bedroom closet, he said he hit him in the head with a handgun, causing
him to fall to the floor.Was
there any need for that? That 92-year-old man was certainly no threat to
the four home invaders.But
this is what is happening all over the nation now. Criminals appear to be
getting crazier and crazier.In Houston recently, one team of home invaders
decided to storm a house at 8 AM in the morning while people all along the street
were leaving their homes to go to work and to school...It was about 8am -- daylight, with people
going to work and kids going to school, yet no one apparently saw this coming.
The homeowner told me four men, armed with guns, broke in through her garage
and forced their way inside her house.The woman's daughter and son-in-law were in
the home with her, along with two of their daughters, ages four and six. The
homeowner says the gunmen pointed guns at all of them -- even the children --
and demanded money over and over. They ransacked the house and the cars- and
eventually got away with some cash, at least one cell phone and the homeowner's
wallet.Who
robs a house at 8 AM in the morning?That
is either incredibly bold or incredibly stupid.In
my article yesterday, I included another example of a crime which is
either incredibly bold or incredibly stupid. One very enterprising
carjacker actually decided to try to carjack the police chief of Detroit while he was
sitting in a clearly marked police vehicle...Just four months on the job, Detroit’s new
police chief got an early taste of the city’s hardscrabble streets.While in his patrol car at an intersection
on Jefferson two weeks ago, Police Chief James Craig was nearly carjacked,
police spokeswoman Kelly Miner confirmed today.Craig said he was in a marked police car
with mounted lights when a man quickly tried to approach the side of his
car. Craig, who became police chief in June, retold the story Monday
during a program designed to crack down on carjackings.So
what is going on here?Are
criminals becoming bolder or are they just becoming stupider?I
don't have an answer for that question, but one thing seems certain - crime is
definitely getting worse.As
I mentioned at the top of this article, some criminals are now actually
stealing entire truckloads of food. A recent CBS News article explained how
they are doing this...To steal huge shipments of valuable cargo,
thieves are turning to a deceptively simple tactic: They pose as truckers, load
the freight onto their own tractor-trailers and drive away with it.It’s an increasingly common form of
commercial identity theft that has allowed con men to make off each year with
millions of dollars in merchandise, often food and beverages. And experts say
the practice is growing so rapidly that it will soon become the most common way
to steal freight.And
what we are talking about is not just a few isolated incidents. This is
literally happening from coast to coast and the dollar values of some of these
thefts are staggering...News reports from across the country recount
just a few of the thefts: 80,000 pounds of walnuts worth $300,000 in
California, $200,000 of Muenster cheese in Wisconsin, rib-eye steaks valued at
$82,000 in Texas, $25,000 pounds of king crab worth $400,000 in California.As
economic conditions continue to deteriorate, I actually expect that we will
start seeing armed guards on food trucks in a few years.Desperate
people do desperate things, and as food prices continue to rise I believe that
food trucks will become highly prized targets.America
is rapidly changing, and not for the better.So
what are things like in your area of the country?Are
you noticing an increase in crime?Please
feel free to share your thoughts by posting a comment below...
25 Stats That Prove That The
American Dream Is Being Systematically Destroyed
By Michael Snyder, on October 24th, 2013
The 25 statistics that you are about to read are solid proof
that the middle class in America is being systematically wiped out. Once
upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class
in the history of the world. It seemed like almost everyone owned a home,
had a couple of nice vehicles and could provide a very comfortable lifestyle
for their families. Sadly, that has all changed. In America today,
prices are rising at a very brisk pace but incomes are not. There aren’t
nearly enough jobs for everyone anymore, and most of the jobs that are being
“created” are jobs that pay very little. The largest employer in America
is Wal-Mart, and the second largest employer is actually a temp agency (Kelly
Services). In a desperate attempt to make ends meet, millions of American
families endlessly pile up more debt, and millions of other American families
find themselves forced to turn to the government for help. At this point,
more than 49 percent of all Americans receive benefits from the federal
government each month. The percentage of Americans that cannot
financially take care of themselves is rising every single year, and our
independence is being whittled away as we become increasingly dependent on the
government. Unfortunately, our politicians continue to stand aside and do
nothing as our jobs are shipped overseas, inflation steals our purchasing power
and the middle class continues to shrink. The following are 25 stats that
prove that the American Dream is being systematically destroyed…1. According to the
most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, 49.2 percent of all Americans are
receiving benefits from at least one government program.2. The U.S. government
has spent an astounding 3.7 trillion dollars on
welfare programs over the past five years.3. An increasing number
of employers are encouraging their low wage employees to supplement their wages
by going on government welfare programs. For example, McDonald’s workers
that need help making ends meet are being instructed to go on food stamps…McDonald’s workers who are unable to pay
their bills or stay above the poverty line should find help from food pantries
or enlist in government benefit programs instead of seeking higher wages,
according to a company resource line meant to help employees.Nancy Salgado has worked for the fast-food
corporation for over 10 years yet still earns $8.25 an hour, barely more than
the $7.25 federal minimum wage. With help from the worker’s rights group Low
Pay Is Not Ok, she phoned the company’s employee hotline, known as McResource,
attempting to find some answers on how to improve her situation.A recording of the call was made available
to CNN, which reported that Salgado asked the helpline operator multiple
questions regarding how McDonalds would help her pay her heating bill, buy
groceries, and whether she could afford to help pay for her sister’s medical
treatment.Despite never asking how much money Salgado
earned per hour or asking how many hours a week she worked, the McDonalds
representative said she “definitely should be able to qualify for both food
stamps and heating assistance.”4. Total consumer
credit has risen by a whopping 22 percent over the past three years.5. Student loans are up
by an astounding 61 percent over the past three years.6. According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, median household income in the United States has fallen for five years in a row.7. Right now the middle
class is taking home a smaller share of the overall
income pie than has ever been recorded before.8. Ordinary Americans
are being priced out of the housing market. Today, nearly half of all home purchases are
all-cash deals.9. The homeownership
rate in the United States is now at the lowest level it has been in nearly 18 years.10. The gap between the
rich and the poor in the United States is at an all-time record high.11. U.S. families that
have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.12. Every single day,
thousands of Americans are receiving letters in the mail informing them that
their old health insurance policies have been canceled. According to a
recent Kaiser Health News article,
some companies have already sent out hundreds of thousands of cancellation
notices…Florida
Blue, for example, is terminating about 300,000 policies, about 80 percent of
its individual policies in the state. Kaiser Permanente in California has sent
notices to 160,000 people – about half of its individual business in the state.
Insurer Highmark in Pittsburgh is dropping about 20 percent of its individual
market customers, while Independence Blue Cross, the major insurer in
Philadelphia, is dropping about 45 percent.13. Those that are
losing their current health insurance policies will have to replace them with
new policies that are often much more expensive. According to health
policy expert Bob Laszewski, 16 million people
could ultimately have their health insurance policies canceled because of
Obamacare…The U.S. individual health insurance market
currently totals about 19 million people. Because the Obama administration’s
regulations on grandfathering existing plans were so stringent about 85% of
those, 16 million, are not grandfathered and must comply with
Obamacare at their next renewal. The rules are very complex. For example, if
you had an individual plan in March of 2010 when the law was passed and you
only increased the deductible from $1,000 to $1,500 in the years since, your
plan has lost its grandfather status and it will no longer be available to you
when it would have renewed in 2014.These 16 million people are
now receiving letters from their carriers saying they are losing their current
coverage and must re-enroll in order to avoid a break in coverage and comply
with the new health law’s benefit mandates––the vast majority by January 1.
Most of these will be seeing some pretty big rate increases.14. Back in 1999, 64.1 percent of all Americans were
covered by employment-based health insurance. Today, only 54.9 percent of all Americans are
covered by employment-based health insurance.15. More Americans than
ever find themselves forced to turn to the government for help with health
care. At this point, 82.4 million Americans live in a home
where at least one person is enrolled in the Medicaid program.16. The U.S. labor force
participation rate is at a 35 year low.17. Only 47 percent of all adults in America have
a full-time job at this point.18. It is hard to
believe, but in America today one out of every ten jobs is now filled by a temp agency.19. Approximately one out of every four
part-time workers in America is living below the poverty line.20. After accounting for
inflation, right now 40 percent of all U.S. workers are making less than what
a full-time minimum wage worker made back in 1968.21. Today, the United
States actually has a higher percentage of workers
doing low wage work than any other major industrialized nation does.22. At this point, almost half of all public school
students in America come from low income homes.23. The number of
Americans on food stamps has grown from 17 million in the year 2000 to more than
47 million today.24. Right now, one out of every five
households in the United States is on food stamps.25. An increasing number
of Americans do not even believe that they have a pleasant retirement to look
forward to. One recent survey found that the percentage of middle class
Americans that “plan to work until they die”
is now higher than ever.
8 Examples Of The U.S. Military
Being Taught To Treat Christians As Extremists And Potential Terrorists
By Michael Snyder, on October 24th, 2013
Who are the “extremists” and the “terrorists” that the U.S.
military should be concerned about? For years, we were told that the
“terrorists” belong to an organization known as al-Qaeda in the Middle East and
other radical jihadist groups that are affiliated with them. But now that
has all totally changed. We are discovering that time after time U.S.
military personnel are being taught that evangelical Christians are
“extremists” that belong to a “domestic hate group” and that they are potential
terrorists that could use violence at any time. This vilification of
Christians started about the time that Barack Obama was elected and it has
greatly accelerated over the past couple of years. Stunned Christian
service members can hardly believe what they are hearing in some of these
training sessions. They are being told that they cannot be affiliated
with any of these “hate groups” and that anyone found to be supporting such
groups could be disciplined under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Fortunately, the U.S. military later publicly disavows many of these training
sessions when they are revealed to the public, but the demonization of
Christians has not stopped. In fact, it appears to be getting more
frequent. The following are 8 examples of the U.S. military being taught
to treat Christians as extremists and potential terrorists…#1 On October
17th, soldiers at Ft. Hood were instructed that evangelical Christians are
a “threat to this nation”…Soldiers attending a pre-deployment briefing
at Fort Hood say they were told that evangelical Christians and members of the
Tea Party were a threat to the nation and that any soldier donating to those
groups would be subjected to punishment under the Uniform Code of Military
Justice.A soldier who attended the Oct. 17th
briefing told me the counter-intelligence agent in charge of the meeting spent
nearly a half hour discussing how evangelical Christians and groups like the
American Family Association were “tearing the country apart.”#2 During a recent U.S.
Army briefing, the American Family Association was identified as a “domestic
hate group“…Several dozen U.S. Army active duty and
reserve troops were told last week that the American Family Association, a
well-respected Christian ministry, should be classified as a domestic hate
group because the group advocates for traditional family values.The briefing was held at Camp Shelby in
Mississippi and listed the AFA alongside domestic hate groups like the Ku Klux
Klan, Neo-Nazis, the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam.#3 A battalion
commander assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky sent
out a mass email to those under his command last year that included the
“Christian Right”, the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family founder
James Dobson under the heading of “Domestic Hate Groups”.#4 An unclassified
guide for military leaders that was published in August 2011 identifies those
that exhibit “extreme
religious intolerance” as potentially violent radicals. If you claim
that your faith is the only true faith (like most Bible-believing Christians
do), that would put you into this category.#5 Earlier this year,
the Pentagon issued a written statement to Fox
News that stated that “religious proselytization is not permitted within
the Department of Defense” and that “court martials and non-judicial
punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis”.#6 One of the top
consultants that Barack Obama has brought in to the Pentagon to work on issues
related to religion in the military, Mikey Weinstein, has described evangelical
Christians as “human
monsters” and “enemies
of the United States Constitution“.#7 Mikey Weinstein also
teaches that when an evangelical Christian shares his or her faith, it is the
equivalent of being “spiritually raped by fundamentalist Christian religious predators“.#8 In April of last
year, a U.S. Army training presentation specifically identified evangelical
Christians as religious extremists. On a slide entitled “Religious
Extremism”, “Evangelical
Christianity” was at the very top of a list of extremist religious groups
that also included al-Qaeda, Hamas and the Ku Klux Klan.And
this is just the tip of the iceberg. Along with evangelical Christians,
Tea Party activists, “conspiracy theorists”, anti-abortion protesters and those
concerned about a “New World Order” have also been identified as dangerous
extremists in a whole host of official U.S. government documents. For a
large number of examples of this phenomenon, please see my previous article
entitled “72 Types Of Americans That Are Considered “Potential Terrorists” In
Official Government Documents“.And
the frightening thing is that the federal government has actually been doing
research into methods that change the way that people view the world. As
I have written about previously, the government is actually
developing technology that would enable it to brainwash people and change their
religious beliefs.So
who would the government do that to?They
would do it to “extremists” and those that belong to “hate groups” of course.Once
you are identified as a “terrorist”, then that gives authorities legal
permission to treat you just like they would treat members of al-Qaeda.That
is why it is so important for evangelical Christians to stand up and denounce
this kind of vilification.In
Nazi Germany, they didn’t just wake up one day and decide to start shipping
Jews and other minorities off to prison camps. It all started with years
of propaganda and demonization.And
now a similar thing is happening in the United States.You
would have to be completely blind not to see what is happening right in front
of our eyes.About
the author: Michael
T. Snyder is a former Washington D.C. attorney who now publishes The Truth. His new thriller entitled “The
Beginning Of The End” is now available on Amazon.com.
Kit
Daniels | Education Department has spent over $100K in
handguns and shotguns.
Kit
Daniels | In-Q-Tel made “strategic investment” into
software company involved in Obamacare enrollment.
Prison
Planet.com | Army’s litmus tests gauges whether soldiers
will fire on American citizens or engage in gun confiscation.
Steve Watson | Dems and Republicans bicker throughout ““monkey
court”, as contractors blame government, each other.
Paul
Joseph Watson | “I was very shocked and couldn’t believe what
I was hearing.”
Michael
Snyder | The number one American export is U.S.
dollars.
Washington’s
Blog | America jails 1/4 of the earth’s population.
Kurt
Nimmo | Big government projects fail because real
world business dynamics are absent.
Paul
Joseph Watson | Fiber optic undersea cable bypassing U.S. to
be completed by 2015.
Adan
Salazar | Florida cop’s actions bring family to tears.
50 Senators Warn Obama: We Will
Not Ratify UN Arms Treaty
New American | Fifty senators are standing together to protect
the right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment.
Mark Spitznagel Warns Today’s
“Distorted” Market Is “Set Up For A Major Crash”
Zero Hedge | Mark Spitznagel ventured on to the unreality
channel this afternoon and much eyebrow-raising ensued.
IRS pays illegals $4.2 billion
while stalling tea parties
bizpacreview.com | While harrying and stalling tea party groups
seeking nonprofit status, the Internal Revenue Service mailed $4.2 billion in
child-credit checks to undocumented immigrants.
Picturing The
Biggest Scam In The History of Mankind
Zero
Hedge | Most people can feel deep down that something
isn’t quite right with the world economy, but few know what it is.
World Is
Spending $1 Billion Per Day To Tackle Global Warming
Global Warming Policy Foundation | These are the findings
spelled out in the latest Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) report. For the first
time, it estimated global North-South cash flows at between $39 and $62
billion.
The Obamacare Debacle: It’s
Everyone Else’s Fault
Zero
Hedge | “it’s not our fault,”
Census: 49% of
Americans Get Gov’t Benefits; 82M in Households on Medicaid
CNS News | In the fourth quarter of 2011, 49.2 percent of
Americans received benefits from one or more government programs, according to
data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.
Adan Salazar | Once-public documents sent down the memory hole.
Alex
Newman | IMF is being openly groomed to serve as a
global central bank in charge of a planetary currency.
Paul
Joseph Watson | Fiber optic undersea cable bypassing U.S. to
be completed by 2015.
Kit
Daniels | In-Q-Tel made “strategic investment” into
software company involved in Obamacare enrollment.
Infowars.com | Army’s litmus
tests gauges whether soldiers will fire on American citizens or engage in gun
confiscation.
GOP: IRS picks Obamacare over
regular taxpayers
Washington
Times | The IRS said this week it is delaying the
start of the tax filing season.
Lew calls to
replace sequester with ‘commonsense’ cuts
AFP | Spending cuts with
more sensible reductions that will not retard economic growth.
9 More Banks
Are Getting Probed By The DoJ On Matters That Led To JP Morgan Paying $13
Billion
businessinsider.com | At least nine
banks face probes by the U.S. Department of Justice into their sales of
mortgage-backed securities.
Violent crime up
15%...
Dems
debate delays to Obamacare...
THE HEARINGS:
Site contractor gives testimony...
'Even
I couldn't log on'...
Dummy
data file on Healthcare.gov includes Star Wars, Transformers characters...
CAREFIRST
to Drop 76,000 Customers...
Cancellation
notices soar above enrollment rates...
Snowden: 'No telephone in America makes call without leaving
record with NSA'...
Urges
Americans to protest...
Former
NSA Director Overheard Bashing Obama Admin...
World
Leaders Mock Kerry Over Shutdown, Offer to Buy His Meals...
Reid:
'Everybody Willing to Pay More' Taxes...
Each
American Troop In Afghanistan Now Costs $2.1. Million...
Obama
pushes 'unisex' hats for Marines...
University:
Cowboys, indians and sombreros 'offensive' for Halloween...
Pirate
niggers Seize 2 Americans Off Ship Near Nigerian Coast...
Violent crime up
15%...
POLICE:
14-year-old went to Woody Allen movie after slashing teacher to death with
boxcutter...
The
wonder that is Amazon summarized in six plus one easy charts.
Homebuilders have surged to the best
performing sector off the debt-ceiling-debacle lows now (up a stunning
8.3%) despite a mixed bag of performance today with Trannies once again (10th
of the last 11 days) surging to new all-time highs (as Oil prices slide further
south). This is the best 11-day
run (+9.9%) for the Dow Transports since June of last year. Treasury
yields rose modestly once again (despite SocGen's threat of moar QE next week)
but remain 3-6bps lower on the week. Gold and Silver had another solid day
(+2.3% and 3.6% respectively on the week). The USD flatlined (-0.5% on the
week) with EUR strength continuing (and CAD and AUD weakness continuing). Credit markets continue to disagree
with the equity exuberance of the last 5 days...
Imagine
for a moment what might happen if the government were to get out of healthcare altogether
and there would be free competition between all health care
service providers. What would happen to prices in that case? It is probably
fair to assume that they would come down precipitously even from the low prices
free market doctors are already able to obtain for their patients nowadays. It
is actually a good bet that the
onerous red tape and the likely explosion in costs due to Obamacare will
accelerate the move toward a free market in health care – unless the
government explicitly forbids it, that is (unfortunately we cannot rule out
completely that such tyrannical steps will eventually be taken – the government
generally doesn't like it when its 'help' is refused). If so, the Obamacare Act could turn out to
become a win-win by mistake so to speak, as more and more people decide to opt
out of the system.