MuskegonPundit

Sunday, December 04, 2016

Must read!-----The Shocking Truth About How Barack Obama Was Able To Prop Up The U.S. Economy

The Shocking Truth About How Barack Obama Was Able To Prop Up The U.S. Economy | Zero Hedge
"Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Barack Obama is one of the biggest “Keynesians” of all time, but unfortunately most Americans don’t even understand what that means.
In this article, I am going to share with you the primary reason why Barack Obama has been able to prop up the U.S. economy over the past eight years.
If Barack Obama had not taken the extreme measures that he did, we would be in the midst of a historic economic depression right now.
But by propping things up in the short-term, he has absolutely demolished our long-term economic future.
But like most politicians, Obama has been willing to sacrifice the future for short-term political gain.

If you take any basic college course in economics, you are going to learn about John Maynard Keynes...

Of course the bad news is that whenever the government borrows money it is stealing consumption from the future.
So we are literally destroying the future that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have in order to make the present look a little bit brighter.

When Barack Obama entered the White House, the U.S. was in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
The Bush administration had already begun to ramp up spending, but Barack Obama took “government stimulus” to ridiculous new levels.

The national debt has risen by an average of more than 1.1 trillion dollars a year while Obama has been in charge, and this fiscal year we are on pace to add more than 2 trillion dollars to the debt.

At this moment, the U.S. national debt is a whopping $19,901,545,151,126.51, and it will cross the 20 trillion dollar mark by the time Donald Trump is inaugurated on January 20th.

But when Barack Obama was inaugurated, the national debt was only 10.6 trillion dollars.
That means that we have added about 9.3 trillion dollars to the debt since that time.

So we have borrowed and spent 9.3 trillion dollars under Obama that we did not have.
But because of the “multiplier effect”, that 9.3 trillion dollars actually had a far greater impact on the U.S. economy...
...But even with all of this debt, the U.S. economy has still not been performing really well.
In fact, Barack Obama is going to be the only president in U.S. history to not have a single year when U.S. GDP grew by at least three percent.

Despite what many in the mainstream media are telling you, the reality of the matter is that Donald Trump is going to inherit an economy that is deeply troubled.
If you doubt this, please see my previous article entitled “11 Very Depressing Economic Realities That Donald Trump Will Inherit From Barack Obama“.
Donald Trump is talking about cutting taxes and reducing regulations, and all of those things are good, but ultimately those measures are not going to matter that much.

What is going to matter is what Donald Trump decides to do about our exploding debt.

If Donald Trump wants the U.S. economy to continue to remain at least somewhat stable in the short-term, he is going to have to keep piling up debt like Obama has.

Because if Trump and the Republicans decide that they want to get our debt under control, that will plunge us into a horrifying economic depression almost immediately.

But if Donald Trump continues to steal money from future generations of Americans at the same pace that Barack Obama has been doing, he will literally be destroying the future of America.
It will be a crime on a scale that is almost beyond words, and if they get a chance to do it, future generations of Americans will look back and curse him for what he has done to us.

So Donald Trump is really in a no-win situation when it comes to the economy.

The only way that he can match Obama’s performance is to do what Obama did, but by doing so he would literally be killing the future.

As a nation we have been consuming far more wealth than we produce for a very, very long time, and the only way that we have been able to do this is because we have been able to go into so much debt.

But now a day of reckoning is fast approaching, and I am not sure if Donald Trump even realizes that he will soon be faced with some incredibly heartbreaking choices."

How A Christmas Story Went from Low-Budget Fluke to an American Tradit

How A Christmas Story Went from Low-Budget Fluke to an American Tradit | Vanity Fair:

"How A Christmas Story Went from Low-Budget Fluke to an American Tradition
The cinematic season once ruled by Irving Berlin, Charles Dickens, and It’s a Wonderful Life now belongs to a little 1983 sleeper of a movie, A Christmas Story.
A look back at how Bob Clark’s new holiday classic upended the sentimental old order by showing something every family could recognize..."

Michigan Recount Postponed After Trump Files Objection | Law News

Michigan Recount Postponed After Trump Files Objection | Law News:

"President-elect Donald Trump filed an objection with the Michigan Bureau of Elections on Thursday, regarding the vote recount initiated by Green Party candidate Jill Stein. According to a statement from Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, recount activities will be postponed pending a decision on the objection by the Board of State Canvassers. "

Muslim Wants To Chat With Girl About Her Outfit, Guess What Happens Next

Muslim Wants To Chat With Girl About Her Outfit, Guess What Happens Next:
"A shocking video is spreading around the Internet, as the refugee crisis continues to surge with Muslim men flooding into Europe from the Middle East.
All caught on camera, a Muslim man wanted to have a little chat with a woman regarding her outfit choice.

Video of the incident was reportedly uploaded online back in July of last year after taking place in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

When a Muslim man spotted a woman dressed a bit too immodestly in his opinion, he decided to go over and have a little chat with her about it.Starting out the conversation by saying, “You dress like a whore,” you can probably understand the woman’s initial reaction to argue with the man.

Unfortunately, this turned out to be the lighting of the Islamist’s incredibly short and intolerant fuse.

Without a moment’s notice, the Muslim man hauled off and slapped the woman extremely hard, sending her staggering backwards in shock and pain. The assault only continued from there, as fellow Muslims could be heard in the background laughing and cheering him on.

As he stepped in for another swing, the woman attempted to defend herself by hitting him with her purse, but it was to no avail. Although he missed with his second blow, he delivered another that would end in her toppling to the ground, presumably unconscious.

A fellow coward could then be seen stepping in to exchange a few words before kicking and stomping on the defenseless woman. What a nice bunch of folks, huh?

This is exactly the problem the world is facing today with the so-called Muslim refugee crisis, and it explains why the video has resurfaced. Muslims all seem to enjoy the luxuries of the West, while they call for the death and destruction of Western nations and hide behind the freedoms their host countries provide.
The thing about Muslims that you have to understand is that they do not assimilate. Islamists don’t adapt to the existing culture of the host country, they simply try to force citizens of that country to conform to their beliefs or suffer the consequences — just like the woman in this video.

As you may well know, President Barack Obama has already offered to take in 10,000 (with newest numbers sighting even more) of these “refugees” with liberals demanding we take in as many as humanly possible. That number is expected to grow to 100,000 in the coming years.
The behavior seen in this video will soon be taking place on American streets. That’s the problems with liberals – they can’t see past the end of their own noses in terms of consequences when it comes to making such suggestions.

AM Fruitcake

History for December 4

History for December 4 - On-This-Day.com
Francisco Franco 1892, Wink Martindale 1934, Max Baer Jr. 1937

Dennis Wilson (Beach Boys) 1944, Jeff Bridges 1949, Marisa Tomei 1964 - Actress

1783 - Gen. George Washington said farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York.

1812 - Peter Gaillard patented the power mower.

1875 - William Marcy Tweed, the "Boss" of New York City's Tammany Hall political organization, escaped from jail and fled from the U.S.

1942 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the dismantling of the Works Progress Administration. The program had been created in order to provide jobs during the Great Depression.

1965 - The U.S. launched Gemini 7 with Air Force Lt. Col. Frank Borman and Navy Comdr. James A. Lovell on board.

1977 - Jean-Bedel Bokassa, ruler of the Central African Empire, crowned himself emperor in a ceremony believed to have cost more than $100 million. He was deposed 2 years later.

1991 - Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson was released after nearly seven years in captivity in Lebanon.

1991 - Pan American World Airways ceased operations.

Saturday, December 03, 2016

Michigan Officials: Stein's Recount Demand Odd for Candidate Who Got 1% of State Vote - Breitbart

Michigan Officials: Stein's Recount Demand Odd for Candidate Who Got 1% of State Vote - Breitbart:

"Failed Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein officially filed a petition for recount in the state of Michigan, but state officials find the request odd, since Stein got a mere one percent of the state’s vote."

Network disgraced by Dan Rather forged document scandal - warns of 'fake news'

Network disgraced by Dan Rather forged document scandal - warns of 'fake news' - The American MirrorThe American Mirror:
"It takes one to know one, apparently.

On Friday, CBS News published a gallery — popular among so-called “click bait” sites looking to boost page views — exposing what the network considers “fake news” sites.

CBS named 21 sites under a section titled, “Don’t get fooled by these fake news sites.”

Most of them are ones the vast majority of people have probably never heard of nor visited, the one exception being InfoWars.com.

For example, CBS felt the need to alert readers to the fact that a story about Donald Trump naming Chris Christie to the “Supreme Food Court” was not real. (Who knew?!?)

Strangely, but not surprisingly, CBS itself was missing from the list, as the network had its own fake news scandal in 2004 involving blatantly forged documents.

The Media Research Center reported that year:

On September 8, 2004, Dan Rather cited “exclusive information, including documents” to justify major CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes stories alleging that George W. Bush shirked his duties when he was in the Texas Air National Guard in the 1960s and 1970s. Within a few hours of those documents being posted on CBS News’s Web site, however, typography experts voiced skepticism that the documents had actually originated with their alleged author and Bush’s former commanding officer, the late Lt. Colonel Jerry Killian. As the evidence mount, Rather stubbornly clung to the idea that his story was bulletproof, and he derided critics as partisans and Internet rumormongers.

The forged documents were debunked by a blogger Charles F. Johnson, whose work would likely be quickly dismissed as “fake news” by CBS today.

He pointed out the font used in the document did not exist at the time and was, in fact, part of Microsoft Word.

The scandal was so outrageous, four CBS employees were axed from the “news” network.

CBS reported in early 2005:

Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush’s National Guard service.

The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with a “rigid and blind” defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report...

Referring to a story about Donald Trump winning the popular vote, CBS “reported,” “The egregious error spurred Merrimack College communications professor Melissa Zimdars to compile a list of fake news sites.
She told CBS News she wanted to ‘help my students navigate an increasingly complex and questionable media landscape.’”

For those keeping score, CBS wasn’t on her list, either.

NPR Reporter Tracked Down a Fake-News Creator; Here’s What She Learned

NPR Reporter Tracked Down a Fake-News Creator; Here’s What She Learned | The California Report | KQED News:
"A lot of fake and misleading news stories were shared across social media during the election. One that got a lot of traffic had the headline:
“FBI Agent Suspected In Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide.”
The story is completely false, but it was shared on Facebook over half a million times.
We wondered who was behind that story and why it was written.
It appeared on a site that had the look and feel of a local newspaper. Denverguardian.com even had the local weather.

But it only had one news story — the fake one.
We tried to look up who owned it and hit a wall.
The site was registered anonymously.
So, we brought in some professional help.
...Jansen found an email address on one of those sites and he was able to link that address to a name: Jestin Coler.
Online, Coler was listed as the founder and CEO of a company called Disinfomedia.
...We rang the front doorbell and a man answered, his face obscured by a heavy mesh steel screen. I asked for Jestin Coler.
The man indicated that’s who he was. But when I asked about Disinfomedia, he said, “I don’t know what to tell you guys.
Have a good day.”
...Coler says he has tried to shine a light on the problem of fake news. He has spoken to the media about it.
But those organizations didn’t know who he actually was.
He gave them a fake name: Allen Montgomery.
Coler, a registered Democrat, says he has no regrets about his fake news empire..."

It’s a new record: Americans not participating in the labor force nears 100 million – TheBlaze

It’s a new record: Americans not participating in the labor force nears 100 million – TheBlaze:

"The number of eligible Americans not participating in the labor force grew to more than 95 million in November, according to statistics released by the Bureau of Labor.

The unfortunate number is a new record.

November saw an increase of 446,000 Americans, according to the statistics, making the overall number now 95,055,000. "

ALERT: Feds Build Chilling 500 Bed Facility in Rural Texas to Accommodate Unstoppable Flow of Illegals

ALERT: Feds Build Chilling 500 Bed Facility in Rural Texas to Accommodate Unstoppable Flow of Illegals:

"U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently announced plans to build a temporary facility in south Texas to house illegal immigrants crossing the border.

The facility will be built near the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge in Donna, Texas, according to Breitbart, and will hold up to 500 people."

Self-Censorship: Free Society vs. Fear Society

Self-Censorship: Free Society vs. Fear Society:

"The drama and the tragedy is that the only ones to win are the jihadists." — Flemming Rose, who published the Mohammed cartoons in 2005, as cultural editor of Jyllands-Posten newspaper.
"Why the f*ck did you say yes to appear on stage with this terrorist target, are you stupid? Do you have a secret death wish? You have grandchildren now. Are you completely out of your mind? It's okay if you want to die yourself, but why are you taking the company though all this?" — The managers of Jyllands-Posten, to Flemming Rose.
"We are also aware that we therefore bow to violence and intimidation." — Editorial, Jyllands-Posten.
"I do not blame them that they care about the safety of employees. I have bodyguards 24 hours a day. However, I believe that we must stand firm. If Flemming shuts his mouth, democracy will be lost." — Naser Khader, a liberal Muslim of Syrian origin who lives in Denmark.

In the summer of 2005, the Danish artist Kåre Bluitgen, when he met a journalist from the Ritzaus Bureau news agency, said he was unable to find anyone willing to illustrate his book on Mohammed, the prophet of Islam.
Three illustrators he contacted, Bluitgen said, were too scared.
A few months later, Bluitgen reported that he had found someone willing to illustrate his book, but only on the condition of anonymity.
Like most Danish newspapers, Jyllands-Posten decided to publish an article about Bluitgen's case.
To test the state of freedom of expression, Flemming Rose, Jyllands-Posten's cultural editor at the time, called twelve cartoonists, and offered them $160 each to draw a caricature of Mohammed.
What then happened is a well-known, chilling story.
Much here. Read it all!
...A Danish comedian, Anders Matthesen, said that the newspaper and the cartoons were to blame for the Islamist violence -- the same official position as the entire European political and journalistic mainstream.

A year ago, for the 10th anniversary of the affair, instead of the cartoons, Jyllands-Posten came out with twelve white spaces.
These white spaces represent what Rose, in his previous book, called "Tavshedens tiranni" ("The Tyranny of Silence"). Naser Khader, a liberal Muslim of Syrian origin who lives in Denmark, wrote:
"I do not blame them that they care about the safety of employees.
I have bodyguards 24 hours a day. However,
I believe that we must stand firm. If Flemming shuts his mouth, democracy will be lost."
Is democracy lost?
The headquarters of Jyllands-Posten today has a barbed-wire fence two meters high and one kilometer long, a door with double lock (as in banks), and employees can only enter one at a time by typing in a personal code (a measure that did not protect Charlie Hebdo).
Meanwhile, the former editor, Carsten Juste, has withdrawn from journalism;
Kurt Westergaard lives in hiding in a fortress,
and Flemming Rose, like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, fled to the United States.
Much, certainly, looks lost.
"We are not living in a 'free society' anymore, but in a 'fear society'", Rose has said.
Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.

Pure pork!-----Muskegon companies get $700K from state for worker training

Muskegon companies get $700K from state for worker training | MLive.com

MUSKEGON, MI -- Nine employers in Muskegon County received more than $700,000 in Skilled Trades Training Funds from the state of Michigan for fiscal year 2017.
The West Michigan Works! region as a whole received more than $5 million in training grants. The largest grant in the Muskegon County, nearly $128,000, went to Arconic, formerly Alcoa Howmet, in Whitehall.
Arconic is Muskegon County's largest industrial employer, with more than 2,200 employees.
...The grant will facilitate training of 154 people, according to a release from Muskegon Area First..."

Lunch video-----Brigitte Gabriel on why Peaceful Muslims Keep Silent

Noon-toon

Facts Matter: Four Responses to 'Hillary Won the Popular Vote' - Guy Benson

Facts Matter: Four Responses to 'Hillary Won the Popular Vote' - Guy Benson:

" -- but in light of many liberas' obsessive, breathless, ongoing updates to the popular vote tally on social media, it seems as though a one-stop shop may prove handy for awhile longer. If Trump opponents insist on clinging to this irrelevant piece of electoral trivia, Trump supporters (or anyone weary of the 'but the popular vote' caterwauling) should be equipped with some facts:"

Our "government" knows what is going on!-----Tax loophole costs billions | 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Tax loophole costs billions | 13 WTHR Indianapolis
"Millions of illegal immigrants are getting a bigger tax refund than you. Eyewitness News shows a massive tax loophole that provides billions of dollars in tax credits to undocumented workers and, in many cases, people who have never stepped foot in the United States.
And you are paying for it!
INDIANAPOLIS - Inside his central Indiana office, a longtime tax consultant sits at his desk, shaking his head in disbelief.
"There is not a doubt in my mind there's huge fraud taking place here," he said, slowly flipping through the pages of a tax return.
The tax preparer does not want you to know his name for fear of reprisal, but he does want you to know about a nationwide problem with a huge price tag.
He came to 13 Investigates to blow the whistle.
"We're talking about a multi-billion dollar fraud scheme here that's taking place and no one is talking about it," he said.
The scheme involves illegal immigrants -- illegal immigrants who are filing tax returns.
How it works
The Internal Revenue Service says everyone who is employed in the United States – even those who are working here illegally – must report income and pay taxes.
Of course, undocumented workers are not supposed to have a social security number.
So for them to pay taxes, the IRS created what's called an ITIN, an individual taxpayer identification number.

Image result for illegal immigrants who are filing tax returns.

A 9-digit ITIN number issued by the IRS provides both resident and nonresident aliens with a unique identification number that allows them to file tax returns.
While that may have seemed like a good idea, it's now backfiring in a big way.
Each spring, at tax preparation offices all across the nation, many illegal immigrants are now eagerly filing tax returns to take advantage of a tax loophole, using their ITIN numbers to get huge refunds from the IRS.
The loophole is called the Additional Child Tax Credit.
It's a fully-refundable credit of up to $1000 per child, and it's meant to help working families who have children living at home.
But TV-13 Investigates has found many undocumented workers are claiming the tax credit for kids who live in Mexico – lots of kids in Mexico.
"We've seen sometimes 10 or 12 dependents, most times nieces and nephews, on these tax forms," the whistleblower told Eyewitness News.
"The more you put on there, the more you get back."
The whistleblower has thousands of examples, and he brought some of them to 13 Investigates. While identifying information such as names and addresses on the tax returns was redacted, it was still clear that the tax filers had received large tax refunds after claiming additional child tax credits for many dependents.
"Here's a return right here: we've got a $10,3000 refund for nine nieces and nephews," he said, pointing to the words "niece" and "nephew" listed on the tax forms nine separate times.
"We're getting an $11,000 refund on this tax return.
There's seven nieces and nephews," he said, pointing to another set of documents.
"I can bring out stacks and stacks. It's just so easy it's ridiculous."...
Lots here.
Read on!

Trump Effect – Mexico’s Central Bank Chief Resigns…

Trump Effect – Mexico’s Central Bank Chief Resigns… | The Last Refuge
"Media reports of Agustin Carstens resignation as chief of Mexico’s central bank have left MSM pundits and even business analysts scratching their heads.
It appears no-one has any idea why Carstens is leaving… well, almost no-one.
The non-discussed story is the hidden story that has been visible yet kept quiet for over five years. n essence, what Carstens knows, and what only Carstens knows, is the scope and scale of Mexico’s economic (central finance bank) dependency on the outflow of dollars, hidden U.S. money.
Early this year, it was discussed –for the first time– that effective in 2015 Mexican Remittances exceeded the scale and scope of Mexico’s entire oil and energy export sector.
The single-year guesstimate was approximately $25 billion.
Remittances sent home by Mexicans working outside the country surpassed petroleum revenues in 2015 for the first time.

However, that guesstimate only measures wire transfers (individual to individual – Western Union money services).
That measure doesn’t include bank to bank transfers, nor does it account for direct transfers of capital via cash, personal check, money order or banker cheque. In essence, the estimation is severely understated.
An honest evaluation of all possible currency transfer streams puts the outflow well over $100 billion, well over.
...But wait, it doesn’t simply stop there.
In addition to the direct import of dollars propping up the activity around the central bank, the use of fraudulent U.S. tax returns by Mexican Nationals is jaw dropping.
...“There is not a doubt in my mind there’s huge fraud taking place here,” he said, slowly flipping through the pages of a tax return.
...“We’re talking about a multi-billion dollar fraud scheme here that’s taking place and no one is talking about it,” he said.
The scheme involves illegal immigrants — illegal immigrants who are filing tax returns. (read much more)
Add it all up,… then add in the fact that 80% of all Mexican exports are destined to the United States… then sit back and attempt to quantify the scale and scope of the Mexican dependence on U.S. dollars exported…. then consider this construct evaporating with a new Trump administration and accompanying policies…. and you’ll quickly find out why the guy charged with administering the Mexican monetary system is bailing out STAT..."

9/11 Mastermind: 'Cowboy' George W. Bush's Fierce Military Response Ruined Our Plans of a 2nd 9/11

Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is the portrait of pure evil.

In interviews with the CIA, he bragged about beheading Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and “preened” as he reenacted the savage act so officials could confirm his claim, according to author James E. Mitchell’s new memoir.

But some of Mohammed’s most compelling remarks concern former President George W. Bush’s response to the devastating Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that left nearly 3,000 people dead.

Bush has been harshly criticized over the years — by both the left and right — for his heavy-handed military response. But according to Mitchell’s memoir, “Enhanced Interrogation: Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying To Destroy America,” Mohammed said the swift action left al-Qaeda stunned and unable to carry out secondary attacks as planned.

The Washington Post’s Marc A. Thiessen outlines the account from the book [emphasis added]:

“Then he looked at me and said, ‘How was I supposed to know that cowboy George Bush would announce he wanted us ‘dead or alive’ and then invade Afghanistan to hunt us down?’” Mitchell writes. “KSM explained that if the United States had treated 9/11 like a law enforcement matter, he would have had time to launch a second wave of attacks.” He was not able to do so because al-Qaeda was stunned “by the ferocity and swiftness of George W. Bush’s response.”

But KSM said something else that was prophetic. In the end, he told Mitchell, “We will win because Americans don’t realize ... we do not need to defeat you militarily; we only need to fight long enough for you to defeat yourself by quitting.”

Mohammed also predicted “jihadi-minded brothers would immigrate to the United States” and take advantage of the country's rights and laws until they were ready to attack.

Image Credit: Mike Segar-Pool/Getty Images

“He said the brothers would relentlessly continue their attacks and the American people would eventually become so tired, so frightened, and so weary of war that they would just want it to end,” Mitchell writes.

“Eventually, America will expose her neck for us to slaughter,” Mohammed said.

Heh: Dem Senator Suddenly Regrets the 'Reid Rule' on Filibusters - Guy Benson

Heh: Dem Senator Suddenly Regrets the 'Reid Rule' on Filibusters - Guy Benson:

"Oh, it seemed like such a good idea at the time; those awful obstructionist Republicans weren't giving President Obama everything he wanted, so something had to be done. Reid used a strong-arm move to change the Senate rules with a bare majority vote, eliminating the minority's right to filibuster presidential nominations. Obama was the short-term beneficiary of the Reid Rule, installing his people as he saw fit, in both the executive branch and the federal judiciary (excepting the Supreme Court -- "

Must be true!-----Clintons Replace Rural Mailbox With Night Deposit Cash Box

Clintons Replace Rural Mailbox With Night Deposit Cash Box:

"As part of their remodeling and updating of their Chappaqua, New York, home, the Clintons have replaced the old-fashioned rural mailbox with a new, modern, secure night deposit safe.
This part of the the Clinton home modernization is designed to make it easier for donors to the Clinton Foundation to drop off their cash donations prior to entering the property.
If the donation equals or exceeds a certain dollar amount, the gates to the property will then open and the visitor will be escorted on to the premises."