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11 Facts That Won't Be In Tonight's State Of The Union

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Simon Black via Sovereign Man blog,

When President Obama ascends to the podium this evening to deliver his State of the Union address, he’ll undoubtedly shine a spotlight on the many strengths of America.

And to be fair, he’s right: the United States has a lot going for it.

Cheap energy, rapid innovation, quality universities, reasonably low crime rates, abundance of arable land, highly productive culture, etc.

The real issue, however, isn’t where the United States is today. The problem is where it’s going. And quickly.

  • Today’s young Americans, for example, are the first generation to be poorer than their parents.
     
  • They will also pay all their lives into a retirement system that won’t be there for them when they get there.
     
  • Young Americans indebt themselves more than anyone else on the planet to attend university, requiring them to spend a large part of their careers paying off debt.
     
  • Americans of all ages are earning less than they did two decades ago when adjusted for inflation. Yet they’re paying more in taxes.
     
  • And US taxation is an increasing burden not only in quantity but complexity.
    According to the IRS itself, “tax requirements have become so confusing and the compliance burden so great that taxpayers are giving up the US citizenship in record numbers.”
     
  • But despite record levels of tax collection, the national debt keeps increasing. It now stands at more than $18 trillion, well over 100% of GDP.
     
  • In fact over 14% of all federal tax revenue collected goes to pay interest on the debt. Another 20% goes towards destruction, war, bombs, drones, and spying.
     
  • They also create roughly 200 pages of new rules and regulations every single day. These rules govern something as sacred as what you can/cannot put in your own body, or often make it more difficult to do business.
     
  • Many of these regulations carry severe civil and criminal penalties; this is why the rate of civil asset forfeiture is skyrocketing, and why America leads the world in the number of people incarcerated.
     
  • More people rot away in US prisons than did in the Soviet gulag at the height of communism. And many Americans are serving hard times for victimless crimes of failing to abide by some obscure regulation.
     
  • In total, there were 79,066 pages of new regulation passed last year, with a total regulatory cost of $181.5 billion (based on the government’s own estimate).
     

Years of such absurd mismanagement and arrogance (FATCA, endless wars) are causing the US dollar to lose its clear dominance as the world’s currency of choice.

This will have enormous consequences for the US and Americans’ standard of living.

It won’t happen overnight, but the consequences are already unfolding. The train has left the station.

That’s precisely the point. It’s not where you are today, it’s where you’re going. And the trend is pretty obvious for anyone paying attention.

We know deep down that there are consequences to waging endless wars.

There are consequences to racking up $18 trillion in debt.

There are consequences to treating people like milk cows and regulating every aspect of their existence.

There are consequences to awarding total control of the money supply to an unelected central banking elite.

And the primary consequence is this: despite the enviable number of Starbucks and iPads per capita, Americans are working harder to make ends meet, and are far less free, than they used to be.

That’s not progress. It’s precisely the opposite (which I suppose is congress). And we haven’t even scratched the surface.

Government debt grows every year, far outpacing GDP growth.

And thanks to this debt, plus all the wars, terrorizing of foreign banks, excessive money printing, spying, etc. America is rapidly losing its goodwill in the world.

The real consequences are not apparent yet. They’ll come when the dollar loses a substantial share of its global reserve status.

Make no mistake– it’s possible that could only be a few years away.

And despite all the obvious warning signs that we’ve been seeing for years, it’s going to catch most people with their pants down.

The truth is that you cannot fix your bankrupt government. But you can make a conscious decision to reduce your exposure to what’s obviously a failed system.

Standing in the street with signs and leaflets trying to raise awareness is a noble endeavor, sure. But it’s not going to change the system. It won’t make you more free.

Going to the voting booth is what we’re programmed to do, yes. But casting your ballot isn’t going to safeguard what you’ve worked for your entire life to build.

These are steps that you can take yourself.

You can choose, for example, to move your savings from a highly illiquid domestic bank to a new bank offshore that is objectively ten times safer, and pays forty times more interest on your savings.

You can begin using international structures to protect your assets and minimize your tax burden– legally slashing what you are currently forced to contribute in order to fund their wars and illegal spying.

You can look into establishing an alternative residency, so that if things get so bad that you need to leave, you’ll already be set up. You might even want to explore investing and doing business in thriving places around the world.

These solutions all make sense no matter what happens.

Even if you don’t agree with my assessment of the State of the Union, you’re not going to be worse off if you take some basic precautions and hedge your bets.

 

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Tue, 01/20/2015 - 20:48 | 5686178 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

Blahh/ Blaahhh

 I'll catch ya on the ECB announcment (forgot  the {E} }

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 20:50 | 5686188 johngaltfla
johngaltfla's picture

Just 11? Bullshit. Every f'ing thing this man says is a damned lie. Hell, he'll probably lie about Michelle shaving her wookie hair off her poon-tang too.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 20:56 | 5686215 Savyindallas
Savyindallas's picture

You mean Michael?

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 20:59 | 5686225 DavidC
DavidC's picture

Naughty but funny.

DavidC

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 01:01 | 5687073 Pinto Currency
Pinto Currency's picture

 

 

The debt is not $18 trillion.

It is $58 trillion on all levels (Fed, State, muni, corp, etc.) according to the Fed's flow of funds report.

Talking about the Federal debt is a dsitraction from the real issue.

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 04:21 | 5687277 effendi
effendi's picture

And it isn't 79,000 new pages of regulations.  That is just the crap at the federal level. Add in state, city and county regulations and it is over a million new pages each year.

Even non government regulations can ruin your life. people have been made destitute by the many HOA regulations that impose severe penalties for breeches

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 23:15 | 5686779 Arrowflinger
Arrowflinger's picture

Hard to believe that another DEMOCRAT President wrote this:

......Nor does the evil stop here. These ebbs and flows in the currency and these indiscreet extensions of credit naturally engender a spirit of speculation injurious to the habits and character of the people. We have already seen its effects in the wild spirit of speculation in the public lands and various kinds of stock which within the last year or two seized upon such a multitude of our citizens and threatened to pervade all classes of society and to withdraw their attention from the sober pursuits of honest industry. It is not by encouraging this spirit that we shall best preserve public virtue and promote the true interests of our country; but if your currency continues as exclusively paper as it now is, it will foster this eager desire to amass wealth without labor; it will multiply the number of dependents on bank accommodations and bank favors; the temptation to obtain money at any sacrifice will become stronger and stronger, and inevitably lead to corruption, which will find its way into your public councils and destroy at no distant day the purity of your Government. Some of the evils which arise from this system of paper press with peculiar hardship upon the class of society least able to bear it. A portion of this currency frequently becomes depreciated or worthless, and all of it is easily counterfeited.....

Andrew Jackson, in his farewell address

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 00:09 | 5686976 lunaticfringe
lunaticfringe's picture

Jackson, at great peril to himself, ended  a US central bank run by foreigners. Men of courage once existed here.

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 03:15 | 5687232 The Old Man
The Old Man's picture

It's a bankers wet dream. To own everything. And how did we do this? We let them. After so many failed attempts at economies. After so many attempts to fight back and try and listen to the lessons of people who KNEW, people that EXPERIENCED IT. Again, yet again, greed wins the day. Proud I'm sure that you're a winner. Enjoy it. The bigger the hole gets, the more chances of falling in. If you don't fall for it about now, you won't be close enough to fall in. Don't fall for it. That's the best advice I can give. YOU are on your OWN.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 20:49 | 5686180 bugs_
bugs_'s picture

all the other facts, however, will be right there

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:23 | 5686331 smukster
smukster's picture

From a European viewpoint, these worries are rather weird. The US has a lot of serious problems, but in this article hardly any of them is mentioned. Apart maybe from the millions imprisoned for "victimless crimes" (drugs).

And move to an offshore bank??? The worst advice I've heard in a long while.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 23:19 | 5686799 Ace006
Ace006's picture

Selling drugs to others, esp. when the product reaches the dealer's hands after traveling through a pipeline maintained by stunning viciousness and corruption, is hardly a victimless crime.

The people in jail are hardly just people who like to smoke a little weed when it suits them.  That's almost certainly the case in federal prison.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:06 | 5686270 Abitdodgie
Abitdodgie's picture

No more banksters , you are talking to Americans hear , no one gives a fuck about some homeless children the super bowl is coming up who do you think is going to win. In fact Americans don't give a shit about anything unless it is on television.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:48 | 5686418 no more banksters
no more banksters's picture

I don't believe that all Americans are as you described. There are many Americans open minded and really worry about where America and the world goes.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 20:52 | 5686202 Ness.
Ness.'s picture

What Draghi has to say is a hellava lot more important than the shit we're going to hear tonight.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:00 | 5686230 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 Those Turkish moves were important.

 The $usd is going to die. It's very sad. The currency will be honered at <fair value> then be toast.

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 01:01 | 5687080 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

When  you look at it the right way it is not sad.  It isn't a US dollar.  It is a FedRes dollar. 

Don't forget flowers. 

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:02 | 5686212 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

12) Article 3, Section 3 treason is THE number one crime committed in the DC US each year (daily).

The banksters need to repay us.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:01 | 5686216 giovanni_f
giovanni_f's picture

Key Message: "No child left behind on our march towards WWIII."

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 04:08 | 5686287 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

"Key Message: "No child left behind on our march towards WWIII."

"Ma'am, we know you are hiding your gun-toting age son around here somewhere. The empire requires him on the front in Syria. Without him the petrodollar will be weak, and Israel will not achieve Lebensraum or a pipeline route in Syria."

The banksters need to repay us.

 

"No child left behind. Zion needs them."

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 20:57 | 5686219 DavidC
DavidC's picture

"And to be fair, he’s right: the United States has a lot going for it."

No more than many other countries or cultures, the only difference being that USA thinks it has a claim to be 'the exceptional one'.

DavidC

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:03 | 5686245 kappal_toba_dhu...
kappal_toba_dhurr_ne_thook's picture

My thoughts exactly.  Nothing special about USA other than the fact that Americanos like to think they are special.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:03 | 5686247 kappal_toba_dhu...
kappal_toba_dhurr_ne_thook's picture

My thoughts exactly.  Nothing special about USA other than the fact that Americanos like to think they are special.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 20:59 | 5686221 SmedleyButlersGhost
SmedleyButlersGhost's picture

Without commenting on the rest, frankly I can't see that putting money in some "new bank offshore" is successful element of a survival plan. I don't see one iota of difference between banks when it comes to credibility or trustworthiness. They are all in the same Central Bank racket - just different crime families. Bail - ins, negative interest rates, reporting your financial affairs to the IRS all compliments of the global banking cartel.

Just saying.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:02 | 5686242 kappal_toba_dhu...
kappal_toba_dhurr_ne_thook's picture

You are right. that is why renunciation of citizenship is the only truly way to be free once and for all.  

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:09 | 5686285 SmedleyButlersGhost
SmedleyButlersGhost's picture

If you go that route, it puts a very bright light on your affairs with the IRS who do not have to accept the giving up of your US Citizenship. If they make a claim against you - now they know where you are and your bank accounts etc. It's not a straight forward proposition. Look at The Lord Mayor of London (I'm no fan but he is a good example) - never lived in the US but by virtue of birth to a US citizen he is being chased for taxes on the sale of a London property. Unbelievable. Dual Citizenship before they get their act together in reporting US citizen requests for a second passport to the US is IMHO an important step in the right direction.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:53 | 5686438 Dickweed Wang
Dickweed Wang's picture

Are you posting from the Grand Canyon?  I hear an echo . . .

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:55 | 5686443 Dickweed Wang
Dickweed Wang's picture

What's really funny is the guy has two identical posts yet the total up and down arrows is different on each.  ZHr's . . . . . . go figure.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:02 | 5686243 kappal_toba_dhu...
kappal_toba_dhurr_ne_thook's picture

You are right. that is why renunciation of citizenship is the only truly way to be free once and for all.  

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 10:34 | 5687751 Farmer Joe in B...
Farmer Joe in Brooklyn's picture

I agree that money in the bank is a bad idea, no matter where in the world it is. 

The best thing one can do is buy hard assets (land).  This is a really bad idea in the US where the rent (property taxes) is much higher than a lot of other countries.  I also fear and firmly believe that the US will eventually start taxing assets as they get more desparate.  FATCA is, in my opinion, the beginning of a framework for this.

I do very much agree with Simon that getting permanent residency in another country is a very good idea.  In Costa Rica, for example, an investment of $200,000 is the primary pre-requisite for gaining residency.  You have virtually all the same rights as citizens (minus voting).  Very stable government, low taxes, and (for the most part) a country that just leaves you the fuck alone to manage your own life.

Come join me... :)

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 20:58 | 5686226 nmewn
nmewn's picture

International Running Man.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 20:59 | 5686233 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 The bond market is crashing.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:00 | 5686231 kappal_toba_dhu...
kappal_toba_dhurr_ne_thook's picture

Yes many Americanos are giving up citizenship and green cards like we did.  And USA is not isn such a good position.  The average lives of their citizens is getting worse by the day.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 20:59 | 5686232 kappal_toba_dhu...
kappal_toba_dhurr_ne_thook's picture

Yes many Americanos are giving up citizenship and green cards like we did.  And USA is not isn such a good position.  The average lives of their citizens is getting worse by the day.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:00 | 5686240 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 You're correct

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:00 | 5686236 Stoploss
Stoploss's picture

Moar Lies.  Same speech, different day.

Plenty of other things to do instead of watching Barry. 

"Free everything for the FSA"

There's your State of the Union. Whatever the fuck that is...

More like the Sad State Of the Union.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:01 | 5686238 DavidC
DavidC's picture

Errm, how late will he be stepping up to the podium?

DavidC

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:05 | 5686263 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

  Relax. David you're demise isn't quantified by ccccchits of personal value.

 You can always buy the dip?

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:22 | 5686332 DavidC
DavidC's picture

lol!

DavidC

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:05 | 5686257 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

 

How many facts will be missing from Reggie Love's book?

http://nypost.com/2015/01/20/former-obama-aide-tells-all-in-new-memoir/

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:05 | 5686259 NihilistZero
NihilistZero's picture

...move your savings from a highly illiquid domestic bank to a new bank offshore that is objectively ten times safer, and pays forty times more interest on your savings.

Any liquid account that is paying 20% interest (which is 40x the .5% a lot of CD's are offering) reeks of Ponzi to me.  And then there's that whole offshore thing...  Yet another in a line of space wasting articles on ZH.  Who the fuck is screening these things???

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:47 | 5686424 Dickweed Wang
Dickweed Wang's picture

Yeah, good idea. I think I'm going to put my life savings into the National Bank of Greece or maybe Cyprus Savings and Loan.  Along with 25% interest on your savings account deposits they are giving free reach arounds at both institutions . . . .

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:05 | 5686262 Lumberjack
Lumberjack's picture
Schlumberger to buy $1.7 billion stake in Russian oil driller

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/20/us-russia-crisis-eurasia-schlu...

 

----------

I recall about a decade ago when I should have bought in to SLB. Things are getting interesting.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 22:18 | 5686538 NoWayJose
NoWayJose's picture

How 'bout 'dem sanctions?

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:12 | 5686279 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 Ohh, I remember '87 vividly.

 Rest my friends/ The Bank of Japan comes first.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:15 | 5686298 I Write Code
I Write Code's picture

Facts, what is facts?

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:22 | 5686322 db51
db51's picture

GUESS HOW MANY TIMES OBAMA USES THE WORD "I" IN HIS SPEECH.   Winner announced at 10:00.   

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:25 | 5686338 kowalli
kowalli's picture

39

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:58 | 5686465 geologyguy
geologyguy's picture

Price is Right rule structure I'm guessing?

43

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:30 | 5686362 max2205
max2205's picture

Off shore bank of ?

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:37 | 5686382 Burls
Burls's picture

Today’s young Americans, for example, are the first generation to be poorer than their parents.

I don't think this is true.

Today's young Americans will be the second generation to be poorer than their parents.

Who is stupid enough to believe that all the malfeasance started with Barry?

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:59 | 5686466 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Hmmmm, wages have been stagnant since the 70s or 80s, when taking inflation into account.

 

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:37 | 5686387 dot_bust
dot_bust's picture

I wonder if the Ebola czar, clipboard man, and power washer man will attend.  

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 22:36 | 5686622 22winmag
22winmag's picture

They will, but they'll turn their backs on Emperor Palpatine.

 

Just about everyone else has.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:47 | 5686416 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

"And to be fair, he’s right: the United States has a lot going for it.

Cheap energy, rapid innovation, quality universities, reasonably low crime rates, abundance of arable land, highly productive culture, etc."...

"The real consequences are not apparent yet. They’ll come when the dollar loses a substantial share of its global reserve status.

Make no mistake– it’s possible that could only be a few years away."...

So...

What the fuck is Mr. Blackhead smoking anyway?...  Obviously doesn't do much reading on the Donetsk in Ukraine or what the SNB just did last week!

Kinda hope he is heavily into the USD and Euros!!!

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:53 | 5686444 homebody
homebody's picture

Its easy to have a lot going when you have 4 tril like Obummer had.   

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 21:49 | 5686429 homebody
homebody's picture

Wait for the rebuttal by Joni - hope she does the pig thing to him like she did on the farm.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 22:32 | 5686603 22winmag
22winmag's picture

Next time you go to gripe about Simon's expatriation pitches, consider this. Tax payers are war makers. From the days of Agent Orange to the bomb-by-decree Empire you have today, wars have the fingerprints of taxpayers all over them.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 23:25 | 5686839 disgruntled hou...
disgruntled housewife's picture

Thank you for saying this. Over 1,000,000 dead in the Middle East and it will continue until American citizens demand it stop. How many people are we going to allow our government to kill under the guise of keeping us safe. Most of the dead are innocents- women, children the elderly. No one I know even thinks about all the people in the region who just want to live their lives. Their infrastrucutre is bombed to bits, institutions ruined.  History will judge us harshly and our maker even more so.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 23:15 | 5686785 disgruntled hou...
disgruntled housewife's picture

The United States was useful to the globalists. The politicians from both sides of the aisle have given them everything they wanted. The United States has been on a downward spiral since Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard. Reagan and Bush cut taxes for the globalists. Clinton gave them NAFTA and removed the last vestiges of the Glass-Steagall Act. Obama has continued to follow the coarse of destabilizing the Middle East. Both sides were sure to place bubble blowing Central bankers at the helm of the Federal Reserve.

The United States is no longer needed. They have accomplished their goals. The goal now is misdirection. They will use the left/right paradigm to keep what's left of the middle class believing it is the poor who have robbed them or the immigrants- anyone but keep their eyes off the globalists.

We have no chance of overcoming the system unless the middle class and poor unite. They would love for you all to keep believing you are powerless, that efforts are futile. They would lose it big time if the 99% came together in a meaningful way. This could be accomplished under a few regional leaders. Use the government's own divisions- say like the FEMA regions.

Bottom line- how many can afford to relocate or trust sending their money to an offshore bank. It may take a decade to see some real gains in getting the government to serve us. I hate giving up. I hate letting them win without at least making them work for it. Maybe I am an idealist, a dreamer, but I just can't roll over and say oh well that's just the way it is.

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 03:42 | 5687250 John_Coltrane
John_Coltrane's picture

No, the key period was Wilson in 1913 when the FED was created and the income tax establish to pay its usury.  Nixon was a minor character/pawn simply trying to buy time for all the phoney fiat created to support the welfare state established by FDR and LBJ.  And all subsequent presidents have just tried to buy more time until the ultimate crash guaranteed to any people living beyond its means by borrowing from the future.  A Ponzi (e.g. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) is a ponzi, there is no free lunch.  Only work can reduce entropy and create order.  These laws are immutable.

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 23:30 | 5686868 Cleveland Steamer
Cleveland Steamer's picture

When I saw the title, I thought for sure this would be a Michael Snyder column. Then, I remembered his lists don't have less than 30 "facts".

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 23:44 | 5686907 Salsipuedes
Salsipuedes's picture

Fact No. 12 

"Folks...I'm queer as a three dollar bill."

Wed, 01/21/2015 - 10:01 | 5687643 d edwards
d edwards's picture

Fundamental transformation, Obama's state of delusion.

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