America Speaks; Bankrupting America: What Matters To Voters This Election

Public Notice today released a comprehensive polling analysis memo showing bipartisan concern over debt and government spending, especially among Independent voters and middle-class families, key demographics in the presidential campaign. Public Notice has been polling regularly for the past year on the issues of government spending and the debt.
The polling indicates four key points for candidates to focus on as we enter the final countdown to Election Day:

• Government spending and the debt are top concerns and have been for the past year.
• Concern over debt and spending has grown over the past year.
• Voters make the connection between the debt and how it impacts the overall health of the economy and their own personal financial well-being.
• Voters don’t see higher taxes as a solution to our debt problem.

Find some of our key points of data by clicking the image below to view our polling info-graphic!

The Truth Something Difficult For People To Understand: Bankrupting America: Where Is Washington Taking Us?

Washington keeps spending to improve the economy, but are we headed in the right direction? With unemployment over 8 percent, college tuition up, gas prices having doubled and the government still borrowing $40,000 every second, its time to ask, where is Washington taking us? Watch our latest web video here!

 

Is Washington’s Plan Working?

Over the past three and a half years, Americans have heard plans, proposals, and promises about how Washington is going to correct the problems in our economy and stimulate growth. Talk of creating jobs, improving quality of life for the middle class, and curbing the cost of entitlement programs has dominated in the news and in government. If we look at the current economic situation we can see that these plans haven’t achieved their intended goals.

Working Americans

In January 2009, the unemployment rate was 7.8 percent, and over 12 million individuals were unemployed.¹ Three and a half years later, that number has increased by 745,000.² In this same period, there has been a rise in the amount of Americans receiving food stamps. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides benefits to certain eligible low-income households. Those benefits can then be exchanged for foods at certain authorized retailers.³ Since January 2009, 14.5 million more Americans are collecting food stamps in order to provide for themselves and for their families.⁴ Many Americans are also facing rising gas costs and a higher college expenses. The cost of tuition at a public, four-year institution has increased 25 percent in less than four years.⁵ The average gas price has doubled.⁶

America’s Commitments

As more Americans face difficult choices in the job market, the federal government’s spending is headed down an unsustainable path. The national debt is quickly approaching $16 trillion, representing nearly $50,700 for every man, woman, and child in the United States.⁷ As more money is borrowed to finance federal spending, the amount the United States spends on interest payments rises with it. In ten years, interest payments on the debt are projected to more than double. Those payments, along with total spending commitments including autopilot programs like Social Security and Medicare, will consume 80 cents out of every federal dollar taken in by 2022.⁸

Today, we are facing higher costs and a greater debt burden. Washington needs a plan for responsible spending that works, not one that increases economic uncertainty for working Americans.
To view this document as a .pdf, click here.

1. U.S. Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Data extracted on August 27, 2012; The Employment Situation: January 2009. February 2009. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_02062009.pdf ↩
2. U.S. Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Databases, Tables & Calculators by Subject: Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Accessed August 17, 2012. Calculated by subtracting the number of unemployed individuals in January 2009 from the number unemployed in July 2012. http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS13000000 ↩
3. Congressional Research Service. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Categorical Eligibility. Summary. July 17, 2012. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42054.pdf ↩
4. USDA. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Data as of July 26, 2012. Accessed August 17, 2012. http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/34snapmonthly.htm ↩
5. The College Board. T uition and F ee and Room and Board Charges o v er T ime . 2011. Accessed A ugust 21, 2012. http://trends.collegeboard.org/college_pricing/report_findings/indicator/884#f9011 ↩
6. Bloomberg. Daily National Average Gasoline Prices Regular Unleaded. Accessed August 21, 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/3AGSREG:IND/chart ↩
7. U.S. Department of Treasury. The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds it. Accessed August 21, 2012. http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np, and U.S. Census Bureau. Current Population Clock. Accessed August 21, 2012. http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html ↩
8. Congressional Budget Office. The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022. January 2012. Table 1-3, page 10. Calculated by measuring the subtotal for mandatory spending and interest payments on the debt as a percentage of total revenue in 2022. http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/01-31-2012_Outlook.pdf ↩

State Facts for August August 24, 2012

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A Great Informative Interview About Home Foreclosure: Tim Cason, and Brenda Nelson Interview Sheriff Merry

What is a responsible Sheriff?

"There is no lawful authority for Judges and the Courts to direct the law enforcement activities of a County Sheriff. The Sheriff is accountable and responsible only to the citizens who are inhabitants of his County, He is under Oath of Office, and need not receive unlawful Orders from Judges or the Courts. He is responsible to protect citizens, even from unlawful acts of officials of government. He should not allow his office to be used as an unlawful "lackey" of the Courts or Federal agents or agencies." 

"The Sheriff, in unknowing and unthinking acceptance of [the imposition of Equity or Merchant Law], has become the "bag man" for a bunch of private criminals [bankers], and thereby is committing crimes himself, and is therefore a criminal. It is a crime to violate Constitutional Rights and his oath of office to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of his own State, it being drafted in conformance thereto, and being secondary thereto. "

Tim Cason, and Brenda Nelson Interview Sheriff Merry 

Citizen Journalist Brenda Nelson interviews Tim Cason and Sheriff Joel Merry on Tim's recent fraudulent foreclosure eviction order. All three give poignant points of view on the issue. We rushed this video out because time is of the essence.

If you really want to learn more about what a real sheriff is like and does simply go to this website.

www.sheriffmack.com

 

Think Your Money Is Safe In The Bank, Better Think Again And Read This: Occupy Corporatism: Banks Can Legally Steal Customer Funds From Private Checking Accounts

Banks Can Legally Steal Customer Funds From Private Checking Accounts

Susanne Posel
Occupy Corporatism
August 20, 2012

In 2007, the Sentinel Management Group (SMG) collapsed, leaving many customer segregated funds lost after they had been used as collateral. After a plethora of lawsuits and creditor claims, a decision earlier this month in the 7th Circuit Court placed the banking cartels ahead of customer claims for funds returned. Essentially, the Bank of New York Mellon (BNYM) sued to be first in line for return on stolen customer account monies – and won the right by the US court system.

In the mainstream media (MSM), the SMG collapse and subsequent ruling in favor of BNYM was touted as a difficulty “for customers to recoup money lost”.

SMG, a Chicago-based futures broker, had stolen more than $500 million in segregated customer funds to use as collateral on a loan to BNYM for in-house proprietary trading operations. Their books were audited by the National Futures Association (NFA), however the NFA admitted that they could not understand the convoluted mess they were provided by SMG to sign off on. And yet they did; and approved the audit.

BNYM sued SMG to re-coup any monies owed to them. However, these monies were customer segregated funds that SMG stole and re-hypothecated.

 "This means that once a banking customer deposits their money into an account with a bank, the funds become property of the bank. The customer, at the point of deposit, relinquishes all rights to that money regardless of any laws in place, legal assurances, claims or guarantees; and this extends from investments to private checking accounts."

Continue reading more here.


http://occupycorporatism.com/

Bankrupting America: World at a Glance: Greece & the U.S.

While Greece continues to struggle with it's massive debt and weak economy, the country now considers returning to the same type of spending that lead to the fiscal crisis in the first place. We aren't Greece...Yet. In our latest infographic we look at the main parallels between the United States and Greece. From our addiction to government spending to the need for real leadership that will make deficit and debt reduction a real and substantive issue.

Click the image below to check out the new infographic and then click here to view it's accompanying fact sheet.

 

 http://www.bankruptingamerica.org/infographic/we-arent-greece-yet/

Take This Message And Apply It Locally OR RESIGN; Bankrupting America: Enough Talk, Grow up, Do Your Job

In our latest video for Bankrupting America, we urge you to get involved. Contact your senator at 1-888-760-7997 and let them know that you are tired of the finger pointing and want them to do their job. Urge the Senate to pass a budget after nearly 3 years! Make sure to tell your family, friends and contacts to call in as we kick off our online advocacy campaign!

When you are finished with viewing our web video, take a look at the 30 second version that ran on TV this week! Click here to view.