America’s Social Depression Is Accelerating

It’s no question America is at a crossroads and could go the way of Rome. This why it’s noteworthy to point out that things turn violent towards the very end, which is what we see not only in America through demonstrations and the demonization of politicians at restaurants, etc…, but the growing thirst for blood sports such as UFC/MMA, as astutely observed in this article:

Does Society Turn More Violent During its End Times?

 

 

Beneath the rah-rah statistics of “the greatest economy ever,” the social depression is accelerating. The mainstream is reluctantly waking up to the future of the American Dream: downward mobility for all but the top 10% of households.

A 2015 Atlantic article fleshed out the zeitgeist with survey data that suggests the Great Middle Class/Nouveau Proletariat is also waking up to a future of downward mobility: The Downsizing of the American Dream.

People used to believe they would someday move on up in the world. Now they’re more concerned with just holding on to what they have.

A Survival Guide for the Coming AI Revolution

In computer vision, features are the parts of an image that are used to classify an object. For example, the nose, ears and tail may be used as features to distinguish that a picture is a cat. (Modified from pixabay.com)

 

If the popular media are to be believed, artificial intelligence (AI) is coming to steal your job and threaten life as we know it. If we do not prepare now, we may face a future where AI runs free and dominates humans in society.

The AI revolution is indeed underway. To ensure you are prepared to make it through the times ahead, we’ve created a handy survival guide for you.

Step 1: Recognizing AI

The first step in every conflict is knowing your target. It is crucial to acknowledge that AI is not in the future; it is already here.

China has cost US 3.4 million jobs, says think tank

A Chinese worker tests circuit boards at a factory in Sichuan province. Photo: AFP

 

Economic Policy Institute says the US-China trade relationship needs fundamental change to stop ‘unfair trade and illegal currency manipulation’

A lengthy report released last week by the Economic Policy Institute, a US think tank, lays bare the loss of American jobs to China, particularly in tech manufacturing.

Donald Trump will lead the US in the right direction. We should take note

Donald Trump will demand European and Asian alliance partners start taking more responsibility for their own security and paying their way. Photo: Chris O’Meara

 

 

Many working-class Americans, who had traditionally put their faith in the Democratic Party to deliver for them, voted Republican for the first time. In contrast, the Democrats, filled with the false confidence of urban progressives, condescended to call the working-class voter base uneducated and deplorable.

So, what did Americans vote for? How will Donald Trump “Make American Great Again”?

Italian economy shattered as one in three jobless GIVE UP searching for work

A THIRD of jobless Italians gave up looking for work at the start of the year, amid rising fears for Italy’s economy.

A whopping 37.1 per cent of unemployed Italians joined the ranks of those who have stopped looking for a job altogether between the last three months of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016, according to Eurostat data.

The number of those now classed as inactive is double the European average of 18.9 per cent.

IMF boss Christine Lagarde calls turn away from globalisation world’s top challenge

In today’s world up is down, down is up, left is right and right is left. Retaining national sovereignty is now an offense to those who want to destroy it.

 

The risk of countries turning their back on global co-operation is the biggest challenge facing the world, as low growth and rising inequality fuel the rise of populism, said IMF managing director Christine Lagarde.

“It did not take the Brexit vote to understand that low growth, rising inequality, and a lack of jobs have combined with social and geopolitical concerns to fuel the rise of populism and inward-looking forces,” Ms Lagarde said in the text of a speech on Thursday at the Centre for Global Development in Washington.

Rich and powerful warn robots are coming for your jobs

 

Some of the richest, smartest and most powerful humans have an important message for the rest of us as they convened this week to discuss pressing global issues: the robots are coming.

…

“Most of the benefits we see from automation is about higher quality and fewer errors, but in many cases it does reduce labor,” Michael Chui, a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute, said on Tuesday during a panel on “Is Any Job Truly Safe?”

Is Canada Preparing for War?

Canada has made it drastically harder to apply for citizenship. The curious issue is the bottom-line concerning the military. There never was a fast track in Canada if you served in their military. All of a sudden, they are now creating a fast track if you serve in the military after increasing the time requirement by 50%. Canada never beefed up its military. This is clearly a total change in direction.

Fivefold surge in Americans on Chinese-firm payroll in the US: report

Although the numbers are still quite low, the key issue is not the amount. It likely wouldn’t take more than running 5% of American businesses nation-wide in the most critical industries and businesses to wreak economic havoc if the CCP so wished to pull the trigger — and as the last few years have increasingly shown us, the Chinese leadership’s behavioral patterns and actions indicate wreaking havoc on America is their intention.

 

The number of Americans on Chinese company payrolls has surged more than fivefold over the past five years along with growing foreign direct investment by China in the United States, a study by two US-based organisations has found.

The report – released this month by non-profit group, the National Committee on US-China Relations, and economic think tank Rhodium Group – highlighted the expansion of Chinese firms in various American congressional districts.

…

The report, titled “New Neighbours: Chinese Investment in the United States by Congressional District”, showed Chinese firms had invested US$46 billion in new establishments and acquisitions in the US since 2000.

The Detroitification of America

A 2010 article that couldn’t be more relevant today:

 

Like a forgotten downtown billboard, Detroit proclaims a warning about the rest of America for any who will stop and look.



If ever an American city was a warning for the nation, it is Detroit. Its crumbling mansions, overgrown boulevards and abandoned factories drive a message home to those who will pay attention. We cannot afford to ignore this once-great city. Why? What killed Detroit is killing America.

Detroit used to be synonymous with wealth and prosperity. It was a city humming with big-finned cars and Motown rhythms. Factories churned out products that ended up on store shelves around the world. Full employment empowered high salaries, flourishing schools and manicured storefronts, with flashy neon lights lining the boulevards. Multiple generations of families shared the same streets and barbecues.

Steve Wynn: Economic recovery ‘pure fiction’

If you’d like to get a better idea of what the true level of unemployment is, check out this U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics table… ‘U-6’ is what you want to see. Please also note, the methodology for coming up with these numbers was changed some years ago and still do not represent the true rates, which as Wynn says, are around 15% – 20% unemployment. Definitions have changed and some factors have been left out. For the foreseeable future, this is likely the most truth you’ll get from the government.

You can see the worthwhile 26 minute Steve Wynn’s KNPB interview HERE.

 

Las Vegas icon says don’t believe government stats on jobs, inflation

One of America’s most astute businessmen, known for having expanded the Las Vegas strip of resort hotels and casinos in the 1990s, says the U.S. remains mired in an economic funk and any talk of a broad recovery is “pure fiction. A lie.”

Steve Wynn,  the 73-year-old founder and CEO of Wynn Resorts, made the comments in a televised interview with Jon Ralston of PBS’ “Ralston Live.” He opened the Wynn Hotel and casino in Macao, China, in 2006, and is known as an international gaming and casino magnate.

The Middle Class Is Worse Off Than You Think

 

If you worry about the declining fortunes of the U.S. middle class, take heed: It might be worse than you realized.

Tracking the middle class can be difficult, because the group is hard to define. Typically, researchers look at households with incomes or net worth in the middle of the entire population. This approach, though, might provide a falsely rosy picture. It doesn’t, for example, capture the fates of families that start out in the middle and — due to a job loss or other setback — end up in the bottom.

19 Signs That American Families Are Being Economically Destroyed

The systematic destruction of the American way of life is happening all around us, and yet most people have no idea what is happening.  Once upon a time in America, if you were responsible and hard working you could get a good paying job that could support a middle class lifestyle for an entire family even if you only had a high school education.  Things weren’t perfect, but generally almost everyone in the entire country was able to take care of themselves without government assistance.  We worked hard, we played hard, and our seemingly boundless prosperity was the envy of the entire planet.  But over the past several decades things have completely changed.  We consumed far more wealth than we produced, we shipped millions of good paying jobs overseas, we piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world, and we kept electing politicians that had absolutely no concern for the long-term future of this nation whatsoever.  So now good jobs are in very short supply, we are drowning in an ocean of red ink, the middle class is rapidly shrinking and dependence on the government is at an all-time high.  Even as we stand at the precipice of the next great economic crisis, we continue to make the same mistakes.  In the end, all of us are going to pay a very great price for decades of incredibly foolish decisions.  Of course a tremendous amount of damage has already been done.  The numbers that I am about to share with you are staggering.  The following are 19 signs that American families are being economically destroyed…

The “Catastrophic Shutdown Of America’s Supply Chain” Begins: Stunning Photos Of West Coast Port Congestion

 

One week ago, when previewing what may be the first lockout of the West Coast Ports since 2002, we cited the Retail Industry Leaders Association who, realizing that failure to reach an agreement between the dockworker union and their bosses, the Pacific Maritime Association representing port management would lead to devastating consequences for the US retail industry, had several very damning soundbites:

• “a work slowdown during contract negotiations over the past seven months has already created logistic nightmares for American exporters, manufacturers and retailers dependent on an efficient supply chain. A complete shutdown would be catastrophic, with hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk if America’s supply chain grinds to a halt.“

“Catastrophic Shutdown Of America’s Supply Chain Looms” As West Coast Port Worker Talks Break Down

For those who have been following the recent ISM reports, one of the recurring concerns of respondents in both the manufacturing and service sector has been the congestion at West Coast Ports – which handled 43.5% of containerized cargo in the U.S and where transiting cargo accounted for 12.5% of US GDP – as a result of reduced work output by the local unions who have been more focused in recent weeks on ongoing wage hike negotiations.

And according to the latest update from the 29 west coast ports that serve as the entry point of the bulk of Asia/Pac trade into and out of the US, things are about to get far worse for America’s manufacturing base, because as RILA reported earlier, talks between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) representing port management, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) officially broke down on Wednesday, and without an agreement, experts have suggested that nearly 30 west coast ports could be shut down within a week.