powerofbinary

The 1% have decided that they've gone as far as they can with this engineered crisis. On to the next engineered crisis. http://www.texasobserver.org/empire-building-2/ Much of the Koch brothers' ideology can be found in Harry Koch's newspaper editorials of nearly a century ago. Take, for instance, the Kochs' current fight against Social Security. Harry Koch took part in a multi-year right-wing propaganda campaign to shoot down New Deal programs. Grandfather and grandsons employ eerily familiar talking points to bash government pension and welfare programs. "No political system can possibly guarantee either a national economic security or an individual standard of living. Government can guarantee no man a job or a livelihood," Harry Koch wrote on February 1, 1935, nine months before Charles Koch was born. Fast-forward 75 years and you can see Charles Koch using the same lines of attack in his company's newsletter: "government actions ... stifle economic growth and job creation, which in turn will significantly reduce the standard of living of American families."

ex•tor•tion (ɪkˈstɔr ʃən) n. 1. an act or instance of extorting. 2. the crime of obtaining money or some other thing of value by the abuse of one's office or authority. 3. anything extorted.

The 1% currently own the government - so extortion it is.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029382.400-the-maths-that-saw-the-us-shutdown-coming.html?full=true#.UlakVp2kd7c For Peter Turchin, a mathematical ecologist at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, the stand-off was predictable. He is one of a small group of people applying the mathematics of complex systems to political instability. They have been anticipating events just like this – and they say that if we don't find some way to respond to the warning signs and change course, things are bound to get a lot worse before they get better. Turchin has found what he believes to be historical cycles, two to three centuries long, of political instability and breakdown affecting states and empires from Rome to Russia. In a book he is finishing, he argues that similar cycles are evident in US history, and that they are playing out to this day. He admits that his theory, built on a model that combines social and economic data, must be tested against real events – but unlike most historical theories, it can be. Meanwhile, he says, it "predicts the long-term conditions that led to this shutdown". Workers or employees make up the bulk of any society, with a minority of employers constituting the top few per cent of earners. By mathematically modelling historical data, Turchin finds that as population grows, workers start to outnumber available jobs, driving down wages. The wealthy elite then end up with an even greater share of the economic pie, and inequality soars. This is borne out in the US, for example, where average wages have stagnated since the 1970s although gross domestic product has steadily climbed. This process also creates new avenues – such as increased access to higher education – that allow a few workers to join the elite, swelling their ranks. Eventually this results in what Turchin calls "elite overproduction" – there being more people in the elite than there are top jobs. "Then competition starts to get ugly," he says.

As the world's largest economy and the home of the global reserve currency, the US surely has the wherewithal to fund its government and avoid a catastrophic default by raising its self-imposed debt ceiling. Yet the astonishing failure of the US Congress to put national needs before their partisan interests has sparked fears among investors and governments around the world that maybe it is time to think about the unthinkable. That may explain why the biggest US creditors, China and Japan, have expressed concern over developments in Washington which could affect their several-trillion-dollar investments in US Treasury bonds. US politicians can discuss, bicker and argue over government spending and economic growth. Kicking cans is one thing, but throwing caution to the wind is not a course of action worthy of the world's leading economy. (China Daily 10/10/2013 page 8)

the reason the rich are rich is that they don't engage in such negative thinking. in 2009, they didn't sell all their equities for fixed income instruments or money market accounts. I agree. The 1% positively believe that they will make lots of money with a new world war. Crazy eh?

Not much money to be made once we go to war.

Much better to work out how to take that extorted wealth from the 1% peacefully before they go to war with us as the cannon fodder then?

Thanks that is the Point I was trying to make. The point in time, they choose for these studies is Bias. After the Great Crash of 1926 was it really any different ? All them barons and lightly regulated tycoons made off with BUYS of the century. Now, a better study would compare 1% in 1935 to the 1% of today, it is 2013 no? Just last week was a study release stating the FACT that America will emerge as the worlds leading energy producer in a Few short years, talk about Opportunity. It was lost in the Shuffle of another gov't imposed Crisis.There one minute gone the Next. The last cycle of wealth accumulation by the 1% ended with a world war. So, not looking good for us.

In 1983 the poorest 47% of America owned about 2.5 percent of the nation's wealth, an average of $15,000 per family. In 2009 the poorest 47% of America owned ZERO percent of the nation's wealth (their debt exceeded their assets). Hard to believe it could get even worse. But because of the housing crisis and recession, the median family net worth dropped 40% between 2007 and 2010, while the richest Americans were regaining all their losses, and beginning an even steeper climb to the top.

The latest numbers also show that the 1% are getting richer at the expense of everyone else.

And the government is owned by the 1%.