Wednesday, December 12, 2018

BANKSTERS PREPARE FOR THE NEXT ECONOMIC MELTDOWN ...... That they caused!


Most U.S. Financial Officers Think a Recession Will Hit by 2020



Election security bill backers say delay helps Russia
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Nearly half of U.S. chief financial officers expect the U.S. economy will fall into a recession in 2019.

The recession expectations cap a dramatic turn around of CFO optimism, according to the Duke University/CFO Global Business Outlook survey released Wednesday.
As recently as September, CFOs were forecasting earnings growth of 12.8 percent over the next year. In the most recent survey, forecast earnings growth crashed to just 4.5 percent. A year ago, the forecast was for 5.3 percent.



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Expectations for capital spending have also fallen. The median expectation is just a 2 percent increase, down from 5.0 percent in September and 3.2 percent a year ago. The forecast for R&D spending fell to 1.4 percent growth from 3.2 percent a year ago.
In addition, more than 80% think a recession will strike by the end of 2020.
Despite their pessimism, U.S. CFOs are more positive than their counterparts around the world. In Africa, 97 percent of CFOs believe that a recession will have begun no later than year-end 2019. In Canada, 86 percent expect a recession next year. In Europe, 66.7 percent. In Asia, 54 percent.  Only Latin America was more optimistic than the U.S., with 42 percent of CFOs expecting a recession in 2019.
The labor market still tops the worries of U.S. CFOs. More than 46% listed it as a top concern this quarter, a decline from 53% in the previous survey. Government policies ranked as the second highest concern.
The bleak outlook stands in stark contrast to what is indicated by current economic data and the forecast of the Federal Reserve. Both manufacturing and services sectors have been strong, inflation is tame, and employment continues to rise.
One concern is that the expectations of CFOs could become a self-fulfilling prophecy if businesses pull back from investing, hiring, and spending in anticipation of an economic slump.


WILL WALL STREET’S BIG BANKS FINISH OFF AMERICA?
ANOTHER MASSIVE BAILOUT IS LOOMING!


"Back during he the financial crisis of 2008 to 2009, which wiped out trillions of dollars of the wealth and retirement savings of middle-class families, we put the two major arsonists in charge of putting out the fire. Former Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and former Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts were the co-sponsors of the infamous Dodd-Frank regulations. Readers will recall that good old Barney resisted every attempt to reign in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and said he wanted to "roll the dice" on the housing market. That worked out well"

"Wall Street billionaires are pushing a new plan to swipe the profits of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from U.S. taxpayers–and in the process revive the system of privatized-profits and public-risk that contributed to the severity of the Great Financial Crisis."

Housing Policy Experts Warn Against Hedge Fund Plot to Seize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac



Fannie Mae Building
Getty Images
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A plan to release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government control would recreate the system that delivered private gains to shareholders while putting taxpayers on the line for losses, a group of leading housing policy experts warned Tuesday.

Hedge funds have been shopping a scheme on Capitol Hill that would end the conservatorships of Fannie and Freddie and have them stop handing their profits over to the Treasury. The plan would deliver a huge windfall to investors who own stakes in the two mortgage giants.
While some of inside of the Trump administration are sympathetic to the Wall Street billionaires who would be the biggest beneficiaries of releasing Fannie and Freddie, the plan has run into opposition from housing policy experts on the left and the right who see it as a huge giveaway to the investors.
Breitbart described the plan, developed by the investment bank Moelis & Co, in November:
The Moelis plan stands out as a strikingly bold grab for control of the companies and their profits. It calls for the dividend payments to the Treasury to cease so that the companies can rebuild capital. Shockingly, it also calls for the cancellation of the senior preferred stock altogether–with no compensation for the past risk and future profits currently due to taxpayers. It is as if a company proposed to do a stock buyback by proposing to cancel its shares rather than purchasing them for cash.
This would be an unprecedented giveaway, more akin to government-authorized looting than a “housing finance reform” plan. Even calling it “corporate welfare” would be too generous because the beneficiaries wouldn’t be the companies, which have been prospering under the current arrangement. The beneficiaries would be the owners of the shares of the company, which would receive a massive promotion in the capital structure in exchange for nothing. This is something new–hedge fund welfare.
Taxpayers would surrender an asset–the senior preferred stock–that is expected to return hundreds of billions of dollars, reducing deficits and tax-burdens, over the next decade. And in return they would get nothing except perhaps the gratitude of billionaires.
On Tuesday, some of the most prominent housing policy experts in the U.S. came out against the plan in an op-ed published in the Hill.
Taking advantage of this congressional impasse, several of Fannie and Freddie’s largest investors have banded together to advocate a path out of this state of limbo. Remarkably, however, the path does not lead to a new system as policymakers had intended, but back to the very system we had before the crisis. Yes, the one that nearly took down the economy.
To their credit, the investors recommend retaining some of the reforms that have taken place in conservatorship, such as limits on what Fannie and Freddie can invest in, and higher capital levels. But they would leave untouched the fundamental structural flaw that was the system’s ultimate undoing: the dominance of a duopoly that is too big and too important for the nation ever to let fail.
This makes sense from the investors’ point of view, as Fannie and Freddie’s market power will bring them more profits. But it is absurd from the nation’s point of view.
By once again standing behind the solvency of these two institutions, which taxpayers would have to do for the very reasons we could not let them fail the last time around, we would again give Fannie and Freddie the incentive to take outsized risks.
The op-ed was written by six housing policy experts representing a broad range of political views. They are the former head of Fannie and Freddie’s regulator, Ed DeMarco, the former chief of the Mortgage Banker’s Association, Dave Stevens, Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi, former McCain campaign economic adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin, Obama administration housing policy adviser Jim Parrott, and Lew Ranieri, the man who is often described as the father of the modern mortgage market.
President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to nominate Mark Calabria to head up the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Calabria, who is currently Vice President Mike Pence’s chief economist, has been sharply critical of the government’s large role in housing finance and the dominance of Fannie and Freddie in the mortgage market.  His position on the Moelis plan is not currently known but it is likely to become a focus of his nomination hearing if he gets tapped to be the agency’s head.



THE BANKSTERS’ RENT BOYS & GIRLS IN CONGRESS GATHER ROUND TO UNLEASH THE WHOLESALE LOOTING OF THEIR BANKSTER PAYMASTERS EVEN MORE….
BOTTOMLESS BAILOUTS AROUND THE CORNER WAITING!

After eight years of the Dodd-Frank bank “reform,” the American financial oligarchy exercises its dictatorship over society and the government more firmly than ever. This unaccountable elite will not tolerate even the most minimal limits on its ability to plunder the economy for its own personal gain.
"Democrats Move Towards ‘Oligarchical Socialism,’ Says Forecaster Joel Kotkin."

NO POL IN HISTORY SUCKED IN MORE BRIBES FROM BANKSTERS THAN BARACK OBAMA, AND HE DID IT BEFORE HIS FIRST DAY IN OFFICE.
What did the Wall Street banksters know that took us so long to find out???


"One of the premier institutions of big business, JP Morgan Chase, issued an internal report on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the 2008 crash, which warned that another “great liquidity crisis” was possible, and that a government bailout on the scale of that effected by Bush and Obama will produce social unrest, “in light of the potential impact of central bank actions in driving inequality between asset owners and labor."  

 Obama, of course, covered up his own role, depicting his presidency as eight years of heroic efforts to repair the damage caused by the 2008 financial crash. At the end of those eight years, however, Wall Street and the financial oligarchy were fully recovered, enjoying record wealth, while working people were poorer than before, a widening social chasm that made possible the election of the billionaire con man and Demagogue in November 2016.

“The response of the administration was to rush to 

the defense of the banks. Even before coming to 

power, Obama expressed his 

unconditional support for the bailouts, which he 

subsequently expanded. He assembled an 

administration dominated by the interests of 

finance capital, symbolized by economic adviser 

Lawrence Summers and Treasury Secretary 

Timothy Geithner.” BOTH OF OBAMA'S A.G.  

WERE LAWYERS FOR BANKSTERS.

BEL AIR MAXINE WATERS AND HER CRACK ALLEY CONSTITUENTS

WALL STREET BANKSTERS AND THEIR BOUGHT DEMOCRAT POLS PREPARE FOR THE NEXT WAVE OF BOTTOMLESS NO-STRING BANKSTER BAILOUTS…

Will this one finish off the American economy?
*
Considering her record and documented history of poor ethical and moral fitness, it’s outrageous that Maxine Waters is up for chair of the ultra-powerful House Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over the country’s banking system, economy, housing, and insurance.
*
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"Wall Street billionaires are pushing a new plan to swipe the profits of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from U.S. taxpayers–and in the process revive the system of privatized-profits and public-risk that contributed to the severity of the Great Financial Crisis."
*
The Moelis plan stands out as a strikingly bold grab for control of the companies and their profits. It calls for the dividend payments to the Treasury to cease so that the companies can rebuild capital. Shockingly, it also calls for the cancellation of the senior preferred stock altogether–with no compensation for the past risk and future profits currently due to taxpayers. It is as if a company proposed to do a stock buyback by proposing to cancel its shares rather than purchasing them for cash.
*
So will Maxine Waters be the crusading financial protector of our 401k plans and save America from the next financial bubble? Well, there will certainly be lots of harassment and shakedowns. But don't count on her steering us clear of Wall Street excesses. If history is any guide, Mad Maxine will be way too busy raising money from the people she is now in charge of regulating. Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation 
*
Waters, who represents some of Los Angeles’ poorest inner-city neighborhoods, has also helped family members make more than $1 million through business ventures with companies and causes that she has helped, according to her hometown newspaper. While she and her relatives get richer (she lives in a $4.5 million Los Angeles mansion), her constituents get poorer. JUDICIAL WATCH

WILL FRANCE'S REVOLUTION BANKRUPT EU?

Yellow Vest protesters demand MORE from Macron - even after President caved in with £9billion of tax cuts which have sparked EU warning France now faces a HUGE deficit

  • Emmanuel Macron promised a £9billion package to Yellow Vests on Monday in an attempt to stop protests
  • Workers vowed to continue their demonstrations as students joined them for 'black Tuesday' of unrest 
  •  EU budget chiefs also warned they will be 'closely monitoring' over concerns it will breach spending rules
  • Macron has been facing calls for him to quit office after trying to push through a series of unpopular reforms 
Yellow Vest protesters demanded even more concessions from Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday even after he caved in to their demands for more pay and lower taxes with a £9billion spending splurge on Monday night.
Thomas Miralles, a Yellow Vest spokesman in the southern Pyrenees-Orientales department, said Macron had failed to listen to protesters and vowed to come to Paris this Saturday for his first demonstration in the capital.
Meanwhile thousands of students angered by Macron's education reforms joined the Yellow Vests on the streets for a 'black Tuesday' of unrest, further complicating matters for the French President.
And even Macron's traditional allies in Europe warned they will be 'closely monitoring' his spending plans to check whether they fall within EU limits. 
Emmanuel Macron caved into the Yellow Vest protesters on Monday night by promising a £9billion package of tax cuts and wage hikes, which has now raised the prospect of clashes with EU budget chiefs
Emmanuel Macron caved into the Yellow Vest protesters on Monday night by promising a £9billion package of tax cuts and wage hikes, which has now raised the prospect of clashes with EU budget chiefs
But even as Macron offered an olive branch to Yellow Vest protesters, high school students angry at his education reforms took to the streets of Paris for a 'black Tuesday' of unrest 
But even as Macron offered an olive branch to Yellow Vest protesters, high school students angry at his education reforms took to the streets of Paris for a 'black Tuesday' of unrest 
Students oppose reforms to school tests and courses, stricter standards for getting into university, and a hike in fees for foreign students wanting to come and study in France
Students oppose reforms to school tests and courses, stricter standards for getting into university, and a hike in fees for foreign students wanting to come and study in France
High school students vowed to march in solidarity with the Yellow Vests, who promised to keep up their own campaign of unrest despite Macron's reforms, saying they were 'too little, too late'
High school students vowed to march in solidarity with the Yellow Vests, who promised to keep up their own campaign of unrest despite Macron's reforms, saying they were 'too little, too late'
High school students hold banners making fun of words said by Macron and Prime Minister Édouard Philippe as they take part in a demonstration march at Place Saint-Michel, Paris
High school students hold banners making fun of words said by Macron and Prime Minister Édouard Philippe as they take part in a demonstration march at Place Saint-Michel, Paris
Yellow Vests vowed to keep demonstrating even after Macron caved in to some of their key demands, and were joined on Tuesday by thousands of school students
Yellow Vests vowed to keep demonstrating even after Macron caved in to some of their key demands, and were joined on Tuesday by thousands of school students
Rules passed in the wake of the 2008 market crash require all member states to have a deficit of less than 3 per cent of GDP, debt at less than 60 per cent of GDP, and for any member state with debts over 60 per cent to take steps each year to reduce it.
France's current debt is 97 per cent of GDP while economists believe Macron's new spending plans will push the deficit above 3 per cent in 2019. Countries found in breach of the rules risk being hit with hefty fines.  
France is not the only country to flout the EU's spending rules after Italy passed a budget earlier this year which will see the budget deficit rise to 3.1 per cent by 2020, with debt already at 131 per cent of GDP. 
Protesters gathered around TV sets across France on Monday night to hear Macron promise a seven per cent rise in the minimum wage, an end to tax and surcharges on overtime and pensions, and tax-free bonuses.
But opponents said this uncosted spending bonanza would not prevent thousands of protestors taking part in a fifth weekend of action, planned for Saturday.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-Left France Unbowed party, said: 'Emmanuel Macron thought he could hand out some cash to calm the citizens' insurrection that has erupted. I believe that Act Five will play out on Saturday.'
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen also predicted more disturbances, saying Mr Macron had 'given up on some of his tax errors', but 'refused to admit that it is the system he champions that is being questioned.'
Beyond the calls for institutional change - which could result in Mr Macron having to resign - the Yellow Vest movement wants even more tax cuts and pay rises.
Young people gather underneath a statue in the French capital as they protest Macorn's education reforms on Tuesday
Young people gather underneath a statue in the French capital as they protest Macorn's education reforms on Tuesday
French high school students take part in a demonstration march at Place Saint-Michel, Paris
French high school students take part in a demonstration march at Place Saint-Michel, Paris
The student protests come a day after Macron tried to placate angry Yellow Vests, who have been demonstrating for weeks on the streets of the French capital
The student protests come a day after Macron tried to placate angry Yellow Vests, who have been demonstrating for weeks on the streets of the French capital
French authorities fear several factions unhappy with the President's reforms will join together in a wave of protests
French authorities fear several factions unhappy with the President's reforms will join together in a wave of protests
A protester holds a sign saying 'be young and shut up' during student demonstrations in Paris on Tuesday
A protester holds a sign saying 'be young and shut up' during student demonstrations in Paris on Tuesday
A banner reads: 'Our desires are messy, education for all' during demonstrations in Paris
A banner reads: 'Our desires are messy, education for all' during demonstrations in Paris
'In terms of substance, these are half measures,' said unofficial Vests spokesman Benjamin Caudy. 'We feel that Macron has got a lot more to give.' 
Thierry, 55, a bicycle mechanic listening in the southern town of Le Boulou, said afterwards: 'It's just window dressing, for the media, some trivial measures, it almost seems like a provocation. 
'All this is cinema, it doesn't tackle the problems of substance. We're really wound up, we're going back to battle.'
Gaetan, 34, from Rennes, added: 'Maybe if Macron had made this speech three weeks ago, it would have calmed the movement, but now it's too late.
'For us, this speech is nonsense.'
Less than an hour after the presidential address, the A9 toll booth from Spain was completely paralysed. 
In the northwest, at a roundabout at the end of the A28 in Montabon, near Le Mans, 'yellow vests' gathered under a heated tent to watch the president on TV, sharing a picnic.
'Too bad, blew it again!' exclaimed Etienne. 'Santa Claus has nothing in his sack,' laughed Hubert.
Over in eastern France, at the Cafe de la Paix in Commercy, about 15 'yellow vests' watched Macron's speech with a glass of Picon and a basket of fries, interrupting the presidential address with ironic sneers.
'Sir feels bad,' Elisabeth, a 66-year-old retiree, said mockingly as the president acknowledged that he had 'hurt some'.
'It was about time,' added Damien, in his thirties. 'Liar,' a woman shouted. 
'He is being held hostage so he drops some crumbs,' said Jonathan, a 35-year-old official.
But the demonstrators vowed not to give up after weeks of often violent protests, insisting that Macron's offer was too little, too late (pictured, protesters at an oil depot in Le Mans)
But the demonstrators vowed not to give up after weeks of often violent protests, insisting that Macron's offer was too little, too late (pictured, protesters at an oil depot in Le Mans)
Roads were brought to a standstill on Monday night after Macron's speech, as people refused to accept his reform package was genuine (pictured, demonstrators in Le Boulou)
Roads were brought to a standstill on Monday night after Macron's speech, as people refused to accept his reform package was genuine (pictured, demonstrators in Le Boulou)
A protester near Nantes Atlantique Airport stands next to a sign saying President of the Rich, which is covered in pictures of Macron
A protester near Nantes Atlantique Airport stands next to a sign saying President of the Rich, which is covered in pictures of Macron
A Yellow Vest protester helps to filter traffic along a road near Nantes Atlantique Airport
A Yellow Vest protester helps to filter traffic along a road near Nantes Atlantique Airport
Protesters take notes as they watch French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on Monday
Protesters take notes as they watch French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on Monday
In the southern commune of Realmont, 'gilets jaunes' from all four corners of the department of Tarn gathered at the roundabout to heave a sigh and release nervous laughter.
'The people asked him to resign and he puts plasters on third-degree burns (...) this is total rubbish,' said Pierrot, an RSA artist in Albi.
For Luc, a pizza chef in Marseille, 'it's a charade. He announces bonuses to be paid by employers but how will they do it? They don't have more money.'  
In a 12-minutes TV address on Monday, Macron pledged a €100 (£90) per month increase in the minimum wage, taking it to €1498 (£1360). 
There were also be an end-of-year bonus that employers can pay without being charged by the government, while taxes on those earning less than €2000 (£1800) will also end on January 1.
Mr Macron also ruled out any return of the Solidarity Wealth Tax, saying that he wanted to stop rich entrepreneurs 'moving abroad', so preventing 'job creation'.
The extraordinarily generous package of measures represents a massive U-turn by Mr Macron who originally said he would not yield to rioting as he tried to liberalise the sluggish France economy. 
So-called Yellow Vest fuel protestors first took to the streets on November 17, and this led to the president scrapping green charges on petrol and diesel.
'I heard the anger was first of all against the tax, but it's deeper than that, and this anger could be our chance,' said Mr Macron.
Yellow vested 'Gilet jaune' protesters block the A9 highway toll near Le Boulou, southern France on Monday night
Yellow vested 'Gilet jaune' protesters block the A9 highway toll near Le Boulou, southern France on Monday night
Rioting has seen 4,523 arrests across France since November 17. Pictured yellow vest protesters at a toll on the A9 highway
Rioting has seen 4,523 arrests across France since November 17. Pictured yellow vest protesters at a toll on the A9 highway
Protestors take note as they watch French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on TV last night
Protestors take note as they watch French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on TV last night
The extraordinarily generous package of measures represents a massive U-turn by Mr Macron
The extraordinarily generous package of measures represents a massive U-turn by Mr Macron
Yellow Vest protesters watch Mr Macron's TV address in their high visibility jackets in a house in Gaillon, northern France this evening 
Yellow Vest protesters watch Mr Macron's TV address in their high visibility jackets in a house in Gaillon, northern France this evening 
'I heard the despair of the forgotten people. There are couples who struggle to make ends meet, brave single mothers or widows who can't afford child care, and poor pensioners who often have to help children and grandchildren, as well as people with disabilities.'
Mr Macron said this 'Forgotten France' has existed for at least 40 years, and that everything had to be done to held them.
Referring to rioting which has seen 4,523 arrests across France since November 17, Mr Macron said: 'I will not compromise on violence. When violence unfolds, freedom ends.'
Mr Macron, who served in Francois Hollande's Socialist government before becoming President himself in 2017, particularly accused 'opportunists' including looters of 'taking advantage of sincere anger.'
He added: 'No anger justifies attacking a policeman, degrading shop and public buildings. From now on it is the peace and the Republican order which must reign.' 
The yellow vest movement - named after high-visibility vests worn by demonstrators - began online earlier this year, before spreading to the streets in November.
What started as opposition to a proposed fuel tax rise has since snowballed into general anger about a lack of concern for the poor and working class.
They see Macron as a 'leader for the rich' and are demanding - among other things - a reintroduction of taxes on the rich, a rise in minimum wage, and for Macron to go. 

Yellow Vest protesters demand MORE from Macron - even after President caved in with £9billion of tax cuts which have sparked EU warning France now faces a HUGE deficit

  • Emmanuel Macron promised a £9billion package to Yellow Vests on Monday in an attempt to stop protests
  • Workers vowed to continue their demonstrations as students joined them for 'black Tuesday' of unrest 
  •  EU budget chiefs also warned they will be 'closely monitoring' over concerns it will breach spending rules
  • Macron has been facing calls for him to quit office after trying to push through a series of unpopular reforms 
Yellow Vest protesters demanded even more concessions from Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday even after he caved in to their demands for more pay and lower taxes with a £9billion spending splurge on Monday night.
Thomas Miralles, a Yellow Vest spokesman in the southern Pyrenees-Orientales department, said Macron had failed to listen to protesters and vowed to come to Paris this Saturday for his first demonstration in the capital.
Meanwhile thousands of students angered by Macron's education reforms joined the Yellow Vests on the streets for a 'black Tuesday' of unrest, further complicating matters for the French President.
And even Macron's traditional allies in Europe warned they will be 'closely monitoring' his spending plans to check whether they fall within EU limits. 
Emmanuel Macron caved into the Yellow Vest protesters on Monday night by promising a £9billion package of tax cuts and wage hikes, which has now raised the prospect of clashes with EU budget chiefs
Emmanuel Macron caved into the Yellow Vest protesters on Monday night by promising a £9billion package of tax cuts and wage hikes, which has now raised the prospect of clashes with EU budget chiefs
But even as Macron offered an olive branch to Yellow Vest protesters, high school students angry at his education reforms took to the streets of Paris for a 'black Tuesday' of unrest 
But even as Macron offered an olive branch to Yellow Vest protesters, high school students angry at his education reforms took to the streets of Paris for a 'black Tuesday' of unrest 
Students oppose reforms to school tests and courses, stricter standards for getting into university, and a hike in fees for foreign students wanting to come and study in France
Students oppose reforms to school tests and courses, stricter standards for getting into university, and a hike in fees for foreign students wanting to come and study in France
High school students vowed to march in solidarity with the Yellow Vests, who promised to keep up their own campaign of unrest despite Macron's reforms, saying they were 'too little, too late'
High school students vowed to march in solidarity with the Yellow Vests, who promised to keep up their own campaign of unrest despite Macron's reforms, saying they were 'too little, too late'
High school students hold banners making fun of words said by Macron and Prime Minister Édouard Philippe as they take part in a demonstration march at Place Saint-Michel, Paris
High school students hold banners making fun of words said by Macron and Prime Minister Édouard Philippe as they take part in a demonstration march at Place Saint-Michel, Paris
Yellow Vests vowed to keep demonstrating even after Macron caved in to some of their key demands, and were joined on Tuesday by thousands of school students
Yellow Vests vowed to keep demonstrating even after Macron caved in to some of their key demands, and were joined on Tuesday by thousands of school students
Rules passed in the wake of the 2008 market crash require all member states to have a deficit of less than 3 per cent of GDP, debt at less than 60 per cent of GDP, and for any member state with debts over 60 per cent to take steps each year to reduce it.
France's current debt is 97 per cent of GDP while economists believe Macron's new spending plans will push the deficit above 3 per cent in 2019. Countries found in breach of the rules risk being hit with hefty fines.  
France is not the only country to flout the EU's spending rules after Italy passed a budget earlier this year which will see the budget deficit rise to 3.1 per cent by 2020, with debt already at 131 per cent of GDP. 
Protesters gathered around TV sets across France on Monday night to hear Macron promise a seven per cent rise in the minimum wage, an end to tax and surcharges on overtime and pensions, and tax-free bonuses.
But opponents said this uncosted spending bonanza would not prevent thousands of protestors taking part in a fifth weekend of action, planned for Saturday.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-Left France Unbowed party, said: 'Emmanuel Macron thought he could hand out some cash to calm the citizens' insurrection that has erupted. I believe that Act Five will play out on Saturday.'
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen also predicted more disturbances, saying Mr Macron had 'given up on some of his tax errors', but 'refused to admit that it is the system he champions that is being questioned.'
Beyond the calls for institutional change - which could result in Mr Macron having to resign - the Yellow Vest movement wants even more tax cuts and pay rises.
Young people gather underneath a statue in the French capital as they protest Macorn's education reforms on Tuesday
Young people gather underneath a statue in the French capital as they protest Macorn's education reforms on Tuesday
French high school students take part in a demonstration march at Place Saint-Michel, Paris
French high school students take part in a demonstration march at Place Saint-Michel, Paris
The student protests come a day after Macron tried to placate angry Yellow Vests, who have been demonstrating for weeks on the streets of the French capital
The student protests come a day after Macron tried to placate angry Yellow Vests, who have been demonstrating for weeks on the streets of the French capital
French authorities fear several factions unhappy with the President's reforms will join together in a wave of protests
French authorities fear several factions unhappy with the President's reforms will join together in a wave of protests
A protester holds a sign saying 'be young and shut up' during student demonstrations in Paris on Tuesday
A protester holds a sign saying 'be young and shut up' during student demonstrations in Paris on Tuesday
A banner reads: 'Our desires are messy, education for all' during demonstrations in Paris
A banner reads: 'Our desires are messy, education for all' during demonstrations in Paris
'In terms of substance, these are half measures,' said unofficial Vests spokesman Benjamin Caudy. 'We feel that Macron has got a lot more to give.' 
Thierry, 55, a bicycle mechanic listening in the southern town of Le Boulou, said afterwards: 'It's just window dressing, for the media, some trivial measures, it almost seems like a provocation. 
'All this is cinema, it doesn't tackle the problems of substance. We're really wound up, we're going back to battle.'
Gaetan, 34, from Rennes, added: 'Maybe if Macron had made this speech three weeks ago, it would have calmed the movement, but now it's too late.
'For us, this speech is nonsense.'
Less than an hour after the presidential address, the A9 toll booth from Spain was completely paralysed. 
In the northwest, at a roundabout at the end of the A28 in Montabon, near Le Mans, 'yellow vests' gathered under a heated tent to watch the president on TV, sharing a picnic.
'Too bad, blew it again!' exclaimed Etienne. 'Santa Claus has nothing in his sack,' laughed Hubert.
Over in eastern France, at the Cafe de la Paix in Commercy, about 15 'yellow vests' watched Macron's speech with a glass of Picon and a basket of fries, interrupting the presidential address with ironic sneers.
'Sir feels bad,' Elisabeth, a 66-year-old retiree, said mockingly as the president acknowledged that he had 'hurt some'.
'It was about time,' added Damien, in his thirties. 'Liar,' a woman shouted. 
'He is being held hostage so he drops some crumbs,' said Jonathan, a 35-year-old official.
But the demonstrators vowed not to give up after weeks of often violent protests, insisting that Macron's offer was too little, too late (pictured, protesters at an oil depot in Le Mans)
But the demonstrators vowed not to give up after weeks of often violent protests, insisting that Macron's offer was too little, too late (pictured, protesters at an oil depot in Le Mans)
Roads were brought to a standstill on Monday night after Macron's speech, as people refused to accept his reform package was genuine (pictured, demonstrators in Le Boulou)
Roads were brought to a standstill on Monday night after Macron's speech, as people refused to accept his reform package was genuine (pictured, demonstrators in Le Boulou)
A protester near Nantes Atlantique Airport stands next to a sign saying President of the Rich, which is covered in pictures of Macron
A protester near Nantes Atlantique Airport stands next to a sign saying President of the Rich, which is covered in pictures of Macron
A Yellow Vest protester helps to filter traffic along a road near Nantes Atlantique Airport
A Yellow Vest protester helps to filter traffic along a road near Nantes Atlantique Airport
Protesters take notes as they watch French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on Monday
Protesters take notes as they watch French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on Monday
In the southern commune of Realmont, 'gilets jaunes' from all four corners of the department of Tarn gathered at the roundabout to heave a sigh and release nervous laughter.
'The people asked him to resign and he puts plasters on third-degree burns (...) this is total rubbish,' said Pierrot, an RSA artist in Albi.
For Luc, a pizza chef in Marseille, 'it's a charade. He announces bonuses to be paid by employers but how will they do it? They don't have more money.'  
In a 12-minutes TV address on Monday, Macron pledged a €100 (£90) per month increase in the minimum wage, taking it to €1498 (£1360). 
There were also be an end-of-year bonus that employers can pay without being charged by the government, while taxes on those earning less than €2000 (£1800) will also end on January 1.
Mr Macron also ruled out any return of the Solidarity Wealth Tax, saying that he wanted to stop rich entrepreneurs 'moving abroad', so preventing 'job creation'.
The extraordinarily generous package of measures represents a massive U-turn by Mr Macron who originally said he would not yield to rioting as he tried to liberalise the sluggish France economy. 
So-called Yellow Vest fuel protestors first took to the streets on November 17, and this led to the president scrapping green charges on petrol and diesel.
'I heard the anger was first of all against the tax, but it's deeper than that, and this anger could be our chance,' said Mr Macron.
Yellow vested 'Gilet jaune' protesters block the A9 highway toll near Le Boulou, southern France on Monday night
Yellow vested 'Gilet jaune' protesters block the A9 highway toll near Le Boulou, southern France on Monday night
Rioting has seen 4,523 arrests across France since November 17. Pictured yellow vest protesters at a toll on the A9 highway
Rioting has seen 4,523 arrests across France since November 17. Pictured yellow vest protesters at a toll on the A9 highway
Protestors take note as they watch French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on TV last night
Protestors take note as they watch French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on TV last night
The extraordinarily generous package of measures represents a massive U-turn by Mr Macron
The extraordinarily generous package of measures represents a massive U-turn by Mr Macron
Yellow Vest protesters watch Mr Macron's TV address in their high visibility jackets in a house in Gaillon, northern France this evening 
Yellow Vest protesters watch Mr Macron's TV address in their high visibility jackets in a house in Gaillon, northern France this evening 
'I heard the despair of the forgotten people. There are couples who struggle to make ends meet, brave single mothers or widows who can't afford child care, and poor pensioners who often have to help children and grandchildren, as well as people with disabilities.'
Mr Macron said this 'Forgotten France' has existed for at least 40 years, and that everything had to be done to held them.
Referring to rioting which has seen 4,523 arrests across France since November 17, Mr Macron said: 'I will not compromise on violence. When violence unfolds, freedom ends.'
Mr Macron, who served in Francois Hollande's Socialist government before becoming President himself in 2017, particularly accused 'opportunists' including looters of 'taking advantage of sincere anger.'
He added: 'No anger justifies attacking a policeman, degrading shop and public buildings. From now on it is the peace and the Republican order which must reign.' 
The yellow vest movement - named after high-visibility vests worn by demonstrators - began online earlier this year, before spreading to the streets in November.
What started as opposition to a proposed fuel tax rise has since snowballed into general anger about a lack of concern for the poor and working class.
They see Macron as a 'leader for the rich' and are demanding - among other things - a reintroduction of taxes on the rich, a rise in minimum wage, and for Macron to go. 

WILL THE GLOBALIST DEMOCRAT PARTY FOR “CHEAP” ILLEGAL LABOR ULTIMATELY DESTROY AMERICA?

“Kansas City is getting more liberal now. The cancer is 

spreading everywhere!” Yesterday, a Townhall columnist 

wrote a steadied piece on the full-on Democratic takeover of Virginia in the last decade, too. I visited there last year—it felt like Los Angeles, only worse. Americans are finding that there are fewer places where they can flee from state’s oppressive governments. 


BILLIONAIRES FOR wider OPEN BORDERS TO KEEP WAGES DEPRESSED and AMERICA FLOODED WITH FOREIGNERS.
But Benioff’s cheap-labor importation plan would also shrink the income and careers sought by millions of American college graduates, many of whom will vote in 2020 for or against Trump. 
*
The nation’s workforce now includes roughly 1.5 million foreign college-graduate contract-workers who are imported via the H-1B, L-1, OPT, O-1, J-1, and other visa programs. These outsourcing workers are not immigrants, but instead, they are contract workers hired for one to six years, at lower wages, to take jobs that would otherwise go to American graduates.
*
The Americans’ salary loss, however, would be a gain for the CEOs who see their profits rise and their stock options spike as middle-class salaries decline. 
 EUROPE IN REVOLT!
AMERICA’S PROTECTED CRIMINAL BILLIONAIRE CLASS HEADS FOR THEIR BUNKERS UNDER WALL STREET.

AMERICA FACES REVOLUTION, CIVIL WAR II OR REVOLUTION AGAINST THE RULE BY BILLIONAIRES AND WALL STREET
"Vast popular hardship and suffering, on the one hand, and almost indescribable wealth and social indifference, on the other. Two parties of the corporate oligarchy, dedicated to war and political reaction. The impossible economic and political conditions must produce sooner rather than later the greatest social upheavals in American history."
 * 
"A series of recent polls in the US and Europe have shown a sharp growth of popular disgust with capitalism and support for socialism. In May of 
2017, in a survey conducted by the Union of European Broadcasters of people aged 18 to 35, more than half said they would participate in a 
“large-scale uprising.” Nine out of 10 agreed with the statement, “Banks and money rule the world.”
*
"A defining expression of this crisis is the dominance of financial speculation and parasitism, to the point where a arrow international financial aristocracy plunders society’s resources in order to further enrich itself."

REVOLUTION STIRS IN AMERICA

It will more likely come on the heels of economic dislocation and dwindling wealth to redistribute.”

*

"Between 2002 and 2015 annual earnings for the bottom 90 percent of Americans rose by only 4.5 percent, while earnings for the top 1 percent grew by 22.7 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Under the Obama administration, more than 90 percent of income gains since the so-called “recovery” began have gone to the top one percent."
*
 “Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat and Republican alike, has become a kleptocracy approaching par with third-world hell-holes. This is the way a great country is raided by its elite.” ---- Karen McQuillan THEAMERICAN THINKER.com

"A defining expression of this crisis is the dominance of financial speculation and parasitism, to the point where a narrow international financial aristocracy plunders society’s resources in order to further enrich itself."

 

THE BILLIONAIRES’S GLOBALIST DEMOCRAT PARTY FOR WIDER OPEN BORDERS

 

the true cost of all that “cheap” labor is passed along to the middle class.

 

"This doesn't include the costs of illegal immigration to society, which provides health care, housing, education, child care, and legal services to illegal aliens.  Even though immigration advocates claim that illegal aliens do indeed pay taxes, the dollar amount pales in comparison to the cost of the many services they receive."

 

https://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-globalist-democrat-party-for-wider_29.html

 

Meanwhile, despite the highest taxes in the nation, California is $1.3 trillion in debt – unemployment is at a staggering 11%.  California's wacko giveaways to illegals include in-state tuition, amounting to $25 million of financial aid.  Nearly a million illegals have California driver's licenses.  L.A. County has 144% more registered voters than there are residents of legal voting age.  Clearly, illegals are illegally voting

WALL STREET AND THE SUPER RICH PREPARE BUNKERS FOR THE REVOLUTION
(SOCIALSIM, INEQUALITY)
BANKSTERS AND BILLIONAIRES PREPARE FOR THE WORST.
REVOLUTION IS IN LOOMING AND WILL MARCH RIGHT DOWN WALL STREET FIRST.

"A series of recent polls in the US and Europe have shown a sharp growth of popular disgust with capitalism and support for socialism. In May of 2017, in a survey conducted by the Union of European Broadcasters of people aged 18 to 35, more than half said they would participate in a “large-scale uprising.” Nine out of 10 agreed with the statement, “Banks and money rule the world.”

*
"The ruling class was particularly terrified by the teachers’ walkouts earlier this year because the biggest strikes were organized by rank-and-file educators in a rebellion against the unions, reflecting the weakening grip of the pro-corporate organizations that have suppressed the class struggle for decades."
*
“The yearly income of a typical US household dropped by a massive 12 percent, or $6,400, in the six years between 2007 and 2013. This is just one of the findings of the 2013 Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances released Thursday, which documents a sharp decline in working class living standards and a further concentration of wealth in the hands of the rich and the super-rich.”
*
"The American phenomenon of record stock values fueling an ever greater concentration of wealth at the very top of society, while the economy is starved of productive investment, the social infrastructure crumbles, and working class living standards are driven down by entrenched unemployment, wage-cutting and government austerity policies, is part of a broader global process."
*
"A defining expression of this crisis is the dominance of financial speculation and parasitism, to the point where a narrow international financial aristocracy plunders society’s resources in order to further enrich itself."

Americans, Learn From The Yellow Jackets: Stop Running And Start Fighting Back


In France, the Yellow Jackets (or “Gilets Jaunes” in French) have rushed into the streets in massive numbers. They are not protesting cuts in the generous entitlements. They are not throwing fits because they fear losing one-month paid vacations. The fight is about the increased fuel taxes—exorbitant taxes on top of the already high cost of fuel
But it’s more. The Macron government, an aloof, elitism regime, is pushing a globalist, pro-EU agenda, one which is crippling the quality of life for working Frenchmen, especially in rural areas and small towns. Mass migration, bureaucratic wrangling, massive crime and unemployment with minimal police presence are raving the country. Sadly, this is history repeating itself as farce. Like now, Western and Northern France rebelled during the French Revolution. The bloodthirsty Jacobins, lead by cat-like Robespierre, seized power from the French King, but their so-called reforms in the name of social justice ended up hurting the very working people they claimed to care about.  
The unrest is also targeting the inflexible, unaccountable EU bureaucracy. Belgian Yellow Jackets are protesting the main offices in Maastricht and Brussels. Europeans have started to realize that the federalization of the continent is not working out as they had hoped. A common currency, a common market has turned into communistic micromanaging. The economically stronger countries are expected to carry the costs of the fiscally weaker nations. The central planners want open borders, cheap labor, and the resolute silencing of any disagreement to their plans. A federalized Europe is not working out. A Frenchman cannot run to Portugal, Spain, or Italy to escape the moral and fiscal ruin of his home country. French voters have no choice but to fight back for their rights and dignity in their home countries. 
France’s Yellow Jacket revolt is spreading into the Netherlands as well. The Dutchmen are just as animated, but less violent, expressing pent-up outrage over similar issues: excessive taxes, open borders, but also a stifling culture of political correctness. This subtle anti-free speech tyranny has inhibited a healthy exploration of difficult issues, but has hindered public safety. Islamic militants among the teeming masses of refugees are overwhelming Europe, undermining the tenuous social fabric of the Western World and bringing rampant acts of terrorism in their wake. Islamic preachers call publicly for full-on conquest Europe, the imposition of Sharia law, and with it the casting out of freedom, the democratic process, and civil rights for all. However, law-abiding citizens face criminal penalties for criticizing Islam, Allah, or for calling out the violent tendencies advocated for in the Koran. This injustice cannot stand any longer, so the people are taking to the streets. 
Even in Canada, a small yet growing contingent of Yellow Jacket protests are gathering in different urban centers, including Calgary, Alberta and Ottawa, Ontario: the federal seat of the national government. They are protesting Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax scheme. They are also rising up against Trudeau’s lax defense and border control policies. Seven conservative provincial premiers are pushing back against the federal government’s insistence on taking in large numbers of Middle Eastern refugees, but refusing to pick up the costs for this program. 
Throughout the Western World, people are clamoring for the freedom to speak out against Islam, against the aggressive secular agenda invading their schools and the government. In general, they are forcefully denouncing the rogue cult of progressivism. As the taxes and dead bodies pile up, as the degradation of the public square becomes more prominent, the citizens are pushing back.  
Contrast these European uprisings with the United States. Instead of fighting big statism, Americans are fleeing their home state in droves. Californians are in mass exodus, including members of my own family. If they don’t like the blue state bureaucracy, American citizens enjoy the luxury of moving to a red state. And yet, this intra-migration process is hitting a brick wall. Some reliably red states have been trending blue over the last ten years. After Election 2018, progressives are targeting more of them. 
One contact from New Mexico just witnessed this Democratic resurgence. The lone Republican Congressman, Steve Pearce, lost his bid for governor, and his seat flipped blue (likely due to voter fraud, but no one’s fighting it). “I am planning on moving out of here,” she told me. But I had to ask: “Where do you plan to go?” Arizona suffered some Democratic wins. Wisconsin and Michigan will have Democrats installed in statewide offices next year. Republicans still control those state legislatures for now, but for how much longer? Even ruby-red Kansas just elected a Democratic Governor. Another friend (who had relocated to the Sunflower State) expressed shock and disdain, even though he enjoys the much lower cost of living. “Kansas City is getting more liberal now. The cancer is spreading everywhere!” Yesterday, a Townhall columnist wrote a steadied piece on the full-on Democratic takeover of Virginia in the last decade, too. I visited there last year—it felt like Los Angeles, only worse. Americans are finding that there are fewer places where they can flee from state’s oppressive governments. 
Americans better learn the lesson and follow the example of their Yellow Jacket peers: assert your rights in your home states. Running to Texas is not the final answer. Texas is combatting a blue undercurrent already. The seduction of socialism, which gives way to the specter of communism, has possessed the minds of college students there as well as in California, Oregon, and Washington State. Don’t flee, fight back, Americans. It’s time to Make America Great Again, not just find a redder state to retire in.  
The Founding Fathers didn’t pull up stakes and flee west of the Appalachian Mountains when the British Empire exacted higher taxes while denying the American colonists’ equal representation in parliament. If American citizens don’t like what they see happening at the local level or the state level in their home states, they need to start fighting back, because there are fewer places to run to.

Another day, another horror in America: Five children killed in Youngstown, Ohio, house fire


11 December 2018
Daybreak Monday brought news of yet another horrific tragedy in the United States. Fire officials in Youngstown, Ohio, confirmed that five children had been killed, and their 26-year-old mother, America “Amy” Negron-Acevedo, severely injured after fire engulfed their home late Sunday night.
Negron-Acevedo has been transferred to the MetroHealth Burn Center in nearby Cleveland. She survived the fire by jumping out of a second-floor window. Residents on the block were alerted to the fire as Negron-Acevedo ran down the street, injured, screaming for help to save her children.
The five deceased children have been identified as Aleysha Rosario, 9; Charles Gunn, 3; Ly’Asia Gunn, 2; and Brianna and Arianna Negron, one-year-old twins. Two of the children were found dead by firefighters who rushed into the house at 434 Parkcliffe Avenue, while three died later at the hospital.
According to neighbors, the family had only been living in the house for less than half a year. Negron-Acevedo works for Century Container, a plastic container manufacturer half an hour’s drive outside Youngstown, where the average wage for a shift supervisor is less than $13 an hour. Even if she were making this amount, at full time it would have placed Negron-Acevedo and her children well below the poverty line, leaving her with the only option of renting substandard housing.
Two firefighters were injured in the rescue effort, one serious enough to be taken to the hospital for treatment. Youngstown City Fire Chief Barry Finley told reporters that the tragedy had also taken a heavy emotional toll. “It’s extremely hard. We have a relatively young department, and most the guys have children. So, it hits pretty hard, and the fact that it’s so close to Christmas hits even harder.”
While the immediate cause of Sunday’s fire remains under 
investigation, temperatures in Youngstown fell into the low 20s 
Fahrenheit over the weekend. During the winter 
months, families often turn to unsafe space 
heaters to avoid high heating bills or to keep 
warm when utilities have been shut off over 
unpaid bills, contributing to a higher number 
of house fires.

The tragedy that struck Negron-Acevedo’s family is not an isolated event. More than 3,400 people were killed in structure fires across the US in 2017. The majority died in their homes. Earlier this year, a blaze that consumed a house in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood killed ten children between the ages of three months and 16 years old. In that case, there were no functional smoke alarms in the home to alert the sleeping children to the fire.
Whatever the specific causes and 
circumstances, such tragedies arise out of 
definite social, economic and political 
processes.
Youngstown is one of many cities across the Midwest that has been devastated by four decades of deindustrialization and the destruction of tens of thousands of decent paying jobs in steel mills and machine shops. Since the day in September 1977, known as Black Monday, when the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company announced its closure, the city’s population has been reduced by more than half.
Today, nearly 40 percent of Youngstown’s residents live below the poverty line. A 2014 report found that more than 63 percent of children in the city were growing up in poverty, placing the city just behind Flint, Michigan, with the worst child poverty rate in the country. The destruction of jobs and the explosion in poverty that followed the economic crisis a decade ago has fueled an opioid overdose crisis across the US, with the region around Youngstown a center of the crisis in Ohio. Last year, 245 people died of drug overdoses, an increase of 23 percent over the previous year.
With its property tax base wiped out by factory closures and ensuing depopulation, the city has struggled to cover the cost of basic social services, including the fire department. Earlier this year, the city removed one firetruck from service and demoted nine firefighters in order to cut their pay, as part of an effort to cover a projected $15 million budget shortfall for the city over the next five years. “We all have to tighten our belt to be more fiscally responsible with the city’s money,” Fire Chief Finely told media at the time.
That such sums could constitute a financial crisis is exposed as absurd by the fact that Ohio’s richest man, Les Wexner (net worth $6.1 billion), owns a $100 million yacht, enough to pay the salaries of more than 2,200 firefighters for an entire year. The vessel, which goes by the name Limitless, is one of the world’s largest private superyachts, specially built in 1997 by German ship maker Lürssen for Wexner, the chairman and CEO of L Brands corporation (Victoria’s Secret).
Indeed, limitless sums are made available for 
the whims of the corporate and financial elite, 
while basic social services are decimated—
with the inevitable consequences.
The destruction of Youngstown has been overseen by Democrats and Republicans at the state and local level, with the city being hollowed out over the last 40 years under the control of Democratic mayors. Nationally, under Obama and now Trump, there has been an intensification of the assault on the working class. Whatever their conflicts, both parties agree on the transfer of wealth from the working class to the rich, while hundreds of billions are allocated every year to finance the weapons of destruction and war.
The United Auto Workers, United Steelworkers and other unions have facilitated the destruction of jobs, working hand in hand with the Democrats. For decades, the increasingly wealthy executives that control these organizations have collaborated in the decimation of living standards for the workers they claim to represent.
The social crisis that has ravaged Youngstown and the surrounding Mahoning Valley is set to worsen as GM, the largest industrial employer in the area, is planning to shutter its Lordstown assembly plant just 17 miles west of Negron-Acevedo’s home.
GM’s plans to close Lordstown along with plants in Detroit, Michigan and Oshawa, Ontario, will be a death sentence for countless workers and their children, tearing apart families and social networks. For the company’s executives, board members and investors, the social inferno they are preparing will pad their bottom line, while funneling millions to wealthy investors.
This underscores the crucial importance of the meeting hosted by the World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter on Sunday, which adopted a resolution for the formation of rank-and-file factory, workplace and neighborhood committees, independent of the unions. The resolution stressed that the consequences of the job cuts would be felt far beyond the workers immediately impacted. The struggle of autoworkers to defend their jobs and wages must be connected to a broad struggle of the working class.
Such tragedies as that which befell the Negron-Acevedo family, and many more like it, are entirely preventable. Billions must be allocated to construct modern fire-resistant housing, including the use of smoke detectors and much more advanced technologies, along with an infusion of funding into fire departments. A safe and affordable house is a basic social right that must be guaranteed to all.
To secure these rights, the working class must be organized in a political struggle that takes direct aim at the wealth and prerogatives of the financial aristocracy. Capitalism, which ensures the inalienable right of the rich to profit, must be overthrown and replaced with socialism, the reorganization of society on the basis of equality and social need.