Pictures From New Year’s Eve In The Bahamas

Baby Boomers Could Force Economic Catastrophe

January 12th, 2011

FoxNews.com

By: Jim Angle

Lawmakers will look back on 2011 as the year the U.S. started down into a financial Grand Canyon, because the first baby boomers turn 65 this year — the front edge of a tidal wave of baby boomer retirements.

“Over the next 20 years, around 10,000 baby boomers will be retiring each day,” says Andrew Biggs, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. “That means more people collecting social security, more people collecting Medicare, more people collecting Medicaid as well,”

That also means the members of one of the most affluent generations will slow down in buying cars and homes and consumer products of all kinds, as they pass their peak earning years and head into retirement.

That could hurt the economy, but it is clearly a financial disaster for the federal government as those 79 million boomers shift from paying taxes into social security and Medicare and start collecting benefits from them.

“The federal government’s going to be bleeding money as the baby boom retires,” says Doug Holtz Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. “We know we can’t pay all the Social Security and Medicare benefits that we promised. There isn’t enough money in the world to do that so we know we’re going to have to make cuts,” Biggs says. “But politicians are afraid to make the choices to do that.”

The two programs need tens of trillions of dollars to pay all the benefits promised. And analysts say that when all the boomers are collecting benefits, the government would need one of every three dollars earned by those still working just to support social security and Medicare. Charles Blahous, a trustee of Social Security and Medicare, notes that younger Americans are ” going to have a much, much higher share of their paychecks going to the federal government to support not only the federal budget in general, but specifically entitlement programs for the elderly.”

There are lots of proposals to repair the finances of the two programs. But they’re politically difficult, and the longer lawmakers wait, the harder and more painful the fixes get.

“There is an implicit bipartisan consensus,” Blahous says, “that we’re not going to suddenly cut benefits of people once they’re receiving them. So we’re not going to pay that 85 year-old widow $2,000 in January and then jerk her back to $1,800 in February. We’re just not gonna do that.”So every year that passes puts more seniors on the rolls, making their benefits politically untouchable — meaning more and more of the solution has to come from tax increases.

Young taxpayers would no doubt complain, but people over 65 are the most reliable and determined voters, which means lawmakers would be wary of taking anything away from them.

Click here for the full report from FoxNews.com

Company Recalls 113 Tons of Year-Old, Smelly Beef Bound for Prisons

January 12th, 2011

WalletPop.com

By: Linda Doell

One Great Burger of New Jersey recalled 226,400 pounds of possibly spoiled ground beef sent to prisons in California and Oregon, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Company spokesman Frank Tobin said the privately-held company is continuing to search for a cause of the odor and discoloration complaints that prompted the recall. Tobin said none of the product was eaten and no illnesses have been reported.

The USDA said its investigation showed the meat was returned, repackaged and then redistributed to the prisons. Some of it was produced a year ago. However, the Class II recall has a low health risk, the agency said.

Tobin confirmed the meat was repackaged after a retailer returned it due to questions about the ratios of fat to lean. The repackaged meat also was re-inspected by the USDA before it went to two distributors who then sent it on to the prisons. One Great Burger has distribution outlets nationwide for its products.

“Product is repackaged and redistributed all the time,” he told Consumer Ally. “There was not a question of the quality of the food product … everything was inspected and everything was wholesome.”

Involved in the recall are 20-pound boxes of “ONEGREAT HAMBURGERS” with an item number of 02044 and an establishment number of 34575 within the USDA mark of inspection. The meat was produced between January 2010 and May 2010 and has “packed on” dates between July 2010 and November 2010.

The USDA is continuing to investigate the case. Consumers with questions about the recall can call the company’s director of technical services, John Haug, at (973) 477-9039.

Just last week in an unrelated recall, some 34,000 pounds of organic ground beef and beef patties were taken out of grocery stores including some Costco and Harris Teeter locations over fears of e. coli contamination.

Click here for the full report from WalletPop

The Kevin Trudeau Show: 1-12-11

Today, Kevin reveals what his insider friends are telling him regarding the state of the US dollar and how extraterrestrial beings may not be considered a science fiction myth much longer.

Self Help:
The Herpes Cure
Be Prepared

Motivation:
Muse – Uprising

Health:
What’s In Your Food? You Made Be Surprised!
Company Recalls 113 Tons of Old Beef

Wealth:
Is America Heading Towards Bankruptcy?
Baby Boomers Will Force Economic Catastrophe

Everything Kevin:
Become An Insider!
Kevin is on YouTube!
Sign Up For Kevin’s FREE Podcast
Follow Kevin on Twitter
Become Kevin’s Friend on Facebook
Kevin’s Film Club
Kevin’s Book Club

Take Trudeau on the Go! Click here to download this show to your iPod, mp3 player, or PC through iTunes!

Click Below to Watch the Kevin Trudeau Show LIVE!

How Long Is America’s Road Back to Full Employment?

January 12th, 2011

Daily Finance

By: Joseph Lazarro

As the U.S. continues its ongoing effort to restore the job market to health, investors might want to view the process the way they would the pursuit of a four-year college degree: Whatever efforts are put in now, the real payoff will take awhile to arrive.

All investors and job-seekers are aware of the Great Recession’s impact on the job market from 2007 to 2009. About 8 million jobs were lost in the nation’s worst economic downturn since the 1930s.

Almost every sector experienced job cuts, with the construction (2 million jobs lost), financial services (800,000 jobs lost) and auto sectors hit especially hard, according to statistics compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the process, the nation’s unemployment rate soared to 10.1% in November 2009, before declining slightly in 2010, to 9.4% as of December 2010.

Add in the approximately 7 million adults who were already looking for full-time work before the recession hit in December 2007, and it doesn’t take a mathematician to see that the nation’s full-time job deficit is huge: about 15 million jobs.

And the total is much higher if one considers discouraged unemployed workers not currently seeking work, who aren’t counted in the official unemployment statistic, or part-time workers who want full-time jobs.

How Long Until Full Employment?

That means the 15 million-job deficit is conservative, though it may not be conservative enough, given the recent shift in public policy targets. In a speech in Denver on Saturday, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Janet Yellen said a Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia survey of forecasters put the median “new normal” full employment jobless rate at about 5.75%. That’s substantially higher than the 3.5% to 5% target range bandied about by economists a decade ago.

If one accepts a jobless rate slightly below 6% as the new standrd, that means the U.S. economy would need to create about 9.4 million jobs to reach full employment, according to BLS data, The New York Times reported.

Click here the full report from Daily Finance

Geithner Warns Lawmakers On US Debt Limit

January 12th, 2011

The Wall Street Journal

By: Meena Thiruvengadam and Jeffrey Sparshott

The U.S. could reach its debt limit of nearly $14.3 trillion as early as March 31, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday.

Geithner in a letter to lawmakers said failure to raise the debt limit could “precipitate a default by the United States” and have catastrophic economic consequences–potentially more harmful than the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009.

The letter received a cool reception on Capitol Hill.

“The American people will not stand for such an increase unless it is accompanied by meaningful action by the President and Congress to cut spending and end the job-killing spending binge in Washington,” Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner said.

Boehner, leading a new Republican majority in the House, said spending cuts remained a top priority lawmakers.

The Treasury Department estimates that the U.S. could reach its debt limit as soon as March 31 and probably no later than May 16. The exact date depends on the rate of economic growth, tax receipts and other factors.

“This means it is necessary for Congress to act by the end of the first quarter of 2011,” Geithner said in the letter.

Geithner is pushing lawmakers to lift that ceiling for the sixth time in less than four years. Lawmakers last increased the debt ceiling almost a year ago.

But by Monday, the federal debt subject to that ceiling stood at around $13.95 trillion, giving the government just $355 billion before it would be legally prohibited from borrowing to pay its financial obligations.

A Treasury official said the administration is hoping to separate the debt ceiling increase from the debate on spending. And in his letter, Geithner said deep spending cuts would delay reaching the ceiling by no more than two weeks.

Boehner, though, emphasized the importance of spending cuts.

“While America cannot default on its debt, we also cannot continue to borrow recklessly, dig ourselves deeper into this hole, and mortgage the future of our children and grandchildren,” he said.

Failure to raise the U.S. debt ceiling could cast doubt on the U.S. government’s ability to meet its obligations and send shockwaves through the bond market.

“Default would have prolonged and far-reaching negative consequences on the safe-haven status of Treasurys and the dollar’s dominant role in the international financial system,” Geithner said.

Click here for the full report from the Wall Street Journal

What’s in Your Food? You Might Be Surprised.

January 12th, 2011

AOL Health

By: Victoria Stein

Folklore has it that in the 1970s, McDonald’s used Styrofoam balls as a filler in its milkshakes, until customers began to notice the fuzzy floating substances and complained. While the story is not true, several other McDonald’s products are full of ingredients you might think twice about eating. Take, for example, the Chicken McNugget. Among the 30-plus ingredients in each bite are dextrose, wheat starch and sodium phosphate — and that’s just in the meat!

Unlike in Thailand and the United Kingdom, where food manufacturers must disclose specific percentages for main or “important” ingredients on food packages (e.g., exactly how much chicken is in chicken noodle soup), American regulations require that labels list only ingredients in descending order by weight. As a result, consumers are left with a much vaguer picture of what is (and is not) in their food. A quick glance at a box of Ritz Bitz cheese sandwiches, for instance, would tell you that cheese is the ninth ingredient, but you’d have no way of knowing that the crackers are only 3 percent cheese.

To help you know some of the stuff you might want to avoid, check out AOL Health’s list of some of the biggest ingredient offenders.

1. The package for Gerber Graduates for Preschoolers’ juice treats pictures a bounty of fresh fruits — oranges, grapes, peaches, cherries, pineapples and berries — yet one look at the ingredient list will tell you there’s no orange, peach, cherry or pineapple in the food and there’s less than 2 percent raspberry juice concentrate. What you do get is four teaspoons of refined sugar in every serving, thanks to a hefty dose of sugar and corn syrup. Gerber isn’t the only culprit, though. Plenty of food companies serve “made with real fruit” claims that they can hardly back up.

2. In 2001, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group, measured the amount of shrimp in Nissin Cup Noodles With Shrimp. The result? Just zero to four shrimpy crustaceans in each cup. Nearly a decade later, the instant soup mix hasn’t changed its recipe, but the box still pictures five plump shrimp.

3. Assume that your bowl of strawberries and cream Quaker instant oatmeal is full of strawberries? Think again. In truth, the “strawberries” are dehydrated apples that are dyed red. Similarly, the peaches and cream variety has dehydrated apples that are dyed a peachy hue and doesn’t contain any real peaches.

For more pictures and the rest of the story, go to AOL Health

Nearly 25 Million in U.S. Have Asthma

January 12th, 2011

Reuters

By: Maggie Fox

Nearly 25 million Americans have asthma, or just over 8 percent of the population, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday.

Here are some facts about asthma in the United States from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics:

* In 2009, 17.5 million U.S. adults and 7.1 million children had diagnosed asthma.

* Just over 4 percent of the population had at least one asthma attack in the past year, or 12.8 million people.

* Asthma killed 3,447 people in 2007 and 3,395 people in 2008.

* Asthma accounted for 10.5 million lost school days and 14.2 million lost work days in 2008.

* People made 1.75 million visits to emergency rooms because of asthma in 2007, 14 million visits to private doctor offices, and 1.4 million hospital outpatient department visits.

* Females, children, non-Hispanic blacks, Puerto Ricans, people living below the poverty level, and people in the Northeast and Midwest regions are more likely to have asthma.

Click here for the full report from Reuters

Muse – Uprising

Muse – Uprising Lyrics

The paranoia is in bloom,
The PR transmissions will resume,
They’ll try to push drugs to keep us all dumbed down,
And hope that we will never see the truth around,

SO COME ON!

Another promise, another seed,
Another packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed,
With all the green belts wrapped around our minds,
And endless red tape to keep the truth confined,

SO COME ON!

They will not force us,
They will stop degrading us,
They will not control us,
And we will be victorious!

SO COME ON!

Interchanging mind-control,
Come, let the revolution take its toll,
If you could flick a switch and open your third eye,
You’d see that we should never be afraid to die,

SO COME ON!

Rise up and take the power back,
It’s time that the fat cats had a heart attack,
You know that their time’s coming to an end,
We have to unify and watch our flag ascend!

SO COME ON!

They will not force us,
They will stop degrading us,
They will not control us,
And we will be victorious!

SO COME ON!

They will not force us,
They will stop degrading us,
They will not control us,
And we will be victorious!

SO COME ON!

COME ON!

The Kevin Trudeau Show: 1-11-11

Today, Kevin reveals the steps to reduce the effects of brainwashing and gives you the recipe to manifest all your dreams!

Self Help:
Get Paid To Listen To KT
Stop Showering In Toxins
Achieve Your Dreams
Get Your Thinking Right
Get A Discount!

Big Pharma:
Suspect In Arizona Shootings Had History Of Troubling Behavior

Everything Kevin:
Become An Insider!
Kevin is on YouTube!
Sign Up For Kevin’s FREE Podcast
Follow Kevin on Twitter
Become Kevin’s Friend on Facebook
Kevin’s Film Club
Kevin’s Book Club

Take Trudeau on the Go! Click here to download this show to your iPod, mp3 player, or PC through iTunes!

Click Below to Watch the Kevin Trudeau Show LIVE!

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