A fall of the only Superpower-1?
Economy and Education
Dr. Adel Elsaie
Economical and Financial Crises
Failure of Colossal American companies.
The US Federal Reserve agreed to an $ 85 Billion bailout of the huge AIG , the biggest Insurance company on Earth, after it failed to get bank loan to avoid bankruptcy.
The US government took over mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These are the companies that insure housing financing.
Bear Stearns , Lehman brothers.
JPMorganChase stepped in to acquire Bear Stearns when it collapsed just a few months ago
Lehman Brothers heads into bankruptcy Monday and Bank of America says it would buy Merrill Lynch & Co., another troubled financial firm.
Bank of America to acquire Merrill Lynch, the third biggest security firm, after shares fell by more than 35% in one week, "second week of Sept. 2008"
We have a 9.5 Trillion Dollar deficit that is being held by foreign countries.
In the same week, American International Group, the world largest insurer, suffered 45% drop in its
Lehman Brothers prepares for bankruptcy, Sept, 15, 2008
Most Americans, including the presidential candidates and the media, are unaware that the US government today, now at this minute, is unable to finance its day to operations and must rely on foreigners to purchase its bonds. The government pays the interest to foreigners by selling more bonds, and when the bonds come due, the government redeems the bonds by selling new bonds. The day the foreigners do not buy is the day the American people and their government are brought to reality.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20771.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20777.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20773.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20779.htm
reaction to IndyMac's failure this
summer ---- lines outside retail branches -- shows Americans have limited faith
in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which guarantees individual accounts up
to $100,000.
A fall of the only Superpower-2?
violance
http://www.usislam.org/fallofUSA/reasons_for_the_fall_of_the_roma.htm
Decline in Morals and Values
Corruption
Unemployment
Military Spending
Where Does Your Tax Money Go?
By David Wallechinsky
In the coming week, millions of Americans will be paying income taxes to the
U.S. government, but those payments ($894 billion) will cover barely a third of
the government’s spending. Most of the rest of the federal budget will be
covered by payroll taxes and related receipts ($774 billion) and corporate
income taxes ($226 billion). At least $427 billion will have to be borrowed. We
asked our investigative reporter David Wallechinsky to take a close look at how
this money is spent. Here is his report.
This year, the Federal government will spend more than $2.5 trillion—an amount
almost impossible to grasp. If you do the math, this number translates into $6.8
billion a day, or $4.72 million a minute and $8454 for each man, woman and child
in the country.So what do we get for our money?
Nearly three-quarters of the federal budget goes to four areas: the military,
health-care benefits, interest on the national debt and Social Security. The
rest goes to various social-aid programs, including education grants, scientific
research, the arts, support for small businesses, foreign aid and running the
government. The military. Including estimates for the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, we will spend $527 billion on military expenses this year. In fact,
the U.S. spends as much money on its military as all other nations combined.
About $5 billion goes for military assistance to foreign governments, including
$2.2 billion for Israel and $1.3 billion for Egypt. Intelligence spending—also
part of the military budget—is classified, but GlobalSecurity.org, an
intelligence policy think tank, estimates that the year’s expenses for spying
and other intelligence-gathering will be more than $40 billion. About $34
billion goes to the Department of Defense, including $7 billion for the National
Security Agency and $7 billion for the National Reconnaissance Office, which
builds and maintains spy satellites. An additional $5 billion goes to the CIA.
(Among other intelligence-gathering agencies, the FBI receives $5.2 billion, and
the Department of Homeland Security accounts for about $33 billion.) U.S.
military spending also includes $2.5 million to remove unexploded bombs dropped
over Laos during the Vietnam War, $400 million to train and equip the Afghan
National Army and more than $600 million on Army recruitment advertising.
Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare benefits for 40 million elderly and disabled
patients and Medicaid assistance for 46 million low-income, disabled and elderly
patients will total $521 billion. Social Security. This popular but
controversial program, created in 1935 to help provide a financial safety net
for all Americans 65 and over, is paid from payroll taxes on those still
working. This year’s payment, to 47 million recipients, will total $519 billion.
National debt. If you spend more than you earn, you have to make up the
difference by borrowing. The U.S. currently has a total debt of $7.7
trillion—more than $25,000 per person. Just like individuals, the government has
to make regular payments on the debt, which include interest. Interest payments
this year will total at least $321 billion, or an average of $90 a month, or
$1085 for every American. The debt has increased dramatically in the last three
years. Revenues have gone down 5.6% while spending has gone up 23%, building an
enormous debt for future generations to deal with. Other social-aid programs.
Beyond the huge outlay for Medicare and Medicaid, there are other social
programs that total about $200 billion.Unemployment trust fund benefits add up
to
$40 billion; the Food Stamp Program, $34 billion; Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
for 6.9 million aged, blind and disabled Americans, $42 billion; medical
services for veterans, $27 billion; and the Housing Certificate Fund for
low-income households, $20 billion. Three major education programs provide
grants to: local school districts to help educationally deprived students ($12.7
billion); Pell grants to help needy students attend college ($12.4 billion); and
grants to school districts to aid students with disabilities ($10.6 billion).
And did you know... Within larger departments are a vast array of diverse and
interesting programs. These include a reward of $25 million or more for the
arrest of Osama bin Laden; $48 million for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
(under the ice at the South Pole); $5 million for bed space for illegal aliens
awaiting deportation; $1 million for the Cook County, Ill., Cold Case Homicide
Unit, which has reopened 100 cases, with 25 convictions; $1.45 million for
rhinoceros and tiger conservation; $496,000 to transfer the Presidential
materials of Richard Nixon from Washington, D.C., to the Richard Nixon Library
in Yorba Linda, Calif.; and $500,000 for the Audubon at Home program to help
homeowners make their backyards more wildlife-friendly. Oh, yes, one more way
the government uses our tax dollars—the annual operating expense of the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS): $10.3 billion.
***Pie chart with segments representing government spending:
* Military: 21%
* Social Security: 20%
* Medicare & Medicaid: 20%
* Other: 19%
* National Debt Interest: 12%
* Major Social-Aid Programs: 8%
A Look at Priorities
We can learn a lot about our government’s priorities by comparing the funding
for certain programs. For example:
Science vs. the arts.
To the National Science Foundation: $5.47 billion. To the National Endowment for
the Arts: $121 million.
Business vs. safety.
Funds for the Securities and Exchange Commission ($888 million) and the Small
Business Administration ($580 million) exceed the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration ($464 million) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission ($63
million) by $941 million.
Abstinence vs. adoption.
This year, we will spend $168 million for sexual-abstinence education but only
$13 million for adoption awareness.
Fighting drugs vs. alcohol.
Various anti-drug programs spread over different government departments total
about $12 billion, while the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
will receive only $442 million.
Nuclear energy vs. other sources.
The Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology has a budget of $503
million. By comparison, $85 million goes to the Solar Energy Technology Program
and $41.6 million for Wind Energy Technology. (Fallout note: It will cost $7.3
billion this year to continue the cleanup of radioactive waste from
nuclear-weapons production and $6.6 billion a year to maintain our nuclear
warheads.)
Space exploration for war or peace?
Expenditures for space include $10 billion for research and development of an
anti-missile defense system and $6.7 billion for space flight, including the
space shuttle and space station. For more purely scientific efforts: to the
Astronomical Search for Origins, including development of space telescopes, $1.1
billion; for Mars exploration, $681 million; for robotic exploration of the
Moon, $52 million.
Rebuilding Iraq vs. rebuilding America
Since the invasion of Iraq, the U.S. government has allocated $19 billion for
reconstruction and related projects in Iraq, although much of it has yet to be
spent. This figure is more than the combined annual budgets for the National
Cancer Institute, Amtrak, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Federal
Air Marshals, operation of the National Park Service, Homeless Assistance
Grants, the Superfund Hazardous Substance Cleanup, Home-Delivered Meals to the
Elderly and youth employment and training programs.
Historical Reminder:
The government spent more than $40 million for the Whitewater and Monica
Lewinsky investigations but only $15 million for the 9/11 Commission to examine
the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
What The President Costs
This year, we will spend $1.2 billion for the U.S. Secret Service to protect the
President, the Vice President, their families and visiting dignitaries, plus
more than $255 million to maintain the Executive Office of the President. The
President gets an annual salary of $400,000, plus allowances for extra traveling
($100,000), personal expenses ($50,000) and “unanticipated expenses” ($1
million).
What You Can Do
If you’d like to have an influence on the way your tax money is spent, the best
action you can take is to participate in our democracy. In a word: VOTE.
And write to your Senators and Representative.