The decline and eventual fall of the USA as world superpower?

[Isimsiz Biri]

Anyone read the bestseller novel of 1979 "Shibumi" by Trevanian, pseudonym of Rodney William Whitaker?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibumi_(novel)

 

I have not seen a better description of Mother Company.

 

It is not USA President in charge.

[Thunder_Gooch]

[silent thunder]

Anyone read the bestseller novel of 1979 "Shibumi" by Trevanian, pseudonym of Rodney William Whitaker?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibumi_(novel)

 

I have not seen a better description of Mother Company.

 

It is not USA President in charge.

Haven't read any fiction in a while, but this is tempting...

[Isimsiz Biri]

Haven't read any fiction in a while, but this is tempting...

 

 

It is a novel but it is not fiction. Rather a biography. I recommend it.

http://www.amazon.com/Shibumi-A-Novel-Trevanian/dp/1400098033

 

In 2012, another writer Don Winslow authored a novel based on Shibumi, called Satori

http://www.amazon.com/Satori-Don-Winslow/dp/0446561916/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383147278&sr=1-1&keywords=satori+don+winslow

[zerostao]

so there is this new bill introduced called the American Freedom Act.

supposed to do away with the spying nsa activities.

is this just window dressing?

or due to political double speak tendencies i.e. > patriot act etc

and the long history of us politicians speaking with forked tongues,,,

should we be utterly terrified by a bill named the american freedom act?

 

[joeblast]

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-10-30/head-congressional-intelligence-committee-%E2%80%9Cyou-can%E2%80%99t-have-your-privacy-violat

 

Rogers

: I would argue the fact that we haven’t had any complaints come forward with any specificity arguing that their privacy has been violated, clearly indicates, in ten years, clearly indicates that something must be doing right. Somebody must be doing something exactly right.

 

Vladeck

: But who would be complaining?

 

Rogers

: Somebody who’s privacy was violated.

You can’t have your privacy violated if you don’t know your privacy is violated.

 

Vladeck

: I disagree with that. If a tree falls in the forest, it makes a noise whether you’re there to see it or not.

 

Rogers

: Well that’s a new interesting standard in the law. We’re going to have this conversation… but we’re going to have wine, because that’s going to get a lot more interesting…

[Brian]

Rogers takes an interesting stance -- if someone is raped while in a coma, I guess he would say that isn't a violation, either?

[thelerner]

so there is this new bill introduced called the American Freedom Act.

supposed to do away with the spying nsa activities.

is this just window dressing?

or due to political double speak tendencies i.e. > patriot act etc

and the long history of us politicians speaking with forked tongues,,,

should we be utterly terrified by a bill named the american freedom act?

I understand your reasoning. The Patriot act was anything but. American popular will, forces on both sides of the aisle, and the media are lining up against the over reaches. There's a well deserved back lash in motion. It won't do away with the NSA, but will constrain it and finally repair the excesses of the Patriot act. We're only now seeing how big, the beast has grown. Its got to be stopped before the growth becomes institutionalized.

 

Historically we've had worse; the blacklistings and witch hunts in the 50's and 60's. They were reigned in. This will be too, imo.

Edited October 31, 2013 by thelerner

[zerostao]

even if the 60's actually really happened? who can be sure?

one november morning, the secrecy groups did take control quite violently.

"and its hard to hold a candle in the cold november rain,,,

and when your fears subside and the shadows still remain..so never mind the darknes..."

[joeblast]

[Brian]

Some things don't change with time...

 

[Thunder_Gooch]

[Isimsiz Biri]

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Abraham Lincoln

[Brian]

Yes but unfortunately:

 

"There's a sucker born every minute."

 

P.T. Barnum

[joeblast]

http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2013/11/from-mouths-of-babes.html

[joeblast]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-05/guest-post-congress-sells-out-wall-street-again

 

The U.S. House just passed a bill called H.R. 992 - the Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act - that was literally written by mega-bank lobbyists. It repeals the laws passed in 2010 to prevent another meltdown like the one that crashed our economy in 2008. The repeal was co-sponsored by a former Goldman Sachs executive and passed with bipartisan support from some of the House’s largest recipients of Wall Street cash. It’s so appalling... so unbelievable... so blatantly corrupt... that you’ve got to see it to believe it:

In 2010, Congress passed the “Dodd-Frank” law to clamp down on risky “derivatives trading” that led to the financial collapse of 2008. Dodd-Frank was weakened by banking lobbyists from the start and has been under attack by those lobbyists ever since. Now a new law written by Citigroup lobbyists (we couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried) exempts derivatives trading from regulation, and was passed this week by the House of Representatives with broad bipartisan support.

It sounds bad… but don’t worry, it gets much, much worse:

• The New York Times reports that 70 of the 85 lines in the new House bill were literally written by Citigroup lobbyists (Citigroup was one of the mega-banks that brought our economy to its knees in 2008 and received billions in taxpayer money.)
• The same report also revealed “two crucial paragraphs…were copied nearly word for word.” You can even view the original documents and see how Citigroup’s lobbyists redrafted the House Bill, striking out ideas they didn’t like and replacing them with ones they did.
• The bills are sponsored by Randy Hultgren (R – IL), and co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) and others. Himes is a former Goldman Sachs executive, and chief fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
• Maplight reports that the financial industry is the top source of campaign funding for 6 of the bills’ 8 cosponsors.
• Maplight’s data shows that members of the House received $22,425,740 million from interest groups that support the bill — that’s 5.8 times more than it received from interest groups opposed.
• “House aides, when asked why Democrats would vote for this proposal even though the Obama administration opposes it, offered a political explanation. Republicans have enough votes to pass it themselves, so vulnerable House Democrats might as well join them, and collect industry money for their campaigns.” — New York Times

Yep, it’s actually that bad. For the full story, check out this revealing piece by Represent.Us Communications Director Mansur Gidfar. You can also find out if your Rep. voted for H.R.992 here.

We elect Representatives to the House to represent us, the people — but both parties now refuse to do the job we elected them to do. And they won’t until we force them to. The American Anti-Corruption Act would stop this corruption, and Represent.Us is the movement behind the Act. Together, we can make blatant corruption illegal with simple reforms. It’s common sense that elected officials should be barred from collecting money from the industries they regulate.

[joeblast]

Nice tax rate. Always a loop hole. Penalize business, they work within the framework provided to maximize their own benefit.

 

Tax the shit out of something and it goes away. Of course, when we've got a FR printing press, I'm sure the gov wont miss that $262 million in taxes this company used to pay out to the US but is now paying (much less than that) to Ireland.

 

Simply put, the tax climate can either incentivize businesses to operate somewhere, or it can incentivize a business to seek to do business elsewhere where the grass isnt brown frown. One can say "oh, these evil unethical companies" but anyone who says that, consider the stimulus-response of the situation.

 

If I owned a business, I most certainly would have moved from CT by now due to their superlatively unfriendly business climate. Its why Hartford and Bridgeport are practically empty cities, mayors of both locations as well as Waterbury have been implicated in abusing their positions of government.

 

So the federal gov is abusing its position, and people or entities strike back as they may - because only the favored insiders get preferential treatment.

 

Anyone familiar with the helicopter term "vortex ring state"???

 

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/852490/helicopter_gets_caught_in_a_vortex_ring/

 

http://www.decodedscience.com/vortex-ring-the-helicopter-stall/23857

 

Because that is exactly what the economy is doing right now as a result of government action - presently "settling with power" (=vrs common term....entirely analogous to Quantative Easing)...dropping 800 feet per min and accelerating, and the absolute worst thing you can do in such a situation is increase the power, for it will only enhance the ring state and accelerate the descent.

 

The way to save it is to nose down (i.e. stop the government spending orgy) and regain forward momentum - with the engines low, breaking the ring state that forms around the helicopter.

 

 

 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-07/guest-post-endos-message-irs-fck-you

 

Endo Health Solutions just announced a big acquisition. The company’s rationale is to take advantage of a stunning tax loop hole.

First a little background. Warning: this is a little dry and technical, so if you want, you can skip the background (I indicated below where that ends).

—–background begins———–

 

The US federal corporate tax rate is 35%. There are a handful of countries around the world where taxes are much lower (most notably Ireland, Singapore, and Switzerland). Ireland, for example, has a tax rate of 12.5%. Who wouldn’t want a lower tax rate? Just pack up and move to Ireland, right?

 

Well, Congress (which authors the IRS tax code) is smart enough not to allow that. For a variety of reasons, Companies can’t simply change their address. The US would continue to identify them as US companies and impose the 35% tax rate. What if, however, a company were to be acquired by an Irish parent. That could result in change of domicile. In order to do this, all one would need to do is set up a shell holding company in Ireland (essentially of no value itself) and issue shares to acquire the US company. Voila, it’s now a new company domiciled in Ireland, right? Well, Congress figured this one out to. Congress passed

Section 7874 of the Internal Revenue Code

decreeing that this type of behavior is foul play. If an Irish holding company acquires a US company such that the former shareholders remain the same shareholders, the IRS recognizes this transaction as a sham and continues to treat it as a US corporation for tax purposes (the Irish company will be taxed at 35%, with taxes payable to Uncle Sam). However, the IRS set an 80% threshold, meaning that if the US target is less than 80% of the parent/acquiring Irish company, the IRS accepts the transaction as legitimate.

 

Here’s where Endo got clever. They identified a way to ‘re-domicile’ and move to Ireland. They just need their newly-conceived Irish parent holding company to make two acquisitions simultaneously. One acquisition is Endo itself (which, by being acquired, effectively moves to Ireland). The other acquisition needs to be a non-US company and also needs to be of sufficient size that it will comprise at least 20% of the newly-formed Irish company. That way, the Irish holding company absorbs Endo, but Endo is less than the critical 80% of the new entity.

It is seriously brilliant.

Endo found a Canadian company, Paladin, to also be acquired by a new Irish holding company. Paladin will be about 22.5% of the new company (which will conveniently be named “Endo”) and existing Endo will be 77.5% of new Irish Endo. Perfect.

 

Endo paid a premium to induce Paladin to be acquired as part of this transaction. Normally an acquirer-company pays a premium because they can cut costs (ie eliminate some duplicate sales people, accounting people, etc). In such cases, the cost savings exceed the acquisition premium and it makes sense for all parties involved. Endo conceded that there won’t be much in terms of cost synergies from Paladin. However, by moving to Ireland, the tax rate will immediately move down from around 30% to 20% and then will gradually shift toward to the Irish rate of 12.5%. Endo’s tax savings vastly exceed the premium paid.

 

Financially, here’s the math rationale. If Endo has a pre-tax profit of $100 (purely by way of example) and is taxed at 30%, profit to shareholders = $70:

 

$100 (pre-tax profit) minus $30 (taxes) = $70 (final profit)

 

If the tax rate falls to 15%, profit to shareholders = $85:

 

$100 (pre-tax profit) minus $15 (taxes) = $85 (final profit)

 

Thus, the amount shareholders keep rises from $70 to $85 from this tax-accounting wizardry, a boost of about 20%.

 

———background ends————

There are a couple of implications to highlight.

1. Endo’s shareholders are the clear winners. With lower taxes, more profit stays in shareholder pockets.
2. The USA is the big loser. It’s not just that taxes go down. From the US point of view, taxes go away almost completely. Before this transaction, the US was collecting taxes at a rate of 30%. The tax rate will fall to less than 20%, but even more significantly, it won’t be the US collecting taxes. Endo is becoming an Irish company. Taxes will go to mother Ireland.

In my mind, this begs the question as to whether there are any moral issues raised by Endo’s actions. In answer, I assert that Endo has not breached any ethical boundaries. To the contrary, Endo has a fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders to maximize corporate profits. If the US government offers a legal mechanism by which Endo can lower its tax burden then it is Endo’s obligation to take advantage of this. (If the IRS had opined that transactions like this may be in violation of the spirit of the law, that might be a different story, but it does not seem to be the case.) Ultimately, Endo merely took advantage of a striking loop hole in the flawed US tax system.

Even so, there is an element about this transaction that is unseemly. The culture in the US encourages fairness. Endo operates entirely within the US. It gets to enjoy all the infrastructure and benefits that the federal government pays for with tax dollars. Going forward however, Endo won’t be paying much taxes, and what it will pay mostly won’t go to the US anyway. The absence of Endo’s tax payments (about $265m in 2012) will either be added to the deficit or somehow get made up by increased taxes on the rest of us.

Extrapolating beyond Endo, if one accepts the premise that companies are obligated to use legal means to minimize tax costs, and if one then takes this precedent to the logical conclusion, this transaction could/should be a road map for other companies to follow. While Ireland would delight in its new resultant tax revenue, the implications for the US are less sanguine. Is Congress paying attention?

In closing, I’ll point to a certain irony in all of this. My thoughts turn to the saying, “The only things certain in life are death and taxes.” Endo Health Solutions has focused its efforts on the latter.

[joeblast]

heh...here's a good summation of the gov/FR actions, in the black vehicle. I'd say the cabbie would be the US population, if the black vehicle had run im over.

 

 

 

(kid stole the black vehicle)

[soaring crane]

The US Government has been actively engaged in a kind of weird, transparent, Kindergarten-level, smear campaign against Germany for a few weeks now (why? take a guess). The latest attempt is a report claiming that German productivity as reflected in it's export surplus is at the heart of all that is wrong in the Euro zone today. It's absurd. German productivity is boosting the entire EU as German manufacturers expand their supply chains and outsource production to neighboring countries. Everyone in the Euro Zone is benefiting from German production, and quite a few non-Euro countries as well.

 

And the US is looking more and more childish and ridiculous. The comments sections for articles at e.g. Der Spiegel Online are consistently derisive of news from the US. That was not the case only a couple years ago.

 

There was a public opinion survey this week asking if the US is a trustworthy trading partner - more than 2/3s answered NEIN. People are fed up with the US and are actively turning away from it.

 

So, yes, I'm seeing evidence of the "Decline and eventual fall of the US as a world superpower". In fact, there's evidence all around the globe. The US government (The Corporatocracy JoeB described above) is turning the country into a global pariah.

[Aaron]

I think the problem with America is the illusion of a two party system, when in reality both parties are under the influence of corporations that put their own financial interests above the interests of the people. More and more we find both parties are being funded by the same corporate sectors. The belief that we are living in a democracy is being wiped away each day. The fact is the republicans and democrats are more alike than different and that similarity, one funded by corporate powers, is going to be the eventual downfall of the USA. A corporation isn't interested in the well being of the next generation, but rather the well being of the corporate interests. If you think it's only the USA that's being influenced, don't be fooled, those corporations are providing financial support to the vast majority of the politicians in the world's largest countries.

 

Aaron

[silent thunder]

Corporations feed on customers consumers like parasites feed on hosts.

Edited November 10, 2013 by silent thunder

[Thunder_Gooch]

Author Of The PATRIOT Act Goes To EU Parliament To Admit Congress Failed, And The NSA Is Out Of Control

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131112/08342525213/author-patriot-act-goes-to-eu-parliament-to-admit-congress-failed-nsa-is-out-control.shtml


It's already strange enough that the author of the PATRIOT Act, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, has come out strongly against the NSA's mass spying, said that James Clapper should be fired and prosecuted, and introduced sweeping new legislation that would significantly curtail the NSA's activities. If you've followed civil liberties issues over the past dozen years or so, Sensenbrenner used to be very much in the camp of folks like Rep. Mike Rogers and Senator Dianne Feinstein -- seen as carrying water for the intelligence community (and industry). The change of heart (even if he claims the original PATRIOT Act was never meant to allow this stuff) is quite impressive.

Even so, it's perhaps even more incredible to see that Sensenbrenner has now gone over to the EU Parliament to admit that the NSA is out of control and needs to be reined in.

[gendao]

The US Government has been actively engaged in a kind of weird, transparent, Kindergarten-level, smear campaign against Germany for a few weeks now (why? take a guess). The latest attempt is a report claiming that German productivity as reflected in it's export surplus is at the heart of all that is wrong in the Euro zone today. It's absurd. German productivity is boosting the entire EU as German manufacturers expand their supply chains and outsource production to neighboring countries. Everyone in the Euro Zone is benefiting from German production, and quite a few non-Euro countries as well.

 

And the US is looking more and more childish and ridiculous. The comments sections for articles at e.g. Der Spiegel Online are consistently derisive of news from the US. That was not the case only a couple years ago.

 

There was a public opinion survey this week asking if the US is a trustworthy trading partner - more than 2/3s answered NEIN. People are fed up with the US and are actively turning away from it.

 

So, yes, I'm seeing evidence of the "Decline and eventual fall of the US as a world superpower". In fact, there's evidence all around the globe. The US government (The Corporatocracy JoeB described above) is turning the country into a global pariah.

Germany was one of Obama's biggest cheerleaders, simply because the visual opposite (Black liberal) of George Bush (White Republican) "must" thereby be ideologically opposite policywise too...

LMAO!!!

You reap what you support/vote for, folks...

Edited November 13, 2013 by vortex

[BaguaKicksAss]

This thread, reminds me of my facebook feed .

[soaring crane]

Germany was one of Obama's biggest cheerleaders, simply because the visual opposite (Black liberal) of George Bush (White Republican) "must" thereby be ideologically opposite policywise too...

 

yes, and that was more than embarrassing at the time! It was absurd. But guess what? Germans learn from their mistakes. They're constantly working on improving things, and if he were to come to this country now, his reception would look a lot different.