The Hickory Hound

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- May 19, 2013

2013-05-19T02:31:00.000-04:00

Washington Signals Dollar Deep Concerns - Paul Craig Roberts - May 18, 2013 - ...
That leaves gold and silver. The enormous increase in the prices of gold and silver over the last decade convinced Washington that there are a number of miscreants who do not trust the dollar and whose numbers must not be permitted to increase.                         The price of gold rose from $272 an ounce in December 2000 to $1,917.50 on August 23, 2011. The financial gangsters who own and run America panicked. With the price of the dollar collapsing in relation to historical real money, how could the dollar’s exchange rate to other currencies be valid? If the dollar’s exchange value came under attack, the Federal Reserve would have to stop printing and would lose control over interest rates.                   The bond and stock market bubbles would pop, and the interest payments on the federal debt would explode, leaving Washington even more indebted and unable to finance its wars, police state, and bankster bailouts.              Something had to be done about the rising price of gold and silver.                     There are two bullion markets. One is a paper market in New York, Comex, where paper claims to gold are traded. The other is the physical market where personal possession is taken of the metal–coin shops, bullion dealers, jewelry stores.                     The way the banksters have it set up, the price of bullion is not set in the markets in which people actually take possession of the metals. The price is set in the paper market where speculators gamble.                    This bifurcated market gave the Federal Reserve the ability to protect the dollar from its printing press.                   On Friday, April 12, 2013, short sales of gold hit the New York market in an amount estimated to have been somewhere between 124 and 400 tons of gold. This enormous and unprecedented sale implies an illegal conspiracy of sellers intent on rigging the market or action by the Federal Reserve through its agents, the BTBF that are the bullion banks.                       The enormous sales of naked shorts drove down the gold price, triggering stop-loss orders and margin calls. The attack continued on Monday, April 15, and has continued since.                 Before going further, note that there are position limits imposed on the number of contracts that traders can sell at one time. The 124 tons figure would have required 14 traders with no open interest on the exchange to sell all together in the same few minutes 40,000 futures contracts. The likelihood of so many traders deciding to short at the same moment at the maximum permitted is not believable. This was an attack ordered by the Federal Reserve, which is why there is no investigation of the illegality.                   Note also that no seller that wanted out of a position would give himself a low price by dumping an enormous amount all at once unless the goal was not profit but to smash the bullion price.                 Since the April 12-15 attack on the gold price, subsequent attacks have occurred at 2pm Hong Kong time and 2 am New York time. At this time activity is light, waiting on London to begin operating. As William S.Kaye has observed, no entity concerned about profits would choose this time to sell 20,000 to 30,000 futures contracts, but this is what has been happening.                  Who can be unconcerned with losing money in this way? Only a central bank that can print it.                    Now we come to the physical market where people take possession of bullion instead of betting on paper instruments. Look at this chart from ZeroHedge. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-16/gold-demand-one-chart-physical-vs-etf The demand for physical possession is high, despite the assault on gold that began in 2011, but as the price is set in the non-real paper market, orchestrated short sales, as in the current quarter of 2013, can drive down the price regardless of the fact that the actual demand for gold and silver cannot be met.                     While the corrupt Western financial press urges people to abandon bullion, everyone is trying to purchase more, and the premiums above the spot price have risen. Around the world there is a shortage of gold and silver in the forms, such as one-ounce coins and ten-ounce bars, that individuals demand.                  That the decline in gold and silver prices is an orchestration is apparent from the fact that the demand for bullion in the physical market has increased while naked short sales in the paper market imply a flight from bullion.                     What does this illegal manipulation of markets by the Federal Reserve tell us? It tells us that the Federal Reserve sees no way out of printing money in order to support the federal deficit and the insolvent banks. If the dollar came under attack and the Federal Reserve had to stop printing dollars, interest rates would rise. The bond and stock markets would collapse. The dollar would be abandoned as reserve currency. Washington would no longer be able to pay its bills and would lose its hegemony. The world of hubristic Washington would collapse.                       It remains to be seen whether Washington can prevail over the world demand for gold and silver. Can the dollar remain supreme when offshoring has deprived the US of the ability to cover its imports with exports? Can the dollar remain supreme when the Federal reserve is creating 1,000 billion new ones each year, while the BRICS, China and Japan, China and Australia, and China and Russia are making deals to settle their trade balances without the use of the dollar?                      If the consumption-based US economy deprived of consumer income by jobs offshoring takes a further dip down in the third or fourth quarter–a downturn that cannot be masked by phony statistical releases–the federal deficit will rise. What will be the effect on the dollar if the Federal Reserve has to increase its Quantitative Easing?
A perfect storm has been prepared for America. Real interest rates are negative, but debt and money are being created hand over foot. The dollar’s demise awaits the world’s decision how to get out of it. The Federal Reserve can print dollars with which to keep the bond and stock markets high, but the Federal Reserve cannot print foreign currencies with which to keep the dollar afloat.                   When the dollar goes, Washington’s power goes, which is why the bullion market is rigged. Protect the power. That is the agenda. Is it another Washington over-reach?

Shut Them Down! – Payday Loan Companies Are Making Billions Preying On The Misery Of The Poor - The Economic Collapse Blog - Michael - May 12th, 2013 -Would you take out a loan that has an annual percentage rate of 391 percent? Yes, I know that sounds absolutely crazy, but millions of Americans do it every single year. The typical payday loan requires borrowers to pay about 15 dollars for every $100 that they borrow for two weeks. That comes out to a yearly rate of about 391 percent. And the payday loan companies know exactly who to target. They have set up thousands of shops in the poorest communities all over the nation over the last several decades. Each year, approximately 12 million Americans take out payday loans and they pay approximately 7.4 billion dollars in interest and fees on those loans. Sadly, once you get hooked on payday loans they are very hard to stop. In fact, one study found that only 13 percent of payday borrowers get two loans or less per year. All other borrowers take out more loans than that. In fact, more than a third of all payday borrowers take out between 11 and 19 loans during the course of a single year. And as was mentioned earlier, the interest rates on these loans are beyond exorbitant. Payday loans are estimated to be about 20 times more expensive than bank loans, with annual interest rates that are sometimes as high as 500 percent. The payday loan companies circle the poor like vultures, because they know that the poor are the only ones desperate enough to agree to such terms. This is why we need to shut them down. The payday loan companies are making billions preying on the misery of the poor and it needs to be stopped. And it just isn't small, disreputable banks that are involved in these practices. The truth is that some of the largest banks in America are now making payday loans...

29 Shocking Facts That Prove That College Education In America Is A Giant Money Making Scam - The End of the American Dream Blog - Michael - May 7, 2013 - College education in the United States has become a cruel joke. We endlessly push our high school kids to invest tens of thousands of dollars and at least four years of their lives to get a college education because they won’t have any sort of a “future” without it. So they sign up for decades of debt slavery and spend years listening to pompous windbags fill their heads with utter nonsense. The sad truth is that most college courses are a total joke and they do very little to actually prepare those students for the real world. I know – I attended public universities in the United States for eight years. Most college courses are so easy that the family dog could pass them. When they finally graduate, our young people discover that they were lied to all along. The promised “good jobs” are not there for most of them, but the huge debts that they committed themselves to will follow them around permanently. When you are just starting out and you are not making a lot of money, having to make payments on tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt can be absolutely crippling. This is why I say that college education in America is a giant money making scam. Our young people are seduced by the idea of college being a five year party that will provide an automatic ticket into the middle class, but the reality is that the only guarantee is that it is a ticket to serfdom unless you have wealthy parents that are willing to foot the bill for you. And bankruptcy laws have been changed to make it incredibly difficult to get rid of student loan debt, so once you have signed up for student loan debt slavery you are basically faced with two choices: either you are going to pay it or you are going to die with it. Yes, college graduates do make more money and they do have a lower unemployment rate. But most of them are also burdened by absolutely suffocating levels of student loan debt that will haunt them for decades.                  So who is really better off?                  If you can get someone to pay for your college education that is great. Because otherwise you are probably getting a rotten deal. The following are 29 shocking facts that prove that college education in America is a giant money making scam…

To the Seniors of the Class of 2013 - Make Sure Your Commencement Ceremony Helps to Pass Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act ! - Tarpley.net - May 8. 2013 - As every college student knows, the crushing burden of student loan debt poses the single greatest obstacle to anyone seeking a good education. An undergraduate degree frequently means $30,000-$50,000 and up in debt. An advanced degree starts at twice that, and medical and law degrees can saddle the student with six figures of loans. For the nation as a whole, student loan debt is a social crisis set to exceed $1 trillion. Interest rates vary, but they are always far too high for young people starting out in life, or for anyone else. And things are scheduled to get worse, with the interest rate on one key type of student loan set to double from 3.4% to 6.8% on July 1. A whole generation of young people is being forced to put their lives on hold, prevented by high interest debt from continuing their schooling, from renting or buying a home, from getting married and having children. This is simply intolerable.                  At the same time, Wall Street banks can borrow from the Federal Reserve Discount Window for a mere 0.75%. That’s right — just three quarters of 1%. Why should students be crushed when the bankers who caused the present economic crisis with their wild and irresponsible derivatives speculation get a sweetheart deal?                           Fortunately, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has now offered a bill which would force the Federal Reserve to fund federal Stafford loans through the US Department of Education at an annual interest rate of just 0.75% — the discount rate the Fed offers banks. Do the arithmetic and you can easily figure out how much interest this bill will save you every year. But this bill faces an uphill battle to become law, since it is likely to be opposed by Wall Street lobbyists, the congressional leadership of both parties, and by the Obama White House. The only hope for the Warren bill lies in a massive outpouring of support, starting with the graduation ceremonies of the class of 2013. That means a big part of your economic destiny is now in your hands.
Fact Sheet: Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act

More Americans Committing Suicide than During the Great Depression - Washington's Blog - May 17, 2013

Glenn Beck - IRS Gives Laughable Defense

10 Amazing Charts That Demonstrate The Slow, Agonizing Death Of The American Worker - The Economic Collapse Blog - Michael - May 16th, 2013

#1 Wages And Salaries As A Percentage Of GDP

#2 Average Annual Hours Worked Per Employed Person In The United States

#3 Manufacturing Employment

#4 Employment-Population Ratio

#5 Labor Force Participation Rate

#6 Duration Of Unemployment

#7 Delinquency Rate On Residential Mortgages

#8 New Homes Sold

#9 Consumer Credit

#10 Self-Employment At A Record Low

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of May 7, 2013

2013-05-16T00:09:00.000-04:00

This newsletter is about the Hickory City Council meeting that I attended this past week. City council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each Month in the Council Chambers of the Julian Whitener building.

At right of this page under Main Information links is an Hickory's City Website link. If you click on that link, it takes you to our city’s website, at the left of the page you will see the Agenda's and Minutes link you need to click. This will give you a choice of PDF files to upcoming and previous meetings.

You will find historic Agenda and Minutes links. Agendas show what is on the docket for the meeting of that date. The Minutes is an actual summary of the proceedings of the meeting of that date.

Here is a summary of the agenda of the meeting. There were a couple of important items that were discussed at this meeting and the details are listed further below:

Please remember that pressing Ctrl and + will magnify the text and page and pressing Ctrl and - will make the text and page smaller. This will help the readability for those with smaller screens and/or eye difficulties.

City Website has changed - Here is a link to the City of Hickory Document Center

All materials and maps for this meeting are provide at this link:

City Council Meeting Agenda May 7, 2013 (16MB)

Invocation by Rev. Rick Schilling, Associate Pastor, First United Methodist Church

Special Presentations

A. Presentation of National Police Week 2013 Proclamation by Chief Tom Adkins to Officer Gordon Killian.

B. Presentation of Building Safety Month Proclamation to Code Enforcement Supervisor Bobby Baker and Deputy Chief Steve Moore.

C. Presentation of Older American’s Month 2013 Proclamation to Wade “Hamp” Shuford.

Persons Requesting to Be Heard
Walter Witherspoon - How much is the cost of the actual Fabric of the Sails on the Square?

James Davis - "Beer sales during Sails Music Series"

Consent Agenda:
A. Approval of a Proclamation for National American Public Works Week May 19 -25, 2013.

B. Approval of Grant Recommendations from Community Relations Council for Spring 2013. - Community Relations Council’s recommendations for Spring 2013 Grants: Clinton Tabernacle A.M.E. Zion Church, $1,500, project African American Cultural Festival; Outright Youth of Catawba Valley, $1,500, project LGBT Diversity for School Counselors, Resource Officers and Nurses; Hickory Community Theater, $1,030, project RubGub Theatre@HCT Bi-Lingual Project; Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministry,$1,030, project Good Communications; Council on Adolescents of Catawba County, $1,440, project Teens 4 R.E.A.L. Summer Camp. Total recommended for funding by Community Relations Council $6,500.

C. Call for a Public Hearing – Voluntary Satellite Annexation of .9853 acres of Property Located on a Portion of 3005 and 3107 Springs Road NE, Hickory. (Authorize Public Hearing for May 21, 2013)

D. Special Events/Activities Application for Ignite Hickory, Charles Moretz and Christopher Harris, Managers, September 28, 2013 from 2:30 pm to 10:00 pm at the Sails on the Square.

E. Special Events/Activities Application for Hickory Police Department Special Olympics/Law Enforcement Torch Run, Captain Thurman Whisnant and Mandy Pitts, May 17, 2013 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm, Union Square, on stage at the Sails on the Square.

F. Request Approval to Apply for a Grant to Assist in Funding the Purchase of Bulletproof Vests for Police Officer. - Hickory Police Department request approval to apply for a grant to purchase 40 vests at an estimated price of $625 for each vest, for a total of $25,000. Life expectancy of each vest is approximately five years. Monies are placed in the police department budget uniform line annually to purchase vest for police officers. The police department recommends the submission of this grant to receive up to 50% funding to purchase bulletproof bests for police officers.

G. Request Approval for the City to Issue Written Notice to LandDesign, Inc. to Proceed into Phase 200 of the Contract for the Inspiring Spaces Plan. - After each phase, the contract with LandDesign, Inc. calls for the City to issue a written Notice to Proceed, to the Consultant. This gives the City a few checkpoints to ensure that the project is on track. Within the contract, the plan is broken into three distinct phases: Phase 100 is the Master Plan and fee for that portion of the project is $126,000; Phase 200 is the Implementation and Report Phase with a fee of $62,000; Phase 300 is preparation of an Executive Summary document that is easily reproducible for a cost of $10,000; and City miscellaneous costs have been budgeted at $6,000 for a total project budget of $204,000.

H. Budget Ordinance Amendment Number 18.
1. To budget a $50 Library donation in the Library books line item for a non-fiction honor book.
2. To transfer $32,000 of Water and Sewer Contingency to the Sewer Treatment line item. Sewer treatment is the treatment and processing of sanitary sewer prior to discharge. This transfer will provide necessary funds in this line item for the remainder of this fiscal year.
3. To appropriate $23,604 of Community Development Block Grant funds and budget in the Street Division Capital Improvements line item. This appropriation is reimbursement for curb and gutter materials for the Main Avenue/Hollar Hosiery project.
4. To appropriate $1,811 of Transportation Fund Balance and budget in the Transportation Fuel Farm Construction Capital project. This appropriation represents the final 10% local match required for the N.C. Department of Transportation to close this project.

I. Grant Project Ordinance Amendment Number 4.
1. To accept a $1,811 transfer from the Transportation Fund-General Fund Balance and budget in addition to $16,279 of Federal Government Revenue in the projects Miscellaneous and Construction expenditure line items. This amendment is to recognize the final Federal Revenue contribution and the local 10% match necessary to close this project.

J. Request Approval to Reimburse Fifty Percent of the Amount Paid by ZLoop for Civil Penalties Accrued as a Result of Violations Through the Permitting Process. In an effort to renovate and reopen an existing vacant building, ZLoop did an extensive amount of work, some of which without the proper plans and permits. A fine of $100 per day for every day in violation was issued according to the Land Development Code Article 13. The total amount is $14,500. ZLoop has paid the full amount of the fine and is requesting a 50% reimbursement based upon good faith to finalize their work to submit plans for approval so that all required permits can be issued for the project. Catawba County agreed to the same provision to resolve County permitting issues.

Informational Items
A. Report of Mayor Wright’s travel to Raleigh, NC to meet with Governor McCrory on April
22, 2013 (Meals - $30.75; Mileage Reimbursement $189.84; Lodging - $118.39).
B. Report of Mayor Wright’s travel to Durham, NC for Council Workshop, April 23 and 24,
2013 (Meals - $30.54, Lodging - $103.29).
C. Report of Councilwoman Jill Patton’s travel to Durham for Council Workshop, April 23
and 24, 2013 (Meals - $30.54, Lodging - $103.29).
D. Report of Councilman Danny Seaver’s travel to Durham for Council Workshop, April 23
and 24, 2013 (Meals - $30.54, Lodging - $103.29).
E. Report of Councilman Hank Guess’ travel to Durham for Council Workshop, April 23 and
24, 2013 (Meals $30.54, Lodging - $103.29).
F. Report of Councilman Brad Lail’s travel to Durham for Council Workshop, April 23 and
24, 2013 (Meals $30.54, Lodging - $103.29).
G. Report of City Manager Mick Berry’s travel to Durham for Council Workshop, April 23 and
24, 2013 (Meals $30.54, Lodging - $103.29 and Fuel Expense - $84.98).

New Business - Public Hearings
1. Voluntary Satellite Annexation of 2.67 Acres of property located at 3254 South NC Hwy 127, Hickory. - The Broadway Group, LLC has submitted a petition for the voluntary satellite annexation of 2.67 acres of property located at 3254 South NC Hwy 127. The petitioner is requesting annexation in order to connect to the City of Hickory’s sanitary sewer system. The petitioner intends to construct a +/- 9,300 square foot retail business on the property.

New Business - Departmental Reports:
1. Review of Council Planning Sessions and Outcomes. - Staff will highlight the Council planning activities over the past 18 months and the subsequent initiatives and projects, including the recent analysis of redevelopment in Durham, North Carolina and an update of the Catawba County Economic Competitiveness Plan by Chamber President Danny Hearn.

The Hound - You can look at the slides below and see the busy work that has taken place pertaining the the Inspiring Spaces initiative, They point to the Chattanooga Way, which apparently means that you do things By Hook or By Crook and worry about the details and consequences later. As I have said, I am Inspired by Inspiring people and not by infrastructure. What we know about Bureaucrats is that they aren't Entrepreneurs and they don't mind operating as bullies yo try and intimidate those they deem weak in order to create the end justifying the means scenarios. In the long run this leads to disasters.

2. Request Approval to Modify the Special Event Permit for Sails Music Series. - Music Series represents Hickory’s Life. Well Crafted. Brand, and providing local beer crafted in Hickory fits the brand print and is similar to local farmers as vendors at the Downtown Hickory Farmers Market. An opportunity has risen that would allow OHB to serve its crafted beer during the Sails Music Series under the Sails on the Square in Downtown Hickory. A designated area will be provided for the boundary of the area where beer is allowed while still ensuring that the event is open to all ages. OHB staff is responsible for carding and serving the beverages to those over 21 years of age. Hickory Police Department and city staff will be present and monitor the event which is 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Friday nights in May and June.

Thank You Alderman Lail, Alder Fox, and Alderman Guess for addressing the multiple inconsistencies relating to this issue and City Policies.

The following is the City Council's discussion of the Beer Sails issue:

My Letter to the Editor of the Hickory Daily Record as published on Sunday May 12, 2013

Your story in today's (HDR) paper doesn't tell much about what actually led to the discussion by Council of the Beer Sales during the "Sails on the Square Music Series" and so let me fill you in and help you out on the major missing part of the puzzle.

Hickory Incorporated was called out by the Citizens for Equity in Government during "Citizens Requesting to be Heard" at the beginning of the meeting. That is what started the discussion and that is the reason why Citizens Requesting to be Heard needed to be moved to the beginning of City Council Meetings. They tried to do this as a Departmental Report just like they did at various points during the whole process of this structure being built on Union Square. Public Hearings require allowing citizen input, Departmental Reports do not.

In the past that would have led to a Departmental Report rubber stamp approval without any citizen input, but we have defanged that monster with our request that "Citizens Requesting to be Heard" be moved to the beginning of meetings, as it has been, because of our persistent insistence. Now Citizens can get issues out in the Sunshine and basically force discussion. Before they would have ramrodded this through with little to no discussion and we would not have been able to voice our concerns until after the vote and approval had taken place.

It is my hope in sending this message to you that you would be interested in painting the whole picture of this Democracy in Action; letting citizens know that they can have a voice and do have effective advocates. Can you see which is more effective? Can you see which is more Just and Citizen Friendly? Which would you say is more based upon traditional American Principles?

3. Proposed Youth Protection Ordinance- At the February 19, 2013 City Council Meeting, Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins introduced a proposed youth protection ordinance. The purpose of the ordinance is to protect juveniles from victimization and exposure to criminal activity by establishing a curfew for juveniles under the age of 16 years in the city. The principles behind the ordinance are promoting the role of the parent in raising and guiding children and promote the health, safety, and welfare of both juveniles and adults by creating an environment offering better protection and security for all concerned. Reducing the possible exposure of children during the nighttime hours to being victims of crime and being involved in criminal activity would be a desired outcome of the ordinance. Another desired outcome is to assist the parents and guardians of minors to establish community guidelines for children not to be in public areas during nighttime hours without adult supervision. As outlined at the February 19, 2013 Council Meeting, Chief Adkins has conducted 13 meetings informing citizens about the proposed youth protection ordinance. Two of the public meetings were held last week after over 4,000 letters were sent to parents of students of Hickory Public Schools. The meetings were productive, allowing citizens to review concepts and provide feed back. Chief Adkins will update City Council on the public input and his thoughts on next steps in evaluating the ordinance. (Draft Ordinance Attached)

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- May 12, 2013

2013-05-12T02:58:00.000-04:00

The American Dream Is Dead; Long Live the New Dream - Truthout - Cliff DuRand - May 10, 2013 - The American Dream of upward mobility is dead, thanks to the neoliberal ministrations of capital and government. But a new dream could rise from the mess left by globalization, off-shoring and austerity.    The continuation of the economic crisis of 2008 up to the present has driven home a social trend that has been evident since the late 1970s, the decline of what is usually called "the middle class" and the accompanying American Dream.                     The American Dream is the belief that if you work hard, if you are blessed with at least a modicum of ability and have a little luck, you can succeed. That is, you can rise in society no matter how humble your origin to something better in the way of material well-being, economic security, a settled life and social prestige. It is the dream of upward mobility for oneself, or at least for one's children.                       As Richard Wolff has pointed out in Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to do About it, this upward mobility was a reality for most citizens of the United States for several generations, from 1820 to 1970. For 150 years, real wages rose. In the quarter century from 1947 to 1973, average real wages rose an astounding 75 percent. But that shared prosperity came to a halt in the mid '70s. In the next 25 years, from 1979 to 2005, wages and benefits rose less than 4 percent. The sustained rise in standards of living had been made possible by a conjunction of historical circumstances, circumstances that began to reach exhaustion by the mid 1970s.                      Post WWII prosperity was based on 1. the global economic dominance of the United States; 2. pent up consumer demand from the depression and war years; 3. supportive social programs; 4. some political clout due to a strong union movement that could demand a share of the prosperity; and 5. Keynesian stimulus (military spending, infrastructure development like the interstate highway system, etc.).

The Price Of Copper And 11 Other Recession Indicators That Are Flashing Red - The Economic Collapse Blog - Michael - May 7th, 2013 - There are a dozen significant economic indicators that are warning that the U.S. economy is heading into a recession. The Dow may have soared past the 15,000 mark, but the economic fundamentals are telling an entirely different story. If historical patterns hold up, the economy is heading for a very rocky stretch. For example, the price of copper is called "Dr. Copper" by many economists because it so accurately forecasts the future direction of the U.S. economy. And so far this year the price of copper is way down. But that is not the only indicator that is worrying economists. Home renovation spending has fallen dramatically, retail spending is crashing in a way not seen since the last recession, manufacturing activity and consumer confidence are both declining, and troubling economic data continues to come pouring out of Asia and Europe. So why do U.S. stocks continue to skyrocket? Will U.S. financial markets be able to continue to be divorced from reality? Unfortunately, as we have seen so many times in the past, when stocks do catch up with reality they tend to do so very rapidly. So you better put on your seatbelts because a crash is coming at some point. But most average Americans are not that concerned with the performance of the stock market. They just want to be able to go to work, pay the bills and provide for their families. During the last recession, millions of Americans lost their jobs and millions of Americans lost their homes. If we have another major recession, that will happen again. Sadly, it appears that another major recession is quickly approaching.
The following are 12 recession indicators that are flashing red...                     #1 The price of copper has traditionally been one of the very best indicators of the future performance of the U.S. economy. The fact that it is down nearly 20 percent so far this year has many analysts extremely concerned...

How Elites and Media Minimize Dissent and Bury Truth — Paul Craig Roberts - May 10, 2013 - Over the last several years I have watched the rise of an important new intellect on the American scene. Ron Unz, publisher of The American Conservative, has demonstrated time and again the extraordinary ability to reexamine settled issues and show that the accepted conclusion was incorrect. One of his early achievements was to dispose of the myth of immigrant crime by demonstrating that “Hispanics have approximately the same crime rates as whites of the same age and gender.” You can imagine the uproar, but Unz won the debate.               Unz provoked and prevailed in another controversy when he concluded that Mexican-Americans have approximately the same innate intelligence as whites, with their lower IQs being due to transitory socio-economic deprivation.                         He next surprised by showing the connection between the declining real value of the minimum wage (about one-third less than in the 1960s) and immigration. Americans cannot survive on one-third less minimum income than four decades ago, and the unfilled jobs are taken by Hispanics who live many to the room. A higher minimum wage, Unz pointed out, would cure the illegal immigration problem as American citizens would fill the jobs.                      I wrote about some of Unz’s remarkable findings. One of my favorites is his comparison of the responsiveness of the Chinese and US governments to their publics. I found his conclusion convincing that the authoritarian one-party Chinese government was more responsive to the Chinese people than democratic two-party Washington is to the American people.                       The person is rare who can take on such controversial issues in such a professional way that he wins the admiration even of his critics. In my opinion, Ron Unz is a national resource. He has established online libraries of important periodicals and magazines from the pre-Internet era, information that otherwise essentially would be lost. I have not met him, but he donates to this site and is an independent thinker free of The Matrix.                         Unz’s latest article, “Our American Pravda,” http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/our-american-pravda/ is a striking account of the failure of media, regulatory, and national security organizations and subsequent coverups that leave the public deceived. Unz uses the Iraq war as one example:                            “The circumstances surrounding our Iraq War demonstrate this, certainly ranking it among the strangest military conflicts of modern times. The 2001 attacks in America were quickly ascribed to the radical Islamists of al-Qaeda, whose bitterest enemy in the Middle East had always been Saddam Hussein’s secular Baathist regime in Iraq. Yet through misleading public statements, false press leaks, and even forged evidence such as the “yellowcake” documents, the Bush administration and its neoconservative allies utilized the compliant American media to persuade our citizens that Iraq’s nonexistent WMDs posed a deadly national threat and required elimination by war and invasion. Indeed, for several years national polls showed that a large majority of conservatives and Republicans actually believed that Saddam was the mastermind behind 9/11 and the Iraq War was being fought as retribution. Consider how bizarre the history of the 1940s would seem if America had attacked China in retaliation for Pearl Harbor.

Current deficit plunges 32% - CNN Money - May 7, 2013 - Tax collections rose by $220 billion -- or 16% -- between the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1 through April 30. Individual and payroll taxes accounted for $184 billion of that increase.                     The tax haul rose sharply primarily because wages and salaries were higher, the payroll tax cut of the past two years expired on Jan. 1 and the fiscal cliff deal brokered over New Year's raised tax rates on high earners.                  Spending, meanwhile, fell 1.9% year over year, the CBO estimated.                               The biggest percentage drop occurred in the payment of unemployment benefits, which were down nearly 25%, or $15 billion. Defense spending fell 5.3%, or $20 billion, and "other activities" -- primarily spending on nondefense programs -- fell 8.6%, or $58 billion.

New Regulations Are Strangling Community Banks - Bloomberg - Camden R. Fine - May 7, 2013 - The wave of new banking regulations that Congress created to deter and punish Wall Street’s misdeeds is landing with much greater impact on the U.S.’s almost 7,000 community banks than on the too-big-to-fail lenders.                   Community banks didn’t cause the financial crisis; they played by the rules. Because of their time-tested business model, one based on customer relationships rather than transaction volumes, community banks aren’t a threat to the financial system. Yet they are being forced to pay a penalty in regulatory costs -- to comply with rules aimed at preventing the bad behavior on Wall Street from happening again.                              Community banks are also disproportionately affected by the new rules. Right now, banks with less than $10 billion in assets control only 20 percent of total U.S. banking assets. Washington lawmakers and regulators are holding back community banks from devoting their full attention and resources to making more loans and fueling a more robust economic recovery.                     The effect of these regulations is that Congress has added insult to injury for community banks while rewarding the real villains. The megabanks are benefiting from what Bloomberg View calculated is an $83 billion annual taxpayer subsidy, the value of implicit guarantees by the U.S. Treasury. Bloomberg View was correct to characterize the too-big-to-fail subsidy as “a major driver of the largest banks’ profits.”...

New York to sue BofA, Wells Fargo over mortgage practices - Reuters - Karen Freifeld and Aruna Viswanatha - May 6, 2013 - New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said on Monday he plans to sue Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and Wells Fargo and Co (WFC.N) for violating the terms of a settlement designed to end mortgage servicing abuses.                  Schneiderman issued the announcement, which suggests lawsuits could be filed against the banks within two months, ahead of a widely anticipated report from the monitor for the multi-state settlement, which is expected to be critical of banks.                     The planned action is the first involving allegations that top banks, which agreed last year to provide $25 billion in relief to homeowners and comply with a set of servicing standards to atone for foreclosure misconduct, are not living up to their obligations under the deal.                        Schneiderman said that, since last October, his office had documented 339 violations of standards - 210 by Wells Fargo and 129 by Bank of America - dictating the timeline for banks to process mortgage modification applications.                      Schneiderman said he would seek injunctive relief and an order requiring the two banks to comply with the settlement. His statement did not say he was seeking damages or penalties.                         But it is unclear how far Schneiderman can take his efforts, because they come outside the primary channel authorized by the settlement for any potential violations.                        The settlement authorized the monitor to first work with a servicer to correct any potential violations and sue only if the servicer does not fix the errors.                       In an afternoon news conference, Schneiderman acknowledged the authority provided to the monitor, but said he could still move forward.

Japanese manufacturer to add 200 jobs in N.C. (Greenville) - Triangle Business Journal - Lauren K. Ohnesorge - May 8, 2013
Allscripts to add 350 jobs in Raleigh - Triangle Business Journal - Jason deBruyn - May 8, 2013

No Volume, No Problem - Zero Hedge - Tyler Durden - May 11,2013

The IRS as a Political Tool of Tyranny

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of May 7, 2013 -- Danny Hearn, Chamber President addresses Council about Catawba County Economic Competitiveness Plan

2013-05-10T02:38:00.000-04:00

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of May 7, 2013 -- Addendum on Beer sales during Sails Music Series

2013-05-08T05:50:00.000-04:00

2. Request Approval to Modify the Special Event Permit for Sails Music Series. - Music Series represents Hickory’s Life. Well Crafted. Brand, and providing local beer crafted in Hickory fits the brand print and is similar to local farmers as vendors at the Downtown Hickory Farmers Market. An opportunity has risen that would allow OHB to serve its crafted beer during the Sails Music Series under the Sails on the Square in Downtown Hickory. A designated area will be provided for the boundary of the area where beer is allowed while still ensuring that the event is open to all ages. OHB staff is responsible for carding and serving the beverages to those over 21 years of age. Hickory Police Department and city staff will be present and monitor the event which is 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Friday nights in May and June.

In looking at the second Departmental Report this evening, members of the CEG are curious as to whether any "Request for Bid" process took place involving beer sales for your "Sails on the Square Music Series."And thank goodness that we are able to speak about this before you give it your "Departmental Report" rubber stamp, because once again there is a smell in the air of favoritism and we aren't speaking per se against the Olde Hickory Brewery.

How many other vendors would have liked to have had the opportunity to sell beer on Union Square? And isn't it funny that the Hickory Alive series has been cut back in which the Jaycees sell beer, in favor of creating an opportunity and lining the pockets of another chosen favorite Union Square business owner. Yes, this stinks to high heavens.

We all know there was no open bid process, we wonder what other vendors will think when they find this out. Once again the city redefines competition. How do we know that the City is getting the best deal? We don't fully understand how the money works on this deal. Is Olde Hickory Brewery's fees helping to offset the cost of the music groups? How much is it costing to hire the musical talent?

A member of our group attended last week's event, the wine shop was busy with patrons and there were even people who brought a picnic. The attendance was sparse due to the inclement weather and the music group had some difficulties due to that.

One final thought, this type of programming is good, it just needs to be paid for by the people who benefit -- the businesses on Union Square. The same type of programming could have been taking place long ago without this expensive use of Taxpayer monies. Public funding for private benefit seems to be the theme of the city's public-private quote-unquote "partnerships". As the weather improves, we are sure that these musical events will be successful.

Council initially passed and authorized the sell of beer 4 to 3 with Alderman Lail being the most vocal against and then Alder Fox spoke up that she didn't think it was fair that businesses on Union Square get charged and OHB wouldn't have to pay and then Alderman Guess wanted to know about the public safety concerns.

It seemed that the Mayor was not comfortable that it was going to be 4 to 3 decision, then he changed his mind and stated it was because of the public safety concerns, then there was more discussion with Alderman Meisner about what the other businesses were paying that had dining on the Square, so then he fell in line and the Mayor rescinded his vote and after a little more discussion they voted 6 to 1 against the Departmental Report with only Alder Patton maintaining her vote for it.

The Hound: We don't have anything against these guys making money, but the process needs to be legit and the policies need to be equitable. That is the reason why we are called the Citizens For Equity in Government. That is Equity for everyone from the top to the bottom. We aren't looking for equal outcomes. We are looking for everyone to have a fair shot. And these little insider games are what is wreaking havoc from the dirt roads in this county to Union Square to the Tarmacs at all of our Airports to the Monumental Mausoleums in Raleigh and Washington. This is cronyism.

A red flag went up when they said, "To our knowledge, we don't know if their are any other Craft Brewers that have this license." That means that they didn't research this and anyway others need to know the opportunity exists. That doesn't mean that OHB doesn't get the contract fair and square. It means that the process is legit and goes to the best provider and is in the public interest.

And then we come to the money. Zero... and we have an alderman pontificating about them losing money. LOGIC... if money wasn't to be made, then the Jaycees wouldn't be involved in beer sales during Union Square Events. These guys really don't understand Food and Beverage. The cost of these beers will be $4 or $5. They will pay their employees between $100 (2) and $200 (4) to man the station at most and there will probably be a tip jar out there for a few more bucks, depending on how successful. They can easily sell at a minimum 250 beers and maybe double that or more. They could afford to pay $100 per event to sell this beer.

Speaking of which, $25 a month for the restaurants down there to feed Patrons outside? That seems awfully cheap. How about $100 per month for Spring, Summer, and half of Fall and don't charge them in the Winter, And if you need to expand the dining space out there, then do it. And the monies collected should be reinvested into Union Square. All we are saying is that the Square needs to be responsible for the Square. Why is the whole public buying bands on top of the cost of the Million Dollar Structure that has to be maintained ad infinitum? When do the beneficiaries kick in to the kitty?

All we are saying is give Peace and Fairness a chance.

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- May 5, 2013

2013-05-05T13:37:00.000-04:00

Where Is The Recovery? A Higher Percentage Of Americans Had Jobs Three Years Ago - The Economic Collapse Blog - Michael - May 3, 2013 - If you think that the latest employment numbers are good news, you might want to look again. In April 2013, 58.6 percent of all working age Americans had a job. But three years ago, in April 2010, 58.7 percent of all working age Americans had a job. Well, you may argue, that is not much of a difference. And that is precisely my point. The percentage of Americans that have a job fell like a rock during the last recession. It dropped from about 63 percent all the way down to below 59 percent, and it has stayed below 59 percent for 44 months in a row. So where is the recovery? This is the first time in the post-World War II era that the employment-population ratio has not bounced back after the end of a recession. So anyone that tells you that we are experiencing an employment recovery is lying to you. Yes, the U.S. economy added 165,000 jobs last month. But it takes nearly that many jobs just to keep up with population growth. The truth is that we are just treading water. So why has the unemployment rate been going down? Well, it is because the government has been pretending that millions upon millions of unemployed Americans "don't want jobs" anymore. In fact, an astounding 9.5 million Americans have "left the workforce" since Barack Obama took office. Some in the mainstream media have started calling them "missing workers". But whatever label you want to use, the reality of the matter is that they are really hurting. They are part of the reason why food stamp enrollment has soared from 32 million to more than 47 million while Barack Obama has been in the White House. If you still believe that the employment market is getting better, just look at the following numbers. The percentage of working age Americans with a job has been sitting at about the same level for four years in a row...
April 2008: 62.7 percent
April 2009: 59.8 percent
April 2010: 58.7 percent
April 2011: 58.4 percent
April 2012: 58.5 percent
April 2013: 58.6 percent
So why is everyone getting so excited over the latest numbers? When you step back and look at what has happened to the employment-population ratio over the past decade it really is quite horrifying...

April's solid job growth favors women over men - AP through CBS MartketWatch - May 3, 2013 - It appears that April was a much better month for women than men in the job market, according to the government's latest employment report released Friday. The unemployment rate for adult women -- those 20 and older -- fell to 6.7 percent. That's down from 7 percent in March and the lowest since January 2009. Among white women, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.7 percent, compared with 6.1 percent the previous month. The drop in the jobless rate reflected a gain in employment, rather than people leaving the workforce. The workforce actually expanded, while the labor force participation rate — the share of working-age Americans who either have a job or are looking for one — held steady at a 34-year low of 63.3 percent. U.S. stock index futures jumped on the data, while yields on U.S. government debt rose. The dollar strengthened against the yen and the euro. "This shows the job market and the economy in general appear to be more resilient than investors had feared," said Joe Manimbo, a market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington. Still, some details of the report remained consistent with a slowdown in economic activity. Construction employment fell for the first time since May, while manufacturing payrolls were flat.

They Are Murdering Small Business: The Percentage Of Self-Employed Americans Is At A Record Low - The Economic Collapse Blog - Michael - May 2, 2013 - The percentage of Americans that are working for themselves has never been lower in the history of the United States. Once upon a time, the United States was a paradise for entrepreneurs and small businesses, but now the control freak bureaucrats that dominate our society have created a system that absolutely eviscerates them. This is very unfortunate, because by murdering small business, the bureaucrats are destroying the primary engine of job growth in this country. One of the big reasons why there are not enough jobs in America today is because small business creation is way down. As I mentioned yesterday, entrepreneurs and small businesses are being absolutely devastated by rules, regulations, red tape and by oppressive levels of taxation. If anyone doubts that small business in the United States is dying, just look at the charts below. Sadly, this is what the bureaucrats that run things want. They don't want us to be independent of the system. Instead, they are much more comfortable when as many of us as possible are heavily dependent on the system in one way or another. If all of us have to go running to the government or to one of the big corporations for a job, then we are much easier to control. But as the control freaks continue to construct their bureaucratic utopia, they are also killing off what once made the U.S. economy so great. The other day I came across the following two charts in an article by Charles Hugh Smith, and I was absolutely stunned by what I saw. This first chart shows that the number of unincorporated self-employed Americans has dropped back to levels that we have not seen since the mid-1980s even though our population has increased by tens of millions of people since that time...

Factory Orders in U.S. Decreased More Than Forecast in March - Bloomberg - Lorraine Woellert - May 3, 2013 - Orders placed with U.S. factories fell more than forecast in March as a cooling economy slowed demand for metals, mining equipment and military goods.                        The 4 percent drop in bookings was the biggest since August and followed a revised 1.9 percent gain the prior month that was smaller than previously estimated, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington. The median forecast of 58 economists in a Bloomberg survey predicted orders would fall by 2.9 percent.    Companies are feeling the effects of slowing growth in Europe, Asia and the U.S., where higher taxes and across-the- board federal budget cuts, known as sequestration, have restrained consumer spending. Orders could pick up as manufacturers prepare for improved demand expected in the second half of the year as employment strengthens.

IRS to Spy on Our Shopping Records, Travel, Social Interactions, Health Records and Files from Other Government Investigators - Washington's Blog - May 2, 2013 - We noted in March that all U.S. intelligence agencies – including the CIA and NSA – are going to spy on Americans’ finances.                       The IRS is joining the fun.                     U.S. News and World Report notes today:                       Starting this year, the IRS tools will be able to track all credit card transactions, for starters. The agency has also instructed agents on using online sources such as social media and e-commerce sites including eBay, as well as the rich data generated by mobile devices. In one controversial disclosure in April, the ACLU showed documents in which the IRS general counsel said the agency could look at emails without warrants, but the IRS has said it will not use this power.                          While the agency has declined to give details about what third-party personal data it will use in robo-audits and data mining, it has told government and industry groups that its computers are capable of scanning multiple networks at the same time to collect “matching” comprehensive profiles for every taxpayer in America. Such profiles will likely include shopping records, travel, social interactions and information not available to the public, such as health records and files from other government investigators, according to IRS documents...

Money Manager Pento: Fed Needs to 'Stop QE Right Now' - Newsmax MoneyNews - Dan Weil - May 2, 2013 - The Treasury market's 32-year rally has turned into a bubble that's going to pop with a bang, says Michael Pento, president of Pento Portfolio Strategies.                       "It's the most overpriced, oversupplied and over-owned market in the history of American economics," he tells Yahoo.                        The proof is in the statistics, Pento says. Treasury yields stand 550 basis points below their 40-year average, almost $120 billion flowed into bond funds from 2008 to 2012, and Treasury issuance has soared 140 percent since the end of 2007.                         The Federal Reserve's massive easing program is a big part of the problem, Pento says. "The Fed should stop QE [quantitative easing] now," he states. "It's creating a huge interest rate vacuum," as it's essentially the sole buyer of Treasurys.                        When the Fed finally decides to end QE and then unwinds what will be a $4 trillion balance sheet, as a bond market investor "do you think I'm going to be a buyer in front of that or a seller?" Pento asks rhetorically.

Study: Money Does Buy Happiness - Newsmax Moneynews - Dan Weil - May 2, 2013 - A new study from University of Michigan economists Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson shows that the wealthier people are, the happier they are, whether they are rich or poor.                  The duo looked at statistics from more than 150 countries. Sources ranged from the World Bank to the Gallup World Poll. The study will be published in the May 2013 American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings.                  Unlike some previous studies, Wolfers and Stevenson found there isn't a threshold where more wealth no longer creates more happiness.                        "Even America's millionaires don't think of themselves as rich," writes Fortune's Nin Hai-Tseng. "So are they any less happy than poorer folks scraping by earning minimum wage? Not exactly."                           The ultra-wealthy just need more money to make them happy, according to Wolfers and Stevenson.                         The study found that no millionaires are unhappy.                  Hai-Tseng distinguishes between day-to-day happiness and overall, "life assessment" happiness.                                The latter is what Wolfers and Stevenson focused on, finding that fulfillment keeps climbing and climbing as long as income is rising.

U.S. Homeownership Rate Falls to Lowest Since 1995 - Bloomberg - Prashant Gopal & John Gittelsohn - Apr 30, 2013 - The U.S. homeownership rate fell to the lowest in almost 18 years, reflecting rising demand for rentals and investor purchases in the housing market.                    The share of Americans who own their homes was 65 percent in the first quarter, down from 65.4 percent a year earlier and the lowest level since the third quarter of 1995, the Census Bureau reported today. The vacancy rate for rented homes dropped to 8.6 percent from 8.8 percent a year earlier, while vacancies for owner-occupied houses fell to 2.1 percent from 2.2 percent.                      Investors are buying single-family homes and renting them out to capitalize on demand among families unable to qualify for a mortgage. Their purchases, many made with cash, are helping to support the housing recovery and pushing up prices. Home values in 20 cities increased 9.3 percent in February from a year earlier, the most since May 2006, according to the S&P/Case- Shiller (SPCS20Y%) index released today.

Rat Meat Sold as Lamb Highlights Fear in China - New York Times - CHRIS BUCKLEY - May 3, 2013 - Even for China’s scandal-numbed diners, inured to endless outrages about food hazards, news that the lamb simmering in the pot may actually be rat tested new depths of disgust. In an announcement intended to show that the government is serious about improving food safety, the Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday that the police had caught a gang of traders in eastern China who bought rat, fox and mink flesh and sold it as mutton. But that and other cases of meat smuggling, faking and adulteration featured in Chinese newspapers and Web sites on Friday were unlikely to instill confidence in consumers already queasy over many reports about meat, fruit and vegetables laden with disease, toxins, banned dyes and preservatives. Sixty-three people were arrested and accused of “buying fox, mink and rat and other meat products that had not undergone inspection,” which they doused in gelatin, red pigment and nitrates, and sold as mutton in Shanghai and adjacent Jiangsu Province for about $1.6 million, according to the ministry’s statement. The report, posted on the Internet, did not explain how exactly the traders acquired the rats and other creatures. “How many rats does it take to put together a sheep?” said one typically baffled and angry user of Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblog service that often acts as a forum for public venting. “Is it cheaper to raise rats than sheep?

Where’s My Ghost Money?- New York Times - QAIS AKBAR OMAR - May 4, 2013 - I WAS very excited to read, last week, about the “ghost money” that the C.I.A. is paying to the president of my country, Hamid Karzai. I’d like to know: would it be possible for the C.I.A. to give me some, too? We do not know what President Karzai has done with this cash that arrives each month in suitcases and plastic shopping bags. Not even the C.I.A. — which every Afghan believes knows everything — can say. But I will tell you exactly what I will do with mine: I will do the things we thought the Americans were going to help us do when they came to Afghanistan nearly 12 years ago. First, I will use some of it to dig deep wells in all our villages and create modern water systems in all our cities. Fewer than a third of Afghans living in rural areas have access to clean drinking water. In one village I know in Balkh Province in the north, the people must walk more than a mile to reach the nearest well, and its water is salty. They rely on infrequent rain for drinking water and use it sparingly. They asked me to help them get a new well that is nearer and deeper. Now, with my ghost money, I can. Even in Kabul — where I lived until nine months ago when I came to study in the United States — most people still get their water from wells. Afghan children must carry heavy buckets of water from the wells to their homes several times each day. I did this for years. On the bright side, in Afghanistan, we do not have the problem of childhood obesity. I will use another part of my ghost money to build sewers. Afghans, like Americans, use toilets every day. But what we leave in our toilets either stays in an open pit or is flushed into open drains in the streets. The mosquitoes are happy with this situation, but the children they bite are not.

Bringing Hickory towards Reality

2013-05-03T01:41:00.000-04:00

The Hound was the first source to talk about the desperate situation with the job picture in the area in the fall of 2008 and even before that in Letters to the Editor in the Hickory Daily Record. We were the first source to talk about the loss of the young people in the community -- Building a Bridge to Hickory's Future. Make no mistake, the articles are available from late 2008 discussing the issue and below is the conversation that I had with Mayor Wright in March 2009 in which he basically dismisses what I am saying to a great degree. The local Powers That Be had been marketing the area to Retirees for years and it has led to the current plight we face with our demographics so far out of whack.

In August of 2009, Taylor Dellinger brought statistics to the Future Economy Council meeting that showed statistically how bad things were becoming and the situation has worsened over the subsequent 4 years -- Just The Facts about Hickory's Loss of the Younger Demographic. Once again, I called up Hal Row's show to speak with the Mayor on August 31, 2009. That conversation is below.

And now we come to last month's Hal Row Show with the Mayor, in which Mayor Wright finally fully acknowledges what I had been getting at 4 years ago, but now his acknowledgment comes with money strings attached. Mayor Wright summarizes exactly verbatim what I stated 4 years ago. He stresses urgency now, while I was stressing it 5+ years ago. The lesson should be that it's good to listen to everyone and not just the people you deem "Business Leaders." Many of these "Leaders" are the same people who have brought us to the edge of the cliff where we reside today. Fixing Hickory isn't about infrastructure boondoggles (ie local Stimulus) aimed at insider's personal interests. It is about investing in people and that means all of the people. As they say, and I do listen, "A hand up and not a hand out." We'll spend a ton of money on Statues, Paint, and Shrubs, while completely dismissing microlending. That is just insane.

In speaking at the Council meeting a month ago, I was not addressing the Council. I was addressing everyone in Hickory. That is who everyone who speaks before the Council should be addressing, because in the end the Council are Citizens. This Council rendered themselves impotent long ago. You take an idea to them and they don't look at how they can help you get it done, they tell you why it can't be done. That is unless you are an insider and the insiders are always looking for personal interests over the interests of the entire community. I really hate saying that, but after you continually see regular people ignored you have to say it.

"I have resolved to take a stand, with the help of a few, to move this community forward into dealing with reality. As long as I am here, I will continue to do my part.

Matthew 25:40 talks about looking out for the "Least of These." It is time to start looking out for our neighbors. I am not the Judge. There is a higher Authority."

Civilian Labor Force lowest in nearly 21 years

2013-05-02T06:00:00.002-04:00

The Civilian Labor Force, here in Catawba County, is down to 73,081 people. That is down from 73,315 the month before. That means that 234 fewer people are in the workforce this month. That is a 3/10 of one percent reduction in the Labor force over the previous month (234/73,315).

The last time that we had fewer people in the Catawba County workforce was in September of 1992, when we had 73,033 in the local workforce. And remember in February 2001 that we had 82,245 in the workforce. We have lost over 11% of our workforce in the last 12 years (82,245-73081/82,245).

Link to the data: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/NCCATA5LFN?cid=29272

The media is looking at U-3 numbers and telling you that Unemployment fell to 10.1% from 10.8% the previous month. 3/10 of a percent of that number is explained by people dropping out of the Labor Force and I believe that the rest of that reduction comes from the arbitrary "Seasonal Adjustments." The U-3 numbers may even fall below 10% in the near future, but until one looks at the reality of the U-6 numbers and the ever shrinking workforce numbers, then one will not grasp the true nature of the local employment picture -- it is at best stuck in a rut. Since July 2008, the local Catawba County workforce has shrunk by nearly 5,000 people (77,976 - 73,081= 4,895) and the trend shows that number growing substantially for the foreseeable future.

U-3 Unemployment numbers in Catawba County:
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/NCCATA5URN?cid=29272

These are the real numbers as they should be presented and represented. And please as always!

Inspiring Spaces photos from Open House on 4/18/2012

2013-05-01T01:47:00.002-04:00

You can blow up the photos and look at the details by clicking on the pictures and clicking CTRL+ to the desired scale or saving the pictures and using a program such as Photoshop.. I did not reduce the image quality. The photos had themes of Greenways, Bikeways,Blueways, Parks, Gateways, Special Places, Streetscapes, This should give an idea of the proposed development for those who could not make the Open House Event.

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- April 28, 2013

2013-04-28T04:00:00.000-04:00

Volkswagen layoffs (500) in Chattanooga marked by surprise, regret - timesfreepress.com - Mike Pare - April 19th, 2013 - Jason Hamilton, a contract worker at Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant for the past 20 months, said Thursday he had quit a higher-paying job so he could assemble cars at the factory.                   "I thought it was going to be a better opportunity," said Hamilton, who learned he is one of about 500 VW plant employees being laid off.                  The automaker told contract employees supplied by Aerotek that it is cutting 15 percent of the workforce. VW uses the staffing agency to screen, hire and provide temporary production jobs in the plant.                 VW executives blamed slower-than-expected growth in Passat sales and said they're doing away with a third production shift at the factory.                "We had too high expectations," said Frank Fischer, who heads VW in Chattanooga.                  The layoffs are set to start at the end of May.                      Fischer said the Passat exceeded sales targets for eight to 12 months after the factory started assembly in 2011. A little more than a year ago, plant officials said they planned to add 800 employees to keep up with demand for the Passat.                He said that projecting sales and production is "always like looking in a crystal ball."                   Still, he said, the company expects 2013 Passat sales to exceed last year's by about 5 percent. The company sold more than 117,000 Chattanooga-made Passats last year, and it set an all-time record for the vehicle in the U.S. The plant produced 150,000 cars in 2012.                   But, Fischer said, officials saw a trend of slowing growth in Passat sales late in 2012 and tried to avoid layoffs by reducing the number of production days.                    In the end, though, it wasn't enough.                     "We were very hesitant to lay off anyone," he said. But, "we have to adjust."

America The Fallen: 24 Signs That Our Once Proud Cities Are Turning Into Poverty-Stricken Hellholes - The Economic Collapse Blog - Michael - April 23rd, 2013 - What is happening to you America? Once upon a time, the United States was a place where free enterprise thrived and the greatest cities that the world had ever seen sprouted up from coast to coast. Good jobs were plentiful and a manufacturing boom helped fuel the rise of the largest and most vibrant middle class in the history of the planet. Cities such as Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Baltimore were all teeming with economic activity and the rest of the globe looked on our economic miracle with a mixture of wonder and envy. But now look at us. Our once proud cities are being transformed into poverty-stricken hellholes. Did you know that the city of Detroit once actually had the highest per-capita income in the United States? Looking at Detroit today, it is hard to imagine that it was once one of the most prosperous cities in the world. In fact, as you will read about later in this article, tourists now travel to Detroit from all over the globe just to see the ruins of Detroit. Sadly, the exact same thing that is happening to Detroit is happening to cities all over America. Detroit is just ahead of the curve. We are in the midst of a long-term economic collapse that is eating away at us like cancer, and things are going to get a lot worse than this. So if you still live in a prosperous area of the country, don't laugh at what is happening to others. What is happening to them will be coming to your area soon enough.    The following are 24 signs that our once proud cities are turning into poverty-stricken hellholes...

America: #1 In Fear, Stress, Anger, Divorce, Obesity, Anti-Depressants, Etc. - The Economic Collapse Blog - Michael, on April 22nd, 2013 - The United States is a deeply unhappy place. We are a nation that is absolutely consumed by fear, stress, anger and depression. It isn't just our economy that is falling apart - the very fabric of society is starting to come apart at the seams and it is because of what is happening to us on the inside. The facts and statistics that I am going to share with you in this article are quite startling. They are clear evidence that America is a nation that is an advanced state of decline. We are overwhelmed by fear, stress and anxiety, and much of the time the ways that we choose to deal with those emotions lead to some very self-destructive behaviors. Americans have experienced a standard of living far beyond the wildest dreams of most societies throughout human history, and yet we are an absolutely miserable people. Why is this? Why is America #1 in so many negative categories? Why are we constantly looking for ways to escape the pain of our own lives? Why are our families falling apart? There is vast material wealth all around us. So why can't we be happy?    Just look around you. Are most of the people around you teeming with happiness and joy? Sadly, the truth is that most Americans are terribly stressed out. Yeah, many of them may be able to manage to come up with a smile when they greet you, but most of the time they are consumed by internal struggles that are eating away at them like cancer.                    So why is this happening? Is modern life structured in a way that is fundamentally unhealthy?                Below I have posted a short excerpt from a message that one of Charles Hugh Smith's readers named Kenneth Daigle recently sent to him. I think that it does a good job of describing the incredible stress that many people contend with on a daily basis...

Doctor: 'I gave up on health care in America' - CNN Money - Parija Kavilanz - April 26, 2013 - ...   "Primary care is highly respected here. That's not the case anymore in America," said Snyder. "In the United States, health care has become more about the business of making money. The personal side of medicine is going away."                     In fact, Snyder said he wouldn't be surprised if more primary care doctors in the U.S. look for opportunities elsewhere. His own contract expires at the end of June but he's renewing it for another two years..

Rich got richer during the recovery, and rest got poorer, study says - Life Inc. on Today - Allison Linn - April 24, 2013 - The nation’s richest American households generally gained wealth during the first two years of the economic recovery, a new research report finds, while most American households saw their net worth drop.                The report, released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, found that the mean net worth for the 7 percent of American households at the top of the wealth distribution rose by 28 percent between 2009 and 2011, the most recent data available.                    Meanwhile, the mean net worth for the other 93 percent of American households fell by 4 percent during that period, according to Pew’s analysis of Census data.           Overall, the aggregate net worth for all American households rose between 2009 and 2011. But Pew’s more detailed analysis showed that the gains were concentrated among the wealthiest Americans, and the wealth gap increased during that time.

Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever - The Illuminati were amateurs. The second huge financial scandal of the year reveals the real international conspiracy: There's no price the big banks can't fix - Rolling Stone - Matt Taibbi - APRIL 25, 2013 -
Conspiracy theorists of the world, believers in the hidden hands of the Rothschilds and the Masons and the Illuminati, we skeptics owe you an apology. You were right. The players may be a little different, but your basic premise is correct: The world is a rigged game. We found this out in recent months, when a series of related corruption stories spilled out of the financial sector, suggesting the world's largest banks may be fixing the prices of, well, just about everything.               You may have heard of the Libor scandal, in which at least three – and perhaps as many as 16 – of the name-brand too-big-to-fail banks have been manipulating global interest rates, in the process messing around with the prices of upward of $500 trillion (that's trillion, with a "t") worth of financial instruments. When that sprawling con burst into public view last year, it was easily the biggest financial scandal in history – MIT professor Andrew Lo even said it "dwarfs by orders of magnitude any financial scam in the history of markets."                           That was bad enough, but now Libor may have a twin brother. Word has leaked out that the London-based firm ICAP, the world's largest broker of interest-rate swaps, is being investigated by American authorities for behavior that sounds eerily reminiscent of the Libor mess. Regulators are looking into whether or not a small group of brokers at ICAP may have worked with up to 15 of the world's largest banks to manipulate ISDAfix, a benchmark number used around the world to calculate the prices of interest-rate swaps.                Interest-rate swaps are a tool used by big cities, major corporations and sovereign governments to manage their debt, and the scale of their use is almost unimaginably massive. It's about a $379 trillion market, meaning that any manipulation would affect a pile of assets about 100 times the size of the United States federal budget.                       It should surprise no one that among the players implicated in this scheme to fix the prices of interest-rate swaps are the same megabanks – including Barclays, UBS, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and the Royal Bank of Scotland – that serve on the Libor panel that sets global interest rates. In fact, in recent years many of these banks have already paid multimillion-dollar settlements for anti-competitive manipulation of one form or another (in addition to Libor, some were caught up in an anti-competitive scheme, detailed in Rolling Stone last year, to rig municipal-debt service auctions). Though the jumble of financial acronyms sounds like gibberish to the layperson, the fact that there may now be price-fixing scandals involving both Libor and ISDAfix suggests a single, giant mushrooming conspiracy of collusion and price-fixing hovering under the ostensibly competitive veneer of Wall Street culture....

JPMorgan Accounts For 99.3% Of The COMEX Gold Sales In The Last Three Months - Zero Hedge - Tyler Durden - April 26, 2013 - Submitted by Mark McHugh from Across The Street - Jamie Dimon Has Issues - When just one firm accounts for 99.3% of the physical gold sales at the COMEX in the last three months it’s not what most of us on this side of the rainbow would consider “broad-based” selling. Of course discovering this kind of relevant information requires an internet connection, 2nd grade math and reading skills, and the desire to do a teeny-weeny bit of reporting. Sadly they’ve wandered so far down the rabbit hole that the concept of “physical demand” (i.e. people actually wanting to take possession of the stuff) is puzzling to them because the vast majority of the world’s so-called “gold-trading” takes place in the realm of make believe (which is their natural habitat). It’s all fun and games until somebody loses their metal and “somebody” has lost one hell of a lot of metal in the last 90 days.                        This is the CME Group’s COMEX metals issues and stops year-to-date report, which can be found here everyday for free. It chronicles the physical delivery notices of various metals, including gold. Let’s have a look:

AMERIKA

CEG seeks answers from the City of Hickory in relation to Rebecca Inglefield vs. Hickory Inc.

2013-04-25T17:41:00.004-04:00

Rebecca Inglefield gets deferred prosecution with No Admission of Guilt

2013-04-25T15:14:00.001-04:00

No Admission of Guilt. Prohibited from Whitener Building for one year. And has to do 24 hours of community service.

The City tried to force her to admit guilt and wanted her disbarred as an Attorney in North Carolina.

More to come including statements from the Inglefields and the Citizens for Equity in Government.

Rebecca Inglefield Trial Tomorrow Morning at 9am - (4/25/2013)

2013-04-24T21:14:00.006-04:00

Attorney Rebecca Inglefield's trial vs Hickory Inc. will be in the morning at 9am in Hickory District Court Room A. Rebecca's supporters will be gathering at 8:30am at the Courthouse. We'd like for you to be there if you can.

Statement by Rebecca Inglefield about her arrest at City Hall - September 13, 2012

They gonna Arrest you!!!

Rebecca Inglefield had the audacity to follow the rules!!!

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of May 1, 2012 -- Rebecca Inglefield requests items F & G be removed from the Agenda

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- April 21, 2013

2013-04-22T00:27:00.000-04:00

10 Signs The Takedown Of Paper Gold Has Unleashed An Unprecedented Global Run On Physical Gold And Silver - Economic Collapse Blog - Michael - April 18th, 2013 - The crash of the price of paper gold on Monday has unleashed an unprecedented global frenzy to buy physical gold and silver. All over the planet, people are recognizing that this is a unique opportunity to be able to acquire large amounts of gold and silver at a bargain price. So precious metals dealers now find themselves being overwhelmed with orders in the United States, in Canada, in Europe and over in Asia. Will this massive run on physical gold and silver soon lead to widespread shortages of those metals? Instead of frightening people away from gold and silver, the takedown of paper gold seems to have had just the opposite effect. People just can't seem to get enough physical gold and silver right now. Those that wish that they had gotten into gold when it was less than $1400 an ounce are able to do so now, and it is absolutely insane that silver is sitting at about $23 an ounce. If the big banks continue to play games with the price of gold, we are going to see existing supplies of physical gold and silver dry up very quickly. And once reports of physical shortages of gold and silver become widespread, it is going to absolutely rock the financial world. But this is what happens when you manipulate free markets - it often has unintended consequences far beyond anything that you ever imagined. The following are 10 signs that the takedown of paper gold has unleashed an unprecedented global run on physical gold and silver...

History Tells Us That A Gold Crash + An Oil Crash - Guaranteed Recession - Michael - April 17th, 2013

eBay Starts Massive Push Against Sales Tax - CNBC - April 21, 2013 - EBay Chief Executive John Donahoe began emailing millions of users of the company's online marketplace on Sunday in an unprecedented lobbying effort to change looming Federal sales tax legislation.                        The e-commerce giant plans to send emails from Donahoe to at least 40 million eBay users, including most sellers on the marketplace. The first messages were sent out Sunday morning.                    In the emails, Donahoe said the legislation, known as the Marketplace Fairness Act, unfairly burdens small online merchants and asked eBay users to send an email message to members of Congress asking for changes.                     The legislation, due to be voted on by the Senate in coming days, gives states the power to compel retailers outside their borders to collect online sales tax. Currently, states can only require merchants with a physical presence within their borders to collect.                    The legislation includes an exemption for merchants that generate less than $1 million in annual out-of-state revenue.                  Donahoe argued in the emails that merchants with less than $10 million in annual out-of-state sales, or fewer than 50 employees, should be exempt. Reuters viewed copies of the emails.                        In emails to eBay sellers, Donahoe singled out Amazon.com, eBay's main rival, which supports the current legislation. "This legislation treats you and big multi-billion dollar online retailers - such as Amazon - exactly the same," Donahoe wrote. "Those fighting for this change refuse to acknowledge that the burden on businesses like yours is far greater than for a big national retailer."                       Amazon generates more than $10 million in sales every 90 minutes, giving the world's largest Internet retailer more resources than a typical small merchant to collect sales tax in all states, Donahoe argued....

GM to add four more plants in China by 2015: executive - Reuters through Yahoo - Bernie Woodall and Norihiko Shirouzu - April 20, 2013 - SHANGHAI (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) will add four new plants in the next three years in China to bring its production capacity to 5 million vehicles a year, the head of GM China said on Saturday at the Shanghai auto show.                 Bob Socia, head of GM China, said that the company and its joint venture partners will invest $11 billion in China by 2016, but did not break out the cost of the new plants.

3 reasons the housing recovery may not last - CNN Money - Les Christie - April 18, 2013 - The housing market has made a big comeback over the past year; home prices have surged some 8% and homebuyers can't seem to buy up properties fast enough.                 But just as quickly as the market is gaining ground, some industry experts worry it will come crashing back to Earth. Here are three reasons the housing market recovery may not last:

1. The housing recovery is being led by investors...
2. The economic recovery is just not strong enough yet...
3. Government cuts will hurt homeowners...

Google Fiber to launch in Provo, Utah - CNN Money - Julianne Pepitone - April 17, 2013 - Google Fiber is branching out yet again. Google's ultra-high-speed network is slated to come to Provo, Utah.                     Google Fiber offers Internet speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, which Google says is 100 times faster than the average American Internet user's service. Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) also offers a Fiber TV service that lets customers watch all shows in HD, record up to eight shows at once and store up to 500 hours of HD video in the cloud. Customers can watch across several devices, including cell phones and PCs.                     The Google-Provo deal isn't finalized quite yet. Google said in a blog post that the company has signed an agreement to buy iProvo, an existing fiber-optic network owned by the city.                         Provo's city council will vote on Google's iProvo purchase next Tuesday. If it's approved, Google said it will "upgrade the network to gigabit technology and finish network construction so that every home along the existing iProvo network would have the opportunity to connect to Google Fiber."                    Assuming that the iProvo purchase passes, Provo will be the third location to get Google Fiber. It will technically be the fourth city to receive access, after Google launched the service last summer in select neighborhoods in Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo. Earlier this month, Google announced Fiber is also coming to Austin, Texas.

Intel offers more evidence of PC decline - CNN Money - James O'Toole - April 16, 2013 - In the midst of plunging PC sales, chipmaker Intel is doing its best to remain optimistic.               Intel reported another decline in chip sales for PCs as part of its first-quarter results on Tuesday, with revenue from that business falling 6% compared to a year ago. The news comes just a few days after research firm IDC reported that worldwide PC sales plunged 14% last quarter -- the worst yearly decline since IDC began tracking the data in 1994.               Intel's overall revenue fell 2.5% compared to last year, to $12.6 billion, and its net income dropped 25%, to $2 billion.
The company tried to draw investors' attention toward one of its bright spots: its growing in its data center business, where sales rose nearly 8% from last year, to $2.5 billion. Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) also offered solid guidance for the upcoming quarter. Shares rose slightly in after-hours trading Tuesday.                       Intel's results come as the PC industry continues to struggle against the rise of tablets like Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPad and other mobile devices. Intel and its rivals have tried to innovate their way out of their sales slump, but so far to little avail..

CEOs earn 354 times more than average worker - CNN Money - Jennifer Liberto - April 15, 2013 - Chief executives of the nation's largest companies earned an average of $12.3 million in total pay last year -- 354 times more than a typical American worker, according to the AFL-CIO.                 The average worker made $34,645 last year, according to the group that represents over 50 trade unions.                       Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) CEO Larry Ellison's $96.1 million pay package topped the list, followed by $54.3 million earned by Credit Acceptance Corp (CACC).'s Brett Roberts and Discovery Communications (DISCA) CEO David Zaslav's $50 million, according to the union's pay project.                     The one stand out was Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) CEO Timothy Cook, whose pay dropped to $4.2 million from $376 million in 2011, when his compensation package got a boost from long-term stock awards.                      The dip in Cook's pay was enough to lower the overall average for CEOs of top companies by 5% from 2011.                         Related: 20 top-paid CEOS                   The discrepancy in pay between CEOs and the average worker has skyrocketed over the years, peaking in 2000, when the gap was 525 times. In 1980, CEO pay was 42 times that of the average worker.

Fewer businesses provide health insurance - CNN Money - Jose Pagliery - April 15, 2013 -

Employee health insurance is on the decline, and for small businesses, it's gone from bad to worse. The share of small companies providing insurance plummeted from 47% to 38% between the years 2000 and 2011, according to a report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The proportion of all companies offering insurance slid from 59% to 52%. Annual premiums paid by individuals doubled from $2,490 to $5,081, while family premiums rose even more, from $6,415 to $14,447. As a result, fewer companies are offering health insurance, and fewer employees are taking it. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation defined a small business along new health reform guidelines: those with fewer than 50 employees. The organization is a long-time supporter of health care reform.

US desperately hides rising Poverty

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of April 16, 2013

2013-04-20T01:09:00.003-04:00

This newsletter is about the Hickory City Council meeting that I attended this past week. City council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each Month in the Council Chambers of the Julian Whitener building.

At right of this page under Main Information links is an Hickory's City Website link. If you click on that link, it takes you to our city’s website, at the left of the page you will see the Agenda's and Minutes link you need to click. This will give you a choice of PDF files to upcoming and previous meetings.

You will find historic Agenda and Minutes links. Agendas show what is on the docket for the meeting of that date. The Minutes is an actual summary of the proceedings of the meeting of that date.

Here is a summary of the agenda of the meeting. There were a couple of important items that were discussed at this meeting and the details are listed further below:

Please remember that pressing Ctrl and + will magnify the text and page and pressing Ctrl and - will make the text and page smaller. This will help the readability for those with smaller screens and/or eye difficulties.

City Website has changed - Here is a link to the City of Hickory Document Center

All materials and maps for this meeting are provide at this link:

City Council Meeting Agenda -April 16, 2013 (7MB)

Invocation by Rev. Whit Malone, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church

Special Presentations
A. (2:40) - Business Well Crafted Award to Skipper Smith, Catawba Paper Box - Alan Jackson Presentation from the Business Development Committee - http://www.hickorywellcrafted.com/work/well-crafted/catawba-paper-box/

Persons Requesting to Be Heard

(11:10) Cliff Moone - Speaks about the video taping of meetings and speaks about already being recorded in relation to expanding knowledge of City Council. He also asked that bathrooms be opened to the public for the "Bloody Sunday" March taking place on April 20, 2013.

(13:00) Angela Hurd - City of Refuge Community Development Center, which is a Mission for Children in the community. Utilizes Ridgeview Parks and Recreation Building. It is an after school and summer program that has helped 250 children since its inception.

(16:25) Steve Ivester - Speaking on the State changing Economic Development Regions and Zones. Endorses City Council's Consent Agenda A, which is a Resolution Recommended by the Western Piedmont Council of Governments Policy Board Regarding the State Designation of Regions for Provision of Services. (If you care about Economic Development in the area, then this is an excellent summary of the crossroads that Hickory is at when it relates to Economic Development).

(22:25) Larry Pope - He spoke about his involvement in reporting and the actions taken relating to the materials illegally sold to recycling centers from the demolished city swimming pools a couple years ago. He would like to see a Citizen's Review Board instituted in Hickory. He also asked that the bathrooms be opened to the public for the "Bloody Sunday" March taking place on April 20, 2013. Another group has been allowed to utilize City facilities for Church, he wants all groups to be treated equally.

Consent Agenda: (30:40)
A. Approval of a Resolution Recommended by the Western Piedmont Council of Governments Policy Board Regarding the State Designation of Regions for Provision of Services. - Proposed legislation (Senate Bill 127 and House Bill 356) divides our region and many of the other Council of Government (COG) regions in the State. Any division of the State should utilize the COG regions. Since only seven State regions are proposed, the new State regions should include multiple COG regions but not divide any COG regions.

B. Approval of a Resolution in Support of the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund. - The proposed state budget reduces the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF) to $15.5 million from $27.5 million and also removes its dedicated source of funding. The North Carolina Recreation and Park Association has requested that all local governments consider and approve a resolution in support of continued and dedicated funding of the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund and, that a copy of the resolution be sent to each of the members of the General Assembly representing the citizens of Hickory.

C. Call for a Public Hearing – Voluntary Satellite Annexation of 2.67 Acres of property located at 3254 South NC Hwy 127, Hickory (Authorize Public Hearing for May 7, 2013)

D. Approval to Apply for a Governor’s Highway Safety Program Grant to Purchase Twenty (20) In-Car Digital Cameras at a Cost of $120,000. - A standard marked Hickory Police Vehicle is equipped with a specialized Mobile Video In-Car Camera for all new police vehicles. Life expectancy will be five (5) to ten (10) years on the in-car cameras. These cameras can be reinstalled in new vehicles as required. The digital video recording system is to be installed in police vehicles at an estimated cost of $6,000 per in-car camera. If awarded the grant for twenty (20) digital video in car cameras at a cost of $120,000 the portion Governor’s Highway Safety Grant would match is $60,000. The City portion would be $60,000. Along with installing in-car cameras in new police vehicles, these cameras will replace any camera no longer working or supported by a vendor.

E. Budget Ordinance Amendment Number 17
1. To budget a $1,500 donation from the Hickory Elks Lodge in the Parks and Recreation-Recreation Supplies line item for the 2013 Easter Egg Hunt. The City of Hickory's Park and Recreation Department coordinates this annual event.
2. To budget $6,200 of Parks and Recreation donations in the Parks and Recreation Departmental Supplies line item. These donations are Senior Games Sponsorships.
3. To appropriate $2,128 of Community Block Grant reimbursement revenues and transfer to the General Fund-Capital Improvements line item. These funds are necessary to pay for the permits, lighting and curb mix needed for the 400 Block of South Center Street paving project.
4. To appropriate $31,364 of General Fund Balance (Funds reserved from the State of North Carolina Un-Authorized Substance Tax revenue) and budget in the Police Department's Capital Improvements line item. This amendment is necessary to purchase the materials, including asphalt and concrete, for the parking lot located at 222 3rd St. SW, (Contiguous to HPD Headquarters property). The materials are necessary to grade, shape, pave, curb and gutter, storm drains, catch basins, trenching for data and phone lines, lighting and pole, fencing and repair disturbed areas of landscaping. The parking area will provide 48 additional spaces for parking and will connect to the existing parking lot of HPD. Funds are made available to the Police Department from the State and remain in General Fund Balance until appropriated.

Informational Items (30:55)
A. Report of Mayor Wright’s travel to Town Hall Day in Raleigh, NC on March 26-27, 2013 (Meals - $61.50; Mileage Reimbursement $189.84; Lodging - $101.48; Registration $35)

New Business - Public Hearings
1. (31:40) Consideration of the City of Hickory’s 2013 Community Development Block Grant Budget and Action Plan. - The City of Hickory will receive approximately $272,574 in 2013 through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and approximately $160,400 in program income for a total of $432,974. Funds will be used to develop stronger communities by providing decent housing, creating suitable living environments, and expanding economic opportunities, principally for people of low and moderate incomes. The Annual Action Plan is a yearly update to the City of Hickory's 5 Year Consolidated Plan. The Consolidated Plan is a 5-year strategic vision for housing and community development needs within the City. The Annual Action Plan sets priorities among these needs and sets out the action plan for use of available funds on a yearly basis. This provides for flexibility in determining priorities as the needs of the community change from year to year. The Annual Action Plan will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on May 15, 2013 as the City's strategy for administering 2013 federal funds for community development and housing. This public hearing was advertised on April 5, 2013 and April 16, 2013 in a newspaper having general circulation in the Hickory area.

*** Steve Ivester asked about the numbers above not adding up and it was eventually stated bu Brian Frazier that the numbers for the Bathroom Facility at Kiwanis had been accidentally omitted.

*** Larry Pope spoke and stated that he is concerned about the same groups constantly getting grants from the city. He specifically spoke about Exodus Homes and said that groups receive money at their inception, but eventually they should be weened. He has spoken about this over the last few years.

The Hound agrees with Larry Pope and many other Citizens in this community that the same groups should not be constantly receiving this Federal money year after year. I do think that there are many worthy groups in the community and many don't receive any funding. There needs to be a discussion a thorough discussion about this issue in this community.

New Business - Departmental Reports:
1. (44:55) Quarterly Financial Report -Presentation by Assistant City manager Warren Wood

Positives

* Will avoid third straight year of tax base decline
* Most other revenues are stable Multiple opportunities for financial partnerships to improve and/or upgrade City owned facilities
* General Fund Debt Free in 8 years = capacity
* Water and Sewer Fund on solid financial footing
* Airport Self Supporting

The Hound thinks that the city needs to look from a perspective of the citizenry every once in a while, in contrast to the effects on Hickory Inc.'s bottom line. Let's look at all of this in relation to the citizen's cost of living and a business's cost of doing business. I understand the need to look at aggregate revenues and related growth, but the city's financial health has very little to do with its tax base and a whole lot more to do with income growth and wealth (profits) of its citizenry and its businesses and its citizens' ability to pay taxes. Income - Expenses = wealth (profit). Expenses are continuing to increase, while revenues have flatlined and wealth is shrinking.

As far as Hickory Inc.'s worries in relation to the State's proposed tax changes, This City Council seems to believe that a North Carolina State Sales Tax Increase is Regressive and Unfair? But then this same City Council believes a Hickory City Sales Tax instituted upon prepared foods is Good and Progressive? You know that doesn't make sense. I can't wait to hear them try to explain their way out of that one.

Mrs. Fox is correct about consumption being down and those effects upon these Sales Tax revenues. Increasing sales taxes (a regressive tax) in a bad economy will not increase revenues. They also need to look at citizen's opting out through a barter economy and black market activities. We cannot move towards eliminating taxes upon the wealthy with hopes that it will make us more competitive. The key should be to broaden the base, make taxes more equitable percentage wise, take the loopholes out of the system, and get it to where people have skin in the game in relation to how they benefit from the system. Whenever people look for someone else to pay besides themselves, then you land exactly where we are today.

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- April 14, 2013

2013-04-15T02:30:00.000-04:00

Assault On Gold Update — Paul Craig Roberts - April 13, 2013 - I was the first to point out that the Federal Reserve was rigging all markets, not merely bond prices and interest rates, and that the Fed is rigging the bullion market in order to protect the US dollar’s exchange value, which is threatened by the Fed’s quantitative easing. With the Fed adding to the supply of dollars faster than the demand for dollars is increasing, the price or exchange value of the dollar is set up to fall.                        A fall in the dollar’s exchange rate would push up import prices and, thereby, domestic inflation, and the Fed would lose control over interest rates. The bond market would collapse and with it the values of debt-related derivatives on the “banks too big too fail” balance sheets. The financial system would be in turmoil, and panic would reign.                                 Rapidly rising bullion prices were an indication of loss of confidence in the dollar and were signaling a drop in the dollar’s exchange rate. The Fed used naked shorts in the paper gold market to offset the price effect of a rising demand for bullion possession. Short sales that drive down the price trigger stop-loss orders that automatically lead to individual sales of bullion holdings once their loss limits are reached.              According to Andrew Maguire, on Friday, April 12, the Fed’s agents hit the market with 500 tons of naked shorts. Normally, a short is when an investor thinks the price of a stock or commodity is going to fall. He wants to sell the item in advance of the fall, pocket the money, and then buy the item back after it falls in price, thus making money on the short sale. If he doesn’t have the item, he borrows it from someone who does, putting up cash collateral equal to the current market price. Then he sells the item, waits for it to fall in price, buys it back at the lower price and returns it to the owner who returns his collateral. If enough shorts are sold, the result can be to drive down the market price.                               A naked short is when the short seller does not have or borrow the item that he shorts, but sells shorts regardless. In the paper gold market, the participants are betting on gold prices and are content with the monetary payment. Therefore, generally, as participants are not interested in taking delivery of the gold, naked shorts do not need to be covered with the physical metal.                         In other words, with naked shorts, no physical metal is actually sold.

Why Are The Banksters Telling Us To Sell Our Gold When They Are Hoarding Gold Like Crazy? - The Economic Collapse Blog - Michael - April 10th, 2013

100 Years Old And Still Killing Us: America Was Much Better Off Before The Income Tax - Michael - April 14th, 2013 - Did you know that the greatest period of economic growth in American history was during a time when there was absolutely no federal income tax? Between the end of the Civil War and 1913, there was an explosion of economic activity in the United States unlike anything ever seen before or since. Unfortunately, a federal income tax was instituted in 1913, and this year it turned 100 years old. But there was no fanfare, was there? There was no celebration because the federal income tax is universally hated. Sadly, most Americans just assume that there is no other option to an income tax. Most Americans just assume that it has always been with us and that it will always be with us. This year, the American people will shell out approximately $4.22 trillion in state and federal income taxes. That amount is equivalent to approximately 29.4 percent of all income that Americans will bring in this year, and that does not even take into account the dozens of other taxes that Americans pay each year. At this point, the U.S. tax code is about 13 miles long, and those that are honest and pay their taxes every year are being absolutely shredded by this system. But wouldn't the federal government go broke if we didn't have a federal income tax? No, actually the truth is that the federal government did just fine before there was an income tax. In fact, the U.S. national debt has gotten more than 5000 times larger since the federal income tax and the Federal Reserve were created by Congress back in 1913. As I have written about previously, the Federal Reserve system was actually designed to trap the United States in a debt spiral from which it could never possibly escape, and the federal income tax was needed to greatly expand the size of the federal government and to soak the American people of the funds necessary to service that debt. But it doesn't have to be this way. America was once much better off before the income tax and the Federal Reserve were created, and we could easily go to such a system again...

Fed doves play down threat of U.S. inflation - Reuters - Jonathan Spicer and Alister Bull - April 13, 2013 - Federal Reserve policymakers went out of their way on Saturday to play down the risk that aggressive measures to bolster the U.S. economy would lead to inflation in the future, in a clear signal of support for its ongoing actions to spur growth.    The U.S. central bank last month maintained a controversial program of buying $85 billion of bonds a month, while pledging to keep interest rates near zero until unemployment hits at least 6.5 percent, so long as inflation stays under 2.5 percent.                          Two of the central bank's most dovish officials - Chicago Federal Reserve boss Charles Evans and Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota - pushed back against recent signals from Fed hawks who want to taper those bond purchases.                   "Without signs of actual inflation, many inflation-risk discussions ultimately raise this specter of ... unlocking the long-ago-vanquished inflation demons from the dungeon," said Evans, a voting member of the Fed's policy committee this year.

Producer prices post biggest drop in 10 months - Reuters - April 12, 2013 - Producer prices recorded their biggest drop in 10 months in March as the cost of gasoline tumbled, according to a government report on Friday that supported the case for the Federal Reserve to maintain its very accommodative monetary policy. The Labor Department said its seasonally adjusted producer price index fell 0.6 percent last month, the largest drop since May, after increasing 0.7 percent in February.                             Economists polled by Reuters had expected prices received by the nation's farms, factories and refineries to fall only 0.2 percent.

US STOCKS-Wall St retreats from record on retail data, bank results - Reuters - April 12, 2013 - U.S. stocks fell on Friday from the previous session's record levels after an unexpected drop in retail sales last month and lackluster results from two major banks.                             The rally that has taken the S&P 500 index more than 11 percent higher this year has made stocks vulnerable to a pullback...             Data showed retail sales fell 0.4 percent in March, while February's strong gain was revised down slightly. Consumer spending plays a key role in the U.S. economy, accounting for two-thirds of activity.                           Another report showed consumer sentiment fell to a nine-month low in early April amid gloom about the long-term health prospects for the U.S. economy.                             Investors have been rattled by indications economic growth could be softening, particularly after last week's disappointing jobs number, though that has not derailed the market rally so far.                       The advance in equities in recent months was partly buoyed by the Federal Reserve's economic stimulus efforts, and analysts are viewing the first-quarter earnings season as a test for whether those gains are justified by corporate performance.

12 Banks Got the Fed Minutes a Day Early - CNBC - John Carney - April 10, 2013 - It wasn't just Capitol Hill staffers and trade groups that received the Federal Reserve minutes a day early. Many banks and other financial institutions also got an early look at the minutes.                         The U.S. Federal Reserve building is seen in Washington. A list of recipients obtained by CNBC reveals that at least 12 banks, a Wall Street law firm, a hedge fund, and a private equity fund were on the distribution list that got the minutes early.                         The banks included Fifth Third, Citigroup (NYSE:C), UBS, Barclays, U.S.Bank, Goldman Sachs (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC), HSBC, BNP Paribas, BB&T, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and PNC.                    Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the most powerful Wall Street law firms, also got the email.

JC Penney: Can this company be saved? - AP through USA Today - Anne D'Innocenzio - April 9, 2013 - J.C. Penney late Monday brought back former CEO Mike Ullman after Ron Johnson's risky turnaround strategy backfired and led to massive losses and steep sales declines.                 But will Ullman try to save the struggling retailer or just keep the seat warm until the board hires a fireballing successor?                          Penney's board of directors ousted Johnson as CEO Monday after only 17 months on the job and rehired Ullman, 66, who was CEO of the department store chain for seven years until November 2011.                        The announcement came after a growing chorus of critics, including a former Penney CEO, Allen Questrom, called for Johnson's resignation as they lost faith in an aggressive overhaul that included getting rid of most discounts in favor of everyday low prices and bringing in new brands.                        The biggest blow came Friday from Ullman's strongest supporter, activist investor and board member Bill Ackman. Ackman had pushed the board in the summer of 2011 to hire Johnson to shake up the retailer's dowdy image. Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management is Penney's biggest shareholder, reportedly told investors that Penney's execution "has been something very close to a disaster."

J.C. Penney can sell Martha Stewart goods - AP through USA Today - April 12, 2013

Consumer Confidence Plummets To Nine Month Low, Biggest Miss To Consensus On Record - Tyler Durden - April 12, 2013 - Well if this doesn't send the market into all-time record high territory, nothing ever will: seconds ago the UMich Consumer Confidence plummeted from 78.6 to 72.3, on expectations of an unchanged 78.6 print. This was not only a 9 month low in the index, but more importantly the biggest miss to expectations in recorded history! Both conditions (84.8, Exp 89.5, Last 90.7) and expectations (64.2, Exp.70.0, Last 70.8), imploded, with the current conditions number the worst print since July and posting the biggest drop since August 2011. Surely if retail sales was not a sufficient Conviction Buy signal for the Fed, then Consumer Confidence should send Kevin Henry, who is now mainlining a trail mix cocktail of Redbull, Caffeine and Meth, into F5 overdrive. And if that doesn't do it, the final economic miss of the day, Business Inventories which also missed expectations of a 0.4% print, and dropped from 0.9% to 0.1%, the lowest since September 2011 and biggest miss since September 2012, should certainly cement today's 1600+ S&P close.

Clinic For Uninsured Shuts Down Updated - WLOS - Mario Boone - Asheville, NC - April 9, 2013 - A healtOSh care center that serves uninsured people in Buncombe County is closing. Three Streams Family Health Center has been in operation for 12 years. The clinic's founder, Father Chris Newcomb, tells News 13 that dwindling donations, increasing deficits and ballooning costs forced the closure. Long time patients say they're saddened to see the clinic go. The clinic will remain open on limited hours for the next four weeks to help patients with medical records and prescriptions.

Word of the Day: Unemployment (U3 and U6)

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of April 2, 2013

2013-04-09T03:21:00.001-04:00

This newsletter is about the Hickory City Council meeting that I attended this past week. City council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each Month in the Council Chambers of the Julian Whitener building.

At right of this page under Main Information links is an Hickory's City Website link. If you click on that link, it takes you to our city’s website, at the left of the page you will see the Agenda's and Minutes link you need to click. This will give you a choice of PDF files to upcoming and previous meetings.

You will find historic Agenda and Minutes links. Agendas show what is on the docket for the meeting of that date. The Minutes is an actual summary of the proceedings of the meeting of that date.

Here is a summary of the agenda of the 4/2/2012 meeting. There were a couple of important items that were discussed at this meeting and the details are listed further below:

Please remember that pressing Ctrl and + will magnify the text and page and pressing Ctrl and - will make the text and page smaller. This will help the readability for those with smaller screens and/or eye difficulties.

City Website has changed - Here is a link to the City of Hickory Document Center

All materials and maps for this meeting are provide at this link:

City Council Meeting Agenda -April 2, 2013 (13MB)

Invocation by Cliff Moone

Special Presentations
A.Presentation for National Public Safety Telecommunications Week Presented to Shelley Davis and Nicole Sain, Telecommunicator Supervisors for Hickory Police Department.

B. Proclamation for Fair Housing Month Presented to Lois Leonard from the Board of Realtors.

Persons Requesting to Be Heard
Several people spoke during Citizens Requesting to be Heard on a wide array of topics.

1) (11:30) - Bob Anderson speaks about televising City Council

2) (14:10) - Dr Joseph Inglefield - The need for an Aquatics facility (Link to Transcipt)

3) (19:00) - Slade Kosova - The need for an Aquatics facility

4) (22:35) - James Thomas Shell - Unfair Assessments and Unethical Practices
(Link to Transcipt)

5) (30:05) - David Zagaroli - Public Arts - World Renowned Studio of Clay Structures designed by John Hare

6) (31:40) - John Hare - Official Sculptor for the Olympics in the past and he wants to create a sculpture park here in Hickory.

7) (36:05) - Cliff Moone - Speaks about Video Taping the meetings and speaks about North Carolina House Bill 150. We need to have an educated citizenry. The Legislature is moving towards usurping local government authority.

8) (40:25) - J. Franklin Davis - Speaks about the Gallup-Healthway study and other studies and obesity and health in this community.

Consent Agenda:
A. Approval of Proclamation for Child Abuse Prevention Month, April 2013.

B. Approval of Proclamation for Arbor Day, April 20, 2013.

C. Request Approval to Submit a Grant to the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company and the Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina (IIANC), in the amount of $5,000. The City of Hickory Fire Department requests approval to submit a grant to the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company and the Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina (IIANC) grant process for acquiring a multi-as detector, an electrical exhaust fan for firefighting operations, and digital camera equipment for fire investigations. The grant request is for $5,000, of which there is no matching fund requirement.

D. Approval of a Partnering Agreement between Catawba County and the City of Hickory for
the Disposal of Household and Commercial Solid Waste. This Agreement states the City will bring all its household and commercial waste it collects within the City limits to the Catawba County landfill for an initial period of five (5) years and automatically renews for one additional five (5) year period unless either party notifies the other to terminate the agreement after the first five (5) year period. Catawba County guarantees the current tipping fees will not increase in any one year by more than the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the fees may only be adjusted annually effective July 1 of each year. This Agreement allows for the City to continue to dispose or sell any recycled products as
it deems necessary. The County agrees to receive yard waste from the City at no cost and the City is eligible to receive back from the County ground mulch up to 50% by weight of yard waste delivered to the Coun ty. This partnering agreement gives the County more secure source of waste and it
gives the City a more secure and stable tipping fee structure for the future.

E. Special Event/Activities Application for Music Under the Sails on the Square, Mandy Pitts,
Communications Director and Brand Manager, for May 3, May 10, May 17, May 24, May 31, June 7, June 14, June 21, and June 28, 2013, from 4:00 p.m. To 8:30 p.m. at the Sails on the Square in Downtown Hickory.

F. Special Event/Activities Application for Symphony Under the Sails “A Patriotic Celebration”, Reggie Helton, Western Piedmont Symphony, for June 30, 2013 from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Sails on the Square in Downtown Hickory.

G. Special Event/Activities - Application for Kontras Under the Sails, Mandy Pitts, Communications Director and Brand Manager, for April 19, 2013 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Sails on the Square in Downtown Hickory.

H. Special Event/Activities Application for Hickory Alive, Amber B. Detter, Hickory Jaycees, for May 31, June 7, June 14, June 21, June 28 and July 5, 2013 from 5:30 p.m. to 11:30p.m. at the City Hall Parking Lot.

I. Request Approval to Close Patrick Beaver Memorial Library and Ridgeview Branch Library on Monday, May 20, 2013 and Tuesday, Many 21, 2013. Request approval to close both locations of Hickory Public Library to the public on Monday, May 20, 2013 and Tuesday, May 21, 2013 to provide training for all library staff in all aspects of the new integrated library system (ILS) with The Library Corporation (TLC). The intense training will be conducted by staff of TLC as part
of the contract that City Council approved on February 15, 2013. The new system should launch to the public on May 22, 2013.

J. Capital Project Ordinance Number 1.
1. To accept and budget a $44,000 appropriation from General Fund Balance and to budget $176,000 of Federal Miscellaneous Revenue in the Falling Creek Bridge 3 replacement project. This budget amendment provides a total of $220,000 of funding, 80% at the Federal level and 20% at the Local level, for the projects initial preliminary Engineering work.

K. Budget Ordinance Amendment Number 16.
1. To appropriate $88,636 of General Fund Balance (Funds reserved from the State of North Carolina Un-Authorized Substance Tax revenue) and budget in the Police Department's Capital Improvements line item. This amendment is necessary to pay for the second phase of the renovation to property located at 222 3rd St. SW, (Contiguous to HPD Headquarters property) which was purchased by the City in 2011. The second phase is to provide additional parking for the renovated HPD office space. The scope of work includes grading and shaping, paving, curb and gutter, storm drains, catch basins, trenching for data and phone lines, lighting and poles for lighting, fencing, and landscaping disturbed areas. The parking area will provide 48 additional spaces for parking and will connect to the existing parking lot of HPD. Funds are made available to the Police Department from the State and remain in General Fund Balance until appropriated.

2. To appropriate $202 of General Fund Balance (Funds reserved from the State of North Carolina Un-Authorized Substance Tax revenue) and budget in the Police Department's Non-Inventory line item. This appropriation is to budget necessary funds to cover shipping charges for the Special Operations Team vests and armor plates. Funds are made available to the Police Department from the State and remain in General Fund Balance until appropriated. This amendment is also necessary to decrease the Hickory Police Department’s operational budget by $3,863 of unspent Unauthorized Substances Tax funds and return to General Fund Appropriated Fund Balance.

3. To appropriate $44,000 of General Fund Balance and budget in the Falling Creek Bridge Capital project. This represents the required local matching funds for the initial preliminary engineering project budget for the replacement of Bridge No. 327 located on Falling Creek Road. The North Carolina Department of Transportation agreement provides 80% Federal funding in the amount of $176,000 and requires a 20% Local match of $44,000 for a total of $220,000.

New Business - Public Hearings1. Consider Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice and Plan to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing. As an entitlement recipient of Community Development Block Grant Funds, the City of Hickory is required to affirmatively further fair housing in the community. The majority of the actions described in the plan relate to increasing the awareness and education in the community to ensure that all citizens are aware of their rights to fair housing. In addition, the City will take actions to protect the City’s stock of affordable housing and ensure that all citizens are able to access affordable housing. The public hearing was advertised in a newspaper having general circulation in the Hickory area on March 23, and April 2, 2013.

2. Consider Amendment to the City’s Community Development Block Grant Budget and Action Plan.

New Business - Departmental Reports:
1. Consideration and Approval of a Facility Lease Agreement with Hickory Music Factory, Inc. - The Hickory Music Factory, Inc. is a non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization for students, teachers, artists and patrons to learn, create and experience all things music. The mission of the Hickory Music Factory is to provide and help preserve music in the community through lessons, performances and outreach programs. The leased facility is a building within Jaycee Park; located at 1515 12th Street Drive NW, which formerly housed the primary administrative offices for the Parks and Recreation Department. The leased facility will be used by the Hickory Music Factory to house its business headquarters and operations. The lease agreement will be for an initial period of five (5) years, with an option to renew for an additional five (5) years. In consideration of the lease, Hickory Music Factory will pay to the City of Hickory an annual rental fee of one dollar per year, payable by January 31st of each year. Hickory Music Factory will have use of the facility daily between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., along with use of the existing parking lot during the same hours. Any alterations, additions and improvements to the leased premises are at the sole expense of Hickory Music Factory. The City of Hickory will be responsible for all structural maintenance and building systems repairs and replacements.

* Hickory Music Factory will have use of the existing parking at the leased premises during operating hours.
* Will be allowed to install an identification sign on the building.
* Any alterations, additions, and improvements to the leased premises aree at the sole expense of Hickory Music Factory.

* Rental Fee is $1.00 per year
* The leased premises will be used by Hickory Music Factory to House is Headquarters and Operations
* Operating Hours will be 7am to 9pm

2. Settlement Offer in the HUD Housing Discrimination Complaints, Billy Sudderth et. al. vs City of Hickory. - In February of 2013, nine complaints were served electronically on the City from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmeSnt (HUD). All of these complaints allege the City of Hickory, the Parks and Recreation Commission, and the Citizens Advisory Committee engaged in discriminatory housing practices against the complainants on the basis of race. Specifically the complaints allege the following occurred: “Discriminatory terms, conditions, privileges or services and facilities and refusing to provide municipal services. These discriminatory practices allegedly happened when the City demolished the Ridgeview and West Hickory swimming pools despite opposition from the African American community.”

The Hound: Below are the Power Point Story Boards related to the proceedings regarding this case. Since this case is proceeding forward, we should allow this to play out without much commentary at this time. There are a few items related to the city's response where they have their facts/assumptions wrong. Also, the city has asked frequently how this has anything to do with a Housing case; conveniently, it seems, forgetting HUD's mission related to Urban Development. The issue is that the city is taking Federal funds and they aren't allowing the public to play a role in how those funds are dispersed. The local bureaucracy has its own agenda.

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- April 7, 2013

2013-04-07T02:11:00.001-04:00

21 Statistics About The Explosive Growth Of Poverty In America That Everyone Should Know - The Economic Collapse Blog - Michael - April 4th, 2013 - f the economy is getting better, then why does poverty in America continue to grow so rapidly? Yes, the stock market has been hitting all-time highs recently, but also the number of Americans living in poverty has now reached a level not seen since the 1960s. Yes, corporate profits are at levels never seen before, but so is the number of Americans on food stamps. Yes, housing prices have started to rebound a little bit (especially in wealthy areas), but there are also more than a million public school students in America that are homeless. That is the first time that has ever happened in U.S. history. So should we measure our economic progress by the false stock market bubble that has been inflated by Ben Bernanke's reckless money printing, or should we measure our economic progress by how the poor and the middle class are doing? Because if we look at how average Americans are doing these days, then there is not much to be excited about. In fact, poverty continues to experience explosive growth in the United States and the middle class continues to shrink. Sadly, the truth is that things are not getting better for most Americans. With each passing year the level of economic suffering in this country continues to go up, and we haven't even reached the next major wave of the economic collapse yet. When that strikes, the level of economic pain in this nation is going to be off the charts. The following are 21 statistics about the explosive growth of poverty in America that everyone should know...

60 Completely Outrageous Ways The U.S. Government Is Wasting Money - The End of the American Dream - Michael - March 24, 2013 - Is there anyone better at wasting money then the U.S. government? Despite the sequester and all of the talk about “deep cutbacks”, the federal government continues to waste money in some of the most outrageous ways imaginable. For example, does the U.S. government really have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to study the size and shape of the reproductive organs of ducks? Does the U.S. government really have to spend 1.5 million dollars to study why so many lesbians are overweight? There is so much waste that could still be cut out of the federal budget, and yet the very small sequester cuts that just happened are being described as “catastrophic” by many of our politicians. But you know what? The federal government will still spend more money in fiscal year 2013 than it did in fiscal year 2012 even after the sequester cuts are factored in. So if this is how much whining our politicians will do even though government spending is still going up, what would they do if we were actually forced to start living within our means at some point? That is something to think about. In any event, please show this article to anyone that believes that the U.S. government is actually “tightening the belt”. Sadly, the truth is that the federal government is still wasting our money in some of the most frivolous ways that you could possibly imagine. The following are some of the completely outrageous ways that the U.S. government is wasting money…

People Not In Labor Force Soar By 663,000 To 90 Million, Labor Force Participation Rate At 1979 Levels - Zero Hedge - Tyler Durden - April 5, 2013 - Things just keep getting worse for the American worker, and by implication US economy, where as we have shown many times before, it pays just as well to sit back and collect disability and various welfare and entitlement checks, than to work .The best manifestation of this: the number of people not in the labor force which in March soared by a massive 663,000 to a record 90 million Americans who are no longer even looking for work. This was the biggest monthly increase in people dropping out of the labor force since January 2012, when the BLS did its census recast of the labor numbers. And even worse, the labor force participation rate plunged from an already abysmal 63.5% to 63.3% - the lowest since 1979! But at least it helped with the now painfully grotesque propaganda that the US unemployment rate is "improving." People not in labor force:

Job Gains Slow Amid U.S. Unemployment at Four-Year Low - Bloomberg - By Alex Kowalski - April 5, 2013

Weak job gains hurt economic outlook - Reuters - Jason Lange - April 5, 2013

Job Insecurity High as Layoffs Show Huge Surge - Reuters through CNBC - April 4, 2013

Wal-Mart's Food Fight: Betting on Data, Not Workers - Reuters through CNBC - Martha C. White - April 5, 2013 - The company is throwing its supply-chain and inventory management expertise behind the delicate logistics of stocking and selling products that can wilt or sour, but if a data-driven solution to what historically has been perceived as a people problem fails, it won't just be the groceries that spoil.

"It's one of the top issues they face," said Gary Giblen, an independent retail industry consultant. "You only get one time at bat with perishables," he said. Groceries are a big opportunity for Wal-Mart. "About half of meals eaten in this country include one fresh item," said Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst for the NPD Group. "The general megatrend is that people are eating more fresh food ...it's growing faster than the packaged food sector," consultant Giblen said... "Our grocery business continues to be a key traffic driver," executive vice president and president of Wal-Mart U.S. William Simon told investors when the company reported its quarterly earnings in February. That month, the company's grocery business got a high-profile boost when Michelle Obama visited a Walmart store in Missouri and touted its healthy eating initiatives, part of the First Lady's Let's Move! anti-obesity campaign. But this attention comes as the retail giant comes under media scrutiny for what critics say are chronically understaffed stores.

"Don't have items they are looking for-can't find it," was one complaint detailed in an internal memo obtained by the New York Times that addressed the issue of staffing, noting that customers "lose trust" when this happens.

Feds offer new hope for avoiding 'robocalls' - Jennifer C. Kerr, Associated Press through USA Today - April 2, 2013 - There may soon be another way to fight those annoying recorded phone pitches known as robocalls. The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday announced winners of a national contest to develop new blocking technology for illegal sales calls. Recorded commercial robocalls are illegal even if a consumer is not on the do-not-call list. Those calls may only be placed if someone has given their consent. The winners are Aaron Foss, a freelance software developer based in Long Island, N.Y., and Serdar Danis, a computer engineer who did not wish to disclose his hometown. Each winner will receive $25,000. The technologies developed by Foss and Danis involve software that could analyze and filter calls to screen out those being placed from a computer or from someone who has been identified as an unwanted caller. The judges also selected two Google computer engineers as winners of a separate category, which did not include a cash prize, for organizations that employ 10 or more people...

Auto Lending Bubble Inflates, And the Fed May Be Responsible - Reuters through CNBC - April 3, 2013 - ... At car dealers across the United States, loans to subprime borrowers like Nelson are surging — up 18 percent in 2012 from a year earlier, to 6.6 million borrowers,according to credit-reporting agency Equifax Inc. And as a Reuters review of court records shows, subprime auto lenders are showing up in a lot of personal bankruptcy filings, too. It's the Federal Reserve that's made it all possible. In its efforts to jumpstart the economy, the U.S. central bank has undertaken since November 2008 three rounds of bond-buying and cut short-term interest rates effectively to zero. The purchases of mostly Treasury and mortgage securities - known as quantitative easing and nicknamed QE1, QE2 and QE3 - have injected trillions of dollars into the financial system. The Fed isn't alone. Central banks from Tokyo to Frankfurt to London are running their printing presses overtime. The heavily indebted advanced economies are trying to reflate their way out of the prolonged bout of crisis and recession that crystallized with the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings in 2008. That crisis, of course, followed a nearly decade-long cycle of easy money and exotic financial products that itself began with the collapse of the tech-mania bubble of the late 1990s. The Fed's program, while aimed at bolstering the U.S. housing and labor markets,has also steered billions of dollars into riskier, more speculative corners of the economy. That's because, with low interest rates pinching yields on their traditional investments, insurance companies, hedge funds and other institutional investors hunger for riskier, higher-yielding securities — bonds backed by subprime auto loans, for instance. Lenders like Exeter have rushed to meet that demand. Backed by Wall Street banks and big private-equity firms, they have been selling ever-greater amounts of subprime auto loans in the form of relatively high-yield securities and using the proceeds to fund even more lending to more subprime borrowers. Expansion of the subprime auto business was chronicled in a 2011 Los Angeles Times series. Since then, growth has continued apace. Consider that in 2012, lenders sold $18.5 billion in securities backed by subprime auto loans, compared with $11.75 billion in 2011, according to ratings firm Standard & Poor's. The pace has continued so far this year, with $5.7 billion of the securities issued, compared with $4.4 billion for the same period last year, according to Deutsche Bank AG. OnMonday alone, three deals totaling $1.6 billion of subprime auto securitieswere announced by Wall Street banks. To make up for the risk of taking on increasing numbers of high-risk borrowers,subprime auto lenders charge annual interest rates that can top 20 percent. The Exeter loan Nelson and his wife got, for example, carried a 21.95-percent rate. Exeter, which is majority-owned by private-equity giant Blackstone Group, assumes that one in four borrowers will default on their loan, according to an Exeter investor pitch book reviewed by Reuters.

David Stockman - Head of Reagan's Office of Management and Budget on the Current Economy - The Reaganomic's Team - The Great Deformation

Fox Business -

Bloomberg -

CNBC -

- Peak Prosperity

Hickory City Council Audio - 4/2/2013

2013-04-03T09:45:00.004-04:00

A.Presentation for National Public Safety Telecommunications Week Presented to Shelley Davis and Nicole Sain, Telecommunicator Supervisors for Hickory Police Department.

B. Proclamation for Fair Housing Month Presented to Lois Leonard from the Board of Realtors.

Several people spoke during Citizens Requesting to be Heard

1) (11:30) - Bob Anderson speaks about televising City Council

2) (14:10) - Dr Joseph Inglefield - The need for an Aquatics facility

City Council members and staff:

A Vision for Aquatics Well-Crafted:

It is time to jump in the pool with a splash! The door to the pool is open and the water feels great. Now is the time to embrace the opportunity that has been presented to the City of Hickory, a time for Aquatics well crafted. According to your own survey the entire city of Hickory embraces this central aquatics facility. 82 % of residents, whom you represent, who voted for you want this facility. Thirty thousand dollars worth of community input should be persuasive?

The Rudy Wright Memorial competition pool would be a fitting name for the showcase venue of the Aquatics center. Imagine the cannonball splashes at the ribbon-cutting?

Imagine swim teams from the area, potentially nationwide, in competitions, family members splashing, playing, enjoying the water. Imagine all the children of Hickory learning the lifelong skill of swimming and water safety. Since Mayor Wright has said and promised on many occasions every child in Hickory should be a swimmer. Imagine Hickory could produce more college-level swimmers with full scholarship rides to universities like Virginia Tech, Harvard, Yale, Duke and UNC. Lenoir Rhyne University swimming teams hosting local collegiate competitions, Hickory High swim team hosting regional and state championships. Hickory has a proud history of swimming success with great coaches like Paul Schiffel with his LRU and CVAC teams, Jon Jolly and the Seahorses at the Y , and Cathy Hitchcock at Hickory High Red Tornados or should it be Typhoons for the watery setting? Imagine what they can do with a facility that meets their talents and those of the swimmers???

Let's think even bigger maybe some Olympians? Yes, Hickory Aquatic Olympians well-crafted. I challenge the Park and Rec to produce Olympic athletes in any sport, but especially in the aquatic arena. This would be an inspiration to all the citizens of Hickory. Sails in the Square could lead to Sails on Lake Hickory with sailing regattas, paddleboard competitions, open water swims, but this all starts with a aquatic facility.

This is not an "amenity"! Look at the statistics for deaths from drowning versus deaths from fires. We have a fine fire department with a great record, what we need is a Department of Water Safety. This is a public health issue. This is an economic issue, with jobs springing from training of fire and rescue personnel, lifeguards, recreational professionals, jobs that lead to healthier lifestyles and less Misery. Sorry the HDR missed reporting it but we are the 5th most miserable place to live in the country, and we all know misery loves company, so let's snap out of it City Council be leaders well crafted, be city staff well crafted.

The citizens of Hickory want an aquatic facility that meets the same standards of being well-crafted that City Council has set. You, City Council, have set the bar high so now is the chance to show us what you are made of. Don't be petty, be crafty, embrace it! Enjoy it, revel in it, and remember it is for all of us but especially the kids. Imagine if little Zahra Baker had been on the city's swim team? Just maybe someone would have noticed the bruises and abuse. Let's honor her and build a swimming facility and provide the programming that can make this swimming facility a home for all our citizens and future Olympians.

3) (19:00) - Slade Kosova - The need for an Aquatics facility

4) (22:35) - James Thomas Shell - Unfair Assessments and Unethical Practices

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

I would like to start out by speaking to you about Jesus Parables of Minding your own business and Looking out for number one.

Have any of you heard those? You haven't, because they don't exist. And yet it is the advice that has been prevalently given to me over the years in this community and is one of the biggest problems that we face. A community that looks out towards everyone's interests is a community with a more solid foundation. The resilient community that we wish to be.

The first issue that I would like to address is the property that was 1859 Cafe. This was my Aunt's Restaurant. This property was assessed for $184,200 in 2003 and in 2007 the assessment was raised to $205,100. She is in the process of closing on the property and selling it for... $35,000.

I have learned a lot about the predatory aspects of the local economy through this process of my Aunt shedding herself of the burden that 1859 became. She wanted to sell the restaurant when my Grandmother was in the process of passing away, because she was putting all of these hours of work into the place and she was losing money. She has been paying hundreds of dollars a month at the commercial rate to Hickory Inc. and Duke Power even after she had closed the business and y'all hadn't even picked up the garbage in months.

My whole family sacrificed blood, sweat, and tears in that place for 27 years. My Uncle died while running an errand for items Jane needed on the morning of March 31, 2007. We buried him six years ago tomorrow.

This city has sat back and allowed that side of town to become run down. We never felt like y'all were on our side. That area used to have several viable businesses that have all left one by one over the last decade and now all that is left are rundown buildings and thrift stores and other non-profit endeavors related to poverty.

This woman was contracted to sell my Aunt's property as an agent and auctioneer, including the building, and she did not operate in my Aunt's best interest. She really made no attempt to sell the building and the items inside the building were literally sold for pennies on the dollar and she stripped the hood and ansul system and a walkin cooler from the kitchen and sold them for scrap to one of the local recycling businesses, destroying the viability to use the place as a restaurant any longer. That drastically reduced the options to market the place and thus cost my Aunt a lot of money. Basically my Aunt was robbed in plain daylight.

I personally contacted the North Carolina Auction Licensing Board and this woman has been reprimanded and sanctioned for what she did, but the damage has been done to my family and pardon me for not chugging from the Fountain of Optimism I hear in here on a continuous basis. Oh and that is the Link House, the second oldest building in Hickory, and it will be demolished by the new owners.

My mother owns a Townhouse in West Hickory and it is on the books assessed at $53,000 by Catawba County. She is in charge of the homeowners association where she lives. She knows what is going on. This is not conjecture. The last couple of properties sold where she lives have sold for less than $40,000. A property there has currently gone through the foreclosure process and the agent placed in charge of its sale told my mother that they hoped to get $35,000 for that property.

Better yet, there are people that have fallen way behind on their Homeowners Association dues including the properties that have been foreclosed on. The banks say that they aren't going to pay the Homeowner's Association dues in arrears, present, or future. These people have walked away from their obligations and the other homeowners are going to have to eat these amounts in arrears at the same time that they are paying taxes on assessments that clearly aren't valid.

What is my solution? Reality. I will talk to Catawba County about this, but it is high time that these property assessments match the realistic value of these homes. I can go on and on about unrealistically assessed properties in this community.

We need to get real. Anyone with a clue understands that two factors go into the local property tax bills. The assessed property value x The Property Rate = The amount owed. You basically claim that you haven't gone up on property taxes in 18 years, when I think everyone here would say that their taxes have gone up over that span. It is a disingenuous claim. Fix the assessments and raise the rates if you have to, but it is high time to be honest about the realities of the marketplace and it is high time to be more vigilant about these unethical practitioners that I have mentioned. It is time to stop turning a blind eye towards this stuff.

I have a Long Memory. This is my family that has been taken advantage of, don't think it can't happen to you.

The anger, the bitterness, the resentment that I feel towards some of what I have witnessed in this community has been honed and forged in steel. It is a feeling that many have in this community, but instead of sitting back in hopelessness and despair, I have resolved to take a stand, with the help of a few, to move this community forward into dealing with reality. As long as I am here, I will continue to do my part.

Matthew 25:40 talks about looking out for the "Least of These." It is time to start looking out for our neighbors. I am not the Judge. There is a higher Authority.

5) (30:05) - David Zagaroli - Public Arts - World Renowned Studio of Clay Structures designed by John Hare

6) (31:40) - John Hare - Official Sculptor for the Olympics in the past and he wants to create a sculpture park here in Hickory.

7) (36:05) - Cliff Moone - Speaks about Video Taping the meetings and speaks about North Carolina House Bill 150. We need to have an educated citizenry. The Legislature is moving towards usurping local government authority.

8) (40:25) - J. Franklin Davis - Speaks about the Gallup-Healthway study and other studies and obesity and health in this community.

Public Hearing -
1. (52:10) - Consider Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice and Plan to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing.

2. (1:01:20) - Consider Amendment to the City’s Community Development Block Grant Budget and Action Plan

Departmental Reports

1. (1:10:45) - Consideration and Approval of a Facility Lease Agreement with Hickory Music Factory. Inc.

2. (1:22:20) - Present Offer in the HUD Housing Discrimination Complaints, Billy Sudderthet al vs the City of Hickory

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- March 31, 2013

2013-03-31T23:13:00.000-04:00

State-Wrecked: The Corruption of Capitalism in America - New York Times - David Stockman - March 30, 2013 - ... So the Main Street economy is failing while Washington is piling a soaring debt burden on our descendants, unable to rein in either the warfare state or the welfare state or raise the taxes needed to pay the nation’s bills. By default, the Fed has resorted to a radical, uncharted spree of money printing. But the flood of liquidity, instead of spurring banks to lend and corporations to spend, has stayed trapped in the canyons of Wall Street, where it is inflating yet another unsustainable bubble. When it bursts, there will be no new round of bailouts like the ones the banks got in 2008. Instead, America will descend into an era of zero-sum austerity and virulent political conflict, extinguishing even today’s feeble remnants of economic growth. THIS dyspeptic prospect results from the fact that we are now state-wrecked. With only brief interruptions, we’ve had eight decades of increasingly frenetic fiscal and monetary policy activism intended to counter the cyclical bumps and grinds of the free market and its purported tendency to underproduce jobs and economic output. The toll has been heavy. As the federal government and its central-bank sidekick, the Fed, have groped for one goal after another — smoothing out the business cycle, minimizing inflation and unemployment at the same time, rolling out a giant social insurance blanket, promoting homeownership, subsidizing medical care, propping up old industries (agriculture, automobiles) and fostering new ones (“clean” energy, biotechnology) and, above all, bailing out Wall Street — they have now succumbed to overload, overreach and outside capture by powerful interests. The modern Keynesian state is broke, paralyzed and mired in empty ritual incantations about stimulating “demand,” even as it fosters a mutant crony capitalism that periodically lavishes the top 1 percent with speculative windfalls. The culprits are bipartisan, though you’d never guess that from the blather that passes for political discourse these days. The state-wreck originated in 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt opted for fiat money (currency not fundamentally backed by gold), economic nationalism and capitalist cartels in agriculture and industry.

Thanks, World Reserve Currency, But No Thanks: Australia And China To Enable Direct Currency Convertibility - Zero Hedge - Tyler Durden - March 31, 2013 - ...Australia appears to have come to the same conclusion, with the Australian reporting that the land down under is set to say goodbye to the world's "reserve currency" in its trade dealings with the world's biggest marginal economic power, China, and will enable the direct convertibility of the Australian dollar into Chinese yuan, without US Dollar intermediation, in the process "slashing costs for thousands of business" and also confirming speculation that China is fully intent on, little by little, chipping away at the dollar's reserve currency status until one day it no longer is. That said, this latest development in global currency relations should come as no surprise to those who have followed our series on China's slow but certain internationalization of its currency over the past two years. To wit: "World's Second (China) And Third Largest (Japan) Economies To Bypass Dollar, Engage In Direct Currency Trade", "China, Russia Drop Dollar In Bilateral Trade", "China And Iran To Bypass Dollar, Plan Oil Barter System", "India and Japan sign new $15bn currency swap agreement", "Iran, Russia Replace Dollar With Rial, Ruble in Trade, Fars Says", "India Joins Asian Dollar Exclusion Zone, Will Transact With Iran In Rupees", and "The USD Trap Is Closing: Dollar Exclusion Zone Crosses The Pacific As Brazil Signs China Currency Swap."                     And while previously the focus was on Chinese currency swap arrangements, the uniqueness of this weekend's news is that it promotes outright convertibility of the Yuan: something China has long said would happen but many were skeptical it ever would. That is no longer the case, and with Australia setting the precedent, expect many more Asian countries (at first) to follow in Australia's footsteps, because while the developed world is far more engaged in diluting its currency as a means to spur "growth", Asian and developing world nations are still engage in real, actual trade, where China is rapidly and aggressively becoming the world's hub.

Video: An American Recovery: Police Restrain Hundreds of People Begging For Food As Officials Opt To Throw It In the Trash Rather Than Help - SHTFPlan.com - Mac Slavo - March 28th, 2013 - When SunTrust Bank bank foreclosed on the Laney Supermarket grocery store, managers were left with thousands of pounds of food and nowhere to put it. So, they decided to move non-perishable items to the parking lot for those who might need it. As news of the give-away spread throughout the neighborhood, a crowd numbering in the hundreds quickly swooped in.                          But the goods never made it into the hands of people who desperately needed, as local police barricaded the stockpile of food. They called in a disposal company and tossed every bit of it into the trash, angering many of those who had hoped they could take some of the food home.                Nearly 100 million Americans are living on the edge of poverty and 47 million Americans have nowhere to turn but Uncle Sam to help put food on their tables through nutritional food assistance programs.                        When a grocery store is giving away food that has no official owner what do benevolent government officials tasked to serve and protect do?                  They look starving Americans in the face and throw the food in the trash.                         Still think the government will help you should our financial, economic and political systems collapse? Still think they care about you or your children?                   Think again.                    Not a single official had the wherewithal to do what’s right and feed the hungry.                  They were all just following orders.

The Most Important Thing to Remember About America's Food Stamp Boom - The reason a record number of Americans are on food assistance is that a record number are in poverty. - Jordan Weissmann - March 28, 2013 - he Wall Street Journal is out with a long article today exploring why the number of Americans on food stamps isn't falling along with the unemployment rate. As of December there were 47.8 million people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, up more than a million over the year. So what's going on?                      It's a complicated answer, and the WSJ does a good job teasing out the story's different threads. But I want to focus on the simple part of the issue for a moment, because in the big picture, it's also by far the most important part. So repeat after me: There are record numbers of Americans on food stamps today because there are record numbers of Americans in poverty (records begin in 1959.)                     As of 2011, there were 46.2 million men, women, and children living below the U.S. poverty line. There isn't much reason to believe that the last year of mediocre job growth has dented that number. And until it plunges, the food stamp rolls are going to stay full -- plain and simple.

New NC legislature targets ‘arrogant’ cities - Raleigh News and Observer - Jim Morrill - March 30, 2013 - Even in a state that has grown increasingly urban, North Carolina cities are on the defensive, fighting to keep prized assets and local control against a legislature that appears intent on taking them.                         Three cities – Charlotte, Asheville and Raleigh – face the loss of signature assets. Small towns, like bigger cities, fear significant revenue drains.                                 It’s not just municipalities that have felt the sting. Senate bills would redraw school board districts in Wake and Guilford counties and change the way members in each are elected.               “It has been an amazing array of bills that add up to more restrictions on cities and on urban counties to govern themselves,” says Ferrel Guillory, a political analyst at UNC Chapel Hill.
• Lawmakers would transfer control of Charlotte Douglas International Airport – the world’s sixth busiest based on takeoffs and landings – from the city to an independent, regional authority.
Sen. Bob Rucho, a Matthew Republican, says city officials want control “for their personal agenda rather than what is best for the economic future of airport, the city and the region.”
• The Senate negated a lease of the former Dorothea Dix hospital property to the city of Raleigh, which plans a park. The bill would require the state to get fair market value. The lease had been approved in December under former Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue.
The measure, now in the House, sparked tense debate. At a hearing, Capitol Broadcasting president and CEO Jim Goodmon said nobody would trust doing business with the state if it breaks the lease.
• A long-anticipated bill filed last week would put Asheville’s water system under control of a Metropolitan Sewerage District, without compensating the city.                    Dozens of other bills would affect cities.                      House Bill 150, for example, would limit their ability to make homebuilders adhere to design standards. House Bill 79 calls for a constitutional amendment eliminating extraterritorial jurisdiction, a tool that helps cities control development on their borders.
Tax reform bills would end revenue sources such as the franchise and business privilege license taxes. That would cost cities $320 million, according to the N.C. League of Municipalities, though bill supporters say it would be balanced by broadening the sales tax base.                      House Bill 252 would prevent Asheville from using part of its water utility revenues for street repairs that result from installing underground water lines.                  All these follow last year’s major changes in North Carolina’s annexation laws that made it harder for cities to grow through annexation.                   “The legislature has created a threatening environment for cities, forcing cities to legitimize and justify their role in North Carolina and its economy,” says Esther Manheimer, vice mayor of Asheville and a former legislative attorney.               “Past legislatures have understood the role of cities in the overall health of the state, and that was never questioned.”...

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/30/2790796/new-nc-legislature-targets-arrogant.html#storylink=cpy

Eustace Mullins - Secrets of The Federal Reserve (FULL)

Hickory Metro - 5th Most Miserable in the United States

2013-03-27T23:34:00.004-04:00

An article from Wall St 24/7 - March 26, 2013 - America’s Most Content (and Miserable) Cities - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2013/03/26/americas-most-content-and-miserable-cities/#ixzz2OnfJQUFv

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which has surveyed 1.7 million Americans since it was first conducted in 2008, measures the physical and emotional health of residents in 189 of the nation’s largest metropolitan regions. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the scores of each metro area in the six categories that comprise Gallup’s index to identify the cities that did best and worst.

5. Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, N.C.
> Well-being index score: 62.7
> Obesity: 32.1%
> Median household income: $38,923
> Adult population with high school diploma or higher: 79.0%

Nowhere else in the nation did people have as negative an evaluation of their lives as in the Hickory metro area. A major reason was that survey respondents living there were less optimistic about their life in five years than respondents in almost all other parts of the country. Hickory residents also were rated poorly for emotional health, with survey respondents telling Gallup they felt sad or depressed more often than in almost all other metro areas. As of January, the Hickory metro area had an 11.5% unemployment rate, among the higher rates in the country. Many residents lacked the formal education necessary to work in higher paying jobs. Just 79% of residents had at least a high school diploma, and 18.2% at least a bachelor’s degree, versus 85.9% and 28.5%, nationwide.

The Hound: And many of us who are educated are screwed as well. I keep hearing this thing about how we need to be "Solutions Oriented" until it makes me want to throw up. That is just a Mantra of the status quo, because the Hound has offered up many a solution and every time those "Solution Oriented" people will give you every reason why it won't work and I have even seen people that will do everything they can to assure your failure if you get something off the ground.

Case in point is Microlending. We can continue to tell the local Powers That Be why we need a Microlending program for entrepreneurs and start-ups, but as long as you have government officials that act as roadblocks it will not happen. We can talk about the need for High Speed Fiber-Optic and competition in local Telecommunications/Media, but the Powers That Be don't feel it is in their interests, so we continue to fall behind.

You can go on and on. I have been told that we need to consolidate our local governmental web portals to streamline processes that enable entrepreneurs to get the information and fill out the necessary documents to move ventures forward. It has fallen on deaf ears.

I am not the only person with ideas. The ideas aren't my ideas, but they are ideas that I champion. What saddens me is that they can't move forward with the impediments that I have addressed and people aren't being listened to. They aren't being given the time of day by the Glad Handers.

I will be telling a story of reality soon that will put a lot of things in context. When we can minimize these sad experiences in our lives, then we will be able to move forward. The reality is that this isn't a psychological issue. It is about getting creamed by realities. When you start to address the realities, then you will start to change the mindset. You will never change the mindset until you address the realities.

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of March 19, 2013

2013-03-27T11:14:00.000-04:00

Persons Requesting to Be Heard
(6:15) - David Crosby speaks against Video Presentations of City Council Meetings. (You can read my comments about Mr. Crosby's comments below.)

Consent Agenda: (10:15)
A. Request Approval to Issue a Pyrotechnic Display Permit at Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC). - St. Stephen’s High School has requested to obtain permission for Zambelli Fireworks Company to provide a public display of pyrotechnics at CVCC after the graduation ceremonies on May 25, 2013. The North Carolina Fire Code requires a mandatory operational permit for the use and handling of pyrotechnic special effects material. The Fire Prevention Bureau shall review all required documentation and will also inspect the pyrotechnics display area prior to the event to ensure compliance.

B. Citizens’ Advisory Committee Recommendations for Assistance through the City of Hickory’s Housing Programs - The following requests were considered by the Citizens’ Advisory Committee at their regular meeting on March 5, 2013:

 Maudie Hewitt, 232 10th Avenue SE, Hickory, was awarded a City of Hickory’s Housing Rehabilitation Loan. The Citizens’ Advisory Committee recommends approval for assistance not to exceed $15,000.00 for repairs to her house. Assistance would be in the form of a 3% interest loan for a 20 year period.

Funds are budgeted for these items through the City of Hickory’s former Rental Rehabilitation Program income received in FY 2012 and/or program income received through the City of Hickory’s Community Development Block Grant Program.

Each of the following applicants is being recommended for approval for assistance under the City of Hickory’s 2012 Urgent Repair Program. This program provides qualified low income citizens with assistance for emergency-related repairs not to exceed $5,400.

 Z. Ann Hoyle, 628 South Center Street, Hickory,
 Lucille Griggs, 1073 20th Street NE, Hickory,

C. Special Event/Activities Application for Ignite Hickory, Charles Moretz and Christopher Harris, Managers of Ignite Hickory, Inc., for a Community Worship, on April 13, 2013 from 2:30 pm to 10:00 pm in Downtown Hickory Under The Sails.

D. Special Event/Activities Application for National Day of Prayer, Steve Clark, Chairman, Hickory Committee for National Day of Prayer, on Thursday, May 2, 2013 from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm on Union Square.

E. Budget Ordinance Amendment No. 15.

1. To transfer $15,544 of General Fund Contingency to the 800 Megahertz Radio
System Upgrade and Rebanding Capital Project. This transfer is necessary to
complete and close out the City of Hickory's project.

F. Capital Project Ordinance Amendment No. 3.

1. To accept a $15,544 transfer from General Fund Contingency to the 800
Megahertz Radio System Upgrade and Rebanding Capital Project line item. This
transfer is necessary to complete and close out the City of Hickory's project.

Informational Items (10:35)
A. Report of Mayor Wright’s travel to the Mayor’s Meeting with Governor McCrory in Raleigh, NC on March 5-6, 2013 (Meals - $71.75; Mileage Reimbursement $189.84; Lodging - $101.48) (Exhibit X.A.)

New Business - Departmental Reports:

1. (11:10) Update on Council Chambers Audio-Video Improvements. - City Council directed staff to finalize recommended options and provide costs for certain additional improvements with the consideration of properly representing the City through a well crafted presentation.

The Hound is very much disappointed about the attitudes towrards video taping these meetings. That goes to Mr. Crosby's statements above, during citizens requesting to be heard, as well. If these people haven't spoken to anyone who is in favor of videoing these meetings, then I suggest that they get outside of the little group they hang around with and listen to what the regular folks are saying.

This is about transparency. Mr. Crosby can talk about the waste of money and only 30 people listening to this. This is the same David Crosby that wanted to shut down members of the CEG from passing out materials at the Saturday Farmer's Market when the referendum was taking place. Once again the oldsters going about trying to shut down Democracy in Hickory when it doesn't fit their criteria.

I've seen some nights over the last few years that certainly deserved video coverage. A few examples would be the nights when the battle over the pools were taking place. There were also a couple nights that involved moving the Farmer's Market from the Depot Parking Lot to Union Square. And of course there was the fiasco surrounding the structure on Union Square where they made it a Departmental Report so that Citizens couldn't speak. And there was the night when representatives of the CEG, with the help of Rebecca Inglefield, had items removed from the Consent Agenda and this is in my opinion is why the City hasn't dropped charges on Rebecca related to the incident at City Hall when they didn't want to be forthright about the cost figures related to the structure on Union Square.

You can go on and on. Yeah 30 people might start out watching it, but I can tell you that the number is more than that already. And if these meetings are televised, and something like what I pointed to above does happen, then there will be many more people paying attention.

Danny Seaver says "if they aren't going to be live, then what good are they." Well the deal is that they will be archived. On the Hound I have people looking at the old Newsletters related to what happened at City Council meetings back in 2008 and 2009. They are history and references and I would think a school teacher that I have heard so many people show appreciation to would understand such a concept. Mr. Seaver talked about by the time this is released it is old news and already been in the paper. God Bless Larry Clark and the HDR, but the limited articles produced in the Record do not convey what is happening at these meetings. I learned that when I started attending these meetings. Sometimes you need to eyeball some things yourself. It is all about checks and balances. The people are the government. They deserve to know what is going on.

The comments above were highly disappointing, but they are entitled to them. I appreciate the information provided by the City Inc. related to this video recording process and I think it is a great basis for the conversation moving forward. I personally don't think the Mural of Downtown needs to be removed. You can see the video above I have made and it is laughable to say it detracts from anything. Better sound is needed definitely. Better lighting? The lighting seems fine to me and my little ole camera has no lighting enhancement, but we can give them the benefit of the doubt on that one. So, $14,000 for the system put forward by Hickory Inc., but personally I don't care if you set up a camera with a tripod. These meetings should be recorded and broadcast and there are no excuses just a whole lot of subterfuge. We don't have to have the bells and whistles. We need to get to the 21st Century first.

This is very important and if we have hundreds of thousand of dollars to spend on a glorified tent on Union Square and the other "priorities" I have seen over the past years, then we have a few thousand dollars to spend to have transparent and open government brought to the people. Mr. Crosby might want to take us back to 1938, but most of us understand the evolution of this world and trying to hold these realities back is hurting Hickory. The people like this are never going to get it. We will continue marching forward.

2. (31:10) Approval of an Offer to Purchase and Contract from Habitat for Humanity of the Catawba Valley, Inc. to City of Hickory to Purchase Property Located at 159 12th Street Court SE, Hickory, in the Amount of $54,000 (Lot 16, Plat Book 48 Page 184, Catawba County PIN 3713-18-30-3145) - This property purchase offers a creative way to advance the city’s Community Development Block Grant Housing Rehabilitation and Purchase program. The home is located at 159 12th Street Court SE, and contains roughly 1200 square feet with four bedrooms and two full baths. It has been appraised at $54,000. Habitat for Humanity of the Catawba Valley obtained the property by taking a deed in lieu of foreclosure. If purchased, the home would be renovated for occupancy by a low to moderate income owner occupant. Purchasing this home for rehabilitation will enable the city to continue to advance its Consolidated Plan goals of protecting the city’s existing housing stock and advancing single family home ownership while also advancing the city’s continued partnership with Habitat for Humanity of the Catawba Valley.

The city’s purchase of the property will allow Habitat to leverage their rehabilitation funding and increase the number of existing homes renovated for low to moderate income homeowners. It is estimated that the city purchase of this home will free up enough funding to enable Habitat to rehabilitate three additional homes for low and moderate income homeowners. In addition, Habitat has agreed to assist the city in finding a family to occupy the home. The sale of the property will generate program income that will be used to advance future community development projects in the city. Staff hopes to have a family placed in the home within one year of purchasing the property.

The Hound has no problem with uplifting these areas and can see the benefit of such a program, but let me ask about the priority. We've got this money to invest in this property, but we don't have a few thousand dollars for a video system to show how our government works? And to bring transparent government to the people? leaves one wondering about what some are trying to hide here, doesn't it?

*** Larry Pope asked to speak at the end of this meeting. Danny Seaver made the motion to allow Mr. Pope to speak, but it was not seconded.

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- March 24, 2013

2013-03-24T02:21:00.000-04:00

Why Is The World Economy Doomed? The Global Financial Pyramid Scheme By The Numbers - The Economic Collapse Blog - Michael - March 20th, 2013 - Why is the global economy in so much trouble? How can so many people be so absolutely certain that the world financial system is going to crash? Well, the truth is that when you take a look at the cold, hard numbers it is not difficult to see why the global financial pyramid scheme is destined to fail. In the United States today, there is approximately 56 trillion dollars of total debt in our financial system, but there is only about 9 trillion dollars in our bank accounts. So you could take every single penny out of the banks, multiply it by six, and you still would not have enough money to pay off all of our debts. Overall, there is about 190 trillion dollars of total debt on the planet. But global GDP is only about 70 trillion dollars. And the total notional value of all derivatives around the globe is somewhere between 600 trillion and 1500 trillion dollars. So we have a gigantic problem on our hands. The global financial system is a very shaky house of cards that has been constructed on a foundation of debt, leverage and incredibly risky derivatives. We are living in the greatest financial bubble in world history, and it isn't going to take much to topple the entire thing. And when it falls, it is going to be the largest financial disaster in the history of the planet. The global financial system is more interconnected today than ever before, and a crisis at one major bank or in one area of the world can spread at lightning speed. As I wrote about yesterday, the entire European banking system is leveraged 26 to 1 at this point. A decline in asset values of just 4 percent would totally wipe out the equity of many of those banks, and once a financial panic begins we could potentially see major financial institutions start to go down like dominoes. We got a small taste of what that is like back in 2008, and it is inevitable that it will happen again. Anyone that would tell you that the current global financial system is sustainable does not know what they are talking about. Just look at the numbers that I have posted below.....

JC Penney closing stores in Wilkesboro, Salisbury - WXII (Channel 12 Winston - Salem - March 18, 2013 - JC Penney is closing at least two stores in North Carolina, including one in Wilkesboro. The store in Salisbury also will close, company officials said in a statement to WXII. Company officials didn't say in a statement when the stores would close. The company has been struggling recently, with sales down 32 percent in the last quarter. Company officials released the following statement regarding the closings: "Each year, we evaluate our store portfolio to determine whether there’s a need to close or relocate underperforming stores....While it’s never an easy decision to close a store, especially due to the impact on our valued team members and customers, we would not have moved forward with this difficult decision if we did not believe it was absolutely necessary."

Health Insurers Warn on Premiums - The Wall Street Journal through Yahoo - Anna Wilde Mathews - March 21, 2013 - Health insurers are privately warning brokers that premiums for many individuals and small businesses could increase sharply next year because of the health-care overhaul law, with the nation's biggest firm projecting that rates could more than double for some consumers buying their own plans. The projections, made in sessions with brokers and agents, provide some of the most concrete evidence yet of how much insurance companies might increase prices when major provisions of the law kick in next year—a subject of rigorous debate. The projected increases are at odds with what the Obama Administration says consumers should be expecting overall in terms of cost. The Department of Health and Human Services says that the law will "make health-care coverage more affordable and accessible," pointing to a 2009 analysis by the Congressional Budget Office that says average individual premiums, on an apples-to-apples basis, would be lower. The gulf between the pricing talk from some insurers and the government projections suggests how complicated the law's effects will be. Carriers will be filing proposed prices with regulators over the next few months. Part of the murkiness stems from the role of government subsidies. Federal subsidies under the health law will help lower-income consumers defray costs, but they are generally not included in insurers' premium projections. Many consumers will be getting more generous plans because of new requirements in the law. The effects of the law will vary widely, and insurers and other analysts agree that some consumers and small businesses will likely see premiums go down.

The Face of Future Health Care - The New York Times - Reed Abelson - March 20, 2013 - When people talk about the future of health care, Kaiser Permanente is often the model they have in mind. The organization, which combines a nonprofit insurance plan with its own hospitals and clinics, is the kind of holistic health system that President Obama’s health care law encourages.

Kaiser has sophisticated electronic records and computer systems that — after 10 years and $30 billion in technology spending — have led to better-coordinated patient care, another goal of the president. And because the plan is paid a fixed amount for medical care per member, there is a strong financial incentive to keep people healthy and out of the hospital, the same goal of the hundreds of accountable care organizations now being created.

Restaurants Hope Tax Refunds Bring Customers - CNBC - Anna Andrianova - March 23, 2013 - Payroll tax increases and high gasoline prices have pushed consumers to dine out less. But tax refunds, which are rolling in, may bring relief to the limping restaurant industry.                         "Payroll tax takes its negative toll. Starting February consumers have less money — low- and middle-income groups," said Darren Tristano, a restaurant industry analyst at Technomic, a market researcher.                            The payroll tax was raised in January two percentage points to its previous level from 2010. (Read more: Payroll Tax Hike Will Affect Your Paycheck and Economy)

According to research from the National Retail Federation that was released in February, nearly three-quarters of Americans said they're adjusting spending because of the payroll tax change. Plus, 16 percent of those surveyed said they're eating out less, and 15 percent are using coupons more often, according to the retail group.         Rising fuel prices have hit restaurants even harder. More than 37 percent of those surveyed said they're eating out less because of the gas prices, according to a separate survey from the retail group.

3-D Printers and the Cool Stuff They Make - CNBC

Biotech Firms Slip in Amendment Allowing USDA to Overrule Courts on Genetically Engineered Crops - AllGov.com - March 23, 2013 - Food safety advocates and environmentalists have cried foul over Congress adopting a little-known provision that gives the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) the power to overrule the courts in cases involving genetically engineered (GE) crops.                      While lawmakers worked on legislation to keep the federal government from running out of money, Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, allowed a “biotech rider” to slip into the funding plan, known as a continuing resolution, presumably at the behest of biotechnology companies.                        That rider (referred to by some opponents as the “Monsanto Protection Act”) authorizes the USDA to nullify any federal court decision that bans the use of GE crops.                    The Center for Food Safety, a consumer organization, said on its website that the rider could undermine the courts’ “ability to safeguard farmers and the environment from potentially hazardous genetically engineered (GE) crops.”                      “Moreover, the rider represents an unprecedented attack on U.S. judicial review of agency actions and is a major violation of the separation of powers, an essential element of U.S. constitutional governance and law,” the group added.

Senate Passes $3.7 Trillion Budget, Its First in 4 Years - New York Times through CNBC - Jonathan Weisman - March 23, 2013 - After a grueling, all-night debate that ended close to 5 a.m., the Senate on Saturday adopted its first budget in four years, a $3.7 trillion blueprint for 2014 that would fast-track passage of tax increases, trim spending gingerly and leave the government still deeply in the debt a decade from now.                           The 50-49 vote sets up contentious — and potentially fruitless — negotiations with the Republican-dominated House in April to reconcile two vastly different plans for dealing with the nation’s economic and budgetary problems. No Republicans voted for the Senate plan on Saturday, and four Democrats — Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mark Begich of Alaska and Max Baucus of Montana — also opposed it. All four are Red State Democrats up for re-election in 2014.        The House plan ostensibly brings the government’s taxes and spending into balance by 2023 with cuts to domestic spending even below the automatic “sequestration” levels now roiling federal programs, and it orders significant changes to Medicare and the tax code.                           The Senate plan, in contrast, includes $100 billion in upfront infrastructure spending to stimulate the economy and calls for special fast-track rules to overhaul the tax code and raise $975 billion over 10 years through legislation that could not be filibustered. Even with that tax increase and prescribed spending cuts, the Senate plan would leave the government with a $566 billion deficit in 10 years, and $5.2 trillion in additional debt over that time.


Bernanke Fails to Answer Concerns about a Cyprus-Style Seizure of American Bank Deposits - Washington Blog - March 21, 2013 - ...The American government has seized private assets before, and President Obama authorized seizure of property again last year. (The Argentinian government grabbed 401k assets; and some in the American government have mulled the same thing. And the U.S. government’s take-down of Megaupload was also an exercise of the power to seize all of the legal property held in a storage facility because a handful of crooks have illegal property in theirs. )...

Question: I was wondering if you can tell me how if a run on the banks happens in Cyprus, how that might affect U.S. markets. And also is it possible for the U.S. to levy a tax on regular deposits here? Or why not?
Bernanke: As someone mentioned Cyprus is a tiny economy. I don’t think these issues as worrisome as they are and as concerned as we would be for the Cyprus people, I don’t think that they have a direct implications for the U.S. economy. The only way that they would create a problem would be if the runs became contagious in some sense, if depositors in other countries lost confidence. But to this point I’m not aware of any evidence that that is in fact the case. The argument the Europeans are making is that Cyprus is a unique situation, very different situation, and indeed, it is quite unusual to have a banking sector as large as they have relative to their economy.
In terms of the United States, the FDIC was founded in 1934, and we have insured deposits and they are very proud of the fact that no one has ever lost a dime in insured deposits. And during the crisis the response of the government was in fact to increase the level of deposit or account sizes that were insured. So I consider that to be extremely unlikely in the United States.

The Retirement Crisis Is Here For Millions-Income Inequality Now Set To Wreak Its Ugly Revenge - Forbes.com - March 21, 2013 - The Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) has today released its report highlighting the intense state of insecurity American workers are experiencing as they look forward—with ever increasing trepidation—to a retirement without sufficient money to see them through. According to the data, American workers have very good reason to be afraid. Per the survey conducted by EBRI, 57 percent of American workers currently have less than $25,000 in total savings and investments (excluding the value of their homes) put aside for retirement. In 2008, that number was 49 percent. As a result, almost 50 percent of the nation’s workers are either “not too confident” or “not at all confident” that they will have sufficient resources to cover the bills in their retirement—while many who are feeling a bit better about the future may just be kidding themselves. What’s more, it’s getting worse every year. In 2009, 75 percent of the nation’s working class had managed to put something away for retirement, even if the amount was insufficient to take care of them in a time of increasing prices and rising life expectancy. Today—just four years later—that number has fallen to just 66 percent of workers who have been able to set something aside for their sunset years.
These dramatic numbers should come as a surprise to nobody as the statistics have long made clear how badly worker income has stagnated in America since the 70’s. As workers have increasingly struggled to pay their current bills, due to employee earnings remaining static at a time where the high end of the income scale rose to unprecedented heights, it has become all the more difficult for these people to set aside money for their retirement. Further, the decline of the private sector union movement and the end of the defined benefit retirement plans that were once provided to workers as a part of their employment package have only served to make the problem worse. If you are somehow unaware of the historic stagnation in the wages paid to the American worker since the 70’s, these bullet points, compiled by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and based on the Census survey and IRS income reports, should open your eyes:

Wrong Again Ben - Gerald Celente

20130319 - Hickory City Council Audio

2013-03-20T01:07:00.001-04:00

I wanted to get this audio out as soon as possible, because of what happened this night.

The main subject of this meeting was Video Taping Hickory City Council Meetings. Citizen David Crosby stood against the process along with Alderman Bruce Meisner and Council subsequently voted to delay a vote on the video recording of meetings until after it examines the budget for next year.

Council approved of an Offer to Purchase and Contract from Habitat for Humanity of the Catawba Valley, Inc. to City of Hickory to Purchase Property Located at 159 12th Street Court SE, Hickory, in the Amount of $54,000

Alder Sally Fox spoke on the issue of a bill in the NC Legislature about the Overlay Districts in Historic Districts. This bill would limit cities to set their own policies.

The Hound is very much disappointed in Bruce Meisner. If he hasn't spoken to anyone who is in favor of videoing these meetings, then I suggest that he get outside of this little group he runs around with and frankly I don't care to hear about what his wife thinks from him again.

This is about transparency. Mr. Crosby can talk about the waste of money and only 30 people listening to this. This is the same David Crosby that wanted to shut down members of the CEG from passing out materials at the Saturday Farmer's Market when the referendum was taking place. Once again the oldsters going about trying to shut down Democracy in Hickory when it doesn't fit their criteria.

I've seen some nights over the last few years that certainly deserved video coverage. A few examples would be the nights when the battle over the pools were taking place. There were also a couple nights that involved moving the Farmer's Market from the Depot Parking Lot to Union Square. And of course there was the fiasco surrounding the structure on Union Square where they made it a Departmental Report so that Citizens couldn't speak. And there was the night when representatives of the CEG, with the help of Rebecca Inglefield, had items removed from the Consent Agenda and this is in my opinion is why the City hasn't dropped charges on Rebecca related to the incident at City Hall when they didn't want to be forthright about the cost figures related to the structure on Union Square.

You can go on and on. Yeah 30 people might start out watching it, but I can tell you that the number is more than that already. And if these meetings are televised, and something like what I pointed to above does happen, then there will be many more people paying attention.

Danny Seaver says "if they aren't going to be live, then what good are they." Well the deal is that they will be archived. On the Hound I have people looking at the old Newsletters related to what happened at City Council meetings back in 2008 and 2009. They are history and references and I would think a school teacher that I have heard so many people show appreciation to would understand such a concept. Mr. Seaver talked about by the time this is released it is old news and already been in the paper. God Bless Larry Clark and the HDR, but the limited articles produced in the Record do not convey what is happening at these meetings. I learned that when I started attending these meetings. Sometimes you need to eyeball some things yourself. It is all about checks and balances. The people are the government. They deserve to know what is going on.

The comments above were highly disappointing, but they are entitled to them. I personally don't think the Mural of Downtown needs to be removed. You can see it on the videos I have made and it is laughable to say it detracts from anything. What is getting old is the overuse of the "Well Crafted" logo and saying. It is called over saturation and y'all are beating it into the ground like some 1980s Loverboy song -- over and over and over again.

I appreciate the information provided by the City Inc. related to this video recording process and I think it is a great basis for the conversation moving forward. This is very important and if we have hundreds of thousand of dollars to spend on a glorified tent on Union Square and the other "priorities" I have seen over the past years, then we have a few thousand dollars to spend to have transparent and open government brought to the people. Mr. Crosby might want to take us back to 1938, but most of us understand the evolution of this world and trying to hold these realities back is hurting Hickory. The people like this are never going to get it. We will continue marching forward.

I ain't the one slapping your silly faces

2013-03-19T02:32:00.004-04:00

Cyprus Americana

They take your money for their schemes and you just stand there with a **** eatin' grin.