SocietyWatch
Budget cuts shrink Marines
The U.S. Marine Corps will shed 4,000 jobs per year until at least 2017, according to a major scale-down order issued last year. Experts warn this reduction will leave the elite fighting force underprepared to battle multiple international threats. The scale-down order was issued to comply with new budget constraints. As more of the U.S. budget is consumed by debt interest payments, military spending will decrease. Harvard historian Niall Ferguson has highlighted the historical trend for empires to collapse once the amount of money they spend on debt financing exceeds the amount of money they spend on defense. The United States is swiftly reaching this point.
That’s a whole lot of bullets
The Department of Homeland Security ordered 450 million hollow-point bullets over a five-year period from defense contractor atk. Some analysts say this is standard procedure; others say it is an attempt to spend excess money allotted to the department. Still others say it is a calculated attempt by the government to curb the amount of ammunition available to civilians. As government gun-control measures intensify, many Americans fear for their Second Amendment rights and believe the government may be preparing to crack down hard on expected civilian dissent. The Bible predicts a time of rioting and civil strife in the near future. The current division in America over firearm rights may play a big part in the fulfillment of this prophecy.
PM misleads Britain on debt
British Prime Minister David Cameron misled the nation by claiming his government is paying off Britain’s debt in a three-minute party election broadcast shown on itv on January 23. “[W]e are making progress,” he said. “We’re paying down Britain’s debts.” This simply isn’t true. According to the government’s own forecasts, the United Kingdom’s national debt is set to rise from £770 billion (us$1.25 trillion) in 2010, shortly before this government took office, to £1.36 trillion when Parliament stands down for elections in 2015—roughly a £600 billion increase. “What Cameron said is not an exaggeration,” wrote Spectator editor Fraser Nelson. “It’s a straight falsehood, and one that demeans his office.” Cameron’s broadcast said the deficit had been cut by 25 percent. While that sounds impressive, it is deliberately deceptive. The deficit is the money the government borrows each year, the rate at which the debt grows. Cutting the deficit 25 percent only means the debt isn’t growing quite as fast as it used to be. Exploding debt is one of Britain’s biggest problems, yet our leaders refuse to be honest about it.
School shootings increase
The tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, ended a record year of school shootings in the U.S. In 2012, 10 school shootings left 41 people dead and 13 wounded. As terrible as 2012 was, however, 2013 is shaping up to be worse. In January alone, an unbelievable eight school shootings took place. Undoubtedly, some politicians will use this as additional evidence to push through gun control laws. The real cause of this violence, however, is the cultural revolution and family breakdown.
Chicagoland
A total of 506 people were murdered in Chicago in 2012, official figures say. The murder rate rose 19 percent over 2011. It was the first time since 2008 that murders in Chicago topped 500. Many politicians are calling for stricter gun control laws, but closer analysis of the situation reveals that 80 percent of the city’s homicides are perpetrated by gang members. Chicago has the largest gang population in the country—about 100,000. Most gang members have links with Mexican drug cartels, which supply them with guns and drugs. Gun-control laws won’t fix that.
CIA adviser: Look out for financial WMD
A top adviser for the Pentagon and cia has warned that the world is on the verge of financial war. James Rickards told Newsmax, “Rival nations and terrorist organizations are developing capabilities in unconventional warfare—things like cyberwarfare, biological or chemical warfare, and now, financial weapons of mass destruction.” He said the U.S. is unprepared for such a financial war. If America gets caught up in a global race toward currency devaluation, national inflation rates could spike past 10 percent—prompting America’s foreign creditors to drastically raise their interest rates.
