In The News: Thanks this morning to ChrisM, my MP3Angel, for supplying the news and commentary audio files. [After the commentary Jerry Garcia, Dave Grisman, Peter Rowan and friends get "Old And In The Way". Courtesy of the respective artists and KPIG Radio Freedom California Earth.] » Everyone gets their turn... Springfield and Western Massachusetts saw tornadoes yesterday. There are at least four dead in Springfield and at least thirty to forty injured. The Tornado season is only one week old and there have already been twisters sighted from Denver East. » One Hundred Republicans from the House of Representatives were at the White House yesterday to discuss the Debt Limit among other issues. Today president Obama will see the Democrats from the House as the battle of where to cut the budget continues. More U.S. Economy news and commentary below the fold in the "OTHER News". » Former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak will go on criminal trial starting in August. He is currently held in a hospital on the Sinai Peninsula and it has not been stated whether the trial will be held in a military or civilian court. However, CIVILIAN trials ARE being held in military courts, and the people who took Tahir Square in Cairo earlier this year ARE NOT pleased! » NATO will extend it's attempts to kill Muammar al-Gadaffi for ninety more days as attack helicopters are brought into play. A bomb went off in Benghazi near the interim government's headquarters indicating either an infiltration operation by the Libyan military, or perhaps the interim government has been found to be just as corrupt and brutal as the standing government by the civilians in the city and they're resisting the so-called resistance... a CIA run resistance I might add. Further, it has been verified there ARE Western boots on the ground in Libya. They are mercenaries who are at least doing the targeting for those aforementioned attack helicopters and Predator Drones. From DefenseTech, who link to a number of sources from BBC to al Jazeera:

Western Troops On Ground in Libya (updated) Update: The men are apparently ex-British SAS and other western employees of private security companies who are indeed helping coordinate air strikes by NATO attack helicopters against Gadhafi's forces in the vicinity of Misurata, the Guardian newspaper is reporting. This shows that NATO has added private security contractors Special forces veterans are passing details of the locations and movements of Muammar Gaddafi's forces to the Naples headquarters of Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, Canadian commander of Nato forces involved in the military operations, sources said. The targets are then verified by spy planes and US Predator drones. [More at DefenseTech]

» The National Guard, which has been on the Southern US border for a year now has been requested by the White House to extend their stay another 90 days. Those 1,200 troops will cost the taxpayers $30 million dollars in that time. In OTHER News: Even in a despotic nation, the Governors have something more valuable... Prestige and power... But money will do to keep the apparatchik content:

About 77,000 federal employees across the United States had higher salaries in 2009 than the governors of the states they worked in, a new report shows. (source)

But lets talk about the dilapidated U.S. Economy available to the rest of us proles... ...It's been a long time comin', and it's comin' apart:

Monday, May 30, 2011 The Truth About the American Economy *By Robert Reich* The U.S. economy continues to stagnate. It's growing at the rate of 1.8 percent, which is barely growing at all. Consumer spending is down. Home prices are down. Jobs and wages are going nowhere. It's vital that we understand the truth about the American economy. How did we go from the Great Depression to 30 years of Great Prosperity? And from there, to 30 years of stagnant incomes and widening inequality, culminating in the Great Recession? And from the Great Recession into such an anemic recovery? *The Great Prosperity* During three decades from 1947 to 1977, the nation implemented what might be called a basic bargain with American workers. Employers paid them enough to buy what they produced. Mass production and mass consumption proved perfect complements... [Until Recently... Read More]

That leaves us with an American job market that hasn't grown in proportion to the working age population for a few years now unless one is employed by the Military Industrial Complex, and any return to a 'new normalcy' in job availability and creation may still be years away, if it ever stabilizes at all:

Recovery fears mount after slow jobs, factory data By Leah Schnurr Wed Jun 1, 2011 NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. companies hired far fewer workers than expected in May and output in the manufacturing sector slowed to its lowest level since 2009, adding to concerns that the U.S. recovery is running out of steam. Economists slashed their forecasts for Friday's payrolls report, considered the best barometer of the world's biggest economy, after private-sector job growth tumbled to just 38,000, its lowest level in eight months. Wednesday's reports were the latest signals that economic growth remained sluggish in the second quarter after a weak start to 2011. [In Full]

Meanwhile, America's so called 'Hidden Unemployment Problem', Disabled workers, are deciding that it's no longer worth the scramble for what jobs are available as they bail out to benefits that were often owed to them for years... and for that, they are being described by the media as "a growing underclass":

America's hidden unemployment problem By Chris Isidore June 1, 2011 NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Want to know how the job market is doing? Just look at the disability rolls. The Great Recession has created a growing underclass of millions of unemployed who are unlikely to ever re-enter the labor force. Instead, they're relying on government support that they qualify for because of health issues. There are 8.3 million workers receiving disability payments, an increase of 1.2 million, or 17% from when the recession began, according to the Social Security Administration. While it might seem like more people are trying to file illegitimate claims, experts say that's not the case. The percentage of claims being approved is about the same as in a good economy. The real culprit: Workers with modest health problems are usually willing to take jobs when they can get them. But when they can't, they turn to the government. That's why the number of people who apply for -- and get approved for -- disability payments typically increases during bad economic times. "There are people who, despite disability, are out there working when times are good," said Mark Lassiter, spokesman for the Social Security Administration, which runs the disability programs. "We've seen this increase in applications during other recessions. This jump is not due to fraud." [More @ CNNMoney]

This is Razer Raygun saying 'Happy Motoring America...' Enjoy it while you can. (...and try not to let your government kill too many 'dusky natives' in the process OK?) -30-
Creative Commons Copyright Courtesy of Cabale News Service, KPIG Radio, and KVMR Radio. Listen to KVMR Recorded & transcribed by Razer Raygun @ Razed By Wolves Postings Auntie Imperial and Razer Raygun Have Done Lately Are [Here] The Consolidated Items Listing in RSS format [Here] Travus T. Hipp Fan Page @ Facebook (unaffiliated) In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, the news clippings, audio, and images used in this posting are made available without profit for research and educational purposes.

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