The "New Normal" is falling (COLLAPSING) demand

Well, it surely is becoming clearer that the Xmas LLC of the major retailers was not a winning trade, i.e as predicted in our Blog of 11/25/11.   The consumer resistance to formerly successful marketing ploys is being fueled by the powerfully negative psychological effects of the Tsunami Super "Kondratieff" Long-Waves.

Those retailers that do not recognize this fundamental truth will continue to see their market share diminish - until their suppliers and vendors pull the plug.

The continued drop-off in demand, straight across all sectors of the US economy, will continue for the next 15 to 20 years, for three very specific reasons that we very clearly reveal in the inaugural issue of our Market Review and in a more cursory fashion on the “New Normal” page of our website @ www.polestarcomm.com.

In addition to those factors, the long-term negative impact of the "Kondratieff" Long-Waves (Two Major Ones Yet To Hit)  will continue to pressure and to force the fall in aggregate demand metrics for many years.

These new phenomena - especially the "Kondratieff" - will eventually be recognized, in spite of all the "Rosy Scenarios" that are spun, such as today's phony jobs report..

Stores Pay Price for Holiday Deals as Forecasts Slip

Bloomberg:By Ashley Lutz and Matt Townsend - Jan 6, 2012 9:44 AM ET

“Retailers are starting to pay the price for a discounting binge that was deeper and longer than ever -- especially stores that cater to middle-income shoppers.

Look no farther than American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO) The clothier’s promotions helped boost sales in the past two months by 15 percent to $887 million. The teen retailer was forced to reduce its fourth-quarter profit forecast yesterday.

Ditto for Target Corp. (TGT), J.C. Penney Co. and Kohl’s Corp., which lowered their own fourth-quarter profit forecasts after pouring on the discounts.

“The retailers that cater to the middle class are struggling,” Alison Paul, retail sector leader at Deloitte Touche LLP in Chicago, said in an interview. “Some of them showed great volume numbers, but the proof is in the profit.”

…Meanwhile, stores that cater to lower-income shoppers are getting a boost as middle-class consumers trade down.

Discounters Ross Stores Inc. (ROST), which is based in Pleasanton, California, and Framingham, Massachusetts-based TJX Cos. snagged shoppers seeking discounts on apparel, home goods and accessories.

…One concern is the relatively paltry buying power of young adults, normally prodigious spenders in good times, said Pam Danziger, president at researcher Unity Marketing Inc.

“Middle-of-the-road retailers will continue to struggle to draw consumers in,” Danziger said. “They’re going to be hampered going forward because 20- and 30-somethings don’t have the money to spend.”

…December sales at luxury department store chains Saks Inc. (SKS) and Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) beat estimates by researcher Retail Metrics. Sales at Saks, based in New York, gained 5.8 percent, compared with an estimate of 5.5 percent growth. Nordstrom sales were up 8.7 percent, surpassing the estimated 4.7 percent gain.

“Luxury consumers are the heavy lifters in the economy, so it makes sense that businesses like Nordstrom and Saks will benefit from their excess spending,” said Unity’s Danziger, who is based in Stevens, Pennsylvania.

…..

“The middle class economy did not fall into place, and consequently, the middle-tier retailers didn’t either,” Niemira said. “On the surface sales were stronger, but then you ask the other questions and the picture isn’t great.”

Xmas "Loss Leader Strategy" Fails

Well, the results are now starting to trickle in and our suspicions as noted in our Blog of November 25, 2011 were quite correct.  As we predicted “The Loss Leader” strategy is failing and the retailers that can’t figure out why are going to die, i.e. Sears (noted a few days ago) and J.C.Penny, Kohls, Gap And Target.  Could your company be next?

From that Blog:

“…As we further progress in these “New Normal” times of the ‘Kondratieff’ Super-Wave, the consumer will eventually become resistant to the Retailers ubiquitous ‘Loss Leader Strategy’ (LLS) as a means by which to get consumers in the door and then hope that they can be persuaded to buy what they never intended to buy in the first place, at retail full prices, thus boosting the top and the bottom lines.

We believe that this Christmas Season may very well prove to be the tipping point for the LLS’s demise.  We will ALL be watching closely the overall retail numbers…  “ 

We have covered all these things in our Market Review in some detail.  But all the ‘bricks and mortar” stores do have one powerful and very effective weapon against the Internet and none of them know what it is.  if you would like to learn what it is, then subscribe to our Market Review. 

Meantime, the Retail Landscape is going to be quickly revamped by forces that – apparently – no one quite understands, just yet!  But they will when the “Kondratieff” surges again after the “Great Deception of 2012!”

J.C. Penney Declines After Fourth-Quarter Profit Forecast Misses Estimates

Bloomberg; By Cotten Timberlake - Jan 5, 2012 4:07 PM ET

“J.C. Penney Co. (JCP), the third-largest department-store chain, fell after cutting fourth-quarter profit forecast, citing declining sales and deeper discounts than anticipated during the holiday season.

The stock dropped 2.7 percent to $33.97 at the close in New York after the Plano, Texas-based company provided the reduced prediction, which fell short (JCP) of analysts’ estimates. The shares rose 8.8 percent last year.

… (JCP is ) lowering the quarterly forecast amid mixed results by U.S. retailers for December, when some stores offered so many markdowns to lure shoppers that they sacrificed earnings.

“The operating earnings reduction was certainly more significant than I anticipated,” Liz Dunn, a New York-based analyst with Macquarie …”

Most U.S. Stocks Advance on Employment Reports, Rally Among Financials

Bloomberg; By Nikolaj Gammeltoft and Ksenia Galouchko - Jan 5, 2012 4:47 PM ET

“...Most U.S. stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (BKX) higher for a third day, as a rally by banks and improving jobs data offset reduced profit forecasts at companies including Target (TGT) Corp. and J.C. Penney Co….Target and J.C. Penney tumbled as retailers (S5RETL) announced mixed December same-store sales results. Gap Inc. (GPS), Target and Kohl’s Corp. (KSS) reported sales that trailed analysts’ estimates after mistiming promotions or running out of inventory during a projected record holiday shopping season.

J.C. Penney dropped 2.7 percent to $33.97. The retailer forecast fourth-quarter earnings of 65 cents to 70 cents a share, less than the average analyst estimate of $1.08 a share. Target lost 3 percent to $48.51. The second-largest U.S. discount retailer cut its fourth-quarter profit forecast to no more than $1.43 a share, below the average analyst estimate of $1.48, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Gap fell 3.2 percent to $18.27, while Kohl’s slipped 1.8 percent to $46.52.

Macy’s Inc. (M) added 3.9 percent to $33.92. The Cincinnati- based retailer reported a 6.2 percent increase in same-store sales, topping the 4.6 percent estimate...."

The following is a prime example of the MSM’s PORE technique of crafting the investor response to news.  The bad news for these retailers was hidden in this much longer article, while the MSM’s PORE shifted the “Sheeples” gaze to good things.

In effect, after creating a total concentration of the ‘Sheeple’ on the Christmas selling season and since it ain’t going to be that great, the MSM is NOW focused on reporting the story line that they are setting up for the “Great Deception of 2012." 

They do this by citing alleged improvements on the economy and failing to really highlight exactly how very dismal was the Holiday Season for the retailers as a whole.  This is effected by burying the bad news with developing “Rosy Scenarios,” which the economists are always happy to give, since they cannot see the Tsunami Super “Kondratieff” Long-Wave bearing down on them.  So the above article was given the correct positive tone by including the following observations that we are certain will prove false after the VERY last buying–surge of the DCBF’s in late 2012 to early 2013!

Are you and your company getting ready for the economic implosion to follow that?

“...We’re starting to see better data in the U.S. as opposed to the obsession with Europe that we’ve seen all of last year,” Donald Selkin, the chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. in New York, said in a telephone interview. “People are seeing that our economy will definitely not fall into the recession. (No, my friend, we are already in a depression, if the correct numbers were being reported, that is) Now you can see that there’s a separation between what’s happening here, which is better, and Europe, which is still projected to go into recession.”

The S&P 500 closed at a two-month high yesterday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its highest level (INDU) since July after gaining during the first two trading sessions of the year on signs of manufacturing growth and improving sales at carmakers and retailers. ….

Fourth-quarter earnings reports from the largest U.S. banks should include some “encouraging signs” (While Matt is missing all the discouraging signs!)

Including accelerating loan growth, higher mortgage revenues and improving credit, Deutsche Bank analyst Matt O’Connor said in a note to clients. …

“On the surface these are positive numbers ahead of tomorrow’s jobs report,” James Gaul, a money manager at Boston Advisors LLC in Boston, said in a telephone interview. …”

Merkel reveals that the "Fix Is In!"

The following article clearly reveals that the “Fix is In.”  In fact, the “Fix” was always in, as those who have subscribed to our Market Review do know.  

As we very clearly wrote in our Blogs of 11/18, 21, 28 & 12/9, despite all the very public “Wringing of Hands” and “Gnashing of Teeth” by the “Talking Heads” and economists (of intellect) on the FV (Funny Vision), there WILL be a ‘Fiscal’ union of the European States; and following that surprising and  ‘miraculous event,’ there will be huge stock market rallies in latter 2012 in Europe and in the US; and following those surprising and ‘miraculous events,’ there WILL be the VERY last buying-sprees of the DCBF’s in Europe and in the United States.

Are you and your company ramping up for the very LAST charge of the DCBF’s in the latter half of 2012 and early 2013.  (For Polestar’s Lexicon of acronyms, go to the bottom of our Home page.)

Much more importantly than that, are you and your company ready for what will follow?

We are certain that there are especially chaotic times ahead that most companies will entirely misread.  And, we are equally certain that the companies that are not prepared for the upturn in ALL markets in latter 2012 and the utter CRASH, as the DCBF’s last buying surge in 2013 sputters out, will suffer the fate of those companies we list at the bottom of our Home page. 

From our Blog of December 9,2011:

Friday, December 9, 2011

Blogs of 11/18,21,28 totally validated on this news

The tid-bit of news, at the end of the following article, confirms the rock-solid predictions (garnered from our ONLY source on these things – Who is never wrong) made in our Blogs of 11/18 & 11/21/11.  In those Blogs, we identified the ‘players’ and the ‘field of play’ for the coming European Union of all monetary and fiscal authority in one body, which will be ultimately effected by the tried and true process of 'gradualism.' 

As we very clearly predicted in the 11/18 Blog, the world’s stock markets will then go ‘cheerily’ and ‘wildly crazy’ and all pundits, ‘talking heads’ and various assorted ‘economic authorities’ will be trotted out on MSM to give the “All Clear” to all the ‘Dupes.’ They will all then madly rush into the equity markets during the “Great Deception of 2012.”

Merkel Says She’ll ’Do Everything’ to Save Euro

Bloomberg; By Brian Parkin - Dec 30, 2011 6:00 PM ET

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she expects turbulence in 2012 as she does “everything” to save the euro amid Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.

“The path to overcoming this won’t be without setbacks but at the end of this path Europe will emerge stronger from the crisis than before,” Merkel said in a New Year’s television speech to the nation, sent in advance by e-mail. …

 “Today, you can trust that I will do everything to strengthen the euro,” Merkel said. “This will only succeed if Europe learns from the mistakes of the past. One of these is that a common currency can only be successful if we cooperate more than in the past in Europe.” …

Crisis ‘Manageable’

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble urged Germans to show more “calm” over the crisis in 2012, saying in a Dec. 24 interview in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that it is “manageable.” Germany plans to speed up paying installments to Europe’s permanent bailout fund to boost market confidence in the euro area’s resolve to beat the crisis. …”

.

Now, "Customer Satisfaction" has GOT to be #1

The advent of ‘Social Media’ will drastically change the dynamics of the market place, giving customers an instant voice and means to respond to shabby or arrogant business practices. The following example of Verizon’s triggering the anger of customers who are savvy with this new channel of communication should prove to be ‘fair warning’ for those companies who have cavalierly ignored it until now.  

Unlike all earlier periods of human history, there can NOW be an almost instant serious price exacted on corporate “Goodwill” when companies ignore customer satisfaction.

However, there is an immense upside to ‘Social Media.’  As we covered in our Market Review, for those companies who adopt strategies to use ‘social media’ there will be exceptional benefits.  In fact, Advertising and Marketing campaigns that recognize and utilize these brand new channels of communication will gain immense advantage against all competitors. 

Polestar Communications does offer unique and powerful tools by which to engage the market place at this quite primal level of instant communication with no demographic or geographic limitations.

Is your company utilizing 'Social Media’? 

If not, subscribe to our Market Review to learn of the surprisingly explosive power of this new advertising medium  or contact us for surprisingly inexpensive Means  &Methods by which  to utilize ‘Social Media.”  

VERY important:  I included two comments on this article to illustrate the level of dissatisfaction that is stirring out there in the Public Psyche of this "New Normal" era.  ALL companies had better ramp up to deal with it when it is triggered, because it will prove to become ever more volatile, as we near the "Event Horizon" of the "Bond Bubble's" explosion after the "The Great Deception of 2012."  

Verizon Cancels $2 Fee After Backlash

Bloomberg:By Alex Sherman - Dec 30, 2011 5:20 PM ET

Verizon Wireless (VZ), the largest U.S. mobile carrier, canceled a planned $2 “convenience fee” for online and phone bill payments after a backlash from consumers and scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission.

The company reversed its decision after just one day in response to customer feedback, according to a statement on its website today. Basking Ridge, New Jersey-based Verizon Wireless had announced the fee yesterday for users who make single bill payments on a month-to-month basis online or by phone.

Customers began criticizing Verizon Wireless on Twitter and Web forums after the company disclosed the fee, with some setting up online petitions and calling for consumers to boycott the carrier. The FCC today said it was “concerned” about the plan and that it would investigate.

“Companies used to think they could get away with putting out unpopular policies,” said Brianna Cayo Cotter, a spokeswoman for Change.org, a website that lets people start online campaigns. “Today, hundreds of thousands of people can mobilize and change policies in a matter of hours. That’s what we’re seeing with Verizon.”

Verizon Wireless customers started more than 35 petitions on Change.org against the fee, including one that was joined by more than 95,000 people within hours.

Last month, a consumer backlash led to Bank of America Corp. canceling a $5-per-month fee for debit card users. In that case, too, consumers used online campaigns to pressure the company….”

• urownexperience 17 hours ago

The middle class is just about strapped. Yet everyone wants to make a killing off them. Something's gotta change.

• Triorbis 17 hours ago

This, more than sitting in a park and playing the drums, is how you get corporations to change.  The ONLY thing they will respond to is a threat to their bottom line.  This is one of the great benefits of social media; the fact that within minutes a very large number of people are made aware of any type of wrong-doing, and can start to coordinate a response, especially an economic response, before the day is out.  I'm sure our good friends at Verizon were snickering for weeks over the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Without any direction or any "teeth" it was overlooked as just some crank gathering of "freeloaders, hippies and malcontents".  But when those same execs see the threat of financial loss in writing, then and ONLY then will they take notice.  Verizon (and other telecommunications firms) make a healthy profit.  When they cross the line from reasonable profit to outright greed, it is up to a well informed consumer to fight it, and targetting their bank accounts is the best way to fight.

Make no mistake: just because they backed down in the face of widespread protests doesn't mean they won't try something else.  I would pay close attention to you wireless bills (as well as all your other bills) to see what new and novel fees they will try to slip in under the radar.

The 'Real' Inflation Rate

I have been repeatedly asked for evidence regarding my comments on this Blog that the United States Commerce Department's CPI numbers are not accurate and indeed have not been accurate for years and years.

I do include some substantive evidence in the inaugural issue of the Market Review but that is for subscribers and will not be divulged here.  However there are many very good investigators who have sufficiently proven the point and here follows perhaps the very best of those – to my knowledge,  who do clearly allege that the 'Real' Inflation rate is currently above 10%.

I dare say anyone that really delves deeply into all the information that is freely available on the Shadowstats website will readily admit that the United States Commerce Department has been engaged – at the very least – in a programmed and scripted deception of the American people.

I do believe that, at the very least, is their game, and that is one of the reasons that I am attempting to create a logical and correct assessment of the destructive path of inflation in this country for all my entire lifetime, i.e. I was born in 1948:

The US CPI Data is not what the average American experiences every day.

For instance, my auto insurance just went up 27%; Kraft just announced a 30% increase in Peanut Butter; the tooth paste for my dogs more than DOUBLED in price because the container size was reduced to 2.5 ounces from 6.2 ounces, while the price per container went up by 15%.

I do believe that if we all added up the increases that all of us face everyday, then we would see the immense fraud that has been perpetrated on all of us.  Inflation is going to get really crazy AFTER the “Great Deception of 2012!”  Are you and your company ready?

The twenty-year chart on the web link following the quote (we tried to upload the chart to this Blog with no success) of Shadowstats shows a breakaway of their numbers from those supplied by the US Commerce Department in the early 80’s.  As readers of our Market Review do know we believe the numbers have been skewed since – at least – the early 70’s.   

Following is from www.Shadowstats.com:

Alternate Inflation Charts

"The CPI chart on the home page reflects our estimate of inflation for today as if it were calculated the same way it was in 1990. The CPI on the Alternate Data Series tab here reflects the CPI as if it were calculated using the methodologies in place in 1980. In general terms, methodological shifts in government reporting have depressed reported inflation, moving the concept of the CPI away from being a measure of the cost of living needed to maintain a constant standard of living."

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

Bernanke's "Black Helicopters" are over Europe

Well folks, what was strongly suspected has now been confirmed by no less an authority than a former V. P. of the Dallas Federal Reserve, Gerald O'Driscoll, Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute, on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal on December 28, 2011. 

Namely, Mr. O’Driscoll states that the central bank of the United States of America, the Federal Reserve, is engaged in a several hundred billion dollar stealth bailout of European banks. And this is AFTER the Chairman of the Federal Reserve stated before the US Senate several weeks ago that the Fed “did not have the intention nor the authority” to lend our (not Benanke’s) US money to the Europeans.

The legal issue at question revolves around whether or not a ‘swap’ is a ‘loan’ and should be considered to be a ‘bailout.’  On CNBC Mr. O’Driscoll said, “A swap is a defacto bailout” and by implication is a loan.  I do believe that he would know ‘what is what’ in the area of the “FED’s Magic Money Machine” (FMMM).   Unfortunately, this revelation confirms our most horrendous fears that we wrote of on Polestar’s Home page way back in early October. 

So, another of our predictions comes true, BUT much, much quicker than we ever thought possible, which only proves that Bernanke and his ‘Buds’ at the Fed are scared out of their minds, as are we!

The facts are; that, the Fed's authority to issue Dollars in Currency swaps with the ECB is unlimited.  Consider that it was nearly three years before we learned that the FED effectively 'swapped' roughly $669,000,000,000 of our money with our Banksters in 2008-09 without anyone knowing.  Now that money was largely lent here.  And they really did 'Swap' over $1,250,000,000,000 of US Dollars for the Bankster's Toxic Waste Loans, which our FED still owns to this day! 

Therefore, the unlimited Swap line with the ECB can easily approach and surpass those amounts and here is the reason. The ECB just lent $640,000,000,000 to 523 European Banks.  Do you think they now are in need of a few extra Dollars?

The answer is, YES!

And that's where the FED's largess with our money should become important to all of us.  These backroom machinations have the appearance (and we believe really are) of the FED's funding of the ECB's back door funding of the BbBDBBs.  It's really that simple.  The unlimited FED's Dollar Swaps with the ECB will go directly to the effectively bankrupt European Banks to fund their purchases of Toxic Sovereign Country debts and European common stocks!

And, there is the absolutely ordained beginning of the "Great Deception of 2012" and the great stock rallies of 2012, which will be utilized to herd the Sheeple - yet again - into the wrong investments at EXACTLY the wrong time.

In other words, could the ECB just have lent hundreds Billions of Dollars of Euros to their effectively bankrupt European Banks, if they had not known that this avenue to unlimited US Dollars would soon be available to them and very, very  shortly indeed and unlimited at that?  This is likely to go into the hundreds and hundreds of Billions of US Dollar Swaps over the next three years.

In the final analysis, it is now becoming quite obvious to one and to all that probably hundreds of Billions of our US Dollars are going to Europe to be repaid in massively depreciated US Dollars in three years or so! So everyone should get ready for the inevitability of massive inflation before then.  Otherwise the Europeans will have no chance in Hell of ever returning these Dollars.

To put this into perspective, the entire cost of World War II (fighting BOTH Japan in the Pacific and Germany and giving a TON of money to the British and to the Russians) cost the United States of America roughly $306,000,000,000.
Yep and yep!  That's right folks, panicked Bernanke is probably going to lend the Europeans over TWICE AS MUCH AS THIS COUNTRY SPENT IN FOUR YEARS OF  WORLD WAR II!

For anyone who would like to claim that in this comparison I am not calculating the cost of inflation; I would politely ask, "Who gave us the inflation?"  
 

And just a couple of years ago, after nearly 100 years of operation, the Fed’s Balance Sheet held roughly $800,000,000,000, which was identified as the Fed’s monetary base. It has subsequently ballooned to a monetary base of roughly $2,400,000,000,000 and now is obviously heading much higher yet!

Do you NOW understand why Wendy’s burgers are going to roughly $27 and to $49 with fries and a shake before 2018 and that gasoline is going to $12 a gallon in 2015 and will ratchet MUCH higher each year after that - until the final of the three waves of the Super "Kondratieff" Long-Wave sweeps the US & World's economies clean of their massive accumulation of Bad-Debts and near worthless Fiat currencies?

Five things quite naturally follow from these machinations of the FED:

#1 this clears the way for the great charade of 2012 when the fiscal side of the European Union will be implemented in a ‘gradualist fashion,’ see our many Blogs on this issue,

#2 following the great charade of a fiscal bond being implemented in the European States, will be the “Great Deception of 2012,”

#3 concurrent with the explosion of all equity markets in mid 2012 to early 2013, will be the VERY last insane buying-binge of the DCBF's (for meaning of  DCBF, see our acronym lexicon at bottom of our Home page on www.polestarcomm.com),
#4 with the ebbing of the DCBF's insanity in early 2013  will begin the surge of truly brutal inflation,
#5 contiguous with surging inflation will be the second Tsunami Super “Kondratieff” Long - Wave.

The rest of the horrors awaiting the entire world are covered in our inaugural issue of our Market Review and quarterly updates.

Are you and your company ready for the “Show?”

Wall Street Journal; Editorial; December 28, 2011; BY GERALD P. O'DRISCOLL JR.

“America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, is engaged in a bailout of European banks. Surprisingly, its operation is largely unnoticed here.

The Fed is using what is termed a "temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangement" with the European Central Bank (ECB). There are similar arrangements with the central banks of Canada, England, Switzerland and Japan. Simply put, the Fed trades or "swaps" dollars for euros. The Fed is compensated by payment of an interest rate (currently 50 basis points, or one-half of 1%) above the overnight index swap rate. The ECB, which guarantees to return the dollars at an exchange ...”

Apparently, Bernanke’s Black Helicopters have only failed to drop OUR US Dollars over Russia and China and India and Africa.  But, the readers of our Market Review do know the reason for that oversight.

'Fleecing' of the POOR to Subsidize Falling Tax Revenues

Well, the continued disintegration of the moral fiber of this Once Great Christian Country (OGCC) races along at a very rapid pace. In fact so quickly are the constraints - against congenital evil and the exploitation of the innate stupidity of the average citizen - falling that prior generations of Americans would NOT recognize this country today, let alone in the very next few years.

And here is another example that has been necessitated by the collapsing revenue base of the 50 States and the exploding needs for human services that are now so desperately needed in this country, because the middle classes are rapidly shrinking in the aftermath of the onrushing Tsunami Super “Kondratieff” Long-Wave that hit the US and the world in 2007-08, which wave is JUST the first of three waves!

The “Kondratieff” Long-Waves are covered in great detail in Polestar’s inaugural Market Review and in our 1^st Qtr 2012 update.

The following quote on the transformation of America into a Third World Nation is from our Blog on this subject on December, 8^th and it needs no edits:

“…Another of the primary forces (in addition to that of collapsing RE prices noted in the prior Blog), that will unleash the above noted ills, is the now wide spread acceptance and promulgation of GAMBLING by our State Governments, almost all of which are in dire financial straits. 

And as Mark Twain noted almost 140 years ago ubiquitous ‘numbers’ runners and venders and rampant prostitution are the two most salient features of a decadent and poverty stricken and broken country.  The ‘Numbers’ games of 19^th century were verisimilar in concept to the modern day computerized Lottery, except that the ‘numbers’ of the late 19^th century offered much higher odds of a ticket buyer actually winning something than does the modern day Lotto.

The United States, as noted in the footnote to this Blog, is well on its way to the ‘state of perdition’ observed by Mark Twain in those extremely poverty stricken states of the 19^th century.  His comments are doubly ironic since Twain made his mark as a great author of and commentator on the uniquely powerful elements of a Once Great Christian Country (OGCC) - the United States of America.. . “

With the evisceration of the manufacturing base of America and the viciously conspired elimination of 15,000,000 to 25,000,000 jobs in that sector over the last 39 years and the out-sourcing and off-shoring of more and more support jobs, many changes in America are ahead of us that will be increasingly emergent and widely visible as the former American ‘middle class’ sinks into poverty. 

One very obvious societal ill of the poorest countries, as noted by Mark Twain 140 years ago, was the ubiquitous forms of gambling, especially the ‘Numbers’ games in the poorest Nations of the latter half of the 19^th Century.  As he reported back then, the poorest of ALL ages have always resorted to Lady Luck, magic or astrology when attempting to affect their dismal fortunes and futures.  Now you can witness this phenomenon exploding in ALL the poorer neighborhoods in this OGCC, because the gambling phenomenon is the only hope for today’s poor in America, see our Blog of November 30^th .

As the middle class continually shrinks, the formerly huge retail markets in the United States of America will be forever altered, and eventually ‘disappeared’ leaving an enormous destitute bottom 90% and a wealthy top 9% and a Super-Wealthy 1% that can easily afford the $110,000,000 penthouse that just went on sale today in Manhattan!

The following article most clearly reveals that the 50 States of this OGCC are getting prepared for these inevitable shifts in demographics, which will force them to compensate for the continual collapse of their tax receipts that they, quite obviously, do foresee long into the future.

Are you and your company getting ready for these societal and cultural changes that will inevitably alter the market for your company’s products or services?

States Seek Internet Lottery Jackpots After U.S. Legal Ruling

Bloomberg: By Freeman Klopott - Dec 30, 2011 12:00 AM ET

“Buying a lottery ticket may soon be no more difficult than clicking a computer mouse, and U.S. states grappling with budget deficits are seeking to cash in.

. . . In New York, that may mean selling so-called virtual tickets on mobile phones or computers. . . . “All state lotteries are looking at how we can expand our base and sell tickets,” said Andi Brancato, a spokeswoman for the Michigan (STOMI1) Lottery. …Online tickets may bring much-needed revenue to states facing a collective $31.9 billion budget gap in the next fiscal year, according to a report by the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver. In 2010, Americans spent more than $4 billion to gamble online, up from $2.4 billion in 2003, according to the American Gaming Association….

(As you read the following expose of “where they want to go” with this perniciously evil and morally destructive and unGodly pastime of Satan the Devil, does anyone question the appropriateness of this insanity?  There is obviously a well orchestrated move afoot, when these types of rulings - that will negatively affect every community  - are just unilaterally and blithely and cavalierly implemented by a National Administration that is supposedly working for the benefit of the ‘little guy.’

Remember, it is very nearly ONLY the poor, destitute and desperate ‘little guys and gals’ that will take advantage of this new channel to gamble away their money and their future, on a gambling format that offers ABSOLUTELY the worst odds known to man!)

 

The Justice Department said a 40-year-old federal law that prohibits wagering over telecommunication systems that cross state or national borders doesn’t bar states from using the Internet and outside processors to sell lottery tickets to their adult residents. The ruling came in a memo responding to requests for clarification of the statute from New York and Illinois.

Wire Act

The Wire Act “prohibits only the transmission of communications related to bets or wagers on sporting events or contests,” Assistant Attorney General Virginia Seitz, who heads the department’s Office of Legal Counsel, wrote in the Sept. 20 memo, which was released Dec. 23.

Lottery officials will now feel freer to set up online games and perhaps join other states on Internet sales, said Joseph Kelly, a professor of business law at Buffalo State College in New York and consultant for the gambling industry.

“It could be very important for the states,” Kelly said.

…Some states are also looking to expand traditional gambling. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed legislation Nov. 22 authorizing as many as three resort casinos. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is pressing lawmakers to approve a constitutional amendment making Las Vegas-style casinos legal in the Empire State. Both governors are Democrats.

…

Internet sales could attract 300,000 to 500,000 new customers “who philosophically support the lottery but blow right past” ticket outlets at convenience stores, Jones said. That may create “hundreds of millions of dollars” in revenue, he said.

The real jackpot won’t be in ticket sales; it will be when states offer Internet poker and video slots online, Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the gaming association, a Washington, based group representing casinos.

“It’s now clear that not only can lotteries sell tickets online, but also games that look like slot machines and poker,” Fahrenkopf said in a telephone interview. “That’s where they want to go.”